Preparing for the season - and "Here come Huff and Puff"

Topline’s indoor arena is getting State-of-the-Art footing! Yay!  Well, I didn’t feel quite so enthusiastic when I got to the barn yesterday and saw all the heavy construction trucks, bob cats whirling around, the base layer noisily being dumped… It meant I had to ride Remy in the outdoor arena right next to it. Remembering (sometimes I don’t appreciate my good memory) the disaster at Lamplight when he freaked out about the equipment I braced myself. Not to worry, after some initial looking around he went down to business. The only times we lost it was when my focus wandered (umh, a touch of ADD perhaps?).

 
We continue to work on getting those hind legs to push and carry. Between Remy’s ‘front propeller’ and my hips that need to be more in front of my shoulders we have our work cut out. I might have been a bit overambitious entering 2^nd3, but what the heck. The weak spots are the walk-canter transitions and the medium trot. The rest should be fairly decent. But then, of course, that doesn’t count in the unknown – still, overall I am sticking to:  “We can f..ing do this!”

 

Remy is not the only one in our household with a ‘weighty issue’ – Teddy looks like he had spend the winter on the couch, scarfing down pizza, chips and guzzling beer. So, after grooming I took the little guy out for a run. He clearly had fun, and those short legs sure can outlast me. I imagine anyone seeing us exclaiming: “Look, here come Huff and Puff!”. So.. the question begs: Who’s Huff and who’s Puff??

"Little man" is growing up - and a bit of a 'weighty' issue

Two awesome rides with Jan this weekend, Sunday building up on Saturday – I couldn’t be happier! Remy was right on both days, never wavered, never complained: Just a stellar student. Luckily JP videoed the rides, so I can put more detailed notes on Jan’s exercises and comments together.

Overall, Jan wanted Remy to be rounder, with more engagement in his hind quarters, and more responsive to my aids. Same as we are working on with Judy. And without Judy’s meticulous preparation we wouldn’t have had nearly as good rides as we did. Jan added the ‘extra edge’ to it, and at the end of day two we had true collection and Remy was on my seat and legs. We hardly had any walk breaks, but luckily we both are in good shape (or so I thought, more later on the subject). I made a point of praising Remy often, which clearly motivates him and keeps him going.

I guess the picture taken at the end of our lesson shows how happy we are (and no, I didn't ride as crooked as I looked when the photo was taken).

Speaking of being in good shape: First thing Jan said when he saw Remy was “well, he looks like he came good through the winter”. I took it as a compliment – until Jan clarified that he found Remy to be quite on the chubby side. Oops. I guess when you see a horse through the eyes of love you don’t notice subtle (or not so subtle) changes in weight. 

Fortunately, Remy’s weight gain has an easy explanation: While both Judy and I were traveling Remy had a week off to lounge in the pastures, enjoying the food lovingly served by JP. Easy remedy (sorry, buddy): More work, less pay … but only until you are back to your svelte self. No need to send for the union rep from “Sporthorses United, Local 101”! 

Schwaben-Power in Kentucky - and time to 'retire' my wedding ring

Rolex Kentucky beckoned and as every year we came. I was especially keen on watching my fellow Schwabian Michael Jung show the rest of the field how to do it right – riding a 4star CCI, that is. And he did not disappoint!

Saturday the heavens opened and the forecasted 63F were nowhere to be seen. We sloshed through the mud and cold, but got treated to excellent riding. The famous Kentucky Bluegrass held its ground, meaning the course held up well. Several riders were held on course to repair frangible pins on jumps that got hit. Always a nerve-wracking situation to get pulled out of the galloping rhythm. It was neat to see New Zealander Tim Price (who would finish 2^nd) get off during the hold to give his horse a break.

Sunday showed Kentucky at its finest weather for the final show jumping competition. The stadium was sold out for the nail-biting finish. I loved the parade of competitors, especially of course the sole German, Michael Jung, walking next to the pony clubber carrying the German flag.

It was our ‘Big’ Anniversary, and we couldn’t have picked a better place to celebrate – first at the Kentucky Horsepark, then a lovely dinner at Le Deauville, followed by… I won't say J

I will say, however, that JP completely blew me away with his surprise: He had designed two matching rings in the form of horseheads, one representing Saumur and one representing Remy, and had them custom made by a jeweler in Metamora. Wow! Time to retire my wedding ring! (Hmm, I don’t think that was JP’s intention, though…).

One of us enjoys his vacation - the other one crosses the pond

Back after nine non-riding days in Europe. Meetings in France followed by F&F (friends & family) time in Germany. The trip went well, the French air traffic controllers decided not to strike, which I greatly appreciated.

Dinner with about 50 men in Lyon, lights are dimmed, waiter presents me with a dessert that has sparklers on it. People clap. Wait – it’s not my birthday! Up comes the ‘instigator’ (one of the division directors, interestingly also named Remi) and says that they all appreciated me being at the strategy session as the only woman, and they wanted to thank me for attending. Well, that just made the entire trip worthwhile!

Off to Germany, last plane landing in Stuttgart at night. Suitcase made it and Ingrid is standing by. Nothing like being welcomed by one of your best friends when you are utterly exhausted. Next day: Trip to Loesdau (a MUST), with parents. Find great Cavallo show pants, decorated with crystals. Nothing like a bit of bling (usually so not my style, but those look great). Cashier looks up my frequent buyer number, sees the US address, and compliments me on my “perfect German”. 

On to visit Stephanie, almost more sister than friend. There is never enough time, but we make the best of it. And.. she presents me with “Chocolate Remy”! He will be my travel companion back to the States.

Sunday: Lovely day trip into the Schwarzwald*, with parents and Ingrid. I LOVE the Schwarzwald! Picture myself galloping on logging trails, traversing the pine forest where the light has a hard time penetrating through the dense trees (hence the name Schwarz -Black- Wald -Forest-).

Monday, 6 a.m.: Flight to DTW via AMS. Happy to be home!!

Remy had the week off playing with his friends. First ride back yesterday left me pretty much frustrated at my inability to quickly pick up where we left off. Remy filled in the blanks for me (thanks, buddy) and despite howling winds violently attacking the roof and walls of the barn he did a lovely job.

I guess “Chocolate Remy” is a good role model (so no way I could eat him)!

*The Black Forest (German: Schwarzwald),is a great, forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany. It is bounded by the Rhine valley to the west and south.

"Honey, you shrank my pants!" - and off to school he goes

Time to go back to school – for the boys that is. Judy is back from CA, meaning Remy’s party time at home officially came to an end yesterday. JP wanted to bring Chambord along, and while I was still working on my laptop JP was getting ready (it takes a long time to get Chambord presentable = clean).

All off a sudden I hear a panicked “I can’t get into my riding pants, they must have shrunk in the wash!” Hmm, really? I didn’t exactly ‘cook’ them, and mine were just fine. Then it dawned on me: JP was literally trying to get into my pants! We both have brown full seat pants that look pretty identical, alas, different sizes…JP is by no means a big guy, but fitting into a size 26 'ain't gonna happen'.

Nothing like a good laugh to set the mood for a good ride. After four days off Remy went to work like a grown up. I had briefly thought about longing him first, but then decided to give it a whirl without. It took him a bit to find his hind legs, and me to get him to come to the party quicker but then we were trucking.

I had left Remy’s Thinline pad at home and he had to make do with a –notquitethesame- substitute, but at least he didn’t accuse me of shrinking his pants!

Happy Easter! - And a rather bleak forecast when it comes to riding time

Happy Easter! Remy is enjoying his time off goofing around with Chambord. He is sleeping well, judging from the 'breading' of shavings he sported this morning.

I'm trying to grapple with my schedule for the month, and not liking the lack of riding time at all. Next Sunday I'm heading to France for meetings, then onto a meeting in Germany, followed by the weekend with my parents. Back to the US on the 6 a.m. flight Monday morning. A few days in the office, and we head to Rolex. OK, that's for fun! 91 entries this year, and the top rider from Germany to boot. Watching Michael Jung is pretty inspiring, and not just because we speak the same dialect!

Back from Rolex and onto Mexico the next day. Nope, not to lay on the beach. More meetings with a customer trying to press out money for the pleasure of doing business with them. And for that I travel from Detroit to Mexico City, to Veracruz, to Orizaba. If I'm lucky and no flight gets canceled I'll be back home just in time to ride with Jan.

Not exactly a swell idea to sign up to ride with a demanding Olympian after weeks of no riding, I know...

Ah, I think that calls for the 'kill' of another chocolate bunny, my endorphins need a serious boost!

The coach has tires again - and an early present from the Easter Bunny

Well, the coach is rolling again - meaning the manufacturer sent five funkelnagelneue tires of the right kind (radial!) to the dealer. JP made another four hour round trip, and voila - we do have the trailer back. Despite assurances all around that now everything is perfect my faith in it is still pretty shaky. First thing before picking up the trailer was signing up for USRider, a roadside assistance program that dispatches aid (hopefully!) if we run into trouble.

JP took Chambord on the maiden voyage to Topline, just in time to ride during my lesson with Maryal. I wasn't sure what to expect as Remy had the first part of his Spring Shots yesterday. This time the vaccine didn't seem to cause any negative reaction, so we threw ourselves into the action.

Remy was right on, he felt pretty awesome. Maryal helped us to improve the counter canter by reminding me that I need to keep the correct bend. Note to self: When doing the loop, don't go into the corners. Maryal's recommendation to think about 'gliding' when doing the shoulder in really helped. Our walk-canter transitions were much better (no skipping to the right), and the medium canter felt like flying. I said to Maryal I was expecting a jump at the end of the long side. We worked on transitions within the gaits and finished with nice trot-half passes.

Several times during the lesson Maryal exclaimed: "Your ride makes my heart happy!" I guess the Easter Bunny came early for me this year :-)!

Still, I wonder, would it be too much to ask to come back with some chocolate eggs??