We're Moving!

Provided of course, that everything with financing goes through. ;)

We bought a house a bit north and east of where we are now but it's still quite close to a library, grocery store, and pharmacy. Excellent.

It's a gorgeous home. I still can't quite believe I'm going to be living there. It has an office for my husband and a bit more square footage which is exactly what we were looking for. The layout is better for us too. The bedrooms are all on one floor and the living space on another. Should be fun. I'll post a few pics once we've moved in.

Best of all, I'll still be close enough to take lessons with Katie. And, of course, the incomparable, Syd.

Um, OK?...

Dear Internet,

It would appear that my husband and I are house hunting. It started as a lark. And then we found a listing that we both really like. And now I can hardly wait until Saturday afternoon to go and see it. And a couple of others that we also like the look of.

Now we have an exit strategy and everything.

Dude, I think I may be moving in a couple of months.

But not to worry dear Internet, I'll still have connection wherever we are and I'll be riding too. Lesson tomorrow so I should head to bed.

Sincerely,
Jill

Dear Cold,

Dear Cold,

I'm tired of not breathing. I'm tired of coughing. I'm tired of feeling like death warmed-over.

Please leave by tomorrow because I'm supposed to work on the floor installation and I can't do it if I'm sick and I haven't done a show in a while and so people might think I'm faking if I don't show up.

Sincerely,
The Body

Talia's back :) And First Rehearsal

Our babysitter, Talia, is back on the schedule. I couldn't be happier. My house was clean and toys were organized. My boy was fed and happy. Plus, she's a super nice person that I genuinely adore.

I had my first rehearsal for Hello Dolly last night. I'm in the chorus and it should be a fun show. I met some really nice people. The music sounded pretty good considering we were all reading it cold. I'm very excited about my first show in several years.

And tomorrow I have a lesson with the incomparable K.

Here We Go Again

I made the chorus of Hello Dolly and tomorrow night is the first rehearsal! I'm excited and nervous.


Edward is teething or getting a cold. Either way, he is a snot machine. Poor kid.


I missed my ride this weekend but I had a great weekend full of reading my book and playing with my guys.


I'm a little mad at a friend who hasn't written me in ages.


I'm also just a little mad at my house for not being located inside of Disney World. I mean, c'mon house, how hard would that have been?!


And now it's late and I should be in bed but instead I'm up and talking to myself on the internet. Hooray for my side?

Dear Edward,

I know that you're having fun, but I put you to bed an hour and a half ago. GO TO SLEEP. Stop singing. Stop telling pony stories. Stop making random cute sounds. Stop. GO TO SLEEP. please?

Today was AWESOME

Today we worked on walk/canter transitions. K had worked with Syd on them on Tuesday so they were still fresh in his head. That and a liberal application of bribes (blackberries) and we did more canter transitions this morning then I think we've done ever. It was awesome. It was mostly easy. I wish I knew why. I did try Kate's suggestion and that seemed to help a little (feeling the change in your body before asking for it). We still have a long way to go but days like this, when riding is fun, make the rest totally worth it.

7 eleven is fucking with me

lots and lots of new bright lights. moved shelves. moved where items are. new cashier who's clean and smelled nice. freaky.

Pursuing the Canter

Syd is a great horse. I'm learning so much about the training scale. But, and there's always a but, isn't there? He won't canter for me. It's a problem I've created and I knew I was creating it while it happened. I just never dreamed it would be so hard to fix. Sometimes he'll pick it up behind and then just crash back into the trot. Sometimes he picks it up easily and it's lovely. Sometimes he just speed trots. And the real frustration comes in because I can't tell the difference between what's going to be a successful transition and what's not. I've tried him on the bit, off the bit, really collected, strung out, from a walk, from a trot, from a halt, from various collections or extensions within those gaits. I've tried a following hand, a supportive hand, a rather restrictive hand (hey, nothing else was working), etc. You name it and I've tried it with this horse. I've given the classical aid for canter, a more western aid of just one leg; heck, I've even tried kicking with a smack of the whip. And you know what, I've been successful at least once with all of those things. But it's not consistent. He knows he doesn't have to canter for me so he does it only if he feels like it. The only way I really to know to fix this is to get quite forceful and given that his reaction to force is to buck and he's 17.2 hh (which makes for a BIG buck), I'm hesitant to start a fight that I may not be able to finish. More frustrating is that other people can canter the darn horse. I'm the only one with this problem. I've created it and I'm going to have to fix it but in the meantime I'm struggling to stay calm and philosophic. So I'm pursuing the canter for as long as the footing holds.

Round Pen Blues

I've got the round pen blues. It's been so wet here that it's been over a week of riding in the round pen. Which if fine except that we're really focusing on getting him forward in the walk. And he hates the round pen-he feels as if there's no room to go forward. This means I have to be the bad guy which I don't enjoy and we just don't end up having a lot of fun. I mean, it's always fun to be on Syd-he's a joy. But I'm so ready for nicer weather and using the arena again!

Terrific/Terrrible Two's Here We Come

In two weeks my baby boy will be two years old. It seems like just a few months ago that we were planning his first birthday and now he's having a second one. It's been a year of big changes. Edward is walking very well now, even though he got off to sort of a late start. He knows his shapes and his colors and loves to tell you about them. He knows more words than I can count now and uses them frequently. Kid loves to talk about what he sees. And he's so excited to share his world with us. It's very cool. Of course, it isn't all giggles and hugs. He's got a lot of emotions crammed into a very small body and his way of dealing with them often involves lots of screaming. Very high-pitched, wrath of toddler, kind of screaming. Gets on my last nerve. We're working on no hitting. Although so far I'm the only one he hits. He's getting to be more independent. I'm typing this post while he watches his favorite video. And now he's come to snuggle so I'm off!

Pleasant Surprises

I've been half-leasing Syd for about two months now and we've done some work that I'm really proud of. It's still a work in progress but getting him to come onto the bit is getting easier. In fact, every now and then I just have to whisper and he's right in my hand. Then there are the moments when I'm kicking him forward and muscling him around. I try to focus on the former rather than the latter ;0) He's also starting to get a little adjustable. On those whisper days I can let him out and gather him back up all within the same trot rhythm. Very cool feeling. This on a horse that this time last year wouldn't let me touch the reins without mentally shutting down! We've also been working hard at standing by the mounting block and he's coming along beautifully there.

But the best part by far was when K got on last week (owner and trainer) and was pleasantly surprised by him. She said he felt just like he had before she went on maternity leave. While I was slightly disappointed that I hadn't improved his overall way of going (just his way of going for me), I was ecstatic when I realized that I had kept him up. And I managed to surprise the trainer! Not an easy thing to do. She texted me another day to tell me that his cross-tie and mounting block manners were a lot better so I managed to accomplish that! Overall, I think it's been a successful experience and I've really enjoyed having this time to just ride and work on my own. I think lessons are going to start again in March which will be fun too.

If you make a dumb decision...

I got on a fresh horse today and, after a ride in which he was behind my leg most of the time, made the decision to canter him and we had our own little rodeo. He was feeling great and decided it would be fun to add some bucks to our ride. Syd was surprised to discover that I did not consider these fun. I stayed on though-go me! Still, cantering a horse that I haven't ridden in a week was one of the more silly decisions I've made in a while.

I promised updates on leasing and so here is the gist so far:

It's going well. We're consistently getting at least one lap each direction of really lovely, soft, round trot. He's a funny character: sometimes he gives his back so easily and readily, other times he fights you every single second. I'm trying to get better with the timing of my aids to really reinforce those good moments. I've discovered that I CAN get the canter if I put him together first but we're not really practicing that much. I've been working on putting him together at the walk and trot and keeping him there. I hope to have a lot to show K when we start lessons again!