Managing the land porpoise

Once you've accepted that you own a land porpoise crossed with a yak, you start to manage it.

Looking fairly civilized for a feral yak

Trainer A did manage to sneak a lunge session in on the Wednesday before the Polar Vortex so Theo only had a couple days off in a row but it was a week of minimal work.  I decided to play it safe and stick him on the lunge and let him shake it all out.  Side reins usually keep the nonsense to a level I can manage without wrecking my shoulder.

The teens were frankly disappointed by the show.  Can you tell I dropped the lunge whip to manage my phone for the video?  Explosive and electric he was not.

I would have been totally fine if I'd just hopped on, but a day of working on the lunge is not a bad thing.  We worked on transitions, him paying attention, and I got to really watch his gaits.  Interestingly enough, he prefers his right lead when lunging.  Is that because I'm not on him or because he's on a circle?  Hmm.  But once I actually got him moving, he looked quite good.  Still better left than right but that's just papi.

On Sunday I dressed him up and hopped on.

Seriously looks good in any color, glad I splurged on the matching polos

I freaking LOVE that color on him.  Finally have some purple in the mix, even if PS of Sweden calls this color Minimalist Gray.  It's lavender and he rocks it.  The new browband is a waste of time when I have his forelock loose.

We got some nice work in.  The land porpoise appears to be on the way out and I was able to get him to focus.  I'm still working on that canter, specifically being able to shape him.  For a horse that generally likes to bring his haunches in for the canter, he's quite resistant to the idea of doing a haunches in during the canter.  I did some haunches in and some shoulder in as prep for our continued attempts at the canter half pass.  He's got the idea, but it's hard and he tends to fall apart.

I've really been sticking to the idea that we're traveling on a diagonal in a haunches in to keep me from doing the dumb during this movement.  As he gets stronger, we're getting more successful.  I managed to half pass left to the wall and when I changed bends, he popped the change.  Good boy!  Many cookies and called it a day with that one.  It's rough and not at all fluent, but the little light bulb in his brain is starting to flicker.

Today it was 50* out so I had to keep it light.  Even with a clip, he was starting to pant after only 20 minutes of work.  So we got our canter exercise out of the way and went for a wander.

Listening to them cutting up trees in the woods

I've now reached the point where I need to braid his mane up to keep his neck from overheating.  Progress?  Sure, we'll call that progress.  Pony is too delighted to be a wild, feral, naked stallion to care too much about anything I do.

Don't let the eyes fool you, he did a full on 'happy naked dance' when his blanket came off.  Much jumping and prancing and rolling and sound effects.  He'll get to run around naked again tomorrow, then it's back to blankets and ice.  We'll enjoy the reprieve while we can.

Roughing it

I was working on my show schedule and realizing that it was going to cost me money.  Like four away shows kind of money.  So I looked at my bank account, sighed, and started trying to figure out where I can pinch some pennies.  Then a wild, crazy thought occurred to me while flipping through prize lists.  I was lamenting the fact I can't borrow my friends RV because I will already be driving my truck and trailer.

But what if.  Just what if . . . I camp out at my away shows.

My shows are awful for lodging.  It's either very expensive or very far away.  I've lodged 40 minutes away from a show before.  Normally riders can split costs to save and be closer, but I'm an army of one.  When the closest place is $259 a night, I'm going to be looking at $900 just in lodging for a show.  That's not realistic.  So instead I have to be way too far from the pony.  That also sucks around night check time and breakfast time.  So why not stay on the grounds?

My bedroom for the 2019 season

For three of my shows, that should work out.  NEDA Spring, NEDA Fall, and the western dressage championships all have camping options at the show grounds.  GMHA is infamous for not allowing camping, but I've actually got a group of friends going to that one and we're renting a house 10 minutes from the show grounds.  Close enough.

So I'd sleep in my gooseneck.  It's easier than popping up a tent and roomier than sleeping in the cab of my truck.  Better noise control than sleeping in a tack stall.  Safer if a storm blows through compared to a tent (and I'll be able to lock the doors).  With an RV hookup, I'll have electricity.  The engineering husband is in charge of setting me up to use the RV hookup as a power source.  220v into my phone seems a bad idea.  He's convinced I need a generator, but he's prone to over-engineering stuff.

This . . . could work.  It will cement my status as the hobo dressage queen of New England but whatever.  I can pay $150 for the five days I'll be at Saugerties or pay $300 for lodging twenty minutes away.  I'm comfortable camping, I do it all the time.  Hell, it'll be luxurious compared to having to actually put up a tent and haul things around.  Weight won't really matter.  I can pop up a shade canopy, set up a grill, and chill out.  I can zip into town for dinner or more supplies while being close by for night check.  It will save me the morning commute time as well, getting me more sleep.

All of this stuff pops out, so it's a blank slate for storage, a shower, whatever

First step will be to insulate the trailer where I'll be sleeping.  Because it's open, I'll put a curtain in so I can close my section to keep the heat in when necessary.  My super open trailer will work well for camping because I'll have lots of room for storage (and a cowboy shower).  After I do this once, we'll see if I go any further than raw basics.  I could easily add a rough living quarters to my trailer.  Nothing luxurious like you see in the big slant trailers.  I could have a bed, some storage, a camping toilet, a cowboy shower with a propane heater, some lights and outlets that are wired to take an RV hookup, that sort of thing.  A chest of ice with some food, a camp stove, a french press for my coffee, and I'll be all set for a five day show.

This also contributes to my madcap plan to start looking for other people like me, the soloists.  The ones hitting the big shows without an entourage.  I want a tack stall so I don't have all of my crap in the aisle, but it's ridiculous to have one for one horse.  So what if I find some other people that are doing this alone and also want a tack stall?  What if we stable together, share the tack stall, and split up some of the work?  I can volunteer for night check since I'll be on the grounds anyway.  And for NEDA Fall, we can share a paddock.  There's no way I'm going to take Theo to a show for that long and not get him a paddock.  I like living.

Cutting out the lodging and some of the food expenses will help keep me afloat this season.  I won't have a trainer or any grooms, so those expenses are gone.  I'll be trailering myself, so that's about as cheap as it's going to get.  So long as I don't go too crazy with my entry fees, I should be able to keep this under control. 

Though I might need a golf cart rental for NEDA Fall.  That place is huge!  And it looks like fun.  I've got to allot some fun in the budget.

You win this round, Mother Nature

I'd started to think I was going to make it through this winter without a break for weather.  Work, sure, but Theo was still marching around while I took planes, trains, and automobiles to get to our Manhattan office.

Watching the sun rise over NH with Venus and Jupiter putting in an appearance with Antares just barely showing in the photo, then the grid of NYC as we came in to land

No, seriously, I took a plane from NH to Newark, NJ.  Then I hopped in a car with our CTO who drives like an absolute lunatic.  Then we got on a train to get to Penn Station in New York.  THEN we got on a subway to Greenwich and then we walked about six blocks.  I left NH at 6am and made it to the office at 9:45 am  It took two hours to go from the airport to the office.  I will never, ever live near NYC.

Back to Theo and his work schedule.  I toughed out a lot of cold nights to try to work through the winter and not lose any condition or progress.  On Monday night I saw that it was 18 degrees.  That's below my threshold for actual work because I don't want him to breathe hard.  He did in hand work and some bareback jogging in a rope halter and two coolers.  Thank goodness he didn't decide he needed to do the dance of his people again, I would have slid right off.

  Looking super wild and crazy

Tuesday I packed up his surcingle when I went out for his farrier appointment.  I figured it would be warm enough in the early afternoon to get him on the lunge for 20 minutes or so, but that failed.  It was 16* at 1pm.  I gave up, put him back in his field, and accepted that a break was upon us.

Eyes closed asleep while getting his feet done, this horse is ridiculous

Last night I got caught in a snow squall and had to pull over to wait out the white out conditions.  Today, the high is 3*.  All he's getting is an extra blanket, extra hay, and a kiss on the nose.  Tomorrow will be more of the same.  Saturday we're supposed to pop back up to normal so I'll get him going again (aka stick him on a lunge and pretend I'm flying a kite for 30 minutes while other riders gasp and run in terror).  On Tuesday, I leave for my next work trip.

I am so done with winter already.   How many days until spring?

Being extra

Riding horses makes them tired, right?  I'm not making a fundamental mistake with this assumption?  Because my pony appears to be very confused.  He did get two days off while I was off making money to support his habits (new PSoS outfit arrives tomorrow!), but since then it's been at least one ride a day and sometimes two.  Despite that, he was being quite extra yesterday.  In a ring full of nervous adult ammies.

This is why we don't get invited places, Theo.

Post workout selfie practice

On Sunday he decided that the arena drag being parked in a different corner than usual was unacceptable and after passing it a dozen times, he pulled a spin-scoot on me.  I'd say out of nowhere but he had a hump in his back big enough to require me to have his girth a hole looser than usual.  I suppose it's progress that the land porpoise dance stopped after one jump and we went right back to work, but still.  Really?  REALLY?!

So I did what any self respecting owner of a yak/land porpoise cross would do:  I put him in the biggest trot I could get while doing serpentines and connected circles all around the ring.  If you've got that much energy, you can totally use your back and get your hooves completely clear of the footing.  I like trot for explosive ponies.  Canter makes it too easy to buck, walk just bottles them up.  Trot is where it's at.

He's so freaking studly looking when he does this.  I wish I dared to stop and set up my phone for video.  Or ask any of the slightly horrified riders to take video.  He's like sitting on a ticking bomb, but it's such a pretty bomb.  He gave me one more porpoise jump but that one I had coming.  I got in his face a bit when he tried to go out the shoulder in the canter and he informed me that feeling trapped was not good for his self control.  Right, right, get out of the pony's face before he decides I'm no longer a nice partner that he wants to take along for the ride.

He wasn't nasty or even that naughty, just fresh and full of energy.  Which is nuts because not one but two riders told me he was dead when they rode him last week.  Huh?  Three rides in a row with him right up on the bit for me and yesterday was the hottest one of the bunch.  I don't even know how I'm going to manage him tonight.  Trainer A said he was fresh and sassy with her, too, but dead with anyone else.

Hm.

I genuinely love the fact that he's still a dead head with the beginners.  They don't love it so much, but it's great to see that he can still be safe with them in the winter while we make him very reactive to the aids for the advanced riders.  He has apparently figured out how to do both jobs.  Conserve energy with the riders that don't push him and then let it all out when someone with a hot seat gets in the saddle.

We'll see tonight if he's still dancing the dance of his people or if he's decided that six days in a row with me and Trainer A is enough to take the edge off. 

Lack of adult supervision

I appear to be entering a new phase in my horse life:  no regular lessons and no full time trainer.  This is terrifying, folks.  I've had weekly lessons since I was five years old.  It's just what I do.  Sometimes I even take two lessons a week.  I enjoy taking lessons.

Reality is that Trainer A isn't available when I can take lessons.  I have a 9 to 5 job that increasingly needs me to actually be available during those hours.  During the summer I have early release on Fridays but the rest of the year?  I'm not reliably at the barn before 6pm.  She's usually done teaching by 4pm.  On Saturdays its a parade of lessons that really don't suit me and he's already in the 8am lesson with his other rider.

I took myself completely off the lesson schedule today.  During the summer or when I take a break from work I'll pick up some lessons but I'm no longer in regular lessons.  We have no adult supervision.

Do we look like we should be left unsupervised?

It's not really a surprise to anyone that I'm bringing things to an end with my regular lessons.  As Theo settles in as a Second level pony (got clean changes both ways without porpoise impressions today!), I'm increasingly aware that I'm the most advanced student Trainer A has ever managed.  Mistakes are made, confusion abounds, and there's a certain amount of mutual flailing as we figure out what mid-level dressage is supposed to look/feel like.  Eyes on the ground?  Excellent.  Teaching me how to get that shoulder in down quarter line dead straight?  More problematic.  Knowing when we're ready to go show at Second?  No idea.

Second level pony or not, he sure is pretty

So now what?  Good question.  I've looked at all of the barns that are in a reasonable drive from me and there are no trainers for dressage that are more experienced than I am.  Almost all of the barns in my area are up-down barns or have no training available at all.  So there's no point in moving barns, I'm not going to get more training.  That leaves me with trailering out and clinics.

It's January in NH, I'm not going anywhere right now.  After the last flood and freeze, my trailer is behind a wall of ice that I need to take out with a sledgehammer.  My road is dirt with ice and then a layer of sand on it.  No, I don't want to trailer anywhere right now.  Come March, I'll need to start heading out again.  Mary Howard is an obvious starting spot.  I could work something out with my boss to let me go out for a once a month lesson, I'm sure.  There's also rumor that the clinician I rode with last year that I really liked is coming back.  A couple of repeating clinics, some trailer out lessons, it should keep me from sliding into the abyss.  And occasional sanity checks with Trainer A as opportunities allow.

It's very scary to think I'm on my own now.  In some ways I had been before, but now it's all official.  I'm my own trainer. 

Together again

I got to go to the barn!

It's sad that just putting on my breeches was the highlight of my week.  And then I got to pull into the barn parking lot and that was a new highlight.  And then my pony saw me, whinnied, and hustled up for his cookie.  Definite highlight.

Good gravy he's fluffy this time of year.

I needed to take pictures of my western saddle so I could post it for sale.  I'm lazy, so I tossed it on.  It also meant I could ride in my winter boots.  Double score.

Hopefully it will sell and I'll be able to combine that with a bonus from work for my new saddle.  I was all set on my DP Variofit but then I stumbled on the Harmony western dressage saddle and it looks very promising.  I think I'll have their demo saddle sent up for a trial.  If it fits, I'll order up one of my own.  It's a very pretty saddle with lots of options.

I hate saddle shopping so much. 

Lost time doesn't seem to have affected my fluffy friend too much.  The sass monster is still lurking, but he's keeping it in check.  I appreciate that.  I've got one more work trip and a break out of super cold weather coming up that will disrupt things again, but I'm hopeful he won't lose too much fitness and we'll careen into March ready to break out of the indoor.

Adulting sucks

I found out I'm going to be traveling for work.  Jan 22, I have to go to NYC to meet with a bunch of execs and part of the Board of Directors for one of my projects.  On Feb 5, I'm off to New Jersey for an all company meeting.  For the next two weeks, my project is going to require 12 hours a day, at least, and some weekends. 

Guess what doesn't happen when I'm on that kind of schedule and taking work calls until 8pm?

Yeah, that.  Also sleeping and eating, but the riding is what's actually ticking me off.

My job pays for my horse but sometimes it makes it very hard for me to enjoy my horse.  I called Trainer A today and told her to consider Theo a lesson horse for the next two weeks.  Use him in lessons, ride him, whatever.  His other rider also got a text saying that she can ride him lots and lots over the next two weeks and she sounded excited.  Theo will be well exercised and well loved.  With the cold snap forecasted for early next week, it's really for the best that I just hang up my spurs until this work emergency is over.

I'm still pissed.  Theo and I were really getting into a groove!  Yeah, yeah, gotta save the company so that I can get my paycheck, but can't someone else do that while I go to the barn?  Or maybe tell the Board I need a couple more weeks because I need to go see my horse instead of working all night?  He's got needs!

Reality sucks.  When I was a kid, I thought being an adult would mean I could ride any day I wanted.  Now I know it's quite the opposite.  The more money you have for your horse, the less time you have to ride them.  It's a terrible equation.