I am obsessed with schedules

But I can’t follow them. But I’m really, really going to try this time! So here goes another one…

This summer, my horse is going to be a dressage pony. Jumping is mostly off til around September. Flatwork galore from here on out.

First off, the tacky lovely training scale:

Why animal prints? Because I like them, that's why

Following Cass (again)

Cass will be enroute to California sometime around Monday. Yay!He should be backby Thursday or Friday. I’ve got a new barn all set up for him, and we are gojng to have fun with the three arenas, polo field, galloping track, and super long bridle path

EDIT: And that is why you don’t write blog posts on ipods. Typos, typos, typos. Cass was picked up today! (tuesday) and should be here thursday! And I was told that he “loaded on the trailer like a champ and then was a very good boy”

Thursday, 2pm: Cass should be here around 7:30 or 8!

I want my pony!

And I want him NOW!

And the plan fails already (I blame it on the demon cat)

Because I’m not going to be here most of friday or all of saturday or most of sunday.  Today and yesterday I longed Cass and tomorrow I am going to longe him over poles and cavalletti…but saturday (longe over cavalletti, then ride) is out.  Sunday is still a possibility.  Have to see what’s going on then.  I am really bad about time management :(

Anyway, Cass is not a happy pony.  He isn’t too fond of this freezing weather stuff – and he is in a “dry” lot which means he has mud halfway up to his knees when he does get turned out (which he hasn’t been able to do everyday because it is so cold and he is still dressed for southern california).  Which means he can’t run and buck and play.  Which means I have to deal with his energy in the one or two hours a day that I am at the barn.

cold + no daily exercise + two month vacation + scary rain on roof sounds + young horse + crazy Arabian = one psycho horse

The Goals 2010 – explained (kinda)

• Exercise Cass six days a week
  • I am a slacker.  I procrastinate and think “I can do that tomorrow“.  This needs to stop because we aren’t getting anywhere and Cass is getting fat.  We need to start training.  He is going to be seven this year and I still haven’t done a thing with him
• Get him fit and work on cardio and topline
  • Yup.  This needs to happen.  NOW.  He should not get sweaty trotting for five minutes.  And it should not look like it is an effort for him to trot.  His unmuscle-y-ness also makes his gaits way worse which makes him just not fun to ride and sitting his trot = impossible.  He also has a butt that roughly resembles a giraffe, which is no good for impulsion
• Be able to do training level dressage
  • Dressage is important.  Dressage is good.  Dressage is training.  Dressage is working on our abysmal flatwork

New Year, New Goals

First, let’s take a look at 2009’s goal list to see how far we’ve come in 365 days.

Do a flying change on Cass (on purpose)  Um, no
Do all simple lateral exercises  Nada
Take Cass to his (and my) first show  Nowhere close
Learn at least training level dressage  Nope
Show Cass in training level dressage Show?  What’s that?
Successfully ride a first level dressage test  Ha, no
Successfully jump Cass over a jump course  No way
Show Cass over a hunter course  Only if I am suicidal
Hack out on Cass without him being a spaz  Yay!
Ride a cross country course Nopers

There!  A successful year.  I have completed one goal.  Out of eleven.  Or twelve.  Or something – I don’t know, it’s too late for accurate counting.  But anyway, the point remains – we have accomplished NOTHING this past year.  In fact, I think we may have regressed due to my lack of riding and Cass’ two impromptu and long vacations.

Ribs up, chin up, eyes up, heels DOWN!

Really, when everything else is going up, how do they expect us to keep our heels down?  It is like a complete and total physical impossibility!

That’s a lot of what we’ve been working on in my lessons – proper leg position, I mean.  No stirrups is mostly good for this but a little bit not – it huuuurts so I must be working those nonexistent leg muscles, but whenever it gets too bouncy – like faster trot – I get all “arghh!  Must hold on!” and my leg starts moving up and my knees start pinching, which make the horse go faster, which makes tensed up me fall forward, which makes my leg begin to move up and back, which makes me fall over the horses shoulder.

I have done this on bouncy trot Cass plenty of times while bareback…I haven’t really got past the leg scooting back phase in my lessons yet…

Crack, snapple, and pop

Says my fractured ankle.  It also says that it was a very clumsy thing to do to trip while going down the stairs and then landing on in at a wonky angle.  I am sorry, ankle, it was an accident.

But now I am paying for it, you know, because I’m not supposed to ride with stirrups for at least two weeks.  Not even in lessons.  Where we do stuff like post and jump and other things that people generally like to use their stirrups for.

Oh, well.  Maybe I’ll finally get some leg muscle so it will quit *penduluming.

*I am pretty sure penduluming isn’t a word, and that there is a word that means the same thing that actually is a word, but I can’t think of it so penduluming it is.

Who stole my horse? Part I

Because this one isn’t mine.  Mine spooks a lot and likes to gallop when he should be cantering.  He bucks and gets excited after cavalletti and jumps.  This one is perfect and responsive.

They look exactly the same – they even act the same on the ground – but my horse would never have cantered nicely around an indoor on a chilly evening after 2 months of festering in a stall.

What?  Start at the beginning?  Oh, fine.  When I first got out to the barn, the sun was already going down and it was about 30 minutes until complete dark.  Since I wanted to try Cass in the outdoor today, I rushed to get him all ready for longeing (which was a very complicated process – first, I put on his halter and then after that I had to clip on the longe line) and walked (with purpose!) to the outdoor ring.

The first real day and I didn’t even die!

I went to the barn again last night.  Well, it wasn’t really nighttime yet – it was about 2 hours away from sundown.  But anyway, I went to the barn yesterday (surprised?).

Poor Cass was stuck in anther muddy dry lot :( but since it has been sunny and warm since the storm, we hope it will dry up soon enough.  Part of it has actually mostly dried; this is where Cass was standing while attempting to stretch his neck and reach the grass just past the fenceline.  He refused to move his feet because they might get muddy – and Mr Prissy Feet cannot have that!

Unless, of course, he thinks you may have a cookie, in which case he will whinny and start to quickly walk/attempt to trot without slipping over to you at the gate (which is at the opposite end of the lot).  Then, when he finds out that you have not brought him so much as a peppermint, he will pretend to be sniffing at your pockets while he really is trying to knock you over in the mud.