2015 in Review

This has been a most interesting year.  Here is a short recap:

January

Work picked up as it does when you work in Financial Reporting.  The end of the month saw me volunteering for my second rated show.  I believe this is the one where Buck Davidson spoke to me, lol.

Buck and Petite Flower

February

Heavier work load.  Volunteered for another rated show.  Went cross country schooling twice and fell both times.  I start to notice this weird feeling of socks bunched up under my toes in my shoes.

March

Moved the barn to Rocking Horse.  Paid off my little house. Work started to get better.  Volunteered again. The boy found me on FaceBook and we started talking.

The two of us in 1986.

April
The boy and I officially started dating, albeit over the phone.  Loooots of phone conversations.  For hours. Daily.  Cross country schooled and again fell off.  Got bonuses and raises at work.  The boy came to visit for the weekend.  I buy a pair of black custom boots.  I start with pain in my foot.

At Amicalola Falls

May

Moved Violet to St. Augustine.  Started going out to her 5-6 times a week.  Got engaged.  Went to Georgia to visit with the boy.  Took him to Poplar to meet the Ladies of Market Street.  Started clearing out the house of extra stuff that I really didn't need, in an effort to make room for the boy when he moves down.  I now have pain in both feet.

This would be how I informed my parents.

June

The boy came to visit several times.  We go to visit his three kids.  Started looking at houses, because it was obvious we both would not fit in my little 800 square foot house.  The rain starts.  Got my boots!  The pain in my feet becomes bothersome when I ride.

My boots.  I loves them.

July

The boy shows up with his stuff.  Surprise!  He starts looking for a job.  I go on vacation to my condo in Daytona.  the boy goes to his sons birthday party and meets me at the condo.  Mom arrives and spends time with me and the boy.  Things do not go swimmingly.  It's still raining.

It's raining...again.

August
I buy a house!  The boy starts working at a small box shoe store as a manager in training.  We celebrate his birthday with pizza and brownies.  I finally make an appointment with my GP about my foot.  She gives me a referral to a podiatrist.  Violet gets nipped by the farrier and I get a lesson in how to wrap and soak a hoof. Violet starts to develop rain rot.

New house

 September
The boys job ends.  The company he was working for is a joke and he does not mesh with the culture, so the job hunt continues.  Dad comes to visit with his wife and my 5 year old brother. Violet gets put inside due to the wet conditions and rain rot, and then develops a cough.  The vet says she must go outside.  The podiatrist says I have overcompensated from the pain in the right foot and rebroken a previous stress fracture in the right.  I'm put in a boot and given a shot of dex in the right foot.  I start this blog at the end of the month as a training blog, but it doesn't get very far.  

Boot on one, dex in the other.

October
Because I move Violet back to Rocking Horse.  Violet pops a splint.  Her cough goes away and she seems very happy.  I get to see my friends again.  Violet puts her legs under the gate in her paddock when rolling and scrapes herself up.  The boy starts working for a well known but independently owned and operated donut shop.  His hours are 4:30am to 6pm 6 days a week, so we don't see each other much.  I spend a lot of time going back and forth to the doctors for MRIs, xrays and ultrasounds.  I am not able to actually have the MRI due to an old pellet in my neck.  I judge the Fall show.

Popped splint.

November
I have a small incident with the truck and the tree in the driveway.  The results of the medical tests are inconclusive, but it's pretty obvious that I have a Morton's neuroma and that it will have to be removed.  I have surgery to remove it and spend almost two weeks basically doing nothing.  I go to Charleston to visit family for Thanksgiving, leaving the boy at home with his oldest daughter.

Woospies

December
The boy is let go from his job and the hunt begins anew.  Unfortunately, it is Christmastime and no one is hiring.  Marcy rides Violet in the schooling show.  I get to ride my pony!  Mom comes in to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra and spend time with all of us.  We go to St. Augustine to look at lights.  It goes better than the last time we were all together.  We have a quiet Christmas, just the two of us.

Happy pony

So that's my year in a nutshell.  There were a lot of changes, but I have a beautiful house, a wonderful man who loves me, and a pony who is happier than ever.  Here's to seeing where 2016 will take us.  Hopefully I can get back to this being a training blog.  But to do that, I will probably blog a bit less.

Hope you all have a happy new year.

Post-Christmas update

To those of you who read this, I hope you had the Merriest of Christmases.  This is a quick update.

For Christmas Adam (Christmas Eve eve, because Adam came first, lol), the boy and I headed out to look at Christmas lights and drop off my brother's presents from my mother and I.

I got off work early on Christmas Eve and the boy and I sat and watched about 10 episodes of Dexter.

Christmas morning we woke up later, made cinnamon rolls and coffee and then opened our few presents.  The boy got a Jacksonville Jaguars baseball cap that he seems very pleased with.

And some dark chocolate cherries with the liquid centers.  Because he's picky.

From him I got 4 Variety puzzle books.

Mom sent an awesome Santa decoration and a much appreciated check.  Which was used to buy me a pair of shoes and a new cell phone.

Dad sent me a desktop computer.  With no monitor.  I only have a laptop so... Guess I'll use some of my mom's money to buy a monitor.

And my brother got me an ornament.  

So it was a big day.  I am so not used to being poor.

After that we used some movie tickets I had won at work to go to the movies.

Because...Marky Mark.  It was funny.  We had a good time.  After the movie we went home and watched a couple more episodes of Dexter.  Then went out for our big dinner at Steak and Shake.  The place was packed.  But in Jacksonville, you either had fast food, or you had high end.  I would have loved it if some fast casual places had been open, or even Cracker Barrel, but they weren't and high end wasn't in the cards, so Steak and Shake it was.  And I didn't get a shake.  I did, however get lots of texts from my mother and aunts and cousins.  After many years of me driving to Charleston and our family not getting together for Christmas, this year everyone made it.  Except my brother and I.  So there were lots of "we miss you", "wish you were here" texts that actually made me feel kind of crappy.

Saturday we braved shopping and that's when we got the shoes and phone.  And wandered around Wal-Mart.

Sunday we went to Lowe's and looked at plants we want someday.  And drooled over some things at our favorite furniture consignment shop.

The one thing that I didn't do this Christmas?  No ride.  I was going to go Sunday, but neither of us slept well Saturday night, and ... well, I have lots of excuses but no good ones.  I just didn't want to drive 4 hours for a hack.  So the pony got the big Christmas gift of having the day off.

A few of my favorite things

In honor of Christmas Eve, I thought I would show a few of my favorite ornaments.

This would be the tree.  The angel is paper mache and was given to me by my best friend in high school.

One of the ones I made in 2014. I don't know why I like this one so much, but I do.

Another one made by me in 2013. 

This one was made in maybe 2006?  My mother has a matching one that stays in the kitchen window all year long.

A rocking horse I painted in maybe 1996?

One of my cows.  His nose is broken, but I still grin every time I pull him out of the box.

A Breyer ornament, not sure which year.

 

A dressage rider.

And a jumper.  Need to fix those loose reins, though.

Yes, that is a blown glass Santa jumping on a pony.

My trailer. 

Those are some of my favorite ornaments, and they all command good placement on the tree.  I have plenty others, as all of my ornaments have a story.  But these ones are special.

The Princess

There have been many times I have made a reference to the Princess, or the Mare.  Violet is most definitely both of these.  She is a good girl.  That does not make her a push-over or easy.  She is a very sensitive ride, and requires that you do things absolutely correctly or she will take it personally.  She has been known to give the me hoof and tell me to screw off, especially if I lean too heavily on that left rein.

But again, she is a good girl.  She has thrown herself under me when I got unbalanced during a jump line. For the longest time she would stop when I took my feet out of the stirrups, I'm guessing because she thought I might fall off.  The first couple of times I rode her bareback, she kind of lost her mind a bit for the first few minutes because I was wiggly.  She has not yet truly bucked under saddle.  This is not saying she doesn't buck.  She can crank out a buck that is worthy of the rodeo.  She just doesn't do it under saddle.

Example of said cheekiness.

When we first started cantering, my old trainer used to laugh because she would root down and hop and look like maybe she wanted to buck.  But by the third stride she would come out of it like "dang, it's just too much work".

She is now the high maintenance girl that has to be separated from all the boys, because she gets them all riled up.  She like super mare, and all girly.  Twice she has been put out next to the boys, and she has gotten two of them all besides themselves, so now she stays apart next to Pearl, unless she's on babysitting duty. She has been known to just randomly run and squeal around her paddock.  By the time she gets the others running, she has stopped and is eating like, "What?  I just wanted to come over to this spot of grass.  I didn't do anything."

At the same time, she is the ultimate babysitter.  She babysat Marcy's horse for a couple of years.  Now she babysits whenever a new horse comes to the barn and is learning the ways of Market Street.  She will go out for a few hours in the morning with them (after her breakfast, of course), where she teaches one very important lesson.  It goes something like this:

Violet:  So, you are new here, yes?

New horse:  Yes, it's so very exciting to be in a new place!

Violet:  Ok, so here is how this goes.  It is daytime.

NH:  Yes, much sun!  We should be running in it!

Violet:  No!  When there is sun on the sand, the sand gets warm.  When the sand gets warm, it is time for a nap.

NH:  Nap?  What is this nap of which you speak?

Violet:  Ok, I'm only going to show this to you once.  You just fold your legs under yourself and lay down in the sand.  Make sure to really rub your face in it.  Then roll over and get the other side.  Then just lay flat out for a while and enjoy the warm sand.

And, amazingly enough, it works.  She will take a nap with whoever it is, and then graze a little.  They don't run around, and both seem to enjoy it.

Example of the napping (with prior boyfriend, Basil)

She is definitely the princess of the barn.  I know she is much happier now than she was in St. Augustine. She lost a bit of her mojo when she got put out in a small herd situation.  I think her feelings were a little hurt because she wasn't the top mare.  And she got a little depressed and lost some confidence.  But now that she is back where the world is right and she is the princess she was always meant to be, her confidence is coming back.  Girl's got swagger now.

Jumping, jumping, jumping

I forgot to mention yesterday that we worked on halting.  First I had to close my eyes and determine which leg she was still poking out after the halt.  It's the left hind.  So that meant I had to close a little more on the left rein and use more left leg to get her to stop with that leg more up under herself.  Apparently I was able to get it better, but she still doesn't quite halt square.  Of course, even not square, she still gets 8s on her halt. Imagine if we could get both legs under at the same time!

So Sunday morning I went out early to feed and tack up, since I was the first lesson of the day at 8am. Violet was waiting at the gate, along with her friend Pearl.  We brought the ladies in, then the geldings. Violet ate her handful of feed in no time and I pulled her out to get her tacked up.  It was nice and cool.  I love weather when I can wear a vest.  I only get about 4 days a year, but I love it when I can.

We headed up to the jump field to get warmed up, then headed into the ring.  Marcy was nice enough to assist with getting my stirrups put up, because I forgot to do it before I got on, and pulling the leathers around on the CWD saddle is difficult.  We started out applying some of the same things we worked on Saturday to the jump warmup, but went a bit faster.  Once I figured out which pony I had, we worked on some transitions and changes of direction, them went pretty quickly into the canter, working on being sing-songy in the canter, moving the bit just a tad so she stays with me, but doesn't get strong.  Marcy says she does a sing-songy "la-la-la" to herself.  I do better when I count strides.  Either way, while my outside does not necessarily get frantic, but inside does, and I have to work on getting myself to stay calm, because Violet picks up on it.  At one point, I trotted around an oxer and thought "hey, that's big" and then I thought to myself, "no, not that big, and you aren't jumping it anyway.  If you are asked to jump it, it will be because you are ready for it."  I have to learn to quit worrying about things I'm not even doing.

This is my rendition of the course.

Anyway, after the warmup, we started on trot poles.  Violet loves to jump, and can get quite frantic about it if I am.  But the more that I stay even and calm, the better she does.  Then, even when she gets spicy, I can control it better.  So we did the trot poles toward the red vertical (at the time, a crossrail), halt, turn on the haunch, walk, then trot back over the poles.  First time was good, second time was better and after the second direction, we walked to the left, picked up the canter and cantered over the green raised pole.  The first time we did that, she tripped over it and knocked it over, but it was calm, and it was her fault, not mine.  I brought her to a halt and we did the whole thing over again, and that time she got the stride right.

It's pretty funny, we spent a lot of time going down to the walk and trying to pick up the sitting trot to the canter.  When Violet gets into the jump ring, however, she says "fuck the sitting trot" (excuse my language, but she really does) and jumps into the canter.  She doesn't get nasty about it, just doesn't see the point of all that trotting stuff.  Her canter is really quite ratable, but we did work a bit on "No, I said trot" before we picked up the canter.

After this, we did the trot poles to the red vertical, which was a crossrail at the time.  After she did that calmly, we switched to cantering the crossrail on the right lead, to the red vertical with a halt after.  All this was working on remaining sing songy and not letting her get quick and rushed.  From there, we switched it up a bit.  We came at the cross rail from between all the fences on the right lead, heading toward the ring fence.  Then halted and walked, did a change of direction, picked up the right lead canter again going the other way over the crossrail to the red vertical, left lead rollback to the red and yellow vertical on a bending line to the grey oxer that was close to the fence, and at an odd angle.  The first time we did this small course, we had to do a lead change to the left before the red and yellow, and again for the right lead before the grey oxer.  The first one went ok, but I did not commit to making the lead change happen early enough before the grey, which put me really close to the fence before I picked up the canter.

Violet saw the long one over the grey fence, which I was not prepared for and got left behind a bit.  Marcy said that since Violet has gained strength and is learning to use her body and her stride, she is way more willing to take the longer spot, while I was waiting for her (prior) usual chip to the fence.  It is nice to hear that she is figuring out how to use her body, but I have to get used to seeing that longer distance.  I'm doing a way better job waiting for her to take me over the fence rather than jumping it for her, but I still don't see the long one as well.  Anyway, we did the grey oxer again by itself.  Then we tried the whole thing again.

Now, our entire time, we have been working on getting the line right and riding the outside shoulder on the track I want.  For that grey fence, I have to ride to the fence and then ride the outside shoulder to the center of the fence, which gives us the perfect distance.  Unfortunately, part of the reason I got the long one during the course was because, not only did I get the canter late, I blew past my line and put the outside shoulder too far past center to get the right stride.  I was able to do it fine when riding it alone.

So after we saw that I COULD do it, we tried the course again.  I did better with getting the leads.   She picked up the left lead after the red fence, and then I brought her down quickly to get the right before the grey fence.  Unfortunately, I still went past my line.  The fence was better, but still not right.  So I rode it again as a single with no problem.  Because the problem was mine, and we know I can do it, and Violet was doing so well, we stopped at that.  It left me with a lot to think about.  We went for a walk around the cross country course and I put her in her BOT sheet.  Now that we have had our two days of winter, she gets the sheet for one day, and is back out in the sand naked by Monday, lol.  Which, of course, is her preferred state.

She loves her dirt naps, especially after a good jump school.

Circle, circle, circle

Saturday's lesson was a 2.  I was dragging some serious ass getting up and out of the house and to the barn. The boy basically pushed me out the door saying I would hate myself if I didn't get out there and do it, which is oh so true.  Unfortunately, on the weekends I often run into this, where I would so much rather be lazing around on the couch than doing basically anything.  Probably because I run so hard during the week.

Anywho, I got out, got there and pulled out the pony, who was lounging in her stall in her blanket.  Actually, it wasn't even her blanket.  Her blanket is incredibly heavy, and while it was cool, it was not cold enough for that, so she is borrowing one from Marcy.  It's a Rambo and fits her pretty well.  That QH butt and shoulder always make for a difficult fit.

This is the one.

So I got her ready, strapped on her brushing boots, mounted up, and away we went.  We started to walk around the cross country field, but I realized even with her walking like a big horse, it would take forever and make us late, so I headed back up to the ring, where we were early.  So I dropped stirrups and worked on getting her to move off my leg as I walked around the ring, even doing some serpentines using only legs.  

After the lesson Marcy was working on was over, we headed into the ring, where we started at the walk working on getting the outside shoulder on the track that I wanted.  I had to work constantly on picking up my left hand (as usual). Marcy said to think of it as a box, or a plate that I have to carry.  I oftentimes picture the exercise I've heard some people talk about doing where you ride with a crop bridging both hands.  It seems to help me raise my hands and bring them closer together.  I always want to drop that left hand and straighten my arm away from her neck to kind of drag her around to the left, but that pisses her off.  When I raise my hand and bend my elbow, she raises her poll and gets lighter in the front.  

We also worked on me being sure what it is I want and not allowing her to tell me different.  Violet is not an easy ride.  She is different every time you ride her.  At times, she will change in the middle of a ride.  Some days she gets offended by the left rein, some days it's the right.  Some days she doesn't want to move off the leg to the left, sometimes she's perfect.  I have to work hard at riding the horse I have every single day and every minute, and I have to not let her convince me that I've done something wrong.  Even when I have done something wrong, I have to be able to tell her that I didn't so that she gets over it.  Mostly what happens is she grabs the bit at the same time I go to move it, and that makes her mad.  

We also worked a lot from beginning to end on moving the bit.  Like I say above, she grabs the bit.  Actually, she chews through the Nathes so fast that we have switched her to a single jointed baucher.  

Looks a bit like this.  But dirtier.

There will be no time that she will not chomp on the bit.  She has done it from the beginning.  That's why she's in a figure eight noseband.  A flash hits her wrong, and in a regular cavasson, she crosses her jaw.  So, she will grab the bit, usually on the left side, and try to ignore me.  Fortunately, it doesn't take much to get her to let go, as long as I don't pull.  If I pull or brace, then she gets stronger, and I long ago learned that I will never win that war.  All I have to do it slightly move the bit side to side.  We are not talking sawing her mouth.  We are talking such a slight movement that if I just think of moving my shoulder blades, it's enough to move the bit and get her to drop and soften.  So there was a lot of that, in transitions from walk-halt-walk, trot-walk-trot, etc.

When it came to the canter, we worked on walk-halt-walk to a light sitting trot to the canter, working the bit the whole time to keep her engaged into the upward transition.  She did great.  We did this on a 20 meter circle each way, combined with some other trot circles and transitions when she tried to get ahead of me.  She was really listening quite well.  Then we worked into the corners, concentrating on keeping her light up front.  And keeping my inner hip lifted.  This was really quite interesting to me, because I was able to feel her be light in the front and almost pivot on the hind end in the corners.  Marcy says that is what it is supposed to be like, because it puts you actually into the corner and gives you another 2 or so strides on the short wall in front of the judge.  Violet also stayed much straighter on the long walls when we went down those.  

All in all, this was a great lesson.  I felt like my body position was still pretty good, able to sit the canter much better, and actually use my legs independently from my arms.  Still working on the left arm/hand, and still working on keeping the inner hip lifted on circles, putting a little more weight in the outside stirrup.  Violet was very good, even though the wind was blowing so hard past my ears at times that I had to turn my head in order to hear Marcy.  It was a great lesson, and gives me more to grow on.

Because she's just so cute.

Weekend plans

Sorry I havent posted anything in the last couple days.  With Christmas coming, (and with that, year end) I have been busier than ever at work, and home is no better.  Between baking, making ornaments, and getting the tree up and decorated, as well as all the cooking, I've been preoccupied.

The good news is that work is almost over, the weekend has almost begun.  And with that, two fantastic lessons!  I'll be on my own this time, so probably no pictures of the riding, but ride I will.

In the meantime, there's this:

See you all next week, when I will have horsey updates!

Wordless Wednesday (do captions count?)

Violet and I before I bought her in 2009 with her boyfriend Baron.

Our first out of area show in GA 2009 (walk-trot)

Schooling April 2010

"Does this make my ears look big?" 2012

Mugging for treats with giraffe nose 2012

Loving on the pony 2013

 

Selfie after a great jump school Spring 2014

First (and only) three-phase ribbon (Tadpole, Summer 2014)

  

Cross country schooling Fall 2014.

 

December 2015

Back in the Saddle

Saturday, I packed up the mother and the fiance and we took a road trip down to the barn.  It has been about two and a half years since my mom saw me ride, and we may have just started getting connection at the time.  And the boy hadn't seen me do dressage in an actual ring before, so I was excited to hear what they had to say.  And of course excited that I might actually get some pictures.

And with the pictures will go a bit of a disclaimer.  I was shocked and appalled when I saw them, as I have apparently grown an inner tube around my middle.  This is not acceptable.  I know this.  The elliptical was moved from the garage into the house yesterday.  Some changes are being made, because this cannot continue.  It's not fair to the pony, and I am not comfortable.  So anyway...

When we got there, it was a beautiful day; about 80, but with a nice cool breeze.  Marcy was already getting Violet groomed, so I put on my boots (yay!), helmet and gloves and hopped on.  Mom walked up to the ring with me.

Walking up to the ring with my Mom.

We started as usual by dropping stirrups to stretch me out a bit. Hard to believe I was out of the saddle for a month!

Drop those stirrups and s-t-r-e-t-c-h those legs.

We worked on getting the shoulders on the path that we were walking, and keeping Violet marching along.  I have to say, her walk feels very different than it used to.  I can feel her really stepping up under herself.  We worked in the corners a bit, counter bending a little on the straight areas when tracking to the left in order to keep her straight and not bulging out with her right shoulder.

Round pony is round.

I picked up my stirrups and did the same some more, then we went to the trot and worked on the same things.  Her first couple of steps in the trot are always an issue, and I worked hard to remember to move the bit slightly from my shoulders in order to encourage her to step up into the trot without throwing her head in the air.

Head a little up, mouth a little open.  Could be a little braced, you think?  But at least she has the fantastic tail flip!

I, of course, fight my left hand wanting to go down and out, but I only remember her saying to pick it up once or twice, which either means I'm getting better about it, or there are other things I was worse at.  It may be that, since I was working much harder at getting her right shoulder where it should be, that I wasn't feeling the need to compensate for her bulgy-ness by leading her around with the left rein.

Working on getting into the corner.

We also worked on doing lots of changes, whether it be changes of direction or transition up or down, or maybe a leg yield or a circle, or a combination of all of the above.  This is to keep the pony-brain actually listening instead of trying to guess what I might want next.  We are working now in 15 meter circles instead of 20.  I can remember the days when I thought 20 meter circles were so small they were scary.  And lopsided.

We then added in some canter.  In order to get the canter transition, we went on a 20 meter circle at the trot, went down to the walk, went back up to a light trot and a few strides later, asked for canter.  This lef to some really nice, quiet canter transitions.  Her right lead canter has always been easier for me, but it's so much more balanced and soft now.  And I was actually keeping her going in that one.

Look!  She's tracking up!

I have much more trouble to the left.  I am still working on getting the rhythm of the leg cues to keep her going and to get her to turn.  Turning to the left at the canter has always been an issue because of that right shoulder.  But it's better.  Much, much better.  And she did much better at coming back after the canter and listening to what I was asking her to do, rather than jump to canter everytime I put my leg on.  And for the first time, I was able to actually feel using my shoulder blades to steer her shoulders at the canter.

My seat felt like it was right, like I wasn't perching as bad as usual.  I only remember a couple of times at the trot being told to sit up taller.  And I was able to use my post to get more trot on the long walls.  I know I have been told since the beginning of my time with Marcy to use my seat to regulate the trot, but I have just never developed a feel for that.  I understand it in theory, and I must do it ok, because Marcy will tell me I did good when she tells me to do it, but I've not really felt it.  I did this weekend, thought.

Marcy has done a fantastic job with Violet, and I can tell just from my one little ride.  She says she is trying to keep Violet one step ahead of my in learning so that I don't have to try to figure it out at the same time Violet is.

After we were done, Mom, the boy and I walked back to the barns together.  The boy said he could see when I got some "stuff" but didn't quite know what all I was doing.  My mom just kept saying how proud she was and how wonderful I was riding compared to how I was the last time I rode.  And then she got wistful and said "I wonder what could have been if you'd had a Marcy when we had Frisky."  It's a nice thought, and I know it would have been great to have a Marcy around to teach me when I had my pony, but it all worked out the way it should have.  Hopefully the next time Mom comes around, she'll be able to see me jump!

My favorite.  She has relaxed into the bridle and is reaching under herself.  Only took about half an hour to get to it, lol.

Oh, and did you catch it?  Violet has decided that neoprene brushing boots are acceptable for every day riding now!  Still no leather open front jumping boots, but at least we aren't having to deal with polo wraps every day anymore!