After a full week off, I got back in the saddle again.  Whew!  I’ve put together some more realistic goals for this week for the horses.  

Nigel and I rode the trails alone for ride 6 – a good step for him in building confidence and breaking away from the herd.  Those are two important things to have sorted out before the season starts.  Nigel has reached the point of “unflappable” when faced with the many things out here that might “flap” some horses.  

Came back and worked on some cavaletti (walking/trotting over poles on the ground) with a long rein.  He was a rock star, clearly had plenty of experience with that.  Just a smidge of canter work as we work toward our goal for the Red Wine Challenge — carry a glass of red wine on a white horse while doing tempi changes.  Nigel can do it, but I have some work of my own to rise to the challenge.  Isn’t it cool though?  

Pruning has started in the vineyards.  Some owners take a “pre-pruner” — a machine that does a quick prune of the vineyards — and then have it manually finished.  Some just have it all manually pruned.  Usually they wait until the first week of February, but this is such a warm winter, everything is budding already.  The ground squirrels are all over the place now, and usually we don’t see them until March.  

The problem with a mild winter is that plants come out of dormancy, begin to bud, and there’s a good chance there will be a freeze in the spring, which will kill the buds and thus the entire year’s crop.  We’ll see how it goes.  Let me tell you, this is one girl who will NOT complain about a mild winter and warm spring!

Ride 7

More cavaletti and then worked on canter lead changes.  

The canter is a “3 beat gait”.  It begins with one hind foot (beat 1), then two feet strike at the same time — the other hind and the front that is on the diagonal to that hind (beat 2), and then the other front (beat 3).   The “lead” refers to the last beat — if the right front is the last beat, it’s a “right lead”.  If the left front is the last beat, it’s a “left lead”.   

You’ll usually see lead changes in a direction change — so in a figure 8 the horse and rider will change leads where the circles of the figure 8 cross.  That’s a real easy and basic way to get lead changes.  The tempi changes in the video above are lead changes on a straight line and for just one stride — that’s why it looks like skipping.  

This video shows leads really well at the beginning.  (caution: horse-nerd alert!)

Anyhoo, so we worked on lead changes because MY timing in asking for a lead change is off.  Yeah, a lot of horsemanship is about learning to ride the horse so that they are doing what already comes naturally to them, when you ask.  

This is a big improvement from when I first started riding in that dang dressage saddle.  My western saddle has a very good and correct tree and seat for having a good riding position.  In that regard, the dressage saddle wasn’t so different.  I just felt so exposed and vulnerable.  Part of this may be age and part of it is probably because I started riding it right after recovering from knee surgery.  Injuries have a way of making us hyper-aware of our vulnerabilities.  

While today’s ride with the lead changes and whatnot was a bit discouraging, I just reminded myself of the fact that it wasn’t so long ago I was grabbing mane and praying everytime I asked for a canter.  

That’s kind of why falling short of meeting goals doesn’t totally break my heart — we still can see progress even if we don’t see the success we’d hoped.  It’s a matter of time, as long as we don’t quit. 

Meanwhile, my chess game is improving and yesterday I won TWICE!  Look out, guys…

Stats:

Nigel’s Rides:  7 down out of 30.  Hours: 8.5 out of 40.  Progress toward the Red Wine Challenge — if I tried it now I’d spill so much wine it’d look like a crime scene.  

1 week into the Challenge and all hell breaks loose.  It’s like clockwork, every year.  

I am not making light of this at all.  We are in the first week of the Challenge, and Challengers begin posting their disappointment to the group, commiserating over lame horses, sudden deaths of family members, tragic freak accidents involving dogs or relatives, and even personal injury.  There are 1775 of us, you wouldn’t expect THAT much bad luck for a small group.  But there it is and it’s something I’ve noticed every year.  I’m not being superstitious, just saying it’s raised an eyebrow.

Also, Jeff just broke his leg.  Surgery next week.  

Quantum Entanglement

I have to wonder if it isn’t somehow triggered by us when we set our intentions.  It truly seems as though the fates are conspiring against those who commit their minds to a goal.  It’s why, when people mention “Murphy’s Law”, we all know exactly what they mean.  We’ve lived it.  

We make a choice to ignore the obstacles our procrastination has invented in the past: dirty dishes, a twinge in one’s knee, a single cloud that might herald rain on an otherwise blue-sky day.  No sooner do we lock horns with our avoidance habit and we are met with real impediments.  Or, as all the kids say, “shit gets real.”  

It’s called a Challenge, not a cure-all

I believe two things about challenges in general: 1.  There are greater forces at work for good and for evil, and 2.  Never, ever, ever, ever, ever quit.

It’s strange.  On the one hand, we experience legitimate reasons to quit the Challenge, or at least to accept falling short of the goal.  On the other, we can’t accept those reasons and instead blame ourselves for our failure to complete the Challenge.  We are silently just a little bipolar when it comes to our achievements (or lack thereof).  Or is that just me?

But God, the disappointment and sense of failure.  The credibility we lose with ourselves that shakes our confidence in other areas of our lives.  We question whether we can handle real adversity, real challenges, or (heaven forbid) if we’ll just forever procrastinate and live in this constant state of disappointment and mediocrity.  We second guess ourselves the next time an opportunity comes along.  

You see it all the time with everything from weight loss to quitting smoking.  The bedraggled Challenger started a weight-loss program, got a month into it, and “shit got real”.  Boom, off the wagon.  

WHY does shit get real???  

I think it’s because there are greater forces at work for good and evil and success at anything is less about talent and luck and a lot more about grit.  We just have to be tougher than our tough times.  The ol’ “never quit” adage.  

Today I started training for my CDL as a way to  generate some extra income.  I think getting some work as a substitute school bus driver on the side could help with my winter-time dry spell.  One step forward, two steps back.  It’s a timely change for me, given Jeff will be unable to work for at least 2 months.  (I’m screaming in my head right now.)

Of COURSE the training interferes with my original riding plan for this week and next.  Of COURSE I got called in for training AND Jeff’s injury happened immediately after I made a proclamation that I’d be devoting a lot MORE time to riding.  But I think the reason the quote is “never ever, ever, ever quit” is because we have to make it a repetitive habit to say, “I’m still going.”  Not just the first time we are met with adversity, but every time.  Because it’s going to happen a lot.  
Over and over.
Like, “there’s-not-enough-wine-on-the-planet-to-deal-with-this” level of frequency. 

Fortunately, there are more Horsemanship Challenges on the horizon, so we’ll have lots of opportunities to NOT quit.  I’m not quitting this one, either.  I just won’t be getting the riding in this week that I’d wanted to get done.

You’re maybe thinking, “so you don’t get to ride as much this week, what’s the big deal?  You can ride all the time anyway.”  This is the time of year when I get to really work on my horsemanship and my horses and I have some goals.  1.) graduate my two main horses (Wrigley and Axel) into hackamores, and 2.) start jumping Axel.  If I don’t get after it in the next couple of months, I’ll be hard-pressed to accomplish my goals this year.

Maybe our “normal state” of procrastination or whatever this is, is actually risk avoidance and when we accept a challenge, we are suddenly more aware of and susceptible to risks and fears at a level we’ve worked hard to nullify.  

Like, if you’re that guy who never wears a helmet riding horses.  There are risks you just won’t take, BECAUSE you aren’t wearing a helmet.  There’s a certain level of adrenaline coursing through your veins on any ride that is JUST RIGHT and you don’t want any more nor any less.  That’s your homeostasis.  But if someone put a helmet on you, you might (or, as evidence suggests, you WOULD) take more risks.  You might start jumping logs, or galloping faster or whatever.  Risk homeostasis is a controversial theory but I think it might be why we are who we are, with all of our habits, our troubles, and our difficulty with challenges.  

Or, you know, maybe it’s as simple as “Man plans, God laughs.”

Jeff and I talked about it last night and just said, “you know, you just gotta keep going.  You can’t stop time.”  Fortunately, time is what gets us on the other side of these obstacles.  

Onward.

Ride 3 put Nigel and I 10% of the way through the Challenge!  (3 rides out of 30, 4+ hours out of 40).  

Nigel is a very well-educated horse and the poor guy’s trying to work with me bouncing around on him like a bag of rocks.  He’s a tolerant soul.  For the first time I felt “secure” in the dressage saddle, which is an improvement in my seat, for sure.  And I don’t feel any soreness after riding in it.  For ride number 3 we rode for 2 hours — .5 by ourselves and then another hour and a half with Suzie and Porkchop. 

The weather is in stark contrast to this time last year and I’ve been ditching all indoor endeavors in favor of being outside.  Last year at this time I had a MUCH cleaner house.  

Ride 3 was one of those rides where even though things were great, I just felt like I really didn’t know anything about riding and probably should just take up crochet.  The great thing about this horsemanship challenge is that you have to go beyond those days.  And then you have a good day.  Then, after a few good days and a few bad days you become confident that bad days are always followed by good ones.  I get my confidence not in being a good rider, but in being a resilient one.  

It used to be so easy to feel defeated after a bad ride.  Giving up after a bad ride is like smashing your phone just because you dropped it.  

So, I shrug off that self doubt and look forward to another day with such gorgeous and thankfully forgiving horses.  

Ended ride 3 with a shower and several terrible games of chess.

Stats: 
Rides: 3/30
Hours: 4.25/40

Ride 4

After feeling defeated, you gotta be gracious and forgiving of yourself.  Nobody else will do it for you. 

Rode Axel first and got to work, he knows he’s on the payroll now and he’s darn happy about it.  He offered me everything he knew to do.  I saw a willingness in him that I think I’ve overlooked in the past. 

Axel and I have been at odds from time to time.  He’s a persistent, bull-headed, stubborn horse.  Some days I swore the only thing keeping him alive was that he’s so damn cute. 

I suppose my issue with him is that he makes me think.  A lot.  I have to think about setting things up so he thinks it’s his idea.  He’ll never be trained, he’ll always challenge.  He does it in the herd, constantly challenging the lead horses.  When we had him with Wishbone, our 2000 lb Percheron, Axel was completely unfazed by Wishbone’s mass and daily challenged Wish for dominance.  I can’t tell you how many times Axel went tumbling ass over teakettle.  He’s a tough one.  

Fortunately, he’s also very gentle.  

Next I rode Nigel.  We still had some Christmas trees leftover from our tree lot, so Suzie and I took turns riding Porkchop and Nige over a tree.  Hilarity ensued.  Then headed out on the trails.

I swear, Nigel is going to be a trail horse in our string except I don’t want to share him.  He’s the kindest horse, and so chill.  

Ended the week with totals of 4 rides and 5 hours on Nigel, 2 rides/1 hour on Axel, 1 ride/.5 hour on Wrigley.  

Goals for this week: 
Nigel: 5 rides/5 hours — more trails and long walks, also walking over poles.
Axel: 5 rides/5 hours — arena work with some patterns, poles, fine-tuning some basics.
Wrigley: 5 rides/5 hours — arena, long-trotting.

Suzie, Carl and I rode.

Last year at this time I was alternating between spending hours trying to do chores, and warming up inside cursing the weather.  I cursed enough for it to qualify as a cardio activity.  

We had gorgeous weather — cool but sunny.   NOT snow.  That’s all I care about.

My goal on the challenge has been to try to develop some muscles on Nigel’s “topline” — the top of his neck and back.  I don’t know if it’s possible, only that he has a bony back.  Could be that’s just who he is, but I think that we can see at least a little change.  

For now, since we’ve been off work for a couple of months, I’m starting pretty slow.  Just easy, hopefully brisk walking and letting him stretch his head down and forward from time to time.  And, some mellow hills.  Those all contribute to building up that topline.  

His past few ventures on the trails he was on high alert.  New place, new activities, new rider.  He’s a gentle and kind horse, he just was understandably lacking confidence that everything was going to be just fine and had no reason to believe I might be of any help to him at all.  

This ride went completely different.  He calmly explored new things, didn’t get bothered at all, but was definitely curious about the new equipment and activities around him.  They are pruning in the vineyards now, so that can be different for them.  

He ended the ride calm and happy, I was happy for him.  It’s the first time I felt he was really content on the trails and enjoying his job without any skepticism.  

We all had great rides.  

Took two quick rides — one on Axel, one on Wrigley to just check in with them and let them know they’re on the roster now.  

Then I called Eve and she answered the phone with, “Hi.  Chess?  Get over here now!”  

One stalemate, I took her queen once, and no bishops went missing.  Our games also lasted more than 5 minutes, which is encouraging.

Any day you can hang out with great friends, ride three horses and play chess in front of a fire is a good day.

Challenge Status:
Rides: 2/30
Hours: 2.5/40

It was a dark and stormy morning.  Or at least it was raining buckets.  Shawna and I had a riding date for our first ride of the challenge.  I spent an inordinate amount of time at the Department of Licensing that morning, perfecting my “eyeroll while standing in line” and “heavy sighing” techniques.  Finally escaped the government-issue greige of the DOL and showed up an hour late for our riding date.  

At least the rain stopped.

Nigel had sass to spare after being unemployed for 3 months, so I put my helmet on.  We spent the rest of the ride arguing over who was the grand marshal of our little parade (me) and whether prancing was an acceptable gait (it was not).  

We ended the ride on a nice note and then Shawna and I went to the Palm Tavern for Taco Tuesday and had sandwiches and french fries and red beer, naturally.  We just weren’t in the mood for tacos I guess.

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You’re automatically entitled to greasy food and beer if you ride in inclement weather.  And by that I mean any time it’s below 70, windy, rainy, somewhat cloudy, over 85, too sunny, too dry, or there’s a slight breeze.  If it snows, you can have whisky.  I don’t know how widely-recognized this rule is, but I try to abide by it.

After the ride and the sandwiches, I went to my friend Eve’s and we sat in front of the fireplace and she repeatedly killed my chess pieces.  I don’t know what we were doing but at one point my bishop ended up in her shoe.  I don’t recall that being part of any strategy.

From there I went and had dinner with a good friend of mine.  The thing about being from a small town like Benton City is that some of the good folks stick around and you can go have dinner with someone you’ve known for 40+ years.  I didn’t realize until Suzie mentioned it how fortunate I am in that regard: to have history with a place and with people.  

I settled in to bed with a full heart.  

Challenge stats: 
Rides:  1 down, 29 to go
Hours: 1.1 down, 38.9 to go

The ride tracker I use to track our time/rides.