Insert Witty Title Here...

I'm not gonna lie...it has been excruciating trying to write this blogpost. I am officially suffering from writer's block!!! So far, I have tried three four FIVE times to write something here and either deleted it or just got up and left it. Nothing seemed to stir my creative juices as of late. I could blame it on the weather and life in general but I feel that this is becoming my crutch cop-out. No more! I will write about something with purpose... Ok, blocked again. Damnit. So, in attempt to free myself of "the block" I ask myself, "What does one literary genius (HA!) do when she is suffering from 'the block'?" Duh! Of course she goes online to Barnes and Noble to spend her Christmas gift cards on an insane amount of books! Yippee!

Now, let me back up before I delve into my recent purchases. I am currently reading The Seven Deadly Sins of Dressage by Douglas Puterbaugh & Lance Wills as well as Janet Foy's Dressage for the Not-So-Perfect Horse. Both of which are great learning tools on how to handle dressage emotionally, mentally and physically. One of my new purchases though is an easy read and really I was half-way done with it an hour after I took it from the B&N box. But it is now becoming dear to my heart! It is Jenna Smith's Dressage: Eight Secrets to FEI by an Adult Amateur Who Did It! She is very direct and too the point about the steps someone like me needs to really focus on to obtain the coveted FEI rider status. Mmm, I love learning :)

The rest of my book purchases were not as equine enthusiastic...2 biographies and a 4 book young adult fantasy series (No, it wasn't Twilight or that smutty fan fiction that developed out of that mess!). So out of the books and into the saddle...

My riding has been so sporadic lately between rain, snow, bad footing and a few other natural disasters that I know I'm forgetting. I do try on the in-betweens to be somewhat productive. DJ and I have taken yet another direction with his semi-retirement, wait for it...Freestyles!! Now, unfortunately his 19 yr. old Arabian body is having a very difficult time maintaining Third level work so, I have dropped him back to the bottom and we are going to attempt the new Training Level Freestyles in order to get our feet wet. Buddy is still working diligently on his Third level work but again the bad footing isn't necessarily the best for trying to teach him flying changes. But I do have a small remedy for that. Many lessons are scheduled in the next three (yes, I said THREE!) weeks, two at NSTC and two with my mystery teacher (who shall be named within the next two blog posts).  So, life is getting exciting again (I hope!).

On a different note....Even though we are barely into 2013, I have decided on a major equine related plans for 2014 that I am very excited about but do not want to jinx myself so, unfortunately I will not be able to talk about it for quite sometime :( But until that fateful day when I do decide to share my exciting plans with you internet readers, you can sit and try and guess! (Author's Note: Please don't hold your breathe in hopes that I will break my silence early because I won't and I really do not want to be responsible for any untimely deaths ;). In reality though, you probably have better things to do with your time and will find out when I post it. At that time, You will probably say to yourself, "I vaguely remember her mentioning that a long time ago" or "Really, she had us waiting for that?!?" Either way, I am still excited and can't wait to share the news :)

I understand this post was a bit all over the place. You probably have already written it off that I was drunk, which I'm not, although I may be suffering from severe fatigue since I did decide to try a new workout place today which resulted in me being in bed by 8:30! Oops :) Well, hopefully next time there will be a more coherent blogpost. Happy trails until next time everyone!

She's Alive!!!

That's right internet peeps, I'm alive! Although I planned a blog post the day after the last one I posted, I came down with that dreaded flu plaque that everyone and their brother was getting. It kicked my butt!!! I didn't go to work or the barn so getting on the computer to write about my New Year's resolutions and pony escapades was entirely out of the question. But now I'm back and I've got some catching up to do ;)

RESOLUTIONS
I'm going to make this quick and pretty straight forward since I've got cooler stuff to get to...

1. FOR GOD'S SAKE, I am getting that blasted USDF Bronze Medal this year if it kills me!
2. Qualify for Arabian Sport Horse Nationals in Sport Horse Show Hack, Third Level (Open and ATR) and MAYBE Fourth (only ATR)
3. Qualify for BLM Championships at Third Level
4. Qualify for GAIG Championships at Third Level
5. Attend at least one clinic (ridden or audit)
6. Work out at least twice a week (and no this does not include riding!)
7. Travel someplace besides VA and NC
8. Read 24 books (Audio books and Graphic Novels do count :P)
**This next one is not really a resolution but an attempt at bettering my daily life...always be thankful in the morning when I wake up for the life I live. It's really a pretty great one ;)

LESSONS
I love clinics, lessons and really any opportunity I can get that will help further my knowledge and love of dressage. So, when the occasion arises that there is a chance to take a lesson with a dressage great, one does not simply say "Sorry, I can't," or "Oh my, isn't that a bit expensive?" No, you do not think about price, distance or weather, you load up your spicy black horse who has not been ridden in a week and ask what time the lesson starts! Now, I can't tell you who the person is yet. And in all honesty, you may not really even be that impressed when I do tell you who it is, but that's okay. I have been DYING to take a lesson with this person and I finally got the chance! Luckily, the weather was great and Buddy was a star. His mother, on the other hand, is  apparently a mess in the saddle!

Apparently, my horse looks like two different horses in the front and back end when we begin our workouts. I have been told that Buddy can have a lazy or "weird" backend. It does not match the activity of his front end thus making him look occasionally uneven. Thus, my lesson was spent fixing a problem that no one had bothered to teach me to fix. So, with lots of moving the haunches away from my inside leg (to activate the inside hind), leg-yielding away from my outside leg (to lift the inside shoulder), and pushing forward into both of my hands, I was able to achieve actual throughness without having World War III with his face. His back was up and he was pushing underneath him and not behind him. How cool! I've only had him for 7 years and am now just feeling this?!?! Man, we are behind the curve! While I was learning this newfound concept, it was also brought to my attention that my shoulders are uneven (right is higher than the left) and my left hand is constantly trying to be the center of attention. Ugh! Like I didn't have enough to work on already! But I have my homework and another lesson scheduled for March when my mystery clinician returns to NC. Until then, it will just have to be a little secret :)

I have a regular lesson scheduled with Lynn when she comes back for her annual "clinics" while she is wintering in FL. I missed the last one due to scheduling with my new job and then the flu plague was still hanging around. So, fingers crossed no sickness or health problems in general for me or the black horse and hopefully the next blog post will happen on schedule! Until then, Happy Trails!

2012 in a nutshell

Since I started this blog a couple of years ago, I usually make a blog post on the last few days of December to recap what the year has brought me and see how I did on my year end resolutions. Let's start with the 2012 recap. Well, I have to say that one of the biggest things accomplished this year was that we all survived the apocalypse! I know everyone was worried about that one but now we can all breathe a little bit easier (take that Mayans!! lol). In all seriousness, my riding got better even though it seemed harder this year. There were no super impressive scores but lots of hard work in solidifying our second level work. Our high was definitely the GAIGs with our best second level to date. We had some rough moments with Buddy jumping the fence and DJ's mysterious mouth sores (still working on my theory for this one, expect a blog post soon!). But at this very moment, I'm happy with where the boys are in their work. We are ready to take on new challenges next year and ready for our first lessons since before the BLMs in 2 weeks.

Ok, it's time to see how I faired on my 2012 goals:

2012 Goals:

• Finish that darn USDF Bronze Medal!!! 
• Well, I almost had it and I only need 1 more score! I'm not so sure DJ will be the one to finish it but at least he was the one who got me most of it :)
• Qualify for GAIG's & BLM's at Second and Third Level
• I did half of this one and I am REALLY glad I did not pursue the other half. In the summer I tried to make the transition to 3rd level with the addition of flying changes...long story short, bad idea! Bud was so confused with what I wanted it started effecting everything about our rides. So, we went back to really perfecting 2nd level and it ended up being the right decision for us at the time.
• Get into better physical condition - last year I set a goal for lbs. lost and I accomplished that but this year I want muscle along with it...that means, ugh, working out :(
• Hahaha! Silly me! I knew this one would be difficult for me personally since I'm not the biggest fan of working out. I recently bought a living social deal for a new Pure Barre studio that opened near my job and it expires in February. Maybe now I will actually try this time around.
• Get to at least one clinic this year (audit or riding)
• GOAL ACHIEVED! I had the great opportunity to go audit a clinic with JJ Tate. One day I will work with her on a horse. She is FANTASTIC. I went both days and learned so much it was ridiculous :)
• Read 20 books with at least 1 being a book to help my passion for the sport
• GOAL ACHIEVED! See the list below:

1. Daughter of Smoke and Bone - Laini Taylor
2. Daytripper - Fabio Moon & Gabriel Ba (Graphic Novel)
3. Dressage Masters: Techniques and Philosophies of Four Legendary Trainers - David Collins
4. Brisingr: The Inheritance Cycle Book 3 - Chistopher Paolini (Audiobook)
5. Septimus Heap Book 1: Magyk - Angie Sage (Audiobook)
6. Septimus Heap Book 2: Flyte - Angie Sage (Audiobook)
7. Septimus Heap Book 3: Physic - Angie Sage (Audiobook)
8. Septimus Heap Book 4: Queste - Angie Sage (Audiobook)
9. Septimus Heap Book 5: Syren - Angie Sage (Audiobook)
10. Septimus Heap Book 6: Darke - Angie Sage (Audiobook)
11. A Discovery of Witches - Deborah Harkness
12. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - Seth Grahame-Smtih (Audiobook)
13. Anya’s Ghost - Vera Brosgol (Graphic Novel)
14. The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack - Mark Hodder (Audiobook)
15. At the Mountains of Madness: A Graphic Novel - H. P. Lovecraft & I.N.J Culbard   (Graphic Novel)  
16. Inheritance: The Inheritance Cycle Book 4 - Christopher Paolini (Audiobook)
17. Pirate Latitudes - Michael Crichton
18. The Maze Runner - James Dashner (Audiobook)
19. Locke & Key Book 5: Clockworks - Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodriguez (Graphic Novel)
20. The Scorch Trials  - James Dashner (Audiobook)
21. The Death Cure - James Dashner (Audiobook)
22. Tiger’s Destiny - Colleen Houck
23. The Kill Order - James Dashner (Audiobook)
24. The Scorpio Races - Maggie Stiefvater (Audiobook)
25. Divergent - Veronica Roth (Audiobook)
26. Insurgent - Veronica Roth (Audiobook)

Ok, really I only read 9 and the rest were audiobooks but that's ok because my requirement was still met including my dressage read. I provided a link to that book since it was a fantastic read and will definitely be revisiting it for inspiration. 

I will post my goals/resolutions tomorrow. Until then, Hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year!

Onward and Upward

The 2012 show season is over. Two of the three championships we attended I can count as successes! The first one I wrote about in my last post Quiet Laughter...that was clearly not one of the successes. Next we were onto the CBLM Championships held in Lexington, VA. Any fall show at the Virginia Horse Center is going to be one of my favorites. I grew up showing at this facility but there's something about it in the fall that makes it perfect. The leaves are beautiful in their wide array of fall hues, there is a crispness in the air and I get the chance to eat at all my favorite local digs! But I digress, back to the show...besides the terrifying drive over the mountains, everything went seamlessly. Buddy was positively lovely to ride. He was soft, adjustable ad forward in all of our schooling both inside and out. He  went into his practice class and had a BEAUTIFUL ride with only a small spook earning a 2nd place in a large class. This pumped me up for our Championship the next day. My ride was in the very middle of the class so we were lucky the pea soup fog had finally subsided by my ride time. We went in with the same mentality of keeping it quiet and forward. The test was going  SO WELL that I took at moment to sit back and back in the glory of it...and then we broke out of the canter! Ugh! No biggie, I can fix it on the other side...and it happened again!!! Really?!?! So I opted for trying to make up for some lost points by driving the last medium trot home. The score wasn't awful but it knocked us out of the placings for a respectable 12th place of 27 riders. Not bad but not the best. Performance wise, I was super pleased after having quite a few difficult rides this season with Bud. We had a blast with our friends from Beech Creek Farm and overall the show was awesome!

Two weeks later we made the trip down to the last show in Williamston, for the GAIG/USDF Region 1 Championships. This particular show made me a little more anxious than the others because of the test. Second 3 has been giving me problems all season. I haven't felt confident with our balance in the canter  let alone the counter-canter teardrops, but we were going to try our hardest anyways. The week leading up to and into the show was a tough one for us anyways. The weather was very rainy (preventing any riding), Buddy sprang the corner of ones of his shoes the day after the farrier came (Friday). I  knew my farrier was unavailable so I called another who told me he was too busy, I called a 2nd farrier who was unfortunately out of town. So, Monday came and my farrier was able to put the shoe back on. I rode Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday it went to hell in a hand-basket at work so no riding and Thursday we left for the show. I get everything settled with Boo in the barn (we were stabled with all of our friends from NSTC and Beech Creek was right down the aisle) and go to check in. I had left my Coggins at home on the printer. Commence full freakout mode! I called my vet's office but they were closed for the day. I ended up calling the Emergency number and luckily the vet on call was headed back to the office and would fax me a copy. 1 hour passes and no fax. I call the vet back and she says she's been trying to fax it but there is a busy signal (i.e. the show's fax machine is busted). UGH!!! The vet says she will attempt to email it. Another hour and the email finally comes through, EUREKA! We get our numbers and fly back to the barn. By this time it is 6:30 and the rings close at 8 for riding. Our championship ride was going to be in the Coliseum (which is not one of Buddy's favorite places to ride) so the first night, the next night and the following morning either included a ride or hand walk in this fear inspiring building. I get him all tacked up for the first warm-up ride in the Coliseum and boom, left front shoe is missing. Cue the tears. I try to collect myself and find the show farrier, wouldn't you know, he has left for the evening. I call and plead for him to put this shoe on and l  he begrudgingly agrees and will be there in 5 min. I run back to the barn to get my horse and go to bring him out of the stall where I proceed to break his etched wood show plaque. UGH AGAIN!!! The day was just not a good one! I get the shoe on and run to the Coliseum for a 7:15 ride. It was full of spookiness and tension but I decided to call it quits on a decent note since I was pretty sure I was the problem and not him. We started the next day anew and it all went up from there. We had a super ride for our practice test and ended up 2nd in a large Dover Medal Class behind a friend of mine. We went to dinner with friends from the barn then came back for a hand walk around the Coliseum. The next day was the big one...and I was the first ride of the championship class. I went in and rode my tail off. I came out of the ring in tears and my mom asked what I thought of the ride. My response was, "That was the ride I was waiting for all season!". I wasn't sure if the judges would agree but at that point I didn't care. To make my very long story a little shorter...I sat in first place with a 66% for the next 12 rides. The last three bumped me down but by only tenths of a %! We got to victory lap with the other placers and I wore a stupidly big grin the entire time! It was a perfect ending to a rather frustrating season.

Now, the boys and I are enjoying a little down time with lots of fun strength building rides including gallops through the back pastures, flying change schooling and cavaletti pole work. Buddy's changes are coming along quicker that I expected and DJ is just working on not being so strong in the mouth. I think we are going to have a real winter this year meaning actual snowfall. It may put a little dent in our ring work but who doesn't like a good gallop through the snow?!? Until next time!

Quiet Laughter...

Wow, again I have neglected my blog in favor of riding, reading, fall TV and just plain laziness. Epic Fail! But enough about my lack of enthusiasm, let's get to blogging! I saw we start off with DJ since he usually ends up in the backseat due to all of Buddy's show adventures.

The end of July was my first show with DJ since 2009. Nervous was not enough of a an adjective to describe how I felt about bringing him back to the show world. I knew he wouldn't be bad or crazy, I feared he wouldn't be accepted. We had had many years doing (what I now can see was mediocre) 2nd level resulting with less that encouraging marks from the judges at open shows. Along with the remarks came bitterness, discouragement and confusion. I felt myself constantly asking "Why didn't they like my horse?" "He did all the moves and he wasn't crazy, why I am scoring in the low 50's?" "Do they not like him because of his breed?" (yes, in fact that was a problem with one judge but that's a story for another time!). All of these thoughts would run through my mind and unfortunately at the time my education could not help me rectify the situation. Since moving down here, my riding has changed drastically and even though DJ is not my usual lesson mount he gets to partake in my riding reinvention through the homework I obtain. He has become more balanced and confident and even though he turned 18 in May, he has also become more athletic. Because of this, it was time to dip out proverbial toe back into the waters of competition. Luckily, the show I picked was only half an hour away so that meant showing out of the trailer, thank goodness! Our first day was a good learning experience. The test was tight and very quick, the changes were not really clean and VERY braced which resulted in a 56%. Understandable, it was his first time back and I put a bit too much pressure on myself thinking that this might not be the best idea I've had. After getting my test back and reading, rereading and re-rereading the comments as well as multiple views of the video, I knew what I had to do the next day for better scores. I came back Sunday was a fresh view and a new game plan. I fixed what needed fixing in the warm-up, practiced a couple of changes and went in to try again. The test was much smoother but the changes were still bleh although they were clean this time! Our homework paid off and we were given a 61%!!! DJ gave me my second to last score needed for my Bronze medal. I couldn't have been more proud. Again, I read, reread, and re-reread my tests then made a plan to take DJ out again before the season was over (I'll elaborate on that trip a little but later).

August was Buddy's month.  I had taken him to see Dr. Bob Grisel from Atlanta Equine for a second opinion and follow up after his little "incident" when he jump the fence. Just want to let you all know that Dr. Grisel is AWESOME and so are his staff. They extremely knowledgeable, patient, and pleasant to work with. Dr. Grisel travels a lot so if he comes to a city near you, go meet him and have your horse checked to make sure everything is running properly, you won't regret it!!! Back to my story...We were given the go ahead to go back to work, so that is exactly what we did. Championship time was looming ever closer and the first one would be cutting it a little close but I figured we'd try anyways since we qualified. I signed up for the NCDCTA Championships and we rode our butts off before the show. I asked Lynn to have a lesson on the Friday before the classes started. She hadn't seen him since the June show and before his injury. Honestly, it was probably one of the best lessons we have ever had! He was so spot on I had great hope for the weekend...(now comes the reason for the blog title) Have you ever heard the saying, we make plans and God laughs? That basically summed up my weekend. Saturday and Sunday came around and my wonderful, talented, and willing horse went back to being my crabby, unwilling, UBER tense mule in the show ring. The scores were in the low sixties and nowhere near the quality of work he had been putting in the weeks before. I'm not sure if he was exhausted or just having a bad weekend but boy, was it discouraging. We went from the previous day of being so awesome to going down the centerline trying to mimic the body posture of a giraffe gazing at the heavens. As Charlie Brown so appropriately put it "UGGGGHHH!!!" We ended up fourth for the Championships but my pride took a pretty good beating. I eventually snapped out of it and now am working towards Championship #2, the CBLMs.

Finally, we arrive at last weekend. Remember I said I was going to sneak in one last show with DJ? Well, I decided to take him to down to Pinehurst for that last attempt of finishing my Bronze. The week before I had his teeth floated and feet done so all would be set for the show. During his floating, my vet noticed some sores on the inside of his mouth that we initially thought were caused by calcification that was lingering on his bit. I thoroughly cleaned the bit (Now, don't think badly of me. I clean my bit after every ride but what I thought was hurting his mouth is the white/yellow stuff that sticks to the bit like glue after a while), started applying GlyOxide to heal the sores and bought my new favorite product in the whole wide world Bit Butter! It worked like a charm! The sores were healing quickly and my pony was softer in the bridle and worked his tail off at home for me. I felt great going to the show. We arrived on Friday with time to sneak in a quick ride. I wanted to make sure both of our jitters were gone so they would not hinder us come show day. He rode around like a champ and gave me quiet beautiful changes. This was going to be a great weekend...wait, do you hear that?? Yea, that would be God laughing again. Saturday was an utter catastrophe. We didn't ride until 3:27 so I had the whole day to sit around and think, not such a good thing. I took DJ for hand walks and made sure he was clean and happy. Somehow, I didn't plan correctly with all that extra time and only gave myself about 28 minutes of warm-up. Warm-up was tight, tense, heavy and overall unpleasant. I couldn't figure out what the problem was until about 8 minutes before my time. I had forgotten his Bit Butter. I tried to convince myself that it couldn't make that much of a difference. Boy, was I wrong! To sum up that test, I had people stopping to watch the rodeo that had my test had morphed into. There was excessive running (head up in air style), plank straight laterals and emergency braking. It was a red hot train wreck!!! I got back to the barn and untacked trying to think of why that was such a colossal failure, then I checked his mouth. The wounds were back and twice the size they were previously! I felt AWFUL!!! I spoke with some of my friends and show neighbors about the problem and the general consensus was that my bit was old enough that the outer layer had worn away and the under layer of a different type of metal was causing a very bad reaction to the inside of his mouth. I checked the trailer for other bit options but was left with ones that were too large or illegal for licensed dressage. I even went to the tack store on site to try and purchase another but alas, they didn't have any either. My plan changed to trying warm-up the next morning with an excessive amount of Bit Butter and see what he did. If it was bad we would scratch. He was much happier with some added lubrication so we attempted the test again. The changes were still a disaster but the rest of the flowed much better bring our 5s up to 6.5s and a couple of 7s. We ended with a 56 % and really positive comments from the judges. His old bit is in the trash so it cannot cause anymore harm and the quest for a new bit has begun. DJ's show season is over but we will spend the winter working extremely hard on 3rd level to get that last score in the Spring. Buddy and I will be off on the 17th to our beautiful home away from home, Lexington, Virginia, home of the Virginia Horse Center. Hopefully, this outing will be a bit more successful that our last. But, we will not be making any definite plans for what will happen at the show and I will keep my ears open for that ever so quiet laughter from above.

Summer, Why Must You Hate Us?!?!?

It's no new story that most of the United States has been continuously blasted with unbearable heat waves that could easily rival that of Saudi Arabia. In order to get anything done under saddle without melting or causing heat stroke, it is necessary to be on your horse at an ungodly hour every morning. Well, that's been my routine for the past few weeks or so. Up at 4:30 and on my first horse by 6:00. UGH! Now I'm exhausted all the time but at least I'm keeping up the routine. My next show isn't for another three weeks but I'm still trying to work as hard as I can. This will be DJ's first show since moving to North Carolina. I'm excited yet extremely nervous. His Third level work is much more solid then when we left Virginia but I'm still a little leery on his "exuberant" flying changes. We went to a lesson yesterday and he was amazing (even though the two of us were sweating buckets!).  I am thinking more positively about our classes and hopefully *fingers crossed* the Bronze medal is within reach!

The other two boys have not had a great summer. Khakie, the "gaited dressage wonder", has had a relapse of his laminitis and will probably be unridable once we get him out of the woods. It has been very difficult for everyone involved and very emotional but we are still doing everything we can to make sure he is comfortable and that his quality of life has not depreciated in any way. I'll keep this updated for milestones in his journey to recovery.

Then there is Buddy...Buddy, Buddy, Buddy....dear goodness, this horse is going to be the death of me! It all started with a phone call at work. He had jumped the fence on his paddock because a neighbor on his ATV scared the snot out of him. No, he did not clear the gate.

Luckily, the vet was going to be there within minutes and would look at him when she got there. About a half hour later, I got a call from the vet to discuss his current status. He was really scraped up and swollen but on the whole everything looked to be superficial. He scraped up both stifles and had a nice flesh wound on his right front tendon.

 

Two weeks after, the wounds were all healing very nicely...

but the swelling on the front leg was not going away. While he was wrapped, there was no swelling and we were about 98% sound. No wrap = tree trunk swelling and 100% lame. That worried the heck out of me! After much coaxing and prodding, I got the vet to take some X-rays (no, she really thought he was just being a sissy!) and wouldn't you know it, he has a stress fracture on his Splint bone!! Good grief! I was told that this will heal itself but all the riding she had me doing before the X-rays, to keep the swelling down, had not been such a good thing after all. So, we are restricted to walking under saddle and we are going to get a second opinion next month since I have lost faith in this particular vet. He is going to get another set of X-rays in about 30 days to see his progress and make sure nothing is hurting his suspensory ligaments. Sigh.... That is where everyone stands at the moment. Hopefully, the next entry will be a little bit more upbeat with positive reports for all three horses! Until next time!

Lesson Day...HURRAY!

This month has been a whirlwind of craziness! Weather-wise, we go from the 70's to the 40's back to the high 60's then down to the 20's at night...seriously, is this January?!?! I mean, I know some places are getting crazy snow or perfect weather for the most part (yea, I'm talking about you FL!) but this is just a little ridiculous for January in NC. Dear Weather Gods, Make up your mind please, preferably in the warmer direction :) Besides that, the rain has edited my riding and so has my new job! Yes, I said it, new job! I finally have my paralegal job which gets me more $$ to spend more time in the saddle but because I'm new at work, time in the saddle is not necessarily what I'm getting. Also, Buddy has had a rough couple of weeks with another biopsy on the lump on his face which was so painful it resulted in crazy swelling which he tried to alleviate by rubbing off all of the skin on the side of his face. The poor boy was a mess and that resulted in no riding for a week and a half. I finally start to get him back on the mend and last Sunday he coliced a little on me so tomorrow I will attempt to do a light workout with him. Anyways, Lynn was in town from FL this weekend which meant lesson time. Since, Buddy was feeling better but hadn't been ridden in a full week, I didn't think it was fair to subject him to a lesson. DJ was the lucky substitute! The funny thing about this horse is that he LOVES and I mean LOVES taking trailer rides. As soon as he saw the trailer pull up along side the barn, he started piaffing in the aisle as I as putting on his shipping wraps. On the way to the trailer, he picked up a trot and literally trotted onto the trailer. When he landed inside, the whole trailer shook and he started talking (his voice is much deeper than one would expect for his size or breeding) which meant, "Close the darn ramp and lets get moving! We have places to go and things to eat!"

We got to NSTC and it was PACKED! People were keeping horses overnight to partake in lessons tomorrow, some had horses on the trailer since they had already had lessons and were watching their fellow riders have their turn or they just finished and were packing up to go home. Lynn managed to squeeze me in during her lunch break today so we were right in the middle of all the commotion. It was funny because all of the horses around us were big flashy warmbloods and here comes my Napoleon-complex, Alpha-male, 14.3 Arabian gelding...he has no idea he's tiny because his presence is that of a 17.2 WB stallion! We went in right at the end of my friend Liz's lesson to warm up and man was he feeling good! We got right down to work in creating bend throughout his body and Lynn had me giving half-halts every stride in order to gain more cadence in the trot at shoulder-in since he tends to be quick and choppy when we start. He got better and better every stride showing that our work over the past month has been paying off and that he is getting stronger and more confident in himself. Next, we moved onto the canter and even though this is only his third lesson with Lynn, his canter was lightyears better than the first lesson! She was so impressed by just watching the left lead she wanted to work on the "FC"s at the end. YAY! She finally thought we were ready to start to tackle my evil nemesis the flying change but alas, that all changed after seeing the right lead. Even though the rhythm was better and he was adjustable, we still had a lot of problems with his bend. So, we went back to the walk and trot to do some really exaggerated  over-bending to the right and then back to the canter. When he started to lose it or get frustrated, we went back to the trot and sometimes walk just to reinforce the idea. He improved a lot with just that exercise. Lynn suggested instead of working on the changes themselves today (we would try again when she came back), we would just work on maintaining a nice uphill canter while just changing the bend. This way he would think this was no big deal and not associate bend change with flying change. The left was super easy and the bend came quietly on both sides. Cantering to the right proved more difficult because he was fine going straight and kind of bending to either side but not the other, meaning we could go straight and bend left but not right or we could go straight and bend right but not left. Right at the end he was getting a little tired in the canter but when I brought him back down to trot he felt like he was ready to do the whole trot tour of the Third 1 test, what a silly boy! I had to halt and relax his neck before we could go back to the nice cadence trot we had at the beginning just to stretch him down at the end. Overall, what a great lesson, we definitely improved over just a couple months and next time we come back I'm sure we going to be able to at least show Lynn what we can do as far the "FC" is concerned. But for now I can be content with today, and I have the basic plan for Buddy tomorrow even though I was inspired by watching all the great freestyles from the World Dressage Masters Palm Beach on the usefnetwork!  

First Post of 2012!!!

YAY!!! Happy New Year :) This is is gonna rock! I can feel it deep down in my toes...new job, great rides, maybe new rides?!?! (ok, I have to be a little realistic here, probably not gonna happen but one can always dream!). I have my new goals ready for this year. I am also refraining from referring to them as resolutions, because a friend once said "Resolutions can be made and completed anytime as long as one has the strength to go through with them." Goals are different because because it's something that you would like to complete during the time-frame of a year but your life will not be better or worse if you don't. SO, let's get on with them:

2012 Goals:

• Finish that darn USDF Bronze Medal!!! 
• Qualify for GAIG's & BLM's at Second and Third Level
• Get into better physical condition - last year I set a goal for lbs. lost and I accomplished that but this year I want muscle along with it...that means, ugh, working out :(
• Get to at least one clinic this year (audit or riding)
• Read 20 books with at least 1 being a book to help my passion for the sport

I think these are realistic and achievable goals, not too many and not too vague!

And now, for the new announcement....I have started another Blog (*gasp* I know, right?!?!). It is still about the adventures of my boys and I, but it is only about the training that the three of us do at home. I'm using a book that is all about dressage exercises as inspiration and cannot wait to get started! Check it out  at http://amateurdressagetrainingjournal.blogspot.com/. Hope everyone has had a great start to the New Year! Until next time, Happy Riding :)

Reflections, Revelations and Relaxation!

Thanksgiving has come and gone and I'm only a couple of pounds heavier because of it...joy! That's not too bad because Christmas is only mere weeks away and I KNOW I will just keep adding to the pounds I happily lost this year. But besides fabulous food and family bonding, I thought (as I do every year at this time) about the things I was thankful for. Family of course tops the list while my boys (ponies and puppy) are a close second. I said a quiet prayer for the ones not able to be at Thanksgiving this year...my grandmother (although she passed a few years ago, she was always with us at this time and loved this holiday), my friend Kay, and my Uncle Mike we lost last month to pneumonia although he was a survivor of Vietnam and Throat Cancer. I miss them all greatly even though I know they look down on me every day. But I think besides just people, I am thankful for the experiences I have been able to have this year whether they be equine or not. I love my family, my boys and my life. It seems to just get better all the time!

Enough of the reflections, onto the revelations! The day before Turkey Day, I was able to squeeze in a lesson with Lynn on DJ. It's always so pleasant taking DJ out, he is the perfect traveler. I'm talking self-loader, no drama, hauls like a dream perfect traveler. And with just me and dad, it makes the whole process a lot easier. Well, we got there and started warming up and then it was immediately off to work. The first lesson was just an evaluation. Because she knew what she was dealing with now, we immediately started on bending and flexing exercises for his tight little body. Travers, renvers, shoulder-in and half-pass were repeated through the entire session of trot work which really seemed to get easier since the last time we came for a lesson. The canter work started on the forehand and sluggish. After some editing (i.e. fixing how the rider was using her reins to speak to her horse, sitting up and back in the saddle, and working on getting his hind end more active and underneath him) the canter became more up and out and active! Hurray!!! We ended with some nice relaxed trot stretching and a plan for next time...do everything we did in the lesson and the flying changes shouldn't (in theory) be so...exuberant :)

The part of the lesson where Lynn addressed my hands can be considered my biggest revelation. It was fascinating! She stopped me, took my hands and showed my little things that she did that spoke volumes on the reins. I had always thought I had quiet hands, and apparently I do but that is the problem...they are too quiet. I can move my fingers but only in just a couple of ways which obviously wasn't doing the trick. Now I have a whole arsenal under my belt and boy, are they helpful! Since the lesson, while riding both my boys I have been kicking myself to remember the techniques we discussed in order to be more effective in the saddle. I'm happy to announce, I have a had some pretty fabulous rides lately!

After Thanksgiving, I decided to take 2 days off for myself. No riding just checking on the boys and administering meds when needed. My mom and I decided to brave the mall on Black Friday and managed to survive with 1 Christmas gift and a few very good deals on sweaters for us :) Then I got sick and had to take another day off. I started back yesterday with some great rides which was a lovely way to start "back to reality".

Out of Retirement...

It says on my blog that I do in fact own two horses. But if anyone out there has actually read my blog, I mostly talk about the accomplishments of my black horse, Buddy. I even spent a full entry on a fabulous horse that I ride that doesn't even belong to me. My poor little purebred hasn't gotten a nod all year! Before I get started, let me talk about DJ (aka "Little Man") a bit. DMD Don Juan+/, known in the barn as DJ, is my 14.3hh purebred Polish bred Arabian whom I've owned for about 11 years now. He is my equine soul mate! It was love at first sight when we were introduced years ago by a good friend of mine and at the time his owner. After acquiring him for my 8th grade graduation, DJ and I tackled the show world in a variety of ways...we started off with the rated Arabian circuit in the disciplines of hunter pleasure, equitation, sport horse in-hand and under saddle, show hack, working hunters and dressage. At the same time we also did local/rated hunters, jumpers, eventing and dressage. My pony was a show machine! From 2001 until 2006 many championships, year-ends and national titles were won. But at the end of 2006, Little Man looked tired and was beginning to have issues with his stifles. This ended his jumping career and because of certain politics on the Arab circuit, we decided that the main focus would be dressage. From 2007 to 2010, DJ had been in consistent training with few shows in between but was constantly taking a back seat to Buddy and a couple of other horses I was showing at the time. I even had a lessee for him for a year that did a great job with him working Training/First level until she bought a horse of her own. Even after the move to North Carolina, DJ still took a back seat to Buddy's and mine continuing education.

Now to present day, DJ has been schooling really well especially with the work Lynn has been introducing to Buddy and I. I have tweaked the way I ride him and his methods of going but I knew if I wanted to slowly bring him back to the show ring in hopes of finishing my Bronze Medal (that I have been trying to finish for, um, 4 years?!?!), it was time to bring him out of "retirement" and into the lesson ring. So, yesterday I easily threw Little Man on the trailer (and yes, that is a HUGE thing with me since Buddy's trailering is such an ordeal!) and trekked over to Chapel Hill to introduce my love to my trainer. He took everything like the champ he is after not being off the farm in over a year, some pretty gusty winds, and a rather agitated Warmblood mare running around her paddock screaming. I was so neurotic about making him happy and this being a positive experience that we arrived an hour before my lesson. The good thing was I was able to graze him, walk him around, stretch him and warm him up peacefully with no one around before the lesson. Then Lynn came out and it was time to begin!

She looked him up and down, said he was cute and got right down to business of what we were going to accomplish in this first meeting. I explained that I never expected him to be an FEI horse because of his age and conformation but my main goal was to see if she thought we could be show ring ready for 3rd level by next season or if I should just continue to ride him leisurely and let him enjoy the beginning of his retirement. She wanted to see him go so we did a couple of laps and then delved right into fixing the mincey steps and aiming for strides that I am used to riding on Buddy. Amazingly enough, that issue was fixed rather quickly with adjustments to me that he heard very clearly. We worked on loosening his naturally tight little body with circles, shoulder-in, traveres, and renvers. This led to work at the canter which we stopped after only a circle or two to discuss what needed to be fixed in this area. Lynn wanted him much more up in his shoulders, she liked how adjustable he already was in his speed but it needed more consistency and true push from behind. It took a bit but the canter slowly morphed into the canter I had been searching for for some time. I was thrilled! He was obedient, quiet and listening. In saying this, I should have probably mentioned that DJ although is my pony love, he is also a perfectionist with a "little man" complex (hence the nickname!) and he most definitely an Alpha-male. So, it's not always easy to introduce new training techniques or work on things that challenge his body. To be able to go through this with no objections was great! We finished up the lesson by going back to the trot, setting the rhythm we were happy with and working on the half-pass. The left side was beautiful with great flexibility and adjustability. The right side took some work but got better with every try. Afterwards, we let him finish with some nice stretchy circles which he really enjoyed. After this evaluation lesson, Lynn and I discussed it and decided that this was totally do-able with a lot of little tweakings that could be done over the winter, I could get him show ready for the spring!

This makes me so happy! Even if it's only two of three shows next season that's totally ok for me. I want him to be happy showing again and not let any pressures for qualifications or championships taint our experience. He has nothing left to prove to me besides being able to successfully complete Third Level Test 1 with maybe a couple of 60% scores. If not, it won't break my heart :) My little man is back in action, look out show world here we come!!!

Happy New Year!

First blog of the new year...Yay! Well, let me start with Happy New Year! I hope anyone reading this had a safe and fun night last night bringing in 2011. Unfortunately, that was not the case for me and my mom. Although we did not suffer any safety issues so to speak, our way of bringing in the "New Year" was far less than happy :( Since moving to NC, we have learned many new things about our new neighbors including that there is no such thing as a leash law with dogs, no one feels the need to lock their car/house, and there is always reason to carry a gun! But one thing we were not aware of was the annual lighting of fireworks at private shindigs in the hours leading up to the actual event of the New Year celebration. Needless to say, the horses did not handle the festivities all that well. To make my story short, we spent from 6:00pm to 12:20 in the barn blasting the local pop station to drown out the "works", hand walking in the barn aisle, and feeding Hilton Herballs (perfect sugar free cookies to feed in occassions like these!) until the fireworks ceased and the air was no longer filled with smoke. We got home around 12:30 and promptly crashed, only recognizing the holiday the next morning. At least today we were together as a family, relaxed most of the day and ate a fantastic meal to top it off! Not too bad ;) As a plus, my dad also gifted me and my mother with tickets to the Broadway production of The Lion King at the Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC) this month....I cannot wait, sooo excited!!!

Enough of last night, now to the good stuff: New Years Resolution and Goals! I have decided that I am not breaking things down into specific goals for me or my ponies but instead just general goals that I hope to be reasonably attainable and not just in my riding life but in my personal life as well. Enjoy reading them and maybe as time goes on and if you keep reading (lets hope you do ;)) you can watch...er, read that I accomplish a majority of them!

Resolution/Goals for 2011

• Finish the requirements for my Bronze Medal
• Qualify for the USDF/GAIG Region 1 Championships and Arabian/Half-Arabian Sport Horse Nationals in whatever level I choose to compete at this year
• Continue going to lessons, clinics, and any other form of continuing my education in dressage
• To keep improving myself with every ride on every horse by maintaining patience and an open mind
• Lose 15lbs to fit into my beautiful new show coat 
• Generally be healthier with food (portion control) and exercise (actually doing some besides riding!)
• Go to a play/concert  - currently scheduled for January 19th
• Enjoy more activities with my family
• Finish at least 10 books this year
• Get a new job that will help better support my love of the big 4-legged beasties :)

Until next time, Have a great start to 2011!

Wrap-Up of 2009

Good gracious! I have not written in quite some time...and needless to say it was a good but hectic ending to 2009. Since we last left off, my "tick twins" have officially overcome their illnesses and are back into the swing of regular work. I figure since each horse has had a little change in their lives I'll address each one as we go along...

Buddy has been body clipped once (right before winter) and will most likely be clipped again in the following weeks. His hair grows amazingly fast, affectionaly called "mountain hair" since he did originate in the mountain country of Tennessee and moved to the mountains of VA before settling in the DC metropolitan area. His work on second level is steadily impoving with more balance in his gaits and confidence in himself. He did give me New Years gift...a large bloody lower eye lid resembling the size and shape of a lemon. We don't call him "BooBoo" for nothing! Luckily, it was just some superficial scrapings which should heal up in no time.

DJ is currently loving life. Since we diagnosed his cushings early in the year and started treatment, he has gotten back his zest for life and the twinkle in his eye that captured my heart at our first meeting :) DJ also has a new friend, a leasee! Granted I never expected anyone to be able to ride let alone lease my beastie until he was around the ripe old age of 25, but he surprised me by becoming the perfect schoolmaster. Coming off of a hiatus due to establishing a family, my leasee is back and ready for action. She originally owned a rather large PSG warmblood, so making the transition to the 14.3 3rd level sensitive Arabian has proved to be educating! I love watching the lessons because both rider and pony love the work. My leasee is learning again and little man is enjoying the life of a semi-retired schoolmaster!

Now, Jono being the utter superstar that he is, has had a busy end of the year. Since this was a year of education for the two of us, I enrolled him in as many clinics as I possibly could. At the beginning of the year we started with Donna Gatchell, a local professional who worked on making us lighter on the forehand with lots of second and even third level work! Next was our clinic at the beginning of November was with another local professional, frenchman Pascal Martin. After some doubtful facial expressions, he started to work with Jo and ended up pleasantly surprised by his talent and work ethic. Again, lightness was the key. But the season finale, and probably the best clinic I have ever attended, was the Lendon Gray clinic at Sprieser Sporthorse in Marshall, VA at the beginning of December. It was FANTASTIC!!! I did participate in the same event last year with Buddy which left my ego bruised and beaten but at least I came out with some positive moments and exercises. This year it was the complete opposite. She immediately expressed her love for my big fella and throughout the clinic used terms like "fantastic", "cute", "athletic" and "amazing" to describe his work. She polished up our second level and told us to "keep going and keep proving people wrong!" The unfortunate end to 2009 was the discovery of Jono's newly learned vice, cribbing. At first, the vet and I agreed that maybe he had ulcers. So, Gastro-guard was used for the first 7 days which really seemed to do the trick. This led to 28 more days of the ridiculously expensive paste. Unfortuntely, by the second week, this method was not working as well as we had hoped so we finished off the rest of the dosing and are now attempting new methods to discourage this new irritating habit...feed change, alfalfa cubes, a hay net to make him eat slower as well as occupy him, and then the dreaded Miracle Collar (duhn, duhn, duhn!). Lets hope that next time I blog, there will be some improvements!

So overall, it was a decent way to end a rather blah year. There is so much planned and anticipated in for 2010 but for right now....I'm just goin to tell you to read the next blog :)

1st Blog!!!

Hello Everyone!

Well since this is the first blog for CBC Sporthorses I figure for now I'll just give you guys a preview at what my kids are doing as well as some other lucky ponies that I've been given the opportunity ride and enjoy!

DJ - my little Arabian with a total Napoleon complex...oh how I love him! He is a total alpha male so things have to be done on his terms. His third level work is coming along so well I just wish his darn flying changes weren't so lethal! We had a lesson with my trainer today (Cindy Hutchison of Locust Grove, VA) and she adores him almost as much as I do. He was so stellar in his lesson we were able to get amazing collected canter work with no explosions and some really nice canter half-pass without the over exuberant flying at the end. Goodness, we are just going to work our butts off over the winter and that Bronze Medal will be ours next year, I can feel it!

Buddy - the goofball...my poor black horse is so lovely to look at yet so aggravating to ride! I took him to a show last weekend in Lexington and it was his debut at second level. The first test of the weekend was a little rough. Needless to say, his mother was a little nervous and the scored reflected it. After some recollection of the nerves and repeatedly reviewing the first test on the camcorder, the second test was a 64%! Not bad, seeing as how he really started working on second level movements a couple weeks before the show. The last test was by far the best with a 66%!! I was elated! I come home and give him a couple days off to reward him for his stellar performance at the show. When I went back to ride him again, it was as if I had brought an entirely different horse home from Lexington. We had forgetten how to circle let alone bend or have flexion in any direction and god-forbid I ask for a walk-canter transition, that was just speaking Greek! This really is frustrating seeing as how he was so good the previous weekend, but I guess I just chalk it up to a bad day and keep on plugging along so next season he will knock every one's socks off!

Jo - my over sized teddy bear...the horse that holds such a special place in my heart because everyone said he couldn't do it! But after a GAIG/USDF Region 1 Reserve Championship and a CBLM Reserve Championship, I guess they believe in him now! With such a powerful presence he demands the attention of everyone around him. He is showing 2nd level now and working on his third. After a couple schooling shows this year, I know next year is going to be his year! It will be our first outing together as an Adult Amateur pair but I have a good feeling about it. We're also going to try our hand again at the musical freestyles without Jono's personal additions to the program...I'm thinking something with heavy drums :) Keep your fingers crossed!

And now for a bit on the one's that aren't mine but I get to play with them anyways!

Raad - the little stallion that could...when you hear the words Arabian stallion in the same sentence, high strung, hot and flighty come to mind. Well, this anything but what this guy is. He is by far one of the sweetest, calmest and most intelligent horses I have had the pleasure to work with. Although his start has been a rocky one, he definitely knows the basics. Between me and his owner we will have him going in the show ring confident and correctly in no time! I think big things are in store for this handsome man for 2010!

Tessa - slightly out-of-shape...I have known this mare since she was bought by her owner as a 3yr old. Now she is 10 and has been a mother, a trail horse, and the bang around. It is time for her to come back and the show the world just how wonderful she really is. Coming from the noble Andalusians and athletic Thoroughbreds, she was born to be in the show ring. After a couple months of conditioning we should have her back and running in tip top shape in no time! Look out show ring, here she comes!!!