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Just me braggin'...;-)
Dec. 18th, 2008 02:23 pmA short Brandee/riding update:
Brandee is doing really well, with the small exception that she's had hives these last 2 weeks. They don't seem to bother her, and none of the other horses seem to have them. I meant, last week, to call a vet but I was OBE this week with being sick. I'm keeping an eye on the situation, and if there's no improvement by Monday I *will* call a vet (oh joy, a vet visit at Xmas :-/ ).
OK, don't mean to be negative, because Brandee is being a little rockstar lately during her training rides! The big improvement has been her canter, esp. the left lead. She's got the muscles now to come up under herself, both at the depart and during. This is quite the accomplishement, given that Brandee is a built like the little downhill cowpony that she is. ;-) Obviously, we're not going to the Olympics or anything, but Erica (my trainer) is dying to show Brandee, and I'm sure Brandee would suprize some people. Of course, too, it would be a feather in Erica's cap to show people, "Hey, look what I did with this little cow pony!"; I'm sure it would be good advertising for her. :-)
And I'm really happy with my riding lately (even with being sick!). Twice now, during my lessons (including today), Erica has told me that I'm becoming "a beautiful rider". Yay!!! This has always been my big goal. :-)
Musings on the side: By some definitions I'll never be "a horse person". I came to horses late in life, and I've only had 2 main "horse relationships": Jokie of blessed memory (my old schoolmaster that I leased for a few years -- he retired in late 2005, moved to Klamath Falls, and died peacefully this year), and Brandee. Then I had groundwork experiance with a variety of horses while working for my old trainer, and expericance with lesson horses at Stanford and at Garrods out in the Saratoga hills. I'm considered a fixture at my barn now, after being there for 5+ yrs. I'm not clueless about horses by any means, but I don't claim to know more than I do.
So I'm resigned to remain in something like "horseperson limbo". I'm a 'horse person' to some people and not to others. I definately have opinions, based on my (now 7 years of) observation, but mostly I keep my mouth shut because I know that my lack of a lifetime of experiance and my limited number of horses negates any credibility I might have with a certain segment of the 'horseperson population'.
But, ya know, I have just the relationship with horses that I always wanted and set out to have: I have a good working relationship with a willing, pretty-darn-smart, calm yet forward, well-trained horse/pony and I'm having a great time. I didn't want 'drama' and I set myself up to win, according to my own criteria. Yup, so maybe I'm not so much a 'horse person' as I am a 'Brandee person', and I don't think that I can complain about that. ;-)
Brandee is doing really well, with the small exception that she's had hives these last 2 weeks. They don't seem to bother her, and none of the other horses seem to have them. I meant, last week, to call a vet but I was OBE this week with being sick. I'm keeping an eye on the situation, and if there's no improvement by Monday I *will* call a vet (oh joy, a vet visit at Xmas :-/ ).
OK, don't mean to be negative, because Brandee is being a little rockstar lately during her training rides! The big improvement has been her canter, esp. the left lead. She's got the muscles now to come up under herself, both at the depart and during. This is quite the accomplishement, given that Brandee is a built like the little downhill cowpony that she is. ;-) Obviously, we're not going to the Olympics or anything, but Erica (my trainer) is dying to show Brandee, and I'm sure Brandee would suprize some people. Of course, too, it would be a feather in Erica's cap to show people, "Hey, look what I did with this little cow pony!"; I'm sure it would be good advertising for her. :-)
And I'm really happy with my riding lately (even with being sick!). Twice now, during my lessons (including today), Erica has told me that I'm becoming "a beautiful rider". Yay!!! This has always been my big goal. :-)
Musings on the side: By some definitions I'll never be "a horse person". I came to horses late in life, and I've only had 2 main "horse relationships": Jokie of blessed memory (my old schoolmaster that I leased for a few years -- he retired in late 2005, moved to Klamath Falls, and died peacefully this year), and Brandee. Then I had groundwork experiance with a variety of horses while working for my old trainer, and expericance with lesson horses at Stanford and at Garrods out in the Saratoga hills. I'm considered a fixture at my barn now, after being there for 5+ yrs. I'm not clueless about horses by any means, but I don't claim to know more than I do.
So I'm resigned to remain in something like "horseperson limbo". I'm a 'horse person' to some people and not to others. I definately have opinions, based on my (now 7 years of) observation, but mostly I keep my mouth shut because I know that my lack of a lifetime of experiance and my limited number of horses negates any credibility I might have with a certain segment of the 'horseperson population'.
But, ya know, I have just the relationship with horses that I always wanted and set out to have: I have a good working relationship with a willing, pretty-darn-smart, calm yet forward, well-trained horse/pony and I'm having a great time. I didn't want 'drama' and I set myself up to win, according to my own criteria. Yup, so maybe I'm not so much a 'horse person' as I am a 'Brandee person', and I don't think that I can complain about that. ;-)
