Bakersfield Dressage
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Not-So-Speedy Dressage

From Endurance to Dressage

Done!

6/7/2022

 
I've been an elementary school teacher for 28 years, and I've looked forward to my summer "break" each year. I put quotes around the word break because while I don't officially report to my job site for the next seven and a half weeks, I have already put that much time in during the school year.

My summer break works out to 280 hours: seven hours a day - what I am paid for, spread over eight weeks. When I divide those hours up by the 180 days that kids are in school, it works out to 1.5 hours per day. I arrive a little more than an hour early almost every day. I work through my unpaid lunch EVERY day, and there are many days, particularly in the fall, when I work 12 to 14 hour days. So at the absolute least, 180 of those 280 summer "break" hours are just the lunch periods I worked.
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Last summer in Nashville. We're going back in just a couple of week.
Back when I was just starting out, the last day of school left me giddy with excitement. More and more I find that I don't feel that sense of lightness for several weeks after school ends. Last summer, it took me a full month before  that heavy filing in my chest let loose. Due to some weird scheduling, we had to work yesterday, a Monday. I spent the first hour or so in a meeting, and then the rest of the day was spent moving all of my crap from one school to a different school.

Knowing how much stuff I have accumulated in my career, I thought it best to move it all in one clean sweep. While Newt, my truck, has a long bed, I knew it wasn't long enough. On Sunday, I swept out the back of my trailer and hooked it up so it would be ready to take to school on Monday.
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Not clean, but clean enough!
The custodians at the school I was leaving are awesome. They knew I was coming and had the gates to the playground standing wide open. Driving a truck and trailer on the basketball court was pretty fun. I almost made a big goof though. As I was circling around the playground to get closer to my building, I drove near a basketball hoop. As I looked at the next basketball hoop, I realized that my trailer is taller than my truck. I stopped really quickly and got out to eyeball how low the net was hanging compared to the top of my trailer and its vent windows. I did some quick calculations and decided I could make it, but only just barely. Taking out the basketball hoop would have been pretty embarrassing.

After several hours of packing and giving away as much stuff as I could, I finally got it all loaded. As it turns out, putting stuff in a horse trailer is a lot easier than loading it UP into the bed of a truck. Of course I forgot to take pictures, but I filled about three fourths of the floor of the trailer, much of it stacked two boxes high. 
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Parked in the school parking lot. Can you tell I live in California?
This year's position as the district's 5th Grade Virtual Academy teacher was supposed to be a temporary placement, but since I enjoyed it, I opted to make it a permanent move which is why I had to leave my old school. For this past school year, I made it work without having all of my stuff. But since I'll be doing this for at least one more year, I needed to move everything out of the old school into my office at the new school.

Fortunately, I was able to pull right up to the door of the small building where my office is located. I walked everything from the trailer, up the ramp, through the common area, and into my room. I had everything unloaded and stashed within a half an hour. Sometime in late July, while still on "break", I'll return to unpack and reconfigure my office. 

'Cause you know, I have to start working off next summer's hours. 

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    About the Writer and Rider

    ​I 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.
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    Photo by Lori Ovanessian

    About Speedy G

    ​Speedy 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.
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    July 2020 (PC AJSK Photography)

    About Izzy

    Izzy 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.
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    March 2021 (PC Tess Michelle Photography)

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  • Home
  • About
  • My Horses
    • Horses
    • Imperioso
    • G Ima Starr FA
    • Sunshine
    • Nakota and Gideon
    • Corky
    • Sassy
    • Montoya DSA
    • Mickey Dee
    • Sydney
  • Show Results
    • 2022
    • 2021
    • 2020
    • 2019
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2016
    • 2015
    • 2014
    • 2013
    • 2012
    • 2011
    • 2010
  • Dressage Organizations
    • Dressage Organizations
    • Memberships
    • 2019 Dressage Tests
  • Local
    • Shopping List