I Need A Weekend to Recover From My Weekend
The past couple days have been NUTS.
On Friday night I finished up work, did my shift at the barn, and then headed to my mom's house for her birthday dinner. My brothers and I cooked up a delicious BBQ spread, stuffed ourselves silly, and laughed a lot. I ended up getting home around 11pm, and then...
Got up at 6:30 on Saturday for my barn shift! Thankfully everything at the barn was pretty uneventful, and the weather was incredible. 70's and sunny! Doesn't get much better than that. After all the stalls were done, horses turned out, water buckets scrubbed, etc., I got on my pony to ride, only to find that a pair of Killdeer had made a nest IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ARENA.
Birds. Not a good life choice.
They were fake-dying all over the place to try and lure me away from their eggs, but I had no choice other than to move their babies. The eggs and the parents were going to get squished if I left them where they were. So I moved the nest out of the arena, and unfortunately mom & dad couldn't quite understand that their eggs weren't where they had left them, and continued to guard the spot where the nest used to be. Dino found all of this highly amusing, and enjoyed following the birds all around.
After that whole fiasco, I couldn't really get my pony or myself on task. Our ride was kind of "meh". Nothing about it was totally terrible, but it definitely wasn't the best ever.
Hose pony off, wash legs, turn out, and off to chill at a horse show with Paula! I wanted to head over to Cabin Run to watch the hunter derby and get an idea of what the course was like and learn what we need to work on for July, and Paula had a massage client in the area that afternoon, so it worked out perfectly for us to meet at the show, watch the derby, and hang out. I have to say that Cabin Run put on one of the absolute nicest unrated shows I've ever been to. The facility was immaculate, the rings ran seamlessly, and the head trainer was incredibly friendly and helpful; giving tips to derby riders who weren't even her students! The jumps and arenas were all A-rated quality, and it was just a lovely, lovely show.
The derby course also looked SO. FUN. It was set in a huge grass field - we're talking like at least 5 acres huge - and had a great mix of cross-country style jumps as well as regular hunter fences. The course was challenging but fair, and the judging was spot-on. I'm excited to give it a try this summer! But we definitely have to work on doing a trot fence in the middle of the course, as well as walking and then picking up our canter again. And halting. Especially the halting. We have problems with brakes on course. And going XC schooling sometime before the derby wouldn't hurt, either!
After spectating the derby, my weekend of insanity continued with dragging Paula along with me to take care of the minis, then back to my house to stuff some food in my face. Paula left for her massage appointment, and I took a shower and got ready for the Mother-Daughter Banquet at Michael's Grammy's church. I got home from the banquet around 7:30 and promptly collapsed.
Sunday I went to church, came home, had lunch, cleaned my kitchen, took Max for a walk, got an iced coffee, and then did about 6 hours of barn work at my barn and the mini barn.
Because I am a nice person I told Jess I would do all her stalls. And then I did them. So much poop.
And I rode, too!
Sunday's ride was MUCH better than Saturday's. I started off with purpose right off the bat, and insisted that Dino just Do His Job and continue on in my chosen gait and speed until I told him to change it. I also worked on my sitting trot without stirrups for a bit, and had the realization that my sitting trot has not been great lately because I was not engaging my abs. Feel the burn, attain good sitting trot. It's that easy.
Dino's end of things is slowly getting more and more consistent, and we're eking our way towards self-carriage. By the end of the ride I got some really nice canter transitions out of him, and some nice work in the left lead canter, which is his harder direction. I popped him over a couple small 2'3 fences after our intense flatwork, but the pony was a bit tired from dressaging for an hour so the jumping was kind of crappy, and I didn't push it.
This week I'd like to get out of the ring and head down the road to do some trot and canter sets in the big field. Dino needs to get fitter, but he also needs motivation to use his body! I think getting outside will do just the trick.
On Friday night I finished up work, did my shift at the barn, and then headed to my mom's house for her birthday dinner. My brothers and I cooked up a delicious BBQ spread, stuffed ourselves silly, and laughed a lot. I ended up getting home around 11pm, and then...
Got up at 6:30 on Saturday for my barn shift! Thankfully everything at the barn was pretty uneventful, and the weather was incredible. 70's and sunny! Doesn't get much better than that. After all the stalls were done, horses turned out, water buckets scrubbed, etc., I got on my pony to ride, only to find that a pair of Killdeer had made a nest IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ARENA.
 |
| The Killdeer. Not the brightest thing with two wings. |
Birds. Not a good life choice.
They were fake-dying all over the place to try and lure me away from their eggs, but I had no choice other than to move their babies. The eggs and the parents were going to get squished if I left them where they were. So I moved the nest out of the arena, and unfortunately mom & dad couldn't quite understand that their eggs weren't where they had left them, and continued to guard the spot where the nest used to be. Dino found all of this highly amusing, and enjoyed following the birds all around.
After that whole fiasco, I couldn't really get my pony or myself on task. Our ride was kind of "meh". Nothing about it was totally terrible, but it definitely wasn't the best ever.
Hose pony off, wash legs, turn out, and off to chill at a horse show with Paula! I wanted to head over to Cabin Run to watch the hunter derby and get an idea of what the course was like and learn what we need to work on for July, and Paula had a massage client in the area that afternoon, so it worked out perfectly for us to meet at the show, watch the derby, and hang out. I have to say that Cabin Run put on one of the absolute nicest unrated shows I've ever been to. The facility was immaculate, the rings ran seamlessly, and the head trainer was incredibly friendly and helpful; giving tips to derby riders who weren't even her students! The jumps and arenas were all A-rated quality, and it was just a lovely, lovely show.
The derby course also looked SO. FUN. It was set in a huge grass field - we're talking like at least 5 acres huge - and had a great mix of cross-country style jumps as well as regular hunter fences. The course was challenging but fair, and the judging was spot-on. I'm excited to give it a try this summer! But we definitely have to work on doing a trot fence in the middle of the course, as well as walking and then picking up our canter again. And halting. Especially the halting. We have problems with brakes on course. And going XC schooling sometime before the derby wouldn't hurt, either!
After spectating the derby, my weekend of insanity continued with dragging Paula along with me to take care of the minis, then back to my house to stuff some food in my face. Paula left for her massage appointment, and I took a shower and got ready for the Mother-Daughter Banquet at Michael's Grammy's church. I got home from the banquet around 7:30 and promptly collapsed.
Sunday I went to church, came home, had lunch, cleaned my kitchen, took Max for a walk, got an iced coffee, and then did about 6 hours of barn work at my barn and the mini barn.
 |
| WALKIEEEESSS! |
Because I am a nice person I told Jess I would do all her stalls. And then I did them. So much poop.
And I rode, too!
Sunday's ride was MUCH better than Saturday's. I started off with purpose right off the bat, and insisted that Dino just Do His Job and continue on in my chosen gait and speed until I told him to change it. I also worked on my sitting trot without stirrups for a bit, and had the realization that my sitting trot has not been great lately because I was not engaging my abs. Feel the burn, attain good sitting trot. It's that easy.
Dino's end of things is slowly getting more and more consistent, and we're eking our way towards self-carriage. By the end of the ride I got some really nice canter transitions out of him, and some nice work in the left lead canter, which is his harder direction. I popped him over a couple small 2'3 fences after our intense flatwork, but the pony was a bit tired from dressaging for an hour so the jumping was kind of crappy, and I didn't push it.
This week I'd like to get out of the ring and head down the road to do some trot and canter sets in the big field. Dino needs to get fitter, but he also needs motivation to use his body! I think getting outside will do just the trick.
BLAH Killdeer are my least favorite creatures.. sometimes I feel like they deserve having their eggs squashed.
ReplyDeleteWe had such awesome adventures on Saturday :-). Wish you lived closer!!
ReplyDelete