Sit the Trot

I did wonder if this Christmas, I would have a pony waiting under the tree (or at least at the barn) but sadly it was not to be. Websites have been scanned daily for my perfect partner  and I did find a few gorgeous boys who I thought may have been a good match. One was swiped by another lady before I could even book our first meeting. Another just didn't dance that well on film and the last, although was 'negotiable on price', wasn't quite negotiable enough! In the meantime I have been busy planning Christmas.  I love this time of year, it has always been a special time for me and I am excited to host our family for lunch tomorrow. Christmas lunch however, is a a bit of a standing joke in our house. Usually I begin with great organisation and energy, whipping up dishes and stuffing birds. Everything goes swimmingly for a good while. The problem is, that I do like to have a glass of wine whilst I cook, and roast dinners take quite a while... right? So, I cook and si...

Right, so I really do not like trying horses. I have no problem sitting on different horses at the barn but for some reason I feel super uncomfortable when I am trying horses and I become less Ms Dujardin and more Mr Bean haha! It's so embarrassing! This weekend we went to try a mare that was only half an hour away so she was totally worth a visit. I was stupidly feeling nervous before we even got there and I didn't get much better as the day went on. The mare was adorable, easy as pie on the ground and very loving. The owner rode first and showed us some fun tricks that the mare can do but even from watching what was happening at this point, she looked like a trickier ride than I had been looking for. My trainer then rode her and did a great job as always but I think I already knew that the mare wasn't for me. Typically, I had left my coat in the car and had misplaced my gloves in my fluster. To be honest I had been having one of those clumsy mornings. You know the typ...

I have been thinking, I'm actually okay with not finding my unicorn yet. That may sound odd after my posts about horse hunting, vetting and losing. However, while I am still looking, I am getting the chance to ride some other horses. I cannot even begin to describe, how hugely valuable I have found it riding multiple horses. I would guess in the last three years I have probably ridden around sixty or so. Lots of them were while I was a working student for my dressage trainer, we were based out of a few different barns which meant there were lots to get ridden. I have also sat on quite a few at the Horse Rescue when I was volunteering there, then also at at a neighborhood riding school. Plus a few tourist type trail rides in the Colorado mountains. Each of those horses were different, their movement, their response to cues, their training level and their personalities. I credit these amazing horses (and fantastic instructors) for helping me to begin to learn feel and timing. I m...

I have a secret to tell you. I (and my body) am no longer twenty years old. Therefore the demands of riding can take their toll if I don't elect to regularly beat myself into some kind of physical fitness. Annoyingly my body has decided that regardless of what I do I will always be asymmetrical. My left hip refuses to be as free as my right, and can make my posting trot look like a corkscrew.  Of course in a perfect world all riders would be completely and utterly ambidextrous but sadly that part of being a natural rider is not mine to gloat about. This means that I have to find ways of working my body so that I can at least begin to stay with the horses movement. To build in awareness of how different parts of my body do (or don't) move to allow a more straight and allowing feel for whichever horse I am on. Just as you want the horse to be supple through their body for dressage, so you want the rider to be. Strength helps too but suppleness seems to be a huge component. ...

The hunt for my Dressage Unicorn goes on. I am trying to keep reality in check and at the same time not accept a horse thats too risky, and this has been a balancing act in which my friends have been a hugely key component. I had been pretty close this week to vetting another horse, or getting another horses PPE done (as they would say over here). The horse in question sounded very promising, in the videos he looked sweet if a teensy bit behind the leg (but I'm good with that for a safe type dressage horse). The seller was superbly honest about some lameness that had been pretty much eradicated after the horses sacroiliac (SI) had been injected. Now here's where my concerns were, and please do bear with me through the boring, detailed bits. Now, during the assessments the hind suspensories were showing problems. They were sore through palpitation and when nerve blocked, the horse improved in it's lameness by 80% or so. To me this absolutely shouted suspensory pain. Oh- ...

As life trundles along its crazy, yet sometimes monotonous winding path, you start to find that age brings with it some realizations and changes.  One of mine has been to surround myself with people who make me feel good about myself. People who make me smile, laugh and people who are there when I need them. Ok that sounds incredibly self centered, but it's my blog so I believe I am allowed a little selfishness. Don't get me wrong, I have got their backs too but this post is about how amazing they all are for me. It would be a little vulgar of me to run through this like an Oscar nominee, listing each person by name so I will attempt to steer clear of that. What I will talk about is how your friends and family can be this incredibly strong foundation that just keeps your supported through the mire. My heart breaks for people who find themselves in a toxic situation. I've been there. I have been close to those people who want to break you, just enough that they fe...

You know how it goes, sometimes you just fall at the first hurdle and that's that. I tried, oh I promise I tried not to get my hopes up about that sweet horse I was having vetted, but a little excitement crept in. I really wanted it to all go well, so when my phone rang Thursday morning I launched myself across the room and tried to quell my shaky voice. As always when you want someone to get straight to the point, those polite introductions seem to drag on. It took just about all my British Reserve to not scream down the phone at the Veterinarian... "JUST TELL ME, IS IT SOUND"? Well No. He wasn't. Lame on a circle, lame on the straight, lame, lame, lame. So, I spent the rest of the day on the sofa, eating Ben and Jerrys and mourning my loss. (Yes, of a horse I hadn't even met)... Today I peeled myself off the sofa and got back to my online dating, swipe left, swipe right, ask more questions, send videos onto friends. The game goes on! Today I found a few ...

The whole horse buying debacle is a little like internet dating. Not that I have ever actually been on a  date founded online, but this is what I imagine it must feel like. It starts with swiping through multiple adverts, too tall, too short, too hairy, too ugly and so forth. After your eyes light upon that advert with a cute prospective partner then you have to read the blurb. Just like in internet dating there are 'code' words that you have to decipher... 'Forward going' or 'loves to work' = strong and hot, good luck stopping!  'Puppy dog on the ground'= demon under saddle. 'More Whoa than Go' = You're probably not getting out of walk. ' 'Needs an experienced rider'= Good luck not dying'... and on it goes. I am sure that you can all add an awful lot of other sales phrases to this list! Once you think you have ticked all your boxes of the perfect prospective partner, then you actually begin to communicate online. Usua...

So it begins. I am back on the sofa and back to blogging. For anyone who has followed me before, this is not the first time I have blogged. Is blogged even a word? Ah well, now it is. Anyhow, I'm back! You got rid of me for a few years, but with exciting things happening in my life, I decided to put it all into words. To bore the pants off all of you, and to entertain me in years to come. I still do look through my old blogs, they have photos and videos that I thought were lost, and memories which had been forgotten. Writing down my feelings, thoughts and events is a very therapeutic experience. Therefore, here I go, even if not one single persons reads it. I am tapping away at my keyboard regardless and sharing the good the bad and the somewhere in between. After all that waffling, I suppose talking about what this blog is about may be helpful. Not being a writer doesn't help, how does one move smoothly from subject to subject without shocking the reader with such a sh...