TRAPPED!

Kind of cute but never quite happy!

So, as the world turns, these are the days of our lives...  Have I ever ranted about those Eeyore type folks?  You know the ones - the Debbie Downers, the "my life is worse than anyone elses" and the "see, everything happens to me" folks?  Have I?

Probably not since I do not tolerate the victimization of folk.  I believe that what you do, how you view life, how you approach things is what defines you.  Ok, I wasn't going to have that rant today...  No, there is a piece of me that wants to fold into my very own inner-Eeyore...

Desensitizing in 2010

Sugar scrambled in the trailer, once, coming home from her Christmas vacation.  She wasn't hurt but tore a huge hole in her galloping boots.  And, this weekend, while trailering a short distance to our dressage clinic, she did it again.  This time she tore through her bell boots and cut her coronary band.  It felt more violent than our Jersey ride.

I started my blog on 4/11/10.  It was a little piece called "Patience will be the Death of Me Yet".  In January 2010, we had a trailering incident coming home in a snow storm.  I believe Sugar got caught in her Lende shipping boots and panicked wildly.

Because of the snow and some road construction, I couldn't pull over to check her. The racket was terrifying. Then she quieted.   I was scared to death and didn't know what to do...  She remained quiet all the way back to the barn.  When I opened the trailer door, she was standing there rigid, drenched in sweat.  With the exception of some bruising on her ribs, she seemed unharmed.

Thank god she's eye candy
Photo used with permission

From that day and for the next 4 months, she would obediently self-load, stand quietly until the doors shut... then she would try to kill herself.  I do not exaggerate.  It was the scariest thing ever!  I worked with an expert for those 4 months to get her back trailering safely.  {{{Trust me, we tried EVERYTHING.}}}  And, one day, she stopped and then trailered well until this scrambling incident.

God, I want to rail at the world...  I want to cry and I just want to bury my head in the ground.  I can not handle this again.  Let me say that again, I can not handle this again! 

Phew!  That felt a little naughty.  And, the ugly truth is, I could go on and even deeper into the "woe is me!"  But, for this moment, I won't!  The truth is that Sugar scrambled in the trailer.  She is not trying to kill herself.  (I'm trying so hard not to add, "YET")

So, I called my trailering expert who offered me advice which I will take.  I pray that it is just a blip and she'll be back on the road again.  You see, it's not a secret but Sugar is a god awful backyard horse.

Patience will be the death of me yet...  {{{SIGH!}}} 

{{{psst, I don't think I can handle this again!}}}

SOMETIMES YOU JUST GOTTA TRUST!

Dating is risky business...  Way back when and a long time ago, I did online dating.  When it came to the actual hook-up, I practiced rape-prevention quite diligently.  Before leaving for said date, I would carefully prepare...  First call my BFF and put her on alert - "I am meeting Blind-Date-Guy at X-time in a public place.  I will be taking my own car to provide a sure-fire escape plan. I will not be trapped."  Hmmm, do you wonder yet why I've remained single all these years?  It was a twisted way to seek a mate, huh?

Complete Trust

There is a thread on one of my Horsey Bulletin boards that is driving me crazy...  (Ok, it may be a short trip but it shouldn't be wasted.)  You see, the thread is about trailering or more specifically, how to say no to folks who ask you share a ride.

I was shocked at how many posters would not share a ride, who worried about liability, who thought it wrong for someone to ask or thought the person asking was taking advantage of the trailer owner.  Shocked I say.

You see, unlike the dark world of my dating past, I believe that sometimes you just gotta trust!  As a kid, I was a poor barn rat who, through the generosity of others (and hard work) found a place in the horse world.  Without these kind folk, who knows what life would have been like...

You gotta pay it forward!  For every kindness recieved, you must release another kindness.   Dare I say it?  It is about Karma!  You gotta give back for what the world has generously given to you.

Bestest Eventing Buddy
Photo Courtesy of www.Flatlandsfoto.com

I don't buy the liability/insurance fear excuse/worry.  Yeah, it might happen and someone might sue you but really?  Do you want to spend a life in fear of being raped (odd metaphor but it works if you think about it) or do you want to meet great people and share in a lot of good times?

Oddly enough, I met my Bestest Eventing Buddy in kind of like a great blind date.  Area 1 has a place on its bulletin board for folks to "ask" for trailer rides.  I answered an ad/post and have enjoyed 3 eventing seasons/adventures with one truly awesome Buddy.  Ah, the stories...  some other post, I'm sure.

And let's not forget the random act of kindness from the Good Samaritan who gave Sugar a ride home last weekend while the DWSB laid broken on the side of the road.  It is folk like this that make the world an awesome place.

Really, sometimes you just gotta trust!  The world is an amazing place when you do!!!!

KARMA, KARMA, KARMA... ENDING A VERY GOOD DAY!

DWSB Bleeding Out

kar·ma/ˈkärmə/Noun  1. (in Hinduism and Buddhism) The sum of a person's actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences.

Deep thoughts for a Monday...  I believe to this to be true.  If I do good things, am a good person, right my wrongs and see life in good terms, than that is what the universe returns to me.  What shocked me is to hear a total stranger, a Good Samaritan, waive off my unending stream of thanks by saying, "Karma is why I do this.  If I give out good Karma to you, you will give good Karma to someone else and that good Karma always comes back.  One day it will be me and someone will do the same."

The DWSB (Double Wide Short Bus) left it's first stop in the pouring rain at 5:30am with a full load:

• One whiny/exhausted Novice Rider heading to Valinor Horse Trials
• One, almost, very white braided and polished Princess/Diva Event Horse
• Two very awesome companions/coaches/grooms/friends - New Barn Girl, Devil Child
• One slightly smelly, flatulent Convict
• And, a full load of eventing equipment for the compulsive Scorpio rider

It was an uneventful ride...  unless the torrential rain and verbal diarrhea disturbed anyone but the person (me) going on and on about scratching and not riding in torrential rain and/or doing a very expensive dressage test and heading home.  The DWSB was smooth and experienced...  taking care of the "team" as it should.

The ride home...  not so much.  Less than 5 miles from the grounds, the truck lost power gave a pop and died.  I coasted it without power, carrying its precious cargo to a stop on Route 3 in Plymouth.  Dead, dead, dead....

Minutes later, while on the phone with USRider, http://www.usrider.org/index2.html, a truck and trailer pulled off the highway.  It was a fellow Eventer (David Wilson, owner of Flying High Stables, Andover, MA).  It was clear that the DWSB was bleeding out... he offered to take Sugar home, to keep her safe and sound after a long day at Valinor HT.   It was an offer of immense proportions.  Grateful, as a word, does not express my thoughts.   So off they went with Devil Child as Sug's girl. 

NBG avoiding paparazzi

And, New Barn Girl, the Convict and I waited.  I've said this in another post (It Takes a Village), tragedy really helps you reflect on what you have and the good in your life.  My village rocks...  NBG is hysterically funny...  Her Karma - never did she complain, always had a laugh, didn't allow me to feel any more guilty about the situation than what it was and that is a gift.  And at the barn, the Barn Owner took care of Sug's home - clean stall, water and food and the Devil Child took care of the rest.

Oh, that's right...  I did show that day too.  Dressage was uneventful... couple of contained spooks but no real diva hijinxs...  a 40 but I had a horse willing to try to perform.  Stadium Jumping was the best we've done ever...  double clear, forward and rhythmic and jumping from her hind end.  Cross country...  ahhh... fast and clean.  I will say that instead of jumping a course, I galloped and jumped jumps.  That "in the moment" hyper focused ride caused me to over shoot two sharp turns...  just a note for the future.... courses not jumps.

I could go on and on about the show, how great Valinor is, how wonderful the organizers were to make adjustments due to the weather and how much fun it was to be there with my peeps (DC and NBG)...  I could, but today is about gratitude and doing good deeds...  THANKS UNIVERSE.

Think about it...  make good Karma.  And, see it as good Karma when it happens to you!


DWSB Rescuers



TRAILERING TO FREEDOM!

This morning the New Barn Girl and I headed off for a bit of a pre-Event "I-Really-Can't-Do-One-More-20-Meter-Circle-In-The-Indoor" gallop at Great Brook State Park.  It was exactly what Sugar and I needed to let loose just before the next attempt to break 40 in this year's Eventing Season.

For the record, pleasure galloping in a light to moderate rain is kind of awesome.  Photographers love misty days because the sun's rays or shadows do not change color.  And what colors we had...  green grass, pink mountain laurel, soft yellow new growth, wild white rose ...  rich and deep.  We were riding in a beautiful New England Spring painting.

Double Wide Short Bus

The park was empty, for who ventures out to ride in the rain?  Sug's back was relaxed and her hips swinging and just a pleasure to ride.  My little alpha mare was the first to see a big doe protecting her fawn.  I speak for myself but I am sure the NBG would agree...  it was heaven.  

I am grateful to have my own horse trailer - the Double Wide Short Bus (DWSB).  There was a time not so long ago when a group of folks were off to a Hunter Pace.  There wasn't enough trailer spaces to take everyone who wanted to go.  It kind of felt like waiting to be asked to go to the Prom all over again.  Take me, I wimpered in my head....  take me...  take me!   And, I ended up staying home.

Now, I didn't run out and get a horse trailer because I did not go to a Hunter Pace.  I got it because I wanted to wander the world and do all sorts of things and play.  I wanted adventures and fun.  The DWSB is the ticket to freedom and I use it well. (BTW, I did get asked to the Prom.)

My goal is to keep the second stall filled as often as I can.  I want everyone to be able to experience adventures off farm.  It was awesome to be share such a wonderful day with someone. 

Giving back what is generously given is what makes life much more pleasurable!

PATIENCE WILL BE THE DEATH OF ME YET

Oh, how horses teach us... Sometimes I just wish it were easier..

So my lovely and talented show horse will not safely ride in her trailer... There are two very important features that a show horse must have ... one is soundness and the other is mobility - going from show to show..

My horse has decided to heave herself to the ground as the trailer moves... she is talented and lovely, but home bound.

I've been working on her rehab as often I can while still keeping up with riding, my home... oh and yeah... my job. We're two days away from the UNH Horse Trials closing date, two weeks from the show and two months from Groton House.

Time feels like its running out.

Patience will be the death of me yet....