Debriefing

For those of you who don't know already, we are back safe and sound from Florida. The main thing here is that we are SAFE and sound! The car is ok, we are ok, everything is OK. Now that's out of the way we can talk about how much fun we had! Poor Kathy...she felt so bad that we had such a hard time getting down there and that it rained every time we stepped foot outside of anything with a roof. I think maybe she thought we were not having a good time. Well we really went down there to see her, and secondly to ride, so the trip was a success. We did ride only twice but really I think we could have ridden everyday for a week straight and it would not have helped me at all. I cannot even begin to explain how horribly I rode! My leg was all over the place but most certainly not where it was supposed to be. My upper body was decidedly top heavy and chose to allow gravity to do it's job much too easily! I seriously don't know how I stayed on at all! Kathy gavae me the name of an equitation trainer up here, Matt Collins. She said he may be able to help me get it together but I think he might tell me I'm a lost cause. I'll give it a try anyway, but I'm not holding my breath. Anyway...all in all I'm glad we decided to keep trudging on after we had the accident. It was good to see Kathy and Sam and Peanut, and Abby, and Sassy of course. Next time I'm taking a train and will ride with Matt or someone else everyday for a month before I go down if I have to!

Day 6 of Adventure in Florida

Learning that in just five months we have successfully undone everything that Kathy taught us about riding...Priceless!

Days 3, 4, & 5 of Adventure in Florida

Why YES! There is a rain cloud hovering over our heads. We need a vacation from the vacation!

Day 2 of Adventure

Woke up at the crack of dawn this morning only to realize that no, it was NOT all a bad dream! Anyway, I'll just give you the highlights again...


Dragged my butt out of the comfy hotel bed and hoofed it over the the repair shop. Ugh!

Got the car fixed for $15.00. MAJOR BONUS!!!

Drove under 50 mph for 5 hours straight in torrential downpours. Are we there yet?

FINALLY, arrived in one piece at Kathy's!!! OH THANK YOU JESUS!!

Found out the dogs have fleas. Nooooooooo!


Oh BOY! So far this is the BEST vacation ever!!! I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings. If you don't hear from me for a few days start making funeral arrangements.

Day 1 of Adventure

So, wish I could say that the trip to FL went off without a hitch. Apparently one hitch just wasn't enough. I currently sit in a nice little motel sipping Chateau Perico out of a little plastic cup after what could only be described as an eventful evening. The highlights of the trip thus far are:

Late departure due to my traveling companion locking her keys in her car. Dealable.

Great coffee and a free donut from an amicable Dunkin Donut dealer. Maybe our luck has changed.

Friendly waitress and cute mechanical pony at a North Carolina Texas Steakhouse. Yum, and yay all in one!

Torrential downpours intermixed with conversations of windshield wipers. Still having a good time.

Hydroplaning and at least three, count em, three full 360's off 95 into the mud puddle of life. Not so fun.

Water slowly rising in the cabin. Uh oh.

Startling knock on the window out of the darkness. Um...help?

Going broke getting the car out of the ditch and a place to sleep. Wait, how are we getting HOME?


Stay tuned for tomorrow's adventures! Who knows what's next! Shocking twist at the end of the episode to be sure!

Mom, make the mud go away.

Water water everywhere and not a place to ride!

This is part of the field I ride in. Lovely isn't it? Guess I won't be riding for a while. Damn! And just when I was getting into a routine! Wish I could say there was somewhere else for me to ride, but this is the highest field on our property. Actually half of it isn't underwater like this, but it's still too wet to allow any horse hooves on it. This just reinforces my plan to finish working on my truck this weekend. The cross country schooling farm Win Green is only seven or eight minutes from me (less than 6 miles). Even though I don't do cross country I can school in their ring for a small fee. I can trailer over there in less time than it takes me to tack up. I can't wait!

AND THEY'RE OFF!

I wish I could say that Saturday was better than Friday, but that would be a fairy tale, and this is the real world. I rode Henry first before the farrier was due to arrive. It was fairly uneventful....well...I guess that's not entirely true. In the first five minutes of walking he tripped and almost fell on his face. Poor guy, it had only been five weeks but his toes had grown so much his feet were starting to look like Donald Duck's. Kathy would have been so proud of me though! My HEELS WERE DOWN and so I did not fall off!!!!! YAY for me!

The rest of the ride really was uneventful. We did more trotting than on Tuesday and later I thought that might have been poor judgment. His stifles are weak and it is easy to overexert him, plus, as mentioned, his toes were long. I did not work on myself as much and instead concentrated on him. In his attempts to escape actually using his muscles Henry does the giraffe neck, inverts his back like a rope bridge and bulges to the inside when going around turns. Quite like those sour old lesson horses we all learned to ride on! He's actually quite talented in contorting his body to avoid using his hind end and back. I attribute it to his stubbornness, his weak stifles, and being out of shape. I say stubbornness first because he does bend around certain turns, like the ones going in the direction of the barn. A plus for me though, I actually USED my leg and was able to push him over to my opened outside rein. Granted, we had to do this over and over and over before he started to kind of accept it. I think once he did volunteer the bend and of course I made it seem like he had just won us a gold medal. No matter how small the effort it must be rewarded tenfold. Honestly I can't complain about the ride. It is always an effort to get him to bend in areas but he didn't get upset or frustrated, and neither did I. He made an effort and I didn't ask too much of him.

Unfortunately, Holly's ride left much to be desired. Although she stood rock still after I mounted (a big change from the mare who's motto is "You've got one foot in now it's time to go!") she was not very relaxed when we trotted. She walked around laid back as ever, but trotting? Not so much. I think she may have been achy because I rode her on Friday. It was a short ride but she has been out of work for a couple months. I probably should have given her another day to recuperate, or at least just gone for a walk. But no, apparently my poor judgment was pervasive throughout the day on Saturday. Or MAYBE, she was giving me her best impression of the horse that won the Kentucky Derby. How I wish I hadn't missed the race! Anyway, whatever the reason, she was quite swift. I was constantly half halting her. She did slow down when she thought I was going to ask her to walk, and I tried to get her to hold that speed but only managed several strides before we were off. Sigh, it's something we'll have to work on. Still, I am so glad I rode them both on Saturday. As they say, "A bad day riding is better than a good day at the office." Not only that, but I actually enjoy that I am a little sore from riding. It really makes me feel like I accomplished something.

FRIDAY!!!!

I am very proud of myself so far! I rode Henry and Holly twice each last week! Holly was very good and it was her first time in the larger paddock. Before I rode we walked around the field first so she could get a look at it. She seemed relaxed, and annoyed that I wasn't stopping to let her graze the grass which is up to my knees in places. I have to work on her ground manners.

Once mounted we walked around the field and she was fine. Very relaxed and laid back. It's hard for me not to compare Henry to her. Henry does not have a long graceful stride (unless he running around the paddock like an idiot and showing off how athletic he is, then his trot is gorgeous), but Holly is a different story. Where I feel like I'm sitting in a rock hard Stubben on Henry, I feel like I'm sitting on a soft springy mattress on Holly. I use the same saddle and sheepskin half pad on both. I wouldn't trade Henry for the world, but I can't help feeling guilty that I like riding Holly better. A plus for Henry though, he hold his speed better than Holly does. She is like an accelerating freight train much of the time, but he pretty much holds his jackhammer trot at the same breakneck or Sammy the Snail speed.

The first ride on Holly was great. She actually stayed pretty slow, and I managed not to be too much like a sack of potatoes on her back. I even managed to keep my heels down for the most part and keep my shoulders back. However, I was not pleased that anytime she changed speed or took a slight misstep I took on spud-like qualities and was either careening over backwards, or in danger of kissing her ears! I will have to work on that. Sinking my weight into my heel instead of just pushing my heels down works much better, and will not get me in trouble when I go down to FL!