An Exercise in New Year's Resolutions

I did in fact go back and delete my last post after having second thoughts about it. I know it's been requested of me to write about my awesome job but that's not what this blog is about, and shouldn't be. I certainly did not mean to gossip about my boarders by sharing that last story.... it really just was too funny and I wanted to spread a little joking cheer. In retrospect, not particularly appropriate of me! Won't happen again. If you want to know about the hijinks that ensure while trying to keep 31 horses, 23 owners, 2 cats, 4 trainers, and 4 staff members happy all at the same time, well... you'll just have to get to know me personally!




In other news, I've been doing my best to integrate my New Year's resolutions into my daily life. These are all, for the most part, life changes versus one-time events, so I've been playing with them and doing my best to make my life and my world a better place. As a refresher, here are my 2010 resolutions/goals:

Travel as much as I can – Madagascar/Egypt/? At the end of the year
Complete the 100 Pushups/200 Situps/25 Pullups/200 Squats challenges
Learn how to run barefoot and compete in a 5k barefoot (maybe!)
Do yoga once (or twice) every week
Eat healthier – buy fresh food every week and learn to MAKE IT
Save money for other things than the necessary – shows, and breeding next year
During the winter, ski every Wednesday that weather allows
Complete Metro's scrapbook
Have a poem published
Finish Patrick painting


Well, so far I've done my very best to ski every week, but it's quite a bit harder than expected. Unfortunately for me, Connecticut is on the temperate end of New England, so while my sister is up skiing in Vermont and Maine all weekend every weekend, I struggle on my one day off to get out to our tiny local hills. I went skiing two Wednesdays ago and the hill I went to SUCKED! The snow was terrible, there were only two chairlifts open, and I got SCREAMED at by some maniac chairlift operator when I didn't put the bar on the chairlift down. (Seriously? Is that a rule now? I thought it was a suggestion.) Last week I wanted to go on Wednesday, but I didn't actually have a day off last week, so that didn't work. This week, I've had to contend with the fact that it's been 40+ degrees all week, so ALL the snow is gone. Can't exactly ski with no snow! I HAVE done yoga every week though, which is great. We have a very nice small studio in town that has classes every evening, and while I was doing a very intense hotroom Vinyasa class, I also tried a few Naam classes with my roommate, just because it's always more fun to exercise with a friend. Our Naam class is.... not like any Naam yoga I've ever known. We do lots of chanting, obviously, but we don't really do much in the way of actual yoga poses. Lots of fitness stuff, but it's just not... yoga. It's a bit weird, but actually quite tiring, so that's good. On the barefoot running front, I've been researching a bit and I do agree that I want to get a pair of Vibram Five Fingers. A lot of barefoot enthusiasts say that getting a transition shoe is not ideal if you're going to run fully barefoot, but I'm not quite sure that I DO want to get to that point just yet. It's the same idea as getting hoof boots in my mind. Movement is critical to creating the bare foot that you want, and if you have a hoof in transition, forcing the horse to hobble painfully over rocks just isn't fair. That foot will come in time, but you need to help it get there. Same with barefoot running. If I'm hobbling over rocks with my pathetic feet that have been wearing shoes since I could first walk, I'm not going to get very far am I? My feet need to strengthen, and I need help getting there.

An interesting comparison: here are some healthy bare human feet versus unhealthy "shod" human feet, and healthy bare hooves versus unhealthy shod hooves.

And:

Don't be fooled by the width of the shod foot. That is a hoof plagued with paper-thin, pancake-flat soles, serious flares, and a very contracted heel. Nothing at all like the rock-cruncher on the left.
As you can see by both the human and horse examples, the foot will adapt to compensate for improper footwear, and will also adapt to a more natural lifestyle if given the opportunity. To what extent it will adapt is dependent on everything - environment, exercise, diet, proper trim, genetics, etc. But every foot can change in some way, shape or form.

EDIT: I forgot to add in one more thing, and it's very important, maybe the most important part of the whole post. It is quite clear to me that if you were to take the unhealthy "shod" foot in that picture and set it to walking around barefoot, aside from the obvious pain factor from those weak, uncalloused soles, that foot will never turn into the big wide one pictured. Why? Because more likely than not, that unhealthy foot has been crammed into shoes ever since it was young. It's similar to the very outdated foot binding custom: a young, growing foot will become permanently deformed if forced into something unnatural. Countless doctors agree that improper footwear for children can be exceptionally damaging and unhealthy. And now here's a thought: what about that idea of the tiny, boxy Quarter Horse foot? The eternally crappy Thoroughbred foot? Quite obviously, genetics DOES play a part in this, but you don't see crappy feet in ALL QHs or TBs. You DO see a lot of crappy feet in OTTBs and QHs who come from young sport backgrounds. Those TBs get shod for the track when they are long yearlings. Those halter, western pleasure and other young western sport type QHs get shod when they are weanlings, and I've heard it's desirable to encourage a horse to put out the tiny, upright boxes that seem to plague our QHs today. I certainly hope that's not the real case. Regardless, those young feet are not done growing, and do they get the chance to develop a thick digital cushion, a dinosaur hide frog, thick walls, and a tough sole callous? No they do not. If you have a completely outstanding farrier, the damage probably won't be huge. But unless your farrier is God, it's quite possible that the fast growth of young hooves will quickly outgrow their shoes - but be unable to adjust for their size. They'll be stuck the way they are. Actually, Bowker did a study on this, dissecting hooves that had been kept bare and hooves that had been shod at a young age, and he found that the internal structures of the feet shod at a young age were essentially "frozen" in a state of immaturity - they were permanently stunted. (If anyone has a link to that study, let me know so I can put it up here.) This is why I think a lot of people won't - or even just can't - take their horses barefoot and expect them to be able to perform. Those feet were deformed when they were still growing, and never had the chance to develop what they needed to make it in the natural world. A majorly "deformed" foot taken bare will change for the better if given the opportunity, I assure you. But will it ever really be fully barefoot and sound and comfortable on all types of terrain in all situations? Maybe! But, maybe not. I wish we could take two cloned TBs, put them in the exact same diet, exercise, and turnout program, and shoe the one and leave the second barefoot, just to see what would happen. THAT would be an interesting study.

I digress. Anyway.



In this miserable, crappy Connecticut winter weather, I am really looking forward to trying on a pair of VFFs and am dreaming of a warmer, drier springtime.

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As for Gogo, it's becoming quite clear that I've likely bitten off way more than I can chew financially for the upcoming season! Sure I want to do Holsteiner approvals in the fall and all the bigger events and the AECs and some dressage shows and some jumper shows and a competitive trail ride and hunter trials and hunter paces and OH MAN! that is a lot of stuff. Toooooo much stuff. WAY too much stuff. If I really want to breed her next year, I need to budget for it, and that means not being ridiculously extravagant this year. I certainly am bringing in three times the money that I was (not that that's a ton, but hey, it's a start), but that doesn't mean I can throw money wherever I want it. So, I'm going through my show schedule and scaling back to just include the most important things. The schedule is not complete yet - this is just events and a couple possible schooling dressage shows - but I am not planning to do any competitive trail rides, jumper shows or too many other things. Holsteiner approvals may not happen this year either... it's so many hundreds and hundreds of dollars.


April 18: Mount Holyoke Schooling Dressage Show (CT) First 4, Second 1
May 1: Once Again Farm Schooling Dressage Show (CT) First 4, Second 1
May 29: Mystic Valley Hunt Club HT (CT) (Novice)
June 25 - 27: Groton House II HT (MA) (Training)
July 10 - 11: ENDYCTA/Old Chatham (NY) (Training)
July 24 - 25: Fitch's Corner HT (NY) (Training)
August 5 - 8: Millbrook HT (NY) (Training)
August 14 - 15: GMHA HT (VT) (Training)
September 09 – 12: American Eventing Championships (GA) (Training)
October 2 - 3: University of New Hampshire HT (NH)
October/November: Cap in with Wentworth/Tanheath
October: New England Hunter Trials (Novice)
November 12-14: 2010 Equine Affaire Versatile Horse & Rider Competition

Italicised are the possibilities that I haven't decided on yet. Not included here are any potential hunter paces I want to do. There are TONS to choose from, so I haven't decided yet which I'd like to do. I am happy to report I have a whole slew of eager boarders who would love to join me in these endeavors, so I will have riding buddies, partners and support! Hooray!

As for the events - the real meat of the season - I am planning on starting the season with Mystic's very easy Novice, just as a pipe opener. If all goes according to plan, I do want to make Groton House our first Training. I considered doing the spring GMHA at Training, but it's in early June, and I just don't think we'll be ready by then. So we'll do what we did last year with Groton House - cross our fingers and hope that we'll get in!

Really what I'd like to do is one of those schooling dressage shows just to get her off the property, then go into the eventing season strong. Whether or not I will do Old Chatham entirly depends on how she feels, and how she does at Groton House. Once again, my brain has exploded seeing that every other level has their Area Championships in the fall.... but the level I want to show at? Yep, gotta be held at a spooky venue in JULY! So quite possibly, I will not be attending Areas this year. It just depends on, well, everything.


Gogo is feeling good, strong, and sound under saddle. One of our boarders commented yesterday on how perfectly even she looks behind, much to my happiness. She also mentioned while watching her from behind that she could also tell her evenness from just how evenly her tail waved back and forth while she was trotting. Love that!


Gogo would also like to say that she is REALLY looking forward to springtime and galloping again:

That's a "PLEASE!" face if I ever saw one!

It's Gonna Be a Happy New Year

Yes, indeed it is! 2010 is here and we can finally let the last decade die in peace. How weird is it that ten years ago I was still in middle school, standing around at Epcot in Disney World waiting for Y2K to shut off all the fireworks and lights? Aaaah, ten years come and come. We've learned many things in the past decade, answered many burning questions such as... how does one unfreeze an iPod? Should I shake it like a salt shaker or a Polaroid picture? Should I vote for Kerry just so Bush won't win? A decade where somebody finally realized that skinny shirts were out, skinny jeans were in, and skinny models should finally eat some more sandwiches. A decade where buildings got attacked, space shuttles fell out of the sky, and long wars started. A decade that gave us Facebook, Twitter, the iPhone, publicly available hybrid cars, and the pinnacle of human achivement, the Snuggie. A decade where I entered and finished both high school and college, owned all three of my horses, and saw many pets, family members, and friends come and go. It's quite remarkable to look back on it all and realize just what a huge amount of time a decade really is, especially for someone like me who is not quite two and a half decades old. That's practically half my life right there. That's crazy.


As is tradition, it's time to go over all the 2009 goals I set for myself and for Gogo, and to come up with new 2010 goals. 2009 was sort of a hazy year for me - started out SO strong (winning three events in a row!) and then ending on such a crappy note (a RF, a last place finish, a 5th after a rail, and a tendon injury!), so it wasn't quite what I had hoped for. Most of these goals didn't get accomplished at all.

2009 Goals:

1) Qualify for and attend the AECs at Novice – place top 10
Well, we easily qualified for them, and we attended them, and we WOULD have finished 4th out of 40 people. I suppose I consider this goal not totally a failed completion. Freak things can and do happen, things we would have never guessed could have. The fact that she kept going through that challenging course while being seriously injured unbeknownst to me and never questioned a thing or hesitated anywhere means more to me than any placing could, because of the heart and guts she showed. She just kept going. That takes a special horse to just keep going.

2) Break 70% (at First Level or Novice/Training)
We did in fact do that! But only once, which was a little dissapointing. While the average of our overall scores went down - and was VERY consistant - our lowest score was still only a 29.5. That's not as low as I want it. We'll work harder at that this year,

3) Show First Level 1-4
Nope. I just didn't have the finances.

4) Hopefully show Second Level 1-2 (not an official goal, due to money constraints)
See above. Hopefully this year.

5) Show Training Level eventing
Again, we WOULD have done this had she not injured herself at the AECs. She was mentally ready and she was definitely fit enough. So not a TOTALLY failed goal, just an uncompleted one due to circumstances beyond my control.

The goals I set for myself last year are also for the most part incompletions, or total failures. My problem ended up being this: I spent too much time focusing on my horse, and not enough time on myself. Which you know, certainly could be worse, but I am a firm believers that all people should have other things they love and enjoy to do away from their careers and career-like things. If I had a desk job somewhere, then of course my horse would be the perfect outlet away from that, but she's a large part of my daily career work, as are all her horsey comrades. I think it's very healthy to maintain other fun pastimes too, because of focused I get on just her. For most of this past year, she's been my entire life. Everything I've done from waking in the morning to sleeping at night has revolved totally around her. And that's great when things are going swimmingly, but extra devastating when things aren't - I had nothing else to turn to that I was putting any sort of emotion into. One of the (very) few good things about her lay-up has been that I've had so much extra time to do all the stuff I enjoy but don't have time to do when she's in heavy training. I focused a lot on myself. I go to go on small vacations. I traveled a bit, I spent more time with friends, I painted and wrote, and I did a lot of yoga and reading. It was nice, just getting to go for a stroll in the woods and not think about my next upcoming show. So this upcoming show season, while I won't be any less driven in the slightest, I fully intend on letting myself be a multifacited person. Sometimes I get so focused on one thing, I forget all the other aspects of my being. I'm crazy about skiing. I love to exercise. I love getting my hair done and a new pair of shoes. I adore sailing, travel, and walking up to total strangers to strike up a conversation. I have to allow myself time for these things this coming year. That way, if something else happens that's not in my favor (but it WON'T because I SAID SO), my whole life won't feel totally ruined.

The other problem with last year's list? It wasn't specific enough. It was very vague, and so therefore I had nothing concrete to hang on to or to focus on. Things never got done because I didn't have enough of an idea of what I really wanted to do in the first place. I'm starting over this year with a more difinitive list, both for myself and for Gogo. And for both of us, there will be a bigger list of things that are NOT just sport.

So, without further ado, our yearly goals.

2010 Goals:

Gogo:
Qualify for and attend the AECs at Training Level, top 10 finish
Break 70% at First Level or Training Level (Score in 20’s)
Show 1st level 1-4 (Schooling or recognized)
Show 2nd Level 1-2 (Schooling or recognized)
If finances are available, show in GMHA’s N3DE (do the T3DE next year!) – or at least attend/support/volunteer/donate to it
Take her to Holsteiner approvals and get into the MMB
Do some fun competition type things: the 2010 Equine Affaire Versatily Horse & Rider Competition, a competitive trail ride, hunter trials/hunter paces
Go foxhunting!

Me:
Travel as much as I can – Madagascar/Egypt/? At the end of the year
Complete the 100 Pushups/200 Situps/25 Pullups/200 Squats challenges
Learn how to run barefoot and compete in a 5k barefoot
Do yoga once (or twice) every week
Eat healthier – buy fresh food every week and learn to MAKE IT
Save money for other things than the necessary – shows, and breeding next year
During the winter, ski every Wednesday that weather allows
Complete Metro's scrapbook
Have a poem published
Finish Patrick painting

Now there's two or three things in there that might have caught your eye. First, it's true - GMHA is running a Novice 3-Day this year. THAT IS AMAZING. If I am still point-chasing, it's unlikely that I'd be able to do this, as they're running it a couple of days before their regular event. But if I can't ride in it, I still fully intend to support it, either through volunteer work or financially. With the time we've lost and my inability to really find someone out here that I'd really like to train with (any suggestions?), doing the T3DE is not a viable option this year, sadly. I don't have the qualifications or the knowledge to do that alone. I need a teacher and a guide. But you never know, maybe someone amazing will come along and we'll try for it!

Secondly, did you say breeding? Yes, that's the plan - finally, I'm in a situation where I will be financially strong enough, as well as be in a stable living/job situation, where I will be able to breed her in the summer of 2011. The goal all along has been to breed her before the age of 11, then go back and compete for several more years before retiring her as a broodmare. It is infinitely easier to get a younger maiden mare pregnant and mainain it to term rather than an older maiden mare, and it's actually quite common in Europe for a mare owner to breed the mare at the age of 3, foal out and see what's she's capable of producing, then break and train the mare until she's older and ready to be retired to be a full-time mom. Young bodies are good at these kinds of things, and old bodies are more concerned with keeping just themselves healthy and going. So for mid-late summer 2011, I am finally setting it all down in stone. Two and a half years from now, expect to be introduced to a bouncing, rearing bundle of joy. I can't WAIT already!! BUT, clearly that is a long way away, and I need to start planning and saving now if that's what I really want to do. All the pieces are ready to fall into place - I even have an inexpensive place to keep the wee one when he/she is weaned for very cheap... right here in my backyard! Turnout all day and an arena and everything! If that's not a great situation, I don't know what is.

Thirdly, did you say... running barefoot? In all the commotion in the past few posts about barefoot horses and barefoot human athletes, I got to thinking about it. Here's the thing: I LOVE to run. But I've essentially stopped every time I've really gotten into it because of the horrible pain it caused me. Knee pain, back pain, shin splints, cramps in my feet, and let's not even get me started on my bad hip. I was running in crappy shoes at the time and attributed it to that. I went out and got myself a fancy pair of running shoes and tried again, and strangely enough, the pains in my feet got way, way worse. I would have to stop mid-run sometimes because of the shooting cramps I'd get in my arches. It was weird, it didn't make sense. So now here I am, getting fat on the couch while my horse gets fat in her stall. I'm not running because my feet and my body hurt when I do it regularly. I have pretty good form... so what's the problem?
And then I had a lightbulb moment when everyone was bickering about it. Why not try running barefoot myself? It sounds ridiculous really, when I write it down, but I'm serious. If it worked so well for my horse, maybe it could work for me too. It's quite the same set of principles - nature gave us these feet and intended us to use them unfettered, and it's quite a growing movement. The human evolved as a bipedal walking/running machine, meant to be on their feet and going all day long. If I want to try this, I need to do some serious research and ask some very real questions. If it hurts me too much to run in shoes, maybe I should just try without them, and see what happens. Who knows? I might come back swearing with glass in my foot and write the whole thing off. But maybe, just maybe, it'll change me as an athlete for all time. I'm a novice runner - a very novice runner - but I want to do it and I want to do it a lot. I love it. I am no Stacey but I do want to try, late in the year, a 5k road race. Maybe I'll end up back in running shoes - who knows? But maybe not. It'll be an interesting experiment, and a sweet way to run a little bit of a parallel to the nekked hooves movement. I know what it's like to be an athlete limited by my shoes! So stay tuned to see what happens on that front.


Happy New Year, everyone!

Hacks, Jumps, Water and Rain

I am lucky to have very mild flexibility in Gogo's schedule on the weekends. Over the course of Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, I have a choice as to the best way to rearrange these three things: conditioning hack, jump, and a day off. I had planned this weekend to hack early on Saturday morning, but I let myself sleep in til 8am (YES), and when I went out to the barn with my dog I found that they had already turned her out. I wanted her to stay out for her full turnout, so I went back in the house until she came in. And then, it started raining. And raining. And raining. And it rained allllllllllllllll day. At 5:30pm when it finally stopped, I had long given up on the idea of going on a very unpleasant downpour-y hack and had decided to give her the day off instead. She got a good grooming and a 20-minute handwalk instead. I like to give her two 20-minute handwalks on her days off, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, but that didn't happen due to me thinking I was going to get to hack!

I had to work on Easter Sunday (not that I celebrate it anyway, so it didn't bother me). The other girl that works Sundays also doesn't have any family here, so we were invited to go to her hairdresser's house for dinner... I know, how totally random and sweet of him. Because we were planning to book out as early as we could, I decided that instead of hacking, I would jump instead, and I wanted to keep it simple and playful. Due to the deluge we had gotten the day before, the outdoor was a lake. Hmmm, lake you say? Well, I've got an idea...



Yep, let's make a water obstacle since we haven't been able to do any real x-country schooling yet! Thankfully Gogo is sane enough not to associate dressage arena with craziness if I do any jumping in there. Gogo's been through tons of water, and she takes to it very easily, but at BN every water crossing is just that, a lope through some water. She's jumping in and out of water off of and onto banks, but she hasn't ever done any JUMPS in or out technically. So, I wanted to ask that question of her and see what she did. And what do you know, she took to it with ease. I knew she would :) She was almost lazy loping around to the jump too, it was very nice. I kept it at around 2'6", just small and simple, and let her do the rest. I focused on my position too, and I found that when I do that, I can manage to actually have a pretty nice position over fences AND do a passable automatic release too. My position is better when I do the auto release for whatever reason... I like that. Yay mare!

And today, of course, was the conditioning hack. We're up to 20 minutes of trotting now and 1:40 of walking. She's still wearing her feet faster than I'd like, especially her LH. I know it's all a bunch of crap that white feet are weaker than dark feet, but that's her only white foot and she wears it faster on the bottom. Weird. I tried putting some duct tape around the edge of each foot, but as expected, that didn't last all that long. I'll be using a crapload of duct tape and vetwrap next time. I hope to get back to the Larkin Bridle trails now that the trotting is about to be amped up to 25 minutes. That's a loooooooooong way to go on neighborhood roads. She was a hair balky when it came to going away from the barn, but only in a crooked kind of way. I put some bute in her dinner and added a splash of oil to try and mix it in enough so that she would eat it, but of course, she turned up her nose. Princess.
I didn't get to go running today sadly, due to my hack and it being dark by the time I got back, but I did get to do my situps and pushing. Now they're doing a new one - 200 Squats! I did my initial test: 30 squats. I'm sure I could have done more, but I didn't. Ah well, on Wednesday.
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Tomorrow and Wednesday.... dressage!! The weather will hopefully hold for our gallops on Thursday, then more dressage, and then MAYBE we'll get to go schooling x-country at Mystic Valley!!



In other news - the BEST news - I sold my old saddle on Ebay. Yep, that saddle I was hoping I MIGHT be able to get $500 for? Yeah, it went for $900. AMAZING. There's my entry fee for the AECs right there! I'm so pumped! I'll miss the saddle but I'm so in love with my new Prestige that I'm just glad it's going to a good new home. $900.... can you BELIEVE that? Amazing!

Also, our entry for Mystic Valley H.T. went out today. YES.


Wow I'm exhausted.

End of March Analysis, and More

It's the beginning of April already, holy crap! Our first real event is in a month and a few days, so it's time to really get cracking on our next month's goals.


March Goals:

1) Get over our irrational chambon fears!!
Well, we're working on that. Actually, I've opted to leave this problem alone for the time being. We have so many other things to fill our week with, and I don't want to risk her hurting herself or scaring herself again, especially not right now as we're gearing up for some really heavy work. I revisited the issue only once over the past month, with a lot of success. I think I will very, very carefully be reintroducing this little issue, maybe on our days off, but I'm NOT going to push it hard. It will a lot of time.

2) Attend our first schooling jumper show and make successful, smooth trips around each course
Success!! We had a great first outing at this little schooling show... actually, we're attending a second one tomorrow! Our first rounds were fast, clean, and scopey. Not a hesitation, not a single rail, nary a bobble in our coursework. AND her attitude dramatically improved in our dressage work that followed that week, and she has maintained that happiness all through these past several weeks. Yay!

3) Continue to develop stretch down and up at the walk/trot
This is coming along! As you can see from these pictures, her tendency is still to tip on her forehand and come behind the vertical, but it's improving fairly steadily. Before, she would take the reins and root, and then pop above the bit. And once that had happened, you could forget trying to take the contact back. It just wouldn't happen. Now, she's going down with a lot of consistency, and coming back up when I ask and staying where she ought to - nice and relaxed and stretching to my hand.



4) Refine (and really focus on) trot-canter transitions - no popping up into them
Again, improving!! If you saw our video of our dressage work outside, you saw some very nice trot-canter transitions. She's getting MUCH quieter about them, but she still disconnects slightly in order to pull herself into them instead of push. But wow, it's still been a world of difference!!

5) Hopefully get our for our first x-country schooling of the season!!
Nope. But we tried. It was all this rain that stopped us. This month it will happen for sure, because Shannon said she'd go with me, and I'm really running out of time. RAIN, GO AWAY ALREADY. WE CAN'T SCHOOL IN THE RAIN.


And some goals for me too....

1) Improve cardio fitness through interval training
I've been running, that's for sure! Not as often as I need to be, but I've been running. Less interval type training and more long distance though... I don't like short bursts AT ALL. I dunno if I want to keep up with the sprints or to focus on the long distance stuff. Any opinions?

2) Continue to improve gallop position (a weak link for sure!)
This is MUCH easier now that I have my new Prestige!! We've only managed to get in one gallop session before this horrible week of nonstop rain started, but I've been focused on my position and very aware of what my body is doing. It can only improve from here!

3) Once we get out schooling x-country, work on maintaining a balanced and rhythmic gallop over fences
We'll get to this one this month.

4) Take the Hundred Pushups Challenge
I'm working on it right now!

5) Take the Two Hundred Situps Challenge
And ditto! They both take about 6 weeks to do, but I'll do it. You better believe it.



And now, for some new April goals:

1) Practice our Novice tests for the month of May, and really focus on improving whatever weak spots we have, including work on my position
2) Successfully make it out to one or hopefully two x-country schoolings
3) Develop our gallop fitness
4) REALLY focus on our trot-canter transitions, and our stretching
5) Make it around our first 3'3"-3'6" courses in the show ring!

And my own goals for myself remain the same, except for the addition of attacking my position weaknesses. :)


I have plenty to blog about concerning this week, but for right now, I need to go dash off to the bank and deposit my paycheck (yes, at 9:40 at night), and then make sure everything is ready for the show tomorrow. My parents came to visit me this weekend, and boy there is one HELL of a development I HAVE to share with you. But you have to wait! Ha!

I Was RIGHT

After that eye-opening picture that Ted took of me at the clinic last weekend, and seeing some video of how my position has deteriorated as of late, I decided I needed a new plan of action. My idea was that instead of focusing on her in the warmup, I needed to focus on ME, and really work on keeping my position classical and correct. I hopped on today for my lesson fully focused on this idea, and I had it in my head very strongly that it would be the perfect idea. And what do you know, I was right.

Focusing on my position almost exclusively had a lot of benefits. First, it got my mind off of the actual warmup itself. Instead of focusing on what she was doing, I was paying complete attention to myself, which gave her time to fuss a little and wiggle a little and settle into herself, without the risk of ticking her off by manipulating her front end. I made it a very stern point with myself that I was going to be as correct as possible, and that meant that there was a solid wall in font of me that my hands could never come behind, which helped a lot when I wanted to 'help' her in the front end with reinplay. Wrong, incorrect, fail. Never the right answer, and I know that. The second thing that focusing on my position did was that the more correct I became, the clearer my parameters for her were, and the easier it was to correct her in a completely benign way. I didn't have to overcompensate for my own body anywhere, and she had no escape route to wiggle through subsequently. I gave her a channel with my legs and seat, and a set rein length, and she bounced between my legs like a pingpong ball until she finally got settled, and then sought my contact out like a perfect girl. And she was EXCELLENT once we got there. I dunno what exactly it is that happens... when she decides she wants to play, that is. But when she does, wow. She is ON and she is perfect for everything we do. She had moments where she wasn't quite as connected as she could have been, but it never felt like it was a resistance thing, it felt like she had slightly out-of-balance moments, and then she reconnected, and that was all. We fluidly flowed between gaits, within gaits, sideways, forward, you name it. It all felt so seamless. Days like today are why I love dressage. Even at the end, we had a stretchy circle that remained full of energy and impulsion, but with her nose almost in the dirt. It felt like riding a giant bouncing rubber ball. It was awesome.

Now, it's time to start completely perfecting our Novice tests. And, well... they're easy. They're REALLY easy. Novice B is pretty much exactly like the Training 3 test. The most important things are the quality of gaits, relaxation, and transitions. We're currently attempting to perfect our trot-canter transitions... more work needs to be done on this. We do them, and we do them well, but they're not as completely flawless as they should be. Transitions, transitions, transitions. So many transitions!

If we keep up this quality of work, I don't think Second level is out of the question by the end of this year.
What IS currently out of the question? Galloping this week. It's supposed to rain... and rain... and rain. For the next, oh I dunno, eternity. So much for galloping this week. We are headed to our second jumper show this weekend, and we'll still have our conditioning walk hack for the coming week, so that isn't all bad.

Oh Gogo, you're the best!!



EDIT: I also wanted to add that I ran at a pretty good clip for 1.75 miles today, and strolling along for another good long way enjoying the scenery, ending with about a 1/2 hour of work. That's a good start! And all the pushups and situps I did two days ago? Yeah... didn't feel that yesterday, but today I'm sore as. I'm such a weakling, I used to be crazy fit and strong!

Something I'm NOT Dedicated To

After my last post detailing how Gogo and I braved the ominous weather in order to do our hack, I spent this evening zonked out in bed instead of going out and running. Granted, I think my body was just telling me I NEEDED some sleep. I've been coming in every night utterly exhausted, and managing to drag myself to my bedtime and crash, not really feeling refreshed when I woke up the next morning. This afternoon, I had complete intentions to take a quick nap after work, then get back up and go running, and then handwalk Gogo for the second time today and groom all the crusty mud off of her(she gets two 20-minute handwalks on her day off, and a good grooming, which she REALLY needed today!), but before I knew it, I rolled over and looked at the clock.... wow, it was just 5:30, how was it now 8:00?!. Time for night check. My daylight was gone. I opted to not do more than brush the excess mud off of Gogo's head and neck while she was eating her nightcheck grain. She at least got one 20-minute handwalk earlier in the day, so that was good. And she did get out for about four hours, so that was also good. Mudball!

In other news, they changed the jumper show on me! It now starts at 8:15am, and they added a Gambler's Choice class to each division. I'm not totally sure that I want to do it, in all honesty. I'm not so great at making up courses on the spot. But maybe! We'll be doing the 3'3"-3'6" this time. Excellent!

And about title of this post... well, it has to do with the whole running/exercising thing. I am so driven to get my riding in, so utterly devoted to my horse and her health and her fitness. But me? Remember the running and the interval training and the situps and pushups challenges? Yeah... haven't been running since early last week. Granted, last week before the clinic I literally DIDN'T have time to go running, because I started work at 4am, when it was dark out, and finished at around 9pm, when it was dark out. I want to give myself Saturday and Sunday off, so I didn't go running then either. And I WAS going to go running today, but I opted for a nap instead. I DID start my situps and pushups today though. Finally. My muscles are VERY tired from all that! But obviously, as you can tell, I can be a bit lazy about it. When I was in NZ, I was running about 5-10km a day and spending at least 2-3 hours in the gym on top of that... working out was what I LIVED for. On the weekends, I tramped through national parks and over mountains and volcanoes for god knows however many kms. The Tongariro Crossing in particular was 18.5kms of scrambling over volcanic rock, which took a solid 8 hours to do. It was easily one of the most amazing things I've ever done.
But whatever happened to that mentality? First off, I think the biggest thing is that I work ALL DAY, and HARD. Riding, mucking, leading, and in general being on my feet ALL day is hard work, and it's very tiring. I don't really get breaks and I don't sit down, other than when I'm in the saddle. And I'm not unfit. I ride a lot, and I am constantly moving and lifting heavy things. I was sort of surprised today when Lynnie came by to get some hay, and dropped one out of the bed of her truck, which was already piled high with hay. She asked me for help, and I picked the bale up with one hand and easily tossed it into place on top of the huge mound of haybales already in the bed of her truck like it weighed nothing. So it's not like I'm not fit and not strong. And I'm not in dire need of losing weight. I'm not overweight by any means - hell, I won't even give myself plump - but I can see a difference in my body, even if it means I'm more normal shaped instead of trim like I was last May. (As a sidenote, I would boycott clothes ALL THE TIME if I a) didn't get cold and b) thought people might look at me weird. I hate wearing clothes!)

I don't really know how to make myself more motivated to really work out hard, except to look at myself in the mirror and berate myself. But that's not really fun either. Any suggestions?



I also just added a new poll to the blog: Which should I do in June, Groton House II or the Heidi White clinic? Vote away!




Gogo says, it's way easier to jump way long and not have to show any bascule. Hunters Run 2008, on our way to our second win of the season.

Spring, spring, spring!

Winter has finally relinquished its grasp on Connecticut. Today, I saw the first caterpillar of the year, and suddenly realized that the grass all around the farm is suddenly turning bright shades of emerald in spots - not everywhere, but it's noticable. Gogo even had her first real mouthfuls of spring grass today while we were out handwalking. We've managed to attract quite a local crowd - all the neighbors came running from their houses to talk to us today while we were handwalking, and our 20-minute afternoon handwalk turned into a 45-minute handwalk plus chatting time. Gogo's very gentle with the non-horsey crowd, including a very enthusiastic 12 year-old child who lives across the road, and who came sprinting and shrieking to greet us (thank you for being a sensible mare Gogo).

Aaaah, spring. The mud in the fields has even dried up for the most part, and even when she rolled today, Gogo came in clean for the most part. She even had a fit for some random reason out in the field while I was away this afternoon, and went galloping around for a few minutes and DIDN'T COME IN CAKED IN MUD ZOMG YES.

My new personal fitness regime started today as well. I'm not totally sure what the schedule for it is actually going to be, but for today I did a good 1.5-2 miles of running, although I'm probably going to REALLLLY regret that tomorrow. I felt strong, and I never felt winded, but that's the problem isn't it... my muscles, I'm sure, will be rebelling. It's interesting how careful I am with my horse's conditioning, but my own? Don't know where to start, so I just jump right in and go for it. Tomorrow, since I am certain I'll be too sore to even THINK about running again (and my muscles will for sure need a break anyway), I'll be starting the 100 Pushups Challenge and the 200 Situps Challenge. To begin, you basically just crank out as many good form pushups and situps as you possibly can, and then figure out what category you fall into based on the number of situps/pushups you can do initially before taking the challenge. That's pretty easy to do. Hell, I could even do that right now! Maybe I will, when I'm off the computer!

Yes, springtime is in full swing, although there's no doubt that there will probably be some other freak snowstorm this month or next, because there always is. If the weather stays clear and dry, though, we MAY be able to sneak in a schooling at Mystic Valley this weekend - IF I can find someone to go with me. That's the huge question at the moment, finding a groundperson. If I can't manage to drag someone along, well, then.... I'm out of luck.
It's also time to revamp our schedule, now that we need to put a stronger focus on conditioning. This post on conditioning is something that I'm REALLY going to take to heart. I'll have to really figure out WHERE and WHEN I am going to do my contioning. Currently, she usually has either Friday or Saturday off, depending on the week, because those are my days off and I like to have a day when I can just do whatever I please without having to worry about her. But, if I have to trailer out, I'm going to definitely have to use both those days for all their worth, for important things like x-country schooling and off-property conditioning. Once I figure out a more concrete schedule, I'll let you know.

Days like these are lovely. I love just walking with Gogo, stroking her soft neck, playing hairdresser with her big thick tail, enjoying the way she roots around the old bits of grass to find the newest, sweetest spring shoots. Her legs were cool and tight today, and she showed no stiffness anywhere in her body at all. Of course, then I had to go ruin that by giving her the 5-way vaccine that's been hiding in the fridge for a week, just so she has a nice stiff neck tomorrow XD It's back to conditioning on the roads tomorrow. Watch out neighbors, wild mare on the loose!

Boy I wish I had a GPS watch. Now THAT would be helpful on so many levels.


EDIT: Just did my initial test for the One Hundred Pushups challenge and the Two Hundred Situps challenge. I managed 25 pushups before pretty much collapsing - according to them, that's pretty good - and I stopped at 80 situps, because I felt it was getting a little ridiculous that I was still doing them easily. I think a few at the end were no longer in good form though, so I'm going to back off a bit and start at a lower level than I'm technically qualified for. And now, to bed nice and early in order to get a jumpstart on a nice healthy day tomorrow :D Aaaaahhh!

End of February Analysis

It's the beginning of the month, which calls for my monthly goal analysis!


February Goals:

1) Continue to develop consistent stretch down and up at the walk and trot
This is coming along quite nicely!! The past week has definitely not been great altogether, so it hasn't been addressed as much, but in the three weeks preceding that, we were making some REALLY good progress. She's stretching down and coming up very nicely - and continuing on to do more real work after without having any fussiness! We'll continue to develop this further for sure, but I'm pleased as punch with the way this is going. I even had some great walk stretch today despite the fact that it took her way longer than usual to warmup - I mean really great walk stretch, really really great.

2) Jump a larger gymnastic - building to 4' if possible
Thwarted by Georgina Morris! I DID try my best to make this happen, and it WOULD have happened if it hadn't been for her. That being said, I did get to go at around 3'6"-ish, which ain't bad. We'll aim for the 4' again this coming month, when she isn't around.

3) Have accurate, balanced, smooth trot-canter transitions (she tends to pop up into them)
Well, these are getting better. She's popping up into them less and moving out into them more, but they still need a lot of work. I'm experimenting a little to see just what exactly helps her with this - how much prep she needs before the transitions, how much positioning helps, etc. There has been improvement, but there still needs to be more.

4) Develop trot and canter lengthenings on a 20m circle
Didn't get to work on this as much as I wanted to, but I'll continue to develop this, especially at the canter.

5) Develop shoulder-in and haunches-in exercises further
Coming along quite nicely, except for the past week. It needs more development, obviously, but I'm pleased thus far.


Overall I'm very happy with the progress made, this past week's nonsense aside. We're honing in on our weaknesses and improving them little by little, getting a little more solid every day. We have days that aren't so great, but we manage to walk away from every single ride feeling like we at least have achieved relaxation and a sense that we could go out and put in at least a good Novice level test, one that scores very well. Some days it feels like we could go do 2nd Level 1-2 and score well. Some days it feels like we could go do Training 1-2 and score well. It doesn't matter to me so much what level of work we're at. What matters is that even if I don't feel like I could get a lick of collection out of her that day, I can still get a good stretchy trot and some nice, relaxed transitions. If that's all we can get that day, then so be it. If we can get more, great. If not, I'm not about to erase all our hard work just to see if I can milk a little more out of her. Slow and steady wins the race, every time. The important thing is that I walk away from every ride feeling at least like the last thing we did was great, and I always do. Whether or not the first part of the ride went well becomes unimportant. As long as we both walk away from the ride feeling all right at the end, I'm happy.


So our new March goals are as follows:


March Goals:

1) Get over our irrational chambon fears!!
2) Attend our first schooling jumper show and make successful, smooth trips around each course
3) Continue to develop stretch down and up at the trot/canter
4) Refine (and really focus on) trot-canter transitions - no popping up into them
5) Hopefully get our for our first x-country schooling of the season!!


And some goals for me too....

1) Improve cardio fitness through interval training
2) Continue to improve gallop position (a weak link for sure!)
3) Once we get out schooling x-country, work on maintaining a balanced and rhythmic gallop over fences
4) Take the Hundred Pushups Challenge
5) Take the Two Hundred Situps Challenge

And by gallop, I obviously am not talking full-tilt run. Gogo really seems to like having the security of me sitting down before every fence and being there funneling her to every one - creating a very secure channel with my legs and hands, and my butt being the encouragement through the channel. I want to help encourage her to take jumps in a more gallop-y stride, instead of steadying and slowing before every fence. Jimmy Wofford just had a really awesome article on this in a recent Practical Horseman, about how it's all about balance and safety and that you shouldn't need to slow down and rebalance before every fence - you should be able to be balanced before and after every fence without changing a thing. Something to keep in mind and think about, to be sure. Sitting down and riding that way to every fence is also MY security blanket - I feel like that's where I have the most influence over her if I feel any hesitations on her part. We'll work on it!

I feel very physically fit at this point (just doing barn work will do that to you) but my flexibility isn't amazing and I am rather one-sided, as that is how a body ends up when you're doing hard physical labor. I will incorporate more stretching into my life too, mostly because it just feels damn good to do it.

And as for the interval training, well.... I'll have to find a place to actually do this. I'm not really sure where to go when there's 14" of new snow on the ground. Also, I dunno about you but working 12 hours a day in a barn reallllly takes it out of you. I'm usually exhausted at the end of the day and don't really want to do much of anything, so I'm just going to have to force myself to do it. I need to eat healthier too. I need more delicious green things in my life.

Need need need! This month we're starting to really amp things up. The jumps will get higher, the conditioning will get tougher, and the dressage will get more precise. We're out with the big players here in Area 1, so our game has got to be good.

And we're good. This might be our year, even more than last year. I'm ready, she's ready.
Now it just needs to stop snowing and we'll be all set.

Gogo at Encore last year, our first show of the season. We were in first after dressage in a downpour, but had a rail in stadium which bumped us down to 3rd. This was when I knew something wasn't quite right - a joint supplement fixed that issue!