End of the School Year

The last two weeks of a semester, alone, are enough to drive me crazy.

This week, aside from finishing up papers and organizing myself in preparation for finals, I am: moving my horse, working at the labs, organizing events for Rutgers Day/working all day Rutgers Day, going to see Martin Sexton and Stephen Kellogg & the Sixers, and going to my cousins' first communions.

So, my apologies for being absent in the blogosphere!  I have been reading and not commenting, as usual.

I did sneak two rides in last week, and for both of them Gali was a bit of a jerk.  He wasn't focused and he was popping his shoulder and dragging myself (and the other people that rode him) all around the arena.  Both rides finished on solid notes, but it's still frustrating.  I know that he's being bad because he isn't in regular work, but I wish I could explain to him that he WILL be in regular work soon, and that cooperating would be really great.

I'm very excited to move him to his new barn.  I was hoping to find someone who can come out and get some pictures of myself and Gali on the track and in the lake before I'm on the much less scenic new farm, but because we're moving so soon, I think I'm going to just have to deal with handing Jason a camera and hoping I get back from Rutgers Day with enough sunlight for some pictures.

Whirlwind of a Week

I rode on Sunday, and Gali was a good boy.  We just goofed off and got nothing really productive done.  Jason took a bunch of pictures, and I'll throw them at the end of this entry.

My other big news is that I'm moving Gali.  I found a great farm 3.5 miles from my house.  It's a 5 minute drive, and so I'm going to be seeing a LOT more of my horse when finals are over and he moves in.  I was worried that my current barn owner would be upset about me leaving, but telling her (yesterday) went over well, and everything has been left on good terms.  I also found out, yesterday, that I've been accepted to intern for an organization that I've been dying to get involved with.  It's in Brooklyn, though, so I've got to work out how I'm going to make that happen.

However, the high mood of yesterday fell terribly when I got a call from Jason shortly after 6 pm.  His father had been in the hospital all week, and we got word that he passed away last night, and we drove back from school.  It's going to be a very tough next few weeks.

Anyway, here are some pictures from my ride on Sunday.

Elbows? What are they?

 More behind the cut:

Birthday Weekend!

Gali turned 16 on Friday.  I don't actually know his birthday, so I've always celebrated on the anniversary of the day I first rode him.  It's been four years now since I've had him, and I've had a slew of great times and a handful terrible times, but through it all, we've come through it together.  I really can't imagine having any horse other than the Galabad, and I lucked out tremendously in finding him.  Enough of the sappiness, enjoy some of the highlights of the past four years:

From top left: Gali and Max grazing at Nouveau; My first ride on Gali; Gali grazing at Holly Tree; Hurricane Prep 101 (it says Come on Irene); Gali and Katie being friends at Been There Farm; Gali running with the geese at Nouveau; Gali and I matching on Horse sledding day - photo by Dom; Gali's first day of turnout at Holly Tree; Sledding with Dom and Herbie - photo from Dom

I celebrated his birthday by bringing him out two slices of carrot cake, a bunch of bananas, and a bag of carrots.  He's the horse who eats everything - pickles, chips, cheetos, corn husks, candy, etc - but he would not touch the cake.  He was so upset by it, actually, that he was snorting, backing away from it, and clenching his lips closed just after sniffing it!  No idea why - but he did enjoy his bananas.  As for the cake - I couldn't find a horse in the barn who would give it a try :(

I did make him work, though, and it was my first ride in over a week (yay, midterms!).  I expected a bit of energy, but he surprised me and was very loose and seeking the bit.  At one point, I rode past Lynn and Max and exclaimed "It's like driving a Cadillac!".  He did have some attitude, and kept trying to drag me towards the barn and the gate, but he would listen if I remembered to actually push him away with my leg, instead of trying to pull him around.  Once Max and Lynn left the ring to go do trot sets on the track, Gali got stronger and started giving me a hard time.  We worked through it by riding some square corners, and finished up on some good stretchy trot and two nice walk-to-canter transitions.

On Saturday, plans to ride got interrupted by the lousy weather, and Lynn invited me to explore Ikea in Philadelphia with her.  We had a good time, visited a friend that we don't see nearly enough, and got some fantastic barbeque.  As we split ways, we agreed to meet up at the farm on Sunday.

I woke up early and went to a different farm to ride a lovely little mare (more on that in a few days), and by the time I got out to see Gali, I was exhausted.  He wasn't exactly thrilled to see me, either, and I decided to just hop on bareback and stand in the middle of the ring, relaxing.  After some rest, I got my lunge line and made him work a little, just to let him stretch out and sharpen his verbal cues.  I'm pleased to say that "Ho." gets him from a canter to a halt almost immediately again - something we lose when we don't work on the line for a long time.  Afterwards, we grazed and shedded out our ponies - some quality time to end a pleasant weekend.

"Who you calling a ho?"

 

 

As Good As It Has Been...

First of all, sorry for the lack of blogosphere activity, crazy busy here. I've been reading but not commenting, mostly because I've only had time to read on my phone.

Anyway, big changes coming to Gali and me in the next month, but I'm not going to say more until I know more.

Gali got his feet trimmed early Saturday morning, but I had to head home before I got a chance to ride.  I did get to spend some time grooming him and he's shedding out so nicely.  It makes me happy, because I am fairly certain there will be a time when he doesn't shed out so well and is a cushings horse, and since he's turning 16 this year, every winter that I get a good shed, I appreciate.

I had no time to ride Sunday or Monday before I drove back out to school, and have been swamped with work for school this week, so I don't think I'll have a chance to ride until Friday.  I'm disappointed by the fact that I seem to have no time to ride when I'm at Rutgers, but I know that'll change this summer, and I'll be at the barn nearly every day.

In other news, since I've been at Rutgers I've been looking for ways to stay fit without killing my knees.  When I'm home I have the barn - but here, it seemed I was limited to machines, which give me a good workout but leave me in pain for days afterwards.  Last night I overcame my "I don't know what I'm doing here!" anxiety and swam laps at one of the school's pools, and I've found my solution!  I didn't look too ridiculous among the swimmers, with their fancy caps and fancy not-needing-to-breathe, and really enjoyed the workout.  I'm not sore today, but I am exhausted, and I look forward to swimming more as the weather gets warmer.

Spring Break Reflections

I've come away from my Spring Break with a few revelations.  The first is that if I find a place closer to school that has pasture board and that I can afford, I would move Gali up here with me.  I miss him too much during the school year.  That's a huge "if" though, and I doubt I'll find it.

The second is that he is terribly out of shape for the first time since the summer.  I didn't push him this weekend, but I've got to really revamp my program.  I wanted to show him 4/15 at DVHA's draft show, but I am going to hold off until 5/20, because he is so unfit.

I'm going to do some reading and think about my training program this week, and begin it next week.

A bolt is the cure for every evil.

Alexis, Lynn and I had planned a full barn day yesterday, and it ended up being the best weather we've had all week.  The plan was for Lynn and Alexis to both jump Max a bit, and Alexis and I were going to swap rides on Gali and play dressage pony.  Gali's been very well behaved this week, but I guess expecting him to be good three times in a row was asking a bit much of the pony Gods, as he was strong and avoiding outside aids for both Alexis and myself.  He's certainly been worse, and if this is his new "bad", I'll take it in a heartbeat.

DERP I RIDE A HORSES. DERP.

I really was no help to him yesterday - my paddock boots are out of commission (ahem, Lynn!) and I've been riding in my muck/lake/yard boots - which, while perfect for our swimming adventures earlier in the week, are really not the best to ride in.  They're slippery and lightweight, and I'm used to riding in my sturdier Blundstones and half chaps.  I know it isn't any excuse, and for hacking around and trail riding the lake boots are great, but I do think they contributed to my awful position today.  I had no base of support in my leg, and the instability combined with my natural tendency to be tense when Gali's got attitude, and his tendency to get tense when I'm tense, led to me looking like I really shouldn't be on a horse in the first place.

Gali was happy, though, for the most part.  His favorite thing in the world is jumping, and while he's not allowed to jump regularly because of his ringbone, I can pop him over a crossrail once in a blue moon.  Today, I let him walk over a few as part of his warmup, but I guess he doesn't see the point in crossrails if you don't jump them, because he just walked straight through the second one.

Figures, it would be one of the first days in a long time that I had Jason out to get pictures of my ride.  Oh well, it really illustrated what I need to work on (Sit back, have elbows and GTFO Gali's face, Kim!) when I have days where I get nervous and let myself get in our way.  As Alexis repeated from the ground all ride "Check yourself, before you wreck yourself!"

I hopped on Max for a little while today, too.  He was acting lame and Lynn wanted to see it from the ground instead of his back.  When he was on the forehand he looked worse, and it could be foot soreness.  Lynn's putting front shoes on him this week.  The good news is that when I half halted him, did some transitions and got him back on his hind end, the lameness disappeared and he felt great.  More position failture: I wanted to be off of his back so we could see if it was back soreness that wasn't letting him come through, and I was in a jump saddle.  I was in some awkward combination of half-seat and just a forward riding seat the whole time I was on him.

Getting some good work out of the big dumb.

Alexis rode Gali for the first time since the winter.  She's not a huge fan of him, because he's big and dumb and tends to take off with her.  To her credit, she does get on him and has gotten much better at bringing him back from his canter-bolts, which was something she had trouble with when we boarded together at Nouveau.  Her position has improved tremendously since she started riding at Centenary, and she looked a lot better than me today.  Gali responded appropriately and looked much better for her today than he did for me.

Lynn hopped back on Max and while Alexis coached her over some jumps, I flipped through the pictures Jason was taking and told him that I wanted one series of canter shots where I didn't look awful.  Famous last words.  I hopped back on my horse and walked him over to a spot in the ring that has very good footing and isn't too cluttered with jumps, and decided I'd do one or two more canter circles, try to look like I have been on a horse before, and call it quits.  Gali was getting tired and I wanted to end on a fun note.

Leaving.

I trotted a circle to get myself together a bit, and Gali immediately sucked back and played his "I'm done!" card.  He tossed his head down, threatened bucks, tucked his chin to his chest and braced against my hands.  When I was done laughing at his antics, I sat down and booted him forward.  He went forward.  He grabbed the bit and launched us out of the circle and up past the shed.  I had to laugh at him, though, because his "bolts" have gotten so much less serious in the time that I've owned him.  I did recognize that his fit was an "I'm tired!" protest, and after I made him trot a circle and down to the jumps and back (and he cooperated), I let him be done.

Oops.

Right about this time, Alexis hopped on Max to jump him over some crossrails.  He was a good boy, and because the theme of the day was "Let's not know when to quit", Alexis decided to take Max over an oxer than he dumped Bekka on a few weeks ago.  Alexis took him over a crossrail and cantered back around to the oxer, and the usually-brave Max put on the brakes.  Alexis didn't let him run out, and made him sniff the jump so he would see that there were NO tigers hiding behind the gate, and took him at it again.  Twice more he refused, and she came off both times.  It was the type of "fall" where you just end up over the horse's shoulders and land on your feet, and Max seemed perplexed both times when she was on the ground but still attached to his face.  In the end, she got him over the fence twice, and he leapt it like a deer both times.  It might not have made for the best jumping lesson, but I got some good pictures out of it, and Alexis did a great job sticking with his jumps despite how... well... you see.

More pictures and captions behind the jump.

Taking advanage of the great weather...

Photo-heavy post ahead!

Alexis, Bekka and I drove out today to play with Max, Katie and Galahad.  After a very nice short workout from Gali (that included some more great trot work and a slew of lovely walk-to-canter transitions) and some work from both Katie (who was on-point today) and Max (lazy pony), we took the group around the track.  I cantered Gali on the track for the first time in a while, and he was loving it.  When Bekka and Alexis decided to step it up and go for a gallop, I cooled Gali out and grabbed my camera.  After they raced for a stretch (with Katie solidly annihilating the lazy quarter horse), we put Katie away and untacked the boys, and walked them down for what was just going to be a splash in the lake.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it on here, but Gali had other ideas and began to throw himself at the bank on the side of the trail.  Bekka and Alexis let the boys have their fun on the bank before taking them into the water.  While I was shooting, they switched horses a few times (because Max was more excited about the water than Gali, at first).  Bekka and Gali had a good conversation about a scary mattress at one point, as well.  Everything is illustrated behind the cut.

Spring Break!

My spring break began yesterday, and after a much-needed catch up dinner with some good friends last night, today was my first day spent at the barn in a full week.

My goals for today were small.  Gali is just two rides back from his month off, so I wanted to work on conditioning.  I wasn't expecting him to be Mr. Dressage Horse, but after our long and low warmup, he gave me some beautiful trot work.  We started off in the small ring to the side of the barn, but after feeling how nicely he was moving at the trot and canter, I walked him over to the larger ring to let him stretch his legs.  For some reason, he was more reluctant to open up in the big field, but he was still offering me lovely trot work, and I wasn't about to say no!

He was definitely testing me in spurts, though.  He'd be lovely for a circle, and then grab the bit and pop his shoulder and try to drag me out of the figure.  Luckily, I remembered to actually ride for the most part, and when I'd get after him with my legs instead of my hands, he responded well.

He got tired more easily that I would have liked, though, and a few times he actually started chomping his teeth.  He's not usually one to complain in that fashion, though I'll write it off to the heat and a "but I was dooooone" protest unless it crops up again this week.

I also took Max over a crossrail twice today, and looked like crap both times.  I recently oiled my boots (which aren't really the best for riding, anyway) and my leg was nowhere to be found.  Oops.

The weather is supposed to be lovely, and I'm going to be riding every day until I have to go back to Rutgers.

Call out the instigators, because there's something in the air.

It was either the wind, the coming storm, or a combination of both that had both Max and Gali in a tizzy this afternoon.

Gali turned up sound this weekend, so I hopped on more than excited to ride.  I really focused on riding every step and not letting him disable my outside aids, and after a few reminders about what an outside leg means (GIT. OVER. HORSE.) he began to make circles, instead of eggs.  His head carriage was a lot more stable tonight, and his back was most definitely up in the uppest of ways - I lost count at 8 bucks during our canters today.

This is more a quick note to myself than anything else, because I want to remember to keep my inside leg from sliding forward - when I could feel him underneath my calf, he was more likely to step up and stretch out.  I also need to get quicker on my releases when he gives at the trot, remembering the advice from Lendon that if I need to use my reins, use them in bumps, not constantly.  I tried to remember that tonight, and there was a clear difference in Gali's performance when I asked instead of nagged. Oh, and as always, both of us need to slow the tempo significantly coming back from the canter.

Still Lame?

I think Gali's still lame.  I'm sort of in denial and hope that Bekka can get on him this weekend and see if it's just an "I'm going to suck back, screw going forward!" attitude.  I went out and rode after class tonight, but by the time I got down there, it was dark.  I turned on the lights in the ring, and put Gali on the lunge and walked and trotted him in both directions.  He was very well behaved on the lunge and looked mostly sound, but when I hopped on he immediately felt off again.  I trotted him in both directions, on contact and on a loose rein, and he felt better on a loose rein but still not 100%.

I hope hope hope he's just faking lame.  I probably should have gotten on his case a little more tonight, but he was spooking at the shadows and there was a young kid on an OTTB in the ring getting led around, and he kept trying to follow the other OTTB who was cantering laps around the ring and I didn't have time to push the issue.  He felt off, I felt bad pushing him when I think he was obviously telling me "No, it hurts."

We did have a mounting manners lesson.  It was... interesting.  You'd think for as much as I drilled the game into his head when I first got him, he'd get that the point was to stand still by now.  It took 5 tries before he stood still on a loose rein getting on from the left, and after half a dozen times he still didn't get it completely on the right side.  I was running late to meet my parents for dinner, though, so I just backed him up the step that he had moved, and made him stand still on the buckle for a few minutes before I called it a day.

Not gonna see him til Wednesday morning... maybe, maybe Tuesday night.  Blah.

Juggling.

Sometimes, I get so sick of juggling.  I feel bad complaining, because everyone I know is juggling, and many friends have it much harder than I do.

Still, school is a lot right now - I don't do all of the readings I'm assigned, and I still have well over 200 pages a week to read.  Most of it is interesting stuff, and I don't mind the work, but finding time is not easy.  Work isn't awful, but my hours put a strain on me sometimes.  Tonight, my shift is 6:45 PM - 2:00 AM.  I know I won't get to sleep until much later than that, and I have an exam tomorrow afternoon, so I am going to have to wake up early enough to eat breakfast, review my notes, and get to class.  I just get tired.  I'm lucky that tomorrow's latest class is cancelled, so I can go to see Gali right after my exam.

It's really tough having him an hour away.  I don't know how much longer I can do it.  When I have time on the weekends, it's fine, because we have all that time together - but more and more frequently, my weekends are being taken up by work, family, and academic responsibilities.

I am thankful for the farm, though.  I don't think I'll find a facility as nice as this farm any time soon, or anywhere around here.  The fields are meticulously maintained and massive.  The trails go back for miles and miles - as far as you can ride, there will be trails.  There's a track!  The jump ring is big enough for any sort of riding, and the dressage ring is small enough and fenced in enough that I feel secure when Gali is acting up - almost as secure as I would feel in an indoor.

I have so many friends there.  I'm not a competitive rider by any stretch of the imagination, so having friends at the farm is one of the most important parts of choosing a farm to me.  Riding is about myself and my horse, yes, but it's also social.

It's not even like I'd get much closer.  If I find a farm near Rutgers, I have to deal with 287 traffic and nearly all of them are over half an hour away if I go west or north.  Allentown/Horse Park area would be a super easy trip from school, but it's much farther from my *real* home. 

Still, I don't think I can deal with the distance much longer - if my schedule doesn't lighten up. Plus, if I'm going to get an NYC internship and take summer classes, which I really should do, then I'll be at Rutgers most of the year anyway.

So, now, in addition to juggling school, work, and horse, I'm trying to decide if I should move him closer, and risk a crappier facility or poor management, or deal with the distance and not get to see Gali nearly as frequently, but know that he is in good hands.

Help.