Eyes wide open

It's been busy and not just gee, maybe I'll catch a break busy, but go to 11pm and wake up at 5am really busy.

Sinari is back under saddle from her bites, we spent the majority of the week last week just lunging, and while I really dislike being on the ground so much (my fridge and I are good friends during those periods) but the investment of the time is really paying off under saddle this week.

She's back to being super light in the bridle and collection is easier for her. She's even being a hair too smart about the lateral work and the pir's lately. I'm getting more giggly over the changes which we rolled through for the first time in about a month. She's really going to be fun when she gets the one's down.

I've been way anal about the insect bites, they are bathed every other day and coated in anti-biotic ointment and corona. She's ridden in the half pads under the square pad. It's been great for her skin the hair is growing back quicker and the blotchy patches aren't so blotchy any more.

But the concoction makes for nasty saddle pads.

So my weekend was again spent in front of a washer doing 14-15 pads and two half pads plus the left over winter wash. Not to mention polos.

A serious labor of love. 

It's been busy on the work front as well, with back to back to back scheduling moments with clinics (James is Rolex weekend, Shannon Peters is Derby weekend, breather, then James the third weekend of May then Christoph Hess and then KDA).

Not to mention having to throw together a completely new freestyle for something in July, it's going to be interesting times. So, we have to get cracking. Fitness is going to have to take center stage this month, we're going back to KESMARC for some swim time once the truck is repaired.

I find that low impact, high resistance is really handy for those who are really hard to condition. Plus it's hay season, and being chased by a thresher, while motivation for going faster, is not my cup of tea. 

So goal recap:
-Compression
Much better, but still has fading moments.
-Changes
Getting there, she still argues about the balance point on long lines. 
-Roll through 4-2 and PSG
Negatron, just lazy. 
-Rotation
Her left side pir is competition sized, her right I would like to say you can park a minivan in it at the moment.
-Soft connection
Girl is like butter now, no jacked necks or backs. 

Goals April:
-Roll through 4-2
-Choreography for FS
-Pir's.
-Changes
-Fitness

If you want a revolution, evolve.

The week prior to Rolex is always the hardest. I'm on call for the event to cover the event, and this year we had massive freezes.

The karma was well rewarded- I not only experienced excellent shopping, I picked up a number of potential sponsors along the way for the Team. I'm happy.

The week lent itself to a lack of riding, so when my partner and I hosted our kickoff clinic with Patience Prine-Carr and a rider dropped at last minute, the pony took the spot (company perk). I felt horrible for not preparing. Thanks to Lindsay and company the pony got there, in style and was warmed up for Saturday.

To make the situation more interesting, we're trying out a new saddle, and it was my first serious ride.

The first day was a tuning day. Patience had us ride in and out transitions and ultra forward canter and trot sets to get rid of the up and down pony trot. Patience is on par with everything. By the end of day one, we had crisper in and out transitions and clarified the changes.

Second day we switched to the double, I wanted Patience to see Sinari in this, and some of the problems. Thankfully due to the expectation laid down the stoppy-ness has stopped. She worked mostly lateral work, going to mediums in haunches in and shoulder in and half pass to working pir's to counter canter. Patience also gave us numerous exercises to play with. She also said the pony is getting too whip smart about the changes and I should go do more counter canter work for flexibility and carrying power. Sinari also needs to work on flexibility. I need to work on my position.

In the end, FEI is getting more and more in reach. Give us six weeks and we should be schooling in the sixties at PSG. But it's not easy.

Next to godliness

I've been with the boy for about two or three years now. We're still going strong, living together and planning on expanding our lives together. He likes the fact I have the horses, and I'm doing something that I genuinely like. I couldn't do much of what I do without him.

But we have a dirty secret.

We're both household messy people.

We let the mail pile up, boxes of ammo hanging around, there's books forming small cities around the couch and a few other things that are out of place and line. There are even boxes that haven't been unpacked for two years and I don't want to look in my closet.

The boy, who has seen me clean a dirt floor barn down to the final detail, shouted in exasperation the other day of how I could care so much about a barn, but not the environment I sleep in. Even my friends, notice the same trend that my horses are often outfitted better than me.

Kind of sad right?


Not really, but I'm not alone.I have friends who at least have an idea what it's like.

My logic behind the selective OCD is two fold. First, the animals don't have a choice. They have to live where I put them and in a particular lifestyle. I can't stand dirty water or food buckets, but I can personally tolerate rinsing and re-using the same glass eighty times. Secondly, when I come home from cleaning what feels like the Agean Stables somedays, I don't want to face my own house. Straw meet camel's back.

I work in a place where I'm partly responsible for Six Sigma, environmental and inventory quality and then I go to the barn where I spend at least another thirty minutes cleaning. I clean, or have some involvement of cleaning, all day.

Sorry, I am my own imported labor.

I'm not complaining about doing my own chores. In fact, I enjoy it. It keeps me involved and gives me a level of information on what's going on with my ponies. It's also therapeutic. Angry, pissed off, upset or just plain aggressive? Grab a your weapon of choice and keep at it until you can't go anymore.

We're getting better about the house, but there's a lot that needs to be done to make it comfortably organized.

Home Again

Life has officially returned to normal. After an extra two weeks, some rain, transportation bingo and a few other things, Sinari is home.

I was greeted by a dirty, disorganized barn and a loose horse.

The dirt was my fault the loose horse picked his way out of the stall.

I board in a tobacco barn with a dirt floor.

I actually like this place. Aside from the dirt, it's huge and airy. It feels like home. Normally the good fight against dirt, dust and various other things isn't an issue. You keep up with the work and it stays a bay.

But since I wasn't there, it overran itself. Not only that, what I thought I had organized, was messy.

I came home to my clean stall, dusty buckets, dusty trunk, dusty feed bags and dirt-encrusted fan and SmartPak bin. I had dirty pads collecting dirt and mold (how did that happen?), white rags that are brown and my wash kit upside down in the lower barn.

Then came Sinari. Who not only made a Thelwell pony look more turned out, but probably garnered a few WTF looks from fellow boarders whose sleek reining Quarters were just coming back from their futurity runs and mine was coming back from the all-you-can eat buffet.

To make matters worse even the vet said something.

Cue embarrassment.

To tell the truth, she went from a smooth lower 900, to chunk-tastic 1000. The pony is now sporting Jenny Craig as her sponsor and is putting on one hell of a guilt trip.

So I went on a mission. First, I spent the first two days seriously cleaning the barn.

I bought the gallon of bleach and anti bacterial dish soap to prove it.

I took down the summer gear, cleaned and stowed it for the winter. I gathered up the pads, raked, swept and wiped down. I still have to tackle my tack. Earlier I sent out all my blankets (ten plus of them) to the launder and they came back in neat plastic bags for this season and summer.

There's something soulful about an organized barn.

Then I broke out the clippers, the tranquilizers and my mandarin collar jacket and got down to business.

Thirty minutes later, with dirt and hair covering me, I have a fully clipped naked horse with skin funk. Tomorrow she'll get a full bath after going back to work. Promise to post naked pony photos.

I still need to hit up the Home Depot for a number of supplies.

Also- if anyone is in the Lexington area and needs clipping done, I'm game. As my motto goes:

they grow, I mow.