In the Arena #136 - ...but if you try sometime, you just might find...

Between Christmas and New Years (my Dad and) I built and hung doors on my old boarder's run in shed, turning it into a second and much needed hay / tool storage building. Top capacity is now 120 bales on site - 150 being our yearly consumption. My inner hay hoarder is (almost) satisfied.

looks like Dad did all the work, but I wielded power tools too

Completing that project allowed me to clean out the other half of my studio, and bring everything to the farm from the storage unit I had rented since moving into the Shimmy Shack. Big savings, much more convenient, and I'm simply overjoyed to have yet another reason to justify kicking out the boarders. (I also feel better not storing hay in the same building I use a torch and kiln in... hel-lo!) 

Val and I ended 2012 with a bareback ride. Prompt response to the aids and smooth steering were our goals, which we achieved in an enjoyable and easygoing ride. My neighbor stopped by and shot a few pictures for us.

putting squeezers on him

We began 2013 with a morning ride. My plan to groom Val while ground tied proved challenging, with him being super wiggly, and ultimately taking advantage of my turned back to flee to the far corner of the arena, giving me his best "I'm naughty but also very cute" face. I brought him back, smiling, doing circles, halts and backing as we returned. Val relaxed and relented, staying put for the remainder of tacking up. I was proud of him. It was windy and hunting season is in full swing.

The rest of the session was like a (very good) dream. While I focused on yogic breathing - deep, regular and audible - we worked on the buckle. We stayed that way much longer than usual. I let Val tell me when he was warmed up. He did this by snorting and deeply breathing as he stretched down and gave me a swinging walk.

I focused on keeping my seat bones even and over Val's long back muscles, which basically prevents me from collapsing my right side and shortening my right leg. My other task was to press the saddle gently forward into Val's withers, which is to say keep my weight on my triangle, seat bones and pubic bone equally. I think it has to do with the tilt of the pelvis... counteracting a chair seat.

As we worked on a few school figures, the thought floated through my head that it might be a good day for trot work. Val immediately picked up a trot. I was shocked, promptly ruining the moment by posting on the wrong diagonal, but the feeling was still awesome. I finished up by working on trot transitions in the non-telepathic way, and we called it a day.

The remainder of the first day of the year was similarly fruitful. After shucking the last of the holiday oyster bushel in preparation for making oyster stew, I loaded the last twenty four bales of hay waiting in my trailer into the new storage space. Next, a thorough cleaning of the trailer, collecting all the loose hay for evening feeding. I organized Val's blankets and blanket bins, and returned them to the spic and span trailer, which is an excellent place to store, hang and air out blankets between wearings. As the light faded and a cold rain began to fall, I delivered a bucket of steaming mash studded with apple slices out to the barn. What a good boy.

one for the stew, one for my belly...

the best oysters have delicious crabs in them

I avoided doing a blow by blow ode to 2012 post on New Year's eve. Mostly because there were so many really disappointing aspects to the year... very tight finances, putting my dearest Sweetpea to sleep, yet another hurricane disrupting everyone's lives and destroying our road for the second time in a year, ugly, public confrontations with my boarders + a family member that made me physically ill. Worst of all, the nagging feeling that desire and passion are not enough to progress in dressage when you are on your own...

finally got the road "back" on 12.21 - to be continued...

...so I tacked up my horse and rode anyway. I've heard that how you spend the first day of the year reflects the way your year will develop. I hope this is true, as I had one of the best, most productive days I can ever remember. Happy New Year indeed.

In the Arena #31 - The only thing we have to fear...

I rode Val in the "new" arena on Sunday. A milestone. The not fenced arena surrounded by woods at the back of the property. The scary, scary woods. The arena that so far we're only ever grazed (sometimes nervously) in.

We worked in our "real" ring for about an hour... focusing on leg yields, circles and energy. Also breathing. In fact I did a bit of singing for Val. If his swiveling ears were any indication, he enjoyed my Sunday songs. I enjoyed how singing regulated my breath.  It was a very productive ride, and my seat felt great.

I had asked my friend to come to the barn and stand by for me when I made the switch to the other arena... thinking I'd be more confident with someone else there, but at the last minute she called to say she couldn't make it. I said f*#@ it and off we went. My plan was to mount and just stand, which would have been enough for me. However Val was falling asleep with his lip hanging down - no nervous blow up in the works - so we spent 10 or 15 minutes walking around in both directions. Success!

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When I brought Val home last fall, he was the mellowest, calmest horse. Very steady. Our first week together we rode through the woods and straight out to the beach. It was blowing 25 mph, he'd never seen the ocean before, yet he behaved beautifully.

Fast forward a few months. Due to my bad judgment, Val and I had a disastrous trail ride. I shouldn't have ridden that day at all... there were people hunting all around us in the woods and my companions were not supportive of or patient with us. Plus Val was high as a kite due to indiscriminate supplement use.

There was bolting - the others cantered off leaving us behind while we were fertilizing - then an emergency dismount - so not popular with Val. Things went further downhill, culminating in a sky high buck and me hitting the dirt. Hard. My insides felt disconnected. And I didn't have a helmet on. In the matter of a few minutes I had done serious damage to our relationship...

Ever since then,  I've been struggling with fear and confidence issues. And trying to earn Val's trust back. The difficult thing about fear is that it can create the thing you are afraid of. Kind of a which came first, the chicken or the egg situation. Also, you can't really pretend you aren't afraid.
   
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My goal is to gradually spend more time in the new arena, until we're working there exclusively. I also have plans to make our way off the property and down the road to the trail, incrementally, until we're back trail riding again. When I got Val, I wanted to spend as much time trail riding as riding in the arena, and eventually to trail ride solo to the beach. Our setbacks have been disappointing, but character building as well. That's the thing about horsemanship. If you stick with it, you must face up to your shortcomings. If you want to become a better horseman, you have to become a better human.

In the Arena #30 - Being here now...

Over the weekend, I groomed up Val within an inch of his life and attempted to take conformation photos.

I suspected it would not be a one person job, and that is a fact. So my father was enlisted as assistant. The mosquitoes continue to be epic... it was challenging for Val to stay still - especially since I didn't apply any bug spray not wanting to diminish his sparkly-ness. Every photo has an in motion tail and most show Val slowly walking towards his handler (Dad), searching for treats. And his reverse side pictures mostly had his feet cut off.

What I didn't expect from the experience was the effect of the horse handling 101 lecture I gave my Dad. When you have to break something down for someone else, you get a different, (really beneficial) perspective on it. I believe Einstein once said something like - "if you can't explain a concept to a 10 year old, you don't really understand it yourself." Not comparing my father to a 10 year old, but he has zero horse handling experience, so the analogy kind of works. Also, my whole demeanor changed, more authoritative. Very positive experience.

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I believe some of that leadership spilled over to our ride today, which was the best ride we've had to date outside of lessons at my trainers farm. Our turning issues have all but disappeared, we had some super turns on the forehand and we were making decent circles - both directions - by the end of the session.

Val has recently decided that the back right corner of the paddock is scary (spooky neighbors with guns related) and the area where the sand has gotten dry and fairly deep is hard to work in. He began the ride trying to avoid both areas. I kept my legs on and gently created walls wherever he tried to evade. Breathing, patience and tons of praise. Basically, I was able to stay in the moment today. My seat felt so good. And both of our attitudes were excellent. I may be on the way to conquering my confidence issues...

A great ride to build on. Can't wait until we do it again :)