Could Sunday go any worse?!??!
Sunday morning was perfect! I slept in and got up when I was good and ready. And for me that was 9 am. I quickly dressed and headed to the barn. The sun was out, the temperature was going to be in the high 60's low 70's by the time I got to the barn. My riding buddy wasn't going to be there that day and I was disappointed. But not to worry, I was planning on heading to the large outdoor arena and going to use the entire ring and work on some of those before mentioned exercises.
I really like riding with my morning partner. She is so supported and has been riding dressage for a long time. So while I am no longer with my trainer, due to long distances, I have her and she really helps me. But I hadn't ridden by myself and I needed to work out some new exercises all on my own.
Now the bad news. The outdoor arena is on the other side of the farm. It has excellent footing and the horses naturally relax there as opposed to the indoor arena where a lot of bogymen hang out in the shadows. The other thing is I have to hack to the arena, again it is a hike and there is not mounting block out there. Dublin is 17.2 hands and even though I am 5'8" I am not able to get on from the ground. I just can't get my leg that high and then proceed to swing up.
We got tacked up and headed out, the gates that run between the pastures were all closed. No problem, go open the gates, go back to the barn and get on. Tea Cup, very cute yearling filly in one pasture came over to visit while I struggled to get this gate open. It was love at first site, she did her "chatting" thing with her mouth and Dublin was hooked. He could NOT leave Tea Cup alone. He also sort of forgot he is missing the parts, therefore he is NOT supposed to care. Ummm, wrong. Anyway, I pulled the two lovebirds apart and dragged the now pouting gelding back to the barn to get on. At this point there are no problems.
We head back out to Tea Cup's pasture, there is a lot of nickering going on and Dublin has now decided he is the stud he always wanted to be. Great, I am now getting some of the greatest Passage out of my 2nd level horse. Tail up, snorting and we are showing off for the girls. Hey, whatever makes you happy Dublin.
We get through the pastures and have to walk around the old owner house (the house being old, not the owner). No one actually lives in this house at the moment. But it is scary enough. Dublin doesn't want to leave his new girlfriend. So we start the spins. Walk two or three steps forward, spin to see Tea Cup. Walk two steps in a half pass - - spin to see Tea Cup. This goes on until we get around the house.
Next one has to go in front of the house down a short drive way towards the road then down another shoot (fence alongside the road and a gap of 15 to 20 feet and then the fence for the first pasture). However, the owner of the farm seems to keep driving over the main house and opening the gates that lead to the road. Normally when I am following Orion out (riding buddy's horse) this isn't an issue. However today Dublin has noticed he is heading out away from all his friends, and his new found love, Tea Cup. So we don't want to go down the drive, across the front yard and into the shoot which will open up to the outdoor arena. No, we want to back down the drive, through the front gates and stop inches from the road, where all the Durham County rednecks want to be cute and honk as they go by. At this point I am sure I am going to die.
So how, by the grace of God, we get through to the shoot. Mind you I am not a religious person, but I did become one that day! The shoot proved to be its own challenge. Normally once arriving there Orion and Dublin relax and walk on the buckle to the arena. Not today. The last gate has swung shut, but not locked. And Dublin took this as a sign that he should run back to the barn for safety. Great, I am within 5 feet from the road smiling and waving at all the rednecks going by. They get to see this very impressive "Dressage Show" of hops, spins, and whirls. I finally gave up, the horse is not going forward, so... do the next logical thing, go backwards. The shoot has got to be a football length and we did about 80 yards backing. It worked well until I turned him around (now extremely collected and sitting on his haunches very lovely) and he viewed the swung shut gates again. His mind reminded him of the opportunity to sit, launch and run back to the barn. Oh gee, here we go again.
I gave up, got off walked him to the arena, found a fence that didn't look like it was going to fall over and climbed back up. Great, now we can get to work. What I hadn't noticed through all this was that in the pasture beside the arena where the grey mares hang out, there was now a stallion in there with them. And he saw Dublin (remember Dublin is a gelding) as a threat to his "herd". Oh dear God, will I ever just get to ride my horse. The stallion had been turned out on the other side of the farm (a very long distance away), jumped out of his pasture with 5 foot fencing (oh yeah, and he is an Arabian and stands maybe 15 hands high), ran unnoticed across the farm and jumped in with the in-season mares. So there was a lot of excitement going on. He challenged Dublin and I a few times. So we took up a position at the opposite side of the arena. This seemed to work, but Dublin got very nervous when we would turn away from the mares and stallion, needless to say we were VERY collected at this point.
Okay, the stallion goes to his corner and we are in ours. Life seems to be getting back to normal... But wait, there is more. The deer in the area decide that they too want to join in the fun. They all come crashing out of the woods of the mares pasture, run directly from the woods to the arena, hop over run along side Dublin and I for a very frightening moment and then over to the next pasture. Great, the ride is all but ruined at this point. Now we are just talking survival!
As soon as I put the deer out of my mind, a car goes by and reminds me of them. Oh yes, the deer decided that the lushes pastures and left over grain was not nearly good enough. No they MUST cross the road. Here I am doing small canter circles that are just lovely and very expressive (due to all the extra excitement and stimulation) and again, as we turn out backs to it all the deer go over the fence rail, car comes around the corner, and breaks are applied at a rapped rate with extreme pressure. Again, we scoot/bolt forward in the "flee" defense the horse is so good at.
I QUIT I yelled. I accomplished something. I got a canter to walk transition and I felt that was good enough. Just because I said I quit the stimulation didn't. Before I could even get off, a jogger (oh the road is above the arena at this point so to see a person running down the road above the horse's head is freighting apparently), a dog attacking the jogger, and at least 10 bikes go by. I decided hacking back to the barn was not the best idea. I walked Dublin home, and I thought the horse was going to sit on my shoulders the whole way back.
So as a reward, Dublin received a spa day. Again, sometimes you need to just accomplish something small, like living.
I really like riding with my morning partner. She is so supported and has been riding dressage for a long time. So while I am no longer with my trainer, due to long distances, I have her and she really helps me. But I hadn't ridden by myself and I needed to work out some new exercises all on my own.
Now the bad news. The outdoor arena is on the other side of the farm. It has excellent footing and the horses naturally relax there as opposed to the indoor arena where a lot of bogymen hang out in the shadows. The other thing is I have to hack to the arena, again it is a hike and there is not mounting block out there. Dublin is 17.2 hands and even though I am 5'8" I am not able to get on from the ground. I just can't get my leg that high and then proceed to swing up.
We got tacked up and headed out, the gates that run between the pastures were all closed. No problem, go open the gates, go back to the barn and get on. Tea Cup, very cute yearling filly in one pasture came over to visit while I struggled to get this gate open. It was love at first site, she did her "chatting" thing with her mouth and Dublin was hooked. He could NOT leave Tea Cup alone. He also sort of forgot he is missing the parts, therefore he is NOT supposed to care. Ummm, wrong. Anyway, I pulled the two lovebirds apart and dragged the now pouting gelding back to the barn to get on. At this point there are no problems.
We head back out to Tea Cup's pasture, there is a lot of nickering going on and Dublin has now decided he is the stud he always wanted to be. Great, I am now getting some of the greatest Passage out of my 2nd level horse. Tail up, snorting and we are showing off for the girls. Hey, whatever makes you happy Dublin.
We get through the pastures and have to walk around the old owner house (the house being old, not the owner). No one actually lives in this house at the moment. But it is scary enough. Dublin doesn't want to leave his new girlfriend. So we start the spins. Walk two or three steps forward, spin to see Tea Cup. Walk two steps in a half pass - - spin to see Tea Cup. This goes on until we get around the house.
Next one has to go in front of the house down a short drive way towards the road then down another shoot (fence alongside the road and a gap of 15 to 20 feet and then the fence for the first pasture). However, the owner of the farm seems to keep driving over the main house and opening the gates that lead to the road. Normally when I am following Orion out (riding buddy's horse) this isn't an issue. However today Dublin has noticed he is heading out away from all his friends, and his new found love, Tea Cup. So we don't want to go down the drive, across the front yard and into the shoot which will open up to the outdoor arena. No, we want to back down the drive, through the front gates and stop inches from the road, where all the Durham County rednecks want to be cute and honk as they go by. At this point I am sure I am going to die.
So how, by the grace of God, we get through to the shoot. Mind you I am not a religious person, but I did become one that day! The shoot proved to be its own challenge. Normally once arriving there Orion and Dublin relax and walk on the buckle to the arena. Not today. The last gate has swung shut, but not locked. And Dublin took this as a sign that he should run back to the barn for safety. Great, I am within 5 feet from the road smiling and waving at all the rednecks going by. They get to see this very impressive "Dressage Show" of hops, spins, and whirls. I finally gave up, the horse is not going forward, so... do the next logical thing, go backwards. The shoot has got to be a football length and we did about 80 yards backing. It worked well until I turned him around (now extremely collected and sitting on his haunches very lovely) and he viewed the swung shut gates again. His mind reminded him of the opportunity to sit, launch and run back to the barn. Oh gee, here we go again.
I gave up, got off walked him to the arena, found a fence that didn't look like it was going to fall over and climbed back up. Great, now we can get to work. What I hadn't noticed through all this was that in the pasture beside the arena where the grey mares hang out, there was now a stallion in there with them. And he saw Dublin (remember Dublin is a gelding) as a threat to his "herd". Oh dear God, will I ever just get to ride my horse. The stallion had been turned out on the other side of the farm (a very long distance away), jumped out of his pasture with 5 foot fencing (oh yeah, and he is an Arabian and stands maybe 15 hands high), ran unnoticed across the farm and jumped in with the in-season mares. So there was a lot of excitement going on. He challenged Dublin and I a few times. So we took up a position at the opposite side of the arena. This seemed to work, but Dublin got very nervous when we would turn away from the mares and stallion, needless to say we were VERY collected at this point.
Okay, the stallion goes to his corner and we are in ours. Life seems to be getting back to normal... But wait, there is more. The deer in the area decide that they too want to join in the fun. They all come crashing out of the woods of the mares pasture, run directly from the woods to the arena, hop over run along side Dublin and I for a very frightening moment and then over to the next pasture. Great, the ride is all but ruined at this point. Now we are just talking survival!
As soon as I put the deer out of my mind, a car goes by and reminds me of them. Oh yes, the deer decided that the lushes pastures and left over grain was not nearly good enough. No they MUST cross the road. Here I am doing small canter circles that are just lovely and very expressive (due to all the extra excitement and stimulation) and again, as we turn out backs to it all the deer go over the fence rail, car comes around the corner, and breaks are applied at a rapped rate with extreme pressure. Again, we scoot/bolt forward in the "flee" defense the horse is so good at.
I QUIT I yelled. I accomplished something. I got a canter to walk transition and I felt that was good enough. Just because I said I quit the stimulation didn't. Before I could even get off, a jogger (oh the road is above the arena at this point so to see a person running down the road above the horse's head is freighting apparently), a dog attacking the jogger, and at least 10 bikes go by. I decided hacking back to the barn was not the best idea. I walked Dublin home, and I thought the horse was going to sit on my shoulders the whole way back.
So as a reward, Dublin received a spa day. Again, sometimes you need to just accomplish something small, like living.
posted by Dressage Princess @ 11:14 AM
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