The fair, saturday before

Sometimes when I use the word "soon" I mean in a geological time frame. Didn't I mention that?

Friday: Alyssa helped me set up the cones for a 20 m circle. She also held the tape while I walked around on the circle, trying to get a feel of it. I ran around in the circle, flew like an airplane in the circle and just generally communed with the 20 m circle. I wanted to practice it under saddle with some other horse before trying to make star do it so I got papillon out. I just put a saddle pad on her and got on.

Papillon was not amused with my efforts to actually get the pad underneath me where it belonged. Once she deemed it good enough it was too much trouble trying to make her stop anymore. I guess I dont blame her, I was wiggling and shuffling around on her back a lot to try to shift everything into position.

When she saw the circle she was amenable to it at first. Dressage is one of those things you have to do before you go out and jump jump jump. When she began to realize that what I wanted was mostly to circle at a walk, she was pisssed. Oh sure, I mixed it up, we went around the arena, we changed directions, we didn't spend all our time in the circle; but we didn't jump any 3' fences either, which is what she thought we should be doing. It wound up being pretty tough to get her to bend around the circle.

She wanted to trot so I asked her for a nice collected trot (the kind she does when she's trotting but shouldnt be.) She gave me my collected trot, but she also let me know that I was riding on her last nerve. She tossed her head, she called all the time, but she always put her feet where they belonged. I guess thats mostly what I ask from her in this kind of exercise. (Later Alyssa and I both independently discovered that she's in heat, so that might explain some of this)

After that it was time to drive Luca. We went around the field as usual, one walk and one trot, but then we went into the arena. I havent driven a cart in the arena in a long long time. It was with Reno and I just about had a complete mental breakdown. There were ponies everywhere, I couldn't get Reno far enough off the rail to be safe, my hands hurt from trying to keep him from prancing or running off. So, I turned Luca towards the arena with some trepidation. Once again I was steering too close to the arena wall so I asked Luca to move off. At first, nothing, tension spread from my mind into my shoulders and hands and back, then, he moved. He moved way to far because I had kept asking waiting for him to do it. So I moved him back a little, at first, nothing, now the irritation and vague sense of panic was re-surfacing, then he moved in way to much. Robert was interjecting occasionally "you're way too close to the arena wall, thats very dangerous."

Finally though, I realized the pattern (the painfully simple pattern really) there was a little delay on the steering. I didn't need to ask for more turn, I just needed to plan ahead. The delay I cant really explain. Maybe he likes to collect himself a little before the turn, maybe it takes him a minute to actually pay attention and do what he's told, I dont know. I do know that his response time got a little faster, I got used to planning for this delay, and, very important, I discovered that it was fine to be a little too far off the rail. The horse and turn on a dime. Actually, Robert seemed pretty pleased when we made turns that were sharp enough to make the wheels groan as they dug into the arena dirt. We kept running over my cones. If they had been set wider I would have done the circle but they werent so I didn't.

Trying to figure out what was expected at the fair was tough. Robert wasn't paying a lot of attention to what he was saying and I couldn't visualize it at all, but we worked that out eventually. Then, as we were cooling down, costume planning.

Robert: "So, what are you wearing to the fair?"
Me: "I was going to ask you the same question, what am I wearing to the fair?"
Robert: "Well, what have you got" (I didn't make that up, I really didnt, thats exactly what he said)
Me: "Can you be a little more specific that that?"
Robert: "Maybe, you tell me what you have and I'll tell you which of it would work" (that I might have made up, I just remember that he wouldnt give me any more information)
Me: (in exasperation) "I've got shorts and a t-shirt and I have a velvet dress"
Robert: (without any hesitation) "Oh the velvet dress thats perfect"
Me: "Seriously?"
Robert: "Yes, dress up really fancy" (Would that have been hard to say in response to the question "what am I supposed to wear?" Anyway...)

No time to ride star, it was time to feed, and then go home.