No, I wasn't in it. I just attended to watch my friend ride two dressage tests. I'd only been there a couple of minutes when I was put to work. It's a small club and the turnout wasn't huge, so an extra pair of hands was most welcome. I didn't mind at all and truthfully was flattered by the trust it implied.
It was held at a local ranch/farm on Saturday, April 25 th , where they breed American Saddlebreds and Friesians. The farm part of it experiments in alternatives to the traditional methods of irrigating crops. They also host an annual Pumpking Festival every weekend in October. They had some stunningly cute young horses in large pastures and a pair of Mammoth donkeys. These guys had all the cuteness of a burro but were almost as big as a horse. They were really something to look at and very friendly.
For the most part, the only spectators were riders that were not currently riding, me, and a couple of others. But hey, we all had fun even if the wind was a bit challenging. The weather forecast for the day had a high wind advisory in it and they weren't kidding.
I'm not an early riser and so I missed some of the showier stuff, but I did get to see my friend ride both tests along with the owner/instructor of the horse that she and I are learning on. I filmed one of them for her. My friend got a blue first place ribbon for each test. You should have seen her smile.
It was crazy windy and the horses were a bit antsy.The owner of the horses was riding a horse that is normally hard to control and the wind made her even more so. So while she is the more experienced rider, she still placed second behind my friend on the two introductory level tests.
So I learned that not only are the tests designed to assess the rider's skill, they also assess the horse's skill as well. The owner works her horses up through the various levels along with creating horses that are easy for the novice to ride. There is way more to all of this than climbing up on a horse's back and saying "giddy-up." And actually, in English dressage, you don't say that at all. In training you may talk to your horse, but while you are being judged, you must be totally silent.
The ultimate goal is to make it look as if you are communicating with your horse telepathically. Your feet, legs, hands, weight distribution and posture all tell your horse what to do. I have yet to get the hang of it, but hope that I am not a total lost cause. I can make him walk, do a working walk, trot and halt well, mostly halt just not always exactly when I want him to. I'm working on it.
I was invited to the next show, but this time I am to wear my riding breeches and help to warm up the horses before their tests. Sounds like fun and I can hardly wait. But since I only just a couple of weeks ago finally learned to let go of the saddle's pommel while trotting my horse and haven't really learned how to steer yet while trotting, I've a ways to go before I can really help in warming up the horses.
There were also supposed to be some western style riders there, but they had not arrived by the time I finally left; about four and a half hours after I got there. If there are any English Dressage or Western clubs in your area, I can heartily recommend attending one of their events. Even if you don't care for the competition, it is fun to look at all the horses and their owners are more than happy to tell you all about them. Of course, if you really don't like dirt and dust and hay and horse crap, well you'd probably be better off staying at home. Me I like all of it!
For those of you who read my articles fairly regularly and have noticed a disturbingly equine trend, my husband is right on top of it. He keeps parting the hair on top of my head and looking for signs. He says that without a doubt, I definitely have horses on the brain. But hey (no pun intended or I would have spelled hey with an "a"), I figure there are far worse things with which to be obsessed.
Dianne Lehmann is a jewelry designer who has been in business since January of 2000. Her interest in designing and manufacturing jewelry goes back beyond that to 1994. It took her many years of trying various creative outlets to finally figure out that making jewelry is where she could really shine. Dianne began with simply stringing beads onto cable and has progressed from there. She is now an accomplished lapidary (cuts and polishes stones) and silversmith. Dianne and her husband, Bernd, live in northern Arizona and both love to hike. Dianne can not help but pick up rocks (they are her first love) and some of these find their way into her jewelry. Dianne makes one-of-a-kind pieces that she hopes give people as much joy to view as she gets from the making of them.If you like, you may view her work at http://www.syzygyjewelry.com
Yes, my dear Dianne, it seems you have horses on the brain. I just hope you are careful and don't let one of those horse bite your face off or step on your head...they are beautiful but I don't trust them for one little minute...I men the money I lost on the Kentucky Derby because the long shot came in, by design I might ad, proves a horse does not have scrupples and has no problems throwing a race and therefor cannot be trusted. he-he
We love you so much around here that we will be patient with your change of subject matter and let you get it out of your system. There's not much funny about horses and you are a funny, funny lady so I'll sit here and wait it out...unless you want to write something funny about a horse, which I'm not sure is possible but maybe you can shoot video of people falling off, that always makes me laugh as long as no one gets hurt. Anyway, I'll get my witty fix from you in your hay, hey comment but I'm going through some serious science fiction genre withdrawl. Hugs!!!!!
Thanks for sticking it out with me and reading this article. Believe me when I write that all of you on SW have had the least of my obsession. You should see the e-mails that I have sent to my sister ... and well Camille Strate, too. Camille is on SW, so at least one of you has been inundated.
As for your sci-fi withdrawal symptoms, I did work on Millie a bit (and I don't mean that like something you put in a horses mouth) the other day. Had a chapter I wanted to finish and got another one started. Then backed-up the whole thing. Our hard drive is making odd noises and I fear it is on its last leg. We've ordered a cool gizmo from Seagate that backs up your whole computer automatically. No having to laboriously copy everything to discs. You just plug it in to a USB port and it gets right to work all on its own. How cool is that? Hope it gets here in time. See, I can think of something other than horses ... just not for very long. :)
i think everbody needs a hobby, something to make them feel good and forget about anything else for a while. and to combine with nature, as on a horse, is very special, i think. i hope you have a lot of enjoyment from this new venture,
You are so right. And I am enjoying it immensely. It's pretty tiring though. But I am developing more muscle and stamina.
This Friday, I have the opportunity to work with a horse trainer and help her with some of the training of Mustangs. I am really looking forward to it. She said that in return for my help, she would teach me some of her methods. I can hardly wait.
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