Equestrian Challenge: Day 10

Day 10- How your family/friends feel about your riding
This is an interesting one...

My Mom is definitely supportive. I don't think she really gets the whole horseback riding thing, or how much it means to me, but she's never, ever stood in my way. She's only ever been positive, and supportive, regarding the whole thing. My Mom does Ironman (the massively intensive trialthalon), as well as runs marathons, etc. So she gets being "crazy" about something, literally and figuratively, and dumping all of your money on a pursuit of happiness, so I think that helps.

My Dad... is an interesting case. We have a strained relationship as is, and he is not a rider. He never really had an opinion on my own riding. However, his wife grew up around draft horses, and rode a bit as a kid. A couple years ago they purchased an acreage which is basically one big area where he can keep all his cars, etc. He's a mechanic. He then started talking about "rescuing" horses, we had a big discussion and he agreed with me that due to his lacking of knowledge about horses, rescuing is not a good idea. Then, without a word to me, his daughter who rides extensively and owns her own horse, he went and bought two horses. Their land is definitely not set up, or adequate for horses, and my dad has absolutely no idea what he is doing regarding health, wellness, or riding, when it comes to those two animals. He also cannot ride, and has the worst tack imaginable, and "his" horse completely takes advantage of him, and dumps him regularly. Then, this summer, he told my mother that "I'm too small, and inexperienced to handle [his horse]", yeah... okay buddy. It has put a pretty big rift in between the two of us, and is a lot of the reason that our relationship is currently so strained.

My Ranch-Friends... for the most part, are awesome and totally supportive. I think they all know how much horses and riding means to me, and how hard i've been working on getting to be a better rider. So, that's really nice, but their mostly "horse-girls", so of course they are behind me 100% in the pony-endevour.

My "Other" Friends... This is a slightly frustrating one, I'm the only one that rides, and for the most part none of them get it. Some of them love to make inappropriate jokes that literally makes my blood boil. For the most part - none of them know how to share in it you know? It's weird... I don't really know how to explain it, I suppose riding is a very selfish pasttime, that requires a lot of your energy, spare time, and money, so it makes sense my friends don't "get it", especially since i'm rarely around... but it still kind of stinks. What can ya do.

Equestrian Challenge: Day 3

Day 03 - Your Best Riding


Well... this is a loaded question, isn't it? Haha. When I was younger I thought I was a pretty decent rider, and then I started taking lessons, and just sort of melted in a puddle atop of my horse. However, last night, my trainer commented, as I was loping Jingle over poles, "I should have taken a video of the first ride you had here, and compare it to now! It's crazy!"... so, that's a compliment right? ;)

So, I suppose my best riding has been lately, really learning how to communicate better with Jingle to achieve a calmer, peaceful, more willing state between the two of us. Sometimes though, I really don't think it is my best riding haha... horses have a way of humbling you, don't they?

Honestly, all technicalities and refined qualities aside, I would have to say some of my best riding was finding and chasing horses home from the hills. I do think I have a knack for direction, and i'm pretty good at reading where a herd will go, and how they will move. Plus, there's something about chasing horses that makes me fearless - galloping down a cliff, in a hail storm, while jumping logs, and chasing a stud and his band of mares - yeah, i've done that. (Absolutely no word of a lie)

So, I guess that begs the question - what does the statement your "best riding" really mean? For me, it can mean either that learning, meeting, and melding of technical skills in the arena, or the fearlessness I had while chasing horses in the boondocks.

Strategies...

My trainer is in Vegas, and so I didn't have my normal weekly lesson. However, I went out to ride anyways. I did a pretty big hour long ride with ponyboy, and we both worked hard. My abs were killing me, and I looked down at the end of the ride and realized that Jingle had worked up quite the sweat. I was pretty proud about that honestly because a lot of times my mindset is "quit on a good note" - i.e. quit before your horse hits his plateau (generally around 30-45 minutes) and starts getting really fricken pissy. Some days quitting on a good note is a really good strategy, other days, working on lots of different things, and working through issues is the strategy I should be using.

We loped - a lot. Jingle has gotten used to loping his small 1/4 arena circles and so I attempted to open him up to more of the arena with his left lead. He did well, and started listening to me a bit more. We did have a bit of our flinging around the arena and ducking corners issue, but what can you expect? My horse just loves to fling-flang around sometimes.

Then, we tackled the right lead. He was doing really well. He was really trying to lope his right lead on a small circle, I could tell, he would start to break down and only needed a little bit of encouragement before he'd pick it up again.

But then... we slammed right into my horses plateau. Does this happen to you guys? Jingle decides he's tired, and tired of me on him, and becomes a total.... pain in my behind. I was attempting more right lead stuff and he started just being a big out of control pissy pants. Stuff like this usually a) annoys me highly, which then gets my energy up, resulting in a disaster between the two of us b) scares me, resulting in me babying him. I caught myself performing both a) and b), and so I sat up straight and told my horse to lope his right lead, and not be such an a**hole to me, and by god - stay away from those standards and barrels in the middle of the arena or your going to break my knee caps right off, and if you decide to go bolting towards those aforementioned objects, I'm going to get after you, with reins, voice, leg and yep - spur, so quit that!

Result... Jingle loped his right lead. He wasn't exactly happy (snorting and neighing ensue), but he did it, and did it pretty well.

So we quit on a good note... after a long ride. :)

Some Photos....

Jingle, banished to the arena, because he attempted to pee in the breezeway.

Unhappy with me. Unhappy he is tied. Unhappy I keep leaving him alone.

Jingle's theme of the day = Unhappiness.

"Mahm, why are you leaving me here - I will certainly DIE!"

Jingle, looking particularly beef-cakey.

This photo lies.

"Mahm, stop messing around and let's go already.... i'm clearly all tacked up for a reason! Or - better yet, take all this junk off and let's eat grain."

A much more realistic shot of Jingle - my lanky small boy. 

Sweaty and sick of photos after our ride.

But what else am I suppose to do when you are drying off mister?!

"Mahm, I am all sweaty, cold and I hate loping my right lead and its all YOUR FAULT!"

I am blessed to have a horse with crazy eyes, that never fails to make me laugh, or roll my own eyes right back at him. You're a silly boy, and even when your a big pissy-pants, I love you.

& finally, a creepy shot of my drive home.... Apparently Hurricane Sandy's effects on Alberta are a "freezing fog" that basically enveloped me the entire way home. Spooky stuff two days before All Hallow's Eve. ;)