Over all it was a fun but sometimes grueling road trip..roughly 4,000 miles with the detour through Texas. We only got stopped once, by a cop who was clearly bored with his life and saw two young girls in a car with California plates, so he thought he'd give us a little scare to break up the monotony of his pointless existence. Poor fool. Other than that, and me scaring the daylights out of a hapless cleaning lady..(long story, and too embarrassing to post here)..our trip was pretty uneventful. We made a stop to see the king in Graceland, saw Nashville and Shenandoah Valley, along with other cool landmarks. We tried strange food, and stepped on the Texarcana state line, brought my fiendish feline into every restaurant we stopped at (without contestation), and took some fun candid pictures.
Now is where it gets interesting. Obviously the whole point of me moving back to New England was for my lovely mare, Clever-MY horse for real! and my first ride on her since being here happened on Thursday. Now, forgive my naivety in thinking our instant connection from last month's clinic would still be there when I rode her this time! Boy there's really nothing like a horse (especially a Clever one) to bring you down a few notches and keep you humble! I wouldn't say it was a disastrous ride; but she certainly gave me a run for my money. She decided my attempts to steer with a bridged rein were not going to work for her..so we had quite a few runouts and beelines to the gate, that little devil! Her previous owner was instructing me while she rode as well, and after awhile Clever behaved better.
My second ride on Friday was slightly worse. What's more, We had Olympic trainer/rider Dottie Morkis teaching us, and I can say i was quite embarrassed by my seemingly complete lack of knowledge in what I was doing. I found it fairly difficult not to get completely frustrated; but somehow kept my sense of humor. Although Dottie must have been way less than impressed, she was still very encouraging and had lots of good tips for me. I will continue to train with her weekly, and I have high hopes that Clever and I will be back on the same page in short time.
Now, aside from my stung pride and feeling of insult from a horse who less than a month ago gladly gave me the world the first time riding her, I am suffering from the pressure of a very big recognized show that I am expected to be ready for..and that takes place in one month. As if it's not enough to feel like my horse is over me, I must learn and perfect a Grade 3 test in less than 30 days, which means moves that I have very little experience with and proving that I'm not an idiot for thinking I am good enough to have taken this risk. Surprisingly enough, despite my first 2 less than wonderful rides, I still think I can do well. Dottie is a big part of that confidence; when I asked her, rather sheepishly, whether she could have me ready to show at the HITS Saugerties show in NY in a month, she replied with utmost confidence and no hesitation, "of course." She also said that I must be prepared to work very hard..which I'd planned on already, so it was nice to be assured like that. Anyway, bootcamp has begun. My schedule is to be riding every single day, at least from now until Saugerties, and when I'm not in the barn, I am expected to be in the gym. On top of that, my diet is being closely monitored with high protein and extreme hydration. Welcome folks, to my real Olympic journey. It all starts with bootcamp! If all goes as expected I will compete in Long Island at the huge Saugerties show in one month. Wish us luck!
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| a gold sparkle and leopard trim flymask depicts the diva's personality perfectly! |
