faced with the prospect of falling down a mountainside, I got in my "half seat"

To celebrate both our birthdays, Kenny and I went skiing in Maine during the first half of this week. He had gone once before for one day, and this trip was two days of skiing. I went ten years ago in high school (and holy crap, can we take a minute to think about the fact that high school was TEN YEARS AGO?!) but it was not such a good experience. You see, it was a six week program where the school arranged a bus to drive us to a local ski mountain and drop us all off for a few hours of skiing once a week. There wasn't any instruction or guidance so I relied on friends to give me some pointers. Before I knew it, I was cruising around and doing fairly well, so my friends went their separate ways to the trails that were closer to their level (i.e. not boring beginner trails).

This was all fine and dandy until I accidentally went down the wrong trail after getting off the lift by myself. The lifts each served several different slopes, all of varying difficulty, and it was hard to tell which way led to the easy runs. I found myself on the sheer face of a mountain and ended up plowing over some poor innocent skier. Mittens, ski poles, skis, and my confidence went flying, landing in every direction. Ski patrol responded and told me to get off the mountain. I spent the remaining weeks of the program sitting in the ski lodge feeling sorry for myself.

It took me ten years to even consider skiing again! That's how traumatized I was!

Thank goodness that this trip was much less dramatic. In fact, I had fun. I took a lesson with a ski instructor, who showed me the proper form: weight in the front of the ski boots, bum out,  shoulders slightly ahead of the motion but not so much that they disrupt the balance, hands in front of you, look where you're going.

"Oh, so a half seat!", I said.

The ski instructor looked at me like I had three heads.

But every time I felt my centre of balance slipping backward, I reminded myself to get in my half seat, and surprise! I didn't take anyone out on the side of the mountain. I also was VERY diligent about looking at the signs to know which way to go off the lift!

but hey! don't I kind of look like I know what I'm doing?

the views were incredible.

Kenny being his usual insanely athletic self.

trip to Goddard Park

Life has really kicked me in the you-know-what over the past couple weeks, but I apologize for being MIA. My car continues to cause me some serious stress, as it became clear that not only was it not working right, but it literally needs a new engine. YEAH, not happening. Kenny and I spent the week looking into options and yesterday I took the day off of work to sort a lot of car-related stuff out, including looking at new cars. I hope to have a new car by the end of this week or beginning of next week because the Silverado is beautiful to look at but very expensive to feed. Luckily Kenny's work schedule allows us to manage (though barely) with one vehicle, because he works a lot of night shifts.

Lucy, Dreamer, Dreamer's girl "C", and I went to Goddard Park (the site of the unfortunate run-in
with swans this past Spring, if you remember that) on Saturday for an organized trail ride.

 It was about 2.5 hours and C did great. I think that's the longest she's ever ridden, and we went on the beach, galloped down the trails, etc. It was a great time. We did have one incident (and again, it was on the beach! I think that beach may be cursed) where Dreamer dumped C right in the sand and ran away, but he didn't plan his escape very well because he found himself caught in a bush about 20' away from where he deposited his rider. Lu was excellent about the whole thing and I swear, she went into Search & Rescue mode. We had been galloping down the beach with C and Dreamer behind us, and I heard a faint "Kaaaate!". I shot a quick look behind me and there was C, standing sans pony with a stirrup in her hand. Of course I muttered many bad words and spun Lucy around and set off back down the beach to assess the situation. C was thankfully unhurt, though she was very shaken, because her foot had gotten caught in the stirrup and she had been dragged a short distance before the stirrup leather came off the saddle. I said a silent "thank you" to whomever taught me that the end of the stirrup bar NEVER gets locked in the upright position so that the leather can come off the saddle if your foot gets stuck in there. I passed that knowledge onto C sometime over the summer and it very certainly saved her some major injuries.

Once I was sure that C was ok, I pushed Lucy on to find the Naughty White Pony. NWP had disappeared up a 4' embankment according to C, so I asked Lucy to go up said embankment, which she easily could have just walked/run up, but NO, she was in S&R mode as I said above, so she opted to take care of business and like any budding eventer would, she jumped the embankment in one smooth and terrifying leap that was positively effortless for her. I mentally checked "jump 4ft" off my bucket list. We went a few strides into the forest and then I spotted a very sheepish looking NWP, tangled up in a group of bushes.

I'm sure he will plan his escape better next time.

Lucy was locked and loaded on the pony and she was like, "MOM! MOM! MOMMMM! I FOUND HIM! HE'S THERE!"
Me: Ok, excellent work, I see him.
Lu: BUT HE'S RIGHT THERE! NWP RIGHT AHEAD!
M: Ok, really, I've got it from here.
L: HE MIGHT ESCAPE AGAIN! LET'S HERD HIM RIGHT NOW!
M: Lucy, he's going to kick you square in the face if you get any closer, so just stand here and relax.
L: *glares at NWP daring him to move*

The good news is that neither NWP or his rider were injured, and I dusted C off and gave her a hug and some words of encouragement, re-attached her stirrup, and put her right back in the saddle. At that point we were about 6 miles from the trailer so I told her to put a brave face on and try her best to enjoy the rest of the ride...well before I knew it, she was asking to trot and canter through the woods again. Needless to say it was a scary experience but a good thing for her confidence, because she learned that life does go on even when you fall off, and she just needs to wipe the dirt (sand?) off her butt and get back on the horse.

happy horse on the beach...the swans were nowhere to be found, thank god.

Lu went in the water and we even persuaded NWP to
get his tootsies wet.

One of the beautiful views at the park.

And here is a short video of us running down the beach:

an insightful clinic, and October snow

The clinic yesterday went great! I was nervous because despite my best intentions, I left my house late and was then further delayed by Lucy being wary of the step-up stock trailer that I borrowed, which made me very late to the clinic. I didn't let myself speed at all - in fact, I went 50 or slower the whole way there on the highway. It was my first time trailering alone and the trailer I borrowed was a 4-horse stock trailer, which was bigger than anything else I've towed so far. That combined with my baby being inside was reason enough to go nice and slow and just get there whenever I could.

It turned out that the clinic organizer had added another session before mine, so I was in fact very EARLY :) See? Things work out for a reason! Lucy unloaded great and the barn manager let me put her in one of their empty stalls. The weather was deteriorating already so the clinic was held in their indoor. Lucy munched on her hay while I watched most of the lesson before mine, and then I got her ready for our lesson.

The clinician teaching the lessons is also a well-respected judge around this area. I showed under him a lot as a kid and always appreciated his fairness as a judge. I was excited to get his insight on Lucy.

He immediately commented on her huge stride even just at the walk, but also said it was "hurried". We spent the first half hour making her more adjustable and also making her stride less quick. We talked about half halts and it turns out I've been doing them wrong for about 20 years! ha. His half half method was waaaaay more effective with Lucy. He said instead of pulling back evenly with both hands (as I've been doing for ages), hold your outside rein at a constant pressure to support, and "vibrate" your inside rein. I tried it and immediately her stride slowed, she dropped her head, and waited for another instruction from me. He said, "Yes! This is what it's all about! With your half halt you're saying, 'Lucy?' and she is supposed to respond, 'yes?'" This is a vast improvement over using the "old" half halt with her, because she would immediately go to fight it.

a nice "quiet" trot, and I'm not even slouching!

We did some work over small fences. It started with a small vertical line with five strides between it. Lucy and the other horse in our lesson both rushed through it and jumped very flat. Next he asked us to trot to the first fence and then bring them to a trot before the second fence. Both horses flat-out ignored their riders and bombed through the line again. He said we needed lots of grids. I was like, yes, I know, that's why I'm here! I can set up lines just fine. I want to know how to set up grids and teach her to pace herself.

To my delight, he moved the two jumps so that they made a bounce. It wasn't a very tight bounce but it was a good place to start. He mentioned something about height not being necessary to teach these things, but I wasn't upset about the small jumps at all. In fact, on my clinic application I had written "I don't care how big the jumps are - I just want to learn how to ride her through a grid!"

The first time Lu went through the line, she was very cautious about the second jump but she bravely gave it her best shot. I was really proud of her! She knocked the first jump down but I didn't even care -- the important thing was that she jumped the second jump. We haven't done a bounce like that before, AND the second jump had this weird fabric filler thing on it that spooked the heck out of the other horse in our lesson, and that horse had been showing in the 3'9" classes all summer.

First time through the bounce. She's about to obliterate the first jump but look
at how hard she's thinking about the second. Joe is saying "SLOW. SLOW!!!"

We did the two jumps as a bounce a few times, and then he added a third jump to the line, also as a bounce. We went through that a bit, and then as our final test, he tightened up the line so that the horses really had to use their brains and jump round. She did it perfectly! She's so clever :D

A video showing some of the flat work, and the progression of the bounce lines.

Watching the other person in my lesson negotiate the line on her horse. One of
the best things about clinics like this is being able to learn from the clinician
AND the other people riding. You can always learn something new!

I was really, really pleased with her for the following reasons:

-it was cold, rainy, and miserable yesterday. she didn't try any nonsense at all. I believe this time last year she was already throwing herself through the air and refusing to go forward and in general being a raging b*tch. I guess all of that GastroGard did work, afterall. I am feeling much less apprehensive about this winter.

-she behaved *really* well in the strange indoor, which btw had several stalls in it, some equipment at one end, and lots of people at the other end who were auditing the clinic. not a single spook out of her!

-she was super brave to the strange jumps, and was really a good sport about the whole thing. I was by no means riding her perfectly. It's been about ten years since I did a line of bounces and she let me figure myself out up there while she negotiated the lines. Really, really good.

-she didn't seem to mind the open stock trailer I borrowed for the day. even with the rain coming in through the slats at the top of the trailer walls, she was quiet back there the entire trip both ways. I did leave her fleece lined blanket on for the trip because I thought she'd be cold and wet otherwise.

Speaking of cold and wet, it SNOWED last night! We got just a few inches but my parents house in MA got 14" and they have trees down all over the property. The poor trees didn't have a chance...they still have green leaves on them! I texted L, Lucy's leaser today and asked if she wanted to have a snowy trail ride but it looks like the snow is going to be gone for the most part before we have a chance to ride in it ;) Oh well, I'm sure there is much more snow in store for us this winter!

trip to the beach

Lucy's leaser and I took her to the beach today. Claire and her horse Boe were supposed to come along but Claire had a last minute thing come up so she couldn't make it. I was disappointed but she graciously offered her trailer to us to use, so we ventured out solo.

The sea horse quarter mark I made for her at 11pm last night. Yup, I am cool.

We had a BLAST! There were no swans in sight, and the beach was practically empty. It was windy and a bit cool today, but Lu held it together fairly well. I was happy with her.

Lauren walked her in the water a bit to make sure there weren't going to be any PTSD symptoms from two weeks ago when we both almost drowned:




Lucy didn't seem concerned about anything, so Lauren hopped on and had some fun!





And then I got on for just a couple minutes:






Video:

That time I rode a bull in Kentucky

I try to "like" horsey companies on Facebook for several reasons:

a) I am curious and enjoy keeping up with what new products are coming out
b) I am slightly addicted to Facebook and spend way too much time on it
c) Sometimes the companies post fun contests that I can enter

A while back I liked FITS' profile (click here to see it). The more I found out about the company, the more I liked it. As a bonus, their products are AWESOME and though I couldn't afford to buy any of them, I drooled over the breeches in catalogs and spent time stroking the deerskin patches when I saw them in tack stores. I'm weird, I know.

Fast forward to us preparing to head to Rolex. FITS posted something on their wall about going mechanical bull riding. I had never been before but I figured that I had enough experience sitting Lucy's nonsense that I might have a stab at being a successful fake bull-rider. Plus, even if I fell off in the first five seconds, I'd have a nice soft landing on an inflated mat, which would be much easier to take than a face full of dirt.

Saturday night at Rolex arrived and my traveling companion Claire and I were ready to rumble. We made our way to the Electric Cowboy in Lexington and were greeted by a larger than life sexy blonde cowgirl. It was almost like she was saying, "Bring it.":

Oh boy, we were so excited.

We went inside, met the FITS crew (who are AWESOME, btw), and got fitted into breeches, which we promptly strutted our stuff in.

Before we could ride the bull, we had to sign our lives away. There was a lot of text but basically it said, "the undersigned will not sue us even if he/she dies". Please note the sequined tank top: I am now known as "Sparkles" amongst the FITS crew and I dig it.

I made friends with the bull.

And then I rode!! The first time I stuck it for 80 seconds and the second time was a bit longer! It was a BLAST!

Claire even took some video:

It is WAY harder than it looks but thanks to the full seat patches, I hung on pretty well ;)

The best part was that we WON a pair of the breeches! I was SO EXCITED. I never win anything and these breeches are beautiful. So yesterday I went to ride and of course I wore my new breeches:

I love the breeches so much. Lulu even was a bit naughty so I could test out the true grip of the deerskin, and trust me: they are GRIPPY.

So for anyone who has drooled over these breeches, seriously, buy a pair. You will not regret it. I am so happy I have some now!

FITS' website
FITS' Facebook

Rolex 2011: Show Jumping!

Sunday dawned gloomy and rainy, and thunder echoed in the distance as we got ready at the hotel. I was cursing myself for forgetting my camera's rain sleeve but I took all my equipment anyway just in case the weather cleared up.

We stopped for some coffee on the way to the show grounds and excitedly re-hashed XC day and made predictions for who might win. Mary King had a pretty strong lead with her two horses but I was rooting for Lainey Ashker, whom I've been following for quite a while. She is a true inspiration and a genuinely nice person to boot. We made our way to the show grounds and piled out of the car just as the sun came out...yay! I was so happy.

The sheer size of the ring and the jumps together that greeted us when we entered the stadium were daunting...and we were way up on the balcony looking down at them! The people walking through the ring doing last minute checks looked like toy people compared to the standards with all the colourful poles hanging from them. It was truly a magnificent sight.

We killed some time waiting for the jumping to start by going through all of the vendor's booths again. I checked in with the ECOGOLD crew, as I'd been Facebook-ing (is that even a word?) and Tweeting all weekend for them. I also bought some souvenier t-shirts for myself and a few friends. I really wanted an Ariat zip-up jacket but couldn't justify $100 for it, so I didn't get it.

The deals in the trade fair were kind of unexciting. A lot of things I found I could buy for about the same price, or cheaper, at home. There is currently a large debate going on on the COTH bulletin boards about prices at trade fairs, but when it comes down to the nitty gritty, I don't have oodles of extra cash to be spending so I HAVE to find the best deal. Even after the jumping ended when we went back at what was essentially the end of the entire event, trade fair workers were packing merchandise up to ship home instead of marking it down to sell it at the event. I ended up buying nothing at all, except the t-shirts.

Before we knew it, the jumping was starting. We were so excited! We had purchased the most expensive tickets but somehow ended up literally almost at the top of the nosebleed section in the bleachers. :( I wish we had been closer, but I was grateful to have my long lense.

I have about 40 photos from the day. Please do not steal my photos - I spend a lot of money investing in equipment and a lot of time editing and organizing them so that I can share them with you. It is like a punch in the gut to see them posted as other peoples' work or without credit to me.


Meeting Lainey Ashker! One of the highlights of my weekend.


Kelly Prather and Ballinakill Glory were the first to jump. They came in, had a clean round, and made it look easy as pie.


Hamish Cargill and Sandhill’s Tiger, who had a rough round with 24 faults. It was suddenly clear that this was NOT an easy course at all.


Kelly Sult and Hollywood USA


Peter Barry and Kilrodan Abbott


Heather Morris and Slate River


Jessica Hampf and High Society III


Lainey Ashker and Anthony Patch


Lainey Ashker and Anthony Patch, both happy after a great round.


James Alliston and Jumbo’s Jake


Susan Beebee and Prowler


Michael Pollard and Icarus - this horse was really cute.


Missy Ransenhousen and Critical Decision


Phillip Dutton and Fernhill Eagle


Olivia Loiacono and Subway


James Alliston and Parker II


Joe Meyer and 19yo Snip


Karen O’Connor and Quintus 54


Kim Severson and Tipperary Liadhnan, who looked exhausted through the whole round.


Kim Severson and Tipperary Liadhnan


Boyd Martin and Remington XXV


Jessica Phoenix and Exploring


Jessica Phoenix and Exploring


Oliver Townend and ODT Sonas Rovatio


Mary King and Fernhill Urco


Mary King and Fernhill Urco


William Fox-Pitt and Neuf Des Coeurs


Hannah Sue Barnett and St. Barth’s


Hannah Sue Barnett and St. Barth’s


Rebecca Howard and Riddle Master


Sinead Halpin and Manoir de Carneville


Sinead Halpin and Manoir de Carneville. Sinead was overcome with emotion after her beautiful round. It was moving to watch!


Clayton Fredericks and Be My Guest


Mary King and King’s Temptress


Mary King and King’s Temptress


King's Temptress and her groom.


Sinead congratulating "Tate" on their third place finish, which is VERY impressive.


Mary King's victory lap.


Mary King with her two horses, whom she placed first and second on, which is a new record for Rolex as it has never happened before.

We drove home yesterday and the drive back was way more painful than the drive to KY. We didn't get stuck in much traffic, but it just seemed to go on forever...and ever...and ever. We were all exhausted and I was so glad to be able to sleep in my own bed last night.

More highlights from the trip coming up.