Slacker writes again

Sorry it's been so long, just haven't had anything exciting going on.  Here in Florida we are in what feels like the 20th month of horrendous heat, I'm trying to plan a wedding, trying to encourage my brother to move out of my house, and working.

I took a jump lesson last weekend that was good, but very short.  For the first time, Violet and I managed to put together 8 fences.  Like together, not just in a row.  We were together on the forward pace from line to line and fence to fence, and even when I got an off distance because I blew through my line on a turn, I sat up and pushed enough to get to the next fence on the stride that we needed.  It felt good.  And I felt like throwing up.  It seems like each week I feel less and less in shape, and it's awful.  I am told it is because of the heat, even the professionals are struggling to get the riding in. The longer the summer goes, the worse you feel.  But the upside is that in the fall when it gets cooler, you feel like a rock star.  We'll see.  If true, that would be good timing, since I'm making my debut after it gets cooler (please gods).

So today I head down after work and will take a dressage lesson.  We are doing a dressage test and a jump course tomorrow at the schooling show.  

Love that pony face

Then it's the boy's birthday.  He has requested "some kind of stuffed chicken breast thing and maybe a trip to that ice cream place" (Bruster's).  He got his big gift last weekend when I took him to the Jaguars / Tampa Bay pre-season football game.  And I'll give him a big coffee mug that I got him that says "Coffee makes me poop".  Because he's a guy.  And perpetually 14.

Our selfie game is not strong...

During the week we got the opportunity to tour our company's newest vessel, M/V West Virginia, which was really cool.  It's the newest LNG equipped Jones Act tanker in our fleet, and not very often do you get the opportunity to take a tour.

This thing is HUGE...

And lastly, I met up with some friends to celebrate my upcoming wedding and one of the members' promotion.  We all used to work for the same audit company, and we used to get together every quarter, but had fallen out of practice.  Only 4 of the 7 in the group made it, but we have another dinner planned in October, so hopefully we'll get a chance to catch up with the rest of them then.  It was a nice dinner and great to catch up on what all of us are doing.  Only one is actually with the same company.

Required awkward table shot.

Hope you all have a great weekend.  I'll have results of the show some time next week.

Falling as motivation?

So I headed down Saturday afternoon for a lesson.

Wait, let me back up.

Friday, I overindulged.  No reason, other than life, but I started drinking before the man got home and didn't stop once I had a partner in crime.  And I'm a lightweight.  Anyway, Saturday morning, I was feeling pretty crappy.

So Saturday afternoon I headed down for what I thought was going to be another group jump lesson.  When I got there, everyone was getting out their vests.  Good thing I had mine stashed in the truck.  Apparently it was a last minute decision, since it was the last weekend before the cross country field officially opens, and was nice and quiet.

Ginny was not planning on staying, so she headed out with Marcea on her own, coming back after what was reported to be a great ride on Pearl.

I got ready with another barn mate and was just getting ready to get on when Marcy and Ginny came back.  They were there long enough for me to admit to Ginny that I was hung over and not feeling overly well.  Then I tipped the 2-step over on it's side and prepared to mount my steed.

And promptly fell off the mounting block and under my horse, who stood there looking around like "Can someone please pick her up so we can get going?"  My horse is a saint.

So Marcy helped me up, laughing and trying to get the dirt off my vest, while I looked sadly at my heretofore brand new breeches, and said something like "at least you had your protective gear on!"

Several comments about picking dirt out of riders butt cracks, adjusted stirrups and a helping hand later and I was mounted up and ready to go.

And we kicked ASS!

We got to the field and Marcy said "ok, you just need to go to the fenceline and trot all the way around the field.  Let go of this week and remember why you like this."

And trot we did.  From the first step, Violet was like "Let's go!  Which one?"  We (mostly) trotted the whole field and got back to Marcy who sent us over our first fence, which was a rolltop, going alternately up and down the hill to it.

No new pics, but this one is pretty.

We worked on getting the forward stride and all of a sudden, I could see the distance!  I don't know that I have ever seen the distance on the cross country field, and rarely in the ring.  But when moving forward to the fence, it's just there.

I don't even know what all we did, but I know we ended at the water complex with a white bench (amazing how that white sets the pony back a bit) trotting through the water and up and over a mushroom on the other side.

I had to really ride this.  Violet actually said "hmm, I don't know" about the mushroom and dropped back a couple of strides out and I had to actually tell her, nope, you're really jumping this one.  I think it was because we couldn't get the same kind of pace after trotting the water, since it was only like 7 or 8 strides away.  But I was praised for giving her a good ride through it, so we ended on that.

It was mentioned that when I get tired, I should pay attention to my hands.  They tend to get too high.

I can (and did) say that it was a lot of fun!

Then Sunday we came back out and played in the sandbox.  Same as usual, although I was really tired and struggling a bit by the time we got to canter.  We worked on getting forward at the canter.

Week after next we will ride a combined test at the schooling show just to make sure it's all working together and get some practice.

And I started a new food plan, because I have got to lose some weight and gain some fitness.  I am very concerned I will not make it all the way through a BN cross country course at this point, so it's time to take control and do something about it, rather than whining all the time.

Wedding plans

So, there's this thing that's coming up.  It's supposed to be a big deal.  It's not something I've ever done before, and frankly had given up hope that it would ever happen.  And now that it's happening, I wish I could just wake up and have it be over.  It's my wedding.

The issue is because it is my one and only, everyone expects that I will do the whole deal.  You know, formal wedding, in a church (we met at Lutheran Youth Convo and he's a preacher's kid, afterall), all the family in attendance, jetting off to Mom's for a big bridal shower and all the planning and all that stuff.

So totally not me.  I've often joked that I simply waited through that first marriage so I can skip right to the second.  I kind of did that with a 13 year relationship.  We just never got married.

The biggest issue would be my family.  This would have been my parents 50th anniversary this year. 35 years in, my dad decided not so much.  He was engaged two weeks after the divorce was finalized and married a woman 6 months older than my older brother nine months later.  They now have a six year old.  The divorce was not amicable, and all the parties have never been in the same room together. They all swear they will behave well.  I know that I can't handle that.

So I have been all over the place with plans.  Originally, I was thinking November 5 in the mountains.  Except that is my BN debut (in a rated show, no less).  So maybe the weekend before? Maybe I should switch to having it down in Mt Dora by the barn?  Maybe to the barn itself?

Thinking about who to invite goes a little like this:  If I invite Mom, I have to invite her sisters and their spouses.  If I invite them, I have to invite the cousins and their spouses and kids.  But if I invite all of them, then I have to invite all of Dad's side, even those cousins that I don't even really know. Then I have to invite the barn ladies.  What about my best friend from college?  Next thing I know, this is way bigger than what I want.

Every time either one of my parents asked, the plans had changed.  My dad finally told his family that he didn't think there would be a wedding, per se.  I would just get married.

When talking to my mother, I said what I wanted was a family wedding, at a family house, like my aunts and my cousin had.  Unfortunately, Dad will never be welcomed into Mom's house with his family, so that's a no go.  But she did give me an out.  I told her I wanted to just go to a courthouse. She said then I should.  She would support me no matter what I do, even though it will hurt her feelings.

I guess it's better to hurt everyone's feelings than only certain people.  Equal opportunity, right?

So now I'm finally getting on with it.

We have set a date:  September 30.  That's almost exactly 30 years from when we met, as much as we can remember.  We know that first meeting was some time in September 1986.

We are going to the St. Augustine courthouse, as it is the only one around that still does weddings. Duval county decided to do away with courthouse weddings when the law stated they had to marry same sex people.  Whatever, St. Augustine is prettier anyway.

I have secured our honeymoon lodgings at the St. George Inn in old town St. Augustine.  With complimentary champagne and chocolate and dinner.  I believe the boy is taking off Friday and Saturday and closing on Sunday, so we'll have a couple of days.

I have a name for a photographer.  I need something to make announcements with.

I have a dress.  And a fascinator/hat thingy with a little veil.

I'm researching flowers.

Wedding rings have been ordered.

Because they are a little different and will go with the white gold of my solitare.  And yes, they match.

Boys clothes have been ordered.

Similar to this with darker khakis, cause it's beachy casual

We have registered at Target and on Amazon.

Now all we have to do is take a day to go down to the courthouse and get our license.  And shoes. And maybe a mani/pedi.  And call the photographer.  Oh my god, does it never end?

My family still doesn't understand this whole thing, but there has not been a question in my mind since the very beginning.  So I'm being selfish and making this whole thing about me and him, not everyone else.

Weekend events

We had a great weekend.  I headed down to the farm around ten.  After sitting in line at both DD and McD's, I elected to grab coffee and some cheese at the gas station, a result of the boy getting the last of the cereal that morning.

I got there for a great dressage lesson.  It was warm and sticky, but cloudy and with a breeze so it wasn't awful.  We worked hard on my timing, because apparently that is my weakness.  I have an issue with keeping the canter going.  The one thing that came out of my lesson as a carry away is to put my outside seat bone into the center of my saddle, in order to keep from collapsing to the inside in a turn.  This goes along with pointing the girls slightly to the outside of the turn.  This does seem to help.

I love this view

After our lesson, we got to go on a nice walk around the property, since the sun wasn't out so strong, and took a chance to speak with the property manager who was painting cross country fences in the field.  As we stood there among the 5 dogs running through the long grass, with the dry palmettos making noise in the wind, Violet just stood there.  After a few minutes, the manager made a comment about how her horse would have taken off.  I truly am lucky to have this little mare.

Saturday night we went out to dinner, because it was our intrepid teacher's birthday.  Happy Birthday, Marcea!  Dinner was great, and there was much drinking.

We are getting hit with tropical moisture from the gulf and new it was coming, so we planned to get to the barn by 6:30 and all of us on together for a group jumping lesson by 7:30.  I'm pretty sure I was still feeling some of the effects of the beforementioned drinking when we got to the barn.

The morning was lovely.  There was this cool damp wind blowing and all of us made comments about it almost feeling fall-ish.  

Such a good girl.  And see how this bridle does not actually fit right?  We have throat-latch, noseband merging...

We started with cantering over a pole both directions, then over the pole to another pole that was parallel to the ring fence, about two strides away, going in the direction of whatever lead we were on.  That was tricky, but we all got it done.  Then we started working on lines.

The first was vertical to vertical, 6 strides for V, 5 for Pearl and Charlie.  Then it was oxer to oxer, same striding.  All of this was to be ridden forward, with concentration on the canter and the balance as we come around the corners to the fences, and straightness over and after.  After that, we put them together.

Then we moved back to our gymnastic friend, but this was changed slightly to a 4 stride (3 for the others) to a bending left in 6.  We rode that back and forth.  When riding from the single fence to the 4 stride, we were to sit up and take back, turn, then move forward to the combination.  When going from the combination to the single, we were to establish forward before the combination and carry it through, simply picking up the outside rein and putting pressure in the outside stirrup to make the right turn without taking back.  We actually got through this pretty well, although getting the forward and carrying it all the way through the turn was a challenge.

Are we done with the pics mom?

So then we put it all together.  I got through the first two lines pretty well.  Then I lost my stirrup and had to stop.  Then I turned Violet back to the combination and got through that.  And everyone was cheering.

I have traditionally been the queen of the add.  And Violet didn't know there was any other ride since that's what I consistently give her.  But the girls apparently fight over getting to jump Violet.  And the girls RIDE.  These 6' girls gallop that pony and have installed a gear I didn't know she had.  I turned her to that fence, said go, and she went.  She almost gave me the 5 in the first line, and we actually got the three in the combination, and I didn't even realize it, because she lengthened her stride so that it came up right.  It was so much fun.

So then we were done.  The other ladies did it one more time and added a two stride.  Marcy said I was done, but not because I couldn't do it, because I could, but because we had worked so well and didn't need to push it.

I am writing this as I watch the Olympics dressage at my desk at work.  This course is a killer.  Sorry to see so many riders having trouble (WFP, Tim Price, Clark Montgomery, etc.), but I admire those that figured out how to get it done.  Since it looks like Tryon is going after WEG for 2018, maybe I'll get an opportunity to volunteer for that.  That would be way cool.

P.S. Way to go Phil and Happy!

 And a few pics of the dog because...well, he's cute as hell, right?

His favorite toy.  Before removal of the squeaker.

 

Vacation

Sorry I've been missing.  It was my annual trip to the beach.  I have a timeshare in Daytona I have been going to since...sometime in the late 80's, I believe.  It is the one week a year that I unplug and disengage from everything.  Usually the routine is to hit the grocery on the way in, park the truck and not move it again until the week is over.  This year was a little bit different.

I put the puppy at his hotel for the week on Saturday.  The boy could not make it until late in the week, but he works crazy hours and wanted to clean the carpet, so we made the decision to let Luke have play time for the week, since he couldn't come with me.

I got there late Saturday and started with a shortish walk.  And let me tell you, it was HOT.

Heading out for the first of many many walks.

Sunday I went and took a lesson.  It was jumping, again working on the same exercise I had worked on in the last jumping lesson, but this time going the other way.  Working on a 4 to a 3, or a 3 to a 2 when the jumps got bigger.  This required I actually RIDE the pony to the end.  I was actually very frustrated, because I could not get the right strides on the out.  I am to the point in my riding that I can feel what I do wrong and voice it every time, but cannot seem to make myself FIX it!  I voiced this to trainer and she said she was just happy I could recognize it and didn't let it effect the in, because not too long ago, it would have.  And even when Vi popped the short stride in, I never hit her in the mouth, so she was willing to keep going.  This is where she expects me to be in my training at this point.  In the end, I think I got the forward stride twice, then we applied it to another line that we hadn't worked on.  Since we got the forward stride through that, Marcy basically said we "passed the test".  The exercise did what it was supposed to.  So at least that's good.

Monday I sat on the beach a bit, then my mother arrived.  She always has to help me enjoy my week, but never wants to take the whole thing.  It's getting to the point that this may not be able to continue. She's 70 next week and driving all the way from Charleston is hard for her.  So I try to enjoy it when I can.

My reset button

Wednesday I made her go to the barn with me.  She was not happy.  I gave her the option to stay, but she feels like that is me choosing the pony over her.  She's getting crotchety in her old age and everything is a personal affront.  I had a dressage lesson.  Mom got to sit with Marcy while she taught through the headset, which she seems to think is the best thing ever for a non-horsey person, because she could actually hear what Marcy saw and what the results were to what she was telling me.  So at least it wasn't torture for her.  Violet and I had the best left leg-yield that I think we have ever done. Unfortunately, at the expense of the right leg-yield.

Thursday the boy arrived in time for dinner.  This is only the 3rd time mom has spent any time with him.  I was not looking forward to it.

Boy got there, we did dinner, everyone was mostly on their best behavior.  Boy didn't pull out his cell phone, mom didn't act like he was a pariah.  There may have been some tight lips on her part when he actually kissed me in her presence, though.

Fashion maven, I am not.

Friday mom left early with her typical parting shot ("I hope everything goes just the way you want it.") and the boy and I headed to the beach.  We spent about 5 hours playing in the water.  Like so many other boys, he can't sit still, so we made the most of it, and really had a great time.  Then we went out to dinner and headed back to the condo, where we discovered that we were both fried to a crisp and absolutely exhausted.

I canceled my lesson on Saturday because there was no way I was getting my riding bra on.

So that is my vacation week.  I need a vacation to recover from my vacation, I think...