Not-So-Speedy Dressage
From Endurance to Dressage
There was a blog post this morning. Honest. And it was actually a good one. I published it. It's not here. What happened? Did you catch yesterday's post? If not, scroll down a bit. I blogged about being stressed out and busy now that I am back to work. And already today, I proved that to be true. Here's what happened. I couldn't make it to the barn on Thursday. I felt guilty. I woke up at 5:05 a.m. on Friday, threw my barn clothes on, and was at the barn by 5:15. The 5:00 a.m. visit was due to the fact that I had a second obligation on Friday evening which meant no barn visit again. Two days in a row just felt unacceptable. It was dark, but the arena and wash rack lights were on so I could see well enough. I turned Speedy G out. He clearly needed it because he did some big gallops with some equally big bucks thrown. Those were just to keep me from feeling too relaxed. When he was finishing up with his last gallops, I went to get Sydney. Speedy was then tied to the rail and Sydney had his turn to run amok. He must have needed it as well as he did quite a few cork-screwy maneuvers. I was forced to squint so I wouldn't have to see the impending wreck. Both boys came out unscathed. I cleaned their stalls, fixed them an early pre-breakfast lunch, and added all necessary and appropriate fly protection. I left the barn at 6:23 with both boys resting happily after their morning work out. I raced home and showered. I logged onto the website, found today's post, hit publish ... except I didn't, gobbled down some breakfast, packed a quick lunch, and made it to work by 7:15 a.m. Sometime during the day I checked for the blog post and saw yesterday's post. I hit refresh. Nothing. And then I realized what I had done. Instead of hitting publish, I hit delete. Well ... crap! So ... here's an abbreviated version of the blog post. ![]() Riders4Helmets recently ran a contest asking for helmet stories. My story was chosen as a top winner. My prize? This super nice, embroidered dressage pad. Thank you, Riders4Helmets! To see the complete list of winners, click here. To see my entry, click here. I promise the original post was more interesting. Sorry about that! Please check back tomorrow - I have a good post ready to go that includes a video of JL (newest trainer) schooling Sydney. It's worth a peek!
Val
8/20/2011 05:39:56 am
Karen,
Karen Sweaney
8/20/2011 09:20:39 am
Val - it was quite the scary day. It was many months before I lost that tense feeling that comes when you ride with fear. It didn't happen all at once. Every once in a while I would find myself smiling while riding. That's when I would notice that I wasn't afraid. After several months I would only be tense and nervous in what I perceived to be scary places on the trial. And even that fear slowly began to subside. By spring I was finally riding with no fear again. It was quite a relief to let go. Fear is a heavy burden. Comments are closed.
|
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
|