News and Neep
Sep. 12th, 2010 11:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancinghorseWell, thank goodness for TNT and its LOTR marathon. I'm set for background noise all day long.
Today's a fiction day, and a catching-up day. It's still hot in the afternoons and the rains are coming back for a little bit, but the nights have finally cooled down and it's September in the desert. That means a sort of limbo for the northern-born, where it feels like summer still but the light says fall and it really does finally seem that the winter cooldown will come--though not for another month at least.
The first Camp of the new season is over--new Camper, and a most excellent week it was. Camp Lipizzan FTW once again. The October contingent is ready and set to go, doing their annual Vail-to-Vail expedition, from Sirens to DHF. And the annual November Camper has booked her dates, and January's ready to roll (December I keep for family). February and March so far are still open, if anyone has been hankering for a stint among the hot and cold running Lipizzans (and the quiet, and the warm, and the desert air).
Beta Writing class was also an excellent success. I'm putting the finishing touches on plans for a short course in Short Stories for Novelists (and Vice Versa) to be offered in October--four weeks' worth--so if interested, let me know. I'll post details over the next week or so. If the weekly schedule won't work for you, don't give up--I also offer an "independent study" version on your schedule, with the same course materials.
Meanwhile I'm gearing up for an actual Book Launch. Bookday is November 9th. Tor, bless its heart, is giving House of the Star some promo love. I'm flying to Denver next week for the regional indie booksellers' trade fair--doing a signing at the authors' free-for-all. This won't be for the public, it's for the booksellers, but I'll be in town overnight, and yes, I owe some email, I apologize, will get to it ASAP. And then in early October, before Camp, there will be a book trailer in the works, with PONIES! I can't wait to see the results.
And of course, since there was Camp, that means there must be Neep, because Camp always has a lesson day.
Pooka finally agreed to do a lesson. I wasn't sure, and had Camilla ready for backup, but he was in the mood after all. I guess he decided I'd finally got a few ground rules through my head, and was riding well enough not to make him cranky.
Ground rule number one being, No More Putting Trainers On Him. I'm The Trainer Dammit.
Which I'm perfectly fine with. Finally. Ephiny's helped me with that. A lot. She's doing well, and that's all been coordinated by me, with excellent help.
So. Keed gave![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tcastleb a very good lesson with lots of wiggly trot bits. And New Camper got a bareback lesson on Capria. Because Capria insisted. And New Camper being a very fine rider (if long out of practice), that went very well indeed.
And then it was Pooka's turn. The theme of the day was Engagement. Connect the back to the front. Use the seatbones and balance. Get the back up. Remind him that he really can use that left atlas. And using all of that, play with collection and lengthening in walk. Keep the rhythm, shorten the stride, then lengthen it. Really rock that back end. And so to the trot, and no sneaking out of using the left atlas.
Here he is showing that Lipizzans can extend, even when they're arguing strenuously against flexing to the left (and using that whole side).
Then inevitably it was canter time. That's triggery for me. So S said really get those seatbones in gear, connect them to those hindlegs, get the feeling of everything coming up and through. Be extravagant. JAZZ HANDS!
So. Yeah.
It was an...interesting canter. Looked like a crowhop but wasn't. It was, as S noted, Pooka shifting balance from his long, lopey canter that's slightly on the forehand, to a fully collected canter, and kind of getting stuck in the middle, and having to figure out what to do when the warp engines are fully engaged. It feels rather awesome actually, and once I got past the "Whoop! Up! Yikes!" stage, it was wonderfully easy to sit.
Now that's what it's like to ride a Starfury.
We then essayed the left, which is a problem, I've been shown, because of that left atlas. On the longe or at liberty he kinks to the outside and throws himself into it, but under saddle he has to connect from back to front and it's hard. But we got a couple of strides. It's a start.
I should note that Ephiny did not want a lesson, she wants to work one on one for now, but when I try to put a halter on anyone else, I literally have to deal with her trying to get her nose into that same halter--and trying to hide behind whoever it is and get into the grooming area. She Wants This Stuff! Camilla has decided to join her, so I have to peel one or the other off when I'm setting up for a ride.
Then there's Self-Training Tia, who doesn't even mess with the tack thing She just goes ahead and joins the exercises.
Life with Lipizzans. It's never dull.
Today's a fiction day, and a catching-up day. It's still hot in the afternoons and the rains are coming back for a little bit, but the nights have finally cooled down and it's September in the desert. That means a sort of limbo for the northern-born, where it feels like summer still but the light says fall and it really does finally seem that the winter cooldown will come--though not for another month at least.
The first Camp of the new season is over--new Camper, and a most excellent week it was. Camp Lipizzan FTW once again. The October contingent is ready and set to go, doing their annual Vail-to-Vail expedition, from Sirens to DHF. And the annual November Camper has booked her dates, and January's ready to roll (December I keep for family). February and March so far are still open, if anyone has been hankering for a stint among the hot and cold running Lipizzans (and the quiet, and the warm, and the desert air).
Beta Writing class was also an excellent success. I'm putting the finishing touches on plans for a short course in Short Stories for Novelists (and Vice Versa) to be offered in October--four weeks' worth--so if interested, let me know. I'll post details over the next week or so. If the weekly schedule won't work for you, don't give up--I also offer an "independent study" version on your schedule, with the same course materials.
Meanwhile I'm gearing up for an actual Book Launch. Bookday is November 9th. Tor, bless its heart, is giving House of the Star some promo love. I'm flying to Denver next week for the regional indie booksellers' trade fair--doing a signing at the authors' free-for-all. This won't be for the public, it's for the booksellers, but I'll be in town overnight, and yes, I owe some email, I apologize, will get to it ASAP. And then in early October, before Camp, there will be a book trailer in the works, with PONIES! I can't wait to see the results.
And of course, since there was Camp, that means there must be Neep, because Camp always has a lesson day.
Pooka finally agreed to do a lesson. I wasn't sure, and had Camilla ready for backup, but he was in the mood after all. I guess he decided I'd finally got a few ground rules through my head, and was riding well enough not to make him cranky.
Ground rule number one being, No More Putting Trainers On Him. I'm The Trainer Dammit.
Which I'm perfectly fine with. Finally. Ephiny's helped me with that. A lot. She's doing well, and that's all been coordinated by me, with excellent help.
So. Keed gave
tcastleb a very good lesson with lots of wiggly trot bits. And New Camper got a bareback lesson on Capria. Because Capria insisted. And New Camper being a very fine rider (if long out of practice), that went very well indeed. And then it was Pooka's turn. The theme of the day was Engagement. Connect the back to the front. Use the seatbones and balance. Get the back up. Remind him that he really can use that left atlas. And using all of that, play with collection and lengthening in walk. Keep the rhythm, shorten the stride, then lengthen it. Really rock that back end. And so to the trot, and no sneaking out of using the left atlas.
Here he is showing that Lipizzans can extend, even when they're arguing strenuously against flexing to the left (and using that whole side).
Then inevitably it was canter time. That's triggery for me. So S said really get those seatbones in gear, connect them to those hindlegs, get the feeling of everything coming up and through. Be extravagant. JAZZ HANDS!
So. Yeah.
It was an...interesting canter. Looked like a crowhop but wasn't. It was, as S noted, Pooka shifting balance from his long, lopey canter that's slightly on the forehand, to a fully collected canter, and kind of getting stuck in the middle, and having to figure out what to do when the warp engines are fully engaged. It feels rather awesome actually, and once I got past the "Whoop! Up! Yikes!" stage, it was wonderfully easy to sit.
Now that's what it's like to ride a Starfury.
We then essayed the left, which is a problem, I've been shown, because of that left atlas. On the longe or at liberty he kinks to the outside and throws himself into it, but under saddle he has to connect from back to front and it's hard. But we got a couple of strides. It's a start.
I should note that Ephiny did not want a lesson, she wants to work one on one for now, but when I try to put a halter on anyone else, I literally have to deal with her trying to get her nose into that same halter--and trying to hide behind whoever it is and get into the grooming area. She Wants This Stuff! Camilla has decided to join her, so I have to peel one or the other off when I'm setting up for a ride.
Then there's Self-Training Tia, who doesn't even mess with the tack thing She just goes ahead and joins the exercises.
Life with Lipizzans. It's never dull.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-09-13 01:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-13 05:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-13 11:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-13 03:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-13 05:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-13 06:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-13 05:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-13 06:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-13 11:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-14 04:26 am (UTC)They would have to take me back if I was pregnant, but that's a bit too much of a commitment just to see you, the Lipizzans and the Siren ladies.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-13 10:06 am (UTC)And I love reading about your horses.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-13 05:52 pm (UTC)