Moving forward

Naners and I are entered in our first horse trial. Go Pre-Comp!

Yesterday I declared I was head over heels in love with Banana.

Yup, that feels right.

Women may be from Venus, but sometimes horses are from somewhere in another galaxy...

Way back when I taught horseback riding at a summer camp. I had a kid and horse that just could not get it together. Kid was, understandably, frustrated. She was a fine rider, horse was not the worst one in the barn. They were just having a massive communication problem. For whatever reason, it was like she was speaking German and the horse only knew Mandarin. When I told her this, that she wasn't bad, the horse wasn't bad, they just weren't communicating the right way yet all her frustration melted out of her. I think one of the big parts of frustration is knowing something is wrong, but having no idea how to fix it. For her, knowing what the issue was helped her figure out how to deal with it. So she fiddled and tried things until she and the horse were able to work together.

I'm pretty sure if I had been on the outside of my relationship with Banana I would have seen that our problem was like that camper and horse: a massive communications breakdown. I knew something wasn't right with us, but couldn't figure out what it was. I thought it was a problem with me, with her, that we'd never get past it, I should sell her, etc... Turns out, once she gets off the forehand she's a nice horse. However, getting her off the forehand is difficult and I wasn't given the tools to deal with it until recently. I suspect I do it without thinking on other horses, but Banana's forehandedness was on a whole new level than I've dealt with in a long time.

I had a lovely ride on her yesterday. She's figured out she can't be on the forehand and jump, so she's now getting off it herself when she sees a jump. It makes things far easier on me. I'm thinking if I went over a cross-rail before a dressage test we'd kick butt.

Someone told me it's all happening at the zoo

A trip to the Denver Zoo. Lots of baby animals.

Baby Bongo

Baby Przewalski's horse

Baby Zebra

Baby Orangutan

Also, a Red Panda

And a Somali Wild Ass

Upside down bell boots

Banana, modeling her upside down bell boots/bed sore boots.

Yay! Progress!

Its been an interesting week.

A friend found a fabulous fjord for sale. He'd be great for me. I was talking to the Taskmaster about it and she said, basically, "I'd hate for you to buy a $10,000 horse and then ruin him with your horrible arms, like you seem to have ruined Banana."

If you're shocked you'd be joining everyone else I've told this to. Not because my arms are the most awesome arms in the world, oh goodness they are not. There's a whole lot wrong with them, most of it due to the nerve crap going on in my neck. What is shocking, for me, about this is that I have been working with her for two years now. If my arms are so horrendous why hasn't she fixed them? I'm less bothered by the comment than that she hasn't helped me fix them. I asked her, "What about Meatball? I haven't ruined him?" Well, I guess he doesn't count for some reason.

I've been extricating myself from the situation for months, trying to make her less reliant on my help. Banana and I didn't progress much over the winter, part of the reason I've been so confused about the mare. Turns out, we just needed a different perspective.

Wednesday Banana went back to the fabulous DN. Banana has been with her before, to work on her trailering problem. DN basically had Banana and I fixed in three rides. DN is not a dressage queen who is only two rides away from her USDF Gold Medal. She's a good, basic trainer. What was her trick? Well, first she said we were going to cheat a bit :D Banana lightens up when you leg yield, so we leg yielded for every transition for two days.

Which brings us to today and Banana's first dressage show. She is fabulous in new places, fabulous in that she doesn't act any differently than when she's in an old place. We had a good warmup with leg yields and shoulder in, so she was listening to my leg (something we struggle with.) We rode BN A and B. 5's, 6's and 7's, 42 on BN A, 41 on BN B (those are penalty points, not percents.) For comparison, Penny's best score was 42 on BN B. Was it my best test? Of course not. But for Banana's first dressage show, and her first show that she had to travel to? Pretty awesome.

I have definitely, 100% decided I'm keeping her. We still need some help, but I just needed some progress to happen so I'd feel better. And we finally made some.

Horse Rescue Fun

Today the Horsemasters and I volunteered at our local horse rescue. I've been there a couple of times. Two years ago I met little Ella:

Now, she's all grown up. Well, sort of grown up. I think she's 3 or 4 now.

Then, I couldn't touch her. Barely anyone could. Today, since she'd removed her fly mask I worked with her to put it back on.

As you can see, mission accomplished. The rescue's overseer was beyond thrilled that she let a stranger put her mask on.

:( but now :)

The thought of selling Banana makes me sad.

I was going to try out a new horse on Tuesday. Monday night I was sitting there and didn't want to go. Really, really didn't want to go. the last thing I wanted to do was look at a horse. So, I didn't go. A friend sent me a link to a fabulous horse that looks like it would be awesome for me. But I'd have to sell Banana and I got really sad. Not to mention said horse is 1000 miles away.

This decision was making me emotional and I wanted to cry. If selling her was making me so upset why in heavens was I going to do so? Yes, I want to be competitive and hopefully go to the AECs. But I really like my horse too. As long as I can rock Pre-Comp I'm good.

So, onwards with Banana. And now I can smile. And stop screwing up my stomach.

Why am I not there?

I'm sitting here checking the scores at Coconino. Part of me wishes I was there. Part of me is really glad I'm not because there are a crap load of competitors. There's 14 in Senior Pre-comp, which would have been our division. I've never seen more than 8. It's like one of those east coast events. And, we would be in last, because oh god, the dressage scores are low. There's just something so wrong with the fact that good dressage is now required. I'm thinking there should be another stadium round or something.

I wish Banana could be consistently good or consistently bad. We had a lovely ride today down the road. We trotted quite a bit, as mare has gotten rather pudgy. She's really a good girl. Argh.

Round and round and round

I'm back with the Banana dilemma. Do I keep her or sell her?

Why again, you ask?

We did a clinic last weekend with a Level III ICP instructor. She basically thinks the opposite of Banana that the Taskmaster does. I should, in theory, trust the Taskmaster over this clinician. But, the clinician was more in line with what I've been seeing/feeling. The clinician thinks she's a nice horse, but difficult and due to something she saw with her right hind (which I also saw) doesn't think she would stay sound for upper level dressage work (Taskmaster was envisioning her doing at least 4th level, if not PSG and I1/2.) She has no respect for my leg at all, not my fault, she was trained that way, but that I have a long, hard road with her to get her good.

Jumping we learned Naners is lazy over jumps. If I don't put my legs on at the base she just knocks rails down. So what will we do if we're out on XC and I forget to put my legs on? Is she just going to plow through it? If I put the leg on she's a perfectly good jumper. I have never had a horse I've needed to do that to constantly. So, it's going to be work for SJ and XC too. She's going to be work for all three phases.

I told clinician I really want to go to the AECs and have some possibility of winning. Clinician, who has been, told me flat out that Banana would never have good enough dressage to be competitive there.

This is the mare I was talked into because of how far I'd supposedly be able to take her, how much potential she has, etc. I am, quite honestly, somewhat pissed.

Clinician could be wrong, she even said she could be. But I know she isn't about Naners being difficult. I think I've known that from the beginning which is why I was hesitant to buy her.

My plan, as of now, is the vet is coming out this afternoon to ascertain her soundness. I really do like Banana and don't want to sell her. But, I want a horse to do what I want it to do too. Naners is not enough fun to keep around, for well, fun.

I don't know