Ouch.

My ride last night was mostly really good, but the bad was kinda scary. I had just gotten on Sid and was walking on a loose rein when we passed a large bush that sits alone along the arena fenceline. Right as we got next to it this cicada made a VERY loud sound and Sid spooked at the bush, did a cutting horse stance, wheeled around and started to put a moment of stupidity on the end of it. I whomped him with my leg and yelled “NO!” when he did that, but unfortunately for me I was still half pitched forward from the spook and spin when I did so. He flung his head in the air and whacked me right in the mouth, then to add insult to injury launched himself into a couple of halfhearted bucks.

I instantly tasted blood and felt very extreme pain that I could not pinpoint quite yet. I just KNEW I had jacked up a tooth. It was a well aimed hit. If it had been more frontal, the brim of my helmet might have kept him out of my face a bit more, but it was at the very side of my mouth. I had to keep him moving as he was super sucked back and felt on the verge of exploding, but as feeling returned I realized my lip had sustained most of the damage.

It took a good 5 minutes to fully get him back, and I made him WORK. I realized punishing him through a good boot with my leg or a whip smack is probably not a good idea. Working hard and intensely probably works better for this horse. He gave me some REALLY good work – trot and canter – though we’ve been doing so much lateral work lately he’s gotten a bit wiggly on me. We stayed straight and instead went forward, came back, transitions up, then down. Circles of all sizes and really feeling the half halt come through. He was a good boy.

I let him stretch after about 25-30min of work and we had a BIG stumble – almost to his knees – and then he thought about acting up again. Luckily it was more “thought” than “action” on that one. We left a huge cloud of dust in our wake.

Hairy start and end (the end through no fault of his own), VERY good middle. I think we’re ready for Maryal’s clinic Friday and Saturday – or I HOPE so, as he’s off today. I got my tack cleaned, packed in the trailer, and we’ll be headed over there after work Friday. Clinic report forthcoming.

As for my mouth? It’s quite sore today. I went to Jim’s softball games last night after riding and my upper lip was very swollen. I got some comments, to be sure. Great. It’s better today, but I’ve discovered a bunch of cuts on my lower lip too. I have one tooth that seems to be sore if I push on it. So, guess I shouldn’t do that, huh? I think it’ll be okay. My coworker said my lower cheek looks a bit puffier but it sure doesn’t hurt at all – just my lips.

Oh well, I just can’t talk as much. Everyone, enjoy the vacation.

Peter Rabbit

Most of you horse folk have heard about Peter Rabbit by now. If you haven’t, here’s his story. Ok, ye smart city leaders of Hickman, Nebraska, tell me WHAT HARM a 32 year old horse is doing on the land he is on? It’s all in the name of progress, huh? Well, I understand that, and I understand your annexation and the zoning and laws surrounding it. But, grandfather the damn horse in, will you? He is 32 years old for CRYING out loud. Let Peter Rabbit live out his life in peace, in the VERY pasture he was born in way back in 1976. Moving him at his age can’t be the best thing for his health.

When Peter Rabbit passes on, THEN you can be horse-free. It’s not like he’s a 3 year old. He’s already well past the average lifespan of a horse. Poor guy. I’d call or email you IDIOTS but you have turned everything off because a) you can’t handle the outcry over your actions and b) you don’t want to listen. If there is this much of an uproar, do you think you just might be making a bad decision?

Anyone up for picketing in front of Peter Rabbit’s pasture? I’m game for a road trip, it’s only a 3 hour drive!

I finally did it.

I’ve been contemplating a dressage blog for a while now. Why haven’t I done it yet? Well, because let’s just say I am burning the candle at both ends. I have a full-time job. Outside of that, I have a small photography business and I teach people how to fly. I have a website for my photography business, a photography blog, and a website for my flight instruction activity. Oh, did I mention I have a horse?

Oh yeah. The reason I’m starting this blog. Meet Sid.

May 2008

Sid is a 12 year old thoroughbred gelding. I’ll tell you a bit more about Sid in some upcoming posts as I get the blog going. Sid came to me from a “friend of a friend” situation and let’s just say I love the guy. He is so WILLING and has a great work ethic. We’re a bit behind on things due to his age – Sid is solid at first level and knows a lot of second and third stuff as well. I’d like to get back to FEI – time will tell if we can do it or not but in the few months I’ve been riding him, I can tell whatever we do will be fun!

 Most of my blogging will be centered around my journey with Sid, wherever we may go. I do ride some other horses, however, so you may occasionally hear about them. Right now they’re on a hiatus but you can probably look to see them creeping into my updates when winter hits. That’s fine, as you can probably imagine my hands are full right now.

Well, as I said I’ll tell you more about Sid in some upcoming posts instead of making my first entry a novel, so I’ll also tell you a bit about me. I grew up with horses, for the most part. I got my first pony in 1984, my parents paid $150 for him and $5 for his bridle. I rode with my mom’s old bareback pad. I shared him with my sister and we named him Freckles. After Freckles came Pepper, a smallish appy gelding, and after Pepper came Dan aka High Hands Dude, a largish appy gelding. I was determined at that point to jump but Dan did not want to jump so he let me do it by myself. Sometime this winter I’ll dig up some old photos and post them as a kind of a look back from whence I came.

Dan moved on as my family got into arabians and then came Rex, aka Shar Mar Rex+/. The “+/” for those of you not initiated into the arabian world means he won a shit ton of stuff over his career. I again could write a novel about Rex. Rex was my heart horse. I owned him from 1988 to his death in 2006 at 26 years old. I miss him TERRIBLY. In fact for some reason today I have been thinking about him a lot.

Here is Rex. I’ll devote a post or two to him when I have some down time. He deserves it. I started showing

Regionals in Denver at age 20

Rex on the arab circuit in 1989, and we won a lot in western and hunter pleasure before changing to dressage completely. I thought it was boring – what preteen wouldn’t – but then I decided it might be worth a try, after all, my horse had done well in dressage before my parents bought him. So, thus began my edumacation in dressage. Forwards, backwards, sideways we moved along. It wasn’t always pretty but we went from humble beginnings to Prix St Georges and USDF Bronze and Silver medals in 8 years. Rex was the “ordinary horse with the extraordinary heart”, you know the stereotype but I am dead serious. He was once in a lifetime and I am lucky to have had him when I did. He tolerated so much, for this first-time-up-the-levels rider to actually TRAIN him to that level, never having done it before, not ever having sat on a schoolmaster…and I’d like to think we did it somewhat decently.

Rex has given me the foundation to move along with Sid and have a greater awareness of what I am doing when I am riding. I notice a big difference. 

As I said, I’ll devote a long blog entry this winter to the equines who got me to where I am today. There are a lot more than those I have listed so far – you can add Val-Dron, Dan #2, Rod, Bobby, Coco, Foxfire, Pepper, Allie, Sosie….and there are more beyond that. They all contributed something to my riding and each deserves a mention!

Well, it is getting foggy out as my grandpa used to always say so I should probably sign out. I’ll devote the next couple of blog posts to catching you up to where Sid and I are now and where we came from when I acquired him in March – it’s really not a dramatic story but it will help you better understand when I start adding some training posts in! And, we have a clinic with Maryal Barnett coming up this weekend, so we definitely have photos and a post or two coming from that.

Until then, don’t overshoot your turn to centerline!

Sarah