The Waterhorse

I would like to know when November decided to cut the rest of October off and just jump right in the game. It's been freezing and cloudy all week! Also, WHAT is going on with my "posted at" times? Pretty sure I am not writing some of these posts at 3:45am. Maybe I have it on the wrong timesetting, but I don't think I am techno-savvy enough to figure out how to switch that.

Anyway. I've been a bit of a slacker when it comes to writing this week... I've been very busy and a bit mopey due to the cold weather. I seem to be making my yearly transition from violently active warm-weather athlete to cuddled-in-warm-armchair cold-weather hibernator. I did manage to squeeze in five great rides on the woman this week, and gave her two days off, despite wanting to do nothing more than ride and sleep (mmmm.... warm bed). Starting with last Sunday, I hopped back on Gogo bareback for a 45 minute jaunt around the property, just to start her moving again after two weeks of being off. I tried her in something new, a rope indian bosal from the same lady who makes Tamara's tack, just to try something for light trail riding that doesn't involve a bit. I thought for sure she'd love it, given her history with contact issues, but I was wrong. Apparently, and thankfully, those days are long gone. I can honestly say that she really just seems to do better in a bit. She was responsive to the turning aids in the same sensitive way that she always is, and stopped with a verbal "whoa", but as for actually stopping from a rein aid? Nope. Didn't get it. In her usual way, when we got to trotting up the far hill, she broke into the canter and frisked about. However, with the hackamore, she had enough the ability to put her head between her knees and get halfway up the hill before I managed to slow her down. I thought they had a little more sting in them... apparently I was wrong. Oh well, it will be good for trail riding at least...



((Gogo says, uhhhhh....))


After work on Monday, I tacked Gogo up for our weekly road hack, and set out to try and beat the sun before it went down (so early these days!). The best way for me to really assess Gogo's soundness is by sitting on her and trotting her on a hard, flat surface, and I take advantage of my time on the tarmac by spending a minute or two trotting on a loose rein on both diagonals. Even though she was doing her typical look-around-side-to-side-nonstop while trotting, which makes it a bit awkward for steering, she felt exactly the same going from one diagonal to the next. Sweet! I kept the trotting to less than a minute or two, and spent the rest of the time cruising around on the buckle, admiring the fall foliage. Gogo was a crazy half-saint as always: at some point, she and I walked around the corner near a house that was flush with the road, and in the yard was a GIANT blow-up ghost, RIGHT there, hissing with air and waving its giant arms around. It couldn't have been more than three feet away from us. Did she even bother to cast it a passing glance? Nope. What DID she spook at? The yellow mailbox, a few feet down the way. Mares. The whole ride totalled an hour, and it was perfect.

Tuesday we had an excellent work on the flat. Warming up in the early morning chill, we walked around the hills of the property for 15 minutes, and then moved into the outdoor to do some walk/trot work. It wasn't complicated, and I didn't canter due to her level of fresh (didn't want her to go galloping and leaping off after two weeks off), but we did some basic lateral work and some bending and stretching. She also gave me some amazing moments of suspension and lightness when I asked her to move out in the trot down the long side. Every lengthening prior to her injury always had a bit of a rushed, groundbound feel to it - not bad per se, but more covering ground without cadence. These were UP and forward, with power. I think there's a lot to be developed here!

Wednesday, I had the best day of all. Despite the fact that I was off and had every right to sleep in as late as I wanted, I bounced out of bed at 4:30am for no reason at all and woke up a sleeping Chris with, "I am going to go take Gogo to the beach for a sunrise ride!!" (I am lucky to be dating someone who takes my totally random early morning whims in stride) Somehow, I managed to get myself, my trailer, and my horse ready and out the barn door by 6:30am, when it was still dark. When I showed up to the barn, I fed Gogo, and then collected all her tack outside of her stall. She saw me coming in with the halter and had OTHER ideas, promptly turning her butt to me and slowly backing in my direction, which is exactly what she did the morning I went to take her to see Dr. C. This brings the grand total of times she's done this behavior in her life to two. Both times, she got the snot beat out of her in response, so hopefully this will be the last... bad, bad mare. Not tolerated. She was on her best behavior after it though!

Unlike the last two times we went to the beach, this time she was totally relaxed, and she plowed right in to the water like she had plans to swim across the Sound to NYC. Running dogs, people casting fishing lines, drydocked catamarans... nothing phases this mare!








If you turn the sound waaaaaaaaaaaaay up on this video, you can hear me yelping when she went in deeper than I expected and soaked my feet through my boots. Salty wet fail!





Just look at that sunrise. It was amazing! And yes, I MAY have been wearing a scarf at the beach.... it was not quite 40 degrees.

Two days off, another light 45 minute bareback hack yesterday, and one final day off today in order to get us back on track, and we are back to our regular schedule. Stay tuned for more adventures, there are some BIG ones coming up!

Photo Adventure, erm.... Sundays

Since I've neglected my Photo Adventure Fridays for THREE FRIDAYS IN A ROW now, I wanted to make sure I had a good one for this week, to replace this last Friday. I even have a VIDEO with this one. Beat that.

Chincoteague Island Pony Penning, 2006.
SO MUCH FUN.
I slept for two days in my car, was interviewed for two newspapers, didn't eat a single bite of food except for an energy bar that one of the reporters gave me, got crusted in marshwater and salt and sun, stared for hours at the lit-up fishing boats docked at the pier at night, and swam with the ponies. Probably the most fun a person could ever have by herself... ever.


The end of the pony swim! A little baby gets left behind, and momma comes running out to find him.

Gogo and the Ocean

Hahaha! So Gogo and I made our first trip to the Big Water today. The day was absolutely gorgeous, and as I walked outside I thought to myself, this will be a day to remember. The sun sparkled through my window as I cruised down the freeway, the radio blasting and the prospect of a day playing in the surf just ahead of me.

Well. New England beaches are not quite like other beaches. There aren't woods and trails and wilderness, there are houses right up to the waterfront and then, the ocean. She had never seen anything like it and was remarkably calm when we first pulled up and she peeked her head out the escape door. Of course, right as I was arriving a HUGE black cloud showed up and poured on us for a few minutes, but thankfully passed pretty quickly. I was disappointed that it was not the miles and miles of wooded shoreline I was expecting, and that the beach was about a quarter of the size that I had imagined it to be, but I was not to be daunted. The beach, the ocean Gogo! What do you think of that! She immediately set the tone by standing right up on her hind legs while I was tacking up for absolutely no reason at all. Literally, I wasn't even touching her when she did it. All right... well, on with the show.

The receding storm clouds.

Off we go down the beach. The sand! The.. well, not quite white sand, but it's SAND. And it's the ocean! The gulls were calling, the ocean waves were pulling at the shoreline. And Gogo... well, she wasn't so sure about all that nonsense. She wouldn't get near the water at first, and when a bigger wave would come rolling in, she would run away sideways from it. I finally got her feet in it, and she relaxed, realizing it wasn't going to eat her, but we did many a Signature Gogo Move - rearing and doing a 180 pivot on one hind leg to get away. That is her favorite evasion, all thanks to Crazy Demon Trainer. She's recently re-added it to her repertoire of Bad Behaviors, even though I thought we were through with it all. I REALLY do blame it on the Ultium for making her hot and irrational. This will also come into play later.

But anyway! Oh, the beach! I met up with a nice lady with a bichon who offered to take my camera and get some pictures of us:


Cheesy smile.
Gogo not wanting to cooperate.


And let's not forget the GOGO SIGNATURE MOVE!




Lovely.
AND some action shots:







And everybody gets at least one "oh shit!" moment:


This is why we use a martingale when we jump.


We gallop, we play, we streak along the beach like a blur and hug the lapping waves. The gulls swirl up and around us, and the wind whips our hair. We splash in the water, we dance, we laugh and we revel in the glory of the sea. We, after much joy, finally decide to call it a day and head on home after a morning full of fun and happiness.





And then. Then, we are walking back along the breakwall, like so:



And as you can see, she is suddenly being startled by something. Yep, a pit bull and another huge dog came bounding up over the wall directly at us just at that moment. What did Gogo do? A 180 and galloped STRAIGHT INTO THE OCEAN. NOT STOPPING. We were literally mostly underwater and swimming by the time I managed to get ahold of her again, and turned her around back towards the shore. WE WERE SOAKED.



All my tack, clothing, tall boots, and both of our entire bodies DRENCHED IN SALT WATER. Oh my god, it was a RIOT.


Oh Gogo. You are something else, that is for sure.

Fun in the sun.... Which is not now

And now, for your viewing pleasure (and continuing with the theme of wetness), some pictures of Gogo and I taking a swim in the pond last summer:

DISCLAIMER: Always wear your helmet (and shoes!!!!) when on horseback!! This is the second time I've posted pictures where I haven't been wearing my helmet, and that is very bad bad bad of me. I always wear my helmet, I do... just not these two times, apparently.

Enjoy the torrential downpours and flash flood warnings, New England!