How is it that the hours in the day can go by so slowly yet the week is gone before you know it? I think it may be some type of time warp....I keep intending to sent down and write more then the time gets away from me. Here is a quick rehash of the winter and 2011 plans for Tia and I.
Tia had most of the fall off as I was working with my hubby to get the renovations done on our new house so we could move in. With that accomplished, the day after Christmas Tia went back to work. I set down before the new year to set some concrete personal goals for myself as a horsewoman as well as for Tia. Since Tia is my primary focus and my own horse, I tend to put a lot of pressure on us to get to the "next step". The basic 2+2=4, "one step in front of the other" principle. However, some daysTia tends to think that 2+2=5 or 8..or 100! She is not the most linear thinker so instead of "one step in front of the other", we may go left, right or even backwords before progressing forward. Tia is extremely bright and wants to please but she has her own way of learning that I have come to respect. One of my main goals this year has been to really evaluate what is going on at that moment, not what I expect should be happening.
Tia's first show of the 2011 year, was last weekend at Sporting Days. Overall, it was a success and I came away very pleased with our kick off to the season. We had solid dressage score and I was very pleased about how much Tia allowed me to "ride" her in the test, she was very workable. SJ warmup was a bit of a mad house with a horses going every direction and rain. We had one rail due to Tia getting a bit too nonchalent about the 3rd fence. I was all psyched to run XC but when the rain started flowing I asked riders coming off the course about the footing and was informed that the take off spots and the hills were getting slick. Normally, no big deal with some studs but Tia didn't even have back shoes! I pull her back shoes in the winter for as long as I can. She isn't really fond of back shoes and they can make her tight in her hamstrings and back if not watched carefully. I did not want to risk Tia slipping and losing confidence on the first course of the year so I decided to scratch XC and call it a day. Instead, on Sunday we went to the Gibbes farm down the road in St. Matthews to hop over some XC fences. Every time I go to that farm I am like a kid in a candy store, they have so many jumps! I love that they now have the big dirt mounds you can play with. They are so simple but so effective for teaching horses to drop their neck and lift their back as well as majorely building up muscle. We had a great time playing and got some company from the Gibbes dog pack that consisted of a lab, three golden retrievers and a great dane whose head came up to mine!
The rest of this week has gone well with all the equipment from last weekend finally dried out, cleaned and conditioned to be ready for Full Gallop this weekend. Chris, my farrier, came yesterday and put new shoes all around on Tia with stud holes so we are good to go no matter what the weather is. Dressage is at 9:28am tomorrow morning and XC at 3:36pm with SJ Sunday morning about 10am. Full Gallop always feels like my second home, I've spent so much time there, I am looking forward to a very fun weekend!
