Twin Recap

This is going to be short and sweet because my lunch break is almost over:(

Gatsby was fabulous at Twin last weekend. We ended up only schooling on Saturday because the weather was so crummy, the footing wouldn't have been good by Sunday. Unfortunately one of the horses in my group coliced and needed emergency surgery(I believe he is recovering well) so it was just me and Gatsby and another lady who is just starting eventing and kept us company:)

As I said, the weather was crummy and Gatsby was very fresh. We also hadn't schooled XC in about a year and I was super nervous. When I get nervous I generally stop riding well and let me bad habits get the better of me...I could tell we were headed this way, which usually results in disaster:( Thank goodness Alexis reminded me that I actually CAN ride my horse and everything ended up alright:)

We jumped through both water complexes, the coffin, and pretty much everything else on the course. We even got over the U-log on the hill that got us eliminated! On the first try! We also jumped the corner and the ditch and wall, both of which I remember being nervous about before our first Training. The best part? Nothing looked big or intimidating to be at all! Suffice to say, we got the double thumbs up to enter Training for next month:)

He had Sunday off and when I rode on Monday I had a mild heart attack. Gatsby was not behaving up to my standards and maybe I was just getting frustrated and not handling it well but it was one of our worst rides since moving to DK. Also, he felt off on his left hind. It wasn't major, it just didn't feel like he was tracking up evenly. I decided to give him Tuesday off and let Alexis assess in our lesson yesterday.

I got to the bard yesterday and had another mild heart attack when I found a HUGE bite taken out of my horse's neck!!! (Shoulda taken a picture!). We were already running late so I scrubbed with betadine and spayed with furazol and hoped he would be fine, which he was, thank god! Our lesson was pretty much fabulous. He started off just like he had on Monday and it was extremely helpful to have Alexis there to help me work through it. Once he settled, he was fantastic. We even got some really good trot lengthenings! We also worked on his resistance in downward transitions. Every time he would brace against me in the transition I would make him rein back until he rounded up, then we would continue forward. This helped tremendously! We definitely have a ton more work to do in that area but I am glad to have a tool I know works. We also had some canter issues, similar to Monday, but I think those stemmed from a combination of his resistance and my frustration as we eventually did get some nice work.

Tonight I am off to NYC (in lieu of Japan). Alexis will ride Gatsby on Saturday and Tuesday and he will get a little break before we get down to business preparing for Twin.

Jumping in the Rain

So I finally got my tooth pain all sorted out. Turns out I got dry socket which is fairly common after wisdom tooth extractions. Also VERY painful though. My dentist packed the socked with some gauze soaked in clove oil which works magically and tastes horrid!

Gatsby and I had a jumping lesson scheduled for yesterday and I was SO disappointed when I saw that it was supposed to rain all week:( That is, until I remembered that two of the arenas at our new barn are covered!!! Unfortunately Gatsby had had the last two days off due to dentist appointments (mine, not his) so he was very fresh and frisky when I got on yesterday. Alexis helped me work him through this in our warm up and encouraged me not to be such a passive rider. Basically I am a little too quiet and this actually makes him more high-strung. When I really put my leg on and tell him what I want he relaxes almost instantly.

We worked him back and forth over a probably 3' vertical and I worked on keeping him straight and keeping the same canter stride to the fence. It took us a few tries but we did get some LOVELY jumps out of him. I also realized that when he is truly straight he feels crooked to me!! I guess that means we just have more to work on than I originally though:) After the vertical we moved on to a small course of a vertical, a star burst looking fence, and a one stride cross-rail to an oxer. Gats jumped all of these beautifully and out of stride and didn't even look and the scarier ones!! I could not be more pleased with my horse!! I rode our last couple course with a huge smile on my face.

Today Gatsby is getting new shoes and tomorrow I have a work event so I won't be able to ride but I am confident we can pick up where we left off on Saturday.

In other news, I just found out today that my time off request to go to Japan was approved!! I spoke with one of the managers I support about how important the trip is to me and he made it happen! I am beyond excited. Now I just have to figure out what to do with the beast while I am gone.

Outside the Golden Pavilion in '06

What a week!!

Actually, it's been longer than a week since I've updated but A LOT has been going on in my life, good and bad.

My last post was right before I left to spend a weekend at home in sunny SB...AMAZING!!! Saturday I took a drive down to Thousand Oaks to go linedancing with some friends and Sunday I did some shopping, got some nachos and horchata at my favorite Mexican joint, FREEB!RDS, and spent the afternoon at home watching the Super Bowl with the fam. I did have one minor scare when halfway to Santa Barbara I realized I forgot my cowboy boots (a must for linedancing)buuuut thankfully I have some friends back home with equally clown-sized feet and an affinity for Western apparel.

Back home in Berkeley, I had a pretty busy week. I got hit with my first real adult-job dissappointment; My request for time off to go to Japan with my dad and some friends was denied as it coincided with month AND quarter end. Heartbreaking but I guess I just have to deal. On top of that I was not feeling great at the beginning of the week (read: still sleep-deprived from my weekend in So Cal) so I did not make it out to the barn until Wednesday. My ride was OK, Gatsby was a handful but neither awful nor amazing.

On Thursday I had my wisdom tooth pulled and despite my determination to be back on my feet on Friday I was sent home from work and opted to have Alexis ride Gatsby so he wouldn't have yet another day off. I went home at around 1 and slept until dinner time when the BF and I ventured out for dinner. Sushi, a Lakers win, and a Cavs win (I adopted them after LeBron's abandonment last summer:))

I was finally somewhat back to myself on Saturday and headed out for my second ride of the week. Gatsby seemed exhausted at first, probably because Alexis kicked his butt the day before, but then decided to ignore ALL of my half-halts once we started our canter work. Alrighty big guy, if that's how you wanna play you can canter around with your nose on the ground until you respond to me ever-so-slightly closing my fingers on the reins. That seemed to work pretty well and overall I would call it a successful ride:) Saturday was also supposed to be the day the BF and I celebrated our one-year anniversary but alas, laundry took much longer than planned and we decided to post-pone dinner in the city.

Sunday came all to quickly but I did manage to fight through my ever-lasting toothpain for long enough to have a fantastic dressage lesson with Alexis. We were both amazed at how quickly Gatsby is learning and how different he is after only 4 lessons! I am SO excited to conquer Training level this season!

I ended my weekend with a triple date with my BF, my college roomie and her BF, and another couple they are friends with. We went to an all-you-can-eat sushi buffet in Daly City which was suprisingly good except for the fact that my tooth REFUSES to stop hurting!! I once again attempted to go to work today but halfway there I was in WAY too much pain and decided to head home and call the dentist. I have an appointment this afternoon and hopefully they can make this go away:(