The Sword of Damocles - in the form of icicles

An upswing in temperatures to a 'balmy' 20F finally got me into the saddle again. The sun was shining through the arena windows, I shed my coat, all was well... until Judy mentioned cautiously "Well, the last icicle crashed down 40 minutes ago". I looked up at the line of windows, and detected a row of HUGE icicles, obviously just waiting to crash down while Remy and I were doing our thing.

Remy doesn't handle sudden noises well, which translates into yours truly not doing well either. But giving up with the (figurative) tail between the legs because of icicles when I finally have a chance to ride again? No way!

The challenge was to RELAX, relax my seat, relax my hands, relax my mind (I thought I heard my Yoga-teacher)... and not to worry "What If". I felt like riding with the sword of Damocles hanging over my head.

Surprisingly though, I was able to relax and Remy really helped me out by strutting his stuff without worries - obviously he hadn't spotted the icicles! Remy felt awesome, soft, and truly on the outside rein. We had some really good canter work, doing transitions within the canter, and canter-walk, keeping in mind "He should not anticipate a walk transition every time you do collected canter". Yes, ma'am! Another one of Judy's "right on" comments: "In the canter, the outside leg keeps him going, the inside leg carries the weight".

So, all was well - especially considering that the Sword of Damocles* stayed put!

*Sword of Damocles[Wikipedia)

According to the story, pandering to his king, Dionysius, Damocles exclaimed that, as a great man of power and authority surrounded by magnificence, Dionysius was truly extremely fortunate. Dionysius then offered to switch places with Damocles, so that Damocles could taste that very fortune firsthand. Damocles quickly and eagerly accepted the king's proposal. Damocles sat down in the king's throne surrounded by every luxury, but Dionysius arranged that a huge sword should hang above the throne, held at the pommel only by a single hair of a horse's tail. Damocles finally begged the king that he be allowed to depart because he no longer wanted to be so fortunate, realizing that with great fortune and power comes also great responsibility

Warm up and cool down walk = 4380 steps - and Lots of ‘Citron Chaud’

During the current deep freeze Judy prefers to ride the horses instead of riding and teaching. It’s way too hard to stay warm if you go from riding to sitting/standing teaching and then back to riding again.

So I tried to groom Remy without exposing too much skin (not easy!) and then hand-walked/trotted him for about 15 minutes to get his muscles warm before Judy got on. Remy’s weeklong vacation during our trips did not put a wrench into his training – Luckily! Some horses don’t take time off too easily, and it seems they need a lot of time to get back into the ‘working-swing’. Not so Remy, now that he has figured out the work-play routine he loves to go back to work.

It was great seeing him worked under saddle. Remy’s muscles are developing correctly, and (proud mother speaking): He is pretty stunning. I watch Judy like a hawk when she rides, as I’m a visual person and I am striving to emulate her position and aids. At least we are making ‘Citron Chaud’ (hot lemonade) out of the frozen lemons we are handed this winter. And – walking 2.7 miles warming up and cooling down translates into 146 burned calories, making room for ‘Citron Chaud’ plus a cookie or two to go with it!

Ingrédients

• 1 grande tasse d'eau (ou mug 200 ml environ)
• 1/2 citron (1 à 2 cuillerées à café du jus)
• 1 cuillerée à café de miel

Ustensiles

• 1 casserole
• 1 presse citron

Préparation

1. Faire bouillir l'eau
2. Mettre le miel et le jus de citron au fond d'une grande tasse et verser de l'eau chaude dessus
   
3. Remuer et boire de suite.

Importing horses and importing cheese - quite an analogy

On Friday I was sitting in the Skyclub at the airport with Matthieu, my French boss. He was waiting for his flight to France, and I was getting ready to jump on the plane to NYC.

We were talking about our interests outside of work, and what can I say, my horses came up. I explained that I felt it was my 'mission' to show people that it's not necessary to spend a fortune (and as some do, mortgage everything) to import a Warmblood from Europe. In my opinion, on a Morgan with correct training (well, yes, good conformation helps) you can be as competitive as almost any other amateur with an import.

Matthieu listened to all this and then said "Ah, well, it's like with French cheese - initially the Americans imported all their cheese from France, then they learned how to make it themselves, and now they are very good at it". I have to say, the man has it figured out!

With that good start to the weekend Ingrid and I delved into NYC. Unfortunately, the cold I had been battling reared its ugly head in full force Saturday, just as the snow and sleet came down on the city. Perfect timing to walk many miles in search of the tack shop (thank you for your patience, Ingrid!). And when we finally got there... disappointment. It was not at all as I had expected from the article and website. Oh well, on the bright side, we didn't let the snow deter us from finding the place: Two German women on a mission :-).

Sunday brought sunshine, the New Year's parade in Chinatown, a lovely ride on the Staten Island Ferry to see Lady Liberty, followed by a great dinner in a French restaurant on Broadway. Life definitely is good!

Coming back home yesterday: Reality hit with negative temps. No riding all week. To top it off I had to drive to Northern Michigan today in whiteout conditions to face a plant quality audit tomorrow.

Life is still good: Temps in the 20s on the weekend, riding on the horizon.. and getting a wonderful French dinner served at home!

NYC here I come - and what's on top of a rider's list?

And I’m off for my first weekend in NYC. Yay.. I hope! NYC in February is not exactly the hottest ticket in town, but my friend Ingrid flew in this week to celebrate her birthday, and I’ll join her today. I’m very excited about the trip, especially after seeing the thermometer displaying a whopping -27F on the way to work this morning.

Luckily, Ingrid knows me very well, because when we talked about things to do and see – what’s on top of my list: Broadway?, Statue of Liberty?, Shopping?... No, no, yes: Manhattan Saddlery, of course!

It was the former Miller’s Harness Company, and years ago the Miller catalog was THE bible for all things equestrian. Well, the company went out of business but luckily the original store was purchased and lovingly restored. Can’t wait to go there. And well, yes, after that I’m up for all things touristy. Did I mention our hotel features a nightclub?

The best laid plans... need to be changed

7 a.m. February 19, 2015

Today we were supposed to have our much anticipated lesson day with with Maryal. Well, as you can see from the picture of the thermometer I took this morning - "It ain't happening". On top of it, I'm nursing a bad cold. Hibernation is the thought of the day! 

And here we go again... hand-walking it is!

Our lovely forecast for this weekend: 

Dangerously cold wind chills through Sunday. 

• Temperatures will bottom out between 10 to 20 below zero around Sunrise Sunday with wind chills of 25 to 35 below zero. Impacts:.
• Bitterly cold wind chills will lead to Frost Bite in 20 minutes or less.
• Prolonged exposure to this extreme cold will lead to hypothermia.

Well, there went my riding today: Hand-walking in the indoor instead. Same for tomorrow. It's darn hard not to get frustrated. And if I see one more cheerful posting from people spending the winter with their horses in Florida I will have to unfriend them! 

Honestly though, I don't think Florida (WPB) is for me: Too artificial, too expensive, too much hype, too many ladies that lunch (and seem to share the same plastic surgeon). Yes, of course it's beautiful, and great for getting show-miles in the winter. Not that I could leave for three months anyway - it's one thing to work from my home office a couple of times a month, it's a different story to ask my boss "Uh, how about me working from somewhere warm during the entire winter?" It'll probably net me an 'invitation' to visit the HQ in the French Alps (plenty of snow there!). 

So.. all we can do is hunker down, and cruise the net in search of places to go. I think somewhere in the Carolinas there is a hunt box (cottage and stalls) with our name on it. Until then: We walk!

Cavaletti Fun and "Just call me Ingrid"

Ok, I admit, calling me ‘Ingrid’ would be rather presumptuous. I’m referring to a multi-Olympian in Eventing that is also a top Grand Prix Dressage trainer and rider, the daughter of the late Reiner Klimke.  She is a role model for so many, consistently placing in the top of her sport while maintaining classical and horse friendly training principles throughout. I have several of her DVDs and books, and I admire how all her horses are cross-trained. Even her top dressage horses jump or at least have weekly cavaletti-training.

So, making a long story short, yesterday JP and I had the arena to ourselves. Judy keeps some cavaletti in the indoor, so it was perfect timing. Both Chambord and Remy really liked that change of routine. We walked-trotted-cantered over them in various configurations and I swear Remy had the same big grin on his face as I had after we finished our canter line.

Waterloo Hunter Trials – here we come. All we need now are about 40 hounds for practice…

And as for calling me ‘Ingrid’: We have the same short blond hair in common, at least that’s a start!

Monday morning - Priceless!

When it's Monday morning, you try to juggle a myriad of projects at work, and your husband calls

a) to tell you what you need to do to get better walk-canter departs

b) to tell you how much he had just enjoyed riding "with all the nice (read: attractive) ladies"

PRICELESS!!

Snowshoes, Yoga, and Counter Canter

What does one have to do with the other, one might ask. Well, nothing, really… unless we are talking about my week.

After another thoroughly exhausting trip with the dogs through knee deep snow JP took pity on my sweaty self and surprised me with a great pair of snowshoes. Fun! It’s still a great workout, and yes, I still come home sweaty and exhausted, but I can go for much longer which makes the dogs happy. Even if Mr. Smarty Pants Husband of Coach thinks it’s not fair that the dogs don’t have snowshoes… Hey, they have four legs, I only have two, so I guess that makes us even.

 Snowshoe weather!

For good measure I added ‘Yin’ Yoga classes to my schedule (Yin yoga poses apply moderate stress to the connective tissues – tendons, fascia, ligaments – with the aim of increasing circulation in the joints and improving flexibility). Ouch – I definitely need to work on that flexibility! But I can already feel a difference in my riding, well worth the ‘ouch’.

And now to the last part: Counter Canter. It was the ban of my life at 2^nd level with Saumur, and now here we go again, this time with Remy. 2^nd Test 3 has the three loop canter serpentine without changes, so we were practicing this in our lessons.

I was almost ecstatic when we got through it without a major glitch, and I stopped right after the first loop to put more quarters (read: sugar) into Remy. Nothing like a deadpan comment from your instructor: “I’m glad you are happy, but I have higher standards, so let’s do that again”. Of course, right you are, Judy: Practice makes perfect. We are not at the perfect stage yet, but hopefully we are coming closer to your standards. Om shanti, Om peace J

Taking a trip down memory lane - how about a 'Reiterstueble'?

Well, as expected, the snow finally caught up with us. First severe storm of the year. The big Chevy Truck with four-wheel drive had to work extra hard for its gas today, plowing through heavy snow on my way back from the barn. At home Saumur sported a blanket with a solidly frozen sheet of snow on top; and fuzzy Teddy was covered in icicles. Only Chambord was dry, he obviously never ventured out of the protective cover of the porch.

So, stuck inside I took a trip down memory lane, checking up on news from Germany. More precisely, the 'Rappenhof', the first place where I leased a horse. Like all children, I learned to ride at the local 'Reitverein' (riding club) in group lessons (private lessons for children where unheard of). As a young adult I managed to 'upgrade' to a private stable, quite posh, the 'Rappenhof'. Leasing/sharing a horse was very common, not only to share expenses, but also the riding. The horses didn't get turned out in the winter, so they had to be ridden every day.

I was lucky, I found a great share: A smart guy who figured out that horses are "chick magnets". He picked up the chicks and let me do a lot of the riding.

Group lessons in dressage and jumping were included in the board, and the barn was very sophisticated for the time featuring showers, changing rooms... and best of all - the 'Reiterstueble' (rider's lounge) - with a bar! Well frequented, of course. Especially during jumping lessons: If  a rider fell off he/she had to buy a round of drinks to all riders. It was fun to gather after riding, either for a cool beer or a hot coffee, and talk horses.

Here is a picture of the entrance to the indoor arena (the horses are stabled in the barn across the courtyard):

So, Jude, we have the hot coffee covered - now how about adding a bar?! :)