my very best 3days3ways impersonation:

For your not-so-inner equestrian fashionista:

        There is a fine line between fashion and function. But hey, pony clubbers, now you can get your fashion riding boots with real, honest to goodness Prince of Whales spurs attached with real, incorrectly-put-together spur straps! Funny thing, though- I don't think Pony Club allows you to walk around with spurs on- some kind of hazard that only PC is aware of (probably the liability risk of people like me tripping and jabbing themselves with small blunt spurs?).

So, this means it's okay to wear spurs with dirty boots and half chaps to class now, right?

merry christmas from neverland eventing!

No matter what holiday you celebrate (or don't), the end of the year is a great time to reflect on goals from last January and to set your goals for the coming year. Three surprising things about my goals from January:

 #1: I could find them. This is probably due to the fact that I put them on the internet, which is far more organized than my life.
#2: I accomplished NONE of them. I'll get back to this.
#3: #2 is not such a big deal.

This year was a year of reality checks, transitions, and metamorphosis in every direction both for me and for my horses. We have new jobs:
Marina: left exercise riding for molecular biology
Neil: left messing around for being a grownup horse (don't worry, we'll always call him baby horse)
Aly: left being an event horse for being a teacher.

I got a lovely call from Sally Buteau, mom to Kelsey and Anna, who have had Aly since mid-September. Aly has taught them so much already, she says, and their family is so lucky to have her. Aly actually seems to love her new job: low stress, no travel, family barn with lots going on, two little girls= twice the carrots. I get to see her every couple of weeks when I have a minute to scoot out. I miss her a lot, but I think I made the right call about letting her have some down time, and I seem to have found the perfect place. Unfortunately I got the call in my 8th hour of driving home from Midd, so Sally probably thinks I'm crazy because in a sort of post-finals/400th mile haze I have no idea what I said to her.

Neil, as it turns out, does not give a shit what my goals are for him. That being said, I am probably still going to set new goals for next year. A lot of them will be the same: get mileage and confidence. He has actually come a long way this year, just not in the directions I was thinking earlier in the spring- for example, his lateral work is getting really good and you can tell he feels good about it: he's much more confident in his body when he knows he's doing something well. He's getting his first couple of weeks completely off since I brought him home as a 3 y/o, which is actually something I feel good about. Sometimes as I push myself, I also push my horses too hard, and it will do him good to just grow and play for a little bit. Can't wait to get back on after he's had 3 weeks off to eat and think about new acrobatics.

I'm excited to go back to Middlebury early to stay with Sue and work at Twitchell Hill, and get some extra time in the saddle for a week before my J-term immunology class starts. Meanwhile, I'm in Houlton for the week after Christmas to play with ponies and of course Mary Drew! ...which means if you have a horse and you want it ridden...you know where to find me.

Merry Christmas!
Marina and Neil

can it just be noted

that Rolling Stone II, long established as Neil's celebrity doppelganger, is sitting second after cross-country at Galway today?
Baby horse has some living up to do.
Samantha L Clark photo.

#top six things i've learned in college

#crazy.

My first six weeks at Midd have been a learning experience in every sense of the word. Examples could consume as much time as you could devote to reading them, but here's the countdown to the top:

#6: Parents paid for a lot of things you didn't realize they paid for

laundry, ibuprofen, coffee, lessons, peanut butter, books. Aly is leased out taking care of two little girls who absolutely adore her and so far, hasn't had an issue with her back (if it hurt, they would know- who doesn't remember USPC champs '08 when my horse bucked two entire twenty meter circles of Training 2?). This means one horse worth of expenses, which is great, except when that horse is Neil, whose record for not doing something stupid to injure himself is a whopping twenty-some days and who currently resembles a pirate with yet another face bang-up of unknown cause. He's getting clipped this week, which I'm pretty excited about, because it means I can make him do real work again.

#5 Living with 2400 of your closest friends is really fun,

except when you want to make a phone call. Or wash saddle pads on a Sunday night. Or sleep on a weekend. at all. Or when your curtain breaks and you can no longer pull the shade down. Or if your habit of singing songs in the shower to which you actually don't know all the words is really, really hard to break (of course, well all know that one wouldn't be me...).

#4 Failure is a really productive way of learning

for example, if you're used to being able to keep your GPA over 100% and ride two horses, do jazz, and work 40 hours a week, you might need a little bit of a wakeup call (cough cough, microeconomics midterm). The fact that life at Midd is only, only, ride, study, eat, study, class, study, write up another lab...is refreshing in some ways; a job is a really nice thing not to have to balance with a double lab and an event horse. Not succeeding instantly when you work that hard to begin with pisses you off and makes you work a lot harder. My failure to ever park the truck actually between the lines and not encroaching on someone else's parking spot... the jury's still out on that one.

#3 Ugly sweaters are in

This is possibly the most paradoxically dressed campus in North America. At 53K a year, either you're wearing an ugly sweater from Goodwill because you're paying the difference between (grant money+ scholarships+ loans) and tuition, or you're wearing an ugly sweater you paid an arm and a leg for at J. Crew....and nobody knows the difference. I'm seeing an alarming future ahead of me with a consistent theme of dressing the way I have made fun of my mother for dressing over the last 18 years of my life. Alarming trend #2? Mountain horse field boots actually soliciting compliments from non-equestrians in the dining hall: "they look so real!"

No way.

#2 Time not spent doing work is not a waste of time

Time spent riding is time spent absolutely NOT memorizing where this carbon and that hydroxyl group go in that carbohydrate to tag that transmembrane protein for transport to that organelle or figuring out whether a flood in imaginary country x will shift this or that curve in a supply and demand model. It's almost better to be riding a baby horse which demands this level of compartmentalized focus than to be riding a horse on which I could get away with some level of distraction. Downside to this: Neil no longer sees me as the grocery lady but only as the really demanding lady who has high expectations for his emotional ability to handle walking past a field full of cows (aka, horse-eating zombie monsters).

#1 If I can drive to Burlington with 5 male backseat drivers, I can do anything

If you've ever spent any amount of time in the back seat of a two door Chevy Silverado, you can imagine the amount of extra space left over with one girl, 5 very tall college boys, and an unbelievable level of noise piled in for one 45 minute road trip. Miraculously, the bottom of the truck did not scrape the pavement of Rt. 7 all the way there and back. As an added and perhaps greater miracle, one pumpkin spice latte with espresso was enough caffeine to maintain a more or less calm disposition (depending who you ask, but since it's my story, we'll go with my version) throughout the adventure. Boys of Stewart, I love you, really, I do. But contrary to your ingrained beliefs about women, we really can drive- just not when you're blasting Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and singing along with the truck next to us at every intersection.

Cheers!

Marina

POSTING FROM MIDD YEAH BABY

Things I have learned thus far in my time at Middlebury College: I need to buy a digital camera, and I am getting ripped off by the college bookstore.

Other than that...it's pretty much the greatest place on earth. Suffice it to say that college is good for me in all the ways Houlton and high school were bad for me: horses, stress, coffee, academics, sleep (okay, well, maybe today was not a prime example of that), bullshit, mental health... the list goes on. I feel a desperate need to get to know everyone because I have yet to meet a person who was not worth getting to know. And that's just the incoming fresh.

But y'all are here to read about my horses! Starting with the trip down:

Friday Caitlin lessons: Yes, you read right, lessonS. As in, Aly is totally back in work, feeling great, sound and started JUMPING again a week ago. Needless to say exciting. The only downside is that I sold the saddle I had that fit her, so I have to ride her bareback all the time, which she (oddly) prefers. Neil showed off how reformed and awesome he is after a little being an asshole on the ground and subsequent practice of newly learned Parelli tricks (thanks Cathy Hogan for the bright purple Parelli halter of my very own!!). I'm not a One True Way Parelli follower, but when it works, it works, you know? Neil and Aly are back in sibling love despite being completely incompatible without a fence between them.

Sunday Charlotte Pony Club Horse Trials: I have a new pony club and it is awesome. About the size of a MeCTA event, CPC puts on an annual schooling trials at Triple Combination Farm in Ferrisburgh, VT- about 20 minutes up Rt. 7 from the campus. Someone obviously put a ton of work into creating a beautiful cross country course, because it aside from a slightly (and we'll be generous with our use of the word slightly) soggy dressage warmup, the place was one notch down from Snowfields. Baby horse was really good on cross country but stadium was immediately after = fried by jump #3. But he got around the course, albeit a little more Luna-esquely than might have been desired, and earned a lot of cookies for being totally awesome.

Monday Oakley Lesson: Monday I got a lesson with Oakley, who teaches at Twitchell Hill.... and I got to ride Wimbledon, the most trained horse I have been on since I rode the very dear-to-my-heart Benjamin Moore back in April. Except Wimbledon has about three and a half hands on the 14 something Ben. The greatest thing was getting to do some coursework for MY benefit instead of for green horse X Y or Z. Revelation: there is a lot of room for improvement.

Today: Green Mountain Hounds Hunter Trials. AKA two rounds of cross country with no dressage or stadium. Oh, and also a gymkhana race. Ahem, Green Mountain Challenge Team Relay. No, I am not leaving the dark side to be a hunter. But doing courses is really good for Neil and he held up mentally better than last weekend. His first round was really good (possibly did not look like a hunter round but was nice and balanced, jumping everything happily etc. etc.) and the second was not quite as awesome, but I was glad he did it anyway- just the right amount of mental pressure and building confidence. The team challenge...well...that wasn't terribly hunteresque either.

But yeah, this is the GREATEST PLACE ON EARTH and totally worth the student loans.

That's all.

Medux Re-Ride Show with Jordan

Here's the quickest recap a burnt-out blogger can muster of the MRPC Re-Ride Schooling Show with Jordan Stordahl, whose blog is also more delinquent than mine (and you should give her a hard time about it):

Neil Intro C 63%, 69.5 % Major fixes: canter transitions, steadiness, me upper body position

Neil Beginner Novice A- 29 (71%) Major fixes: BBSH rockstar no re-ride

Aly Training 1- 72.5%, 73.3% Major fixes: shortened reins, not getting too deep, me upper body position (see how this is getting to be a theme)

Aly Training 2 - 75% Major fixes: red mare also rockstar no re-ride

Pony clubbers were awesome, Lucas scored 35 tests so THANK YOU so much, the Putnam Family (Cathy/Mac/Molly/Kate/Slew) were too cool for words, and Jordan did a great job helping everybody improve their rides, and I said goodbye to MRPC in style.

Pictures:

Adorable Putnam Clan- aka the Meduxnekeag Pony Club Alumni Association

Melissa York and Genesis, aka Big Girl, who won their Intro B test!

Amy Metherell of Horseplay Farm and the one and only Echo

and finally, BBSH, all reformed in his flatwork and being a rockstar like only Neil can do.

Oh and ALSO, you can now find Neverland Eventing on facebook. I'm not sure if Vicarious has Vicarious karma in the way EN has EN karma, but if it does, and you go like the Neverland page, you will surely receive some. Not promises as to how it will affect your life...but maybe it will cause your life to be filled with baby black super horses....you can dream.

Peter Atkins Clinic Recap

Yes, you read that correctly- Peter Atkins, the one and only. Of the Run Henny Run campaign, if that jogs any visions of awesome [get your Henny wear here]. We picked up Ashley Shaffer and her mare Duelli in Milo on the way down to the lovely Rest and Be Thankful Farm, and here's a tribute to my driving: six hours down and only missed one turn: the driveway. George Cheney was our wonderful host and his blog is even more horribly delinquent than mine, so you should give him a hard time about it.

I love clinics that aren't like, do this fence and now do that one, now put your heels down and do that one... Clinics that make you think differently are the best, and this was definitely one of them. Every new aspect of the lesson came with a physics lesson, which made me feel like deep down eventing was the reason I got a 3 and not a 2 on that AP physics exam (sorry Mrs. Lewis).

From the beginning:

What does a horse need to go on the bit?

Um, how about, the bit? In other words, Marina, stop throwing the inside rein at your horse when he does something right. He can't work into the contact if there's...only half a contact.

Can you hold a bowling ball at arm's length for a long time? And just how much does a bowling ball weigh?

Why, no, I can't, and isn't that odd that a bowling ball weighs 8 pounds, the same as my head. Insert physics smarts here: torque equals force times distance. The farther away something is from your body, the harder you work to keep it there. So if my head is that hard to hold away from my body, imagine if my whole upper body gets farther away from the Neil+Marina combined center of mass, how much more work that creates for everyone to stay balanced. And how odd, when I don't throw my upper body at my horse (making him have to lift both our front ends at the same time), how we no longer have the baby horse awkward jump? Mind blowing... just kidding, it makes more sense than anything I learned in high school (sorry Mrs. Lewis).

Moving on: quality gaits are what you need for a good everything: good jump, good flat, etc. And you get good at whatever you practice. So unless you practice quality gaits all the time...you get really good at being sub-par. A little Peter Atkins wisdom for you there.

And then on to water: I was actually impressed with BBSH (that's Baby Black Super Horse to you) not taking forever to make up his mind and splash in. Things I learned about water: oh, screw it, have a video.

Yes, that's right, splashing. To desensitize Duelli and Neil to being splashed...although BBSH kind of seemed to like being splashed. Also to sucking it up and being brave about not being able to see the bottom, and having their feet land differently than the would on turf (the hoof wobbles a bit more - imagine the whole pencil in a glass thing. Air's index of refraction is 1 and water's is 1.22, meaning what you see is not what you get as far as where you think your foot (hoof) is going to land because light rays get bent...toward the normal? I think that's it. If I'm wrong, well...sorry, Mrs. Lewis).

Next came banks, where I learned several things:

1. Landing with leg on is important, especially if your BBSH likes to land bucking like mine does.

2. A two foot bank is really a five foot jump....mind F#$&! Not really. Every jump is an arc, a perfect parabola. Ask Mrs. Lewis, I even proved it in a physics project once. So if the jump is two feet, and the horse needs room to unfold his legs at the top, the top of the arc needs to be five feet higher than where you started. It's the same both ways: up and down.

3. This means, if there is, say, a double bank- steps or whatever, you have to kick on SO MUCH to get the momentum to make the second five foot jump. The horse gets his momentum back from the acceleration of gravity on the second half of the parabola of the jump (got enough prepositions in that sentence?). So if you don't regain that momentum landing (five foot jump up, three foot jump down, you get it, right?) you have to recreate it with your human gas pedal.

After banks came ditches, where, as had been apparent throughout the lesson, telling my horse he's a GOOD BOY became really important. Neil is a bit of a diva superstar if you don't know him but underneath it all he's a bit insecure and he likes to know when he's doing his job right. To the point that he'll do his job right if you tell him he's a GOOD BOY before he's even done it...a bit backwards, yes, but in the grand scheme of radical ways to fix a horse's attitude, it worked, and it's free.

The results have been ridiculously good. I actually haven't jumped at all in the last two weeks- focusing on the flat, but Neil has been radically reformed since this and the Caitlin lesson. Not perfect, but majorly reformed. No credit goes to the figure 8 noseband....well, a little. But mostly to Peter Atkins. As with every good lesson, my position is in rehab again, my stirrup length was changed by four holes, and I have a slew of new things to say to students which will make them think I am super smart, even if I totally stole them. BBSH had a 6 hour ride home, wraps, bute, and some hand walking to make a full recovery if you don't count being totally sleepy for the rest of the week. But, on the plus side, I'm totally prepped for my Middlebury physics class.

Sorry, Mrs. Lewis.

one post at a time...

I feel like I can't begin a post without an apology these days, both for my delinquency as a blogger and for writing all my posts in the garbled thought-babble that I'm reduced to when I actually have time to write them. But here I am, so let's start where I left off- about a month ago.

A month ago, I was very frustrated with my flatwork. At the end of April, I had a happy horse, swingy to some degree at least, schooling some lateral work and finally not exploding in canter transitions. At the end of July, I had a horse who could barely canter without an explosion of bucking, wrong leads, and cross-cantering. His back was pretty sore, his trot work was (beware, non-PC language ahead) completely gone to shit, and my position left something to be desired as the result of two fairly traumatic experiences involving my right arm and my fear of landing on it again, and basically, the only thing I felt good about were his grids and his trot sets.

We were going to Springpoint to pick up Aly anyway, so (what the hell) we threw him in the Neilmobile and headed down for a lesson with Caitlin, in which we reestablished some basic yet apparently easy to forget principles of riding Neil:

Being elastic in the contact is really important, even in transitions where my subconscious thinks there's a possibility I might die, and in the downward transitions, too. Rebalancing after canters is more seat and leg half halts, less locking up in arms.

Telling him he's good when he's good is really important (we will see more of this soon with Peter Atkins...since we can see into the future since this post is a month late).

Not letting him associate/anticipate before transitions and psyche himself into a panic attack canter transition...yeah.

There was a lot more to the lesson, but it was a month ago, so it's pretty decent that I remember that much of it. What's cooler than the lesson itself? The results a month later, when I have almost got that April horse back, except with better canter work- rough transitions, but not explosive, and cantering whole circles! There will at some point be videos...but one post at a time.

Also, baby horse has chest muscles. Whoop!

#marry me hamish cargill...

So much going on! So many recaps, so little time...

Neil: spent the month re-learning some flatwork, thanks to Caitlin lesson, and also has a new hack buddy (Cloud) whose hunter mom we are dragging (kicking and screaming) over to the dark side eventing

Aly: home (Houlton), sound, doing nice flatwork, needs a new home now- free lease or sale, happy horse priority

Marina: will get back to you on that one

Snowfields: saw some scary stadium rounds but am I really one to judge after last year? Also bad directions = I'm very familiar with the back roads of southern Maine now...

Epona: lots of fun doing ratings and teaching a clinic! Awesome ponies and riders learned a lot, too, I think, although I definitely stole recycled some things from Steuart Pittman but they worked which was the important part

Middlebury: roomate shares love of coffee, starbucks, the killers, and is not allergic to horses = win

and now so that my readers don't start rioting about how crappy this blog has been lately,

I spy a SPF rainbow...

oh! and because of the title, here's a link to the best blog ever: http://www.hamishcargill.com/2011/08/happy-times.html?spref=tw

Steuart Pittman Clinic Recap

Friday baby horse, Mum and I packed into the Neilmobile for a trip to Rusty Knees Farm in Dover-Foxcroft for a clinic with Steuart Pittman, sponsored by Foxcroft and Penobscot Pony Clubs. Neil got a chill-out-tying-to-the-trailer-lesson (horses like Neil are the reason for tying to bailing twine, I swear) and I got to audit some lessons in the morning, and then our group rode last in the afternoon.

It was such an awesome lesson! It's really rare for me to get a cross-country lesson (like less than once a year rare) so it was great that we got to work on both stuff for the baby horse and stuff for me. I'm still working on implementing some of the position changes and I think some more trot sets in two-point are in order for me and my base of support. Baby horse improved dramatically from warmup (trying to buck me off) and the beginning in the lesson through to the end. I'm amazed that his brain stayed with us as long as it did- first ditch and bank included! I was glad we didn't have ditch issues (he literally crawled down into the half ditch and out the other side) and things got better when I was reminded like a D2 to keep my position solid and look where I'm going (imagine that!).

We had some greenness issues about getting straight to fences, which in a way were good- sometimes it's frustrating to have a lesson where your horse doesn't have any of the issues you have at home, so you don't get help fixing them. The clinic was just the right balance of having the issues we need to fix, fixing them, and challenging both of us. Making it through two cross country jumps in a row (little log two strides little log) was a big accomplishment, even though it didn't happen on the first shot. Looking back at a year ago, Neil wouldn't have survived two crossrails that close together out in the open, mentally or physically. Sometimes it doesn't feel like we've come that far since a year ago (and it's mind-blowing to think I've had this "new" horse for almost a year now), but days like Friday really show that he has, and now I feel a lot more confident about signing him up for an elementary schooling trial in September. There won't be anything on that course that he hasn't handled before.

Another great thing about the clinic (and there were a lot of great things about the clinic) was that we each got a little pink radio and an earpiece, which meant A) no screaming for Steuart and B) we could hear directions while we were riding a hundred yards away from the group, and we could hear all the directions everybody else got while they were riding. Probably wasn't a plus for the auditors, but it was really cool and definitely a big help- saved a lot of come back, talk, and go do it again. It was also pretty great to see Caitlin, Chloe, Steph, and Mica from Springpoint Farm while we were there!

Links for your video enjoyment: half-ditch, ditch, Steph and Mica, baby course.

Go ride cross-country!

Thank you Gena

for making my day by posting this:

I mean, seriously, does it get any better? Thank you Springpoint for letting everyone love my pony for me!

#tribute

Dolores, from the Spanish, 'many sorrows.'

I'm sadly reporting a tragedy this afternoon. One third of the three-part team that is the rusty, green, broke, and undercaffeinated Neverland Eventing (also known as "Marina will ride it if it has four legs", incorporated) has left us, and it appears to be permanent.

The team that was once Marina, Neil, and Dolores the Subaru, is now Marina, Neil, and Marina's Bicycle.

The tragedy happened suddenly. At 4:45 AM, Dolores was just about to pull into the driveway at Hogan Farm when her power steering gave out following her making what can only be described as a "weird noise." Followed by losing her ability to move forward, followed by losing the brakes, including the emergency brake. Luckily, she coasted into the stable yard and rolled to a stop.

The diagnosis: a big gear in the engine cracked into a zillion pieces resulting in no gas getting in and no car moving forward. At 13 years old, and with 239,500 miles (many of them with a somewhat abusive driver who shall remain unnamed), the decision was made to humanely call AAA. Dolores may or may not have been subjected to foul language at this point.

Watching her loaded up onto the tow truck to be returned to my yard, I was reminded of just where those many miles with Dolores have taken me. To the County Road the first time I saw Aly, to Virginia, for USPC Championships, and more recently to Dover, New Hampshire, to visit my poor horse in isolation. Dolores was the car in which I learned to drive stick shift (sorry car) and while she did not suffer at the end, she certainly suffered a lot of other times, like second semester of my senior year, when I more or less lived in my car. She was a real trooper about going days at a time with the gas light on and not going off the road in the winter (much).

Dolores is survived by Neil, myself, and a bike, who is suddenly getting a lot more use. Funny story- I actually met an oil baron at a party last week (don't ask) who asked me where I bought my gas, and being a smartass, I told him I rode my bike everywhere, save the whales, that sort of thing. And now, I really am riding my bike everywhere. Karma's a bitch.

Dolores would ask that in lieu of donations, happy thoughts be sent to other piece of shit cars everywhere. May you, too, not break down on the highway.

A small memorial service will be held for family and friends, date and time TBA.

Happy 4th!

Or, if you're Neil, happy belated Canada Day.

Summer, it seems, is just starting to get good. A weekend trip to Vermont found Neil a perfect (really perfect) barn with an indoor and lots of other event prospects for me to ride, within biking distance of campus, and potential mucking/riding/teaching jobs. How do we know it's the place for us? Well, it could have to do with the fact that while we were waiting for the barn manager to get home from the horse show, they just put me on a horse (my kind of people, and my kind of big Irish event horse, come to think of it). Can we say, happy broke college student?

Last week, I spent a few days at the Hundred Acre Wood in Jefferson- home of Clary Lake Pony Club, day camp, and Jack the wonder pony stallion. I had a blast teaching there! Tuesday we had a fun jump group after the camp lessons and then picked up a couple of horses (great job Melissa, Justin, Emma, Livy, and Keyanna!). Wednesday was camp lessons again, and then a little reunion with my Champs '08 teammate Jessica Champagne, who is prepping for her HB rating. Rach has tons of horses to look at, so we did a lot of conformation and anatomy- good review for my rusty, someday HA candidate brain. Thursday started wonderfully late with a 10 AM lesson for Melissa again, which was really fun because she rode Brig, who had been struggling with some adjustability issues the day before. Brought out Ali Stillers' good old 6/6/7/5/6 exercise (Abby Moody, if you're reading this, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about) for some striding fun. Afternoon jump group got a really fun grid/land and turn exercise which really helped and challenged some horses! I hadn't taught in a while and I always forget how much fun it is.

What I also forgot was that teaching really helps me ride better. It's not just that I'm more aware of my own position out of guilt or whatever (i.e., I just told ten kids to keep their heels down, guess I'd better do some no-stirrup work today); I can also think-talk to myself more constructively (i.e., instead of jeeze, that was a shitty leg yield, it's do it again with more weight in your left stirrup or something like that). Prepping with Jess reminded me that somewhere in my future is another upper level testing and I need to ride like I'm prepping for it, every single day. And mastering my own evil jumping exercises with perfect position ought to keep me busy for a long, long time.

In general news, I finally got Neil out for a hack and some light trot sets (two minutes), his first at the new barn he's at. Farm roads are my favorite for hacking, they definitely beat the back roads with cars going 65 past you and no shoulder. I just need to find some hills- I'm definitely missing the Horseplay Farm hayfields right now, so maybe I'll pop over there some day this week. Neil also put on some weight, finally, and he looks awesome if I do say so myself. Although Nub (aka Rapunzel) isn't terribly fit, he now understands that bucking and bolting areunacceptable responses to being allowed outside the indoor arena, so we have been playing with some transitions and figures outside (very exciting).

Next week I'm rating some kids at Foxcroft Pony Club on Thursday and doing HB stuff with Ashley, and then it looks (though looks may deceive) like I have a whole weekend with no major commitments, so a possible trip to Hancock. Pumped! What else am I pumped for you may ask? Charlotte Pony Club Schooling Trials at Triple Combination Farm in my soon-to-be new pony club, opening date in a week. Elementary division, prepare to be dominated by your newest upper level member and her baby superhorse. Last but not least, one constitutional theory nerd is enjoying herself some horrible Nicholas Cage movies in honor of the Founding Fathers and Independence Day.

Cheers!

Marina

summer is upon us

It has been so long since the last post that Blogger had the nerve to ask me for my password instead of logging me in automatically like it always does...I feel betrayed. But it's an indication of how nuts this summer has been (is...shall continue to be...). I was under the mistaken impression that my life would magically become easier once I graduated, and boy, was I wrong. Turns out being forced to sit down for six hours a day is not that bad!

Life news: not so much. Barn #1 at 4:30 AM, then usually Barn #2 around 9, and then either (sometimes and) back to Barn #1 again or to Barn #3. Occasionally Barn #4. Not usually the same day as #3. But you get the picture. I think I might have it easier just working full time at Subway or something, because the keeping track is the hardest part. My little black calendar is full of scribbles, which is great, except I never look at it. Or know where it is. But anyway. Nub, one of the horses I exercise for his owner, taped in at 75 pounds skinner on Monday than a few weeks ago, which is a big deal because he doesn't even have to think about food to put on weight. He does about three days a week with me and I'm pleased to say that he has started to learn that cantering is fun! On the downside, we have to stop every ten minutes to get his respiration out of the distress zone. But he's coming along and he's also learned that bucking and bolting require too much effort for too little result...aka, he hasn't been able to get me off. Yet.

I also started some of my other rides over fences this week, which was really exciting because those two horses were really willing and surprisingly athletic about it, considering neither of them had seen a standard before in their lives. Tucker has especially come a long way and is slowly developing an understanding of stretching over his back instead of curling into a frame and not being forward enough, and the gymnastic of the little crossrail grid I put him in helped him out with his canter work a lot. Mal, a little QH superstar, also felt a lot more comfortable cantering in three beats (instead of, like, one) off a baby fence. These western ponies are having to stretch a lot for me mentally and I am determined I will make Tuck into a show hunter yet!

In Neil news, I scored a stall at the first barn I work at mornings...palatial stall and indoor pretty much to myself! The footing is amazing and I can really feel a difference in his canter transitions- did I mention he got his ass over his abscess last week, finally? He also got his teeth done and wolf tooth yanked out...which was cool because the vet let me keep it. It's floating around in my car with a lot of other crap. I think. Coincidentally he has improved in his not-leaning-on-the-right-rein...or I have...not sure on that either but we'll take it. He did his first gridwork today in a while and talk about a superstar! He is learning to like bounces. Which is good, because he's going to be doing a lot of them. There's a bunch of hay stacked next to his stall, which he can reach through the side bars. So tonight he's happy in his Back on Track sheet snacking hay through the wall. Hopefully he will get turned out with Nub next week. He is kind of an asshole in the paddock so maybe he will chase Nub around and get some more pounds off him! One can dream.

Finally, logged into my Midd accounts online (new email: mdimarco@middlebury.edu, although the old one is also equally operational) and found out they reviewed my financial aid and gave me...more free money! And also some loans. But I think the way it works out with my other scholarships, some of the unsubsidized ones will be covered for me...or maybe not...I should get an economics degree just for figuring out all that crap. I'm headed to VT this weekend to chekc out barns for Neil- one is actually run by a college friend of my Mom's and the other is home base for my new Pony Club, Charlotte Pony Club. They have a schooling trial a few days after I'll arrive...thinking of signing up for fun! And, unrelated, but props to my mom, who made it up and down Mt. Katahdin today! Well, actually, she's not home yet. But I think she survived...we'll see!

Cheers!

Marina

Farrier Day

Today was farrier day, meaning the hundred-some mile haul to Peppergrass Farm for Neil to get his feet done. It was the first time I had done the drive by myself, and I really, really hate hauling by myself, so it was a relief to get there early (though it's impossible to get their earlier than Debbie herself...but anyway). Neil got a trim and had his front shoes replaced and then went to do work in the outdoor where he was suddenly...yes, you guessed it- lame. Luckily Deb was still there so we pulled the shoe off, checked everything out and put it back on for something of an improvement. I had let him go longer between visits than I normally do but my suspicion is that he stepped on a rock and is being a wimp about it. Anyhow tomorrow was a scheduled day off anyway, so he gets the benefit of the doubt til Thursday and he should be fine by then (insert rant about how every horse I get is a WIMP here).

I hate to admit it, but I had an awful time staying awake on the drive home. This lead to self-medicating with Dysarts coffee and a big Mountain Dew... and a really bad crash and burn nap at like 5:30. My inability to stay awake may have something to do with all the 4:00 mornings...but that's just a guess. It has already been a really busy week: two lessons with Holly Rutland Sunday and Monday to kick it off! The Sunday lesson was Neil's first trip to Pat McIntosh's (what's a weekend without a field trip for the baby horse) where he enjoyed her lovely outdoor ring and a sleepover with Beacon and Candy. The Monday lesson was much more, er, focused. The second derivative version of the Sun/Mon clinic was this:

1. Riding the hind legs is very, very important (who'd have thought, right?).

2. Clarity of communication is very, very important (who'd have thought, right?).

3. Applying both of above factors leads to very nice things from baby horses.

Lookin more like Rolling Stone every day

Anyhow, between that the the four other horses I had Monday, work, and graduating, it has been kind of nuts. Graduation went really, really well however, other than discovering afterward that Uncle Rich had a note saying "I'm Marina's Uncle" pinned on his back the whole time. They sat in the front row, so only two thousand or so people got a chance to see it...I love my family.

From True Prospect:

For those of you who have been living under a rock these last couple of days, Boyd Martin and his students lost six horses from their program in a tragic fire at the True Prospect Barn. Other horses are being treated and recovering at the New Bolton Center. Boyd and his students are always a class act and are terrific horsemen to boot, and everyone's hearts go out to them. From Boyd's website:

"We have put up a page on our website that has all the info regarding the tax deductible fund.
If you are one of our sponsors, or just a concerned friend or fan, can you please put this link on your website or distribute it to those who may help?

The direct link is:
http://www.boydandsilvamartin.com/Pages/boyd/ReliefFund.html

Thanks again for all the requests on this.....LT"

Vicarious gets all of one hit per day but if you wouldn't mind passing this along, checking your fire extinguishers, and giving your horse an extra carrot today...You can also support Boyd by buying Denny Emerson's book How Good Riders Get Good or by purchasing an Ecogold saddle pad- they're donating 50% of profits to the TPF Recovery Fund.

NER Standards & Ratings/ HM in photos

Discussing warmup
Longe
They were everywhere
Good boy!

super quick weekend recap

I had an amazing weekend! My first lesson in a month had me a bit nervous for some reason...I've developed a weird psychosis about riding in front of National Examiners (thank you, Pony Club). But I couldn't pass on a free lesson with Sali Gear at the Northeast Region Standards and Ratings Clinic, so we threw baby horse in the Neilmobile and off we went...so so glad we did!

Baby horse was an absolute angel in his warmup (adjustable and non-explosive despite the beautiful peacocks everywhere) and his grid. At one point I thought I'd let him be done but that was not in the cards- Sali made the grid bigger! He got a little overfaced but once he got his confidence back he jumped really well, and I didn't feel the horrible position issues I worked on last month as badly as before. SO EXCITED to get that kind of lesson again. He jumped well, he flatted well, in a group, in a strange place, in a big arena with no walls, in front of a NE. This horse is going places people!

The other best part of the day was teaching some fabulous longeing to some fabulous C candidates and getting to switch onto the two red mares who were in my lesson. One switch was a little more successful than the other but I felt like I got a good read on both of them. I always want more time when I get to work on other people's horses, but anyway, it was great to get back into discussing rides with a NE and the whole strange horse scan/diagnose/treat mode of thinking. Made Auntie Caitlin proud I hope! I video of some grids but my computer won't load it from the camera. But anyway, there will be pictures later! Mom snapped some shots of the peacocks when she wasn't chasing them out of the ring (new job title: Peacock Wrangler...sounds like a reality TV show).

Always,
Marina

#last day of high school

That's right. It's my last day of high school. Well, more or less. I have a biochem final on Tuesday, but that doesn't count. I'm feeling very ready (possibly more ready than I really am) to leave the halls of HHS in the hands of the underclassmen.

What does this mean? For starters, it means I need to get my act together and write a speech for graduation. The advisor neither understands nor accepts "but I'm riding and teaching this weekend" as an excuse for why she has not yet seen a draft. Graduation speeches are weird, though. We're leaving behind high school. We'll all still be living with our parents tomorrow. There's not really a Stargate to adulthood that appears when they hand you your diploma. If there was, I'm pretty sure I'd run the other way. So anyhow, that's my challenge for the weekend.

This weekend should be an exciting one, though! Sali Gear is coming up to teach at the Northeast Region's Standards and Ratings Clinic and I get to do the demo lunging...which means? That's right, free HA lunge prep session for me! Hopefully I don't need my ass kicked too badly. I don't longe much outside Pony Club, first because Neil is a little angel and doesn't need to be longed that much. A lot of the people I work horses for aren't into conventional groundwork and prefer to call it "circling game-" rope halter, bridle, carrot stick, whip.... not that different. Speaking of which, this month has been really great (and crazy) in that I've had the opportunity to ride a lot of horses for a lot of people. Nothing I love better than getting paid to make ponies feel better. Tucker can now do a halt transition without flying into reverse. Lizzy can canter without crowhopping. Cutter can stretch down and not lose his mind. Nub...well, Nub is on a walk program until he loses a few more pounds.

And my own horse! Finally the front field is dry enough to ride in consistently and he is SO much happier to work outside because a) he has a lot more room and b) I use my outside aids better. His canter transitions are getting more and more solid and his balance in the canter has come a long way this spring. I'm still working out what I'll be doing with him this summer (depends on where I can get what for a job) but I am so excited to take him to Vermont in the fall. And GMHA is revamping their courses just for me, Tremaine Cooper style!

In other news, the Mitchell Scholarship will be making it $6,000 easier for me to pay for college, so shoutout to the Mitchell Institute, my last (LAST) concert at HHS was last night and ended with a very nice Dave Matthews jam from the reunited Senior band, All-State was last weekend (also a blast), and I got to stop by Springpoint to see Aly and Caitlin after. How's that for a run-on sentence? Although Houlton is a very frustrating place to live some (okay, most) of the time, there's too much to be excited about right now. Starting with graduation. Next Thursday.

Cheers!

Marina

it's been too long

It's been too long since my last post, but I have a host of good excuses, so you'll have to forgive me.

reason #1

My horse got sick (in the middle of AP exam week). Aly, whose diva greatness we all know, love, and appreciate, picked up a random virus, decided she didn't like it, and had to go to New England Equine in Dover, NH. Literally, she's been there for a week of ultrasounding, belly taps, CBCs, bloodwork, PCR labs, you name it; the official diagnosis remains "some random virus." That said, she had a 104 degree fever and a couple days of acting colicky because of it earlier in the week, so she had to go. She is now all better, after spending the week in isolation because of the unknown nature of her lovely virus and the low white blood cell count she presented with. The good news is, she was tested for everything horrible and it wasn't any of those, and once she was on IV fluids for a couple of days, she bounced back to her normal self. Weirdly, she didn't actually have a 'real' colic; that is, no impaction, no hormones, no gas, no twisted gut, not even a little peritonitis. My guess it the funky virus/fever combo just had her feeling uncomfortable.

As much as that sucks, a lot of really great people were really awesome for me when they didn't have to be, starting with Caitlin, who hauled her down and stayed with her while they ran initial tests. Next, the extern, who, when I showed up at Dover at 10:30 PM Tuesday night and accosted her in the parking lot ('Do you work here?'), let me in and found me Aly's intern. Then there's the rest of the staff at Dover, who were really great and let me see my horse, even though it meant little plastic booties, latex gloves and a blue gown thing. My employers, all of whom were very understanding about letting me leave, and of course, my mom, for accepting "I'll make it happen" as a solution for how I'm going to pay her back the vet bill. Last but not least, Dolores, my car, for not dying even when the right front tire tried to fall off on the way home, and for going above the speed limit even though that's starting to get to be a bit of a challenge for her.

reason #2

New job! I'm now doing morning chores and some other miscellaneous awesome stuff for Kathy at Hogan Farm. It's great timing, first because I really needed to find a second "real" job, and also because she's very flexible about how crazy my end-of-senior-year life is getting to be. Plus, Sara, Champ (Blondie), and Cluey are very excited to see my smiling face when I come to feed them in the morning. So staying busy with that and

reason #3

Boston trip! Band and chorus went to Boston this weekend, and I went with them, phone in hand in case I got a call from the vets at Dover, but regardless. The actual performance at the festival was less exciting than the rest of it (watched my first Harry Potter movie ever on the bus ride down, life changing experience right there). We stopped at Six Flags yesterday, where I rode my first rollercoaster. It ranks right below my stadium round at Snowfields last year for times when I thought I was going to die and there was nothing I could do about it. I'm pretty sure the children seated behind me learned a new collection of words not to say in front of their mothers. But there's one for the bucket list, accomplished.

So, until I have ten minutes off again, here's to people coming through for you when they don't have to, horses who beat a sense of humor into us with two by four, and the day, far, far, away, when I will get ten hours of sleep at night. Cheers!

happy working student post #home

It's been a heck of a week.

Since my last post, I've ridden a bunch of horses, gained a bridle for Neil, begun the process of fixing my jumping position, packed it all up, left Springpoint (and Posh), spent three hours alternately sitting and standing up to clap at a scholarship dinner, ridden at a dressage show (first of my life, somehow), packed it all up again, arrived back in H-town, dropped off my horse, and done two loads of laundry. In the meantime, Mary King double-won Rolex (I didn't know you could do that).

Since when was coming home this much work?

Starting at the beginning of last week, I had some self-inflicted ups and downs. Peggy Paine, Caitlin's mom and my other mother away from home, brought out her best therapist voice (ride the plan you have today- yeah, it's a mantra now) in a lesson where my mind was in how-the-f$%^-will-I-make-this-work land and not in the ring. Not to go terribly off-topic, but my mare is at Springpoint Farm for another week, sound, and schooling first level. She needs a rider to lease and love her, and she needs Troy to keep doing her feet. And I really need not to be paying that set of bills anymore. But moving on.

Neil had a great field trip to Snowfields with Teen on Wednesday: flatwork in one of the rings (no explosions, yay!) and then a nice hack in the woods. He's a total pro, best baby horse ever, and I am working very hard on my bad marriage with the right rein to try and fix it permanently. I also had some really nice rides on Ben. It's awesome to ride a trained horse over fences and work on my position, but it's also a great feeling to just ride a horse on the flat and make it feel better. He's a little superstar and I'm going to have to come back and steal him. And his plaid boots. Obviously. I got a trip to Gritty's and leftover cheesecake for breakfast, and like 18,000 boxes of Peeps.

And then there was today: Neil's first show (ever) and my first non-rally dressage show experience. We had a nice lonely warmup up in the sand ring at Puckerbrush and then a very quiet test in the indoor. Baby horse pulled a very stellar 70% in Intro C, so we called it quits while we were ahead. While we were loading him up my mom noticed a nice split in my right front trailer tire- thank god for the crew from Someday Farm who lent us a yellow Trailer-aid jack so we could put the spare on. Let's all breathe a sigh of relief that baby didn't blow while we were on 95.

Neil is now happily chilling out at Horseplay Farm (very amped to go back to his big field tomorrow I should think) and I am in my own bed with the internet (luxury!). It's weird being home in so many ways- living with my parents again instead of on my own, driving my stick shift car again, and mostly missing the awesome people I just spent three weeks with. I will sorely miss spending 85 hours a week at the barn, one or two lessons every day, and my alternate family of Paines and company (speaking of which, I still have Uncle John's - I think - sweatshirt from that Easter brunch hike around Fort Williams) and Cody, and Gena, and Bud, and the boarders, and, and, and.... I can't wait to come back. I've been so horribly spoiled that this last month of school will be a bit of a struggle, but it's nice to have my mom paying for groceries again.

So, back in South Canada. The show goes on.

happy working student post #starbucks

I have the morning off because we didn't leave Springpoint until 10 last night, so I got up this morning and scooted myself over to Freeport to the Starbucks, which has coffee, in case you were wondering, and also free internet.

It's Friday, which means I've been here for two weeks now- unbelievable. I'd really rather not go home for one more month of high school (into which is crammed AllStateAPexamsseniortrippromsuejacomaclinicbostonmusictripfinals). The closeness of everything is so easy- why yes, I can run into town in the morning. Oh, and we're scooting over to Snowfields this afternoon. It's a scoot. Not a four hour drive.

Neil got an "Aunty Caitlin ride" the other day, in which it was revealed that all his right rein issues are really my right rein issues. So I will be doing a lot of one (left)-handed riding this week. I've also been getting to ride a pony named Benjamin Moore, former Wellington circuit pro hunter, for his rider while she in Europe over vacation. He's fantastic to jump (I hadn't jumped a trained horse in a really long time), does adorable little changes, and has been doing a lot of suppling work this week, so when she gets back she will have to accept that we have converted him into a dressage pony. Aly is feeling back-happy and foot-happy despite getting round 1 of her spring shots Wednesday, and I've been getting to ride her a few days a week. It's a good feeling to get to ride 3 horses in one day.

In other news, my supply of Lucky Charms is rapidly being depleted, Neil ripped a shoe off while wearing bell boots after a whopping 8 days, and is getting it put back on this afternoon, I miss my Houlton friends but not Houlton, and my mom sent me an Easter package, so I have lots of Peeps for when my cereal runs out.

happy working student post #1

Nutella & Flipsides make my world go round.

Time for a blog update! Way overdue, in fact. I have been here at Springpoint Farm an entire week now. In case you missed the memo (or in case I didn’t leave one), I’m spending three weeks of my senior year as a working student for eventing and dressage instructor extraordinaire, Caitlin Donahue.

And now, it’s 10:30 PM, and I’m cooking dinner (first hot meal in 8 days) and moving in at Runaway Ridge Farm, whose family (Dave, Heidi, Ali and Holly) are awesomely letting me stay here while they’re having a family adventure. So it’s just me, Posh (the kitty) and four chickens (rest in peace, fifth chicken). I switched houses today, and I think I might have left a loaf of bread in my truck somewhere. Such is the life.

I left last Friday right after my last class. Luckily, Neil and I had an uneventful haul down, and pulled into Springpoint at around 8:30- not bad considering I missed the exit for 295 and ended up calling Robby Stairs (favorite not-really-adopted brother) and figuring out how to turn myself around and still end up in the same place. Success.

Since then I’ve had several awesome rides on Neil (who has settled in awesomely, lovin his fence buddy Merlin), starting the first day in the outdoor (yes, Houlton, that’s right, in the outdoor). Generally aside from some little wild monster pony episodes he’s acted much older than his age. He got new shoes, courtesy of Troy, and new baby blue bell boots to keep them on. Did I mention we took a trip to the Dover Tent Sale? Picked up a very large Back on Track sheet for him to cook in. It will take a little altering to fit him- he’s not quite 87”. I also managed to follow extremely complicated directions (drive in a straight line) to the Freeport grocery store, so now I have food, which is good. Lou, the awesome person with whom I crashed last week, got sick of watching me eat Lucky Charms for dinner and started making me salads. In my defense, Lucky Charms covers at least two food groups...corn syrup is a vegetable, right?

I’ve been really tech challenged (I only get wireless at the barn, where my phone doesn’t get service at all- thanks T-mobile) so my communication with the outside world has been, shall we say, less than frequent. If you want me for anything during the day, shoot me a text or a FB message, because texts eventually get through to my phone...it’s weird. But there will be pictures, eventually, and lots of stories!

Tomorrow Caitlin and I are off to teach at NER’s Ready to Ride Camp for a few hours. Supposed to be a lovely storm here so I’m lucky not to be doing stalls for twenty some horses while they are in all day! Stay tuned for further adventures...

april...blizzards

Neil's adventure of the day: a short haul over to AVS for a little physical and his spring shots. Dr. Leeth did them all at once, which I wasn't used to, but he said the immune system can really handle them all and it saves extra days of his neck being sore. Needless to say Neil was especially excited for the intranasal strangles...lots of lip curling. He was actually much better behaved than I expected. Felt bad for the vet standing out in the snow! Had a nice chat with him about vet schools in the South, though (he remembers when Southern Pines was all just...pine trees). It's pretty cool to actually get a vet up here who knows where Aiken is at all.

Hopefully his Coggins comes back before we head down to southern Maine for April! For anyone who cares how a Coggins test works, the HHMI has a virtual ELISA (that's enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to you) test which you can perform here if you are an immunology nerd like me. It doesn't work very well in Chrome. Anyway, I'm hoping baby black horse can do some dressage at Puckerbrush farm May 1st, on the way home from some very much looked-forward-to time with Caitlin prepping for the summer and a possible H test (not that I can find one anywhere in New England that works for me to attend, but hey).

Snow days are great days for bloggers. Unfortunately, I think this nth extra snow day will mean HHS seniors get to renegotiate the date of graduation and our makeup days...again. And as much as I love meetings with our interim superintendent, I'd much rather be sitting at home watching Colbert make fun of the governor and reading Best of Craigslist. Or, possibly, trying to convince Neil that he's an event horse.

It's really sad that I can still end posts with:

Stay warm! (even though it's April, and I know the snow is making you as depressed as it's making me)

Neil's celebrity look-alike:

Unquestionably Rolling Stone II.

Photo cred: Emily Daily/ Josh Walker, USEA

...after like ten years of practicing using his hind end better. I can see it.

old friends and the end of march

March has been a great month, really, it has. But it's always a little crazy as well. I'm a full fledged geek, and since I don't believe in half-assing anything, I end up trying to master everything I commit to (note to self: not good for mental health).

Last weekend was the state instrumental jazz festival at MDI. The title 'festival' does not begin to cover it. Jazz band is a source of lots of....well, let's say we have a love-hate relationship. As in, I love jazz band and hate rehearsing when it is sunny and I could be at the barn. We had a couple of great performances, though, made night finals, came home with a trophy. And guess who came away with one of the five coveted outstanding musicianship awards? You got it. So, thankfully, jazz is over, forever, for me. Miles on the road: 360, if you count the side trip to Denny's, where we had some adventures and a waiter who really wasn't excited to see 24 hungry teenagers at 11 PM.

Baby black pony has been a little bit neglected this week due to show choir taking over my life. It seems like 'one more week of this' is becoming a mantra of mine, but there is always one more week of something. He was fantastic Monday and Tuesday, got Wednesday off, and was a wild little puke Thursday though he is getting the hang of sidereins. Friday I made the mistake of pulling his mane on the crossties, assuming that since we had done this before without incident it would be fine. He scared himself and broke out of his third halter in about as many months, although I actually think it had less to do with me yanking hair out of his neck and more to do with the wildly exciting nothing that was happening. Good thing for him he's pretty cute. And now looks much more like an future event horse and less like a mustang.

Last night an old friend of mine came up for a visit- and by old friend I mean we took our first hunt seat lessons together at the age of nine and I was always terribly jealous that she got a pony before I did. So lots of shenanigans to be had this weekend, and lots to celebrate, too- honor parts were made official this week at HHS and I'm the valedictorian, whoop whoop. One of my best friends is the salutatorian and between the two of us we'll have all we can do to keep our speeches school appropriate! The weather has been deceitfully sunny (and freezing) but I will of course be procrastinating scholarship applications for a few more hours as I'm headed back to the barn.

doable.

Allison Springer: ". . . I definitely need to work on is that key stage of recognizing 'the point where an athlete may have to admit their limits, … but still find a way to get the best possible result.'"

Allison may officially be my new favorite eventer: helmet at Rolex, victory at Red Hills, and let's not forget, Dean's List Bowdoin grad. It's reassuring to me that I'm not alone in my quest to attain that caliber of an education and also ride (eventually) the upper levels. It's doable. I tend to let things consume my life and the idea of packing all my plans for the next four years into, well, four years, scares the living $#*t out of me most days.

I've had pretty decent rides on baby black horse these last couple of nights, which got me thinking about how far he's come along and how lucky I was to find him when I did- my horses always seem to just fall into my lap when I'm about to quit looking for them. He's the polar opposite of the red mares ( the whatnowwhatnowwhatnow brains) and a totally different brain and physique from Orient (how soon would you like to be airborne) and Beacon (do I have to move that fast) as well. CMP quote of the week: "Yes, all horses are the same but different, aren't they?" ringing home. Having a baby horse is forcing me to take everything much more slowly (I am turning into a squirrel, though, need-another-horse-to-ride-today syndrome). So if anyone wants to board a horse up here for me to work, jazz band ends tomorrow- sixth and final state festival of my career, show choir ends April 2, and there's really not a whole ton going on after that. The spring season has gone really fast. And it's not even spring yet.

Mary Drew's Wednesday update

MD stacking buckets like a pro

Anyone who spends enough time around me has probably picked up on the fact that sometimes, I can get a little too focused on the big picture and forget to enjoy the process, but yesterday was definitely an enjoy-the-process sort of day. It felt like spring!

We started the afternoon off with a major victory- clippers. Tip of the day: schedule clip time for central baby pony naptime. Black pony, who has previously broken out of two halters in attempts to escape the evil buzzing blades of doom, stood sleeping in the yard (no drugs, honest) while he got a bridle path (it had been a while), lost his winter beard (mostly) and started to look a little bit more like an event horse (and a little bit less like a wildebeast). Hopefully this means we'll be okay with clippers again in the future.

Neil sans whiskers

We then took our first hack of the season, hitting up the McSheffrey Rd. and hunting for hills. It was lovely out, lots of puddles to splash through, etc. - good thing he likes water- and it was a pretty nice quiet experience until Neil decided a school bus going by him was as good an excuse as any to be naughty. We had a nice little buck/canter down the road for about a quarter of a mile, after which we did walk-halt transitions all the way back to the barn. I will not be hacking him out on the buckle for some time now as you may imagine.

Funny though, I had been kind of sore and I think he may have snapped something back into place in the process of behaving like a complete ass, so he may have saved me a trip to the chiropractor at any rate.

wearing his helmet like a good PCer

MRPC bandaging links

Stable Bandage Links:

http://www.equisearch.com/horses_riding_training/english/eventing/video_oconnor_leg_wrap_070210

Best video ever. Max is the head groom for the O’Connor Event Team, and if you wrap like she shows you in this video, your horse will thank you and so will your examiners at your next rating. This is textbook.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7WFnASxTrM

She says “you can pull pretty snug,” but be aware that a too-tight bandage can be very dangerous and even result in a ‘bandage bow’ or a bowed tendon from uneven bandage pressure. Bandages should finish on the outside as she demonstrates, and pins are allowed for pony club, but they’re wicked difficult to handle if you’re not really used to bandaging. Pony club will have you put pins vertically, as show, parallel and horizontal, or in an X, and secure the bandage with a spiral of tape. Think about the disadvantages of pins, also- how many horses do you know who would rip that bandage off or injure themselves on the pins (Neil would try to eat them, for example). It’s a very old school method, Velcro is way easier to work with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4nZPqvhuDA&feature=related

This method demonstrates a ‘cupping’ approach, more support under the fetlock. The statement at the end ‘try and change them every 24 hours’ is NOT correct, stable bandages should not be left on more than 12 hours. If they go on at 6 PM, you had better be there at 6 AM to take them off. Especially when you’re new at putting on bandages, the risk of injury from the bandages is increased if you leave them on too long. Plus, most of the event horses I have wrapped would tear their bandages off with their teeth if you left them on much longer. Also note the horse in this vid desperately needs his feet done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9JjSl_NYjg&NR=1

Gives good reasons for using bandages- one she doesn’t mention is we often use stable wraps to support another bandage, like a knee, hock, or spider bandage. The materials she uses are popular in the UK, NOT appropriate for Pony Club, and are an example of materials waaay too long for the horse. Imagine if you put these on your horse and left him overnight- when he laid down, he would be pinched both in his fetlock and behind the accessory carpal bones (behind the knee) and cut off circulation, likely resulting in tendon damage. Max talks about this in the first video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBgFaGuBlJQ&feature=related

A properly wrapped track wrap or flannel will make your job a lot easier. Just don’t set it down on a hill where it can unroll when you set it down!

For more stable bandaging fun:

USPC C Manual &

USPC Bandaging Manual, pages 5-25, 30-31

WC victory post

Finally got in a ride on Neil today. After fifteen minutes of airs above the ground on the longe, he was an angel. And I learned not to give him five days off in a row.

Today was actually probably the most relaxing day this week (Tuesday: discussing farriers and X-rays while on a bus to Orono, Wednesday: jazz, battle of the bands rehearsal, show choir, Thursday: show choir, sound check, battle of the bands concert) with total sleep hours clocking in at like...negative. Cheers to my fellow members of the class of '11 and of the Tanner Caron Six, as I refer to our victorious senior band. I literally shredded a bow and had to switch halfway through... very cool.

Aly saw Dr. Reynolds today for a chiro workup at Caitlin's suggestion and she found more than she ever has before: sore withers, C7 out and lots of muscular stuff, so hopefully after that big adjustment and some more time under the Back on Track sheet she will be feeling great. Troy reset her front shoes and found a lot of sole soreness and some heel pain, but she was much better after (from what I hear). I really hope we can get her pain-free so she can have some fun with Ellie! I was sitting in the auditorium today and they played a sound clip for a Quiz question (It's Winter Carnival at HHS, when they give us a day of absolute silliness to keep us from killing ourselves, and each other, in the middle of winter). Anyhow it was the song I always used to roll down the window to sing to her when we were trekkin on the highway- brought back lots of memories, esp. of the Bobby Costello clinic we kicked off our season with last year. I may or may not have teared up.

But pumped and planning a terrific schedule of clinics for N-dawg this summer! Ian Roberts at Rohirrim Farm, yeah, be jealous.

Stay warm!

lesson vids

are here, here, and here (click)

Enjoy!

Aly and Neil like it at Springpoint!

rollercoaster day:

Sometimes I think school days are easier than weekends: I get six hours of the day when relatively little is demanded of me except that I pretend to pay attention and don't attempt to overthrow the government, etc. I have yet to cover less than two hundred miles on the highway for a single weekend in 2011, and this weekend was no different (total highway miles: 808, miles in my truck: 459).

It has been an eventful weekend. Props to the Blackhawks for making my Saturday night with a lovely comeback. Can't wait to spend 227 more miles on the highway to play in the band at your game Tuesday. Sunday was an early AM departure (from a very, very icy driveway at Horseplay Farm) for Springpoint Farm in Durham. Aly is spending some time there for Ellie, a student of Caitlin's, to have fun with. If all goes well the Air Mare will stay there while I go to college and turn Neil into a 4 star event horse.... or an any star event horse. We'll take what we can get. Needless to say there were lots of tears and carrots involved, but it was quite obvious that she liked Ellie a lot and I know Caitlin, Gena and everybody at Springpoint will take really good care of her! She has the best stall in the barn, no neighbors and the first one in the door so she always knows what's up. From Gena: 'Aly was surprised and delighted when the door to the barn opened. Woke her up poor deah...but the hay and water was gladly accepted. What a sweetie.' And now I have an excuse to go down there for lessons all the time.

Speaking of lessons, I had an especially great one with today while we were down there. Baby black horse was a bit wild but he settled down when we brought his sister back to see him (somehow my two horses who hate each other became best friends in the trailer on the way down and were completely and obnoxiously inseparable). As usual what started out as a jump lesson turned into a flat lesson. I need to work on my contact as usual but it was different issues this time and that's always refreshing. By the end of the lesson we were really getting the hang of things (forward...FORWARD....) and I have a nice baseline to go from until I can get back down there. Some people are better at teaching me than others- the words click or the style or something, anyhow, after a Caitlin lesson I always feel like I should never ride with anybody else again ever. So I had lots to focus on for the drive home besides the fact that I was leaving my baby pony behind...

Lesson video shortly!