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A Hazy shade of winter
Jan. 5th, 2007 06:23 pmLook around
Leaves are brown
And the sky
Is a hazy shade of winter
Hang on to your hopes my friend
That's an easy thing to say
But if your hopes should pass away
Simply pretend
That you can build them again
--Bangles, Hazy Shade of Winter
Feeling the winter blahs. Not much riding going on lately- weather's bad, days are short. Feels like I spend so much time tacking, grooming, wrapping, and lunging that there's none left for riding. Gone are the days when I brushed off where the saddle and girth went, put on the saddle and bridle and rode. No, these silly warmbloods get all four legs wrapped in fuzzy polos, then get TWO saddle pads, side reins, and a lunge line, then they get lunged, then the lunge line and side reins come off and THEN you ride, and when you finish you have to unwrap the darn polos again. Granted, they look pretty, but I think the first dressage rider who used them ought to have been strangled with them. I think my own beastie will get slightly less foo foo treatment- maybe I'll get some boots for the front legs. I know if it's a young horse though it'll probably need lunging for a while. Sigh.
Anyway, I'm trying to keep a positive attitude without veering into the unrealistic starry eyed stuff. "Oh, I'll get a horse and ride more and improve fast, and before you know it I'll be doing FEI!". But what if I can't even ride more? I'm thinking a closer barn with more flexible hours is the key...If it ain't, I guess I'm kinda screwed (at least till the baby is a teen and doesn't want me around anymore...that's about 16 years from now). In a perfect world, hubby loves his job and makes enough to pay all the bills, I get a part time gig as a working student and ride several times a day, and spend the rest of the time raising the boy.
But the reality isn't so bad and I just have to keep reminding myself of that and pushing myself a little. Hubby and I like our jobs, (that wasn't the case 3 years ago), we pay the bills and we should be able to afford the horsie too. I have a cool trainer and thanks to her I rode my first half passes, canter pirouettes, piaffe and passage, and lots of more sort of mundane things, like some really good leg yields and shoulder ins, improvements in my position, knowledge, and feel. In any case lesson tomorrow (Yay!) and go look at a horse Sunday, provided the roads are passable. Would be pretty sweet if she works out- 5 y.o. Hann/TB cross. Not seeing much in the U.S. that I really like as a prospect lately- they tend to be too expensive. Nice young trakehner gelding in Canada but I'm less willing to tackle that hassle again, though I suppose I probably will if he still seems like the best horse.
Leaves are brown
And the sky
Is a hazy shade of winter
Hang on to your hopes my friend
That's an easy thing to say
But if your hopes should pass away
Simply pretend
That you can build them again
--Bangles, Hazy Shade of Winter
Feeling the winter blahs. Not much riding going on lately- weather's bad, days are short. Feels like I spend so much time tacking, grooming, wrapping, and lunging that there's none left for riding. Gone are the days when I brushed off where the saddle and girth went, put on the saddle and bridle and rode. No, these silly warmbloods get all four legs wrapped in fuzzy polos, then get TWO saddle pads, side reins, and a lunge line, then they get lunged, then the lunge line and side reins come off and THEN you ride, and when you finish you have to unwrap the darn polos again. Granted, they look pretty, but I think the first dressage rider who used them ought to have been strangled with them. I think my own beastie will get slightly less foo foo treatment- maybe I'll get some boots for the front legs. I know if it's a young horse though it'll probably need lunging for a while. Sigh.
Anyway, I'm trying to keep a positive attitude without veering into the unrealistic starry eyed stuff. "Oh, I'll get a horse and ride more and improve fast, and before you know it I'll be doing FEI!". But what if I can't even ride more? I'm thinking a closer barn with more flexible hours is the key...If it ain't, I guess I'm kinda screwed (at least till the baby is a teen and doesn't want me around anymore...that's about 16 years from now). In a perfect world, hubby loves his job and makes enough to pay all the bills, I get a part time gig as a working student and ride several times a day, and spend the rest of the time raising the boy.
But the reality isn't so bad and I just have to keep reminding myself of that and pushing myself a little. Hubby and I like our jobs, (that wasn't the case 3 years ago), we pay the bills and we should be able to afford the horsie too. I have a cool trainer and thanks to her I rode my first half passes, canter pirouettes, piaffe and passage, and lots of more sort of mundane things, like some really good leg yields and shoulder ins, improvements in my position, knowledge, and feel. In any case lesson tomorrow (Yay!) and go look at a horse Sunday, provided the roads are passable. Would be pretty sweet if she works out- 5 y.o. Hann/TB cross. Not seeing much in the U.S. that I really like as a prospect lately- they tend to be too expensive. Nice young trakehner gelding in Canada but I'm less willing to tackle that hassle again, though I suppose I probably will if he still seems like the best horse.
