Great Christmas Eve's, past and present

Growing up it was all about Christmas Eve, that's when we opened presents. Needless to say that made for along day for my mom since we started to beg to open presents, oh pretty much the minute we woke up. After we got horses my mom started strongly encouraging us to take a ride, a LONG ride, on Christmas Eve.

I have really fond memories of a Christmas Eve when I was about 15.

This is what Quincy and I looked like back then.

That particular morning my mom told us to take a long ride and as a means of encouraging us to be gone through lunch she gave us a can of Big Franks (vegetarian hot dogs) and a can opener. My brother Jesse decided he could live without this adventure but Matt (13), Hope (10) and I headed outside to catch and saddle our horses.

We decided that we should do a 30 mile loop up in the mountains. A little side note, we lived in Covelo California and had the perfect place to condition, too bad I didn't know about endurance then :) Anyway we figured that was a perfect way to spend Christmas Eve. We would ride most of the day and get back in time to take care of chores and warm up before dinner and presents.

We had a blast. It was gray winter day with a dusting of snow on the ground, more up in the mountains. When lunch rolled around I was planning to eat our big franks cold but Matt had another idea. We dismounted, found a place to water our horses and tie them up and he set to work trying to find things to start a fire with. I being the oldest and always worried about following the rules told him that I didn't know that we should do that. We might get in trouble if someone came along. Matt has this little “pshaaaa” noise he makes at me when he feels I'm being ridiculous. He proceed to tell me how of course no one would ever know. He was going to have to work to find wood dry enough to burn and a spot (under a big tree) where it was dry enough to start a fire, so of course he wasn't going to light a forest fire. And further more no one was going to be out and about in the middle of nowhere on a cold, gray Christmas Eve.

So he lit a fire and we roasted our veggie dogs, spent some time warming up and relaxing by our fire, surrounded by snow, and just had a great time telling tales and laughing.

After a while we put out our fire and continued on our way, this time mostly down the mountain. I remember my sister complaining about her toes being cold and us very compassionately telling her to stop complaining.

It was the perfect way to spend Christmas Eve! We got home just as it was starting to get dark, did our chores, ate supper and opened gifts.

Through the years I've tried to ride on as many Christmas Eve's as possible, often with family and friends. As an adult no one is begging me to take off for the whole day and not come back till dark. Too bad really, growing up and having to make a living can really get in the way of your fun. But I still get to ride, thanks to a wonderful mom and in-laws. So although I don't get to ride all day today, I do get to ride for a bit and that makes my day!

This Christmas Eve my kids got to ride too and watching them enjoy it was great! Larissa asked if she could ride with a heartrate monitor and trot the whole time. Unfortunately it's muddy so she had to walk. That girl just might grow up to be an endurance rider.

 Ryan enjoying Quincy

 Larissa Jean will only ride with her backpack, since on my rides I ride with a camelbak

I hope that you have been as blessed in your life as I have. Blessed with great horses and good friends and family. Take some time to enjoy them!

Merry Christmas!!! 

 Bunny and I headed out today.

If you loose it, go back to whatever point you need to get it back

You don't know how many times I've said that to camp kids. (For those of you who don't know... I spent 5 summers as assistant director or director of horsemanship at two different summer camps. Now I only go down for a week or two to help out and do training).

Here's a typical scenario. I have a bunch of 13 year old girls just dying to canter. They've developed some pretty good skills at the walk trot so they come for a one on one canter lesson with me. I have them work one on one because it lets me know if they are as good as they think or if their horse has simple been on auto pilot following his buddy.

Before I let them canter I run them thought their paces at a walk and trot. Inevitably I find one or two who's skills start to fall apart. Most commonly they can't steer their horse at a trot. The horse is weaving around the arena like a dunk driver and the kid just desperately wants to canter and hopes I don't notice that their horse is no longer on the rail as I requested.

The rider is very disappointed that I insist that they perfect their steering before they try the canter. In the meantime I put on a kind face and don't say what I'm thinking “ Why on earth would I let you canter when you can't steer your horse at a trot, Yah, that's a great idea!”

Most of us are pretty quick to stop or take it down a notch if we loose major control, like steering. But how about if we loose our horses attention or cooperation? Hmmmmm....................

Here's a little tale from last winter. One that served as a good reminder to me.

Bunny and I set out on a training ride on a cold day. Since I have 101 things going on in my life at once here was my plan, I'm going to ride 10 ½ miles in 1 hour and 20 minutes or less, GO.

Now my horse was uncharacteristically full of it. She is normally wants nothing more than to please me. At that point of should have taken a few more minutes to warm up and done whatever it took to get her in the right frame of mind, most likely some good dressage work would have done the trick. But I didn't have time for that.

I was riding on the graveled shoulder of a country road, where I do most of my riding since that's what I have access too. I had picked up a trot and noticed that when I asked Bunny for a nice easy 8mph trot she wanted to give me a 15mph freight train trot. Should have kept working till I had her attention but, well I had a schedule to keep and miles to go.

A couple minutes later a car passed us and Bunny tried to race the car (normally she has perfect manners around traffic). Now that should have been the wake up call I needed but after all I was able to HAUL her back to a somewhat reasonable pace so on we went.

This scene repeated itself again and on the third time she bucked and hit the ground trying to take off as fast as she could. This time it took me about five strides to stop her, five VERY BIG STRIDES.

First I was really indignant that my normally nice people pleasing horse would behave so badly. I finally realized that if I wanted to survive this ride I needed to slow down and do whatever it took to get her in the right frame of mind. I don't want to settle for being able to physically haul her back, I want her to say, “No problem” like she normally does and respond willingly.

I realized later that it would have never gotten to the bucking stage if I would have dealt with the attitude right off. Bunny tested the waters, got away with it so tested a little more. I let her because I desperately wanted to keep going. I know if you are honest with yourself you will admit that you've fallen into this trap at times too.

Why do I care so much that my horse is willing and responsive? For a lot of reasons. First off it's not much fun to ride a horse that's not willing and responsive. I think the most important reason, however, is that if you ride long enough you will eventually find yourself in a tough spot. You will need your horse to do what you ask, quickly and quietly and if you haven't established that before... well good luck.

When we have those tough days or moments we are far better off taking a minute or an hour to deal with it then and there and not let it escalate to crazy.

I had a couple times this ride season where Bunny was a little full of herself and not wanting to listen to me about what speed we were going to go. Once I fought her for miles, not the best plan. The next ride I took a few minutes on the trail to get her attention, when she pulled out the must pass everything in site attitude, and we had a much more enjoyable time. She still questioned me a few times but it was nothing like before.

Don't let your goals blind you to the bigger picture. Your horses training is important. If you loose their attention and cooperation, take the time to do what you need to get it back. You'll be much better off for it.

Almost the perfect end to a great season but lots of lessons learned, non the less

Bunny and I had a fantastic season. We had a lot of fun, a lot of firsts and learned a lot. We were going to wrap up our prefect season at the Jubilee Ranch Ride with our first 75.

I was trying to get over a nasty cold but that wasn't about to stop me. We started off that morning, more prepared and more relaxed than every before. We found our groove just a few miles in, you know that place where you can both relax and get to work. There were still the moments when Bunny would ask “Do you want me to take em” and I would say “ No, we're riding our own ride” but all and all things were going great!

I was particularly proud of myself because I was able to be the most relaxed I've ever been. I know riding stressed and tense takes it's toll on both of us so I was proud of myself that I was able to relax. We were both conserving our energy.

The first loop we rode by ourselves some and with two other galls part of the time. Just a few miles from camp, we were coming around the edge of an orchard (I knew it was slick and had just slowed down to a walk, all be it Bunny's power walk) and Bunny slipped on some very wet grass and went down, on my foot. She went down so fast that by the time my brain registered it we were down. I took a minute to get up, as my foot hurt like the dickens but then it began to ease up, I caught my horse, mounted up and headed into camp. I knew right then we might not finish but I didn't want to admit that to myself. I was determined to stick it out to the very end, I was tough enough... right?

The next loop was good, my foot hurt but nothing I couldn't handle. Bunny was going like a champ. All A's on the vet card, I couldn't ask for more. Over the next hold my foot began to hurt a little more and a few miles into the third loop I knew I was in trouble. By the middle of the loop I was doing Lamaze breathing, without even thinking about it, every time I went down a hill. My foot was KILLING me. I told myself, just get through this loop and maybe on your hold, with the help of some ibuprofen, it will ease up. That was some really wishful thinking.

When I got off my horse at the end of that loop (50 miles in) I knew in my heart it was over. I couldn't put any weight on my foot. It took two people to help me to the bathroom, talk about embarrassing. Did I call it then, absolutely not, I waited my entire hold hoping for a miracle, but instead of my foot easing up it got worse by the minute. I tried to dream up a way that I could ride 25 more miles but just couldn't come up with any. At the end of my hold my mom, who had done a great job in biting her tong this entire time, asked me what I was going to do. I had held it together till that point but when I went to say the words “I don't think I can ride any more” tears started streaming down my cheeks. It almost killed me to pull. My horse was sitting there looking like a million bucks and ready to go back out again. I know without a doubt that she had 25 miles left in her and if it wouldn't have been for my foot so would I. Everybody who saw me from that point on must have thought I was a big baby, because the tears wouldn't stop. I think I had spent every bit of energy, physical and emotional, trying to keep going and now I was spent and really disappointed.

That one pull was the end of a lot of things. You see this really was going to be a great end to the season. We were going to have 260 miles for the season and get the PNER 250 mile achievement award, we were going to be the first newbie 75er to finish and get a $75 gift certificate for Crazy Legs Tights and we were going to finish our first 75 mile ride in style and before dark and continue my 100% completion record (with both my horses). But it wasn't meant to be.

Later a friend commented that she bet I wished I would have just entered the 50, but I don't. I'm glad I did what I did. I know a lot more about myself and my horse. Here's few of the good things I learned.

I know we are both capable of 75 miles and probably more, scary thought! I was relaxed, able to get my horse relaxed, both of us were eating and drinking great and enjoying our miles.

I know I thrive on my plans and that's okay, embrace it but don't be afraid to stop for a minute and make a new plan if the need arises. I went into this ride the most prepared I've ever been and it was great! I've gotten more and more deliberate about my plan and this time I wrote it all out. My mom was kind enough to crew of me so I wrote out a two page plan. It had each loop, how long it was, time range I planned to complete it in and what I wanted available at the hold and what I needed to do during my hold time. Things ran like clockwork!

I'm learning to be able to relax even in the midst of the unknown and that's a great thing, not just when it comes to riding.

I think everyone should do a little risk assessment on themselves and their horse from time to time. Make sure that at the end of the day you don't have any regrets. This year has kind of been a tough year for our sport. We've had moralities, both horse and human and I think it can't help but make all of us think a little bit. This was the first time in years I had really hurt myself and it made me think. From time to time we all need to evaluate the risks we take. Examine how we ride, the kind of equipment we use, our horse and their training, etc... I'm not going to quite riding, but at the end of the day I don't want to be taking unnecessary risks, either. I want to do everything I can to ride as safe as I can. Looking at our little wreck the only thing that might have changed it would have been riding alone or in front. I know my horse pays a little more attention when we are alone, or in front. That being said I didn't feel like she wasn't paying attention and at the end of the day she still might have fallen. I will still ride with others from time to time it's just something to keep in the back of my mind and be aware of.

Bunny and I don't need an award to tell us we did a good job. I have to admit I was pretty bummed about not getting an award. Since I started riding Bunny I feel like a lot of people cheer for us, people from Greener Pastures, Bunny's breeder and lots of other friends and family. I guess I felt like having an award to brag about would prove we are worth cheering for. A good friend of mine sent me a message shortly after Jubilee. She said she was amazed how far Bunny and I had come in one season. We started out only having done 25 mile rides and by the end of the season we can finish in the top 10 on 50's (if we choose) and know we can finish longer distances as well. I guess we have accomplished a lot, even if we won't have an award to prove it.

Now I'll wrap up my lengthy saga by saying that the people in this sport rock! When I got hurt I was surrounded by people asking how they could help, coming to check and see how I was and telling me there would be another ride where things would go better!

Here's looking forward to next season.

 Bunny and I on our second loop. 

Another fantastic photo by Jessica Anderson.

p.s. After 8 weeks my foot is getting close to being back to normal. I still have some work to do to regain my muscle and flexibility. It's amazing how quick you can lose those things. Thank God for my friend who is a Physical Therapy Assistant!