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. 

Don't Stop the Music

I seem to go through phases of music- no music… And I am currently in a music phase. Could it be inspired by the costume freestyle class in October?

Maybe.

Is it easy to listen to music when one’s arena has no available power source?

Certainly not.

I mean, I make do with my Zune but its big and bulky and the ear buds are always falling out and ends up pissing me off more than providing soothing tunes. So I tried having a battery operated speaker hanging up by the mirrors, which worked if one has a thing for 20 meter circles by C. Now, don’t get me wrong… I do love me some twenty meter circles… but every so often I have to go rogue and oh, I don’t know… shoulder in down a long side or even extend across a diagonal. Wild. Crazy. Out of speaker range.

Oh Alison, how ever did you solve this world-ending problem?

Why thank you for asking. I got a nomorerack.come email advertising free shipping for three hours, and on a whim, I opened it rather than immediately sending it to the trash folder like every other email I get (except for SmartPak… those bastards always lure me in). Low and behold, the Pyle Sport MP3 headphones, regularly 199.99, were featured for 35.99.

Worth it?

Totally.

 It’s only a little 4G player, so it doesn’t hold a ton of tunes and since it’s the size of a Bluetooth ear piece all of the buttons are really small. Of course, there it only on/off/pause, volume and previous/next buttons to contend with, so it’s not like the thing is rocket science to operate.  Even I could figure it out.

Today was my first ride with it.  I was really hoping that I hadn’t just wasted 35 bucks with something that was just going to bounce around and/or fall off mid ride.

So I put it on, hit play, adjusted the volume and then donned my helmet. The neckband – or whatever you would call it – fit perfectly just over the harness of my helmet. And I will say that I was impressed. It lasted through all three horses from everything from pony pissy fits to the piaffe-passage tour. No ear buds getting bounced out of place in the sitting trot or bulky MP3 players pulling on my waistband.

Oh, and it’s waterproof. It’s really designed for swimming, so I really don’t worry about a little bit of sweat ruining it. Plus, those post ride baths where the rider ends up just as wet at the horse? Now set to music!

Now, I wouldn’t run out and drop $200 on these bad boys… but for $35, it’s totally worth it.

If you like music. Otherwise, save your money. Seriously, though, who hates music?

Learning All the Things!

Again.... sorry for the lengthy break.

It's exhausting being me....

I;m boring. And don't have internet access at home. I am forced to go to McDonald's and steal... ahm, borrow, their wifi to post. Legit, right?

The things I do to be able to afford to go to dressage shows.

Hunter poodle, Bacon

Anywhoo... I've been taking lessons. Two of them. Every other week. But it's better than nothing right? I mean, 7 hours of driving for one hour of instructions isn't too nuts, is it?
I knew horse people would understand. You guys are fabulous.

Lesson one I brought Delight, hoping to show her off. I love that giant pony and when she's on, she's on. But she was not on. She was a little time bomb. Pleasant.
The whole lesson was how to relax the pony so that she would use her back and short little neck for good, not little pony evil. We made progress and I was just happy to be receiving instruction. Win-Win.

Yesterday, I brought Bucky. I mean, since he's the one going to Kentucky in two months, it only makes sense to bring him for lessons. He's good; I could be better... Thus the lessons.
We worked on bend and getting him to actually use his shoulders instead of 'assuming the position' and allowing me to have some significant input rather than sitting up there like a figurehead. And he did.
What a wonder pony.

Now to keep it....

'Cause I'm a Grand Prix Horse!

Can You Paint With All the Colors....

Of the Wind?

Because I can. Well, maybe not all the colors, but at least half of them.

Because I can.  And I have junk in the trunk. Or at least I have junk and thanks to a great yard sale find I have a trunk!

It’s an old steamer trunk with metal fittings and leather straps all over the place. It’s old and musty and AMAZING!

So I ran out and bought primer. Immediately. Again with that patience thing… Good thing I’m in such an immediate gratification sport, amiright? On day 1, I primed it, painted over all the rusty corner pieces., dry cracked leather bits and icky brown canvas sides.

Due to my instant-gratificatio-itis and my love for one design genre, I found and used hammered copper Rustoleum spray paint that I had left over from a previous project. Since I had it, I spray painted the side and edges that were and odd mix of leather and metal pieces first thing. In hind sight, painting the canvas should have been first, followed by spray painting then finished by my corner pieces. But, hindsight being what it is, live and learn.

Also, I was just so excited to paint!

So, after spray painting the straps to give them all a uniform metal look, I ran to Sherwin Williams (during their summer sale! Yay savings!) and selected what I thought was a calm, decadent blue. You know, the navy nautical upper class look since I seem to be stuck in a steamy, punky rut.

You know.

But as they say, the best laid plans of mice and men… You know?

My blue, picked off of a one inch by one inch swatch was not Upper Class Calm. It’s steamy and punky and by the second coat, I loved it. So what that we’ll never fit into the high dollar AA Show Jumper barn where everyone wears the right clothes and has the best brands… but it works for someone with ridiculous sport ponies and  dogs who wear jackets (though sometimes under duress).

I finished the trunk with shiny copper paint found for $2 at WalMart. I painted each and every little steel corner and edge piece. Oh, and the leather pieces on the top and front and the hinges. And clasps.

Who designs these things with so many little pieces to paint? Seriously. This was boarder line ridiculous. Even if I do love the aesthetic. 

What do you think? Totally adorable, right? I was tempted to stand it upright and toss some saddle racks and bridle hooks into it, but then common sense prevailed. I need basic storage more than a fancy tack trunk.  So I ModPodged the hell out of the inside lid with posters and pages from old issues of Dressage Today. Adorable!

Fancy-Schmancy Tack Trunk for under $50.
Success!

So now what projects can I find next….

It's a Dog-Eat-Dog World Out There

Now, I've been having one of those weeks where self confidence and general morale is at a low, so I'm going to try to keep the general melancholy to my self and not let it creep into my posting... But sometimes it slips in. Sorry about that. There's really nothing worse than someone else feeling sorry for themselves, is there?

Anyway. Back to the fun entertaining life of Moi.

This week the coyotes have returned with a vengeance. Occasionally I've seen one when out trail riding, off and on for the last three years. But ever since the dramatic fence incident of 2011, I've only heard the creepy yips off in the distance.
This week they were coming from across my creek.

There's something about coyotes singing that instinctively makes me to a poodle head count.  It doesnt matter if we're all in bed and I know that they are safely behind closed doors, I still have to actually pet both poodles just to make sure that they don't turn into Poodle McNuggets.

I am NOT a poodle Mc Nugget.
And I hate my post-bath PJs.

I usually let the poodles go out hunting while I ride. Well, in all honesty, Bacon hunts and Tempi naps in the sun or occasionally shriek-barks at Bacon. Yesterday while taking Bucky up to the arena for a little workout, I saw two coyotes on the path by my arena. Bucky was freaked out, even though I told him that there was no way that the coyotes could hurt him.

"I am a GRAND PRIX HORSE! I do not have to deal with predators!

I was freaked out because this was in broad daylight and I've only ever seen coyotes in the late afternoon or early morning and sometimes Bacon and Tempi trot up that path to come watch me ride for a bit before heading back to the house.
Now they are under permanent house arrest unless I am able to keep an eye on them.
Poor Bacon just wants to be able to hunt chipmunks in peace...

It's ok, I still love you!
And I'll wear all the bows that Tempi won't.