Miscellaneous

I got up this morning at ODark:30 to take a 7:00 am lesson with Rick Klaassen, a german master trainer. Last time I rode with Rick he spent an hour yelling at me. This time, he seemed really pleased with how far we'd come. I got lots of compliments. Could we be making progress? It's a miracle. Mostly we worked on bend on the circle, and leg yield down the long wall, both of which he's gotten much better at over the past year or so. I think if I ride with Rick once a year for the next three years, we might actually get somewhere...

My 4 year old horse still hasn't seen enough things. Last summer it was horse-eating pigs that were down corner from our house. They looked like the scariest things ever. They might have been bears. At first she was terrified of them but eventually she became curious and then finally they were alright. Goats replaced them after awhile and that was okay with her. Today we went farther and there were some sheep in a pen. She had been hearing them baa and was curious until she saw them. They were definitely horse-eating sheep.

Let me tell you what this new horse has done for me so far.

Hooray, my Norwegian Fjord is finally refusing to go in the trailer at home. This may not sound like a good thing, but actually it is because now I can TRAIN her to go in when she doesn't want to, like when we are somewhere else and are hot and tired and really eager to get home. She still goes in easily at home when the trailer is in restaurant mode, but when I act determined to get her in, she refuses. So then I do as my trainer/instructor told me. I hold her with a halter so she faces the trailer and tap her behind until she steps forward. Every time she takes a step I stop tapping immediately, and then repeat.

Unfortunately, I do not mean First-Place ribbons! But, I'm not giving up! Actually, I do intend on winning AT LEAST one ribbon with my mare, but I will probably have to get up on her back first!

So, a week ago yesterday, we picked up my very first horse I have owned in my adult life (I had one from seventh to tenth grade- a Paint/Quarter Horse gelding that my parents sold without allowing me to say goodbye- Yay Mom!). I had groomed racehorses up until the summer before last, but I quit that, started work in "the real world", and now, FINALLY, at 28, I own a horse that I will never have to say goodbye to.

Okay, another day off for B and Belle (and Volare, who is happily retired and fat as a sausage)--crappy weather, and lots of work deadlines. I'm never sure how I should prepare for a dressage competition. Practice the tests? Train hard and then taper off? For eventing, it was always pretty easy--jump a few jumps a couple of days before, school the dressage test, throw in a rest day and then ramp it up again. Wondering how other people prepare for competition, both mentally and physically (human and equine). I'm learning my tests (who knew You Tube could actually be useful other than as a substitute for mindless TV? That dang left hip is pretty irritating right now. Totally locked and sore. Maybe because I sit at my desk with my legs crossed. This can't be good for me. I've started to use my Swopper chair (which is a bouncy stool, really) to practice various hip exercises that may help the problem I'm having. So, basically I'm asking my Swopper to pick up the left lead canter whenever I think I'm feeling crunched up and sore. It seems to be helping, at least in the office. We'll see if that translates to the saddle. Which brings me to...Eckhart Meyners. Don't know if you've seen the ads in the horse magazine for the Balimo chair-it is essentially a swopper, only it's not padded and probably swivels more in the seat. Meyners invented it, and he is a is a German sports physiologist who has taken a special interest in the movement required to ride effectively, even though he isn't a rider himself. You can read about one of his symposiums here, as well as a couple of interesting exercises, here.

My Norwegian Fjord was a PMU foal and made the trip to New Mexico from Canada when she was 5 months old. PMU is Pregnant Mare Urine where urine is collected for the estrogen content for making Premarin. There are groups of people who save many of these foals by making them available for adoption. In 2003 Jay posted a picture of one of these foals. I felt I just had to save one. My husband was really against getting another horse. We already had too many and didn’t really have facilities for more. Very true. I decided I would at least sponsor one of these foals, with the option of keeping it. Pictures were posted on the Internet where you could pick out your foal. Since this would likely be the last horse I would get, I decided to go with my roots and get a Scandinavian horse. Okay, I’m not Norwegian, I’m Danish, but close enough. In 2003 they still had Fjords available. I think that farm went out of business and Fjords may not be available through the PMU program any longer.