yes.
going to stay 2 weeks at my parents farm. fortunately we are not in the same house as them (*dies*) but close enough. will be root pruning 16,000 blue gum seedlings in preparation for planting in august or so.
ack.
what a great way to spend some holidays.
oh, and almost got into fisticuffs with a woman at the shops today! i was waiting in line at the checkout (right next to the conveyor belt) and she ran into my trolley so hard she smashed herself. i think she anticipated that the trolley would MOVE but because it was against ME it went nowhere! then she glared at me & waited for ME to say something but i glared back & simply straightened up the trolley. she cut thru the space to see her husband (who was in the checkout next to me), then cut back to get something, then cut BACK to the checkout. THEN i heard her complaining to her husband about me, and i turned around and said, "EXCUSE ME! you ran into ME! you should apologise to ME!" and she said, "YOU DIDN"T GET OUT OF MY WAY. WHY SHOULD I APOLOGISE TO YOU?" and then grumbled a bit and i eyeballed her and my heartrate went ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM and i turned around to my checkout chick & the woman was still muttering about me & everyone in BOTH lines was watching warily.
and then she went off & my checkout chick went, "wow, what's her problem!?" and then everyone in my line bonded over how shitty grocery shopping is. hahaha.
and i've been learning how to identify muscle knots in my horse. he is a sore little chicken!
rode him last night for the first time in 2 weeks and it took him about 30 minutes to warm/loosen up. then he decided it was all too hard so i got very risque and USED A DRESSAGE WHIP. just the presence of it was enough to make him pick up his toes. then he literally peed his pants when i touched him with it (accidentally) whilst trying to stick it under my leg. silly muffin!
i tell ya what, i am REALLY enjoying beejay's company lately. he is SUPER sooky with me (tho has started a little bitey bitey game when i fiddle with his rugs - perhaps he's itchy or something?) and it's just generally nice to hang around with him.
question: should i ride today or not????? argh, not sure. was going to have a lesson @ 2, but carly cancelled so i dunno. time is off the essence. have to pick poo, spread it, phil's tacking a shoe back on @ 4, gotta organise feeds. i just don't know!
anyways. he definitely needs some regular body work, poor guy. i think i'll get onto Equestricare and get him some monthly massages. i'd like him to get bowen with Aunty Laura, but jess has the lazer & infra red treatment happening too, for the same price!
life is good again.
BUT
there is no fucking doubt she is a brilliant horse person. i ASPIRE to RIDE my horse this well, let alone LUNGE it!
one day....
it is also good to know that the stretches and massages she recommends are ones that i do already with beejay (except i don't hold his tail during carrot stretches, might get into that one tonight!).
new favourite band. holy bejeebus. and they're doing a tour in north america with... NIN and Jane's Addiction.
*goes off and ORGASMS*
every 10 yrs or so Triple J do the hottest 100 songs of all time. voting ends in about 4.5 hours. should i bother voting? i gotta put in a shortlist of 10 songs. god, the choices.
UGH, i hate how real life gets in the way of my social networking & pottering about. i just have NO TIME lately.
to sum up:
1. going to a pony show on sunday with tazzie!!! omfg, how fun! it's just a fun day (but i'll be serious! haha) to raise money for a horse rescue. i'm going to plait him up tho (he'll be very fluffy tho!) and i'm going to wear a jacket etc and so on. hopefully will get lots of piccies.
2. i'm fucking freezing! our heater kicked it in and we are battling it out in the cold.
3. going to the farm for 2 weeks in er... 2 weeks. no internet then. staying in the cottage with rustic wood fire & cold outlook. will be root pruning probably about 60,000 eucalyptus seedlings in preparation for planting. jed is coming with me.
4. NO wedding plans or anything! no date, no dress, nothing. if anyone here would LIKE to save up and come visit, it'll most likely be sometime next year, maybe october, on the farm. that's as far as we've got!
5. AWESOME FUCKING AMAZING work from beejy lately. he blows my MIND. what a good pony. i am STARTING to feel a swinging back, softening at the jaw & FOCUS. omfg, FOCUS!!!! he is so gorgeous with his clip - he's the amazing technicoloured pony! a friend of mine did it for free so she could practise. awesome!
compare and contrast:
AppleJack
beejy.
pretty close, huh?
( more pics and the list continues! )
SHWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET.
edit::: she better be reasonably competent - i was sorely discouraged after the last one i had for only a 2 week practicum. MAN that girl was a challenge.
she would fucking CRY after lessons. omfg! "i don't think they learned anything..."
ffs! get over it mate. you can't expect to walk into a school experience prac (so not like it's her final one before she becomes a teacher or anything) and expect to be teaching like someone who's been out for 5 years.
o man. there was this one situation - i had this kid with a cast on - he broke his thumb. i had him typing at my laptop instead of writing. after the lesson she came up to me & said, "is X dyslexic?"
"no?"
"o, his writing is almost unintelligible"
"well that's cos he's writing with his left hand"
"well left handed students should still be able to write properly"
"erm...." (DID YOU NOTICE THE BIG FUCKOFF CAST HE HAS ON FROM HIS GODDAMN FINGERS TO HIS SHOULDER????) "erm, he broke his arm."
(she looks blankly at me"
"he broke his RIGHT arm... he's RIGHT HANDED????@#!@#"
(still looking blankly....."
"oooooh" (there it is!)
for TEN DAYS of prac, i must have spent at least 12-14 hours counselling her. i practically WROTE the lessons for her, and then she'd come in the next day and have something totally random and i'd be like, "uhm, didn't we sort this out yesterday?"
and she picked up on me "randomly" selecting kids. thing is, i DO randomly select.
she randomly selected the same two kids!!!! every time!!!! in the end i was like, "DUDE, DO NOT EVER ASK J A QUESTION EVER AGAIN!"
the KIDS even came to me & said, "uhm, she's asking us all the time!" and she did not seem to understand the concept that asking questinos like, "Who can tell me" and "who knows" is not asking a question! it's asking who knows!!!!!
thank GOD things startyed to come together by the end of the prac, but jesus... i was deeply concerned. even my colleagues all said she was a bit neurotic & way too hard on herself. goddamn it. she passed okay, but it was a pain in the ass getting her there.
so yeah, this intern better be half competent.
a) rent inspection on thursday & i need to britex the carpet
b) i actually really am a bit sick. been fending it off quite hardcore, but feel rundown & needed the sleep in this morning. so yeah.
yesterday was our monthly adult riding club rally. so for a change, i took tazzie. the instructor i like wasn't going to be there, so therefore no x-country, plus i am wanting to take taz to a gymkhana on the 21st June & wanted to check that he wouldn't have a mental breakdown when faced with a) new grounds and b) gajillions of horses.
as usual, he was a champ & i reckon was the best behaved pony at pony club!
both morning and afternoon lessons i had with Deb, who i have ridden with before with Beejay. I thought she was excellent then - very calming & kind yet still assertive. wasn't wrong - she had a large class, so lots of ppl i think also appreciate her talents. she divided us into 2 gr of three, working simultaneous 20m circles & she stood on the outer & was able to watch both groups. i think for such a large class she was quite talented in watching both groups very thoroughly.
i don't feel i got too much out of it, instruction wise, because carly covers exactly the same thing (flexion, bend etc) but it was cool to do it in a group & have someone explain things a little differently. Deb talked about our position & how we want inside hip facing outside ear & outside shoulder facing inside hip (or something like that, simplified). it was interesting watching her point out things in the other riders too.
taz was a complete star tho. he plugged around very happily. it's the first time i really ASKED anything of him (flexion) and it took a bit to get it. discovered that he STILL gets his tongue over the bit even with the mullen mouth, so gonna clamp his nose shut with a flash. obviously, if i could ride him in a dually forever, i would, but unfortunately bitless bridles are not accepted at any organised event, except maybe endurance riding.
oh, i could wack a big mechanical hackamore on & go showjumping...
anyways. we got to have a wicked canter as well & i laughed so hard i couldn't maintain it. was hilarious! he just tried his little guts out. i thought he would pigroot, to be honest, but there was none of that. just very very unbalanced, so more practice necessary.
poor jaana suffered an unscheduled dismount from tally tho. silly pony! although amidst all the chaos i was most impressed with tazzie standing stock still!
afternoon session was excellent! did pole work with deb and it was fricking awesome. again, large class of 6, but she again divided us into 2 groups and had two ... 20m or so circles going. each circle had a straight line with 4 trot poles in it, with a 'gate' at either end made of two cones so we could work on straightness.
first we walked the poles. taz has never gone over anything in his life but he tries SO DAMN HARD for me & although he BOGGLED at them, he coped. then we moved onto trotting them. gotta make sure i keep the momentum - deb was saying i asked far too politely, even with the dressage whip i was riding with. so (just like with beejay) gotta ask and MEAN it. by the end he had definitely gained a lot of confidence, but was still VERY unsure about foot placement. his old owner has a bunch of copper logs she's donating to us so he'll be forced to suffer future indignities. haha.
he started to get super grouchy at the end tho, silly pony! making faces at other ponies. at one stage he even LUNGED at kelli & benito. hahaha.
i think he feels very confident when mummy's around - i tend to chase the other horses away and be a real alpha when we're at home, so he seems to hind behind my skirts a bit. that's okay... something i learnt from Petra when doing all the parelli work in the first year with beej - showing leadership. taz just has no need to be 'leader' with me, unlike beejy. interesting what hindsight can do, isn't it?
so yeah, pony club was wicked.
haven't ridden beej since last monday tho - been fending off a cold & it hit me pretty hard on about friday. filled up on various drugs for pony club & flaked out today. got a fucking rent inspection on thursday too, so might take a day off on wednesday. feel blah.
and beej lost all his hair today. neighbour kelly wants to get into clipping as a bit of a side business, so needs as many volunteers as possible, so i offered beejy. good job too. she was most impressed with him. once i figure out how to upload pics from the mac to fotobucket, i'll have some naked pics of beejy, haha.
although most of the mess is cleaned up from saturday night, we still have to organise shit & do a good vacuum etc. yesterday was spent intermittently napping, or watching friends, or just watching the Photo screen savery things on the xbox.
played with beejy last night (wearing BFOR too... so it's now picked up poo, mixed feeds etc... and it didn't die or get lost!) & he was a complete TWAT. jesus christ. his ridden work is coming along great guns, but he then acted as if he's never been on the end of a training line before. dick. i got into him a bit because he was being a complete nutjob (sorry, no natural horsemanship there!). it all started cos i moved him over one of my 60cm jumps and he HOONED it, then took off fucking bolting & kicking and being a general twat. once he calmed down we tried again and this time he refused it. MEH. then he'd have a big sad and back off across the arena. he left track marks everywhere.
so went back to moving his fore & hind quarters, some yoyo game etc, to help him refocus and bring his energy down. ended up dropping one side of the jump down to about 20cm and i practically led him over it. then we tried circling game again, over some trot poles and then back over the jump - and he was fine. nice and cruisy with no hooning.
silly monkey. THEN i was very risque and i jumped on board - bareback, in a skirt, just halter and leadrope.
poor pony, he about had a conniption - anything that strays from his little routine just BLOWS HIS MIND. he coped (with walking around the 20m circle...) but would have little spasms of "argh, cant. go. that. way! argh!"
so weird, when i ride with saddle & bridle we can steer & bend all over the place (riding just off the seat) but take those things away & he just loses all confidence & has to take over as leader again. i didn't make it too challenging for him tho & we just putzed around for a while (and we all know how much beejy loves putzing... NOT), and just had lots of cuddles & brushing time.
i REALLY wanted to go out for a ride on tazzie yesterday, but so didn't feel up to it physically. think i was a bit hungover, a bit pre-menstrual, etc etc. going to get onto it today.
in fact, going to go to Yoga @ 10.30 & will prob head out to tazzie after that. Taking taz to adult riders next week (cadging a ride with jaana) which is pretty exciting. his old owner will be there to see him too. and then, on the 21st June we are going to a funday show... which may not be all that fun because it seems like a bunch of top (tho unofficial) riders will be there, which kind of takes the fun out of it if i'm competing against ppl who show all the time... anywho. i wanna do some games with him as well, so we've been practicing our sharp turns & bends.
also, we've been rate limited. can't believe how fucking boring & hard the internet is at the moment. it's worse than dial up. Livejournal mostly copes okay, but photobucket, stockyards, facebook, my email etc ALL FAIL. additionally, most photos on LJ just redX or fail as well, so it's pretty boring! get it back on Tuesday though, thank god.
....
and how bizarre, all this wedding thinking. see, i thought i had it all planned out perfectly before & now i think about stuff & it's fairly MEH.
i know who's going to do my dress & the cake, but that's about it. no ideas on DESIGN or anything. hahaha.
poor jeddy.
hrm, i really feel like some pasta. argh.
am fricking TIRED tonight. i went to a case conference this morning (so skipped school in the morning, taught after lunch, just one lesson) at the children's hospital here about my tourette's boy. there were TWELVE people there to talk about him.
- psychiatrist
- 2 x psychologists
- 2 x social workers
- my boss
- psyche from my school
- me (as the only teacher in mainstream subjects he wants to be with... go me... *le sigh)
- nurse
- teacher from behaviour center
- teacher from hospital
- Ed Assistant from hospital
- Disability services coordinator.
can you believe it? all for one little, fairly innocent looking boy, about 4' tall. he prob weighs about 30-40kg too. nothing.
i felt really sad for him. i know he's a little savage & he's only at the hospital because of his uncontrollable behaviour & the possibility he may go before the exclusion panel.
all of this in his FIRST TERM of high school.
anyway.
this arvo i had intended on going to see beejy, but ended up doing some gardening instead. planted 11 lemon grass plants. hahaha, we'll be lemon grassed out. also picking away at things because besides my PARTAY on saturday, also have a rent inspection, next week sometime.
hoping to go to a funday show on tazzie on 21st june. been practicing our novelties, just in case.
1. my dad turned 85 on wednesday so is having an enormous shindig. going down with jed and rhiannon in about... an hour for the celebrations tomorrow night.
2. the long dry spell has finally broken and it is blowing & raining a gale out there. horizontal rain, people, horizontal rain. NOT SO MUCH THE FUN.
3. pony rugged up, but with no neck rug. fearful of him getting too hot now that he's not clipped this year. BUT considering it's currently like 12deg, perhaps that's a moot point!
4. my 30th next weekend. hoo ha!
anyway. had a lesson on saturday with carly. beejy was quite antsy at the start, so she had us working on the buckle. any buckle time = time out. hahaha. he's sore thru his back at the moment so we spent a lot of time at walk, doing loads and loads of bend to help soften him. you could really feel the difference in his trot quality from the start-end of the lesson.
THEN she made me work with super wide, high hands, focusing on maintaining flexion thru change of rein. his right side = very weak, so the aim is to have it as soft & supple as he is to the left.
things to remember:
* wide hands straighten the bit in the horse's mouth so they can't lean on it
* inside leg ON the girth, not in woop woop like i am prone to doing. if i have to stretch out my leg & literally straighten it before putting it back on, do so.
* LOADS of inside leg when asking for change of rein... BEFORE we change rein, so he yields (or at least THINK yields) over. reinforce with outside rein.
* basic shit like thumbs up, chest open, head up etc.
* she thinks my flailing lower leg is residual from the defensive hunch i've been riding in for the past 2 years. i noticed in this lesson that it seems to be improving.
* on the forehand??? more impulsion then.
watching the vid i can see i need to think about keeping my hands STILL - or at least, less upper body flailing around. my inside leg is fairly jerky on him - i need to PUSH it over rather than kicking it back (his right side is weakest, therefore, a shitload of inside leg to stop him falling in).
more pics under the cut. as usual, constructive critiques welcomed. cheers.
( more photos )
tonight, i just can't be bothered.
!@!@#
in other breaking news, i've lost 6% body fat, but no weight & no inches, and have dropped a dress size. how does this even make sense?????
edit:::: okay, i'm going to yoga.
anyways. so the X-Country training. i was originally signed up for the afternoon session to do pole work & when i got there in the morning i decided to do 60cm jumping. then after the bullcrap in the morning decided that maybe 2 hours in the bush might do beejy some good, so i swapped to that. it was for beginners & it's pretty low key - find a jump, instructed on how to approach it, then one after the other... do it.
so the instructor, jenny, asked me about my jumping experience & his x-country experience (none as far as i know) and she also asked, "what are your plans with him?" and i responded with, "to sell him" LOL! i was like, "i wanna ride him like he needs to be ridden," and she was like, "o that's funny cos so many ppl ride their horses like THEY want to." haha. goes to show how pony whipped i am by my horse, right?
anyway. he was VERy quiet and relaxed after his full on (and i mean... FULL ON) workout in the morning - he was literally sweating all over & had only had an hours rest before we started in the afternoon. there were 5 of us in the class - 2 quite game & relatively experienced ppl & 3 greenies, including kelli, on benito who has very little jumping experience anyway.
Jenny had us crank our stirrups up - she was like, "5 holes from dressage length" and i was like, "OMFG NO WAY" so only went up 2 holes. i do remember that from when i was a kid. 2 holes extra for jumping, 4 holes up for x-country. it's alright when you're used to it.
she also explained that we need to do 3 point over the jump & 2 point when galloping between jumps to get off the horses back. and ALSO for effective x-country, legs have to be FORWARD and braced, much further than for jumping. she talked about if they're back then it's much easier to fall/lose balance etc.
so first we tackled this little log - about 40cm tall. had to get quite the run up & trot vigorously over it. beej did it like a champ & i grabbed mane. then back over it again. ben refused so jenny said she'd get kelli to practice her first jump on something a tad smaller. another girl, isabella, cleared it, but tumbled off the side (and landed on her feet) when her horse (a lovely big standy called Data) swerved to join the group.
we saw a little mob of 4 kangaroos & most of the horses nearly died from eye bugging. because it's just a thin strip of bush, we saw them quite a few times throughout the lesson & they were SUPER tame - coming easily within just a few metres of the rest of us. the horses were used to them by the end tho, thank goodness.
kelli was very interesting through this as well. she was all out of wack because her stirrups had gone up & she literally said to me, "i can't! i'm going to change my stirrups back" and i just said, "shutup!" and she was like, ":X" but then got on with it. by the end of the lesson she'd gotton over herself tho & was having a good time & stopped the "i can't" stuff, because she COULD!
we went further into the bush and found a series of jumps - a little log (about 30cm), a white picket fence (about 45cm) & another upright about 45cm. Jenny watched us all jump them one at a time & then she got us to do it as a line. there was a big 3' picket fence at the end of the line & the other 2 more game riders were to go over it & then she said to me that she reckoned i could do it too as i was riding well & beej was pretty honest. soooo.
i went 3rd after the other 2 (kelli & this other young girl, isabella were behind me) & he went like a total pro. we did the first 3 & he approached the big jump at a nice canter & took off PERFECTLY & it was fricking AWESOME. BUT my lower leg slipped back & i guess i looked at the ground on landing, so my whole body pivoted forward and i just lost my balance and tumbled off the side about 3 strides after we landed. ARGH!
the other 2 riders & jenny were like, "OMFG WHAT HAPPENED! you cleared it!" i was laughing, tho i had sand down my pants & i knew i'd landed a bit roughly on my hip/neck (dunno how both of them were affected). the next second tho, Data came galloping up, horseless & isabella was on the ground just after jump #3!!! we yelled out for kelli to stop. later she thought we were cheering for her, lol, but then she saw that isabella had fallen off.
same thing with isabella - bit harder for her to get her jumping position right as she was jumping in a dressage saddle. she'd lost her balance AFTER the jump & tumbled off (again!). anyway, kelli came thru & cleared the jump with ben & it was all good. i had to find a log to climb on from too.
went further on to find another jump - i sorta wanted to try the 3' picket again, but jenny wanted us to do something smaller to build up confidence again (good idea!).
anyway. we then tackled a small log, then found a ditch & one of the other ladies did an apex right after that too. then further on to find a bank/drop.
the bank/drop thing was SCARY. there were 3 levels - about a 2' jump up, then another 6' and then another 1' or so and then bloody 3'6" or so drop DOWN. omfg. we practiced just doing the 2' jump up, then turning sharply right and jumping down, which was fun & easy! then jenny was like, "ok, you 3 go straight and do the jump down" (i was one of the 3) and the other 2 had a choice about if they wanted to or not. *LE SIGH.
beej was so good, just straight up, up, up and... DOWN! a drop is scary tho because his head just disappears & jenny said, contrary to popular belief, you don't bend back, but bend slightly forward to pick them up straightaway on landing. omfg - this means you SEE THE GROUND headed towards you at high speed. i jabbed him the first time in the mouth - nothing to hold on to except reins! and felt like i did the same the 2nd time around, but jenny was happy with how we did it. i think next time i might have a neck strap because his mane is useless! there's not enough!
both kelli and isabella ended up doing the big drop as well, so that's awesome. kelli gets real mental blocks sometimes & was holding ben back, but he was super keen. once she realised he's pretty happy to tackle things, she relaxed a lot!
after the bank we found a coffin. basically, ride down a bank, over a small upright (like, really small), then across the coffin thingy, then step UP onto a bank, and UP onto the next level and away. this was the one obstacle that beej was not too confident about. he didn't refuse, but he wasn't as forward & happy to approach it as he was with everything else. the first attempt was a bit harried & crazy, but i refocused quite a lot and the second one had a LOT more impulsion - so much that he zoomed off quite a long way down the track on the other side before i was able to pull him up.
beej was SUPER good throughout. quite happy to stand & watch the others go away from the group & then past to tackle an obstacle, and also happy to do the same. he had a few antsy pantsy moments, but on the whole, very good... *wonders if it was the 1 hour intense workout he'd done just a little while beforehand*
jenny seemed quite pleased with him & us, considering that he's never done xc & i haven't jumped properly for years and years. she also asked about how old he was & if he'd ever raced. later, kelli was like, "and maybe you could sell beejy to jenny!" haha. she said she was surprised that i'd told her i wanted to sell him & i responded that i think i ride him a lot better & more often if i have it in my head that he's going to be sold. so yeah, he's for sale... but i'm not advertising him, lol.
floating
just quickly - i gave beejy the calming paste about 40 mins before leaving home in the morning. i have NO idea if it worked because he got a lot of it back out and over me. anyways. i went to load him up & he just looked at the float and had a tantrum & my brain just stopped working. tried a couple of times more & he barged away from me & i dropped the leadrope & he sort of walked away, then realised he was free & trotted off. Kelli was like, "was that supposed to happen?" and i just started crying! and then i said that i wouldn't be able to get him on now cos i was so worked up & she said SHE'D do it.
so we caught him (but not after he broke into mouse's paddock tho & stirred her up) & kelli led him back & i just followed, still panting a bit & having anxiety (and i'd been giving MYSELF rescue remedy since about 7am).
then kelli was SUPER quiet & relaxed with him & just spent a bit of time approach/retreating. he would stretch right out & get his front feet up, but his hind feet would still be near the end of the ramp. he'd be quiet like that for a while, then have a panic & practically throw himself off.
paul came along to see what was going on & i know he was DYING to try to get him on himself (paul thinks he's a bit of a guru when it comes to floating... maybe...). but beejay just needs quiet time because he just gets so anxious - he really is scared of the float & it freaks him out.
anyway, 9am came and went (when i was SUPPOSED to have a lesson with Jenny - jaana was in that class too!) & beej was still not moving, but he wasn't getting a lot of pressure put on him at all. i dunno if the calming paste helped him relaxed - he certainly was a LOT less "up" than he usually is when it comes to floating, but again, kelli was purposely being as non-confrontational as possible.
eventually, when he'd relaxed enough, kelli wanted to try the lunge rope technique (as in, bring it behind him to apply some pressure). i've always been fearful of doing this with beejay as he can be so explosive & i always felt he would just go UP.
instead, with a bit of pressure from me (released as soon as he would go forward) he loaded up in about 2 seconds.
!@!@#!
we let him off to have a chew whislt kelli went to get ben. then did it again & he loaded up soo easy. he was SHAKING from fear tho, so i drove like a complete nanna to pony club, doing maybe 40-50km an hour and taking up the whole road to turn corners.
we did the same thing going home - he had a moment to think about it, but went on as soon as that back pressure was put on.
huh. i talked about it with my feedguy & he said many horses are used to bum pressure cos they are taught to lead that way. i remember when i FIRST went to pick beej up we used lunge ropes to get him on & it did nothing.
anyways.
so yeah. floating AND x-country and we survived. yay.
lesson today @ 4pm, so he will be well and truly buggered after this weekend.
(jaana, i've just linked this from ur pbucket... let me know if that's a prob)
HOLY CRAP, i've had the most wicked day @ adult riders.
i'll update in detail later when i'm not so tired. but in a nutshell:
we jumped 3'!!!! (and then fell off... but still....) we jumped 3'!!!! hahaha.
other pluses:
we also negotiated a coffin, a ditch, several uprights, a small family of kangaroos, riding in a group, THREE HOURS of riding, getting on the float and... eating a particularly delicious chicken & salad roll.
some minuses:
* having a meltdown when beejy decided NOT to get on the float @ 8.15 this morning.
* not once, but TWICE taking off in a group lesson & being told to 'work over there & whatever you do, don't hurt anybody else'. as a result... i learnt NOTHING from my flatwork lesson... but have a lesson with carly tomorrow, which shall redeem that idea
* beej discovering a whole new world of evasion - head jiggy tossing bullshit & sucking back & avoiding work like you wouldn't BELIEVE - he is usually such a star going to the
left, but he was fucking SSS shaped (like bulging thru the shoulder, nose poking in, eye poking out, ears uneven plus disuniting and RUNNING rather than cantering like a real pony)
anyways. i stink.
edit::: another plus is being able to fit (well, one leg anyway) into some gaiters that i gave away because i didn't fit them. i Indian gifted them tho because i wanted to see if i fit them yet with the fitness i've gained.
I CAN.
so cool. i haven't lost any weight really, but have dropped a dress size or so.
(goddamn it, i just made a coffee & poured in COLD water instead of hot [forgot to put on the kettle, tho i did check it had water in it...] so i microwaved it and it exploded everywhere and now there's fossilised coffee all over the cup [jed's 'fuck! i'm 30!' cup - i want one too] AND the coffee tastes funky and is searingly hot as well.)
anyway. so there's this reunion & this girl is organising it and she's like, "i didn't want to step on your toes & take your job away from you..."
"what job?"
"well, i heard that the Head Girl of the year is supposed to organise the reunion."
"wtf mate? that's stupid. what if i'd died or moved to another country? we wouldn't have a reunion at all???"
"yeah, that's true."
"and besides, what about Ian? who even knows where he IS right now?" (Ian was Head Boy)
anyways. i was a bit miffed that just randomly ppl were expecting me to organise it, especially when a) I DIDN'T GET THE MEMO and b) i hardly live in my home town anymore
...
pony time.
have had two wicked rides on taz lately. he'd had nearly 2 weeks off & i took him out on saturday arvo for a burl around the block. he had QUITE A LOT to say about crossing the marshy creek near my place & i ended up jumping off & telling him in no uncertain terms that he was being a baby. i did have in mind the leg yield into it trick that
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greyskyridge described, but a) tazzie's leg yielding isn't so hot and b) he would NOT happily walk along side it & rather crab walked whilst boggling it face on. he really is funny when he comes across things on the ground that he's not sure of. he doesn't spook at anything in the air, but he just doesn't like his feet going into dodgy place. anyway. so he ended up following me meekly across the creek, and then back again, and back again. no probs. haha. we then went to this vacant block & had a GOOD hand gallop around the sand dunes. he was quite buggered after that. he can be quite naughty when he hasn't been ridden for a while, more in the stubborn-refuse to go forward-bulging thru the shoulder-pigrooting sense. haha. silly pony. he had these probs when he was in training & his old owner was concerned about the type of person who bought him because of them. glad he and i are reaching a consensus... basically, "you do what i say taz... or else" and he does it. LOL. he's small & not finicky so that might be why i'm braver on him. i guess i also know he won't launch into bronc status or bolt on me... both good things to have confidence in, lol.
on the way home, straight across the creek, no probs at all. hahaha.
rode him yesterday just around the block, following the roads. he was VERY good & we did lots of bending & going thru small, squashy places (between trees & fences etc). practiced some yielding as well. he's got a good foundation there, just need to follow it up with some ground work, i think.
we came to what i thought was a dead end on the road, so i turned around. on the way back we passed these two girls, then i saw them AGAIN when i was at my paddock. i asked them how they got thru & they said that there was a track that went right thru from the dead end to the cul de sac near jaana's... so i'll have to give that a try.
also, just for fun, took him back to the marshy creek & he hesitated, but plowed right through. it'll be interesting to see what he thinks when there's water in it.
...
beej has been WIRED the last few days.
little motherfucker bolted on me on saturday night. he'd been schooling fairly quietly, but when kelli left the arena with benito & clanked the chains on the gate it was too much for his little tb brain to take and he BOLTED from the dodgy mcdodgerson end of the arena (where he thinks he's going to DIE). i was like, "oooohkay" and had about 0.123412 seconds to think whether i was going to turn him left onto the woodchip arena, or right around the sand arena (which has lots of obstacles)... we went left & i gripped on for dear life. AT LEAST he has steering when he gets a turbo boost! came right back around to the dodgy end of the sand arena (where we started from) and i managed to gather my reins & self control & i pushed him into a very forward hand gallop around the 20m circle for about 3 rounds, and then back into a brisk, but much more sedate canter.
and then we cantered more.
a lot more.
and did LOTS of canter/halt transitions. and walk/canters (purely thru laziness on my behalf!), and i sussed why he scoots his hind end across when i ask for canter - i bring my leg too far back so he processes it as a turn on the forehand, so much remember to just shift weight, rather than hike my whole leg back.
THEN we were able to do some VERY nice trot work & practice our flexion to the right. then he was super happy to plod along on a super long rein, and then... he was completely fucked. we just stood for a while in the middle of the arena & his ears were literally flat & he was dripping sweat.
HRM, pony.
kelli was like, "oh, it must be the day" because her pony beni was naughty too. i was like, "NO, i am no longer making excuses for him. it was NOT the day."
heh.
last night was pretty much a repeat, but without the bolting. retard.
before i rode, Karen & Paul told me what a baby beej was & how he was screaming out for mouse (his neighbour to the right) when they left & they could hear him screaming whilst they were out & he was still screaming when they returned. silly duffah. karen had this t'shirt on that said, "Toughen up, princess" and i said that beejay needed a shirt like that, and we all agreed. hahaha.
oh, and we had an audience... grrrr. kelli fell off ben out in the bush (at a walk, hahaha) and as she had her dog Elroy with her, she couldn't take ben for a big burl, so she schooled in the arena. as kelli has never fallen off ben before, she had an audience. and then because beejay had ants in his pants, once kelli left the arena, we had the audience.
the kangaroo must have been hanging out because every.single.time. we went around on that right rein he got a turbo boost, so i would hoik my inside rein right out and get him BENT. SUCH a difference when he's not boggling to the outside and is forced to look where he's going. god. i wish this revelation had been made to me ages ago when the shying bullshit first started.
anyway, we had a moment where i thought that i was truly fucked because we came down to the 'safe' end of the arena & paul just happened to be fiddling with some fencing, which NATURALLY made beejay's brain explode and he surged forward and then had to double surge because there was an obstacle (a pole with a tyre) in the way, and i thought "o fuck... here we go" but once he paused, i pushed him forward (very picnic race style, with ALL the reins & a jockey seat) and once he got moving i was able to bring him back into a controlled canter.
so we did lots of walk/canter & canter/halt transitions. after every halt i'd let him move off with more rein & if he was silly he'd get pushed into a forward canter again.
however, there was just way too much going on for him to CHILLAX. we have a new agister and her horse's yard is right at the end of the arena, so when she appeared with a wheelbarrow & a pooper scooper, beejay's brain definitely exploded, so there was LOTS of circling & flexion.
anyways. by the END of the ride he was HAPPY to walk & trot quietly & flex to the right without boggling everything to the outside. i was a tad tired tho, as was he, HAHAHAHA.
so does anyone have any opinions on how i'm handling this? agree/disagree? would love to hear what you have to say. at the back of my mind i am fearful of making a turbo boosty horse - but i rationalise it by thinking that he's turbo boosty anyway. by pushing him into FORWARD we're channelling that turbo-ness for good, rather than ebil.
i'm basically doing what carly says - she'd much rather forward than UP (as would i). it can be a tad hair raising tho & after he bolted on saturday night i remembered exactly why i decided to sell him - he's fun and everything, and a downright GORGEOUS mover & so balanced and responsive to ride ("you won't get that from a standardbred" as carly likes to tell me, HAHAHA), but to me, it's just a pain in the ass having to ride so assertively like that all.the.time in order to get a 'nice' ride out of him.
i dunno, i like to plod.
we've (in theory) got adult riders this coming saturday. i'm going to give him a calming paste for the floating side of it. i know a lot of you won't agree with that, but he just gets so panicky & worked up in the float, and i HAVE done lots of exposure & short trips & loading & unloading, yet he still panics... perhaps a calmer might help him have a nicer experience & take the edge off whatever headspace he gets into when he sees the inside of a float. who knows.
minxyminou did it first. Comment on this entry saying "interview me" or likewise.2. I will formulate five incredibly thought provoking or ridiculously pointless questions and pose them to you.
3. You will then update your journal with amazing answers for me to read.
4. Rinse and repeat.
1.How long have you been riding?
got first shetland pony as a babysitter when i was 3. took 5 years 'off' (only riding during holidays) during university. then went mad.
2.What is your favorite breed of horse and why?
Anglos. without a doubt. good, solid, dependable horses with plenty of athleticism, height, elegance. blitzy is a rather fine specimen of an anglo, tho he's only 25% arab. still, rather nice.
3. When you were a child what did you want to be when you grew up?
i wanted to write a pulitzer prize winning novel ever since i read To Kill A Mockingbird when i was 13.
4.Have you been overseas? If so where?
yep. Philippines many times. Scotland when i was 15. United States for 6 months when i was also 15 - kansas, texas, illinois mainly with about 5 minutes in California & Colorado airport.
5.What music do you like?
lovin' aussie hip hop at the moment. bring on The Herd, Hilltop Hoods, Drapht etc. favourite bands when i was a tad younger were: radiohead, sneaker pimps, snog, NIN, Dinosaur Jr, The Verve. quite like britpop.
i'm a bit of a radio slut at the moment tho, i just listen to Triple J all the time, so whatever they're playing, as long as it isn't that stupid french chick, Soko. UGH.
and when i work out at the gym? Guns & Roses and Rage Against The Machine. GOOD music to sweat to.
huh.
we spent a LOT of time on flexion. he is so stiff & hollow to the right, so that's our bugbear. we need to work on that lots and lots.
- 10-20m circle at end of arena, then ride into the long side, with 10m circle every few m. reward by figure 8 into circle to the left (his supremely good & soft side), then rinse & repeat. lots.
leg HURT at end. MAKE him bend - haul his nose to the inside - pretend carly is there holding my hand straight to the middle of the circle with a lunge rope if necessary. consistent contact & allow outside hand forward to allow for the bend to the inside (so don't hold him back).
then she whipped out the cam & took some pics. bizarrely, he got straight onto the forehand & i was a bit surprised at this. nevermind - ride him FORWARD. if they're going FORWARD it is very difficult to be on the forehand. well.
then over some jumpies & that was that.
( Some pics )
