Avandarre in Dressage

This is the result of cool weather and not enough outdoor time!

The last two days Ava has been moving great. No sign of lameness that I can see. She's still slightly swollen in the left pastern area, which concerns me, but the vet said he didn't think it was a big deal. All in all, this little issue cost me $530 ($130 was a loan from the parents). There goes the new winter riding coat I was eyeballing. That also pretty much devastated all of the food money too. Thank goodness this injury wasn't worse. The treatments for tendon injuries cost more for each treatment than our mortgage payment costs. Anyway, I think, I hope, Ava and I will be back into regular training in another couple of weeks (if all goes well). I'm so excited! Yay!

Waking up holding the bedsheets like reins. Tacking up the dog. Teaching kitty to ride said dog. But only allowing lunge lessons until kitty develops a better seat. Begging others to allow you to just sit on their horse. Convincing self that walking said horse on a long rein cant't hurt. Teaching said horse dressage basics while saddleseat owner cringes in corner. Get ripped off said horse and continue to beg to ride it again. Trade dog for 5 mins of ride time. Rent hubby out for 10 minute riding fix. Selling hubby for 1 hour riding fix. Hubby happier and won't come back.... Trying to sell parents but getting no takers. ;)

I had a great lesson on Tuesday. It was our first lesson in 3 months and I was so nervous. But the lesson went great. Bern seemed happy with our progress (at least we didn't lose too much ground during the hiatus). I'm not a big fan of flying solo with dressage. Mostly because I like that my trainer really challenges me, makes me think about what is working or not, and guides me on how to fix it. Without that, I tend to get stuck in ruts, frustrated, or bored. So the lesson went great, and Wednesday evening I get to the barn rip roaring to work on what we learned the day before and..... Ava's lame. Thursday she's still lame, although using it a little better. There's no heat, no cuts or scrapes, just swollen and obviously painful to her. She puts weight on it, but is gimpy with it. Today is Friday... And I'm hoping, without much optimism, that she's made a speedy recovery over night. I had just started planning out our goals for the 2012 show season. G...

I just learned that I can use my old tests (pre-stupid young adult phase) toward USDF medals. Woo hoo! I was starting to believe I'd be 80 before I'd have enough tests under my belt again to qualify. Although, I get the feeling scores are generally higher now then they were when I was a kid. We used to celebrate big with a high 60 score. Now that seems common place. I even screwed up the test, my horse was braced and flinging her head, off balance in parts, and I still got a 62%. In my younger days, that might have been a high 50's, but definitely not a 60+. Then again... It was a schooling show. I was trying to find information on score averages over the years, but I didn't find anything. I wonder how I could prove/disprove my hypothesis? Hmmm.... Back to work. Ugh!

It's been a long week, and I've barely ridden at all. Monday the higher up's decided they had super important stuff i had to do 5 minutes before the end of my day. I had to rush to get it done so I could meet the dentist at the barn that evening. Side note: He said her back teeth were pretty sharp, but overall her teeth looked good. That was a relief. Then Tuesday after work we took our yellow lab to the vet for his final check up after his ACL surgery. All healed up and looking good! Wednesday my work had an after work farewell get-together. The evening was beautiful and all day I had dreamed about riding... But in order to get along with coworkers I went to the party (I would've preferred to go riding). Thursday was the first day I've had time to ride since Sunday. How the heck am I going to be a super star if I only ride twice a week? I'm not! And the ride was not very productive. Ava doesn't do well when she's given several days off in a ro...

I haven't looked at it yet. It won't work on my phone, so I'm sticking the link here to view later. http://www.usdf.org/EduDocs/Training/StudyGuideShoulderIn.pdf