Simmer Down Mother Nature

Seriously though.

Most of this post is just me kind of ranting about things you've all heard before so continue at your own risk.


Apologies for the lack of presence on le blogger, I've been dealing with a SHITSTORM (like nothing I've ever experienced in my 23 years) in my personal life and dealing with with that as best as I can ...which turns out is not well. Typical me.

I haven't even gotten on here to read anyones blogs either, for lack of time and spiraling in to some sort of almost depression. Don't worry though, over it, new life plan. I have dearly missed my blogging friends though and intend to make a comeback to riding and blogging once life and the weather simmers the fuck down.

We left off with Yanks being a grumpy butt and plans to start showing in Florida next month once I move. And we pick up today having ridden maybe 3 times, dealing with working 70 hour weeks, being dead tired, battling the batshit INSANE weather we've been having and currently NOT moving to Florida.

I kept this from everyone for about a month and  half because not only do I feel like my life was upturned (yet again, worst luck ever), I was almost embarrassed because I made a huge deal out of it, got an apartment AND a barn, poo poo-ed the naysayers and was basically like fuck ya'll.

So now I hang my head in sadness and shame and wish my life would just work out the way I want it to FOR FUCKS SAKE. Done a bit of soul searching, hoping I found the right answers, but I really don't want to talk about it further.

SO ANYWAYS.

This weather doh.

Since last post I got a wicked cold and was down for the count for about 2 weeks, luckily  some of that was when I went home for Christmas and Yanks got worked 3 times while I was gone.

Since THEN though I just haven't felt like battling the snow. ice and bitter cold to ride when there's  no point so I think I rode once and lunged once.

He's turned into quite the sourpuss as well and I don't want to deal. Thats terrible of me I know but I just can't right now.  I know he misses work and HATES being shut inside but I don't make the rules about turnout. I make sure the baby gets ample love and grooming but thats about it. I am frustrated that we were finally getting somewhere and had to shut it down for a month, even though we have an indoor! Some kind of cruel fuckery.

I also realized that as of Jan 1st, Yankee is now TWELVE and has YET to go fucking prelim. Everyone's lecturing me, saying be grateful he's alive etc etc. I KNOW PEOPLE CALM DOWN I'm just frustrated that my boss ass beast can jump intermediate and do some solid dressage now and we can't even afford to get our qualifying scores to GET to Prelim.

YET AGAIN FOR THE FIFTH YEAR RUNNING. God dammit I'm so over it.

It is really hard to be happy when all I've ever wanted with this horse was to go 2* and everyone around me is competing and getting new horses and I'm over here like 'oh hey at least his board is paid, he has shoes and food but uuuhhh past that, SOL'.

I was going to be SET in FL, but thats no longer an option.

As for the weather, not sure how ya'll are faring but our barn is a DISASTER. We are not used to temps below 0* and the windchill has held steady at -30* for going on the 3rd day. All of the horses had been in for 4 days and only some got turnout today at the cost of us begging the BO to let us for fear of getting trampled while barely getting stalls clean.

Yankee was happy happy happy

 I seriously don't know WHY people would choose to live in a place that normally is this cold because I feel like I'm dying, haha.

Our barns manure container is full and we have nowhere to even dump what we barely take out of the stalls. They're all frozen! How do people in Canada do this??

Sassy Pants

I feel like I start every post with and "I'm sore" statement, but seriously Yankee has had a trend of being a brat and it requires more muscle exertion than usual. Yesterday this would be my shoulders.

I think he almost pulled my arms out of their shoulder sockets. OTTB ass.

We've put in some good work this past week and I think mostly we are both just tired and he is especially grumpy. We spent most of yesterday fighting because doing things the proper way is hard.

Yanks has started  anticipating flying changes too, now that we have them *mostly* nailed, and its getting annoying.

Ponyface is one of those "grumpy lead change" horses. You know the kind. Ears pined, grumpy face, tail swish...but he does them. So thats nice?

He also tends to be exceptionallly exuberant in changes...

It would help if I would stay straight and released more with my inside rein...so theres that to work on.

Beast was also ON FIRE yesterday...and not in a good way. Talk about long spots, bucking, dancing sideways and overjumping.

Forward TB was forward

Fuck you mom I want to run

Holy bounce

At least Yankee is fucking majestic when he's sassy.

We had a few good moments. Only a few. But mostly he was a ratchet mess and even knocked 3 poles due to a flat canter and simple disobedience. GAH. My Arms.

Oh look he's a little chill here

Solid rollback

Oh Hi eq! I missed you lots!

Sassypants IS pretty though

Also, got a cool pic of a trot/canter trans

DAT ASS DOH

You might note that is is fucking december and I have a T shirt on. Yeah welcome to the midwest. When 3 days earlier I was...

Bounce bounce do yo thang

.....Freezing my ass off and had to jump in the indoor.

This was quite the rambling post but when I'm cleaning/listening to music my words are just not there. But pretty pics?

I uploaded my vids from the past 2 rides on my channel on youtube, but since his behavior was embarrassing I didn't post it here. Hunt me down on youtube if you REALLY want to see, ha.

Toodles my beautiful candy canes.

Holy Hip Flexors Batman

Morning from chilly Missouri! (-3 windchill)

We is dressagin and we is doin it right!

My compadre, Jesse, who rode Yankee while I was in FL came and kicked my bum into gear with a dressage "lesson" of the aggressive type. I asked for it. Literally, asked her.

When I got home, Yankee was entirely different. In a good way. Straight and forward mostly. I was mostly happy, but slightly jealous that Jesse whipped him into shape in a week (see post titled "Stop Being Better Than Me").

So I asked her to tell me how she did it.

And it was really really hard.

  I have the unfortunate conformation that is not conducive for proper form in the saddle. I never have looked graceful in the saddle like most people do, and look even more awkward on Yankee who is small bodied. I might be the only person to complain about having long legs and a short torso, but seriously finding a saddle that FITS is impossible. My knees always look like theyre in my lap even when my stirrups are too long. Its an epic battle to keep them straight and I discovered that my hip flexors are tighter than a stuck pickle jar lid.

Jesse helped me with my dressage eq, since it was since gone by the wayside (think hair scrunchie). I have a HUGE problem with stretching through my hips down into the stirrups and tip forward, and ride with my hands in my lap. Typical ex hunter.

With CONSTANT (literally, almost every minute) feedback I was able to ride properly: legs back, seatbones connected, back straight, shoulders back, hands up, eyes up. Only when reminded though. In the video its really easy to see my inside hand creep home to its safe place on the saddle.

Muscle memory is a bitch.

Jesse would constantly fire commands at me; "inside hand up, shoulders back, sit, hands up, GET THAT INSIDE HAND UP, sit up, INSIDE HAND WOMAN, sit, legs back, half halt, sit sit sit"

But magic is magic and it worked. Who knew proper riding FIXES things.
 
This video is a really great visual for anyone that wants to see me being extremely tense (riding in the proper position is unfamiliar) and thus making my hot OTTB even more tense as well. Slowly, ou can see a difference and throughout the vid you can see us both relax. Yankee really changes from trotting/cantering up and down with no back swing, ewe neck/tense, to soft, swingy and relaxed. BUT as soon as I tense up again, he does the same. It is REALLY evident in the leg yeilds.

I know watching 7 minutes of another person ride can be exceptionally boring, but I really think this video is helpful! At least to me, especially because I can see the mistakes, see them corrected and SEE the difference.

For some reason I can't get the video to go where I want it, so its at the end of the post. DAMN TECHNOLOGY.

I could see the biggest difference in the WALK. He usually is really lazy and tense, and in some parts of the vid his back legs are actually stepping up. And the free walk? ummm, I love it.

Take a look at some differences in these still shots.

Better position, and look at dat trot!

Classic Monica, hands in lap, tipped forward, heels up. BAD, But DAT TROT

AH MAH ZA ZING trot, and look my hands, my upper body! Leg is still a little tense, but better.

Ah-mazing walk, Upper body is a little forward, but, I still love this walk

So you can see here my hands in my lap, but my upper body is where it should be and my legs are relaxed, getting there....

Here I was tapping with my inside leg, but my thigh is still relaxed, hands where they should be and upper body back. He is listening and REALLY engaging (look at his back right behind saddle pad) and that inside leg action!

Classic Monica is back, but Yankee looks SUUUPERRR relaxed

Here I was half halting with inside, then outside, but my leg is all tense again and I'm starting to tip forward

Lovely engaged collected trot. LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture as a whole

I don't know if you guys have ever tried to change your way of riding in one day but it is seriously frustrating. I was definitely complaining and puffing like a fatty. I wasn't used to moving that way at all and my muscles were very unhappy with me. I was actually TIRED from riding. And my legs/back/abs were sore as soon as I dismounted.

God, I need to work out  more.

I Hate Everything, Give Me Chocolate

I'm totally OK with Yankee being a nudist. Its actually so much easier in all ways besides blanketing. If bipolar Missouri would just decide if it wants to be 18* or 70* I wouldn't have to come out 3 times a day and change blankets.

Yesterday was so freaking warm though, that even fully nude, he was super sweaty. Could be that I worked his bum pretty hard with a demanding course. I'm trying to keep him in regular work because *cross fingers* I would like to compete in February.

I set up a line of bounces, an outside line (3 strides) of verticals, a 2 stride line of oxer-vertical-oxer and a free standing vertical. I jacked the oxers up to 3'9 and kept the rest at 2'6-3' and did work.

He was ridiculously abhorrent at first. I was also PMSing and everything even slightly irritating made me want to kill him.

My pet peeve is head tossing and Yanks was doing everything in his power to righteously piss me off. He was doing that stupid head toss thats like, crazy. Where they flip their nose up and down really fast about 20 times. OH MY FUCKING GOD I CANT STAND IT. He only does it every once in a while, and for the love of god I can't figure out why. But it starts in the cross ties and doesn't stop.

Ever.

The whole ride.

Seriously I almost went back inside and got the damn running martingale and cranked his nose to his chest. But I know better than that. But I still thought about it.

We did lots of leg yields and pole work and that mostly distracted him from being an asshole. I continued to be annoyed.

Now THATS the trot I want all the time

Flicky toes

Once he kind of sort of settled  I got some nice work out of him. He was still pissy about changes and slowing down of any kind, but I gave him BIG praise for not blowing through the bounces. BIG praise.





Sorry for the delays, I'm videoeing myself. Obvi. And you can't see me jumping the other lines. THE STRUG IS REAL.

But aren't his little legggies so cute? I love his grunts too. Bounces are hard!

I used the bounces to set up for the lines and it seemed to really help him engage and rock back! I also was intently conscious of my body and tried reeeeeally hard to stay still. Slowly but surely improving. I don't really know why my eq disappeared.

Progress Progress Progress.

I hoe you're enjoying these pics because it was a bitch to acquire them.

I don't know if you guys know this, but taking video's of yourself is undeniably one of the hardest things to do. Like, I'm pretty sure. I almost stomped on my phone and beat my horse because he continued to be a jerk on the ground and would toss his head into me, thus my phone would tumble to the ground after I had perfectly arranged it on a standard.

I just...cant.

About a thousands tries later though I go this thuggin reel though...

Gonna toot my own horn here just a bit and say that this might be one of the coolest things I've seen in a while. And it was not easy to get. BUT SO COOL.

This isn't the greatest, most cohesive post in the world but I've had a stressful 2 days and maybe I'm slightly intoxicated because I'm still pissy and just want to drink Christmas beer okay?

Yankee, Fully Nude

But in all seriousness, I did not mean to make him naked. But I majorly effed up his checkerboard.

Do not, I repeat DO NOT attempt to freehand designs. You are not good enough. Get tape.