Moving, In Every Sense of the Word

Home Sweet Home! Soon we will get rid of the old utility sink by the front door so we won't look like such rednecks. 

Last weekend, we moved!

Michael, Max, and I are mostly settled into our new digs, and all of us are deeply exhausted. I mostly love the new house - it's at least twice as big as our old apartment, the location is great (only 10 minutes to the barn), and it is an historic barn that was at one point converted into a home.

I think the living room is my favorite.

Guys. I LIVE IN A LITERAL BARN.

My bedroom has a dutch door.

HOW COOL IS THIS DOOR?!

IT'S AMAZING.

The not-so-amazing things come in the form of the place needing a new hot water heater, the kitchen sink not draining, the dryer being broken, everything being phenomenally, disgustingly dirty when we moved in, and a dozen other little fixes that need to be done. Thankfully I have a very involved, concerned landlord who is on top of everything and on the phone with her contractor on an almost daily basis to get this stuff done for us.

I figure in about a month, we'll have everything the way we want it here.

While we were sucked into the alternate-time-and-space vortex that is packing, moving, unpacking, cleaning, and fixing, the rest of the world kept moving around us. We've jumped back into the current without a break. No rest for the weary!

I had originally planned to start my show season over our move weekend with a local hunter derby held at a really cool facility with a legit, old-school outside field hunter course. XC-Lite with Fancy Points seemed like a great, fun way to start showing for the year. Obviously, the move killed that plan.

The goalposts now shifted, I have my eye set on a schooling H/J show this Sunday, where I plan to do the 2'6" jumpers. It gets us in the ring, lets me work out my weird brain in a no-pressure environment, and is an inexpensive way to go jump some jumps in a new place.

Then we hit the ground running at Burgundy Hollow HT on the 29th.

Between now and then, I hope to get in at least one lesson and one XC school - I want "Get To The Other Side" to be a stronger thought than, "Where Is My Distance?!"

GUYS THE DAPPLES I CAN'T EVEN

Over the past week or so, Dino's been going great at home. I've been able to do one fitness day a week, and have started increasing the length of our trot and canter sets. Dino has been powering through the trot work, and while he's tired after 8 minutes total cantering (after a long trot, with hills, since I can't avoid them), he's doing it and he's giving me a great effort. He was fired up for our conditioning ride in the rain on Tuesday, snorting with every stride. I love it!

The dressage is coming along. I've been trying to work on staying in a good position and waiting out Dino's resistance instead of falling for the temptation to try and nag and contort my way to what I want from him. The canter is a little heavy at times, but the walk and trot work are getting really nice. I'm demanding that Dino do what I ask the first time, and he's responding really well to that fair firmness.

Our jumps are back in the jump field, and I've been working in there quite a bit, both on the flat and over fences. Dino has made a bid or two at some 'tude during our jump field rides, and I'm happy to report that Mr. Whippy responded sharply to that disrespect. Each ride gets better and better, and I'm no longer shuffling around for 20 minutes in a western-pleasure jog in an attempt to get Dino "forward" without a tantrum.

Jumping in the jump field has also been wildly successful! I haven't had any refusals, run-outs, or panic moments. I still succumb to the desire to pull to a nothing distance at times, but Dino has been a Very Good Pony and Jumped The Thing anyway. I'm not even annoyed at my bad habit - I figure it's teaching us to miss and get over the fence no matter what kind of awful distance we get. (though a good distance is, obviously, preferable!) Dino's been working it out for me, and I'm so proud! I totally stuffed him into the base of a 3' vertical at least twice yesterday, and he bunny-hopped that thing like a champ.

I've also ended the last couple jump schools with Dino pulling me to the fences - he's looking for the next one and taking me there, and it's awesome. We had a great teachable moment coming to a vertical-to-oxer one stride, where Dino locked on to the first fence and then I just left him alone to see what he would do. He waffled, wondering where I went, I closed my leg a little, and that rockstar jumped it. There was RIPE opportunity for a refusal there, and he didn't take it.

All of those things in combination with working on jumping some downhill fences (which rode so, so much easier than my imagination would have me believe) are making me feel pretty darn confident. While I'm still a bit nervous about Burgundy next weekend, I think we'll do just fine as long as I keep on kicking.