The True TESTament of My Ability

Last night's lesson... was eventful.

I wasn't sure who I was going to be riding, but I was fairly certain that it would be Max (picture still to come). But there was nothing on the board, and the weather was pretty bad, but B and I perservered this time. Debbie drops the bomb.

I'm riding... Gillian.



Sigh. At least she's inside right? I really try to like this mare. I was happy in the cross ties, I was happy getting on her, I was exuding happy thoughts. But this mare, she's just so... mare-ish. We were walking around just fine, and then I asked her for a trot and she's gone. Doing tiny circles in the middle of the arena (at least we weren't stuck in the corner..). So Debbie gives me a whip to help Gillian keep her left shoulder up, and omg. Did that ever work. Not fool proof, because she took off at a raring-to-go trot that I had a hard time stopping... I finally got her on a circle, and Debbie was helping me out. One way (to the left), I got it. It was amazing. I had her moving off my leg and body, and she was stretching out towards the contact, and I was able to relax and be light. But.. to the right. She would go ok for awhile and then decide to duck out on me. And take me all the way to the other end of the arena. This horse, she is FAST. I think the fastest horse I've ever been on. It's not just that she has speed, she also has this MONSTER stride that just eats up ground. I have zero reaction time. By the time the 3-second reaction time ends, she's already at the end of the arena and you're left wondering how you got there. Especially when she decides to canter to get there. Needless to say, I think I got one good circle before she decided to take off on me.

The other part of my lesson was that because it was raining and warming up a little, the snow on the roof kept falling off. Which kept freaking her out. So she had one good take off (which I managed to get under control faster than I could any other one) and a little smaller one. The middle of the arena also had some trot poles and the tiniest jump ever. Barely a foot. Well, guess who got to jump over that beast? Yup. Me. I managed to avoid it twice before I caved. The first time, I made her go over the trot poles instead. The second time, we missed the trot poles and she tripped/jumped a block. The third time, it was either jump or crash into it. I decided that we should jump it. I believe that as I made that decision, I said "Oh for the fucking love of God" *jump* (B afterwards said that this was hilarious because she heard it... She heard most of what I *thought* I was muttering under my breath... aka cursing at Gillian.) After that jump she kept trying to do it all the time, but I managed to get her to listen to me enough that we didn't try again. It was a definite work out. As I write this, I can feel my back ache and my core feels weak with exhaustion. Just another day after a lesson. My shoulders are all tight, and achey and I definitely didn't get enough sleep last night. To any random person who doesn't ride, this probably sounds like torture. Or at least enough pain to ask "Why does she put herself through that?" The main answer? It's a love. And it's rewarding as hell when you can actually get the horse to co-operate with you. When you both are working together and as one. Plus it's one hell of a work out. I've never worked so hard with my body while riding as I do with dressage. It's like people who run, or like pumping weights. I don't get it, but to each their own right?

At least I'm learning. As Debbie says, Gillian is the best teacher for teaching you to be light on the reins. If only it was easier... But riding Gillian will at least give me an interesting blog post every week.

Til next week,

xoxo

Winter Blues & 2012

It's amazing how quickly one's body hates you after exercise. My body is so sore, it's almost like I haven't ridden in years, not just missed one lesson.

Last night's lesson was intense. All my lessons are intense, but they're getting increasingly so. I'm getting not so much into harder stuff, or more complicated, I'm just having to USE more of my own energy to help motivate and drive Tiffany into her collection. We were working on 20 metre circles, and how to measure one. I've never had to learn that before, as in Western we aren't as exact with our circles. Large and Small circles. Not 10m or 20m. It was really cool to learn. Dressage also has more letters on the wall than Western, which takes some getting used too. Debbie's always like ok at P... and I have to look to see where the hell P is. So as we are working on collection, at a 20m circle, and making square corners, I'm also trying not to slowly fall apart as my energy starts failing. It's hard work, moving your core, keeping it tight. It really works to help keep the horse together, and it'll give me amazing abs. My thighs, they burn, but in a good way. I probably shouldn't have worn heels to work on a Wednesday because all through my lesson my toes kept cramping up. Very unusual feeling. It's like you have no control and your foot feels like it's stuck in the stirrups.

It's an amazing feeling when your horse starts to get it and work on it's own. By the end of the lesson, I had her doing some amazing circles, collected, flexing to the inside, and it's just like "Wow, this feels (almost) effortless". It took effort to get there, but once there, she's holding the frame, and your just driving her forward. I hate missing a lesson because I love that feeling. The feeling of accomplishment. Not to mention even though it was -20 outside last night, I was sweating. It was a great feeling to know that I can actually get a work up and build a sweat. In Western, I do have to say that unless it was ridiculously hot outside, I never actually felt like I was working hard every lesson. Sometimes, yeah. But every lesson? Not at all. I never in the winter would work enough to make my toes hot. Yeah, toes. I always had to wear double socks. Now? One pair. No long johns. It's crazy. **I am wearing winter boots and breeches, so I'm getting extra warmth that way.

Also, the barn cat had 2 kittens, and they look exactly like her: super cute, all white, and super blue eyes. Also they don't like their pictures being taken, they walk away! Sigh. I tried my best with these pictures, also with my phone that has no flash. There are only 2 kittens, it just looks like four because of the mirror!

On a slightly different note, it's very exciting because there are lots of cool "horse" stuff happening in the next coming year. Mirvish has released their 2011/2012 theatre season and there is a horse related production coming in February 2012! War Horse, is coming to Toronto. I'm very, very excited about it. It looks fantastic, and I'm pretty sure that I'm going to cry like a baby throughout the entire thing. Another thing that might be coming to Toronto is Cavalia 2! That should be amazing, just like the first one. I will definitely go see that, as now I have a new appreciation for the dressage work that they do.

War Horse preview!

Planning ahead to 2012,
xoxo