dreamdressage

Please forgive the upcoming shameless plug.

I love my little horse Pepper. She really has made me into the person and rider I am today. Unfortunately, when I was given Pearl, I had to start leasing Pepper out because affording two horses (not to mention having the time for two horses) is out of the question for me right now. Fast forward to a couple of months ago, and the woman leasing Pepper told me she was going to discontinue the lease because she has trouble doing the work necessary to keep a horse (she is an older woman). Now I am faced with the necessity to sell my amazing little first horse. And as much as I love Pepper, I really do think it might be time to let go of her, for her sake.

One of my friends from the barn visited and took photos of me riding her a week ago and got some really nice photos.

( Pepper. )

If any of you know of someone looking for a really great little Dressage/All-Around Quarter Horse, please show them her website. I really just want to find her a great forever home where she will be loved, pampered, and appreciated.

I think when I said "You may be seeing more of me," I forgot about the hours of the horse world.  I really am not convinced that I will be having any more free time, especially with how much I've been wanting to sleep the last few days... although that may be because of my 4:30 AM wake-up call on Saturday morning... after going to sleep after midnight.  Oops.

The show this weekend was fun; most of the owners were at the show and really took care of their own horses, which was nice, but I really didn't have a clue what to do with myself.  We trailered up to my trainer's barn, SW Farm, last night and so today was my first "real" day working.  I am excited for the next several weeks.  Today was nice.  I think I tacked 6 horses for my trainer to ride and got a lesson myself; we weaved in and out of Wisconsin and Illinois like crazy today since she trains horses at a few different barns.  It was neat to see all the different barns.  Let me tell you, Chicagoland is SO much bigger of horse territory than what I'm used to in Iowa!  Very refreshing!

Anyway I'm asleep on my feet again tonight so that's all you'll hear from me today.  Maybe I'll find some time to update again soon!

The horse year goes through a number of seasons throughout the year. The most widely talked about is, of course, show season. A few months in which going off every weekend (or what feels like it!) is not necessarily out of the ordinary. This is an exiting and expensive part of the year for many horse owners; I am certainly one of them.

It always amazes me how little I think about the off season. That's the time when progress is made. That's the other 9 months of the year in which real work is done. Somehow, between show seasons, horses go from 1st to 2nd level - from 2nd to 3rd - and etc. on down the line. I always find thinking that the journey is not always the training, but is instead the 4-5 hour treks to shows in my area. But the reality is that the training really is the journey. Without the training, there's no way to justify packing up for a weekend, driving hours and hours, spending hundreds of dollars, and losing more sleep than should be lost. Shows are simply the culmination of a years worth of hard work. Shows can be the glorious end or the frustrating beginning. Shows are a direct reflection of the months and months of the tears and the sweat and the blood which makes up training.

When show season turns off, I've realized, clinic season turns on. I've spent more weekends this fall traveling or participating in clinics than I've spent at home. The traveling is the same - 4, maybe 5 hours in a truck - sometimes even the end location is the same - but these small journeys are actually about the big journey. They aren't just the beginning or the end, they are the middle - the meat - the sweat, the blood, the tears.

After this whirlwind show season, and this grueling fall, things ahead look pleasantly blank. Fall is not over yet and my calendar shows as much, but winter is definitely looming on the horizon. Soon (though not quite yet) my checkbook will get a chance to nurse its wounds, my horses will settle back into the routine of staying at home, my bed will see me many more nights than it has lately. And most importantly, soon the real training resumes - for today, next show season seems very far away.

Finally my summer has settled into some sort of schedule. It's one that is tampered with frequently, but I think it holds true for the most part. So here it is... a day in the life of me, horse trainer wannabe.

( Welcome to my Barn! )

It's really a very easy, doable schedule. I wouldn't mind a heavier work load; I'd love to find another horse to ride for the remainder of the summer but I doubt if that's going to happen. Once I put Pepper back into the schedule (either by riding her or giving her new leasee lessons) it'll fill in a bit of a void for me, and I will be riding the occasional horse for a few days at a time while owners go on vacation, so I guess that's enough for now. Pretty soon my schedule will be disrupted by preparing for college anyway. Wow... seems strange to actually say that.

So there's yet another novel from me, but it's been a little while since my last gigantuan post, right?

Signing out,
Dreaming in Dressage

It's late and I should be sleeping. Early start tomorrow - 5:00 wakeup call, 6:30 on the road to the horse show, back Sunday night. Woohooooooo.

Now time to catch some zzzzzzzzz's!

#1: This journal is primarily friends only. Just comment to be added!

#2: I am finally on Spring Break. Woohoo! Last night I took the initiative and created a nice schedule for myself for the week, so hopefully I get what I want to get done, done. I already feel more energized without having to worry about school. It really makes a big difference!

#3: I also made a pretty do-able list of to-dos. ( On it: )

Like I said, pretty do-able. Mostly though I need to get Pepper & Romance ready for the clinic next weekend, which is why...

#4: I put together a schedule for myself. My version is pretty extensive, including times and all that, I'm putting the short version here mostly as a reminder to myself!

( Condensed Schedule )

#5: For my knowledge (and yours, if you see anything that catches your eye), a tentative list of things I need to/am planning on selling.

( Things to sell )

Whew! Lots of business in this post ;). I feel much more organized now, though.

Happy trails!

Pepper is my 9-year-old American Quarter Horse mare. I started riding her three-ish years ago, and was amazingly lucky to buy her 2.5 years ago. When I started riding her, she was very bad Intro Level. She didn't have any concept of how to canter, but she was pretty good at galloping around everywhere! Three years later and I am SO proud to say that finally, Pepper has mastered the canter. We are now schooling all 2nd Level work. Wow!

I could say so much about Pepper, but first and foremost I would love to talk about Pepper's ability to challenge me. First of all, she isn't built for Dressage, which is a constant challenge. But Pepper is definitely the best teacher I've ever had. She loves to test me. She makes sure that I am riding effectively, because if I'm not, she'll be spooking at every corner, refusing to go near the rail, and having a grand old time galloping away. As a teacher, Pepper is absolutely priceless. I owe her a lot of how effectively I am able to ride today. Not how CORRECTLY I can ride, since I'm pretty good at cutting corners and botching things up that way, but she does make sure that I find some way to get her up against the rail with her mind on work.

Last year I showed Pepper at Training Level with moderate success. We only went to one recognized show, and it was our third show ever for both of us, so I am pleased with how she did considering that. Twice she placed 6th in a batch of about 20 horses, which is an accomplishment that speaks for itself considering where she's come from and how she only just learned to canter a few months before the show. That one show left me to get two more scores above 60% at Training Level in order to receive my Training Level Rider Performance Certificate.

So now I think I've talked enough; it's time for some pictures!