Moving In and On with the Ebbing of the Tide.

I am... so very sorry I have been completely absent for the last ten days. With having no internet service at the new place for the first week and the ever flowing sea of boxes, blogging has sadly taken a backseat. *slaps hand, I should have planned ahead and written post marked entries...*

Any ways, as I mentioned we are now fully moved into the new house and yes as soon as the mess and the dust has finally completed it's seemingly never ending rotation of the house I will take some photos. Is it OK to write that I may regret the dark hardwood? I sure won't say it to DH since he may have mentioned this potential issue upon my choosing...
Because I won't say it, I will preface this to those who may visit my house in future, yes, I have already swept, mopped and dry swiffered the floor today, I swear this is not last weeks dirt.
Okay, maybe it is last weeks dirt but I cannot help the dirt that becomes airborne in my violent attempt to murder the damn sticky dust.... *sigh* Sorry okay, I feel much better now!


On the other end of the spectrum, equines, Paloma and I did manage to fit in her second short course event show.
In which, we bombed, for the most part. I just do not understand... it was a full moon and everything! The stars ... err moon aligned it should have been a GREAT ride!
Actually, I should not say the day was a total failure but for some reason the bad resonates longer for me than the good. I know it shouldn't but it does. We did manage to get a respectable 26 penalty points on our dressage test or 74 in dressage terms I am told. The judges comments pointed out things I knew of but have been ignoring. 'Impulsion in the walk' and 'Firmer touch of 'X'.

As for cross.... after much deliberating and debunking what went wrong and comparing how I rode differently from the last time we were out on cross and this time I have come to a cross road conclusion. One seeming to be the easier but less safe and much less equestrian of me and the other being tougher, longer but overall most conclusive option.
In my previous post recapping our first short course, I had mentioned Paloma's serious need for speed, great lack of control and serious over jumping.
This show she got the pep talk as usual and I told her... I am in control. You listen and I keep us safe. You do your job. Well, we had a battle of the wits and had it out on cross. Lovely.
Upon our first stride into the stadium ring, Paloma was on edge but remained controlled and jumped lovely but strong.
Leaving the stadium and finally getting Pal back into a trot, I felt her indecision about leaving all the horses in the safe open field versus venturing into the treed fields and long grass.
I urged her on. She bolted towards the first fence, I said woah, she said no! So I 'e-half halted'. ie emergency half halt. Paloma stopped dead and here is where the battle began.

The entire cross course took six minutes, in optimum time, just enough for mainly trot and some canter. I was dead set on me being the one who chose the pace. Paloma wasn't having it. So she gave me an ultimatum. Either... "I gallop at MY pace and leap the fences" OR "I trot and check every crevice for clearance".
I said "Option C".
I was not going to allow her to run down the course unsafely, risking either of us getting hurt despite the fact that it may have meant a clean round, minus the time faults.
I understand that this is Paloma struggling with the nerves that come with trucking into an unknown land and her thinking that running keeps us both safer from the 'danger that lurks' but that cannot happen. The last thing we both need is the injury that heals, coupled with one that never heals to the way it once was, broken confidence.

All in all, we fought, I won control of the pace, Paloma attempted to win control of where we went, I eventually won this too. (And this is how I should remember the day... not a failure but positive safe training). Paloma balked a few times. Seeing the jump six-eight strides out, she would try to run it down, I didn't let it happen so I got back in the tack and in turn Paloma took the reduced pace as time to gawk at everything! *le sigh* In the end, Pal gave in and jumped everything for me. (Note to self, she did what you asked... eventually).


I often get rooted in a linear way of thinking.
I think, every experience is another notch in the belt, time to amp up the difficulty, even just a little.
In reality, life and horses especially don't work this way. I have to remember that nothing is linear even though it may seem so. Training horses is definitely not a linear process. The results of the training are like the ebb and flow of the tide. Giving and taking, giving and taking.
Although, lessons can be learned from every experience as long as you listen carefully.

This weekend I listened.

Paloma kept us safe. Never did she give me a nasty refusal or buck. She has been voicing her thoughts this entire time. I knew she lacked confidence and attempted to make up for it in bravery and I gently ignored it. Bad choice, it could get us into trouble. Now, I have heard her.
Now, we add another work item to the schooling list.