Things All Women Should Know...

So, I attended a clinic in Marquette over the weekend.
How easy could that be, I thought. Marquette is only 100 miles away; compared to any other venue it's practically a walk in the park!

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Never tempt fate. And if you thing something's wrong, it usually is.

So, I hooked up my trailer at 5:30 Saturday morning on the first try.. Those of you who own goosenecks and are too short to actually see the bed to line it up know what a good thing this is. Compounded by hooking up in the dark, I was really on a roll. Today is going to be a good day.

Until I noticed that the drivers' side rear tire on my trailer was low. So I grabbed my handy dandy little air compressor and inflated it back up to 42psi. Another crisis averted; though I would have really preferred to have the tire fixed, the local tire places didn't open until 8:30. I could make it to Marquette by then and have the tire looked at there while I let Bucky chill in his new stall and acclimate to his new surroundings. The tire was holding pressure, so Bucky hopped on in (with a little pony bribe) and of we went.

We made it roughly 20 miles.

I kept checking the trailer tires in my mirror. Call me paranoid, but when you have a free-leased grand prix horse in your trailer, paranoia is positively justified. And this Saturday, it was prophetic.

Roughly 18 miles into our trip, I noticed the sway. The trailer tires were fine, but I chose to pull into the gas station anyway.

And it was a Damn good thing I did, too.

I picked up a piece of gravel in my drivers side rear truck tire, and it managed to puncture the tread of my new tires.

See that?
Air was streaming past that rock like a blow dryer

Yep, I've had these tires less than a year. The tread shows practically no wear. And we were totally crippled by a little piece of gravel.

So here's the moral of the story, ladies: Always know how to change your own tires and have tire chocks for your horse trailer.

Now, I was plenty pissed off that I had a destroyed tire, but I wasn't totally devastated because I knew that last year I bought not four, but five brand spanking new tires. So I went to lower my spare from it's comfy home under the truck only to discover that one cannot lower a spare with a trailer attached. There just wasn't room to crank down the spare. So I unhooked the trailer, pulled the truck up a bit and then proceeded to winch down my spare. Then I loosened my lug nuts then jacked up the truck. After I pulled off the hot melted wreck that used to be a $200 tire, I noticed something.
My spare was about 4" smaller than my other tree tires.
And instead of having the nice new treads it was practically bald.

What. The. Fuck.

Evidently some time in the past three weeks, someone stole my spare. And replaced it with this piece of crap.
Oh, come on. they probably just gave you the wrong spare when you got your new tires.
Nope. Nuh-uh. Not at all.

Yep. This one is done.

I know because I checked it out when I was hauling to Rehinelander for lessons (I learned from my flat-spare episode). It was the big, new fully aired spare.

So here I am with a too-small-spare, a horse trailer and a very expensive horse (and tack) sitting in a parking lot. So i called a friend, to follow us with flashed on while I trailered home, dropped Bucky off and then proceeded to limp to the nearest tire place that's open on a Saturday. Which happened to be 20 miles in the wrong direction.
Of course.
But two new tires (and a leak repaired on the trailer tire) and $500  later, we were off on our way to pick up Bucky and attend that clinic.

 Of course my Saturday ride I was not impressed. All the clinician said was "Good!" "What a nice horse!" or "Try to go deeper in the corners".
That was the extent of our Saturday lesson. Sure, maybe he was tired since we had arrived at the end of the day. Sure I was short tempered due to my morning. But still, I want to work for that $100 lesson!

Sunday was better. Instead of riding for 7's I told the clinician that I wanted to ride for 10s, so we slowed Buckys tempo and lowered his neck and voila! Bucky the Wonder Horse was just super!

It was 38 last night. So horses are in blankets.
In the summer.

Quote of the Day!

Have you ever had one of those moments when a sentence, phrase, or saying that leaps out off of the page at you? Rattling around in your brain for the next day or two?

Bueller? Bueller?

Just me, then. Damn.

Anyway, this may or may not set off a helpful-quotes motivates existential type blog. Or may simply result in another long rambling, barely cohesive blog post. It’s a risk I take every time I veer from self-derision. And since I’ve sworn off of negative self-talk for the next 20 days (give or take) in an effort to totally re-vamp myself… existential gibberish it is!

“Being aggressive is fine if you’re a boxer or a skier. But we have living, breathing, feeling animals underneath us. I don’t think it’s right to use them as a stepping stone to get to the next level.”

-Curt Pate

Now I realize that we outgrow horses and have to move them on to their next home and not everyone can own their horses forever, allowing them to retire to pasture in their golden years… But I really don’t think that’s what this quote is about.

My take away is that there are better paths to personal glory. Sure, I love ribbons and awards nearly as much at the next person, but I want my horses to like me. Not just during breakfast and dinner when I show up with the food bowl, but also when I’m grooming, tacking up, riding and after working. Maybe I’m anthropomorphizing a bit, but I can tell when my herd is happy, sad, worried or stressed out.

We’ve all seen that person at a horse show or clinic who blames their horse for being a horse. We’ve heard about the trainers who take short cuts to get quick and easy results. We’ve met riders who have to keep trading out horses when the ‘magic’ isn’t there immediately or the ribbons don’t come quickly enough.

As riders and trainers, we really owe it to our horses to enrich their lives; to develop that little personal relationship with our trusty steeds.  After all, that’s why (most of us) got into horses – for that relationship that’s just not possibly with a basketball or motorcycle. 

Sometimes we just need that little reality check when we completely blow it at a show or have a day where the flying changes just. aren’t. there.

My goal is not to use Bucky as just a tool to get to Grand Prix. I want him to enjoy working with me.

Delight is not my ticket to fame and fortune. My goal with her is not that other people will take a look and thing wow, look how great Alison is! My goal is develop horses who love their work in the same way Bucky does… Because really, there is nothing quite like riding a horse who loves their job.

Oh, on a ‘positive self talk’ note: Delight and I had wonderfully supple and powerful moments yesterday. Admittedly there were also moments where she flipped me the bird and told me exactly where I could shove my requests, but baby steps. We’ll get there some day… Hopefully by October.  

Quote of the Day!

Have you ever had one of those moments when a sentence, phrase, or saying that leaps out off of the page at you? Rattling around in your brain for the next day or two?

Bueller? Bueller?

Just me, then. Damn.

Anyway, this may or may not set off a helpful-quotes motivates existential type blog. Or may simply result in another long rambling, barely cohesive blog post. It’s a risk I take every time I veer from self-derision. And since I’ve sworn off of negative self-talk for the next 20 days (give or take) in an effort to totally re-vamp myself… existential gibberish it is!

“Being aggressive is fine if you’re a boxer or a skier. But we have living, breathing, feeling animals underneath us. I don’t think it’s right to use them as a stepping stone to get to the next level.”

-Curt Pate

Now I realize that we outgrow horses and have to move them on to their next home and not everyone can own their horses forever, allowing them to retire to pasture in their golden years… But I really don’t think that’s what this quote is about.

My take away is that there are better paths to personal glory. Sure, I love ribbons and awards nearly as much at the next person, but I want my horses to like me. Not just during breakfast and dinner when I show up with the food bowl, but also when I’m grooming, tacking up, riding and after working. Maybe I’m anthropomorphizing a bit, but I can tell when my herd is happy, sad, worried or stressed out.

We’ve all seen that person at a horse show or clinic who blames their horse for being a horse. We’ve heard about the trainers who take short cuts to get quick and easy results. We’ve met riders who have to keep trading out horses when the ‘magic’ isn’t there immediately or the ribbons don’t come quickly enough.

As riders and trainers, we really owe it to our horses to enrich their lives; to develop that little personal relationship with our trusty steeds.  After all, that’s why (most of us) got into horses – for that relationship that’s just not possibly with a basketball or motorcycle. 

Sometimes we just need that little reality check when we completely blow it at a show or have a day where the flying changes just. aren’t. there.

My goal is not to use Bucky as just a tool to get to Grand Prix. I want him to enjoy working with me.

Delight is not my ticket to fame and fortune. My goal with her is not that other people will take a look and thing wow, look how great Alison is! My goal is develop horses who love their work in the same way Bucky does… Because really, there is nothing quite like riding a horse who loves their job.

Oh, on a ‘positive self talk’ note: Delight and I had wonderfully supple and powerful moments yesterday. Admittedly there were also moments where she flipped me the bird and told me exactly where I could shove my requests, but baby steps. We’ll get there some day… Hopefully by October.  

It's All in Your Mind

Well, it’s six weeks until the Region Two USDF championships where Bucky and I will be competing in two obscenely large championship classes: Fourth level and PSG.

When did those classes get so large? I mean, I thought that above second level was supposed to be where the classes thinned out. 50+ horses? Qu’est-que le shit, as the French would say.

Well, there are only so many things a girl can do to brush up in six weeks. I’ve been taking lessons (when I can), I’m walking/jogging more and eating one meal a day (god do I hate jogging. And salads), so that just leaves the mental part.

Can you tell that I’ve been raiding my equestrian library? Jane Savoie’s “Its Not Just About the ribbons”, to be exact. My mother got my copy signed at a clinic in Texas a few years ago but to be honest, I don’t think that I’ve ever read it the whole way through. I remember trying “That Winning Feeling” when I started showing in high school. I probably could have greatly benefitted from it, but being a know-it-all teenager with no room for self-improvement I skimmed it once, maybe twice, and promptly forgot everything in a whirl to teenage angst. Teenagers. Shudder. This time through I’m trying to take something away from it. I mean, I’ve come a long long way with show nerves and becoming a more tolerable human being since high school, but I could always use improvement. What can it hurt to try, right?

But itn’t it, though? Kinda? No?

Since, according to her, it takes 21 days to form a habit, good or bad, I had better get cracking.

So, step one: Positive Self Talk

Now, I’m my own worst critic, something I think that most women struggle with. We all tend to think that we’re too tall, too short, too fat, too thin, too old, too young… And I’m no different. I tend towards self-depreciating humor and sarcasm, think I could stand to lose a few (a lot) pounds and have the constant nagging doubt that every other open rider will see through me for the imposter I am. What else is new?

So my first step into positive self-talk is to choose three buzzwords for positive affirmations (getting to woo-woo for you yet?)

We are Powerful.

We are Supple.

We Belong here.

Evidently if I keep repeating these to myself I’ll start to believe it and it’ll become a self-fulfilling prophesy. Worth a shot, right?

So here’s to three weeks to me becoming a more positive, chipper individual!

PS: After day one of self-affirmation, saying and resaying my thingys while cleaning stalls, I'm pretty sure Bucky is pretty sure that he's been upgraded to the thinking half of this partnership.. Great start, guys.