Sunday 2 February 2014
Saddle Drama Continues...
So it's tomorrow now, the saddle fitting. Dragging out and out! But the person coming tomorrow really is the best there is at the saddle fitting game. Just to up the drama factor, I now have two more saddles in the running...a Kentaur and a Zaldi. They are both so lovely, as is the Verhan. The Zaldi might be the most comfortable of all. One almost wants a beer and a remote control when one sits in it. But the winner will be revealed tomorrow, and my dining room filled with saddles sitting on the chairs, like they are waiting for their meals, will return to normal. So, with just normal crap littered around, like girls' backpacks, bottles of horse liniment, the odd piece of musical equipment, stuff like that...
Friday 31 January 2014
The Good, the Bad, and the Maybe...
Yes, indeed. All three. Tuesday's lesson was good. Really good. I felt like I was right on the money from the moment I settled my butt in the saddle. Rory was so responsive and we were in lovely synch. Tracey had us doing really tight figure 8s in the last half of the lesson, and the key for me was not to lose my solid trot pace, not to lose my frame and keep him solidly on the bit, and to keep my shapes nicely. It was crazy-hard, but apparently, it worked! I got the thumbs-up, and T wished she'd had a video to show me how good we looked! I was excited and very satisfied. We had also done a bunch of close circles earlier with no stirrups and I was very glad that my yoga legs showed up for the lesson! These are the moments when I want to deck anybody right in the face who wonders how riding can be exercise...A good, solid lesson, and I am sweaty, puffed, shaky and aware of all the muscles in my body. Rory had had his trace clip on the weekend, so he sweated up some, but not quite as badly as when he did not have a tidy stripe of fur shaved out of his sides and neck. He earned his oats that day!
Then came Thursday. Blah....I had been fighting a headache for days, it seemed, and Wednesday night and Thursday morning were rough. I wanted to do my lesson, but felt "wrong", just as I'd felt "right" on Tuesday. Rory was distracted and very, very slow. The figure 8s that had gone so well Tuesday were not nearly the same Thursday. Grrrr. It was all an effort. I was bouncy in the saddle and struggling. There were some smooth moments, but by and large, I was frustrated and a little disappointed. These days happen, just like the good ones.
The 'maybe' was part of Thursday too.... I have been drooling over this Verhan dressage saddle marked down to 75% off in the Equi-Products floor/demo model sale. This saddle is beyond gorgeous. I kept visiting it in the shop, sitting in it, and sighing. When I offered to sell one of my valuable books to fund the saddle (and such a deal I will be waiting long into the future for again), Lee got on board, and I bought it Thursday morning with a three day return window. Tracey and I fitted it on Rory to the best of our ability, and were largely very pleased with it. I did my lesson in it, and it felt great to me. We just were not sure of the clearance at the pommel, and a really properly fitted saddle is all-important for the continued comfort of my boy. We asked Barbara's opinion, and she very sensibly thought we ought to call in a professional saddle fitter. So, said saddle fitter is coming to the barn tomorrow, and the fate of my beautiful Verhan lies in the balance. Maybe, or maybe not.... But not for anything will I risk Rory's back. Now HE is a treasure beyond price, and there is no maybe about him! : )
Then came Thursday. Blah....I had been fighting a headache for days, it seemed, and Wednesday night and Thursday morning were rough. I wanted to do my lesson, but felt "wrong", just as I'd felt "right" on Tuesday. Rory was distracted and very, very slow. The figure 8s that had gone so well Tuesday were not nearly the same Thursday. Grrrr. It was all an effort. I was bouncy in the saddle and struggling. There were some smooth moments, but by and large, I was frustrated and a little disappointed. These days happen, just like the good ones.
The 'maybe' was part of Thursday too.... I have been drooling over this Verhan dressage saddle marked down to 75% off in the Equi-Products floor/demo model sale. This saddle is beyond gorgeous. I kept visiting it in the shop, sitting in it, and sighing. When I offered to sell one of my valuable books to fund the saddle (and such a deal I will be waiting long into the future for again), Lee got on board, and I bought it Thursday morning with a three day return window. Tracey and I fitted it on Rory to the best of our ability, and were largely very pleased with it. I did my lesson in it, and it felt great to me. We just were not sure of the clearance at the pommel, and a really properly fitted saddle is all-important for the continued comfort of my boy. We asked Barbara's opinion, and she very sensibly thought we ought to call in a professional saddle fitter. So, said saddle fitter is coming to the barn tomorrow, and the fate of my beautiful Verhan lies in the balance. Maybe, or maybe not.... But not for anything will I risk Rory's back. Now HE is a treasure beyond price, and there is no maybe about him! : )
Saturday 25 January 2014
A new day, a new blog and a new post!
I decided to start this blog as I way of recording (and sharing, for anybody who can be arsed to indulge me as I rattle on about horses AGAIN) my journey into the amazing, challenging, and often frustrating and unknowable, world of dressage. I had long been a very committed horse mum to my talented jumping gal Raine, and her partner in crime, Black Tie Affair, and as such, I felt consistently drawn further and further back into the horse world, one in which my time as a youth was far more sporadic and abbreviated that I would have liked. We had horses my whole youth, but health problems prevented me from doing much more than just hanging out with them and being their friend most of the time. In recent years, as I went from show to show and barn to barn with Raine and Ty, I remembered, learned and explored, and amazingly, after some years of it, I noticed that my still-serious health problems were no longer aggravated by being around these creatures that I loved so much. Result!!!!
But then came the big dilemma for me....do I have the wherewithal, the confidence and the commitment to play this game myself, or ought I to remain firmly on the sidelines? I turned to a dear friend, Barbara, who owns the barn where Ty was boarded, and who had been a great supporter of both Raine and me. Barbara was so encouraging when I tentatively told her what I was thinking, and agreed so happily when I asked if she could start teaching me ( I sure wasn't going to do this thing without some solid lessons and guidance!) So, lo and behold, one day last May, I found myself out at the barn, in some ancient and unfortunate riding gear, ready for my first lesson in twenty-some years. Barbara put me on Soleil, a mare who was temporarily visiting our barn. Soleil will forever stand out in my memory as the horse that I went back on. She was a lovely, kind and patient chestnut, who clearly deserved to be ridden with far more grace than I did that first morning. I was so nervous and excited, and all it took was that one awkward lesson on a sweet mare, with my wise and understanding friend slowly feeding me back the basics to know that I was in for good, in for the long haul! It was quite an amazing day. : )
Further lessons followed on Soleil, who was so patient with my fumblings, and more lessons on a school horse of Barbara's called Calamari, when Soleil went home to Edmonton. Cal was not nearly as understanding with me as Soleil had been, but she, too, gave me tolerance when I needed it. I knew that if I was to progress with any efficiency, I needed my own horse, and a regular training programme. I have always known somewhere in my heart that the universe understands my profound connection to the animals in my life, and sends the ones to me that are simply perfect. I hoped my quest for a horse would transpire that same way, and I had moments of despair that my horse wasn't out there, just as I always seem to do when it is time for a new dog to come into my life. Lee, my lovely and supportive husband always assures me that it will happen, that the dog, or horse in this case, will come and this time was no different. Still I struggled with no seeming leads. I needed something quite specific: a horse that knew dressage, that was solid and healthy, tall enough for my long legs, and most of all, that was kind, trustworthy, solid and patient, but that could still take me forward in my learning. I leaned towards geldings, too, for their nice natures. My all time favourite horses have always been Paints and Appaloosas, but it seemed like a very long shot to even hope for such a one, as Paints and Appys are thin on the ground in English disciplines. My friend ( and built-in farrier!) Paul said one day, "There is a 16 hand sweet paint gelding out there who is going to find you", and I think I replied ungraciously that that was bullshit and I was doomed to be horseless, ideal or otherwise, forever.
Ah, the fates work in funny ways, do they not? About a week later, I saw an advert for a horse on Kijiji, and my heart skipped a beat.... a 14 year old, 16 hand paint gelding, who was kind, stable, trail-savvy and dressage-smart. His owner was clear that an approved home was essential. I made contact with her the moment I read the ad, and wrote lengthily about why I would love to be able to meet her horse. She was located in Red Deer, and I made a time to go up. I was suffering from rotten back trouble at the time, and I had been told by my doc and my chiro that I was to do no more than walk on horseback, and I had been complying. Barbara always says there is much to be learned at he walk. I knew that I could only walk on this horse, but I was not going to let that stop me. Up we drove to Red Deer, and I could barely keep a lid on my anticipation. We met Brittany at her barn, and went out to catch Rory in his paddock. The first site of his sweet, clever face is also something I will never forget. The rest of that evening was amazing. He was such a gentleman and so lovely to ride. After one lap of the outdoor arena at that barn in Red Deer, I knew that if Brittany approved of me, I would move heaven and earth to have this horse. She made me the most fortunate of people when she said that she thought I'd be perfect for Rory to go to. Lee, who works so very hard up north at his proper job, worked 7 or 8 days on his days off to muster up the cash for me to have Rory. It was the most wonderful gift I have ever been given. <3 A week or so later, Paul drove me with my horse trailer to bring Rory to his new home. I remember us stopping at the Tim Horton's in Airdrie, and just checking to make sure the boy was ok in the trailer. On a warm July night, we pulled into Priddis View Farms. My new boy was home, and I was in heaven.
Rory found the initial transition difficult, and I felt so badly for him. I said that it must feel just as though he had been kidnapped. He had been Brittany's horse for so long, and they had done so much together. His bewilderment must have been overwhelming. He had a couple of big meltdowns, once after a terrible hailstorm, and bless Raine for being brave enough to ride him for me that day, in his wild, panicked state, to settle him down. He went into a paddock with two other geldings, who immediately put him into omega place in the herd, but at least he had peeps of his own. Throughout the rest of the summer and into the fall, we slowly got to know each other with lots of grooming, treats and slow, quiet rides. and start to learn how this new partnership was going to work. I loved him more every day that passed. I was much too tentative at first, because my confidence was so lacking. He pushed my buttons and I had to muster up the presence to deal with it. We had a few lessons with Barbara, but she is so busy that I began to feel badly constantly pestering her to fit in a lesson into her already packed schedule. She was always so good about it, and brought the lovely kindness and clarity that she uses in teaching little kids to teaching awkward middle aged women!
All the while, my old friend Tracey, a very accomplished horsewoman and dressage teacher in her younger years, was following my progression (if you could call it that) with Rory with interest and support. Tracey had always been so interested in Raine and Ty, and had come to cheer her on in a few shows, and to give helpful advice when Raine really needed it. Lightbulb moment....Tracey! I was thinking to myself. "how can I get up the nerve to ask Tracey if she would be at all interested in helping me with Rory", and when I finally did, she told me that she had been doing the same thing, "I wonder if I could ask Fiona if she would let me teach her"! Once again, the universe was on top of this all along! Tracey and Rory and I have been a team since the fall, and it has been amazing. She knows so much, and is such a good instructor, but is as rusty in that role as I am in the saddle. We are figuring this out together, and it couldn't be better. Tracey has told me how appreciative she is at being given a way back into the horse world, and back into a barn community, and I am so appreciative of her skills, and how she wants to teach me in the very classical and traditional way I want to learn. We also manage to have great fun, and I think maybe the next post here may well be humorous highlights of these last months in the saddle. This brings me to the present.... I am learning all I can. I am learning from every source I can. I learn SO MUCH from Tracey, but I also eavesdrop in other people's lessons, I read books and articles, watch videos, and listen to every tiny thing anybody tells me about horses or riding. Tracey and Rory and I are aiming to do our first dressage test later this year. And right here is where you can read all about it!
But then came the big dilemma for me....do I have the wherewithal, the confidence and the commitment to play this game myself, or ought I to remain firmly on the sidelines? I turned to a dear friend, Barbara, who owns the barn where Ty was boarded, and who had been a great supporter of both Raine and me. Barbara was so encouraging when I tentatively told her what I was thinking, and agreed so happily when I asked if she could start teaching me ( I sure wasn't going to do this thing without some solid lessons and guidance!) So, lo and behold, one day last May, I found myself out at the barn, in some ancient and unfortunate riding gear, ready for my first lesson in twenty-some years. Barbara put me on Soleil, a mare who was temporarily visiting our barn. Soleil will forever stand out in my memory as the horse that I went back on. She was a lovely, kind and patient chestnut, who clearly deserved to be ridden with far more grace than I did that first morning. I was so nervous and excited, and all it took was that one awkward lesson on a sweet mare, with my wise and understanding friend slowly feeding me back the basics to know that I was in for good, in for the long haul! It was quite an amazing day. : )
Further lessons followed on Soleil, who was so patient with my fumblings, and more lessons on a school horse of Barbara's called Calamari, when Soleil went home to Edmonton. Cal was not nearly as understanding with me as Soleil had been, but she, too, gave me tolerance when I needed it. I knew that if I was to progress with any efficiency, I needed my own horse, and a regular training programme. I have always known somewhere in my heart that the universe understands my profound connection to the animals in my life, and sends the ones to me that are simply perfect. I hoped my quest for a horse would transpire that same way, and I had moments of despair that my horse wasn't out there, just as I always seem to do when it is time for a new dog to come into my life. Lee, my lovely and supportive husband always assures me that it will happen, that the dog, or horse in this case, will come and this time was no different. Still I struggled with no seeming leads. I needed something quite specific: a horse that knew dressage, that was solid and healthy, tall enough for my long legs, and most of all, that was kind, trustworthy, solid and patient, but that could still take me forward in my learning. I leaned towards geldings, too, for their nice natures. My all time favourite horses have always been Paints and Appaloosas, but it seemed like a very long shot to even hope for such a one, as Paints and Appys are thin on the ground in English disciplines. My friend ( and built-in farrier!) Paul said one day, "There is a 16 hand sweet paint gelding out there who is going to find you", and I think I replied ungraciously that that was bullshit and I was doomed to be horseless, ideal or otherwise, forever.
Ah, the fates work in funny ways, do they not? About a week later, I saw an advert for a horse on Kijiji, and my heart skipped a beat.... a 14 year old, 16 hand paint gelding, who was kind, stable, trail-savvy and dressage-smart. His owner was clear that an approved home was essential. I made contact with her the moment I read the ad, and wrote lengthily about why I would love to be able to meet her horse. She was located in Red Deer, and I made a time to go up. I was suffering from rotten back trouble at the time, and I had been told by my doc and my chiro that I was to do no more than walk on horseback, and I had been complying. Barbara always says there is much to be learned at he walk. I knew that I could only walk on this horse, but I was not going to let that stop me. Up we drove to Red Deer, and I could barely keep a lid on my anticipation. We met Brittany at her barn, and went out to catch Rory in his paddock. The first site of his sweet, clever face is also something I will never forget. The rest of that evening was amazing. He was such a gentleman and so lovely to ride. After one lap of the outdoor arena at that barn in Red Deer, I knew that if Brittany approved of me, I would move heaven and earth to have this horse. She made me the most fortunate of people when she said that she thought I'd be perfect for Rory to go to. Lee, who works so very hard up north at his proper job, worked 7 or 8 days on his days off to muster up the cash for me to have Rory. It was the most wonderful gift I have ever been given. <3 A week or so later, Paul drove me with my horse trailer to bring Rory to his new home. I remember us stopping at the Tim Horton's in Airdrie, and just checking to make sure the boy was ok in the trailer. On a warm July night, we pulled into Priddis View Farms. My new boy was home, and I was in heaven.
Rory found the initial transition difficult, and I felt so badly for him. I said that it must feel just as though he had been kidnapped. He had been Brittany's horse for so long, and they had done so much together. His bewilderment must have been overwhelming. He had a couple of big meltdowns, once after a terrible hailstorm, and bless Raine for being brave enough to ride him for me that day, in his wild, panicked state, to settle him down. He went into a paddock with two other geldings, who immediately put him into omega place in the herd, but at least he had peeps of his own. Throughout the rest of the summer and into the fall, we slowly got to know each other with lots of grooming, treats and slow, quiet rides. and start to learn how this new partnership was going to work. I loved him more every day that passed. I was much too tentative at first, because my confidence was so lacking. He pushed my buttons and I had to muster up the presence to deal with it. We had a few lessons with Barbara, but she is so busy that I began to feel badly constantly pestering her to fit in a lesson into her already packed schedule. She was always so good about it, and brought the lovely kindness and clarity that she uses in teaching little kids to teaching awkward middle aged women!
All the while, my old friend Tracey, a very accomplished horsewoman and dressage teacher in her younger years, was following my progression (if you could call it that) with Rory with interest and support. Tracey had always been so interested in Raine and Ty, and had come to cheer her on in a few shows, and to give helpful advice when Raine really needed it. Lightbulb moment....Tracey! I was thinking to myself. "how can I get up the nerve to ask Tracey if she would be at all interested in helping me with Rory", and when I finally did, she told me that she had been doing the same thing, "I wonder if I could ask Fiona if she would let me teach her"! Once again, the universe was on top of this all along! Tracey and Rory and I have been a team since the fall, and it has been amazing. She knows so much, and is such a good instructor, but is as rusty in that role as I am in the saddle. We are figuring this out together, and it couldn't be better. Tracey has told me how appreciative she is at being given a way back into the horse world, and back into a barn community, and I am so appreciative of her skills, and how she wants to teach me in the very classical and traditional way I want to learn. We also manage to have great fun, and I think maybe the next post here may well be humorous highlights of these last months in the saddle. This brings me to the present.... I am learning all I can. I am learning from every source I can. I learn SO MUCH from Tracey, but I also eavesdrop in other people's lessons, I read books and articles, watch videos, and listen to every tiny thing anybody tells me about horses or riding. Tracey and Rory and I are aiming to do our first dressage test later this year. And right here is where you can read all about it!
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