Moe and other Musings.

Moe is a great horse.  Really.  He's almost 16.3h (which is tall for a Thoroughbred, they usually come a pretty broad range of sizes, but anything over 16.1h is considered "tall"), and put together decently well.  His legs are straight, his neck is tied in to his shoulder well, and his shoulder has a good - not amazing, but good - angle.  I was pretty proud of myself for finding him and passing my trainer's inspection.  His head, however, is super ugly.  He has small eyes, small nostrils, and small ears... AND he has sclera in one eye.  That isn't detrimental to his eyesight, it's just a visible white around the eye and it makes the horse look like it has "crazy eye."  When I first went to have a look at him, his owner was really downplaying him.  He needed weight.  He needed training.  She'd let him sit in a stall for 6 months.  She hadn't ridden him since Feb (this was December).  He rushed fences, didn't know how to go on the bit, didn't bend, etc.  But when I went out there to have a go on him, and she whipped his blanket off, I knew I was going to take him home despite his shortcomings.   There was the aforementioned conformation, which is really more important than an ugly face.  He was STEADY and had a huge, lofty trot even though it was horribly unbalanced.  He's also super quiet and actually seemed to like me - which is a huge deal for someone who gets emotionally attached to their animals (that would be me).  Also, I fit on him, which is a major selling point when you've got giraffe legs like I do.  I decided immediately that his show name was going to be Downplay, since Lightning McQueen didn't fit him at all, and Screaming Eagle (his registered track name) was just idiotic.

And, off we went.  In a short time, it was made VERY clear that he was too untrained for me to even consider tackling.  Now, don't get me wrong...  I have no problem riding an untrained horse (aka "green"), and he was fine if all I wanted to do was jump and/or trail ride occasionally, but making him work properly in a dressage frame was another story.  He doesn't buck all over the place or act like a snot or any of that foolishness... but a horse, especially one you're going to compete on, needs "buttons."  Like, transitions (walk to trot to canter, and back down again), going & staying on the bit or "vertical," working with their back as opposed to being on the forehand, etc.  I can sort of PUSH the buttons, I just don't know how to set the buttons up.  So, Moe is now in full training mode with a very reputable eventer, who is also my trainer.  Her words to me: "if you're going to ride him, just trot around the arena in 2 point and don't do anything else."  Meaning, me riding him is actually detrimental to his training.  Joy.  So I asked what else I should do while mister Moe and she are out working their butts off - considering that his training is rather expensive and the last thing I want is to confuse the poor guy once I get back on him - and she says to me...

"GET MUSCLES.  GO TO THE GYM."

I hate the gym.  Hate hate HATE the gym.  The mirrors.  The strutting guys.  The strutting women.  The boring machines that just have you stand there and repeat the same thing over and over.  But I'm going.  Pull ups and leg lifts and calf exercises and squats, oh my.  *sigh*  I can only imagine that Moe is thinking the same thing.

Welcome welcome

First things first.  Here's the back story.

My name is Roe, and I ride horses.  A lot of people say that... "I ride, too!" but in this case, it's not just a trail ride here and there, or the occasional jump-on-someones-backyard-pet.  I RIDE.  Lots.  Like, most of the time, 4 days a week.  My horse is an off track thoroughbred (otherwise known as an "OTTB"), who is quite tall, energetic, and moves fairly well.  We're not talking Olympic potential or anything, but can be competitive up to a certain level.  Up until a few years ago, I was a competitive jumper - again, not talking Olympic level by any means, but I was showing at least once a month.
That being said, you'd think that I'd be a fairly decent rider.  I actually considered myself a fairly decent rider, better than most but worse than many, to be honest... until the day I decided to start 3 Day Eventing (LOTS of jumping in Eventing, by the way).  Well, on that fateful day - making the switch from charging around a jumper course, basically kicking and hanging on for dear life to actually controlling a horse with minute muscle movements... I found that despite all my years of riding... I suck at dressage.

I am... Doing Dressage Badly.

This blog is going to be my chronicle, from point A to point X (all you dressage/eventing people will get that and for the ones who don't, I'm sure I'll explain later), starting from today until my first USEA rated 3 Day Event, which will hopefully take place sometime next year around Mother's Day.

Bear in mind, I've been riding for over 15 years.  But up until this point, it's been jumping and foxhunting and that sort of nonsense.  I've had dressage lessons in the past and am taking them now, but this is my year to be serious - it's "shit or get off the pot" time.

And here we have the photo... This is me and my horse Moe - notice the horrible, upward pointing ankles, the pinching of the knee... the shoulders and hands falling forward into my poor horses' neck.  We're talking ground zero here.  Also notice how out of shape poor Moe is.

Yes, my friends... we have a long LONG way to go.