It's really really cool how (probably all the time, but sometimes we realize it) God can put all the pieces in line, get all the ingredients lined up, and just... make life make sense and fall into place sometimes. :) I kind of feel like that's what happened this long weekend. God made a big tasty yummy rainbow cake!
Cindy, being a good peer pressure friend, told me about this clinic and not only got me excited about it, but also convinced me that I should sign up for two rides! And Kelli had also signed up and ended up with two rides, so we decided to trailer pool and hotel share. And then Peri also came the first two days to audit. So it was a great horse weekend but also a fun girls long weekend. AND... to top it off, because Gerd is a vet, they were able to get his lecture to count towards continuing education!!! So, the whole weekend became a tax write off :) SWEET!
So, the clinic was Thursday through Sunday. On Thursday they had rides and then a lecture that evening. Then on Friday there was a lecture in the morning and rides in the afternoon. Then Saturday was rides all day and then a group dinner at the hostess's house with Gerd and then Sunday was more rides. We ended up riding Thursday and Friday so we hauled the boys up Thursday morning and they had a stall for the two days and that night. We had a hotel room. Then Friday night we hauled the boys home and stayed at home and then got up early Saturday and headed back for the next two days without the ponies. It was only 1.5 hrs drive, but we still got a hotel room Saturday night too.
Luckily the first ride was at 10 Thursday so while we still left at 7:30, we didn't have to leave earlier than that. Dan got a bath and was done when Kelli got there with Marvin. Peri arrived too and we all managed to get loaded and headed out on time! Go us! We arrived and put the ponies in their stalls and heard that there was a trailering issue and they wanted to switch some ride times around. So another girl went first, and then she wanted me to go next, then lunch, then Kelli after lunch (my original ride time) and then the girl with trailering issues could go last. Okay, not a big deal. Except then I was stressing a little because I didn't have lunch to get ready, which meant I couldn't watch the first ride. I managed to catch about 5 minutes of it, but basically that was it. But all good. Luckily Dan was clean so after we got the trailer parked and unhitched, I changed clothes and then tacked up. I was able to warm up in the arena but it was a bit hard because I was trying to stay out of the other girls way. We mostly walked anyways just because that's what we normally do. I was working on letting him stretch and be soft in the bridle.
Then I was up! And ha ha.. after all that panic about what I would say... I basically just said that he had stifle surgery a year ago and was diagnosed with neck arthritis in January and I was worried about that. So we set off. It wasn't a great first ride because... I did what I tend to do.. focus so hard on what the clinician was saying that I forgot to feel and ride my horse. But it wasn't a bad ride. We worked on all the things that we had been doing at home - because I'm a straight A student suck up and had been listening to his lectures. ha ha! And it was quite cool because he had us doing the same stuff Kelly Eaton has had us doing. We rode with long reins but some contact. We did lots of changes within the gait and some stretching down. He did not change my stirrups because they were already fairly short but he did suggest I put on spurs. And then he asked if he could "take my reins and walk in hand with us". I was so embarassed at first but turns out, he did that with like... 95% of us, so phew! Although before I got embarassed I got concerned that Danny would eat him. Before I could say anything about that, he had walked up and said Hi to Dan, who proceeded to be a bit snarly. BUT, he was fine and Gerd patted him anyway and told him to behave. And Dan did. We decided that Dan liked him. :) Anyways, he had us circle around while he did the rein aids to teach Dan to soften. And then set us back on our own. Oh, but when he first took ahold of my reins he said "I hate these reins... you know what these reins say about Holly? That she likes to feel safe". Ha ha... Oh Gerd.. you don't know me at all!! hee hee. I didn't bother explaining that they were my XC reins and I had switched them out because they were the longest reins I had and my others were cob reins and didn't allow him to stretch. Oh well. No big deal. (But I did put my other reins on the next day, and found spurs too). We walked, trotted and cantered. It was nothing earth shattering, but it was a good ride. At the end he told me that he saw absolutely nothing wrong with Dan's neck and that we could "go to the olympics if we wanted". Ha! I'm positive he meant it in a "there's nothing wrong with him" way and NOT a "you're so talented, go to the olympics" way but it was nice to hear. He even asked Stephanie Mosely, the rider biomechanics lady if she saw any lameness and she said no. :) Although.... I didn't feel anything (but I was so nervous I also didn't really ride or pay attention) when I looked at the vidoes I thought I saw some assymetry.
So then Dan got a rinse and turned out in the little tiny paddock area while Kelli rode. Oh, and ha.. I forgot to mention, while I was warming Dan up during the other girls ride, Kelli had turned Marvin out in the little paddock area (which I didn't realize was a paddock area) and I thought he had gotten loose and interrupted and was like "KELLI. MARVIN IS LOOSE"! ha ha... Whoops. That's embarassing. Anyways... I got to watch the rest of the riders and thank goodness, we weren't the only ones he took the reins for. It was super cool watching and learning from the others rides too. We had a nice break before the evening lecture so we went to a tack store and I found rowel spurs and a cute jacket (daily wear) and some tack cleaner. And then we had mexican, because..of course! Then back for the lecture, which was fascinating!!! All similar stuff to what I had already watched but some cool extra graphics and some cool new information.
The next day I rode after lunch, which was the first of the rides as the morning was all lecture. We got there later than we meant to in the morning and then the helper was cleaning stalls for us. Which was super, but... it was also stressing us out a little because she had them perfect and we were trying to hurry. Ha! Plus another horse was in the turn out and so... for whatever reason all of horses were acting fools. Dan was pissed and was trying to tear his stall down. So we opted to try walking them some because the paddock was in use. Well then that horse got rowdy and the girl was afraid to get him out until the owner arrived. And Marvin was a little dancy. And Dan was rowdy!! He was spinning and rearing even.Fools! I attempted to walk him a bit and it sort of worked. Finally the girl finished the stalls so we just put them in and... hoped for the best. Luckily the owner came and got her horse so Marvin could have the paddock. Dan was pissed, but... there wasn't anything I could do about it. Luckily while we were in lecture the hostess texted us that the barn girl had swapped Dan and Marvin out, so Dan got out for a bit. Brave soul!!! I'm guessing she was afraid Dan was going to tear down the barn. Lecture was great!! Lots more great information and I got Gerd to sign my book.
So then we headed back. Everyone else got lunch while I went to get changed and get Dan ready. I grabbed Dan and tossed him in the stall so Marvin could get out and realized when I came back after changing that Dan had either rolled in the pasture or in his stall but his whole left butt cheek was black! DANIEL!!!!! ACKKKK! And Dan was a turd! And prior to realizing his left side was a mess, while brushing his right side he was going bonkers and even tried to kick me. Oooooh I was mad and stressing. Kelli came to my rescue and helped me give him a quick bath. Luckily she also calmed him down a bit when I was getting my bathing stuff so by the time I got back... he was chill. And then she told me to breathe and settle and... it got better. I knew once I got on my nerves/body will simmer down too, and then Dan would. And we did. He was mostly clean, albeit damp, but I tacked up and headed in to warm up. It was much better having the whole arena so we were able to warm up a bit more effectively. And I told myself to actually ride today... still pay attention but... to also focus on my horse. And it was a bit less stressful, despite the morning lead up, since I had ridden with him before and listened to the lectures and seen other rides.
And it was a much better ride today. It was still the same stuff we were doing as the day before but it was just better. We also did a tiny bit of turn on the forehand. We even got some compliments from Gerd and quite a few people told me how much better we looked today and how it was such a nice change. Doh! I'm not sure quite how to take that, but.. I'll take it as a compliment to myself whether they knew it or not because I took it as ... once I started riding instead of just blindly following orders, it got better. And I mean that I still took orders but I did them while also feeling my horse and not having to always wait for Gerd to say something before I did it. And I feel like he looked sounder in the video too. Which, hopefully isn't because I was helping him hide something and more of the fact that I was riding him straighter and thus there wasn't any rein lameness.
So afterwards... Dan was good in his stall and just hung out and chilled. Although by the end of the day he was READY TO GO HOME! We finally got organized and headed home. When we pulled into the driveway and got Kelli's stuff unloaded and finally got to the ponies... Dan had his halter on the ground. Doh! Goober. We took Marvin off and I was able to grab it and put it back on. Silly fool! He was so happy to be home!
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