I can’t believe it’s pretty much March already!  And here in Area II that means that event season is quickly approaching!  This past week I sent in my first official horse trial entry of 2009 – with four weeks and counting we are on our way to the Spring Morven Park horse trials.  We’ll be running one or two events this spring at Training level, to see how we’ve come out of the winter and where we are at with things.  Then if all goes well, I think we’ll be looking at a move up to Preliminary sometime in May, if we can find the right event to do it at!  I’m thinking maybe we’ll return to Waredaca and give it a shot there?  We’ll see. . . . the thought of it is both exciting and intimidating at the same time!

  The weather here has been going up and down like a yo-yo.  We had some nice, pleasant lower 60-degree days, followed by rains and then the temps plummeted into the 20′s and 30′s and made me feel freezing again!  Gemini and I have been staring longingly at the cross country fences, both hoping we get in one good school before our event!  On the plus side, we were able to school showjumping again in the sand ring as well as doing the jump clinic last weekend and getting the chance to jump some good solid big fences.  We’ve spent a lot of the winter doing grids and refining our technique over small fences and it felt like ages since we’d jumped something with some substance.  To really feel like preliminary was a possibility, I needed to get myself over some big fences again, and it felt great!  Gemini is jumping better than ever, having really benefitted from the gridwork, and I’m getting better with my feel and technical skills, although my equitation still leaves something to be desired.    

  The days at Windchase have been busy and typical.  We got several new young racetrack horses in and I have had wonderful opportunities in working with a few of them.  I’m really trying to make the most of this, as I enjoy working with them right off the track and it’s a great time to practice my skills and see what I can get out of them.  They are fun and willing and it’s really exciting to see and feel them progress over the course of a few rides and know that I had at least a little something to do with their re-training!

It feels like we have been locked up in the indoor arena forever!! Even on the nice days, it’s either too frozen or too wet to ride outside in the sand ring, but lucky for us, we had a ray of hope last weekend and had two days of freedom, able to ride and school outside! We made as much use of our time as possible and schooled as many horses over fences as we could! Having only been back a week, I had only schooled Phoenix a couple of times this past week and he still wasn’t quite where I wanted him back to on the flat. And, on top of that, he hadn’t jumped in a good three or four weeks at least, so I was a little unsure of what I would get from him. He’s never jumped in the outdoor ring and it’s been ages since we schooled on the flat out there but who could pass up the sunshine! Phoenix handled everything like a star – he was very rideable and obedient and quite brave to the fences!  He has mostly just done grids up until this point, so it was exciting to have more room to work with and put together a few courses. We finished up the set by introducing him to jumping the barrels, which he did with no concerns and was quite proud of himself afterwards!

  Gemini got to go out the next day for our group jump clinic.  It has been three weeks since I jumped him last, and after his antics about rushing the fences earlier this year, I expected a little bit of the same to re-surface now that we had moved outside.  To my relief, however, Gemini remained completely responsive and professional and was really jumping well.  We practiced some difficult turns and some exercises to control our length of stride and Gemini stayed totally adustable.  It was great to feel just how much better my communication with him is when it comes to riding the fences and using the critical thinking skills I have developed in riding a quick show jumping course.

Sadly on Monday the cold wet weather came back and forced us back into the indoor arena.  Oh well!  We enjoyed it while it lasted.  Now we are just looking forward to warmer sunnier days when we can go out and school cross country!!  It won’t be too much longer….

Well, I’ve been back in Virginia less than one week and I already feel like I never left!  The weather has, however, been quite decent and my lungs have slowly been readjusting to the thick humid air around here.  *sigh*  It makes me already dread the hot sweaty summer to come!

   I have some exciting plans and opportunities to look forward to when I do finally return to Colorado.  I’ll be back sometime this year, I promise!  It’s just so easy sometimes to delay that long haul across the country!   

  Having now been here a year, it is interesting to look back to when we came and truly see the progress we have made.  Who would have thought that a year would go by so quickly and yet so much could be accomplished in that short time.   The level of sophistication that I have when I ride has really risen to a new level, and I absolutely have Phyllis and Jineen to thank for that.  They really have pushed me to become a better and more thoughtful rider and I know I will carry that with me for life and my horses will appreciate it too!  It will be a sad day when I do leave this place but sadly it IS inevitable.. 

  I’m not sure if Phoenix and Gemini were happy to see me after my vacation or not.  Gemini went straight back into work and right back into the arguments we had started before we left.  What could possibly be so hard about bending right and accepting the right rein?  Well, Gemini could give you many reasons, for sure!  We’ve had some frustrating and demaning lessons, working through this, but I am looking at it as just a stepping stone in his training and a way to improve both of us for the better.  Sure, we could just compromise and make it look pretty, but I know working through this will make him a much more correct horse and give me so many tools to use in the future.  In fact, everything Gemini has taught me has been equally enlightening!
  Then of course, there is Phoenix – who virtually had the month of January off.  (I freely admit I am too much of a sissy to ride in freezing cold weather!)  But as we emerge out of winter and head into spring I hope to put more and more time into him and get him to a point where he can find a new home, which has been the plan ever since I bought him oh so long ago!

  The days go on, and on, and on.  Routine is a given out here at Windchase but it is a comforting routine.  At least for the time being!  I am getting ready to enter my first horse trial of the season and that is bringing me hope about the upcoming season and our goals for this year.

Ok.  So we commonly refer to Windchase as “the Bubble”, because once you get in there, you are kind of trapped.  And any knowledge of the outside world seems to dissipate.  So I humbly laughed to myself when I was driving home the other day and saw this sign.  Maybe my roomies wont enjoy it as much as I did, but if the sign wasn’t so huge and I had poor morals I may have tried to steal it and bring it home with me to hang on the side of the Little House!!     I mean, what do THEY know about living in a bubble?!?!?  WE *CAN* LIVE IN A BUBBLE!!!