Thursday 27 April 2017

Scattered/Deep Thoughts

There was a Day 3 of the clinic, but of course by then I was really sick and without an operational truck. We were also outside any service area for help - so I needed to deal with things and find a ride to the nearest city to buy a truck battery. Hence, I was sick, stressed, tired and grumpy and did not ride.

Truck required to get us home on this mountain highway.

The teen who exercises Bridget for me once a week was having her own version of Worst Weekend and was needing to give her lovely Q mare the remainder of the weekend off. That means we were left with one healthy rider and one sassy pony. And so we sent them off for a lesson together!

Wake up Midge! While it sucks that my devices ended up with dead batteries I did hear the kids got some actual action shots I might be able to convince them to send me. It's kind of funny the 6 pictures I have to remember the weekend by are all of Bridget sleeping.


The lesson consisted of a bunch of single xc fences, logs mostly, and was pretty boring and uneventful to be honest. I felt bad for favorite teen - she'd been looking forward to Training level on Q mare and instead did pre-entry with Bridget who reverted back to her lazy self. At least fave teen is a Bridget fan and claims to have had fun anyway :) They did look adorable together.  Also on the plus side, boring with horses is always an improvement over wild and crazy!

So, not the best finish to not the best clinic.

Moving forward...some deep thoughts. I'm still feeling pretty scattered. Our long weekend away didn't leave me as inspired and motivated as I would have liked.


Remember these Deep Thoughts? Or am I giving my age away?

My "meh" attitude this winter has spilled over into my rides the past few months. I ride almost daily, and it's still fun because it's Bridget and I like her, but the real drive to be better as an all around rider and to learn more has sort of receded. I like learning new things, but I'm tired and don't fight as much for it as I used to. I'm still feeling more than a bit directionless.

The big elephant in the room and something I thought about a lot this weekend is that the bigger height stuff for Bridget on XC makes me worried. Not for me, but for her...I'm starting to ponder the risk of potentially misjudging a solid obstacle and hurting her, and I'd never forgive myself if that happened. I love the sport, but I think there's a difference to consider between the horses out there running around and attacking the course because they love it and live to gallop and jump all the things, and Bridget, who runs around out there mostly because I ask her to.

Ginger, however, lives for XC and had a fantastic weekend. Also, here's what a welsh D looks like with their feathers clipped and mane roached.  I like it on her!

I can see us doing some combined tests in the future, but more and more I'm kind of in a weird head space eventing wise with the pony.  There should be a new division...all the "fun" stadium and xc questions and dressage tests of the upper levels, but with like 2'6" fences for those of us with not so scopey ponies. Maybe a mini jumper derby course is what I'm wishing for? I don't know. I want to ride dressage tests with lead changes and lateral work, but I still want to gallop around and jump into water and through tricky related distances too!

For now, we've signed up for a couple of jumper classes at the local show this weekend, and have some dressage lessons on the horizon. We'll keep to our summer eventing schedule, but leave the level at Pre-Entry (2'6"ish height, I think). I'll worry about bigger picture plans come Fall. Seems a good compromise, yes?
Rest up, little pony. We're not done yet!


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12 comments

  1. imo there's exactly nothing wrong with feeling like there's a limit to what we want to jump, esp with regards to the solid stuff. honestly i think it's pretty natural. rolex isn't for everyone and it sure as shit isn't for me. but the stuff within that limit? SO FUN. the idea of bopping around indefinitely at the levels that feel well within grasp but still tick off all the right boxes sounds pretty darn good to me, and leave the challenge of demanding precision and ambitious goals for the dressage.

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    1. I get this, but I'm actually bored with the courses at the baby lower levels - I wish they were more interesting/fun (and by saying that....I probably just cursed myself to the worst season ever. Universe: "She wants excitement? Bring it!" lol)

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  2. I'm totally with you. I keep wondering if there is a sport for me where I can gallop the pony on open terrain, jump the smaller, inviting jumps, and have fun with my horsey friends. All I've come up with so far is separately doing pair paces/jump courses/dressage shows. PS - Ginger looks like an absolute boss in that pic! :)

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    1. We need to start a new division! :) I'm thinking for what's on offer here event derbies might be where it's at. Dressage test, and then a show jumping course with some Xc stuff thrown in. One of our somewhat local shows will let you mix and match...so I could ride a more difficult dressage test and then just do a litte pre-entry jump round. No ribbons that way, but that's ok.

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  3. Turn her into a CDE driving pony :) all the fun of eventing without jumps!

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    1. She flunked out of driving school for being too slow lol. But yes, driving has actually been on our list of things to try now that she's got a bit more of a forward button

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  4. That's a tough place to be. At one point in the past I was trying to figure out the same sort of thing with Katai except it was if I should jump/trail ride/ and otherwise try our hand at things other than Dressage. It was tough for me to get excited about because Dressage is what really motivates me so I completely understand the difficulty of figuring this out and how tough the mental component is. No answers or suggestions for you other than to take the time you need to figure out what you want to do :)

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    1. I've wanted to event for so long! I obviously didn't buy Midge to event with, so I'm trying to be extra fair to her because it's truly not her thing. I think dressage may be our path at the end of the day.

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  5. When I started horse shopping and bought Steele I sat down and made a really honest list of what I wanted to do with my horse. I then found the horse that fit that criteria because i realized I wanted a horse that I could take places and do a bunch of fun stuff- trail ride, dressage, clinics, shows and outings. Then I lost Steele and bought Carmen. She's not the horse I thought that I wanted but she has so much talent in Dressage (more than Steele I think) but her brain was a problem. You know my story there so there's no point in repeating it.

    BUT- I'm in a place when I'm starting to enjoy riding again and looking forward to what I want. I still don't know if I'm going to be able to do all the things I want and we will see. If she can't be the horse I want I am not sure what I will do. My ambitions aren't big but they are important to me.

    I think that your ambitions are important. If it's not with Bridget then you will find a way.

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    1. I'm with you. I didn't buy Bridget to do much of anything. I just truly needed a confidence booster after a series of bad/scary accidents, and she's done that job exceptionally well. She's not going to be able to do all the things I want, and I knew that going in. I think it would be unfair to ask her to do much more than she does now, jumping wise. I like how you worded it: ambitions not big, but important to you. That's it in a nutshell - she's my best pony ever, but I can't quite let go of the ambition to do more eventing wise. It's tough to stay motivated when I like dressage, but don't LOVE it enough to want to focus on it and give up progress over fences.

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  6. So basically like an Advanced low-option course? It sucks that there aren't more options, but who knows, maybe sticking to the small/boring stuff for now will boost your confidence a bit more and you will find some of these events do have water elements and some ''fun'' things for you and Bridget to be a part of?

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  7. I definitely am not one to scoff at the solidness of xc jumps, its why I stay in rings where the jumps fall down.

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