that's a wrap

The end of the season is a really tough time for me. I usually get my best runs in the fall, feel like everything has come together, and then, whoops! No more horse shows left to go to.
In many ways it's a blessing that I'm too poor to go to Aiken or Ocala and keep competing. I doubt that I am unique in that I push myself and my horses pretty hard toward our goals, and Neil is so easy to over-fit that it's often a struggle not to ride him too much. Couple this with how much fun we are having by the end of the season, and it's even harder not to ride him too much.

This year, for the first time, I'm giving my horse the entire winter off. To be a horse. Last winter, when Neil got January off, he felt like a different horse when I got back on him-- in a good way. He's six years old. He isn't going the Olympics next year (I know, surprise everyone, it turns out you have to have Canadian citizenship to ride for team Canada). Last winter circumstances kept him cooped up inside more than he or I could help, and it took a serious toll on our collective psyche. So this year, he's going to live in a field and learn to pull my friends around on skis (hope they have health insurance). But the tough thing is, that's not very many weeks away, and I have to start letting my horse down on his workload soon.

I thought that was going to suck, but I got off him yesterday and told Jeremy that it was one of the best rides I had had in a long time. The ride being, showing up to the barn just before dark, warming up my horse on the flat, and putting him away. Because I have no plans to drill my dressage skills through the winter or really to do anything except hack for the rest of the year, I rode him connected and relaxed on the flat. The last few weeks of Neil finding his new balance WITH MY LEG ON and SITTING UP (sorry, these words are just always in all-caps in my brain) have helped him to travel so much more forward and to feel so much better in his back. Now that I can combine this with riding relaxed, I'm able to help Neil more and also to enjoy my rides (surprise, ding ding ding).

That doesn't mean I'm not going to push myself through the end of fall into this winter. When I was sick for so long this summer, I lost all of the cardio from training for that marathon that I didn't end up making it to, and a lot of my overall strength. I'm stoked to take some more time for myself to hit up the hills on my feet and on my bike, and also to take advantage of the zillion free yoga classes at Middlebury to re-focus and re-center and get stronger. Some of my absolute favorite things to do this time of year are to watch YouTube videos of awesome riders and their technique, and also just great videos of eventing that make me cry tears of joy (like this one).

That also doesn't mean I'm not going to have a damn good time with my horse. For example, last weekend being fall break at Middlebury College and Anna and clearly not having enough homework to do, we rode Neil and Remington into the Trail Around Middlebury (TAM) and proceeded through town to do what we've been desperate to do since we took our respective tours of the campus before we matriculated; that is, gallop around on Battel Beach. Pretty much the greatest moment of my college experience was jumping Neil over a couple of adirondack chairs right in the center of campus, and posing with my beloved BiHall in the background.

Good times had by all. 

Finally, I was stoked to see a photo of Teddy (formerly our pal Tiz) jumping all the things at Arbrook Farm's October jumping clinic; he is looking so great with Alyssa and Kerry keeps reporting great things from him. Here's Sophie's photo:

That's a wrap! Fall season is over, fun things done with horses, fun things yet to come with horses, life is pretty great. Oh! And in case you missed it, Neil is now sporting the Team Canada logo on his butt. Just in case (faint hope) I can someday convince Clayton Fredericks that you don't really have to be a Canadian to ride for Canada. Sigh.

Cheers!

Marina and Neil

Hitching Post and Wonderpony Recap

Hey y'all-

Since this is our blog and you have chosen to subject yourself to the shameless narcissism of me writing about how much I love my horses, let me tell you how much I love my horses.

Two days before leaving to return to Vermont, I let myself be talked into taking a pony back with me to sell. His wonderful owner decided that with her expanding herd of trail ponies, one very special buckskin was simply too talented to handle. Skeptical at first, I got on him, and then was no longer skeptical. Tiz had jumped a couple few times before I rode him, but sorted out a gymnastic with such a great attitude that I couldn't pass up the opportunity to play with him for a little while. So, Neil had a buddy for the trip home to Midd, and Tiz got to join the fun. Yesterday I sent him off to his new home with Kerry Lambert! He's going to do lots of trail riding, but also some jumping and eventing. She has updated me that he settled in well, and I'm excited to keep hearing about all their adventures.

Neil has benefited a LOT from some chiro work from Matt and a dressage lesson with Mary Brust, where he let out all of his angst about deer/friends/dinnertime and I got to practice SITTING UP and KEEPING MY LEG ON (you think??). This paid off with a much nicer dressage test at Hitching Post schooling trials than we had a couple of weeks ago at Stoneleigh-Burnham. All of this followed up by a confident, if, er, brisk, couple of jumping rounds led to us taking home the win and our very appropriate prize of some new red bell boots. It's great to end the season feeling like Neil is very confident at the Novice level. We may follow up with one more schooling show to practice going SLOWLY, but when the speedbumps aren't big enough anymore, what's a girl to do? If there was one downer about the event, it was discovering that my very old, very tired Hunter wellies had finally developed cracks in the soles (while having a look at the footing in the water complex...in a couple of feet of water). Luckily I had extra socks, though if anyone saw how quickly I exited onto dry land, they probably thought I was properly crazy.

Many thanks to Carol Pierce for her awesome support and her awesome pony, who took many friends on trail rides and provided for oodles of entertainment during the past month. Also to everyone on the road when I missed the last turn for HPF and got to practice straight-backing the trailer for a hundred yards or so. Also, to the wellies, for not giving out on me til now.

Cheers!
Marina and Neil, sadly solo #ponyshoutout.

home basing it

Hey team,

I've been off writing for quite a while, living a little too hard to stop and blog about it. Now, lots of my friends are posting the beginnings of their study abroad adventures all over the world, or chronicling their babies' first steps, or their professional careers.

I'm doing none of those things.

I'm home on the first real break I have taken in, er, a really long time. The beauty of coming home from my summer job with a camp cold is that I've been forbidden from doing any work, or training for anything, so I've had a lot of time to get stir crazy, but also to do somethings to center myself and get ready for the upcoming junior year at Middlebury. In case you were curious, here is how you center yourself, a la TLDH (Team Little Dark Horse):

1. You go a little crazy with the experimental recipes (and make your parents eat a lot of vegetarian cooking): like forbidden rice (but with some mango and less lime next time), and this one (still good in the fridge after 8 days = winner). Peanut rice noodles came out a little, er, better luck next time.

My friend Liza, who was another riding instructor at Camp Nashoba North this summer, made the trip up to Houlton with me and we immediately took over the kitchen. It didn't hurt that I talked Mom into buying a big bottle of Srirachia, possibly the best discovery of my camp experience.

2. You go camping with your horse:

Neil and Dublin made it up Day Mountain to catch this view at Acadia National Park. 

3. You reflect on how tough your summer job was: 

Liz Moyer photo, from the barn staff remake of this gem:

Guess who I'm playing (hint, not T Swift)...

4. You pull your horse out of the field and jump some jumps:

and reflect that maybe, at some point this year, your horse grew up a little bit.

5. You stay up late, read books you don't have to read for school, and stalk all your friends who can never be in the same place at once:

6. and you be grateful for the one who's there for everything,

even if he's kind of an asshole. 

Friends and other awesome folks, adventure is always on the horizon. Lots of you are going away or doing big things or trying new stuff, rock on. TLDH will be here when you get back, and if Neil has anything to say about it, we will do some shakerattlen'rolling of our own. 

Kick on!

Marina and Neil

I'm at Wayward Springs!

Best decision ever: taking random job off Yard and Groom. So, here I am, two weeks after pulling into Wayward Springs Farm after the ten hour drive (can I just tell you how much fun it is to drive a trailer through both Newarks, Baltimore, over some very long bridges, under some very long tunnels, AND Bethesda rush hour traffic in the same trip?) with friends from Midd and equine travel buddy Otis. And it's the best. place. ever.

Mike Mendell is a fantastic coach, having run around four stars  back in the long format days and spent nearly twenty years working for Wofford. Seven lessons later, my horse has a revolutionarily better canter and jump, and I feel like a C3 again. The most challenging thing is the thought of going back to college, which is tough because I miss college, except but I love being here, except I don't have a life plan anymore? No worries. The new barn going in is gorgeous, 22 stalls, HUGE beautiful indoor and (wait for it) new apartment above for the working students, even though we live in a really nice trailer right now.

In other news, people wave at you a lot in the South (even large men with Hello Kitty air fresheners- call me maybe?, the town of Front Royal has a Civil War monument to a Confederate victory, I cooked food that wasn't dessert or Easymac, Middleburg Tack Exchange is really, really awesome, and Mike took us to my first 3D movie (Men in Black, awesome). There shall be pictures! If you live in the VA/DC area, make sure you come audit the clinic on the 20th (Wednesday: this means calling in sick so double whammy: you get to skip work and you get to see Jimmy Wofford yaaay).

Also, there are these Wawa-esque places here and they make custom espresso flavored ice cap things. And they're really great.

More to follow!
Cheers!
Marina

back!

Very briefly:
This week I have had the tremendous opportunity to see some very streamlined operations, work with the highest caliber of sport horses there are, and observe a many spectra of people, athletes (human as well as equine), therapies, lifestyles, programs, and industries. Some of what I've learned can only be learned by doing, which, luckily, I got to do. Being back at Midd is great, but I have had my eyes opened and my New England bubble burst for sure. Can't wait til I have time to really reflect on it (while NOT driving and taking pictures at the same time, which, for the record, is not a routine event) and share more! Overall, however, I think we can establish that this was exactly the kind of week I needed to have in order to win at Midd academics for the next seven weeks before I head out to VA and show Wayward Springs Farm what I'm worth!
More to follow!
Cheers,
M

#hanks is the best

So tonight, I had dinner at a little greasy spoon called Hank’s Diner off Rt 1 in Brandywine, PA, and  ate the best Portobello burger of my life. Also, I’m pretty sure I got hit on my the guy behind the counter, but since his English is less-than-stellar, I’m not entirely sure.

Here’s a recap of the day that lead me to Hanks:

5:30 wake up, with intention of running

6:00 leave my bed, get coffee

7:00 at home base barn (please note: no running)

8:30 at the Mid Atlantic Thoroughbred Rescue

9:00 XC lesson on RB in the rain with Steuart Pittman

11:30 back at home base barn in time to car chase the Cheshire Hunt

12:00 tea with Cheshire hunt

1:00 tour of Unionville including farms of Bruce Davidson, Boyd Martin, Phillip Dutton, Jane Sleeper

3:00 walk the point-to-point course at Plantation Field for tomorrow

4:00 feed, give dogs a bath

5:00 leave to find free internet

6:00 find Hanks, so hungry that free internet not a factor

6:30 do Chem homework due Monday for rest of the night

Tomorrow: I’m grooming for Kathy Nielson, who is simultaneously riding and running 8 horses at the point-to-point

Day after that: I start riding out for Jonathan in the AM and tagging along with Celia Goodall in the afternoons. Did I mention that the practice is that of the one and only Kevin Keane? Or that Ryan Wood just casually keeps his horses out back of the office? Or that Phillip Dutton’s indoor is AMAZING?

So, yeah. This break officially beats Cancun. Except for the chem homework. 

today...

yesterday:

this morning:

 later this morning:

More after races and when I am too crippled to walk!

worth the wait

Theme of the week: wait for it.

When I was a wee PCer with Aly at Upland Acres, aka Abby Moody's house, I took a couple of lessons with Ally Stillers, who came over from Canada. Besides gaining a whole new collection of vocabulary and learning that purple hair works at any age (really), we also gained our fair share of Ally-isms, and the one I remember best is the LFA.  LFAs (that's Long F%^&ing Approaches) between jumps were recipes for disaster unless ridden correctly. Since was "no such thing as an acceptable long spot," the key to riding the LFAs was to wait for the fence.

Never mind that the LFAs in my life now are cell adhesion molecules for extravasation and formation of immune synapses- the 'wait for it' theme still applies. I've had a transitional couple of years since a great summer in '09. I have from time to time lost faith that the great karmic pendulum would swing back my way. When Lisa Mendell emailed and asked me what sort of riding I had been doing recently, I had to be honest- not a whole lot of eventing of late: a lot of green horses with the occasional chronic bucker here and there, to be more accurate. I've been weathering an eighteen month storm of vet bills. It happens. Luckily, Lisa emailed back and offered me a working student position with her and her husband Mike, both of whom are upper level event riders in Area II. Worth the wait? I'll say. And that's not all- let the karmic cascade of awesome continue:

 I feel like Neil has actually made a lot of progress since coming to VT. The other day I realized how long I'd had him (about a year and a half) and where he was when I brought him home. At first glance, it sort of looks like the only thing he's learned to do is canter, but that's not entirely true- his lateral movements are really getting nice and confident also, and he is definitely ready to get some mileage this year. We had a fantastic lesson with John Burgoine of Arbrook Farms a few weeks ago- very basic, but not the kind of lesson where you're beating yourself up afterward about how much you need to fix everything in your program. And hey, learning to stand on the crossties was a pretty big deal, too...

 The very awesome Ann Hambleton phoned me yesterday to let me know that her two friends would love to have me in PA over spring break. Who are her two friends? A steeplechase trainer and a vet from Kevin Keane's practice- you know, the Kevin Keane who's Phillip Dutton's vet. Who needs to hit the gym to get ready to gallop some timber horses in Chesterland County? This girl. Track in the morning and clinic in the afternoon? Sounds like a deal to me. If I don't die, I'll get my adrenaline fix for the next decade.

New roommate: one of the perks of being assigned a Febmate is the opportunity to choose from among the various housing applications of the incoming students. My new roommate, whose name has yet to be revealed to me, is a dressage rider who has spent the last semester as a working student in Australia. I'm really not sure we'll have anything to talk about. My not having been struck by the campus-wide gastroenteritis plague = extra extra win (knock wood).

Ultimately, I'm feeling super lucky to be in the place I am right now: primed to really focus and improve as an athlete, with a sound, more (or less, depending on the day) sane horse and all the tools to make things happen. As of last week, I'm six months (also knock wood) without a single concussion or trip to the ER, which might be a PR. So, maybe the last couple of years did not go as planned - not that they didn't have their upsides as well. But so far, this year isn't going as planned, either. It's going way, way better, and finally, I think I get what Ally meant about LFAs. The long interim can be dangerous: it's easy to get sidetracked by the big bad wolf, or, say, immunogenetics.  But if you keep your priorities straight, focused, and balanced, when you finally get to the base of the jump, you'll realize:

it was totally worth it.

Cheers!
Marina

P.S. If for some strange reason you're possessed by an insatiable desire to understand severe combined immunodeficiency, don't go to strangers...