Kindness is something that comes from many places and is so important. Kindness tempers even the worst of things and gives something much more important gain a foothold- hope. I try to practice kindness in my life and to the people, animals and other things around me. I feel better being kind and feel more whole. With all of the negativity going on in the world I so desperately want to try and level out the overwhelming amount of sad and horrible things that happen. I’m not naive in thinking that I can wave a wand of happiness and solve everything, but if I can make someone’s day better than I can hope that they’ll pass along some of the same kindness I showed them. Practicing kindness also creates a strong web of people who care about you and practice kindness back and I’ve been experiencing this lately. So much kindness and compassion has been flowing my way from the people around me as I try to heal and move on all while tackling school and life, and quite frankly it amazes me. I feel so lucky and blessed to be the recipient of these wonderful people’s positivity and I can’t help but try to be positive in return. I’m aware of just how sappy this all sounds, however, I’m just incredibly grateful and it makes me want to keep trying my hardest to practice kindness.
This past weekend I went home to help Amanda with the last trials of the year. We went to Hitching Post Farm’s fall schooling trials and had a very rainy blast. The younger girls at Seventh Heaven are like the little sisters I always wanted but could never convince my younger brother, Collin, to be. I can’t help but smile and laugh around them and just enjoy the world from the view of a preteen again, albeit some very mature preteens. Watching these families and reveling in what some of the best parts of my childhood revolved around, and lets be honest all of my life still does, makes me want to give the same experience to the kids I might someday have. They’ll work for it like I did, but they’ll be such better people for having horses in their life. I mean what other group of preteens would you trust with thousands of dollars worth of equipment and 1200lb animals to get it together and trust them to pilot these large and very powerful animals? I wouldn’t trust a lot of the “normal” preteens but horse kids are definitely different. I digress; the weekend was great. Violet and Sofia competed in Junior Grasshopper and had a blast. Violet tied for third in the class on Packy after the three rounds. Sofia was just awesome in general. Mac was so full of beans for everyone (her mom and I had all we could do to get his bridle fully on him and we know what we’re doing) and Sofia handled it like a champ. Mac knocked them out of contention with a glorious buck during dressage but they put in a double clear for cross country and stadium.
Violet and Packy rocking cross country at the Hitching Post Farm trials
Kristin brought Moon along for the Junior Grasshopper as well. The two have become such a lovely pair and have made huge strides this summer as a team. Moon got a bit ancy during dressage and bolted out of the arena eliminating them, but Kristin went and finished her test and put a smile on. The great part about schooling trials is that they’re for schooling and they let you compete on even if you’ve been eliminated. I love that we live in such a supportive teaching and learning community where everyone encourages each other to grow. So Kristin despite being eliminated was allowed to continue for cross country and stadium. Kristin and Moon looked so natural on cross country! They jumped everything smoothly, calmly and cleanly and really showed everyone how it was done on the Grasshopper course. In stadium they went clear with a couple of distracted moments.
Lea made the big step up into the Open Novice class. In the world of eventing it scales from the bottom being grasshopper, then beginner novice, novice, training level, preliminary, and finally advanced which spills into the realms of CCI * events and is usually associated with professionals and the olympic level. The step from beginner novice into novice is an exciting one and Lea and Tie were more than ready to move up. They’ve worked incredibly hard since Lea got Tie and have made huge strides. Lea is only twelve and she rides with the poise of someone older and she’s definitely a better rider than I am. In dressage they did very well and got a stellar 29.1 (the scoring is like golf- low is good) for their test; someone else just got a 19 which is a wicked score. In cross country they had some minor slipping as it had been pouring all day and Tie doesn’t have studs on his shoes. Despite the terrain and conditions they went over the obstacles nicely. The jumps are also closer to three feet tall and a foot wide so it takes skill to navigate them.
heading down to dressage
Lea and Tie all decked out in blue!
one of the “smaller” jumps on the course
Despite the weather being rainy and rather dour all weekend I had a great time. I truly enjoy spending time with my barn family even if I’m chasing after girls on ponies to check their girths rather than riding myself. I did sneak in a couple of rides with Pi and it was exactly what I needed.
Pirate and Mac have definitely been in cahoots because Pi was just as full of beans as Mac was, although Pi has had nearly a month off from work so I expected the beans to be brimming from his bonnet. He was full of energy but nice and stretchy as we worked on lengthening his trot and really using his big butt for our propulsion. I also jumped him a bit on some small cross rails and he was stellar. The summer of working really hard to make him more comfortable and confident has begun to pay dividends, he went over the cross rails a bit eagerly but was calm enough to trot them which is huge for him.
someone is so fuzzy he gets soaked with sweat and takes forever to cool down
On Friday night I helped everyone pack and we shipped Packy and Mac up to Hitching Post so the next day would be much smoother as the girls had eight o’clock dressage times. While Amanda trailered them up and did prepr work with them I stayed back to keep an eye on Kristin and Lea and also so I could ride. Pi has his winter coat so in addition to him normally being a big sweater he has a fuzzy coat on now so he gets soaked in sweat even faster and takes even longer to cool down. We did some canter work on Friday and some small jumps. While he took forever and a day to cool out I managed to re-pull his mane which was looking a bit long. I know he’s back into swamp monster mode but when someone half leases him or I’m back for breaks it makes everything so much easier than letting it all go and having to start from scratch. Lea and Kristin are much more independent with their braiding and packing so I was able to putz more and help when needed much to Pirate’s dismay; he did manage to get quite a few apples out of the deal.
the “swamp monster”
Pi and I
Today I rode him one last time before driving back up to Portland and school. We successfully did a figure eight jumping pattern complete with lead changes (not flying leads but he actually was calm enough to trot in-between jumps and picked up the correct canter lead after the jumps) and having to listen. It was exciting and it makes me want to start scheming for next summer. Pirate also showed his meddle today as I asked him to do a lap around the hay field without any wingmen. For Pi it was another moment of hard work paying off and him trusting in me that I wouldn’t let him get eaten by anything scary, like a tree… what can I say, he’s still a big weeny. He got a bit antsy and we may or may not have blasted up the driveway at his speed and not mine but he stopped eventually and we didn’t run into anything and I stayed firmly put on his back. Afterwards we played a bit of chase on the ground as he cooled off in his cooler. It’s always important to me that we work on the ground and that he leads well and listens to me on the ground. A couple of apples even motivated Pi to trot briefly after me. I’m truly lucky to be able to have access to such a great place and to Pi, who despite being a giant hot mess is an amazing horse, just a little uncoordinated. He’s so much more than just a horse and is my partner in learning so much about horses and in learning to ride, I feel like I’ve improved so much this year and yet I’m still so far from knowing anything. I’m just lucky to be where I am even if Pirate is a 1200lb goober.
his eyes are always wonderfully expressive
oh and here’s a little gem of Pi returning to his swamp monster roots today after our ride:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0ZlSmEBvjI
oh and happy twenty third wedding anniversary to my parents