Change of plans

So!   This weekend happened.  Not quite as planned, but productive anyway.   I hauled up to NT's barn on Saturday afternoon - later than I'd planned, but we got there - so as not to have to haul all the way up to the home xc course at ungodly o'clock on Sunday morning to ride at 10:30.  The theory was that I'd be able to load up and head out with the rest of the team and follow them over.   I swiped some leather cleaner across all my tack before going in for dinner and sleep.

After staggering out to make sure Apollo was fed and happy on Sunday morning, I discovered that the xc schooling had been canceled based on the weather prediction - storms rolling in and more on the way.  Bummer.  What I really should have done right that second was go grab another hour and a half of sleep, another two liters of water, and food, then go see about a lesson.

What I did was surf Facebook groggily, then go volunteer for a jump lesson in the covered arena.  Note the lack of water and food ... this proved to be a bad decision in the long run.

I rode terribly over the first set of jumps.  Like, worse than NT has ever seen me ride.  My muscles felt like spaghetti, and my body just felt dull and heavy and energyless.  My legs were not answering my brain, and I'm not sure my brain knew what to ask of my muscles in the first place.

Fortunately, another student/helper/organizer came in with coffee for NT and information right then, so I took the opportunity to grab a bottle of Vitamin Water (with calories, important) from the truck.   Half the bottle later, I felt better, and I was riding a bit better.  The whole bottle later, I actually started to ride well, lock my lower leg in, and, yknow, steer.  Sheesh.  I need to remember how to hydrate in the Southern humidity!

I think the best run at the gymnastic (bounce to one-stride) came when I focused on Denny Emerson's advice on the approach: ALLOW the horse's movement to fold my hip and knee angles and push me into the question mark shape over the fences.

I came away from the lesson with a few thoughts/homeworks:

• Apollo needs to be stronger through the hind end, able to maintain a compressed, powerful trot on the approach to the fences.
• I need to develop more rider fitness and endurance.
• Apollo also needs more fitness and endurance.
• I need to think not only of Denny's question mark but also of not falling back into my pattern of riding with my upper body too upright.  Even slender, I'm ... ah ... top-heavy, so I tend to overcompensate.
• Hydrate correctly next time!!

So alas for no xc, but hooray for gymnastics!  As soon as I get the video from the student/helper/organizer, I will post it.  :)

I hope I have time to start updating more regularly.  I have time today, so here's an update!  I apologize for the lack of photos, and I'll try to correct that.  Photos of me riding will be few and far between, but I'll try.

The mud is abated.  Sing hosanna!  The pasture situation is still less than ideal, but I'm coping.  I'm riding just outside the existing arena - the footing in the little arena, such as it is, is rutted, inconsistently wet and dry, and full of weeds.  Plus, it's quite small.  So I'm riding in the sloped, also somewhat rutted flatter area in front of the little arena.  This is not as ideal as riding in the pasture I had designated as riding space, but it works fine for now.  I can jump the natural ditch and the natural bank, and as far as dressage goes ... if I can get Apollo round and balanced up and down the slope and over the ruts and rough ground, he can be balanced and round anywhere.  It's good for his muscling, too.

So that dressage and work on muscle and round happened yesterday.  I'm not pushing him terribly hard just yet, even though it's almost mid-May.  Footing hasn't been good enough to ride consistently until recently, so we're working, but not going to failure or anything.  Still, he broke a good sweat, and by the time we finished, I had good, connected work both directions and all gaits.

I'm trying to remember to "not school shit," as Kelly would put it.  If I ask for a transition, I want it to be a good transition, or at least the transition I asked for.  I want a marching walk, a responsive trot, etc.

Exciting thing of the week is XC schooling on Sunday!  Yay!  Going up to the local home course with NT and a bunch of students, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Ride on!

My name is mud.

Mud.

Mud mud mud mud mud.  I am so unspeakably tired of rain and mud.  It's just not safe to ride right now, because I don't have a sand arena to ride in.  Just ... mud.  Non-grassy mud or grassy mud, take your pick.  Eight inches of it.  Even Apollo's stall is mud.

Seriously, this rain has got to stop.  Send it to California or Idaho!  They need it!  We do not.  We are flooding.

I suppose I could be tack walking, but honestly, I'm not sure even that is safe.  I do not in any way want to jeopardize Apollo's hooves, tendons, ligaments, stifles ... anything.   I suppose just walking is workable.  Maybe.  If it's safe, if it's not too slippery, at least walking will build muscle.  Apollo needs more push behind, and it's purely a strength thing.  

So all that said, I did haul Apollo up to New Teacher's place yesterday and over that initial weekend.  We had a ball over that weekend, even though it was (say it with me) RAINING.  Apollo was very good, I sort of remembered how to ride, and we got to hang out with NT and her buddy the saddle fitter.  I'd known her buddy from CotH, and I'd always thought she was engaging, so I was glad to meet her too.  Anyway, NT and I worked on regularity, push from behind, and bend on the flat, and we worked on reminding my body how to ride over jumps.  Yknow, basics like line, pace, speed.  Important stuff like that.  

Yesterday, we continued work on my position.  Mostly keeping my leg on and heel down.  I think that's the thing we all need to work on most, the thing we hear from our teachers most often!   We worked back and forth in a figure 8, trotting over a vertical with placing poles. It was first set around 2'3 and then NT raised it as I settled in and Apollo got moving.  Much with getting him ahead of my leg in the trot, too.  NT decided that I'm confirmed and no problem over 2'3-2'6, so she nudged us out of the comfort zone and put the fence up to 2'9-3'.  No real problem, but I have to work my leg even better at that height, because Apollo has a nice bascule over fences.  Straightness is an issue, too - this will start getting better as both horse and rider get stronger and jump a bunch more jumps.

We moved to doing a much smaller outside line, which pointed out the straightness thing and reminded me that I have to keep him going and going to really have the impulsion and energy we need.  Then NT added in a last vertical off a short right turn.  Suddenly leads were important!  Also, that last vertical had a dry Christmas tree under it to brush it out a bit, and this conversation ensued:

NT:  Does he care about brush or fill or anything like that?  Some horses care, some don't.

Me: Well, he might, but I'm going to sit in the back seat and say JUMP! when we get there, and he should.

NT: Good!  Do it!

And I did, and he did.  :)  He took a hard look at it before the fence and in the air - I think that peeking through the knees thing is pretty hilarious - but he jumped it no questions asked.  We could have stood to be much straighter and have picked a better line, but we got that sorted out in the end.

The best part of the lesson was honestly the fact that we had both improved since that first weekend.  I find that a little surprising, just because we haven't been able to ride much, but I'm pleased.

I also hauled Apollo up and back ALL BY MYSELF.  No help.  Rawk!  I didn't get the Hook Trailer Up achievement, but still.  This is the first time I've ever hauled by myself.  I even had to stop for gas.  :D  And back up.  Nothing was damaged, no mailboxes taken out, nothing.  Hehehehe.

So ... yeah.  Right now, my world is mud.  And my riding pasture has been taken over by a couple of horses, so even if I had an arena, I couldn't ride.  Unless the arena had a fence, which would be ideal.  With any luck, I'll get a few rain-free evenings this week to at least walk Apollo and tell myself that slogging through the mud slowly is good for his muscles.  If not ... well, there's always horsey situps and calisthenics.

Drive-by

Very briefly ...

Immediate-term goal: if riding pasture is safe, start dressage tomorrow, poles Sunday, trot Monday, hack Tuesday, off Wednesday, jump Thursday.

Short-term goal:  Get up to RLT next weekend to ride with New Teacher!

Middle-term goal:  Go to River Glen July 31-Aug 2 HT and compete BN.


Also: I am SO OVER all this weather.  Ready for dry ground and no water falling on me now please.

New digs

So!  Apollo and I are moved into the new place.  We're boarding with a friend of mine, the same friend I boarded Reveille with when I first got her.  There is a LOT of open space, as I'd mentioned, which means a lot of fencing to look over.  And then replace with tape.  And a lot of brush to clear from the fences.  I'm actually looking forward to the work, to tell you the truth - I'm feeling sluggish from not cleaning stalls daily, and I could use some physical work!

Apollo's also made friends with his new pasture mate/mates.  Things are set up such that Apollo and Hank, the closest pasture mate, don't actually share a field, because Apollo is of course the low horse in the herd.  He's just not interested in making any points or challenging anybody, really - he just wants to be friends, be everybody's little brother who's simultaneously lovable and irritating.  So when Apollo got there, Hank said "buddy, you can live here, but I'm in charge!"  And Apollo said "yes sir! Certainly I'll move away from this bucket mostly full of my dinner, sir!"  

Thus, they're next to each other but aren't able to get at each other, just for feeding time purposes.

Did any of the rest of you do gifted & talented education in school?  Do you remember those puzzles that were like "Draw a line through this REALLY COMPLEX FIGURE so that A and B can't interact but that they each get an equal share of this resource"?  I have a real life one of those now. I think that there's no way to actually make it work out with the conditions we have, so I'm going to need to come up with another set of conditions to make things work out right.

Step 1: Remove sharp stuff from pastures (including old gutters or metal flashing that was knocked down in a tornado and then stacked along a fenceline and a flat metal gate that's in rough shape - replace with panelling gate).  Step 2: Rework pipe corral panels in pasture 1 (where Apollo and Hank are) to make better sense.  Step 3: Clear brush from pasture 1.  Step 4: Lay out jumps in pasture 6, mark arena.  

There's some interim stuff in there, like moving the chest freezer that holds the sweet feed for Hank, Tango, and Eli into the space I've designated Feed Area; replacing the big water trough; getting a set of dressage letters; getting a three-step mounting block; rearranging the tack room (again; I did it once, then a little more, then a little more when I created the Feed Area); and generally making plans for more boarders.  Yknow.  Stuff.  Work.  Things I need to know much, much more about.

Anyway, for the moment, Apollo has a cut on his RF pastern that's healing fine but precludes riding, unfortunately.  He doesn't seem to be in much pain at liberty or on the longe, but he was uncomfortable at the trot under saddle, so yeah.  One painful step is all it took; I can imagine how working with a cut like that would feel!  So we're waiting .... waiting ... for ... Vizzini ...  Again.  :)


I don't have too many pictures yet, but here are a few:

Poor kid - the day after he got there he had to have his teeth floated.

Looking west from the little arena by the main barn behind the house.
There's a neat little pond behind the hayrack, and beyond that
is pasture 2; beyond THAT is pasture 3.

Looking mostly north toward the house from the same little
arena.  Beyond the house and its front yard are pastures 5
and 6; I've claimed pasture 6 for the arenas because
it's the flattest and best drained.

What, more changes?

It appears to be time for my quarterly update.  :)

So.  As the title implies, there is more upheaval coming my way - has already arrived, mostly.   The teacher I've been riding and boarding with got the job offer of a lifetime in Santa Fe, NM.  Of course, the job requires that she *live* in Santa Fe ... so the barn we've been at is closing as of the end of the month.

Meanwhile, the new job needed her there like, yesterday, so she's been gone since Jan 31.  Her husband went with her, only to have to turn around and go on a long business trip - poor Teacher!  So ... at the barn now, that leaves ... um ... me.

I've been enjoying the hell out of being in the working student position, cleaning, feeding, and generally doing barn chores on an intermittent basis.  I'm now enjoying the hell out of being the barn manager - feeding, cleaning, tidying, sorting, washing, grooming, turning out, bringing in, handling emergencies, and generally doing work every day.  Even on the hard days, like yesterday, it's the best work ever.   Granted, I'm tired - physically and emotionally, because worrying about the horses when I'm not right there is draining - and I want a day to sleep until I don't feel like sleeping any more, but it's still the best work.

It's very strange to find myself in the "manager"ish position.  I would say that I don't know shit about shit when it comes to running/managing/being in charge of a barn.  I would say that with great certainty, especially having seen how TW et al managed the barn in Idaho and how I made (many many many) mistakes there.  So far, the learning curve has been steep, to say the least.  How things happen, what needs to be done to keep a barn the way I think it ought to be kept, what I can change, what I can't change, what I'd like in an ideal barn, how much work it is to do all of this ... etc.  Teacher tells me to not underestimate myself, my knowledge, and my skill - heh.  I know what skill is, and I ain't got it.  But I don't suck?  I guess?   All I can think of is MT telling me "you just need miles, lots and lots of miles," and the general fact that I don't know crap.  I'm learning.  So far, no horses have been hurt as a result.

Of course ... there WAS a scary colic episode with Apollo two days before Teacher left for NM.  Stress colic, I'm sure, but not fun.  I had to have the vet out and everything.  :/  If he hadn't started looking more comfortable when he did, we might have had to haul up to Knoxville to get him into the UTK vet clinic, or we might have been able to run IV fluids at the barn ... either way, super scary.   He's fine now, but of course I'm stressing about the fact that everydamnthing at the barn is frozen.  Water, pipes, everything.  I'm hauling in water, but it's still scary.  Especially with Apollo colicing recently.   Tennessee isn't really good about burying water pipes deep enough, because hey - it's Tennessee! It totally doesn't freeze here, right?!   Sigh.  So I'm hoping there will be water this evening when I get there, because the temperatures are rising ... there should be water tomorrow, I would think, and if not tomorrow, Sunday, but I DON'T LIKE IT ONE BIT.  NOT EVEN A LITTLE.   Heated buckets would be great, but that would require water to put in the buckets.  :/

Anyway, yeah.  Stress-ville for me with the freeze.  The bathroom building is heated, as is the pump house, and it's been tempting to sleep there.  Just ... because.   Yknow.  Watching over horses.  (This is one of the things I've decided is necessary if I ever actually run a barn, which is vanishingly unlikely - if I were to do it, I would want to live on site.  I hate leaving the horses alone.  Even in their stalls, I hate it.)

So yes.  The new situation will be boarding with a friend at her house.  She has many many acres of pasture, including a flat area that will do nicely as a riding spot.  It's got good drainage and is comfortable, and we're talking about expanding into more boarding and generally upgrading things.  It's a blank slate, really, and it might be fun to see where we can take it.  Lots and lots of room for pasture, lots of room for a home XC course, et cetera.  It'll just be a LOT of work.  Which I'm happy to put in.  (Another thing I re-realize is that physical work is seriously good for me in all ways.)  So we'll see.   It's hard not to compare things with the barn in Idaho, but that was 30 years' worth of work and investment.  And it's still developing.   So ... we'll see.  I don't know that I have 30 good years in me at this point, but I'm going to assume I do.  At the very least, Apollo will be safe, happy, and comfortable, and I'll have lots of space to ride in.  I'm buying Teacher's jumps, too, so there will be plenty of jumping.  :)

Finding a new teacher ... we'll see.  I'll update as I can.  

So yeah.  That's the info dump for now.   More later, as usual!

Changes in latitude

By this time you're used to me not posting very often, yes?

So we are in Tennessee!  People, dogs, cats, and horse too.   The barn I'd planned to keep Apollo at turned out to be a lemon, so I went with Plan B and am boarding with the teacher I chose.  She happened to have a stall slot open up right when I needed one, and I'm really glad she did.  All her horses (small barn - 7 horses total) are healthy, happy, and in good shape, which wasn't necessarily true for the horses at the other barn.  So I'm pleased with where I am, even though it's more expensive.  Apollo is safer there, and I'm secure in knowing he'll get good care when I'm not there.

The barn at the top of the hill

The new place is on a hill (like so much of Chattanooga ...).  The barn with the stalls and the tack/hay/feed area is most of the way to the top of the hill.

Halfway down the hill is a secondary barn, not used for horses at the moment, that has the office, wash rack, and small indoor arena.  Sorry; no photo.

Down at the bottom of the hill is the jump field and the dressage court field.  It's not huge, but it's plenty for jumping.

Teacher and her husband setting some jumps

Teacher getting ready to video a different horse for sale

I hopped on for a flat ride on Saturday while teacher's daughter rode over some jumps - Apollo was excellent, of course.  :)   No big deal to be in a totally new place with another horse doing all kinds of things right there.  Just business as usual.  See?

I didn't really even need to longe him.

EARS!  Love this view.

So ... we jumping the colored poles or what, mom?

I also got to take Apollo off on his first little trail ride!  Suddenly I remembered what's awesome about TN, from the saddle.  The scenery was gorgeous, even just in the little area we were in.  Apollo was a star, too, especially for not having a lot of exposure to this kind of forest.  He just calmly followed the little mare in front of him and didn't freak about anything.  See?

Tired of Apollo's ears yet?  TOO BAD!

I adore this photo.  Gorgeous scenery, gorgeous horse.

Seriously, we had a great ride.  Sunday we jumped a little.  Horse and rider both need to get back in the swing of this jumping thing.  ;)  It went better when I remembered how to use my leg, for sure.  New teacher's approach is different from MT's, but there is a lot of good stuff to learn there.  She pointed out that Apollo needs to relax better, be more comfortable, etc - we'll start doing some little things on the ground to help him out with that, and I'm incorporating more bending and flexing into our warmup.

I'm seriously grateful to everyone at the Mitts' for the base of learning that I have.  I feel like I have a really useful toolbox to work from, as well as an eye for what other tools will be useful and what won't be.  (Not that I have found any that aren't since moving here, you understand.)  

Can't wait to keep on riding and jumping and learning - there's a little schooling show coming up mid-November that I'm planning on tagging along to, and that should be fun.  :)

So anyway, further updates as things progress, but yeah.  Life is fine.  More to tell.

Looking forward to the future

Up again

So I have managed to recover my soul from the depths of the soul-sucking job.  I think those depths are in the dreamlands, because recovering it seems to have involved a lot of sleep.  Alas.  Anyway, soul recovered, which means riding time!

I am always amazed when I get back on after a while off.  It's not that Apollo is the same horse, fitness-wise, because of course he's not.  It's that he goes back to work so happily!  He brings his neck round and tries to lift his back - only tries, and only manages it for a few steps at a time because fitness - and is generally pleased to do whatever I want to do.  Kind of a "see, human? see how awesome I am for you? come ride more!" feeling.  :)

I decided today, after riding on the flat yesterday, that I wanted to start him back under side reins today.  I'd like to start encouraging his back to come up and his neck to come round, and side reins every few days can help strengthen those muscles.  Obviously riding him correctly is a much bigger part of that, but this is kind of like a different workout for him.  Like doing a day of abs or whatever for a human.  :)  

And at the same time that he's getting back to fitness for being ridden, I'm getting back to fitness for riding!   My core is a little sore today after riding yesterday and then hopping on quickly today before turning Apollo over to M to ride.  So that's good; sore core muscles = I was using my core!

So for the next week, I'm going to focus on riding him forward and active, which leads to better roundness.  And while I do that, I'll work on transitions, especially down transitions, getting them smoother and more pleasant.

Oh - I did get to hop on the legendary Courage, too!  He is a very sweet fellow, and once we figured out how to talk to each other, he was a good sport, too.  Apparently my accent is funny, according to his reaction when I would ask him to come into the outside rein.  ;)  But we figured it out, and it was a fun ride!  Thanks to the Sprinkler Bandit for the chance .... and she'll get a chance to get on Apollo sometime this week too.  Only fair, right?

To catch up

So.  The big news, and why I was thinking about New Barn showers, is that Apollo and I are moving to Chattanooga, Tennessee next month!   It's actually me, Apollo, both corgis, and both cats.  I'm sad that I have to leave the barn I'm at, because there's nothing like it near where I'm going.  I've been both blessed and spoiled by the Mitts - they've been in the property for 30 years, and it's been their only job for many of those years.  I don't know where else I could get such incredible instruction from such wonderful people ... I am truly going to miss them.  I chalk up any and all skill I have right now to MT being patient with me and teaching me, and any and all knowledge I have right now to TW being willing to talk and show me things.

It's going to be an adjustment, for sure, but ... there are lots of positives to this.  I'm moving for a really great reason (*wave*  Hi!), and there are lots and lots of great facilities for eventing near Chattanooga.  Poplar Place is right there, Chattahoochee Hills is close, all kinds of stuff.  I have decided on a place to keep Apollo for the moment - J&S Equestrian Farm.  He'll be on pasture board there, which is ideal for him, I think.  I also decided I really like the way Kelly Stoochnoff teaches, and I really like that her horses are healthy, happy, and well cared for, so I'll be riding with Kelly, even though she's not based at the same barn.  

So that's the future!

In the present, I'm packing and sorting and cleaning and packing and packing.  I need to make sure I have everything sorted from my tack locker, too, so I can sell anything I don't need or use.  Then I can organize the blankets/sheets, wraps, tack, and all and figure out whether I need a Stanley trunk (most likely) or what.

I've been riding a little, and now that my job has accepted my resignation early, I have some time to ride a LOT!  Maybe I can get Apollo's topline and muscle restored at least a little bit before he gets on the trailer for 8 days and loses it all again ... sigh.  :)   All in all, I am happy for the chance to spend more time with him.

Tomorrow I get to head over to hang out with The Sprinkler Bandit and meet Courage - maybe hop on him if she wants me to or will let me, and then I hope she can come out and hang out with Apollo, though she's still working.  What, the whole world doesn't operate on MY schedule?  Come on!   ;)  Alas.  Anyway, very much looking forward to that.

So big adventures coming up - lots of opportunity for shows and schooling and whatnot, and new things to learn!  Don't be looking for me in the hunter ring, though.  I ain't got a hunter ring ass, for one, and for two, I just don't love hunter riding.  Jumpers, sure!  And I'm sure I'll do jumpers, since there's a lot of that available.  But I want to event, even if my highest aspiration is just a T3D.  So yeah.  Look out Area ... um, III - one more BN rider coming your way.  :)

Soon

I managed to score a keyboard for my iPad on the very very cheap, so ...soon. Entry soon. Much to tell.