horse, and the Horse World in general, I suppose it's ok to talk about my new britches. They are black (of course! Everyone looks good in black! Hides the fat...) full seat with deerskin leather. I requested to have the NA/WPN logo (pictured left) stitched into the leather. I thought this would be a cute idea since Nic is a registered NA/WPN. I suppose this is the one aspect of my personality that aligns with the DQ persona - I do like breed logos. The same logo is on my show saddle pad. But that's where my commonalities with the Dressage Queen persona ends.Quite contrary to public opinion, I am not too big for my britches. The opposite in fact - I've lost enough weight that none of my existing jeans fit me. So, now I'm too small for my britches (or jeans, but that's merely semantics).
Let me tell you about the lifespan of a pair of jeans that I wear riding. They start out as new and as fresh as school children on the first day of school. After a while (say, 3 weeks or so) they are broken in and comfortable, albeit a little stinky. But this is a good stinky, like a fine Brie or a robust Camembert. Other similarities with runny French cheeses, besides the smell, are the mold that ripens the jeans and the fungi that encrusts and preserves same said jeans. Finally, after many months of wear and love, the jeans begin to rip in the most unfortunate of places, until the holes are too large for this modest horsewoman to handle. Such is the lowly lifespan of a pair of jeans worn by yours truly.
One can see how I could become tired of this sad cycle, thereby explaining my evening rendezvous with Special K and a measuring tape. Or, more to the point, as Special K put it, I've come to a point in my riding where a pair of britches is essential. Poor BFF Steph will have to lead the riding jeans brigade on her own, much to her dismay.
So long, riding jeans, we hardly knew ye.
We have had a string of 80 degree days, and the poor horses are feeling it. Nic has not been herself this week. If only the mare could talk! She has been doing very well with her canter transitions. I've focused on that since my last lesson with Trainer, since we scored so poorly on them at the show. Monday, she bucked the first trot-canter transition on each side, but did the subsequent transitions on each side well. Tuesday, we did 6 transitions in total, and only got 1 buck! 5 out of 6 ain't bad. Today, Wednesday, she did all of them very well. I hope this means we are getting somewhere! "5's" on our canter transitions, here we come! (6's are still probably out of our league...) Short of writing a letter to Santa at the North Pole, I've done all I can to ensure we get better scores at our next show.
She has clamped down on the right side of the bit for the past 2 days. I am hoping that it is just because she is tired (it IS 80 degrees, after all), especially since she has been trying so hard on her upward canter transitions.
Miss Thang lost control of her normally reserved self yesterday and bit me. Just took a big ol' chomp out of my arm. She is a girthy horse, and something got the best of her yesterday. Mares and their opinions! Believe me, I've tried everything to make girthing up more comfortable for this horse, and no, she doesn't have ulcers. I don't think it has to do with girthing being uncomfortable as much as just not liking that area touched, because she is the same way with blankets. I know I don't like being touched every place on my body, so I guess horses are the same way! I have a nice hematoma from Nic's little love bite...I'll just tell everyone that Trainer beat me.
Funny story: A couple years ago, when I first started riding, I rode Mr. Sister's horse, and, as the cliche requires, I fell off the poor beast, and went sailing under the fence, causing a bruise on my entire left bicep. The next day, I went on vacation with Papa Smurf (Dad) to Belgium. I'm not a shy butterfly, and of course wore tank tops, not thinking too hard about the bruise on my arm. It took me a while to figure out why people were looking at me, then staring at Papa Smurf, then looking back at me. Whoops. At least I got a funny story out of it, right?
Wow, I just realized I've been writing "Of Horses and Humans" for more than a month now. Hasn't seemed like that long...it has been terrifying and wonderful, n'est pas?
