Things to do when your lesson is canceled

Sadly my dressage lesson at 7:15pm  was canceled due to 90-degree-plus weather and a crazy thunderstorm around 4pm that gave my car a carwash au naturale and made the tree outside my office thrash around like a wild thing in the wind. I'm sure it would have made a school horse do the same. Except that after I touched base with the instructor re: the cancelling and rescheduling of the lesson, the weather started to progressively get better and by the time I got out of work it was perfectly fine weather to ride in. So here are some things to do that will stave off feelings of why, universe, why?!

• Obsessively noodle around the internet trying to figure out if the instructor you found is actually good or not.
• Realize you worked with said instructor during your internship at a certain horse magazine because she is also an editor. What the hay!?
• Feel stupid for not connecting the name to the face.
• Continue to obsessively noodle around the internet.
• Horse Nation Horse Nation Horse Nation
• Ooh! Peanut butter cookies!
• Make peanut butter cookies.



• Eat peanut butter cookies.



• Eat dinner, which is soup that you made earlier this week so you wouldn't have to cook after going to the barn. womp womp wommmmp...
• Eat more cookies.

Now just think! You've saved money by not having a lesson and instead had the joy and calories of a bunch of peanut butter cookies! Er--wait a second...

Dressage lesson!!!

After carefully budgeting my entry-level salary using mint.com (no, they're not paying me to say that--I just have found it super useful), I've decided that I can afford to take one riding lesson per month. Not ideal, but I do have access to horses I can ride to practice what I learn. Instead of my usual hunter-jumper lessons, I decided to go with a dressage instructor. I'm hoping to go back to basics in a systematic way, and I think dressage is the way to go for that.

Anyway, now I am SUPER excited. It just reminds me yet again of my horse addiction. I find myself daydreaming about the lesson and the whole reason I'm even writing this post is that I need to stop annoying my very patient boyfriend by talking about how this is a great way for me to meet more horse people in the area and people to ride with and maybe even find a good boarding barn for later on and unlock Joey's Dressage Pony secrets because he just nods, smiles, and says, "That sounds great, babe!" because he has no idea what I'm going on about.  I've Google mapped the way to this new barn from my house and from work; I've checked out deals on new breeches online; and I've gotten giddy at an excuse to make my boots shiny-clean before each lesson (don't ask me why; I just find it's soothing and it makes me feel like the real deal). Can you tell I'm looking forward to this?

My riding education thus far has been kind of piecemeal--I have had some great instructors, but I've never worked together with an instructor to really further my "riding education." The instructor I was with the longest (from age 13-18) unfortunately didn't explain much, and as I realized later, was not the most humane to his horses. This  instructor has a good reputation of teaching people about the whys behind dressage so I'm hoping that will translate into me gaining a better foundation that I can build upon in my (slow) path to buying or leasing my first horse.

Also, I'm doing a low-level H/J show this fall. I've done this series several times before, and I intend to kick ass again...just putting it out there in Internet-land just so that dozens of strangers will peer-pressure me into writing a post about my show. The horse I will be riding is kind of far away from where I live now so I need that extra motivation to actually make it out there for some practice rides this summer. I'm hoping that dressage lessons will ramp up my jumping classes an extra notch. It's a schooling show (they mix English and Western in the same class if that tells you how casual it is), but I could still stand to use it as a test of my skills. As a previous instructor told me, I just need to think of the jumping classes as dressage with obstacles, not "stop breathing and tear around the course as fast as possible!" classes.

:)! 

Stress-free riding

I'm back!


Ok, so technically I have been here the whole time but I just haven't been blogging. I just started my new job and this past Sunday, I moved into a place that is much closer to that job than my parents' house so...yay! It only took me a week to figure out why my laptop wouldn't connect to wi-fi!

I have had the idea for this post rattling around in my head though since the Tuesday before last, when our company unfortunately had to let go several employees for financial reasons. It was sad to see people lose their jobs through no fault of their own, and frightening--I had been thinking I was right on track with having a job right after graduation, but now I realize that in our uncertain economic climate, nothing is ever guaranteed. I still have my job--it would have been a waste of time for them to only hire me for two weeks, and I don't make enough money to be a real drain on their coffers--but nevertheless, it did shake me up.


Thankfully, I was able to go to the barn immediately after work, and the temperatures weren't as ridiculously high as they've been this week. But on the way there, I just didn't feel the relaxation I normally do on those winding country roads. I was tense,  my back was tight, and my body overall was mirroring my internal stress as I imagined the worst-case scenario of losing my job if things continued to go south. Would I move back home? Would I move in with my boyfriend? Would I get a temp job? Would I disregard my English degree and try to find a job with horses?


I knew that the horse I was going to ride, Shadow, would probably not react to my stress. I haven't talked about him on the blog before, but he is also a therapeutic riding horse who is so bombproof he's practically catatonic. The only times I've seen him halfway wake up are when he hears the crinkle of a peppermint wrapper and when we canter--he gets a bit disorganized and rushes, probably because it's easier for him to do that than actually give a nice canter. I'm lucky that I have access to a horse who isn't going to add to my worries (and I'll try to put up a picture of him for you soon!).


One of my riding mantras is "Relax...or ELSE." If you don't relax your body, then at best you'll have a disorganized, icky ride, and at worst you have a panicked horse running, bucking, and farting for its life.  For some reason the idea of forcing myself to "relax or else" works for me. So I decided to ride bareback. It's impossible to not follow the motion of the horse that way, and as soon as Shadow took his first swingy steps away from the mounting block, I was forced to let go of that tension in my back and just follow his motion to stay on. Of course, bareback is much more tiring than riding in a saddle, but that had a dual purpose as well--it forced me to use up that anxious energy, pretty similar to longeing an overexcited horse or taking a hyper dog for a run.

via Equestrian Memes

Anyway, I just wanted to share my way of forcing myself to relax...I know everyone might not think of it that way, but I'd love to hear if you have particular exercises you do when riding to release tension and stress.

Lesson plan: walk, trot, beginning canter

What about: Let's take all the students and pass on the no-stirrups work our trainers inflicted on us to the next generation? Not as catchy. via

Teehee.
So the first two lessons I taught today were 30-minute private lessons.

The first was for a re-rider who began riding at age 4, but took a long hiatus and now has some confidence issues, especially when her horse's attention starts to wander. She has just started to canter again on a big Percheron mare named Bella.

That lesson went very well so I taught another before heading home for some Father's Day celebration. This student was a teenager who also lessons at another farm. She has just started to canter regularly as well with a sporty Percheron/TB named Levi. I adapted the below lesson plan for both of these riders, so I just included everything that came up as an issue.

Setup: Four cones in a diamond shape at one end of the ring for teaching precise circles.

Walk:

• Forward: Start with a nice, swingy walk. Feel the movement in your seat and alternate inside and outside leg pressure with the swinging of the horse's barrel.
• Calm: Follow with seat and hands.
• Straight: Pretend your hips have laser beams coming out of them (it sounds weird but that is how I like to think of it). Keep them straight and look ahead. If your horse tries to cut in, correct her with inside leg and opening inside rein. If that doesn't work, strengthen the inside leg and inside rein (without dropping the outside rein) until it does, then release and continue with your hips straight.
• Two-point for one lap: Don't worry about looking like a jumper with your upper body. Feel your heels sink down and your calves connect with your horse's sides. This is the leg position to strive for. If you find your leg swinging, a little bit of  (correct) two-point will help to stabilize it.
• Bend in corners: Inside leg, opening inside rein, supporting outside rein. Keep the swingy, forward, following walk on the straightaway.
• Circles: Ride a straight line from one cone to the next, and bend around each cone (inside leg, opening rein, then outside leg to straighten again to the next cone).

Trot:

• Straight
• Bend in corners
• Change direction across the ring
• Sit the trot without stirrups (Did this for the second rider. Levi kept cutting in at the canter and she felt that her leg just wasn't there to move him over. Believe me...I can emphathize)
•  Circles: (same as above)

Canter:

• Canter setup: Sit the trot. Inside leg, opening rein, outside leg.  Both horses cut in/were lazy so I told the students to look forward, keep their hips straight, and sort of swivel with an inside rein and leg combination. We were moderately successful but I am sure better straightness and obedience (from the horses. The students were very obedient.) will come with practice.

Feel free to critique or make suggestions! It's only going to help.

One week down, 50 years to go.

So since I know many of my readers are people I know in real life, I figured my blog is as good a place as any to update everyone on my first week of work. Total strangers, don't worry, I have horsey news too.

There are some things I really like about my office, such as free bagel day and the fact that their kitchen really reminds me of Veridian Dynamic's kitchen. However, I received a chilly welcome to office life--not from the people, but from the building itself. I lucked out and got a cubicle by a window (where I hung my Most Spectactular Creative Dismounts award with pride), but there is an air vent that blows right down on my head. Seriously, the only day I was warm was Casual Friday, when I wore a tank top, a polo shirt, a cardigan, and a blazer. I'm tempted to invest in a pair of these and risk the taunting of my fellow cubemates:

Toasty warm USB-powered hand warmers

 So my job is editing, fact-checking, and formatting newsletters of stocks advice. It makes me feel very journalist-y because unlike the papers I wrote for my major, they actually have to be based in reality! The downside is that I know NOTHING about stocks. It makes me feel very lucky that my coworkers are so patient about explaining things, and that Investopedia exists. One of my assignments so far is to read the back issues of the newsletters I will be editing, and although I have to look up a lot of the financial lingo, I am picking up on the differences in each stock advisor's style. There is one I particularly enjoy because he likes to go off on tangents. So far I've found out that he hates Bush, Obama, and "doing business with untrustworthy Muslim countries" almost as much as he loves investing in Swedish stuff and riding his Harley.

I've also been working on fact-checking (very time-consuming for me since investorspeak is like another language and I have to do MATH), proofreading (piece of cake), and fiddling around with Dreamweaver and InDesign. So there is a lot to learn but there are also some things I already know, so I don't feel like a total noob.

African Violet for my office from my little brother <3

This week was also the "interview" for what might become my second job two days a week. The Gentle Giants riding instructor is pregnant and does not want to keep working outside during a Maryland summer (ie. a muggy, suffocating heat wave in which riding instructors must breathe kicked-up arena dust all day), and the Barn Manager asked me if I'd be interested in being a substitute instructor.

Let's pause here for a minute. I am in no way qualified to be a riding instructor. My own riding education has had no real rhyme or reason to it (unlike a Pony Club or Equine Studies curriculum) ; I've mostly shown at low-level fun day shows; and I don't even have my own horse. But I am still SUPER excited. And when I'm excited about something, I research and make lists, or in this case, lesson plans. So I will be posting those here for your critique and suggestions as I keep teaching.

The majority of the students are re-riders at the beginner or intermediate level. There is also a handful of teenagers of varying levels, but it seems like everyone just wants to learn the basics of safety and pleasure riding, which I think I can do. The one thing I'm nervous about is that many of the GG horses are fairly green, and I'm afraid that since most of them do not get ridden much, there will be some horrible disaster and I won't think quickly enough to coach someone through it. Just today, one of the students tried to show Sailor to a potential adopter and he took off in a bucking fit (I am pretty sure they are going to send him to the trainer's now).

So...I'm going to do my best to teach people how to be safe and to improve their horse-human communication. I already have a lot of torture surprises for the students in my toolbox: no stirrups, two-point, spiral in/out, leg yields...but hey, all of those exercises have done me a lot of good so even though there will be some aching legs in the short-term, (hopefully) there will be fewer spills and thrills in the long-term.

Summer Project Update and Pre-Job Jitters

Hello adoring fans,
I know you've been on the edge of your seat since I first posted my suspenseful description of Sailor ("suspenseful description" meaning "a sentence I forgot to finish about Sailor." It's fixed now, thanks to a tip from analise). I finally got around to working with him yesterday, and...he was a total pain in the rear. A pain to catch, a pain to bridle, and a pain to keep focused (who am I kidding, he didn't pay attention to anything for more than 5 seconds because EVERYTHING was out to get him).

I still haven't ridden him yet. Yesterday was the first really hot day that I've gone to the barn, and that's always tough. Add the fact that it took a very frustrating two hours to catch, groom, and tack Sailor, and you've got a recipe for longe work only. We didn't make much progress, unfortunately. I tried the same trick I did with Levi (setting irregular ground poles on the longe circle) to get him to pay attention, but no dice. I just got a freaked-out horse who wasn't even looking where he was going, and thus was knocking his feet on the poles left and right.

So I tried regular longeing on the flat. It was difficult to get him to walk on the longe instead of halting and walking towards me, but I made the circle smaller and walked with him instead of just pivoting in the middle of the circle. Eventually I did get a walk, but his brain was definitely in another place. We tried the obstacle course again at the trot, and no improvement...so I changed my goal to getting him to walk over the ground poles. We did achieve that, but at that point we were both hot, sweaty, and tired. Next weekend the rescue owner is going to show me what she does to get him to focus, which will be wonderful because I really couldn't figure him out.

In other news, my job starts tomorrow! It feels like the night before the first day of school--I've got my outfit picked out, my lunch packed, and the only thing left to do is to hurry up and wait. I woke up suuuper late this morning (er, afternoon) so hopefully I will actually get to bed at a reasonable hour. I've got at least an hour-long commute to look forward to...but at least my car is finally in working order again (*crosses fingers that its transmission sadness is over for good*).

Well, until bed I'm going to watch my favorite Youtube vloggers. This is yet another tangent from my overall horsey theme, but I think you'll enjoy this small sampling. They're better than TV.

My Drunk Kitchen :This is a young lady who likes to get drunk, make puns, and attempt to cook. It is hilarious.

Jenna Marbles: I always get the urge to narrate my life in the voice that she uses to talk to her dogs. You'll see what I mean at the end of each video.

Community Channel: This is an Australian girl who likes to comment on the weird things of life and play multiple parts in the little scenes she thinks up to illustrate those weird things.

 Enjoy!

Rita Mae Brown in The Week

If you don't know, Rita Mae Brown is the author of several murder mystery series, two of which I adored when I was growing up. Mrs. Murphy, a talking cat who always comes through to solve the mystery for the humans in her unusually crime-filled rural town of Crozet, VA, charmed me, as did Brown's insistence that Sneaky Pie Brown (Rita Mae Brown's cat) supposedly co-authors her books. The other series I read was the "Sister Jane" foxhunting murder mystery series. Rita Mae Brown foxhunts herself, so all of the details are entirely accurate, and I learned a lot of foxhunting terms from her books! The Sister Jane series focuses less on the animal characters and more on the underside of foxhunting society--the juicy affairs, the hunt club political drama, and of course their tendency to murder each other. Note to self: Don't cross anyone from Crozet, VA. They'll stab you with an icicle to melt away the evidence.

When I got back from school a few weeks ago, I tried to reread Outfoxed, but I don't think I can quite immerse myself back in that fictional world just yet. Not enough time has passed since being an English major. Her style of writing is very ornate, and it's a little too adjective-happy for me to not pull my hair out about all of the unnecessary descriptors, since for the past few years I've been taught concision, concision, concision. But then again...being too concise wouldn't make for a very suspenseful mystery novel.

Rita Mae Brown not wearing an ASTM-approved helmet (tsk!) on RitaMaeBrown.com

Anyway, Rita Mae Brown was featured in The Week this week with a list of her 7 favorite animal books to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Mrs. Murphy series. I thought I would give a list of my own. I hope you'll leave a comment with your book recommendations!

via HorseBooksEtc

• Build a Better Athlete: 16 Gymnatic Exercises by Leslie Webb--This book of dressage exercises is so easy to follow and commonsensical. Each gymnasticizing exercise builds on the previous one, and with step-by-step pictures and instructions for the exercises (as well as pictures of common mistakes), you can figure out how to ask your horse to become a better athlete no matter what your discipline is. I skimmed some of the theory stuff, but she does explain the why behind each exercise if you are interested. I've started to incorporate several of them into my own riding, especially the spiral in/spiral out for getting the horse to move off my leg.

 Okay, so the rest of these are not horse-related because Rita Mae Brown used up Black Beauty (and I don't think it needs a recommendation anyway) and since I haven't read many animal books since I was young, those books are in storage. So here goes:

via Wikipedia

• Laika by Nick Abadzis--I picked up this graphic novel on a whim from a dog-themed display by the circulation desk at the library and it was such a treat to read. It's a fictionalized account of what Laika's life might have been like prior to her one-way space flight, and although it is incredibly sad (think the whirlwind life of Black Beauty minus the happy ending and plus a very confused dog), but it has such a poignant ending and great character development throughout. Also there are some sequences where Laika and her first owner, a little girl, dream of Laika as a moon dog, and those are super cute. Neat fact: Laika means "barker" in Russian. Other neat fact: Growing up on a dairy farm in Puerto Rico, my mom had a Collie/German Shepherd named Laika. I told her I read this book and she said, "Laika? Just like my old dog, how funny!" Apparently she missed the memo that her dog was named after the first dog in space, which is pretty odd considering "Laika" is not Spanish-sounding in any way, shape, or form.



via B&N

• My Uncle Oswald by Roald Dahl--This one is about a fabulously rich playboy named Oswald Cornelius Hendryks and his scheme with a bug, not an animal, per se. Jeez, I am really bad at staying in the "favorite animal books" category, but I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed Roald Dahl books like The Witches, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Matilda as a child but has since grown up, because My Uncle Oswald is definitely NOT for children. I would have never thought Dahl wrote for adults as well, but this book and his short stories have that same sort of formula as many of his children's books: Someone figures out a fantastical scheme, scheme works beautifully, scheme is foiled in the last few pages. This particular scheme has to do with the aphrodisiac powder made from the Sudanese Blister Beetle, artificial insemination, and the famous artists and celebrities of the early 20th century. The resultant hijinks and the fabulously eccentric characters make for a hilarious read.