Keepin it Real

WORKED UNTIL 9 LAST NIGHT.   But I was selling a truck to a friend, that's always a good reason to stay late!  Needless to say, I did not ride last night.  I'll ride tonight in between thunderstorms.  I want to polish my position for the Roy Toppings clinic this weekend.  I must look GREAT on my beautiful girl!  Well,  I try anyway.  I'm the type who cleans before the cleaning lady gets to the house, pulls weeds before the yard guy comes, and well, you know what I mean.  Anyway, here are this mornings running stats- really sad.  Excuse #1: was tired this morning from being in the barn late last night.  Excuse #2: It was humid out.  #3:  My plantar fasciitis flaired up.  #4:  I was disoriented because my GPS watch wasn't working.  #5: It's that time of the month #6: I was running into the wind!

Which one works best do you think?

6:35AM 3.67 mi- 11:22 ave.  Sucks!!!!!!!  See above excuses.

On the right track . . .

Last night's ride was dressage.  I can definitely tell when we've done more playing than working- she was stiff and it took a while to get her to soften.  We did alot of the +1 +7 exercises- (Jane Savoie) and spiraling at the trot- then got a few steps of shoulder in.  I put everyone to bed before the storms arrived. 

Up at 5:45am and out for my run at 6:30.  Stats:

3:02 Miles on the neighborgood route- lots of hills.
Ave 10:22
Ab ripper x workout

I need to get my butt in gear! 

Me after my last half marathon.  I dressed up as a cat and had a sign sewn on my back that said "Spay and Neuter your pets.  Support your local Humane Society!
Life is not meant to be ordinary- right?

Saying goodbye to our friends . . .

My wonderful friend and riding instructor, Karen, lost her best friend of 21 years on Saturday, March 12, 2011.  His name was Wes, (Western Adversary) a 25 year old Thoroughbred.  He was a great friend to Karen and all who came into contact with him.  Wes chose his time to go, he did not suffer.  He waited for Karen to come to him and see him out of this world and into a new and beautiful world.  I hurt so much for my friend.   This is a photo of Karen and Wes (left) and me and Montana at South Farm for a mini trial.  He was the perfect companion.  Montana fell in love with him too.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

I'm thinking it's about time to start to build an ark.  The rain has not let up here in beautiful Ohio.  The pastures and turn outs are awash in mud and manure- the horses are mud pies.  If I didn't have my indoor arena to ride in I'd go crazy.  As it is, I have been able to ride throughout this rainy period.  Montana is starting to get more fit- as am I.  I had a small setback in my own fitness regimen- I broke my toe last week.  I got up in the morning, all motivated to go for a run.  I walked through the bedroom in the dark (it was 5:00a.m.) and walked right into the ottoman.  I actually heard a crack and saw stars when I my little toe gave way.  My husband, who was still in bed, chuckled under the covers when he heard me let loose with a string of expletives that would make George Carlin proud.  So there went my early morning run.  The broken toe did not keep me from riding that night- but my ride was cut a little short by the throbbing pain in my riding boot.  I did take advantage of the situation to concentrate on upper body exercises until I'm able to hit the floor running again.

My rides on Montana have been very positive.  After our wonderful jump school, I switched to the dressage saddle and snaffle bridle ( I usually jump her in the pelham) and I found that I had a light and balanced horse under me.  She was wonderful in the exercise we had so much trouble with last year- the spiral in and out at the trot.  No falling on the outside shoulder- just nice and steady, keeping the bend as we spiral in and then out.  Last night I threw in the oval exercise- it's an exercise where I ask for a stretched out ground covering trot on the long side, and then ask her to come back to me quite a bit as we come onto the short end while cutting off the corner, half halting, half halting , half halting, then bending to turn onto the long side and asking again for the long stretched out trot, and repeating as she gets lighter and lighter.  By the end of the ride, Montana was lighter in my hands, with alot more engagement from the hind end.  She was a tired girl though.  We did a few leg yields at the walk, and a nice cool out- we ventured outside and walked around the pasture in the dark, before the rain started.

I can't wait to get home tonight and see my newly dragged and watered arena.  I hired a friend to rake it out and make it pretty for me- you know the feeling when you walk onto a freshly dragged arena- I think it makes me ride better!  I also think new riding breeches make me ride better, and new gloves, and new boots, and well, you get the idea.  I like new things.  They make me ride better!

DNA and Chia

Good Morning! I finally obeyed my alarm clock and jumped out of bed at 5:00 a.m. Once I'm out of bed I'm good to go- usually I follow through with whatever activity I had planned for the morning- it's the actual swinging my legs over the side of the bed part that seems to be the problem. Anyway, I was successful with my leg swinging, hit the carpet running. After a great cup of coffee, I had a 45 minute workout on the treadmill and then did a core exercise for 15 minutes. Right afterward, headed out to the barn for feeding and turnout. This morning I had to pull some hairs from Cristy's mane to send to U.C. Davis Genetic Lab to be tested for HYPP. She has been having episodes of muscle twitching and spasms- vet came out yesterday to do spring (!!!!!!spring!!!!!!!) shots and checked her out for me. Vet drew blood, will do a full blood screening and suggested that I have the HYPP test. I hope we find something in these tests, even if it is HYPP positive. At least I can treat it if I know what it is.

As for Montana, she has been taking it easy the last couple of days. My work schedule has kept me from riding- and last night not only was it too cold- 12 degrees- but they had just had their shots- I wouldn't want to be ridden either.

I haven't blogged about our amazing ride on Sunday- Lori came over and helped me with a jump school. Montana and I did grid work:

We started out with a 9' ground pole to cross rail and ended up with this bounce exercise:

9' ground pole to crossrail to 2' verticle to crossrail to ground pole.

That was about max for my indoor arena, I could maybe have fit another bounce in there- maybe next time! She was super good through it- very forward and really rocked back and launched up over them. She looked at the second cross rail the first time through and then rocketed over it- I felt like I hovered in the air for a split second- and then regrouped and came around again. It was nice to have someone there to set the poles for us- usually I'm dismounting and dragging things around and then mounting and then dismounting and, well you get the idea.

I'm shooting for a dressage ride tonight- Montana has some stiffness to the right- we'll pull out our 101 dressage exercises and try something differant tonight and work on suppling in that direction. Maybe I'll even get a run in- it's supposed to warm up. We'll see! Right now I'm sipping my blackberry, strawberry, blueberry, banana, soy milk and chia seed smoothie that Ricky just made me. It's just sooooo good!!! I read that chia seeds are supposed to be great for energy and just about everything that's wrong with me! I'll let you know . . .

We're Back

Yep. We're back. It's been a long cold winter here in Northeastern Ohio. The horses came through much better than I did. I took a short break from riding over the holidays and have begun to get both myself and Montana back into some kind of work. Montana is sporting a new clip and I am sporting a few more pounds than normal. It's all good though, I have a plan. Over the next several weeks I'll tell you about our return to fitness and our journey to reach new heights in our riding and training.