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...