Friday, April 22, 2016

the weekend cometh

Thank god for Fridays. And working from home. Seriously.

It's been a long-ish week with lots of time spent on trains. But by some miracle, it also managed to be a fairly good week for riding.

and cats. cats help everything.
I actually got home in time to ride after work one evening - a feat in and of itself. Never mind that the horse was super tight through her back and reluctant to go to work. Nbd tho, we just stretched it out and she really did put forth an honest effort. And I just had to be satisfied with that.

Part of me wanted to be upset that I had jumped through all these hoops and scheduling acrobatics to even be able to get there that night - only for the ride to be solidly mediocre. But Isabel obviously doesn't know, nor care, about what I go through to make riding possible. So I just gotta ride the horse where she is, right?

didn't take long for them to discover the plants that came home from my old office tho
And she was in more or less the same state for the next morning's lesson with Dan (written about in my last post). Again, I was a tad frustrated that we had to work through some evasions and resistance, rather than peacocking around like the dressage superstar Isabel can be. It sure would have been nice to put all our hard work this winter on full display in this first lesson back.

But I gave myself another stern reminder: riding lessons are exactly that - lessons. I am not paying all this money (now pricier given Dan's move up to PA) just to show off how good we are.

So instead I'm just trying to be grateful that I got to ride at all. And today is looking promising too, even if the forecast is a little iffy. Whatever. I'm not made of sugar, a little rain won't slow us down. I'm thinking a nice hack out with some trot sets and hill work might be just what the doctor ordered.

one of the violets has already been maimed. we'll see how long the rest last...
Then tomorrow is lesson day at OF, and Sunday could possibly be the most epic of blogger meet ups evar!!

Then I'm on the road for about... oh, just over a week. Right before our next event of the season. Super convenient, right? Le sigh. At least I'll be able to pop back in for a quick midweek lesson before heading out to Rolex. And maybe if I beg and plead, Austen will come school the horse in my absence too. We'll see...

Not gonna dwell on that for now, tho. Instead, I'm just happy that it's Friday and looking like a a solid weekend full of fun horse stuff!

What about you - anything big and exciting happening?

17 comments:

  1. I am like you, I get more out of less that perfect lessons, but when I haven't seen an instructor in awhile I want to show them how much improvement we have made. It typically fails and we look like he forgot to how to horse and I forgot how to ride...

    I am really jealous of your working from home, but not the commute on the other days. I am glad that things are still manageable with the new job tho.

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    1. ha luckily we didn't look like we forgot to horse - tho i certainly know that feeling too! but yea. learning happens when things get a little rough, so i'll take it.

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  2. sorry to hear about not so great rides...just when you need a good one right!? Ive been there! But your blog about the Dan lesson sounded like you got some good headway :) Glad to hear your week is settling down!

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    1. eh the rides were totally fine for what they were - it's just my expectations that need tempering.

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  3. The time for perfect to happen is at horse shows, not lessons! I have that problem with Penn at times- I'll have an issue on my own, come to lesson, and it doesn't pop up. Good behavior at lessons is great, however I take lessons because I need help, and the trainer can't fix what isn't going wrong! Ack! But I'm also in the, "Look how far we've come!!!!" boat since my trainer went away for the winter, and Penn proceeded to be mediocre that day and make a liar out of me and all the progress we've made, haha.

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    1. ha but isn't that always the way ?!? horses.... ugh lol. but yea i definitely am a big believer in taking full advantage of the lesson environment to work on our issues. especially in the lesson this week when the issue wasn't even on my radar before dan pointed it out!

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    2. Ugh horses! Don't they know we wrap our whole lives around them? And they need to act accordingly? We always tell kids they're not the center of the universe... and I plan my life around the horse... so, horse = center of the universe?

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    3. lolz the horse is definitely the center of my universe. on a call with my boss and team today about trying to wrap up a project over the weekend, the boss man pointed out that he didn't want to drag us away from our families. and then corrected himself in reference to me - saying, "or your horse, emma! there's gotta be time for the horse!" lol they know me so well already ;)

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  4. Haha Jealous of your Sunday plans. Sounds like fun!

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    1. it should be a blast. one of these days your just gonna have to make your way over here for some of the fun. or maybe we all have to make our way out to you? lolz possibilities!

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    2. Come this way we have mountains, wild rivers, and cowboys.

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  5. Enjoy your weekend rides! And I'm jealous about the meetup!

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    1. Thanks it should be fun! We will take ZILLIONS of pictures obviously haha ;)

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  6. Ahh I wish I could have made it!

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  7. I hope to have fun plans in the works!

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