2 days of classical dressage aside :)

Well I have had two days of classical dressage aside and I am exhausted but happy :)

We have a trainer that comes down here every 6 to 8 weeks and she does 3 days of lessons. I had emailed beforehand and asked if I could ride sidesaddle and she was willing to give it a go. This trainer had spent some years in Europe with Egon von Neindorff  (now deceased) and also clinics with Philippe Karl when he is in Australia. I had devoured PK's book "Twisted Truths" but lack the practical knowledge to apply it. I had also struggled to find a local trainer who used classical principles, let alone knew who PK was... *sigh* then I found this trainer by chance  :) There is also a good dose of Baucher flexions thrown in, with work in hand to mobilise the jaw before we even move off.

Day 1 we spent mostly in walk, using flexion and counter-flexion to work on straightness (our nemesis at the moment) and also really trying to get Molly to relax, do little walk/trot and getting her to extend her neck. I was so conscious of trying to keep my weight to the right that I think I overdid it and started hitching my left hip. By the time I got home I had quite a nagging tightness/pain in the small of my back on the left side.

Day 2 started off with a bang, literally unfortunately. Just as I was walking Molly to the mounting block a child on a small motor cross bike appeared and proceeded to zoom in and out of the trees alongside the arena. If there is one thing in this world that Molly is terrified of, it is kids on small motorbikes! She leapt into the air and was a quivering mess, with diarrohea... :(

It took for 15 minutes to calm her down enough to get on. I explained to the trainer and said we would just have to see how it went, as I suspected I would have to bail before Molly hit the eject button. Fortunately the kid didn't last long and zoomed off 10 minutes into my lesson, but it took at least another 20 to get her adrenaline down. I was disappointed, but these things happen. We did get some nice trot work at times, and just at the end she had a brief look at our canter, so it wasn't a total waste of time. We obviously have HEAPS to learn and improve upon. I really like this approach, although it is slower it just feels right for us. It is quiet but insistent and doesn't compromise my joints by expecting me to enter into a tug of war with Molly.

One other thing I really like about this trainer is at the end of the clinic she gave me a homework sheet, with notes she wrote up for us to work on and gave us both short and long term goals to work on until we see her again.

So I will certainly be back when she is next down, and she said that she is looking forward to seeing us again. I guess a mad sidesaddle DQ livens things up a bit! lol

Who stole Autumn?

Autumn is normally our best growing period. Sure the mornings are cool and it gets darker quicker, but we usually have good daytime temperatures and enough occassional rain to get all the paddocks to leap into action. Given we have droughts over summer we really need our autumn growth to see us through winter. 

So who stole autumn? We seem to have gone from summer straight into winter. We have had quite a bit of rain and low, low temperatures. We had a southerly this week right off the Antarctic and it started snowing further south already!

The sun is out today but it is suppose to turn southerly again next week. There is a tiny bit of new growth in the paddocks, about 1 inch or so, in the 2 paddocks I reseeded. Fingers crossed May picks up a wee bit. On the plus side I turned our lucerne (alfalfa) paddock into baleage this year, so that will see the girls through the worse of winter, it is smelling divine already.

On the horsey front I have a new mare here for awhile. She belongs to a friend and is wintering here, and I can ride her too. She has been a pasture ornament for a some time, so I need to get her going. I am thinking of selling Molly, so need to decide what I am doing there :(

And I may have *accidentally* acquired another sidesaddle. I don't get that for a few more weeks, so hopefully my next post will be a horsey/sidesaddle update :)

"Loose lips sink ships"

Keeps those lips zipped ladies... we don't want any sidesaddle wisdom slipping out inadvertently.

Has a friend of acquaintance expressed an interest in trying sidesaddle? Then shake your head, say sorry you can't help.

Is a fellow sidesaddle rider searching for a piece of equipment or dress? Do you know an internet site or source where she may purchase what she is missing? Shhhuushhhh... keep that information under your hat.

See that beginner over there, the one struggling with her position? Let's just walk away, we couldn't possibly offer some useful pointers that will help her become a more secure rider.

Knowledge must be suppressed, we cannot allow the free exchange of information that may lead to more proficient riders or *horror* our numbers may increase. Let's remain silent and let sidesaddle keep its dignity as it slips beneth the waves to join the Titanic...

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This blog post has been dedicated to the "NEA".

I had never heard of the "NEA" until a couple of days ago, when I received an email on their behalf. This email accused me of theft of their images and implicity threathened a lawsuit. 

Apparently one of the images I have used originated from their website. Given the image is not watermarked, copyrighted, nor does it have any identifying features, I'm not sure how I was suppose to know that? I found it on a forum that was discussing how to make a linen habit and numerous photos of Edwardian habits were shown. I thought I was discussing a dress pattern but apparently I am undermining the very fabric of society...

I was then further lambasted as being one of a group of sidesaddle bloggers stealing information and the "Tips of the Month" from their website and using my blog to disemminate that information and (here's the kicker) assisting and offering hints to other sidesaddle riders! 

As I have already stated, I only heard about the NEA a couple of days ago. I have also reviewed their website and then flicked through my old posts, and I fail to see where I have been stealing information and tips wholesale from them. I always thought you needed a strong factual foundation for any lawsuit, perhaps this is not the case in the American legal system? 

I also fail to see the harm or damage caused - what pecuniary loss have they suffered at my hands?

I must truly be some evil mastermind, plotting to spread the sidesaddle word without the authorisation of the NEA...

Time to wake up and smell the coffee?

I have just sent off my FOURTH request to have my sidesaddle accepted as my compensating aid for dressage, as detailed on my para-classification and as allowed under the FEI Compensating Aids regulations. This request has gone to someone different, the previous three were all to one person who has ignored them all. What really p%$# me off is in January this person circulated forms she wanted completed by all the para-riders in order for our compensating aids to be endorsed. I filled in the forms (my third request) and returned them by 20 January as she requested, and... nothing... she is still sitting on them!

This time I have written to the Chairperson of Dressage NZ, but I am thinking "why am I bothering?"

I went to a local dressage competition on sunday (I doped myself up on codeine before hand so I could get through it astride) and we had a disappointing time. I was warned that the judge for our afternoon test was tough. Well she wasn't just tough on us - I thought she was unnecessarily cruel. The judge made it pretty clear from her comments that she thought I was wasting her time, there wasn't a single positive comment or positive critque :(

On top of that, I have now been told by 3 different people that Molly & I are not "show quality" and that we won't get looked at if we show aside.

So I think it might be time to face reality and shelve our dreams of competing aside. I will still ride sidesaddle at home, fortunately no one can stop me in my own backyard! My rheumatologist has told me that given how severe the arthritis is, I shouldn't be as mobile as I am and she puts it down to the exercise I get from riding. So I will definately continue riding as my physical therapy.

 

I just feel defeated and there is no point in having a goal, that is just setting us up for failure or as the butt of jokes :(

A wee bit of shopping

Saddle woes are doing my head in, but I *think* I may have found something to help. Leila has posted in the past about using a fleece girth sleeve at the front of her sidesaddle. This made me think of the saddle blankets you can get with the big, fat, fleece rolled edge. I wondered if something like that might help pad the gullet of my sidesaddle. So off I went to browse my favourite NZ online saddlery, the Tackshop. 

Where I found this:

It is described as "a unique system that involves the combination of closed cell foam and felted shim pads to raise and lower the front and rear of the saddle. Gives greater versatility and improves saddle fit." I'm thinking it might work with my sidesaddle, and allow me to raise the left rear and pad the right front. Unfortunately its not cheap, but I just sold my little GP saddle, so I am putting the money from that to good use! So I have ordered it and will let you know how it works out. Has anyone tried anything similar?

Horse of the Year 2011

Its a mixed bag on the home front at the moment. Hubby's work is off limits until possibly the end of the year (no one knows how long body recovery will take, and then the CBD has to be made safe again and there are so many buildings to be torn down, its just mind boggling) so he is commuting up to Wellington for his job. Fingers crossed he will be home at the weekends, but we are trying to get all the autumn jobs done before he heads off this weekend. Autumn seems to have arrived overnight and we have just reseeded 5 acres in a horse mix (cocksfoot, timothy, broome and prairie grass) so we need a bit of rain & warmth to get a flush before the temperatures drop too low.

Molly is being a right little troll at the moment, and I am so frustrated I have parked her in the paddock while I mentally "regroup". She gets anxious, curls behind the vertical, and does the horrible pony trot, and I'm at a loss as to how to push her out of it. The title photo is a good example of how she curls behind and  you can see the tension in her neck and tail. If I let the contact go she races off on the forehand, if I try to half-halt she throws her head and will even go backwards, or sideways, in the ditch.... My lesson that got cancelled is rescheduled for the end of next week, so I will be looking forward to what the new trainer has to say about the issue!

This week is a major week on the horsey calendar - it is the Horse of the Year show. It covers every discipline you can think of (eventing, showjumping, dressage, showing, endurance etc) and competitors have been working all season towards qualifying. The sidesaddle classes will be held on Wednesday and this year there are 8 riders in the classes, which is a great turnout. I'll be waiting for the results and photos to come in :)

Historical costumes

I've been thinking a bit about historical costumes lately. Not that I have seen any costume classes offered here (apart from once a year at our annual fun day) but I do like the idea of getting dressed up occassionally! I am torn as to what era to opt for and I found somewhere I could buy a pith helmet...

But there is something about the Regency era habits that I really like. I found photos of this one, that was made for the 1999 movie of Mansfield Park. I love the way it drapes.

I am tempted to get something like this made, but with a more "military" feel to the jacket. It just needs a bit of "Sharpe" to it...