Oh, snow.

Okay, at this point I am just laughing. I know some of you will poo-poo the karma thing, but you have to admit, my karma/luck/circumstances have been pretty questionable this week....!

This morning, I was taking the trailer back up to the barn so I could drop it off and pack hay and supplies into it. I would not have had the trailer except for that I needed to make the emergency trip to the dealer last night to have them repair the hinges on the door that broke off yesterday. I thought about taking the trailer back last night, but didn't think that I would be able to make it up the slippery mountainside with all the mud and warm weather we had been having. What I did NOT count on was the fact that overnight, the temperature dropped and it started to snow. A lot. At home, we had a dusting, so I didn't think much of it. But at the barn, there were at least six inches. I started up the hill thinking that it wouldn't be a problem, I had trailered in horrible weather before and it had never caused me a problem.

What I forgot about was that I used to own a tank of a Dodge Durango, which was the sturdy all-weather vehicle I used for all of those snowy endeavors. I didn't think about the fact that this is the Dodge Ram, with very WIDE tires and an unweighted bed. It's still heavy, but it doesn't handle the same in bad weather.

When I got about halfway up the hill, all of the wet mud from yesterday has turned into a sheet of black ice underneath all of the snow. My truck, despite being in 4-low, shuddered to a stop and then started to slide backwards. I slammed on the gas, I slammed on the brakes..... I had nothing. I was rapidly accelerating backwards with a trailer down a mountainside with a serious 14 degree grade to it. I had a cliff on one side of me, and a steep hill on the other. Behind me, I couldn't see or tell what was in my way, and I was reaching higher and higher out of control speeds. So I did the only thing I could do to stop the runaway freight train. I jackknifed it. Into the hill.





I got lucky. The only damage to anything involved was caused by my sway bars, which punched into my bumper when I jackknifed, and to my muffler, which is now hanging sadly. My trailer is completely fine. Thankfully, a few friendly neighbors and Jen's husband found me and helped rescue me. It took four men and four hours (in the 14 degree weather) to finally get my rig up the hill. I've never burned so much rubber in all my life trying to spin my tires up the mountainside.


Thank god there wasn't a horse in the trailer. I think I would have died.


We are STILL set for an early AM departure tomorrow. If I can, you know... get out of the barn driveway and everything. I am pretty sure that after today, I never want to live anywhere snowy ever. Ever. Again.

Snafu

The title of this post doesn't have much to do with anything really. I just like the word 'snafu,' much as I like the words 'jabberwocky' or 'catawampus.'

Yesterday we jumped! It was more of a breath of fresh air for her than an actual school, something other than boring ol' dressage. We did a simple gymnastic, set like this:



The distance was set pretty short for her. She definitely favors the long spot, so exercises like this help her be very tidy and quick with her body, as she must tap the ground pretty cattily and come right back up again. She had one time where she came in a little quick and shimmied through it a little awkwardly, but every time before and after it, she put it together pretty easily. I had Shannon help me put the whole grid together as we steadily warmed up through it, and I also had her put two poles together to form a triangular chute propped up against the top rail of the final vertical. I really like what it did for her straightness and tightness up front. We didn't go for too long - about half an hour - but I felt that she was excellent and saw no need to continue. As Shannon said, she's not a horse that needs to really be schooled per se over fences. She, as this point and at this level, is point and shoot. There isn't enough I can set up at the farm that'll really challenge her. I do want to, in addition to the jumping lessons I'll be taking, set up a few steep slices and a few really narrow skinnies for her, just to see how honest she'll be. She really seems to have grown up over the winter, and she's being more honest on her own than she ever has. Last year, I felt very strongly that I had to be there to hold her hand for her to every fence, and this year I feel like as long as I'm pointing her sort of towards the right fence, she'll take it no matter how we get there. I've been really, really impressed with her.
The other thing I did yesterday that I haven't done in well over a year is jump her in her snaffle. I usually have her in the waterford, but really and truly, she just LOVES that blue plastic bit. She was dead quiet, completely response, and took a half-halt like you don't know. Maybe I was just being softer, but seriously, I think that's as responsive as she's ever been to a rein aid while jumping. I'm not about to go gallop XC in the thing, but man, blue plastic bit is my friend right now!

Today, more boooooooooooring dressage! Or well, that's how she sees it :) Gogo actually came out feeling AMAZING and completely responsive RIGHT off the bat, and was giving me awesome trotwork and leg yields right from when I first picked her up. I thought about just getting off and calling it a day, but I went on to work more. And, of course, the more we worked, the hotter she became. And she got HOT. Not sure exactly what happened, but wow, she was HOT AS HELLFIRE by the time we were nearing the end. Our second canter was, in fact, a large disaster, although for some reason this didn't really bother me. She was racing around a 20m circle completely inverted, flinging her head in my face, completely in gallop mode for whatever reason. I just sort of sat chilly and waited... and waited... and waited. Finally, she quieted down and gave me something resembling a quiet circle, and I went back to trot and cantered the other way, which was much better. Much, much better, actually. I dunno if her brain just finally settled down or what, but after that, we did a little more nice quiet trotwork and called it a day on a perfect halt. Mares!

This is the eternal dilemma with a pretty fit event horse like mine. It might be only Novice but the fitter she gets, the hotter she gets. I wonder how confusing it can get for her doing everything in the plastic snaffle. She now hacks, gallops, does dressage AND jumps in it, which is great and kind of bad at the same time. She has no real way to differentiate between what we're doing based on tack alone - and she's the kind of horse that would definitely know what different bits mean. I don't ask her to come round while galloping, as I want her to have her own head for balance, and while actually doing a course I don't bother to mess with her head while I'm jumping either. Hacking is usually done on the buckle or a loose rein. This is the other problem - I'm working all sets of muscles, the bad ones included. I'm no fool to think that all this dressage is going to eliminate her ewe neck, especially when her natural balances lies within a high head carriage. I'm not going to fight nature when she needs to balance that way. Her neck looks awesome for her right now, but in the grand scheme of things, it's a pretty unimpressive neck. We do what we can, and I try my hardest to make sure she knows a distinct difference between everything we're doing. King Oak was proof enough that if you leave her alone, she'll go there on her own. Home is for trying to school her through that mindset. Dressage is slowly and steadily becoming more of a conversation between the two of us as opposed to me quietly hoping she'll decide to play the game that day. Now, I feel as though I can ask her a little, and while she'll have moments where she's not totally connected, she'll go where I ask her to go, and she'll take my corrections instead of fighting them, although sometimes it's with a grain of salt. I like this new direction.


And... um.... Gogo's fat. I mean really, I look at her and go oh man. Fattie. I tried and tried to tell everyone here that she's an easy keeper, and nobody believed me until now. I put a little weight on her over the winter seeing she was on the thin side after the long trip out here, and that seems to have backfired as now she won't LOSE the weight! I've cut out all the Ultium except for a tiny cup of it at nightcheck just to give her a little something along with everyone else, and she's now eating 2lbs a day of the Triple Crown 30% ration balancer, which I actually don't think I like much, and about 10 flakes of okay-ish quality hay. Not sure what else I can cut out, as she's at the low end of the Triple Crown's recommended poundage for a horse doing her kind of work! I MAY have found somewhere to get Gro N' Win though.... here's hoping that works out!! I thought about putting her on Platinum Performance instead of the ration balancer, but I'm pretty sure she won't be getting all the protein she needs on that system. Nothing replaces a quality ration balancer in my book.





Vroom vroom!!

Giving that Hemi a WORKOUT!

The truck had its maiden pull on Saturday, and it hauled again today, TWICE. I freaking LOVE it. It pulls "like buddah," just like Daun said it would. It honestly feels like you're not even pulling anything at all. It's truly a perfect workhorse, exactly what I've been needing. I made around $200 hauling a horse to and from a dressage show yesterday and today, AND I did it while on the clock cause my boss didn't feel like making a second trip back for him, lol. I need to get a picture of Patron all hooked up - it's been hooked up all weekend and I never even bothered to unhitch it.

Gogo had Saturday off, seeing as I really was too busy to even consider riding, and it worked out perfectly as her day off instead of today. She got to stay out for about 5 hours, but was pretty insistant that she wanted to come in by 11. Too bad, you stay out there! She sometimes doesn't believe in the great outdoors, I think, especially when it's a little muggy and a little buggy. I got to handwalk her once for 20 minutes, but never got to do her second handwalk or her groom. Instead, I trailered Harley all over god's creation and immediately rushed back home, left Patron and trailer in the driveway, finished feeding and doing PM chores, and while I had missed the Rolex coverage on TV, I did get to see the Superfilly tromp the boys in the Preakness! I have to say though, Mine That Bird is really for real. He had a terrible trip and had to come WAY wide around everyone - no zooming up the inside this time - and he was still second and closing really fast. Had the race been a hair longer, he would have beaten her. Amazing... a $9500 nobody gelding, who would have thought.

Once again today, I went out to the showgrounds and fetched good old Harley, who did a wonderful job trekking his mother around for her first real rated show in less than ideal footing - he's 19, a retired big time jumper with wonky suspensories, and he's just the sweetest thing ever. I ended up back at home at around 4:15, just in time to help feed and finish up chores before grooming Gogo and tossing her butt back on the trailer, the engine not even cool yet. We headed out again to the Larkin Bridle Trails, where it was gloomy, gray and chilly, and completely deserted. Our 10 minutes of walk warmup was interrupted by around ten million little shrieking adorable kids, all of which came sprinting at high speed en masse towards my thankfully sensible mare. The loudest and fastest of them, who I asked nicely to slow down, then went on to tell me how she rides horses AT A TROT, and she knows everything about them (my guess was she was about 8). When I said I was off for a two hour hack, she promptly told me, "Oh, I ride for two hours. I maybe even ride for MORE than two hours. I maybe ride for THREE. I ride maybe the biggest horse in the barn. I can TROT him. I ride him sometimes without a SADDLE. Or a BRIDLE. Or my HANDS." Sure you do. Cheeky kid.

The trail was, as always, gorgeous. It's getting greener and more lush as summer steadily creeps in, and the footing was great even though we had some really heavy rain early this morning. Gogo was great, but after all that time in the car, I was not. I was stiff and was posting so crookedly that it almost felt like it was Gogo that was uneven. A bit panicked, I got up in half seat, and then switched diagonals - phew, it's not her, it's just me posting violently over to the left. My back is completely out of alignment, and that isn't helping matters. We went on for 25 minutes of trot without meeting a single other soul, and then walked the rest of the way home. The ride ended up being more like 2:10, but that's all right. Except it kind of was twilight and pretttttty dark by the time we were done. Oh well, you do what you have to do get your conditioning in!

All that money I earned trailering horses is going to be put to good use this weekend - one of our boarders and I are going to have a mini-vaca on Friday and Saturday, and I CAN'T WAIT. On Friday, I'm trailering both our horses out to her friend Jen's facility, where Kerry Milliken is coming for lessons. Kerry is an Olympian who won the Individual Bronze at the 1996 Atlanta games in eventing, so I'm seriously PSYCHED to get to work with her. We're having a stadium lesson on Friday, and I'm hoping that if we click, I'll be able to go out and ride with her when Town Hill Farm opens their XC course - we could use some XC advice if we're planning on eventually moving up at the end of the year, if all goes well. After that, we get wine and cheese on Jen's porch, and our horses get overnight turnout (vacation!!) in a nice big field. Sleepover at Anne's house, yoga in the morning, and then we'll be off for a day of trail riding and JOY! I seriously can't WAIT, I totally need a break like that!!

Tomorrow, simple gymnastics to loosen her up and to let me focus on improving my position. I am sorry to say that none of you will be seeing my stadium round from King Oak, nor will I be buying any professional pictures, because they're just awful! (Sure, I was totally on edge because I had literally been told that I was in first without a rail in hand AS I was walking into the ring for my round, but that doesn't give me an excuse to override and be sloppy!)

Patrón got you in the zone

Man I have been a bad bad blogger this week! I will have updates for you soon, I promise. But I WILL leave you with this tantelizing hint:




Poor little Shaker looks so small and sad next to Patrón. I will miss my Shaker :( But Patrón.... IS SEXY.

Quick Update

Some quick updates about the last several days before I break the big big news and then buzz off to my jumper show today!

1) We've had a couple of very nice dressage days, where I've been focusing exclusively on my position and then discovering what a beautiful, soft, round, supple horse I had beneath me. Friday, however, was not quite as good because it was pouring and I had to ride in the indoor. Our warmup took 45 minutes of just trotting around with our head in the air, me unable to do much of anything really. Lame. BUT, she did come around finally after doing a single lengthening (the magic button?), and we proceeded to perform a whole mess of excellent lengthenings, shoulder-ins, and leg yields, as well as a ton of high quality transitions. I wasn't as focused on my position, which I think didn't help things. Note to self... figure out how to alter weather to my liking.
2) We also had our awesome weekly 2-hour conditioning hack yesterday morning.... at 6am. My parents were here visiting for the weekend, which was lovely, but they don't understand the importance of conditioning and they wanted to go to the Mystic Seaport, so that left me with one option: be on my horse at 5:45am, because it's a 2 hour hack and we were leaving at 8:30 SHARP to get to Mystic. Well, of course I rolled over at 5:59am cursing myself because I never heard the alarm, and I managed to get dressed, bolt out the door, run a brush over her, and toss on my tack, and be on by 6:08am... I LOVE living at the barn! I hate not being able to give her a good grooming. The ride was gorgeous... I love the daybreak, it's so peaceful and beautiful. We're up to 15 minutes of trot, and next week we move on to 20. Back in the barn, I fed Gogo and bolted off to shower myself (I hadn't even let the dog out yet!), and off we went to Mystic, which was great fun. Later that night, I gave her a half-bath (head, neck and legs) and hot toweled the rest of her, and decided that there was nothing on her to clip anywhere - it was all done just last week!
3) Gogo also got trimmed on Friday night. Or, well, mostly I just rolled her walls because there was literally NOTHING to take off on the bottoms of her foot. I didn't get pictures... I promise I'll have some soon! She's wearing them awfully fast on the pavement though... a little too fast if you ask me. On her LH, she's worn into the sole a little bit all the way around the foot and actually had a little bit of a ridge of sole forming on the inside. Note to myself... if I continue to condition on the pavement, next time I'll wrap each one with a bit of vetwrap and duct tape. The poor man's hoof boot!


ARE YOU READY FOR MY BIG NEWS???

My current tow vehicle is the second car I've owned, a blue 2004 Dodge Durango with kind of a wimpy engine but a good heart (it tries. Hard.) named Shaker. I love Shaker, a lot.



Shaker now has over 90,000 miles on it (I drove it to California and back once.... oops). It just had a ton of new work done on it, but it's getting old, and it's really NOT designed to be a tow vehicle for a horse trailer, even though it has a fancy tow package. So two night ago, over dinner, my parents broke this news to me:

They're buying me a new truck.
A brand new 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 Quad cab with a Hemi.
Oh. My. God.
Just hand me the most spoiled brat in the history of spoiled brats award. They gave me Shaker as a gift, too. AND my first car, a brand new bright orange Jeep Libery, as a total freebie as well. I hate to say it but I feel guilty. What did I do to deserve this truck?

(I also tried to ask if they'd consider getting me a 2500 but realistically I'm NOT going to get a bigger trailer or more horses ANY TIME in the near future... if I breed Gogo in a few years I'll have two horses and I doubt I'll have any more than that for a LONG time!)



I'm begging for it in orange (how freaking SPOILED am I??) but in reality I'm just going to get whatever color they have on the lot. Detroit is bleeding money right now, and we're also certain that Chrysler is going under, so they're desperate to sell. The deals are incredible, and there's a special one on 2009 Ram quad cabs at the moment, hence this lovely timing.

I just need to sell Shaker and we're all set.
I'll miss my Shakey :( But OH MY GOD, A NEW TRUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!