Horse Activity Hangover

This week has flown by; mostly because we've been getting ready, attending, and unpacking/cleaning from a horse riding clinic my daughter attended.  My body is not moving very quickly - seriously feels like I've stayed up all night (for several nights), ran a marathon - even my thinking is slowed (hence the "hangover" reference).  Here's a quick shot:

British gold medalist Leslie Law watches my daughter ride.

A few details from this event:

- the clinic was held about 1-1/2  hours from our barn, which meant I got the pleasure (stress) of trailering her, the horse & another quite large horse to the location (not to mention the loading/unloading fun).  I've pulled a popup camper before, and a few ponies a short distance, but not these full-sized heavy horses in this particular trailer to a place I've never been, through a major city, all highways and a few tall/steep bridges thrown in just for added excitement.   In the end - we got there on time, and made it home all in one piece. (We didn't go alone - her trainer was already there, so we were essentially meeting others from our barn)

- the clinician was Leslie Law, British eventer who won an individual gold medal in the 2004 Summer Olympics, so needless to say this was a great opportunity for my daughter & not something we will/could do often.  He was very nice & she really enjoyed the lesson.

-although this is what we came for, he worked her & the horse for a solid hour - full out big, forward, fancy trot work - more than she's ever done with this horse and she handled it well (she & the horse were tired), but sometimes those "momma nerves" really get me.   (She doesn't jump - strictly a dressage rider, although she has jumped ponies in the past - not her favorite thing - yet)  My daughter's comment was:  The horse felt like he grew an entire hand & was in off-property "show" gear/mode, but she did enjoy it - guess it is like those adrenalin rushes.

-back to the barn the day after (we unloaded at 9:00pm - too dark to do anything even if we had the energy) to clean out the trailer (was a poop-fest; big horses leave big poop), wash it out, put all the tack away, just general clean up/out - not hard work, but messy & has to be done.  I will say this for my daughter - she jumps in there & just takes care of it, without complaining or fussing and she gives her best effort - she realizes this is part of the "going off-property" experience

Discussing leg & heel placement

My funny stories of the day (from my daughter):

- during this one-on-one discussion of leg & heel placement, he asked her if she always rode in all this "pink"? (her saddle pad is white & pink edged with her initial in pink & some rhinestones (it was a gift from a friend), the fleecy is also pink - my daughter's favorite color, but the combination of the thickness/thinness of those 2 pads are what makes the horse comfortable/happy)  Her reply:  "it's what he likes" - he refers to the horse, Leslie Law just said "oh okay"

- during the lesson, the horse had a lot of lipstick - seriously it was dripping out, flying around, etc... my daughter said some of it flew into her mouth and it tasted like grain/grass.... okay... my first question -- why are you riding with your mouth open (actually she was probably smiling so big - she was so excited about this), and my 2nd question - how do you know what grain tastes like?  Not sure I want to hear that answer. 


This little "event" has totally thrown off my weekly schedule as well as my sleep, energy, etc.  Trying to get back on track has been difficult, especially when I see all the things I haven't even thought about tackling (laundry, photos for prompts/challenges, not to mention my family might like to see food in the refrigerator). 

Sure hope everyone who has spring break this week is having a great time.  We are still planning a few things that require much less effort - trying for more of the "break" this week.  Please pass the aleve (again). 

Photo details:  50mm, SOOC - only slight cropping
(I haven't had time to think about processing lately - my sister would be happy about that - she doesn't like my learning/playing with post-processing)

Dealing With Life

I think this picture says it all without any caption.... an arm that is bent not at the wrist, but where it shouldn't.  This has been one of my excuses for not posting - dealing with life right now.  Good news - my son will be fine after the usual period in a cast - although his arm was slightly manipulated again after the initial set - he's a strong guy to tough it out.  As for taking pictures - I snuck this picture with my phone really quickly in the hospital ER while it was up on the lightbox.  I don't have an iPhone, but I still find my phone's camera very handy for these kind of quick pics - don't think it would be proper to haul out the big camera and ask everyone to pose just for historical recording purposes.  But I did have a chance to use the real camera at a dressage schooling show.  I've been photographing horses with and without riders for a few years now and at least I can say I've seen an improvement in my efforts.  Here's a couple that I took that were from a little different angle than you usually see.  An additional benefit from these pictures - they can be used as teaching tools - showing the rider what they could do differently or what they did really well.

A rider's hands help guide the horse.
FYI... the fingers should be closed.

A young horse looks relaxed in her
first dressage show.