The One with the Little Arabian

“Heeeere Leeetle ARRRaabian. COME BACK leeeeetle Arrraaabeaaann!”

I had to rub my jaw and yawn for a minute, meanwhile wiping the ground implant away. My nose needed a little straightening as well. I was at least able to do my best Bewitched impression.

“Heeeeere Leeeetle Arraabian. Cooome baaaaaaaaaaaack!” Will’s voice echoed again.

Darn it. I owe that man a bottle of wine/liquor/whatever I stumble across first.

The pesky little Arabian was still running. The funniest part was that my saddle was flapping around on his back like little wings. He looked like a Pegasus. At least it was staying put – I could at least say that for my tacking-up skills.

Up and down hills he flew. Along the fence line. Down through the woods. Back up the hill. Down the other side of the hill. Back in a circle around us. And off he went again.

I let out a big sigh.

“Come baaaack, Leeeettle Arrrrrrrrabian!”

Will Faudree was calling my horse for me. How embarrassing.

“Oh he’s done now – his tail has deflated!” Tammy laughed over her shoulder. She and Jazzy formed a wall with their horses, and Sudi came up to a halt in front of them.

I grabbed my reins and walked him over to a semi-flat surface that was good for remounting. I had re-mount therapy coming my way in about thirty seconds.

“Ok – go canter over that log over there and come back. We need a TALK.”

I was fine really. Well almost. My confidence in my “sticking to the darn Arab” skills were greatly shaken. Foundation gone. I did need a talking to.

Well what happened? We were approaching a two stride log combination. Granted, these logs were semi-novice level, and the combination certainly nowhere near Beginner Novice level. Shoot – we’d barely made it through the cross bar combination three weeks ago. And I’m supposed to make it over two LOGS? Sure. Uhuh. You got it, Pete.

Well at any rate, I’d been doing a really good job of keeping Sudi forward to all of our jumps so far, and he hadn’t refused a ONE. I was thrilled. Up we came to this log, I blocked his drifting, and we took the log in stride. I however, was so elated, I let him skip out to the side and not go over the second log.

Will, of course says, “SO why didn’t you go over the second log?”

I really wanted to answer “BECAUSE – I didn’t want to.” I didn’t though. I told him something about how I didn’t make Sudi do it. Truth be told though, I REALLY didn’t think I’d stay on through it. I just thought I’d fall at the second log. Not the first.

Well, upon my second approach, I lost my stirrup. I got it back. Sudi drifted. I drifted trying to fix him. He slowed down, and I kept him going. Well all of a sudden he literally ROCKETS over the jump, and I go flying up on his neck. I’m really not used to that power jump he gets. I knew I was going to fall as I was grappling his neck. My feet hit the ground, but I couldn’t keep up with his momentum. Down I went…face first. And OFF Sudi went. For about ten minutes.

Even though I fell, Will was able to help us work through the combination, and help me figure out how to crouch down to stay a bit more stable through my legs. It worked. After we worked out the combination, we worked a ditch and also worked up a bank and down to a log on a hill. Good stuff, and well worth the day.

I, however, am VERY sore. It didn’t hit me during the day of, BUT I learned that I could pull a ton of muscles in my neck and right arm that I didn’t even know could be pulled.

All in all though, Sudi was a real champ. We had fewer refusals than ever before, and I think he actually really had a good time. I think I have an eventer on my hands. Now…if only I could get MY act together.

The best part? We got inducted to our first EVENTING TEAM!!

See fondly picture below:

The Will Faudree Tadpole Team!

(Left to right: Hailey and Zebbra; Jazzy and Indy; Tammy and Willa; Me and Sudi! - and of course Will Faudree in the middle!)

The One with all the Winter

As the years go by, I have come to the conclusion that if the weather had a gender, it would definitely be a woman.

First – She is always there for us. Always. In all her glory – even if that glory isn’t QUITE so glorious.
Second – She is very fickle and impossibly unpredictable. And even when we THINK we have her figured out, she changes just to be difficult.
Third – She acts hormonal: Cold one minute, breezy the next, boiling hot after that…you get my drift.
And Fourth – She is always beautiful no matter what she does.

The weather this winter has been all of the above. Just when I settled down with the idea that I could handle the cold, it turned to spring like weather. And of course, just when I got used to spring, back came winter – and with a vengeance.

You see, I have this trail ride on Saturday and then a trip up to Southern Pines for some XC schooling with Will Faudree on Monday, and it’s going to be FREEZING!

Sudi and I have been prepping a bit with some nightly rides during the week, and for the most part they go pretty well. In fact, two nights ago, I was THRILLED with his work. Last night, however, is probably one of those times that I should have hopped off early on and called it a night. The moon was NOT out due to clouds, the lighting around the place seemed dismal, and Sudi thought everything was out to eat him. Trying to keep a three-four year old Arabian focused and relaxed in that environment was pretty much asinine. He got frustrated, I got frustrated, and we eventually just had to come back and walk to feel like we were getting anywhere positive.

I guess we all have bad days, but some just seem to really discourage you. I’m sure having to ride in the dark all during the week is part of my “issue,” but I should at least be thankful I’m able to ride, right? I mean some people can’t even ride due to much nastier weather conditions!!

So at any rate, many deep breaths have been taken, and we’re hoping for a fresh start on Saturday. I think the boys will like the trail riding for a bit of refreshment, and then back to work! So grab some warm (and hopefully flavored) coffee and kick on! The winter will be over before we know it!!

The One Where We Make it Cross Country!

I’m hooked on XC! Completely. Sudi and I made it through a REAL XC school at Full Gallop Farm. Yes, we actually made it over OFFICIAL XC jumps!!!

Now, this took a little bit of convincing on my part as Sudi thought a bunch of these logs looked quite scary in the beginning. He was a trooper though, and we made it over many logs, a mini tiger trap, a mini coop, up and down banks, in and out of the water complex, and over a REAL ditch!!!

I think Sudi was really eating up the course too as after most of the jumps he would take off in a very forward canter/hand gallop and the occasional victorious head shake. And the boy has a really nice lengthy stride too!! We both had fun (and I didn’t get thrown into the water!), and that was the best part!

While I’m not quite ready to enter us in a true USEA event yet, we’re definitely on our way. Wish I had pics from the day (my squats paid off really BIG time too so my position was WORLDS better!), but alas we were all riding and had no ground person.

My next trip up to Full Gallop is February 4th – Tammy and I are going to watch and cheer on Will Faudree and then jump judge in the afternoon! Hopefully I’ll get some great pics from that as well. Lots of fun!

Well wrapping up, this weekend, my mom and I are taking Sudi and Kehbs to Mullet Hall to meet up with some friends for some good ‘ole trail riding fun. Yay for early spring!

The One with the Wooly Bears that Do Dressage

Kehbir and Sudi are WOOLY. For Kehbir this is nothing to even turn your head about, but for Sudi, it’s a pretty significant feat. I’m mostly afraid that it means that we’re about to have a really cold spell approaching us, but so far, we still have mildly winterish days with splashes in the 60 - 70’s every now and then. The down pour of rain that we’ve received recently is starting to clear and the wind has popped up to dry out the land some; A VERY welcome relief!!

Last weekend Sudi and Kehbir each had a dressage lesson with our local dressage guru Susan Selvey. I, unfortunately, missed most of my mom’s and Kehbir’s lesson due to the fact that the farm was absolutely BUZZING with nutty activity. Horses were galloping around madly in their fields, riders were throwing temper-tantrums, children were running around crazily, and Sudi was by NO means happy to be stuck in the trailer waiting for his lesson. He very adamantly let me know that he was, by no uncertain terms, VERY upset that he could not see that everything was ok with Kehbir.

I really went back and forth on how to handle this. I didn’t want to “give in” to his Arab-y behavior by taking him out, but at the same time, his rampant pawing and head banging were giving me a bit to worry about. I finally thought I had calmed him, but when I made it back to the dressage ring to watch my mom, one of the riders (who was now down on the ground from her bucking horse) was lunging her now bucking bronco and shouting profanities. Well this got Sudi completely riled up again. So, I took him out.

Once out of the trailer he was perfectly well behaved despite the raucous, although he left behind a rather long trail of nervous diarrhea from the trailer.

As I watched the end of Kehb’s and my mom’s lesson, I noticed that they were starting to get some really nice consistency (strangely this has always been a forte of Sudi’s so never a big issue for us), and the beginning of bend. Kehb’s looked happy to have begun figuring out his job, and my mom’s position looked super great as well!! I was also really amazed at how composed the two of them stayed during all the farm activities.

Sudi’s lesson was fantastic! In our warm up – he was for the first time REALLY stretching over his back and beginning to lower his head. I was thrilled!! Susan advised that I need to ALWAYS have his attention – ears flicking at ALL times. Also – we’ve been assigned lots of walk/trot trot/walk transitions to develop his sensitivity to my leg. Our biggest achievement was that we got to do leg yields! (yay! – the baby’s learning!!!). In two-three weeks, he’s really started to understand what my legs are asking – it’s wonderful – like a lightbulb!! Unfortunately, Susan waited until the end of the lesson when Sudi was mentally and physically exhausted (mostly from the trailer I think), to ask for our canter work. This was particularly frustrating as I feel his canter has really come a long way. But since the rest of his lesson was particularly wonderful, I wasn’t too upset with him. Hopefully we’ll do better next time.

Well this weekend Sudi and I are going up to Full Gallop Farm to school some cross country with Tammy/Will and Jazzy/Indy. Hopefully we won’t go swimming this time! (but more to come!)

Happy New Year!!