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Neepage through the Holidaze
Dec. 31st, 2005 11:46 amAs promised, horse neep and all.
The holidays were pleasant, all things considered. 2005 was a year of many good things but also many changes and some of those changes were not easy. We managed, at the end, to have a quiet and lovely Christmas. I wish I had had time to play more--usually the December-deadline book gets done before Thanksgiving and I have the month clear for the usual hysteria, but this year it didn't happen. My Will Do For Sure for 2006 (versus a resolution that would get broken on January 2nd and never be spoken of again) is to return to my old deadline habits. Life will be much less stressful as a result.
Of particular note in the annual haul (along with the plush Cthulhu) was my obtaining DSL for Christmas. Literally--I ordered it on the 22nd and it was activated on the 27th. The modem kit arrived on Christmas Eve. (!!!)![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
smoemeth helped me set it up plus get the wireless card (which I received as a gift, huzzah) installed--praise be to QWest for supplying a modem that is also a wireless router--and within an hour we were sleek, we were fast, we were loaded for polar bears. After years of 24kbps dialup, believe me we were ready.
On the horse front, everybody manages to be healthy, nobody is too cranky, and although Capria got into a battle with Pandora and wonked her back enough to get her excused from a lesson before Christmas, she was about 98% over it by Wednesday and managed to do fairly well in her rehab lesson. Here we are hanging out with Teacher (she's sitting on keed, who is hiding behind his mom).
This was also the lesson in whichsmoemeth took the (in)famous Thelwell Photo of Pandora making me look like a munchkin. (For the record, I'm 5'4" and she is 16.1 hands. Capria at 14.3 shading toward 15 hands is much more the Lipizzan norm.)
Lessons have been going well. Keed continues on his path toward dressage stardom, having concluded that changing canter leads may be stupid but it's part of the game, and being naturally inclined to think collection is Cool, Man. Capria, wonkage aside, has been having a blast being my lesson pony. We've been working and working And Working on getting her hindquarters under and her withers up, with me keeping the aids on and working on my persistently wandering hands. (The photos made me all the more determined to get that fixed.) She's been expanding her horizons to trot lengthenings, which are tremendous fun and gradually getting better.
Before Christmas when she came out stiff and didn't work out of it, we gave her cookie and a hug and put her away, and I pulled out a very happy Pooka instead. Teacher was glad to see him because she and I have a Goal: In August (then again in January 2007) our regional Lipizzan association is bringing in a rider from the SRS to teach us for a week at a time. This is my evil idea and our board has run with it. We opted to have it in Texas because quite frankly Tucson made a piss-poor showing at the Gala and we already know from hard experience that it's a rotten market for clinics. Therefore, it's near Dallas and we will find a way to get there. Teacher wants to take keed, I have to take Pooka for five days of getting our butts kicked in classic Vienna style.
Details as they are confirmed will be posted here. The riding part of the clinic is full and taking candidates for the waiting list (people went nuts when they heard about it--it's a dream of a lifetime for an amazing number of riders, to ride with one of the original Secret Masters), but anybody who wants to come and audit (the fee will be reasonable and the facilities are wonderful, with covered arena and spectators' patio) should Come On Down.
This in the meantime means we have to work on getting our act together so we're both fit for a five-day blitz. Pook is clearly ready to get to work (he always arranges for these things to happen just at the right time in his life) but we have to buckle down and quit dinking. He has to accept contact, accept the aids in general, and deal with me being on his back regardless of distractions. He also has to learn to deal with having an instructor in the arena with us--this is a problem for him right now and he needs to get over it.
We'll get there. Lately he's been lovely to sit on, and he's been letting me put pressure on him without having a screaming meltdown. This is important for dressage training in general and clinicking in particular.
We have also been getting places with Pandora, though I won't take her to Dallas--it's too far to haul a large lady of a certain age. She's gone from tense, hyperventilating, jigging under saddle, to relaxed and happy and not at all resenting the instructor in the middle. She even let Teacher ride her (and work blue heck out of her) and not only did she not resent it, she had a grand time. Teacher opines that she'll be a fantastic lesson horse, with a little more of the rust polished off; great news for Horse Camp and Camp Lipizzan. I worry about Capria as she really should not carry heavier riders (200 pounds or more), but Pandora can carry anything and not even notice it. She's also calmer by nature, and seems to mind less who rides her--though she does look to me for approval when someone new gets on her back. They all do that, it's a feature.
I'm pleased with how she's come along just with regular, quiet riding. She doesn't feel as huge as she looks, at all; Pooka has giant gaits, too, and she's as light to ride as he is. I absolutely love riding her. The two of them are a great combination to learn and train on, with Capria in the middle to fix my mistakes and be indulgent when I prove unusually idiotic. (Capria is a saint. Really.)
In the new year I aim to get Camilla finally into the groove of work--ridden or driven--and get Ephiny started. She's already hit the "Give Me a TURN Dammit!" stage and I am deeply impressed with her mind and talent. She's another big one, though well short of Pandora's size, and she has elegance and scope and beautiful flowing movement. Her main job will be to make new Lipizzans because she has wonderful bloodlines and everybody wants a Pooklet from her, but it will be most excellent if she can also join the lesson string and be a dressage horse. She's born for it, after all. She's already taught herself to longe by watching the others, and she's determined to learn to ground-drive as well. I haven't sat on her yet and won't for some time--her back is not ready--but that will come.
The holidays were pleasant, all things considered. 2005 was a year of many good things but also many changes and some of those changes were not easy. We managed, at the end, to have a quiet and lovely Christmas. I wish I had had time to play more--usually the December-deadline book gets done before Thanksgiving and I have the month clear for the usual hysteria, but this year it didn't happen. My Will Do For Sure for 2006 (versus a resolution that would get broken on January 2nd and never be spoken of again) is to return to my old deadline habits. Life will be much less stressful as a result.
Of particular note in the annual haul (along with the plush Cthulhu) was my obtaining DSL for Christmas. Literally--I ordered it on the 22nd and it was activated on the 27th. The modem kit arrived on Christmas Eve. (!!!)
smoemeth helped me set it up plus get the wireless card (which I received as a gift, huzzah) installed--praise be to QWest for supplying a modem that is also a wireless router--and within an hour we were sleek, we were fast, we were loaded for polar bears. After years of 24kbps dialup, believe me we were ready.On the horse front, everybody manages to be healthy, nobody is too cranky, and although Capria got into a battle with Pandora and wonked her back enough to get her excused from a lesson before Christmas, she was about 98% over it by Wednesday and managed to do fairly well in her rehab lesson. Here we are hanging out with Teacher (she's sitting on keed, who is hiding behind his mom).
This was also the lesson in which
smoemeth took the (in)famous Thelwell Photo of Pandora making me look like a munchkin. (For the record, I'm 5'4" and she is 16.1 hands. Capria at 14.3 shading toward 15 hands is much more the Lipizzan norm.)Lessons have been going well. Keed continues on his path toward dressage stardom, having concluded that changing canter leads may be stupid but it's part of the game, and being naturally inclined to think collection is Cool, Man. Capria, wonkage aside, has been having a blast being my lesson pony. We've been working and working And Working on getting her hindquarters under and her withers up, with me keeping the aids on and working on my persistently wandering hands. (The photos made me all the more determined to get that fixed.) She's been expanding her horizons to trot lengthenings, which are tremendous fun and gradually getting better.
Before Christmas when she came out stiff and didn't work out of it, we gave her cookie and a hug and put her away, and I pulled out a very happy Pooka instead. Teacher was glad to see him because she and I have a Goal: In August (then again in January 2007) our regional Lipizzan association is bringing in a rider from the SRS to teach us for a week at a time. This is my evil idea and our board has run with it. We opted to have it in Texas because quite frankly Tucson made a piss-poor showing at the Gala and we already know from hard experience that it's a rotten market for clinics. Therefore, it's near Dallas and we will find a way to get there. Teacher wants to take keed, I have to take Pooka for five days of getting our butts kicked in classic Vienna style.
Details as they are confirmed will be posted here. The riding part of the clinic is full and taking candidates for the waiting list (people went nuts when they heard about it--it's a dream of a lifetime for an amazing number of riders, to ride with one of the original Secret Masters), but anybody who wants to come and audit (the fee will be reasonable and the facilities are wonderful, with covered arena and spectators' patio) should Come On Down.
This in the meantime means we have to work on getting our act together so we're both fit for a five-day blitz. Pook is clearly ready to get to work (he always arranges for these things to happen just at the right time in his life) but we have to buckle down and quit dinking. He has to accept contact, accept the aids in general, and deal with me being on his back regardless of distractions. He also has to learn to deal with having an instructor in the arena with us--this is a problem for him right now and he needs to get over it.
We'll get there. Lately he's been lovely to sit on, and he's been letting me put pressure on him without having a screaming meltdown. This is important for dressage training in general and clinicking in particular.
We have also been getting places with Pandora, though I won't take her to Dallas--it's too far to haul a large lady of a certain age. She's gone from tense, hyperventilating, jigging under saddle, to relaxed and happy and not at all resenting the instructor in the middle. She even let Teacher ride her (and work blue heck out of her) and not only did she not resent it, she had a grand time. Teacher opines that she'll be a fantastic lesson horse, with a little more of the rust polished off; great news for Horse Camp and Camp Lipizzan. I worry about Capria as she really should not carry heavier riders (200 pounds or more), but Pandora can carry anything and not even notice it. She's also calmer by nature, and seems to mind less who rides her--though she does look to me for approval when someone new gets on her back. They all do that, it's a feature.
I'm pleased with how she's come along just with regular, quiet riding. She doesn't feel as huge as she looks, at all; Pooka has giant gaits, too, and she's as light to ride as he is. I absolutely love riding her. The two of them are a great combination to learn and train on, with Capria in the middle to fix my mistakes and be indulgent when I prove unusually idiotic. (Capria is a saint. Really.)
In the new year I aim to get Camilla finally into the groove of work--ridden or driven--and get Ephiny started. She's already hit the "Give Me a TURN Dammit!" stage and I am deeply impressed with her mind and talent. She's another big one, though well short of Pandora's size, and she has elegance and scope and beautiful flowing movement. Her main job will be to make new Lipizzans because she has wonderful bloodlines and everybody wants a Pooklet from her, but it will be most excellent if she can also join the lesson string and be a dressage horse. She's born for it, after all. She's already taught herself to longe by watching the others, and she's determined to learn to ground-drive as well. I haven't sat on her yet and won't for some time--her back is not ready--but that will come.
