Today is one of those random conglomerations of thoughts, because I don’t have a lot to say about any one thing, but I do have a whole lot of stuff happening in my head.

Ever since I saw a lesson recap from A House on a Hill where she made some gif’s of herself from videos, I’ve thought it was brilliant. By embedding them in your post you can basically force people to watch little video clips without actually having to click on anything. I fully support making people do things whether they wanted to or not. Especially if all you have is short little clips anyway, imgflip.com becomes a playground. Not saying that I wasted an hour gif-ing myself on there or anything…

Second random of the day: I’m not going to complain about the forecast this weekend. Really I’m not. Everyone knows that severe heavy thunderstorms make dressage and stadium day better, especially when they’re on grass. Ride times (or maybe they should be called death times?) should be out today. I’m just so excited. And so not complaining at all. Nope, not me.

And last but not least: Viva Carlos‘ 10 questions for November!

1. Have you ever owned a horse? Henry is horse #11 if I’m remembering them all. But I’ve never had more than 3 at once. Yet.
2. What is your favorite aspect of your discipline? I think it takes a lot of heart on the part of the horse (and rider too, but I’m more impressed with the ponies) and trust in the rider. Plus it’s just plain fun, and at the end of the day isn’t that the point?
3. What pet peeves do you have concerning your discipline? Sloppy turnout (sorry, the h/j roots are deeply ingrained) and borderline dangerous riding at times. That can really apply to both the jumper ring and eventing.
4. Do you do barn chores? Not so much these days.
5. What is your least favorite barn chore? Back when I did them – blanketing. Usually I was freezing to death, trying to fasten a million buckles and straps on horses that generally wanted me to eff off.
6. What do you consider the worst vice in a horse? Rearing, followed very closely by a bad work ethic.
7. What saddle brand is your favorite? CWD. Not that I’m biased or anything.
8. Do you ride with a quarter sheet in the winter? If it’s cold enough, yes.
9. Does your horse wear boots? What kind? I’ve got two full sets of open fronts/hind ankles, his Majyk Equipe XC boots, and a couple pairs of polos. What he wears depends on what we’re doing that day, although he does wear bell boots 24/7. Looking to add a full set of fleece lined brushing boots to my collection if anyone sees a super good deal. 😉
10. Full seat or knee patch breeches? Funny, back when I evented the first time I really hated full seats. But having just gotten a couple pairs again I actually really like them, especially in my jumping saddle. Go figure on that one. So I guess I like them both.

These are from 3 weeks ago, but better late than never. Look how warm and happy we were…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He was a very good pony that day, but then again he usually is. This is the same venue as our event this weekend so hopefully he remembers. Good news: the weather is supposed to warm up for the weekend. Bad news: 90% chance of thunderstorms on dressage/stadium day. Goody. Maybe Henry needs floaties like this guy?

Finally, a little bit of lesson video! First I have to say: the weather for our lesson was freaking miserable. Low 40’s with drizzly cold rain. It was a group lesson with a lot of people in it, so every time we were sitting there waiting for our turn to go I just about turned into a solid block of ice.

We started out easy with just crossrails then a little oxer then a couple of lines, then put it together into a really twisty course. We were in the top ring which is pretty small and there were lots of jumps with tight turns and short approaches. For it to ride well you really had to come forward out of turn, otherwise you’d just get “stuck”. This is a pretty ideal course for us because my biggest problem is my tendency to NOT keep coming forward out of the turn… so it was tricky but a good exercise for me. If you didn’t keep coming forward, it didn’t work out. Period.

The video is a pretty good example of that. My completely crooked wiggly botch at fence 6 is because I clamped up instead of continuing to let him go forward. The rest of it, where I actually put my leg on and kept going, worked out decently.

IMG 8821 from amanda chance on Vimeo.

Fence 1 was an oxer, 6 bending strides to the plank at 2. Then around the corner (which was very tight and short) to 3, 4 and 5 – a 3 stride to 2 stride combination. 6 was a little vertical, broken line with a short approach to the oxer at 7. It was one of the harder angles but actually rode pretty well. Then a tight left rollback around to 8, the gate, with a very short approach to 9 (easy to blow right past if you didn’t get them back quickly after 8), then 3 forward strides to 10. Fences 11 to 12 rode as a going 4 or a whoaing 5.

It was a sea of plain white jumps. For the most part I was satisfied with how it went, but felt like I was a little sloppy, a little reactive instead of proactive, and of course WTF at fence 6. Very happy with my horse though and how well he listened and how very honest and game he was. Somebody get dat pony a halo.

After the lesson I clipped him again… yes, clip #2 already. Ugh. This time I left his legs since they hadn’t regrown much and he’s awful about them. Definitely not my best clip job but I was frozen and in a hurry and he kinda wanted to kick me in the head so it’ll do.

Sunday was decidedly non-horsey, unless you count washing saddle pads. The grocery store and new brakes on my car are not that interesting. But I did use a couple gift cards and go buy some actual winter clothes. Well… winter-ish. Better than what I had, at least! Hope everyone else had a good weekend! Just gotta make it through a 4 day work week and then we’re off to our first event.

Yesterday while I was at the barn a friend texted me and asked how miserable it was out there, with the cold weather. I thought I’d be clever and send a picture back of me and Henry looking sad and cold. The following is exactly how my selfie attempt went (and exactly why I should never try to be clever).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then finally… we got one. Although he looks more naughty/pleased with himself than sad. Close enough.