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And that's a wrap.  I signed in and signed out for the last time this past Wednesday. I thought about taking my name tag with me, but as long as it stays in the drawer, I can always go back. And even had I taken the name tag, I am pretty sure they could make me new one.  I put my name tag back in the drawer. My last day at MARE turned out to be pretty anticlimactic. I was only on the board to be a horse handler for one lesson. I never really understood the criteria for how each volunteer is assigned to do which job, but it never mattered to me. I was just as happy digging a ditch as I was serving as a side walker. Whenever I haven't been assigned to a lesson, I always asked else what needed doing. Last week, the sand bags needed to be replaced after the most recent hay delivery.  Cricket the unflappable Haflinger. During the one lesson I did help with, the hay truck showed up and unloaded a squeeze of hay. I've never been at MARE on hay delivery day, so I kept an eye on the truck as I led Cricket. There was a lot of beeping and grinding noises as the truck unloaded the hay and the Program Director, who was giving the lesson I was in, asked me to be extra aware of the truck as I led Cricket around the arena. The kiddo who was riding isn't able to communicate in a traditional way, so safety is of the utmost importance with those kiddos in particular.  Sand bags - aka blocks of cement. Cricket was her usual, dependable self so the lesson wrapped up without an issue. When my lesson ended, I handed Cricket off for her next lesson, and then I asked what else needed to be done. Trainer 1 asked if I would replace the sand bags that had been moved in order to get the truck into the hay barn. When asked to do a job, I can never do it half way, so instead of replacing the sand bags immediately, I swept out the dirt and musty hay that had been under the bags. Once the entire area was swept clean, I replaced the sand bags. Like most barn jobs, it was dirty and made me sweat which meant I was happy to do it!  Haven Once I had swept out the hay barn and replaced the sand bags, I headed back to the main barn and helped with feeding the horses. I paused outside each stall and gave each horse a wave. After saying my goodbyes to Trainer 1 and 2, I put my name tag in the drawer and walked out to my truck. It's a good thing we're headed to Europe in a couple of days because I am pretty sure I am going to miss my Wednesdays at MARE.
Volunteering is definitely good for the soul, but I am ready to move on to something else. Speedy hasn't seen much action lately, and that makes him cranky. Since his newest lady hasn't been out in a month or so, he's had to put up with me riding him, and he. Does. Not. Like. It. Two weeks ago I took him out around the neighborhood, and that he liked. We tootled, we ambled, and we took our time. By this weekend though, he was giving me dirty looks, so I saddled up for a similar ride.  On my way to the golf course part of the loop, I stumbled over a very large turtle. With the river so high, it seems as though some of the wild life is heading our way. I stopped to take its picture which it found quite annoying. We then headed out towards the cherry orchard which is loaded with cherries I dare not eat. Ten years or so ago the property owner erected a substantial brick wall to keep people out of his orchard, so I ride through without picking anything. I don't want to get kicked out, but they were tempting. Instead of walking along the river, I stayed well cleared and circled back behind the houses.  He was easily a foot long. As we made the turn for home, Speedy's plodding steps took on a new life and he fairly danced toward the ranch. I let him trot home even though his head was in the clouds and he was shaking it saucily. Little stinker.  I rode well clear of the river or anything that might contain quicksand. Given that he felt so sassy, I decided to do a little bit of work in the arena. Oh my. He was a real booger. I was riding in a dressage saddle, but like always, I opted to ride in a riding rope halter. I don't need a bit when I ride Speedy. As we headed in through the arena gate, Speedy's perky little attitude went flat. He did not want to work, but I wanted to see what he still had. It took a bunch of work to get him to pick up a canter, but he finally did it even though it was flat and he was glaring at me every time he flung his head in an effort to show me how grouchy he was. Despite the attitude, I asked for a flying change. He missed it, but on the second ask he gave it to me. The same thing happened on the opposite lead. Just like in the "old days," he popped into both new leads cleanly. After we got the second one, I praised him like crazy, and all was forgiven. On both sides.  I am once again looking for someone who wants to ride a very willing schoolmaster. He's not thrilled about having me work him in the arena - I think he knows I'll ask him to really work, but he loves working for other riders, particularly riders who are new to dressage.
Reach out to me if you need some saddle time. Speedy would love it! Over the past month or so, my lessons with Sean Cunningham, owner and trainer at STC Dressage have been about fine tuning my aids to get better results. Everything we did last Saturday was about helping me keep Izzy in better balance.  When Izzy feels confident, it's because he has let me be in control, and that only happens when I enforce my aids fairly. When I am in control, Sean can help fine tune my position so that my aids are more effective. Some horses join your team easily and readily; Speedy's like that. In some ways, Izzy is a lot like me; it takes a lot to earn his trust. Izzy is more of a bolt first and ask questions later kind of guy. It is easy to let him suck you into a fight, especially if you don't even know that's what he's done. Not taking the bait is one of the most important things that Sean has taught me.  All of that was a long winded way of saying that with Sean's coaching, I now have ways to avoid the fight which helps me keep control which makes Izzy feel confident and relaxed.  One things Sean caught last Saturday was our shoulder-in right. Sean has taught me that riding the shoulder-in correctly means the shoulders come IN rather than the haunches swinging OUT. Both will get you in position when you shoulder-in down the long side, but as soon as you use the center line or quarter line, the "cheat" will become obvious. Izzy bends around my leg and brings his shoulders in neatly to the left, but to the right is/was a different story.  This week I've been working on corralling that wayward hind end. My outside leg has to support his haunches as we come through the corner without using too much leg which sends them in. I've been able to do that by riding the shoulder-in much more slowly so that Izzy has time to balance himself as he wraps around my inside leg.  Fine tuning my position has been fun to do. Seeing the difference that I can make by sitting a bit more to the inside or moving my hand to the left a few inches is motivating. Seeing how even tiny changes makes Izzy move better makes me want to continue to tweak the little things. I doubt I'll wow Sean with my masterfully ridden shoulder-in tomorrow, but it will be fun to give it a try!
Sean recognizes that it's a journey, so if it is only a slightly less bad shoulder-in, I'll be happy. I mostly made it through Saturday and Sunday without doing too much online horse shopping, but the sales aren't quite yet finished. Two of my favorite places are having sales that are making it very difficult to resist. #1 Esprit Equestrian  Esprit Equestrian doesn't do a lot of sales as their breeches are already priced pretty competitively, so when they knock off $5, my instinct is to BUY BUY BUY! I've had my eye on a pair of Classics in Slate Grey, but I am trying to resist, especially since we're leaving for Europe next week. I already have the Classics in Mahogany, Navy, Black along with the White PROs 2.0 and Hunter Green PROs which are no longer available. And of course I have two surcingle belts that pair with the breeches perfectly. If you're looking for a comfortable pair of tights/breeches, get these; you won't be disappointed, but hurry. Today is the last day of the sale. Oh, and if you do order a pair, you might try my discount code for a few bucks off: bakersfielddressage.  Today is the last day of Riding Warehouse's Stock Up for Summer Sale. I had planned to resist entirely, but then I remembered that I had a little left over on my Riding Warehouse Gift Card that my mom sent me for my birthday. As soon as it got hot, I pulled out a brand new fly mask for Izzy that I ordered at the end of last summer. Within two or three days it was shredded to nothing. Jerk. I had just enough left on the card to get him a new one. Again, jerk! I went with the Kensington 73% UV Fly Mask w/Web Trim - Exclusive. At under $30, I was willing to give it a try.
While the sales aren't over yet, I am trying really hard to leave my credit card in my wallet for the rest of the day. What about you? In the eight or nine years that I've owned Izzy, I've yet to come off him while he was still vertical. That doesn't mean we haven't had a spill because we have, twice, and one of them happened on Monday. Seven or eight years ago, we were cantering. He lost his balance and did a mini somersault spilling us both to the ground. I was unhurt, but he came up sore. It was close to 100 degrees on Monday, and I was not up to doing any real work, so I opted for a short trail ride. I chose a route that Speedy enjoys even though I knew it might challenge Izzy a bit. You can see from the map that there is nothing inherently tricky about the loop. I follow an unpaved road until I cross the old golf course, then circle counter clockwise through a cherry orchard, and then meander along the river until I cut through a hedge to get back to the barn.  Izzy was being his regular tense and high headed self. He simply can't just mosey along. No matter how many trail rides we've done, his default is still to be high headed and on alert. He is certain dragons are going to swoop out of the sky and cart him off for dinner. I manage him though and we always get home safely. In the photo above, you can see where the Kern River normally is. That's not where it is right now. The river is creeping up closer and closer to the row of houses that dot the landscape above the river. As we headed toward home, the lower half of the blue-green line, I rode across the neighbor's lawn, almost at his back door because his lawn was saturated with water. Without being able to follow my regular route which tracks closer to the river, I had to find a way around the next house that didn't have me traipsing across his lawn. I saw a small ditch filled with dead foxtails. I paused on the berm as I looked both left and right for the best path to get back on the dirt road.  I turned Izzy to the left and asked him to step forward. Without hesitating, he stepped down into the ditch and quickly sank to his belly in quicksand. He heaved and lunged as he tried to pull himself out, but with my weight on his back, he wasn't going anywhere safely. I quickly stepped out of the saddle and backed up onto the hard packed road. I tugged on the reins to turn Izzy's head my way and encouraged him to push out. He gave a massive grunt and leaped beside me. He was pretty rattled but otherwise fine. I gave him a quick going over making sure that he was uninjured and that his shoes were still attached. I dusted both of us off - we were both covered in sand, and led him over to a tractor that I used as a mounting block. After patting his neck for a bit, he sidled up next to the tractor and let me get back on. We headed back home where he was quite relieved to get a cool shower and a chance to graze on the lawn.  Red faced, dirty, and dusty - but still smiling. Throughout the whole ordeal, I kept my wits about me. Surprisingly, this was not my first encounter with quicksand. It wasn't even my second (or third). Living on a river that rises and falls depending on rain or snow melt means that there are frequently boggy or deep sandy spots like the one I stumbled into. The quicksand we found was very dry on top, but I think that deep down the water table has risen so high that it is seeping up towards the surface.
After I untacked Izzy, I gave myself a quick check and discovered sand deep in my boots, down in my sports bra, and even in my ears. I don't think I actually hit the ground as I was mounted the whole time, but I think when Izzy dropped so suddenly through the surface of the sand, we both scooped up a lot of dirt. It was definitely not the ride I was expecting, but I was really pleased with how trusting Izzy was. That is one thing I love about this horse. When he's in trouble, he always waits for a human to help him out. I am glad he trusts me, but he might really hate trail rides now. |
About the Writer and RiderI am a lifelong rider.
I began endurance riding in 1996 where I ultimately completed five, one-day 100 mile races, the 200-mile Death Valley Encounter, and numerous other 50, 65, and 75 mile races. I began showing dressage in 2010. Welcome to my dressage journey. 
Photo by Lori Ovanessian
About Speedy GSpeedy went from endurance horse to dressage horse. After helping me earn a USDF Bronze medal in the summer of 2020, he is now semi-retired. Speedy is a 2004, 15'1 hand, purebred Arabian gelding. His Arabian Horse Registry name is G Ima Starr FA.
July 2020 (PC AJSK Photography)
About IzzyIzzy was started as a four-year old and then spent the next 18 months in pasture growing up. I bought him as a six-year old, and together, we are showing at the lower levels. He is a 2008, 16'3 hand warmblood gelding. His Rheinland Pfalz-saar International (RPSI) name is Imperioso.
March 2021 (PC Tess Michelle Photography)
Bakersfield Dressage approved!
My favorite breeches!
FOR THE SMALLER EQUINE ATHLETE
I love her stuff!
Watercolor Artist and Friend
National Rider Awards
USDF Bronze Medal - 2020
USDF Second Level Rider Performance Award - 2018
USDF First Level Rider Performance Award - 2015
USDF Training Level Rider Performance Award - 2013
State Rider Awards
CDS Ruby Rider Award - 2018
State Horse Awards
Speedy G - 3rd Level Horse Performance Award - 2020
Speedy G - 2nd Level Horse Performance Award - 2018
Working Towards:
CDS Sapphire Rider Award Third Level: 63.514% Third Level: 62.105% Fourth Level: Fourth Level: 2023 Show Season
Show Rating (***) CDS/USDF/USEF (*) CDS (s) Schooling (c) Clinic (r) Ride-a-Test Clinic 2023 Show Schedule
TBD 2023 Completed … Pending 2023 Qualifying Scores
Regional Adult Amateur Competition (RAAC) Qualifying Training Level 3 Scores/2 Judges/60%: Score 1: Score 2: Score 3: Archives
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