Butterflies and Pterodactyls

OK...so today I have some 'splainin' to do. I mailed in my entry to the AEC's on Tuesday, which was opening day. Just doing that made my stomach do flip flops and loop de loops. Yesterday I got the confirmation e-mail that my made my entry official. There's no going back now! As my trainer Gena said, "Onward and upward!" Literally and figuratively! And so begins the hatching of the Pterodactyls. Huh? What the...? Pterodactyls?

See, here's the deal. I competed in my first event in SEVEN years in April of this year (Blah, blah, blah. It's been well-documented.) I made a joke about how I didn't just have butterflies in my stomach, I had Pterodactyls. Since then, it's become an ongoing theme. It's gone from just describing a case of nerves to a full blown joke, including their flight patterns and how long it takes for them to hatch. Soooo...getting a confirmation that my entry for the American Eventing Championships had been received and well, "entered" meant a new batch of Pterodactyl eggs just waiting to be hatched, so they could start flying around and wrecking havoc in my stomach, hence "Pterodactyls." Speaking of which, a good case of show nerves also usually equals a really good colon cleanse, but that's a whole other topic! And the road to Chatt Hills continues...

Playing Catch up...

Wow! It's been three days since I blogged. ACK! And trust me on this one, it's probably a good thing I missed yesterday. I was on a bit of a tear...yesterday was not the best of days. NOT however, where the Syd was concerned, but everything else was kind of crappy. Well, not kind of, definitely. But I digress...

My mission today is to get caught up and get caught up quickly. So here goes...
Sunday, Syd and I both got the day off. I didn't come anywhere near the barn. I really needed that. It's hard sometimes. I love what I do; I truly do! However, sometimes, because I work and ride in the same place, and because my pleasure is also my job, the lines get very blurred. There are days when it threatens to consume and overtake me. I am usually at the barn/my store six days a week, eight hours a day. That's why it is vitally important, but also very hard, for me to get out of here at least one day a week, and with this heat?! AY YI YI! Sunday was a much needed break.

Yesterday was conditioning day. Bubba and Gena, at the advice of Karen O'Connor, just purchased an aerator to help condition the footing in the cross country field and make it not so unwielding and hard, which is horrible for the horses legs. Yesterday I got to feel the difference. If I stayed on the track that had been aerated, I had a very forward, almost "horse show" forward horse, with a lot of spring to his stride. If I strayed off the track, no more forward. It was truly amazing the difference the aerator made. I'm a believer! Other than that conditioning day is what it is. Both of us were pretty darn sweaty when we were done. The humidity was so high, I thought I would have been better served if I'd had gills!

Today was kind of a mix between conditioning, just doing more of my "dressage" work in my jumping saddle and throwing in a few little fences in just for good measure. I need a jumping lesson desperately. Gena was sick last week, so I missed one. Until then, I am really focusing on that stupid right leg of mine staying out of the way, and fixing my tendency to lean. Leaning is bad.

The thing I noticed most today, I really didn't notice until I got back into the store and watched the helmet cam video of Hawley Bennett Awad from the Rebecca Farms event (which by the way, I'm posting a link to here because it is so cool!) I noticed that I am hardly talking to my horse anymore. And by "talking" I literally mean verbally communicating with Syd. I used to talk to him all the time...Recently, I think I've become silent. I'm not sure why this has happened. It's not that I'm not telling Syd, "Good Boy!" or being rewarding, I'm just not verbalizing as much. It sort of bothers me. Makes me feel like our relationship is suffering. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but I just know it doesn't feel right, and it doesn't feel like ME. When have you EVER know ME to NOT be verbal. So, that's what we'll work on tomorrow...Until then...The road to the AEC's gets shorter by the day...

Almost forgot the link! Here it is...

http://useventing.com/blog/?p=18530

The "I Don't Wannas" and a Pony Ride

"Somebody's got a case of the 'Mondays!'"

Well, I didn't exactly have a case of that (Thanks "Office Space!") but I definitely had a case of the "I don't wannas!" which is probably worse! Didn't wanna ride my horse, didn't wanna write my blog, DEFINITELY didn't wanna do any business paperwork or exercise. Was there anything I DID want to do? Well, yes actually...I DESPERATELY wanted a hair cut.

See, here's the deal. My hair is extremely curly and unmanageable. Because of this, I keep it super short. Think Emma Watson or Morena Baccarin, the evil lizard queen in the TV show "V." It works great. I love it, except for one thing...my hair grows really fast, so I have to get it cut about every 2 1/2 weeks or I end up looking like a female Horshack (that's a reference to TV show from the 70's, in case you're wondering...) Because of this, I usually end up driving my poor hairdresser husband to the brink of insanity. Coordinating my schedule with his is nothing short of trying to get the national debt solved! As of yesterday I was about 2 weeks overdue for a haircut, which meant I had pretty much become Clint Black in a baseball cap. All I wanted was a haircut. So...I DID actually get my horse ridden, but everything else, not so much, because of my obsession with the haircut and those darned "don't wannas!" Thankfully, my husband took pity on my and YAY! I got the haircut. BIG YAY!!!

So back to the task at hand, the road to Chatt Hills. My ride yesterday was pretty uneventful, and I mean that in a good way. I rode in the jump field. We practiced my favorite spiral in/out excercise around the log jumps. (Love that!) It's so good for me and for Syd to do things like that in my jumping saddle since I tend to lose all dressage coordination out in the field. Then we just did some more little baby jump courses just to help me get my jumping mojo back (which I tend to lose when we haven't been jumping much.) (Do you sense a trend with the jumping? Hmmmm...) Syd was really good, and very agreeable. I worked really hard to keep my right leg out of the way. It tends to want to stick way out in front by Syd's shoulder which impedes my ability to turn. Not a good thing, but today the right leg stayed where it needed to. The jumping felt really comfortable and easy which is a major accomplishment, so all in all, it was a very good day! Especially in light of the "don't wannas!" It was the hair cut that really made the difference. :)

Today marked SIX rides in a row. I halfway expected Syd to hide in the back corner of his stall when I came to get him. Instead he was ready to go! He's such a good boy, and he really does love to work. Or maybe he just loves the pampering he gets afterward....Anyway, Saturdays are a busy day for lessons, so we rode dressage in the field so we'd be out of the way. More of the clock exercise and losing and taking back my stirrups. We got some AMAZING canter departs. I was VERY happy. Tomorrow Syd will get a very well-deserved day off. What a rock star he is! But OH SO JEALOUS! Which brings me to topic two...the pony ride.

Gena and Paula brought a pony back from Georgia to sell. Symphony is the cutest little red roan hunter mare. About 13 hands, she is just the most adorable little redhead. I got to exercise her today. It was the most fun I've had in a long time. SOOOO cute!!! And let me tell you...that little mare has a "GO!" button. Once I found it, dang! I would love to run around a cross country course on that! What fun!!! She even threw a couple of little bucks when I asked for the right lead the first time. All I could do was laugh. Talk about polar opposites from the big bay beast to Strawberry Shortcake! What a blast! All in all, just a really good day!!!

YOU SAY IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!

Okay, so today's blog strays a bit from the "Road to Chatt Hills" path at hand because it's my Birthday. Truth be told, I'm not much of a Birthday kind of gal, and not for the reason you'd probably suspect. It's not about age at all. I firmly believe you are only as old as you feel. I feel about 27, and since I'm blessed with very good genes (Thanks Mom and Dad!) and hang out with a lot of young folks, most people don't come anywhere near to guessing my real age. No it's not about that... It's about, I'm sorry to say, romanticism. It seems that in spite of my very linear, logical, left-brained self, I am a HOPELESS romantic. There! I said it!

From a very young age I always built Birthdays up so much in my mind that there was no WAY reality could compete, so I was usually disappointed. As an adult some sort of craziness like pipes bursting or a breakup usually ensued. Eventually to avoid any sort of heart ache, real or romaticized, I just sort of decided a Birthday was just a day to reflect upon the past year and make goals for the next, kind of like a recap of New Year's. This particular Birthday has been a really good one for that since I have a lot of exciting opportunities happening with my tack store, and I'm trying to get ready for the AEC's. (On a side note, did I mention the font I'm using is called "Georgia?")

There is one thing, however, that has changed the way I look at Birthdays just a bit, and that is facebook. I never would have thunk it, but facebook has actually made me look forward to today. Why? It is such a neat, neat, fantabulous feeling to sit and read little Birthday wishes from friends old, new, near and far. In short, it's AWESOME!!! And it makes me feel so loved! I couldn't wait to get on the computer to see who I'd hear from! And it made me make a little promise to myself to check and see who's Birthday it is each day, so I can make them feel loved too. Maybe unwittingly I'm even wishing "Happy Birthday!" to someone like me and possible changing their point of view too! Heck! I'll even just settle for having made them smile!

Just so you don't think all my Birthdays were horrible and bad (which really and truly not many of them were), I'll share one of my favorite Birthday memories which probably gave my mom a heart attack. We were living in Dallas when I turned 13, and I was "living" at a riding stable called White Rock Stables. School was miserable for me there because I never felt like I fit in, but the stables and the horses and my friends there were my life. It made perfect sense that I had my Birthday party there. Cake, presents, decorations, the works! When all my little horsey friends and I got done eating and opening gifts, we all hopped on our ponies bareback and went running around through White Rock park jumping logs bareback and just being silly, horsey girls. It was wonderful! And it was one of the best Birthdays ever!

Enough about a subject I hardly mention...So what did Syd and I do today? Well, he needed new shoes desperately so I didn't want to do anything that might make him throw a shoe. He did eventually get new shoes today, but not until it was already hotter than blue blazes, so we worked on trot poles, the pimple, and little 18" jump courses out in the field for about 30 minutes. It was fun and productive, and it was HOT! Syd's a rock star, and Boy! does he know it! Big ole spoiled rotten beast!

And what did I do? Well, I held horses in the heat for 3 hours for the farrier after that, started checking in an order from UPS, wrote this blog, and I'm about to head home. Oh! You mean "exercise!" Right! Are you crazy? It's my Birthday! And I'm absolutely, positively, totally sure there's something fattening and chocolate in my future. How romantic is that?

Day Three!

Ever have one of those days where you are tired before you even get out of bed? Well, that would be me today. ACK! Having said that, it's been kind of a hard day to get anything at all accomplished. I'm usually not a very ADD kind of a girl, but when I'm tired, all bets are off. Thank goodness I rode and exercised before I did anything else or neither one would have gotten done!

So what did today's work entail? Well, first of all I have to say that I am quite proud of myself for actually having the gumption to get a work-out tape done AFTER leaving the barn yesterday, and not only going to get gas, run by the bank and the post office, but also after going to the grocery store. I felt so good afterwards, but I really had to MAKE myself work-out. Laziness in this heat seems to be the rule of thumb even for someone as Type-A as me!

Today was dressage day. I felt like I needed gills to breathe the humidity was so high! At last week's Cindy Thaxton clinic, she taught me a "clock" exercise which involves imagining the face of a clock on you saddle and then hitting the numbers 3, 6, 9, and 12 with your hips while keeping your upper body still, your calfs engaged, and your horse trotting forwardly on a twenty meter circle while staying round and within the contact. Sounds easy, right? WRONG! Talk about having to use all parts of your brain while separating body parts! That exercise was our homework until her next visit, and it's what we worked on today. Fifteen minutes of that, and I felt like I'd done an hour. It's SOOOOO good for me, but SOOOOO hard! We basically lived in that exercise on different 20 meter circles for about 30 minutes. That was enough! It can be really frustrating, but the difference it's making in my canter departs is unbelieveable!

The highlight of the day? The dressage arena is connected to a paddock with two chestnut lovebirds named Tom and Sandy. Gena, my trainer, has been leaving the gate between their paddock and the dressage arena open for them to have more room to roam. Just as I'm really about to get deep into my trot work, here they come. Each one positions himself stragically so that I can't really make any sort of circle. What comes next? Both horses, on cue, drop and roll. Hilarious! All I could do was sit and watch and laugh until they were done and the two of them casually sauntered out of the ring covered in sand. They TOTALLY did it on purpose, and I'm sure Syd was wishing he could join them instead of being forced to do the stinkin' clock exercise.

After all that fun was over, I decided to go for a walk. It was already noon and blazin' by the time I got started, so I only walked for about 30 minutes. I know the horses thought I had lost my marbles as I made loops of the pasture, and they snoozed under the trees. I just reminded them that they didn't have a national show coming up, and I did! :)

THE ROAD TO CHATT HILLS!

Boy! Have I been lax! OK...so I started this blog way back when, and if you have looked at it at ALL, you've probably noticed a severe lack of actual blogging. (sigh.) Well, NO MORE! I've accomplished a lot in the past year, and I'm about to embark on quite a journey, and darnit! It needs to be chronicled! So...here's the skinny: (I think this requires bullets and numbering.)

• I moved my horse to an eventing barn and went from not being able to trot in a open field to qualifying for Area 5 Regionals and the American Eventing Championships (AEC's).



• I opened my own tack store on the campus of the barn where my horse lives.



• I rode in a clinic with Karen O'Connor!



• I traded my VW Beetle in for an SUV that will haul a horse trailer.



• This fall we plan to take my store on the road!

WHEW! So the fact that we are even qualified for the American Eventing Championships is a HUGE DEAL!!! Last October when I was still in the stronghold of fear, and mentioned my goal of riding at the AEC's this fall, a lady laughed it me. I'm not kidding! She really did!!! That's how ridiculous that goal seemed! I had hardly even jumped an x-rail! And forget riding outside an arena! But I am proof that discipline, hardwork, a good trainer, and a willingness to push yourself out of your comfort zone bit by horrifying bit, DO pay off!

Suddenly I find myself a mere 8 weeks from competing at the biggest horse show of my life thus far. What to do?! After a bit of a much needed riding vacation for both me and the Syd (my fabulous horse) last week, yesterday, Monday, began our ramping up in fitness and ability for our goal which is to complete the event on a good dressage score. The AEC's are held at Chattahoohie Hills Farm in Fairburn, Georgia September 8-12. We'll be there, and we'll be ready!

And so yesterday the odyssey began. Today, I begin to put it all down on paper (well, really to type it all into a blog.) Here goes:

DAY ONE: Fitness day! (Which translated, means "trot sets!") Since we took a few days off, and since the heat in Arkansas has been BRUTAL, I took it easy on the big bay beast and sort of started over. We did a 10 minute walk, followed by two loops of the big pasture (one each direction) at the trot, two big loops at the canter, back to the trot, followed by a ten minute walk, for about a 45 minute session. And for those of you that are wondering, one loop around the pasture is about a half a mile. Mission accomplished.

And if I'm gonna put the horse in training and really get him fit, well, I TOTALLY need to ramp up my own personal fitness level with some aerobic and weight training, but (and here come the excuses...) Mondays are HORRIBLE for me trying to juggle my store (ordering and getting reorganized from the weekend) with riding, so I did nothing for myself. Bummer...Here comes the guilt...

DAY TWO: Flat work in the jumping arena, in my jumping saddle. If you know me at all, you know I LOVE dressage. I'm a bit of an "anti" eventer that way. It comes WAY easier for me than anything done in my jumping tack. One of my primary focuses is going to be maintaining "dressage" whenever I'm in my jumping saddle and when running around the cross country course. I tend to get a bit spacey, and Syd tends to get a bit "we're going!" Hence today's work session. I waited a bit too long to get on horse today, so it was WICKED hot by the time I made it out to the arena. Thirty minutes was all she wrote, but it was a productive thirty minutes, so all's well. Once UPS arrives, and I lock up the store for the day, I'll go home and do an exercise tape. NO EXCUSES!!! And tomorrow the journey continues...