Not-So-Speedy Dressage
From Endurance to Dressage
Over the weekend, I drove by Blue Truck, who lives at the ranch, and realized that it had been several weeks (or longer) since it had been started or driven. It has also been cold. For a truck as old as mine, that usually means I am going to need jumper cables or a new battery. As I'd predicted, Blue Truck didn't start right up. It took a few tries and one final plea to the Almighty. He must have been listening because I finally got the engine to roar to life. Keeping it revved up ever so slightly, I took off around the neighborhood trying to get Blue Truck's fluids moving. When I got back to the ranch, I turned the truck off and then tried to restart it. The engine turned over slowly, but it finally caught. I decided to drive it home to give the battery more time to charge. I ended up driving it to work the next day, and then I drove across town to the vet hospital the day after that. (More on that tomorrow.) When I decided that I would need to take the boys to the vet, I realized my trailer hadn't been moved since late August. How could that much time have gone by? Surely we'd been somewhere over the past three months. After some checking back through my calendar, it was clear that we hadn't. With Blue Truck's battery fully charged, I hooked up my trailer, prepared for a long morning of trouble shooting. To my surprise, nearly everything went easy peasy, and the lights worked from the get go. I was particularly glad about that though as I had some wiring redone in August. There was one issue though, and I am more than a bit irritated by it. I glanced at a piece of plastic laying on the ground next to the trailer and realized it was one of the vent covers that we just replaced two years ago. I am great at finding the silver lining in nearly any situation, but really?! The only consolation is that this particular roof vent is directly over the shower pan which means that even when it rained last week, nothing was damaged. So yah! for small blessings, I guess. Now of course I have to go buy all the stuff to fix it AGAIN. With winter just arriving, I am not going to have much time to procrastinate.
It's always something, isn't it? |
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. 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.
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.
National Rider AwardsState Rider Awards
State Horse Awards
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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