The One with Us in Paradise

Aaaah! Welcome to the first day of Fall – my absolute FAVORITE time of year. It’s a break from serious showing, and the awning of glorious trail rides, brisk hunter paces, and invigorating cross country schooling. The horses are frisky, and I finally have a legit reason for bundling up in sweaters and scarves.

Unfortunately - *yawn!!!* <-- This is about all I have been able to accomplish since we came back from the Paradise Horse Trials.

Heading into the weekend, the forecast was filled with Rain, Rain – and oh yeah – more rain!! In fact, our neighboring states of Georgia and Tennessee are flooding from all the rain. I was probably more than a little worried about it.

I took Friday off from work so that Tammy, Hailey, Caley, and I could make sure we headed up to Aiken early on in the day. We needed to exercise the horses some before we walked the XC course. And what do you know? Beautiful blue skies garnished our entire trip!

For this event, we were not stabling on the grounds, but at Buckleigh Farms – a Polo facility about a mile down the road from Paradise. After stopping for a quick lunch break for Chinese in Bamburg, we finally made it to Buckleigh around 2 PM.

The farm was exactly what one might imagine a race facility to look like. Large fields, and tall, dark barns. The grounds actually were pretty lovely. There was a beautiful polo field with a track around the circumference, a covered dressage arena, a regular dressage arena, and a jumping arena. The barn, however, was very dark, and not well ventilated. I have to say our guys were really not fans of it, and they were a bit nervous about the whole situation.

After getting the stalls set up we exercised the horses for a bit. All three were a bit “up”, and I was somewhat concerned as I’ve really never noticed this much anxiety coming from Sudi before at an event. Bunny was even more talkative than normal.

I was however excited that Sudi’s dressage was coming along so nicely. His canter transitions were really getting lovely – although his increased sensitivity to my aids made him a little anxious. After our rides, we packed the ponies in their stalls, fed them dinner, and then headed over to Paradise for our check in and XC walk.

Laurens Bissell, our trainer and help for show day, met us on the course for our walks. Wow! Talk about not being used to hills!! My rather rolling course was filled with beautiful logs, small coops, and mini-tiger traps. All inviting. And all decorated with horse eating flowers. *sigh* I knew the flowers would be an issue, but Laurens really helped me work through a lot of it mentally. Eventually we left, and I was at least semi-confidant. :-)

That evening we all met up at O’Charley’s for dinner and probably too much laughing. J Amazingly enough, we all managed to wrap up dinner, take showers and be in bed by 10:30! I think we’re actually starting to get the hang of this showing stuff.

Saturday morning we all got up at 5:45, hit breakfast and then headed over to Buckleigh to feed the ponies and haul over to Paradise. Sadly it did not seem like they slept nearly as well as we did. I could tell Sudi had not laid down – which is very rare for him. He usually always manages to get comfy and secure enough to sleep at night. Halara was also off her food, and having a MAJOR pity part. It was pretty sad actually watching the big black mare act so beside herself!

We managed to pretty quickly muck out our stalls, pack up, and leave. Paradise was only a mile down the road, so we got there within moments. The grounds were bubbly and brimming with excitement. The energy at shows is amazing to me – I love it! And the best part? There wasn’t a cloud in the sky! We were in for a lovely, albeit rather warm, day.

Braiding was a bit of an adventure with Sudi, but somehow (with Tammy’s help!) I managed to squeeze in just over 30 braids. He was such a good sport for being tied to the trailer for the greater part of the day.

Once I started riding, my day went into high gear, and it’s really mostly a blur now. Our dressage warm up started rocky, with Sudi screaming his head off to Halara and Bunny. Eventually he gathered himself, realizing that I wasn’t going to quit pestering him until he did, and then our warm up really got fabulous. Laurens helped me get him into a really nice frame where he was very uphill and had beautiful transitions. I loved it!

Unfortunately, once we got into the dressage arena, we found the scary horse eating flowered pots. All of a sudden, my fabulous horse reminded me that he is YES – an Arabian. We made it through the test, where he blew off my half halts and decided spooking at the flowers was a better idea. *sigh* Despite our spooks and early transitions, we managed to scrape out with a 40 – placing us in 4th. Not too bad for our first dressage test with Canter work!

We moved on to Stadium – which much to my dismay – had NO cross rails!! Laurens was VERY confidant in us though, and helped us through a beautiful warm up. I made it onto the course and headed for the first jump. I could feel him sucking back, so I tapped him with my crop, sat back and clucked to the jump. He jumped HUGE, but somehow he didn’t completely unseat me. I aimed him for the second jump but didn’t have enough time to gather my wits to ride him as effectively, and he stopped. I whapped him hard with the crop, and he rocketed over it. After that, I was able to really ride him forward for the rest of the course without ANY stops!! I was SO proud of him. I have to admit – Stadium took a LOT of energy out of me. I am such a wimp!

We eventually made it over to XC where I feel like I rode completely ineffectively. I was out of energy and unable to ride Sudi as forwardly as he needed. So we had LOTS of stops before jumps, and then ridiculous hops. (The pictures are really ridiculous! Hehe) Sudi seemed to love the galloping part, but I could really tell that he was tired as he was leaning pretty heavily on my hands going down the hills. I literally had to stand up and lean back in my stirrups to help balance us. But we made it.

The jump judges were a bit brutal – handing us 60 points for refusals (not sure where we got them all actually as I only noticed one REAL refusal from him) and only a few time penalties. We ended up last due to the refusal points, but I was still thrilled to have made it through the event without being eliminated! :-D Sudi came away from XC feeling proud of himself too – exactly what I wanted. I, however, came away from XC feeling like I wanted to collapse. Not exactly what I wanted – so I’ll have to work on that some more!

Tammy and Hailey also had great rides, although neither of them placed either. However we were all elated to have ridden well and completed the event. All in all – it was definitely a positive experience!

Now that we’re back home, Sudi and the girls are enjoying their week off from riding with lots of pampering and treats. As for our future plans, I’m planning on taking some jumping lessons with Laurens, going to another CT at Jasmine, and attending Mullet Hall’s Harvest Fest again.

Lots of fabulous fall plans! Like I said - this is really the BEST time of year!

The One where I Reboot and Restart

The horse world. It’s crazy really. I simply can’t think of a sport that can go from exhilarating to heart wrenching and back again so quickly! So many amazing aspects; so many gut wrenching disappointments. But perhaps that’s not only the horse world. Perhaps that’s just life?

Again – I’ve been remiss in my blogging. So much has happened – both good and bad. But, our barn has come to be SUCH a team lately. We’ve all had our up’s and down’s, but we’ve also GROWN so much! Obviously not all relationships are faultless, but what I LOVE about us lately is the way we are learning to work through our difficulties and not give up. That’s what makes a place/family great.

So to start - we’ve had some amazing successes lately!:

1. Most recently, Traveler’s Crossing hosted a fantastic ride-a-test dressage clinic with clinician Susan Selvey. I have to say that Tammy and I worked really diligently (and sometimes painstakingly) hard at pulling this off, and I think we made a FANTASTIC team. I managed to pull together all of the administrative aspects, and she fixed up the grounds beautifully. We had perfect weather, and all of us put in great rides. Susan even commented that the place looked and ran like a rated event – I don’t think we could have had a higher compliment!!

2. Since my last blog where Sudi finally learned how to GO, I have taken Sudi to two shows (one a horse trial, and another a CT), and Sudi’s dressage scores have just sky rocketed (Upper 60’s for you dressage folk, or lower 30’s for you eventers). I’m thrilled beyond words (not quite a good thing for a blog!) He is so amazingly consistent now, and he really, really tries SO hard for me. After every test I’m so overwhelmed, I just can’t not hug him.

One of the things I’ve discovered about Sudi is that he really dislikes not understanding a concept. And I think part of that is because he wants to please me so much. He wants to do the right thing, and when he doesn’t get it – he “acts out.” And - now that he is starting to understand the dressage work, he is SUCH a show off. What a pony. :-D

3. Sudi is figuring out how to jump!! Aha! Finally! I doubted this day would ever come honestly. However, as I mentioned above, when my faith was faltering, my friends were right there to help and encourage me. (That’s what they’re for, right?)

It was an inevitable conclusion. I eventually got to the point where I said: I am not a good enough rider to get Sudi through this. And I wasn’t being too hard on myself. -- It was the truth, and it was hard to admit. That is NOT to say, however, that I am not a RESOURCEFUL and DETERMINED rider. Because THAT, I am. Giving up on this wasn’t an option for me.

So, I took Tammy up on her offer to ride Sudi for me and see what they could accomplish. And they were wonderful! She was able to provide Sudi what I was not: encouragement (faith in him) without punishment. And he was forward, and he went over the jumps – as if there was not an option not to. And he was so proud of himself!!

While this was a great development for Sudi – it was also hard not be disappointed in the fact that I couldn’t get him there myself. I am working through it however, and with Tammy’s encouragement (and that of some other fabulous trainers), I am getting there. I am a work in progress, but it’s good – because Sudi and I are getting there together. We both still manage to do things that wreck our trust in each other, but we’re learning how to work through them.

Our last XC schooling together was such a breakthrough for us. Laurens Bissel was our coach up there at Paradise Farms in Aiken, and she connected with me so well – understanding my fears, and working me through them. It was amazing, and I was able to finally give Sudi the confidant ride he needed.

On one of our trips up to Southern Pines, we stopped at a tack shop, and I broke down and bought a much needed black belt – which I use for both riding and life in general. As we got back into the truck to leave, I pulled the belt out of the bag to look at it, and I noticed an inscription on the inside. It’s now my theme with Sudi: “Courage is trusting your horse to get you there.” It was a perfect fit.

~

These past few blog-less months have given me quite of bit of time to marinate. And one of the conclusions I’ve come to is a bit like that Miley Cyrus song (trying not to gag here that I’m writing this!): “The Climb.”

It’s great to reach your goals, and achievements are wonderful (especially when there are pretty ribbons involved!). But all those reached goals, trophies and ribbons are empty and meaningless if you don’t remember the road you’ve taken to get there.

I’ve often wondered at the almost sense of “loss” I feel when I’ve reached my goal. Like something has ended. I should be elated that I reached this point for which I’ve been working so hard. But at the same time, I’m also saying “goodbye” to those experiences and memories I’ve cultivated along the way. Those memories – the good and the bad – are what make the moment of achievement. Without them, those achievements would seem lifeless.

It’s a good reminder of why I used to blog, and why I need to do it more. Because I don’t want to ever forget the things that matter and those moments that changed and shaped me as a rider and person.

Until I blog again - Happy riding!