Post-Season

 

San Francisco Giants :)

I'm not the biggest baseball fan that ever was, but I have actually grown to appreciate the sport for the strategy, the talent, the precision, the beer, and the cute butts. Sounds like another sport I love with cute butts... one where the athletes just happen to have four legs and tails. I don't really know why there are three seasons, pre, regular???, and post, it seems to me that it really should be all one season, but I guess maybe that some guys decided that one season of the sport they loved just wasn't enough. I get it.

Great view, and the scenery was nice, too.

Show season here in Michigan is drawing to an end (or maybe we are in postseason with end of circuit shows, congresses, and worlds coming up in October and November) but for Miss A and me it is over for the year. There are some circuits that continue with fuzzy shows, but our barn doesn't go to them because the weather is just too unpredictable and the idea of putting my horse in a trailer in the ice and snow and crazy drivers sounds like at best a horrendous vet bill and at worst a death sentence. The Buckskin Congress is this weekend, and a few riders from our barn are going. I know they will do an awesome job and I can't wait to hear all about it :) One of the girls, Miss E, is a senior this year and she qualified for a special trail competition that will take place on Thursday night. She gets one hour to learn the course (on paper) and then go ride - scary exciting!!!

I am still not sure how to feel about not racing headlong at a set of dates/goals. It's a little strange to think about a year from now. It seems so far away, but I know that time has a way of flying by, even in the endless winter of lake effect snow. My goals for the near future are simpler than they have been in a long time.

October Goals

1. Get to the barn three to four days a week to ride (preferably four).
2. Get back to the basics and really work on consistency, balance, collection in all three gaits, but especially at the lope.
3. Counter canter exercises.
4. Make sure to add in patterns and trail to break up the ride, because my little mare has ADHD just like me and just going in circles makes us a little nuts.
5. Ride bareback a few times this month to strengthen my seat so I don't rely to much on my saddle.
6. Participate in 2pointober http://suenostomanvuelo.blogspot.com/2014/10/2pointober-2014.html - Thanks L. Williams at Viva Carlos and Hillary at Equestrian at Hart for allowing me and my western saddle to participate :) We will see how this experiment goes - I have added posting trot work to our warm ups, so this will be a good addition to the routine that I am doing instead of lunging (unless she is being a big idiot, then the lunging resumes)
7. Lesson starting again in November or December. I love my lessons, but I want to find my internal motivation and make that stronger and be accountable to myself and my horse first. That and money - vet billz, ya'll, I haz them.
8. Work on loping over logs.
9. Side pass logs.
10. Get better control over backing and maneuvering through and around obstacles while backing.
11. Hop back in line with my diet and exercise outside of the barn.
12. Make more time for family and friends. People aren't what I am built to love - I do much better with the furry beings in my life, but the ones I do like probably won't stick around forever unless I hang out with them sometimes.

Just need to add chocolate, coffee, wine, and naps. Then it would be perfect.