The sun will come out, tomorrow....

After the roller coaster ride that was the middle of last week, the weekend definitely ended on an exciting note.

First and foremost, P-man is SOUND! I lunged him on Friday evening and he appeared sound at the walk trot and canter both directions (but he was still on a bit of bute at that time). Last dose of bute was Friday morning. I rode him yesterday (Sunday) and he felt very good! It pays to have a tough old man, even if he's grumpy sometimes.

Secondly, the C-Horse Event Team went out and REPRESENTED at our local show. I had three girls there and each one of them did great! They all displayed wonderful horsemanship, taking care of their horses in the heat, and were rewarded for it in the ring. I was very very proud of each one of them!

Here are a couple more pictures from the great gate debocle... the gate picture was taken after we fixed the gate (it was originally folded down on itself), and then the pic of P's leg is the only scrath he got (and I swear he has normal looking hocks - it's just a funny angle).

Close Call

(P's cammo vet wrap and sheet cotton after cantering around and rolling in the mud ALL day - I think it held up quite well!)

Yesterday as I drove into work, oblivious to the world in my "drive zone" I got the call that no horse owner wants to get.

My horses had gotten out, P had gotten in a fight with the neighbor's horses (over the little mare that's in heat) over the fence and got his leg caught in the gate, ripped the gate down 'freeing' the neighbor's horses and now they were all out together in the temporary paddock together - running, kicking, biting, bucking.

And the only person there was the neighbor's husband - NOT a horse person.

Awesome.

So I had a 40 minute drive of panic back home, of which was filled with horrific images of what I was gonna drive up to see. I also slowly realized that during my rushed morning, I had no recollection of doing the temporary gate up properly - AWESOME again... whatever fate I was going to find was my fault!

Once there I viewed the World War 3 wreckage that was in our back yard, and then viewed the calm horses chilling out in the respective pastures - a bit sweating a winded but, other than that, looked fine.

Jogged P up and he was quite stiff. Looked at the gate and couldn't believe he had 4 legs left! Poulticed and wrapped his hind that had done the damage from top to bottom and hoped for the best. No bute yet, just so I could see what we were dealing with last night.

When I got home, I was pleasantly surprised to find a sound P-man (a bit stiff, but really, who wouldn't be after getting a foot caught OVER the top of a gate). Left the wrap off last night, a bit of bute (reccommended by my wonderful vet, Dr. Kate Lombardi of Lombardi Mobile Equine) and he looks good this morning (again, just a bit stiff). There is a bit of swelling, but the heat is gone as of this morning. I doctored the skinned spots, and applied a standing wrap just to support it a bit as he's not being very 'careful', aka - he's still trotting and cantering like a mad man!

I'll probably still throw him on the trailer for the show tomorrow, just so I can let him hang and give him some massages between my coaching duties... I imagine the body stiffness will be the biggest problem.

So thank God P is a tough old man (albeit a bit crazy), and that it seems the only thing this cost me was a $200 gate!

Better late then never - An Ode to Dads

As it would have it - I totally forgot to give a shout out to my pops on Father's Day!

But really, isn't that the life of an equestrian's father? To sit on the sidelines, get none of the credit and still have to fix the truck when it breaks down on the way home from the show.

My dad and I are WAY too much alike. I got my height from him and my need to argue. We've butted heads many a-time - I even remember being VERY young and asking my mom "Why don't you divorce him?" (I had no idea the extent of what divorce was, and luckily she didn't listen. They've now been married 30 (mostly) happy years!).

While I was growing up, my dad was a high-school teacher, and the sole paycheck for our family. When other people would ask how he could shell out so much money for his daughter to ride horses around in circles when he really didn't make that much himself, he would say "Well, I guess it's cheaper then rehab." :) Ever the optimist...

He taught me to be frugal, that horses can survive being horses, that I can't cake my horses hair with showsheen and that a show-stall aisle way is as good of place as any for a quick nap. He would stand in the rode at the Springfield State Fairgrounds because he wanted to see the tornado that the radio had said touched down as the rest of the parents took shelter. I guess he needed some excitment in his life other then watching me trot in circles for hours on end.

He was the one that said, "I think this eventing stuff looks way more fun then what you do now (hunter/jumpers)" and so I was hooked. Soon after, on a rainy day trail ride, he took off through the mud ahead of me on my pony. When I expressed my fear for galloping in those conditions, he said "If you're gonna be an eventer, you'll just have to get over it" and took off again. I learned. He even helped me prepare for my first 3-day by racing me and my horse who wasn't the most keen to gallop on (he would then make fun of me about his 'trail pony' beating my eventer :) ).

He was never classically trained, nor did he ever compete, but instead rides because he wants too and he makes it thrilling (none of that slow trail riding for him!)

I think he's always thought what I do - and spend all my money on - is a bit silly, BUT he also has only wanted to see me happy, so he doesn't say TOO much.

And secretly he's pretty darn proud too...

Thanks Dad!

The End of an Era...

"No one on the corner have swagga' like us..."

I may be a pack rat.

There, I've said it, accepted it, and I've moved on. I'm not sure if this is has come about because I treasure things so dearly that I can't image stepping into the stirrup without my old-reliable equipment, or if it's because I've lived for so long in forced frugal-ness that I can't pull out that credit card until it's absolutely necessary.

Before I left for World Cup/Rolex, I threatened to toss my long-past-their-time-of-service half chaps out into the garbage, forcing myself to not come home without a new pair. However, I thought better of it and kept them. They no longer have elastic below my boot, the broken zipper pulls have been replaced by a bottle-opener on a key chain, and have been wet, dry, clean, dirty, sweaty, etc... more times then I can count.

The same can be said for my saddle and dressage coat. The saddle has had the seat replaced (twice), the kneerolls redone, the billets replaced and currently has a crooked flap, panels that are only being held on by 3 stitches, and plastic piping sliding out from the front seam. My dressage coat, originally sewn by my mother when I was in High School, has some stitching problems itself, but I LOFF them!

And now they have all been retired.

Last week I lived like a kid in a candy store with my custom chaps and saddle arriving (thank you ThinLine!) and a sweet Navy Dressage coat (from mom) that was 60% off on Tack-of-the-Day! Not to shabby -- I may look professional yet!

Nothing like new swagger to encourage me to leg P-man back up after his VACA. (which he is coming back nicely from, BTW).

Fun stuff, eh? I'm off to do 'work' by making ThinLine stirrup pad prototypes! Gotta love a job where my getting-ready-for-work routine this morning included tracking down an extra pair of stirrup irons.

Focus forward!
C

From the outside looking in

Ok,so I'm gonna admit - writing on this blog is a form of therapy for me (and God knows all eventers need some sort of therapy!). It allows me to get out what I'm hashing about, instead of continually beating my brain up. A very good thing...

So since P's been off the last week, I've been giving alot of thought to our ride at Lumber River. That, coupled with some timely conversations with my clients, has made me reflect a bit on how, as riders, we emotionally handle things.

Here's the thing... P was AMAZING on the cross country in VA - a bit green but very good; stellar in the show jump; super in the dressage at LR; a bit bored in the show jump; and an absolute dream for 3/4 of the cross country course. Sounds like pretty good odds, right?

Then why do I have those thoughts, like, "what if eventing isn't what he wants to do?"

I think these sorts of things are what all riders go through. I think it's normal to have those questions - 'Why am I doing this?' 'Is this the way I should be going?' 'Am I crazy?' (haha - maybe I'm the only one that thinks the last one). And I think I figured out why...

Many of us put so much time and invest so much of ourselves in our horses that we are crushed over the slightest thing. As eventers, this becomes even harder, because a small miscalculation can lead to a poor result - even if 98% of the weekend was awesome. We take things to heart, we over-analyze, we question...

And then we form a plan of attack.

Now I'm forming my plan of attack. I've got an amazing horse that got a bit overwhelmed, and now I need to build his confidence so he understands the questions well enough to take charge once again. Today he starts back hacking, my new saddle should be arriving sometime this week, and the future is looking bright!

Here's to regrouping, and moving on torwards bigger and better things.

He's still cute though!

Even though he may not have been perfect, he's still a cute baby!

He's still cute though!

Putting it all into perspective...

It's with great mixed emotion that I write this entry. Being Monday, there's always some feeling of the "Mondays" but this weekend was so filled with ups and downs that I feel as if my brain hasn't stopped spinning.

First there is Lumber River Horse Trials...

Saturday morning started with me being blonde and not setting my alarm properly... hello to waking up an hour and a half late! P-man and I jumped in the trailer and Black Beauty (my trusty 1998 Chevy Z-71) flew down to Southern Pines with time to spare. Dressage was great. Prophet rode exactly the test I wanted out of him - relaxed, correct and listening. Yes, he could have been more uphill and engaged, but after then tense test at VAHT, I really wanted him to take a breathe in the sandbox, and that's what he did. Good enough for a respectable 32.5.

Stadium was nothing much to look at -- bad for a horse that gets easy put-off when he thinks things are 'below' him. We cranked up the warm-up fences, he jumped like a million bucks, and then got a bit lazy in the ring, taking the very last rail. He made strides and went for all the jumps though, so I couldn't fault him too much - the jumps just needed to be bigger!

And then there was XC...

Since he skipped around VAHT quite pleasantly, I'd had it in my mind that I needed to change my XC ride a bit on him. Rather then setting up and 'showjumping' every jump (which lets him keep his eye on it longer), I decided he needed to grow up a bit and GALLOP with a change in balance to get to the fence. He started off spectacular... could not have had a better first 1/2 of the course. I even gave Stephen and crew a "WEEE" as we galloped by them. I was having a blast, P was having a blast... BUT

I could tell that we were playing a very fine line between big, bold, brave Prophet, and "this is kind of scaring the s**t out of me" Prophet. He felt like had just really kicked his boldness into high gear when a down bank caught him by surprise, hurting his ego just a bit. He got flustered, but after trotting the trakaner (talk about praying over the top of a jump :) ) and galloping through a couple of other complexes/jumps, I thought he had his rhythm back. The water complex -- not our element of the water -- but just the complex as a whole proved to be too much to look at for the newly formed 'brave' horse. After a bit of a discussion, we got through 1/2 of it. I THOUGHT I tipped my hat for a retirement, but the jump judges saw it a bit differently and gave us the big "E".

None the less, I was really proud of him and now have some homework to work on through the summer... they're all stepping stones to bigger and better things.

I've been really long winded here, But bear with me for the 'perspective' part of this tale... I'll make it quick.

Yesterday I had a new student come out for a lesson who has 'selective mutism' (sp?). Can I just say how happy it made me that by the end of the lesson she was talking and laughing, even though it was her first time at the farm, meeting me, and riding a horse instead of a pony! Her mom was so excited about the lesson program we have out there, and I'm so happy to share horses with someone who gets sooo much out of them.

They are beautiful, special animals that teach us something everyday....

Lumber River - tomorrow!

Prophet has been a rollercoaster ride this week - one day crazy, the next day lazy. But he's holding it together fairly well, even when he's crazy. Pretty exciting for tomorrow. OH, and he got new sneakers, so he's all ready to go!

Departure is it at 4 am - fun, right? Updates throughout the day will be through Twitter (once again) so be sure to check the left column of the blog page to read how the P-man's doing. Our Dressage time is 8:06, Show jump at 10:52 and out to cross country at 11:12. Very quick day!

Pretty, Pretty Pony

All is well here in preparation for Lumber River -- P got his shoe put back on, had a lovely flat school on Tuesday and then off yesterday cause I was teaching until it was dark! Hopefully the light load this week will work in our favor this weekend. I'm just saying that it's the tapering technique (or something) :)

Here are a few pics from Virginia Horse Trials (Brant Gamma Photo). They are of the bank up/bank down complex... P's first log off a bank! Isn't he cute?

All in one piece, kind of....

The last week has been an interesting one for me... nothing overly dramatic (well, sort of, but I'll get to that later), but just a bit trying, if you know what I mean.

First of all, the exciting news is that Lumber River is this weekend -- P-man's last recognized outing for the spring season! Very exciting to run him again so soon after VAHT and see what he learned, but also excited because after this event, we'll take some time to go back to basics and see if we can't make the leap up to prelim for the fall season -- still toying with the idea of running him at the T3D at Waradaca in the fall.

Bad news -- he threw a shoe on Saturday while glavanting around the pasture and I haven't been able to get the farrier to schedule a time to reset him (he was due this Friday any way). He is sound on the barefoot hoof and fulling packed with Magic Cushion, diapers, and a Hoof Wrap. I have my worst-case-scenerio planned out with hacks 2 days and swimming in Kim's pond for the other two days if absolutely necessary and a dressage/jump school on Friday after he gets done. HOPEFULLY it won't come to all that, but luckily he skipped around the training last weekend pretty easily so I'm working hard to not panic.

Next bit of drama involves the uncertain future of my instructor, Stephen. With abit of "change of direction" the farm he was employed by moved everyone off the property -- this is NOT a good thing when I FINALLY found someone P-man and I both click with so well. AFter a phone call with him though, I do feel much better that he will stay around -- thus P-man and I will (hopefully) continue to improve! I never thought of myself as a person that 'needed' a trainer, but I guess I never found one that worked so well with us!

So fingers crossed for the next week to all fall into place for us... will keep everyone updated!

Heels down, eyes up!