My First Blog Award!

Wow! My blog has just received the Arte Y Pico Award from On The Bit, another of my fellow bloggers! I am so honored that she considered my humble musings worthy of this recognition!

I will update this post later with all the rest of the information that is required once this award is received.

Many Thankees to On The Bit!!

Here are my choices to send the award on to:

1) Culinary Types - this is one delicious culinary blog. Peppered with mouth watering photos and wonderful descriptions of the offerings of the places they visit, I feel it's a worthy recipent of this award!

2) Late Nite Landfill - this always eclectic, clever blog is worthy of note for its extensive informative links and witty critique of the best of the worst that late night television has to offer!

3) Mugwump Chronicles - I enjoy these tales of a horse trainer. Her visual writing style is worthy of this award.

4) Behind The Bit - I'd be willing to bet that this blog has been awarded this before but here it is again, for entertaining posting, interesting subjects and generous photos to illustrate her points.

5) The Dead End - What a great blog with lots of photos for anyone interested in Halloween and all things spooky!

Don’t Forget to Pass on the Rules with the Award:

1) You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award, creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogger community, no matter of language.

2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

3) Each award-winning, has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the ward itself.

4) Award-winning and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Arte y pico”blog , so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5) To show these rules.

Dressage, Thunder and Lightning - oh my!

Yesterday evening was my dressage lesson night. Stopped off at McDonald's for two sweet teas (my summer of 2008 refreshment of choice on a humid day), one for me and one for Miss D. Arrived at the barn to find Monty was sporting a brand new set of shoes. OOps! I kept forgetting to pay for his last set... BIG check goes in the mail today.

So I had to go and get the Plugits and clean out and fill the stud holes. We were tacked and just got into the polo arena as Miss D. arrived. I warmed up at the walk, even executing a fairly nice turn on the haunches through the walk, something I have been working on with with him just to lighten him up and he actually did his best version of that movement to date right in front of Miss D. She was surprised and impressed. Ah, seems my memory is shaking off the dust and I'm recalling how to ask for the movements. I'm hoping she works with me on some turns on the forehand with him next week. We went into the trot work and Monty was on his game this week. Much softer, more forward and lighter.

All the while, in the distance, these big clouds were gathering, and occasionally there were visible bursts of lightning flashing from cloud to cloud. But there was no thunder. We guessed it was just heat lightning and continued to work. As we went back to the walk to prepare for the canter, the cloud was marching right over the polo arena and the lightning bursts were getting clearer, bigger and scarier. We simultaneously agreed we'd end the lesson with the good trot work and hurry back into the barn as it was getting scary, now.

Just as we got in the barn, the lightning was obviously right over us and we could see flashes by the polo arena. Then the thunder started. I wanted to get Monty untacked, take his water out of the stall since I hadn't had the chance to walk him out long enough and get Miss D her check so she could leave. However, just as I put Monty away, the lightning started to really get wild. Miss D looked at me and said, "I don't mind waiting this one out, I'll help you get your stuff put away and maybe by then it will blow through."

Nope.

She had my saddle, I had my grooming tote and some other stuff, we were about to walk out of the barn when this H U G E bolt of lightning cracked down somewhere close to the medical building and office, the lights everywhere but in the barn we were standing in went out and then thunder like a tremendous explosion boomed. We gasped and just stood there shaking. I don't know why the barn still had lights (but I said a very humble thank you to God for that). Slowly, one by one, the lights of the office and the clinic flickered back on. After two more half-hearted lightning flashes, the rain came in buckets and the temperature noticeably lowered. We then hurried to put my stuff away. I checked on Monty, he was warm, but we agreed it was more from the humid weather than from not having been walked out much. I gave him his water buckets back and we closed and locked up.

I thanked her so much for staying with me. If I was there alone, I think I would have just sat down outside my horses' stall and cried like a baby. That was one of the creepiest nights at a barn I can recall. What made it extra frightning is that the annex barn on the other side of the property was hit by lightning about 2 weeks ago. No horses were hurt but one of the stalls is marked from it. It blew out the lights in the annex barn and the same buildings that went dark tonight and I heard Doc had trouble with his computers from it as well. I guess lightning does strike twice in the same place or darn close to it.

Ed Wrigley Memorial Hunter Pace - I'm There!

Cool! Got my time for the upcoming Ed Wrigley Memorial Hunter Pace on Sept. 28th. My first hunter pace of the season! So excited!!

I posted earlier this year about the passing of one of our local horseman, Edward Wrigley who gave so much to our enjoyment of the sport. The Muttontown Horseman's Association has put this hunter pace together and I hope it turns out to be a great event!

And, don't think I'm writing off my dressage delusions just yet. The first dressage show I may attend will be October 19th. Had another lesson with Miss D last night. Not as progressive as we have been but due to me losing time from being sick and Monty getting to hang out, it took us longer to get "connected" this time than before. However, we did have a good breakthrough in that his canter to the right was balanced and soft, whereas that's his usual side to get stiff and fall through the shoulder. Miss D was most pleased that we got that out of the lesson. We both agreed that sometimes when you find a movement that needs work, you work it, correct it and then have to almost "catch up" a bit with the things you didn't work as intensely during that time.

Ode to my Smartpaks

I love Smartpaks. How easy is it to pick out your horses' feed supplements and have someone else measure it and set it all up for you, then deliver it to your house well before you run out? Before I had the twins, I did the whole process myself, every 30 days sitting down at the kitchen table like a mad scientist scooping out portions of this and that and sealing it into ziploc snack sized baggies.

After the birth of the boyz, way different story. I had no time to add that baggie chore to the huge list. And would feel super guilty when I realized my horse had gone 2 weeks (um, or more... ;P) without supplements. The only reason I held off from using Smartpaks for awhile longer was they didn't offer the exact same supplements that I had chosen for Monty. But finally, I gave up, substituted as best I could from their offerings and have been very pleased ever since. Yep, it costs a bit more, but it bought me time, which I have realized is truly the most precious commodity you can buy.

So, here is a haiku poem, as tribute to my love of Smartpaks:

Smartpaks are a gift
to horseperson with no time
for filling baggies

George Morris - I Pushed the Button

LOL! Well, I'm guessing the link I posted with my previous post most likely only will work if you are a member of Catchride.com. I can't access the thread the link leads to unless I log in as a member (which I am, you can find me as SolitaireMare, there).

I highly recommend signing up just to read the deliciously snarky thread that was started with the following post by a member called "TimidJumpOff":

"WHO IS GEORGE MORRIS?

Does anyone know who this guy is? He evidently writes a column in a magazine, but does he actually ride? Who does he train with?

A friend of mine from TOB sent me a PM saying that this George guy called me "Loose", who is he to call me loose, I have been married for 28 years and have been faithful for all those years. When I was single and ambassador to Japan I may have been a little loose, but not now.

Getting back to this George guy, I hear he lives in Jersey. While I boarded in Jersey I never heard of him. What division does he show in? I did the pre-preliminary jumpers in 1989, never saw him there. Now that my horses are on LI, I rarely show, preferring to flap my mouth to my BNT ad on TOB. If I ever run out of stories recanting every fall I have ever had maybe I will return to showing to gather some new material. for now I have more than an ample supply.

Can anyone give me some background information on what this guy has ever done other than writing his silly little magazine column?"

Now, If you choose to venture further, Remember, it's all tongue firmly planted in cheek and it does get funnier (and weirder) as it plays out. The thread is from a few years ago and closed to new replies but still an amusing read.

Hmm, seems I've pushed a button by mentioning the "master". My personal opinion about the man is, I do not deny or diminish his personal accomplishments. But as a rider who grew up with his "Hunt Seat Equitation" book as the veritable "bible" of that style of riding, my biggest complaint was that I felt his ideals were unattainable for someone like me. I wasn't genetically gifted with his idea of the perfect riding physique, and I can't tell you how many times I lost in the showring to a lesser rider who just "decorated her horse" better than me. I was never overweight back in my day, but I was not a skinny teenager either. I had to learn how to ride smarter, and show I could THINK in addition to sit there and steer. (not a bad thing in the long run) Funny, my best ribbons came once I showed as an adult amateur, where being a little, um, "thicker" is just part of being an adult.

I had the opportunity to ride in a clinic given by him when I was a junior. The experience was lacking in my opinion. I had a green horse at the time. Which didn't seem to interest "the master" at all. Sadly, all I remember of that day was him asking me a question in the line-up after we did some flat work and I hesitated before answering him and he made some less than encouraging comment. Nothing snarky or bad, but enough to embarrass a teenager who wanted so much to impress someone like him, even with my green, crabby, OTTB mare.

So, it seems to sum up that he's still the Master of Hunt Seat Equitation to many, an over promoted prodigy to some, a sadistic drill sargeant to a few and an enigma to the rest. But definitely worthy of discussion. So I leave this to the readers, "Who Is George Morris?"

Who is George Morris?

Yesterday I took the day off from work. I think I am on the mend and this evil sinus cold is leaving. I spent time noodling around online and found this gem on Catchride.com. When I was a junior rider a thousand years ago, George Morris was the LAST word on riding huntseat. Any of you Hunter and Hunt Seat Equitation riders who look to George as the equivalent of a god in custom boots and a Polo shirt will chuckle while reading this!

Who Is George Morris?

And in case you want to read the truth about what the man has really accomplished:

Show Jumping hall of Fame - George Morris

Still Sickkk

I wish this horrible sinus-infection-head-cold whatever it is would just leave! I have been living on a Dayquil/Nyquil schedule. My head feels like it's going to explode, I'm coughing all the time and my sinuses are backed up farther than the Long Island Expressway on a Friday afternoon.

I cancelled my lesson on Monday and I just cancelled my make-up lesson that was to be tonight. I just don't have the strength to ride up to lesson standards. However the weather is just SO darn nice that I may drag my carcass to the barn tonight and hack around a bit just to alleviate the guilt I have for not riding for over a week, now!