Frozen Progress

Where have I been this past month or so? Somewhere in a frozen winter wonderland of subzero temperatures and ever-changing plans. I'd been hypothesizing that typical to patterns over the last few years, when our winter is as mild as it was for so long with no really cold temps, nor snow accumulation, our actual winter would hit around February and last until right before May. Well, so far I was right, not sure if that's something to celebrate or not. lol. It's been cold. Bitterly cold with heavy winds. Yesterday was the first time I'd seen the sun in close to two weeks, and it was 33F, which felt amazing. And then I ponder if I'm going insane because after two weeks of -36F weather, 1F felt amazing as well. The 33F was sweater weather, and I proudly wore only a sweater yesterday.

I am also excited to see dapples developing and coming in nice and dark. You can really see Blue's thunder bolts on his hind legs too in this photo :) Anyway, as I get distracted by my most handsome horse, I will continue with the post. lol.

We've actually been up to quite a bit on this little time lapse. Blue and I entered into a 120-day horsemanship challenge. The goal is to ride 60 of the 120 days. Those that are successful are entered into a drawing for some pretty nifty prizes. I really could care less about the drawing to be honest, but it's nice to have some virtual riding accountability buddies. And I was already putting in the time, so why not try to win stuff. I'm eyeballing the slinky, as that's the next thing I want to invest in. But we never win anything, so not holding my breath. lol. It's been funny to see the folks blown away by the changes consistency can develop, and it's only been sixteen days. It will be exciting to see the changes at the end of 120 days. The recent cold snap that brought with it snow and ice forced us to take a few days out of the challenge, as I don't currently have snow shoes on Blue and did not want to chance him slipping on ice after making a full recovery from his hip injury last Spring. And I had the luxury of not having anything pressing to do (like calving or breaking water), so we didn't. But when we did, it looked something like this:

I love my hackamore and had forgotten how very much Blue does too. It was totally life-changing for me during my clinic with Martin Black last summer. I need to get a band to tie it down so it's not up in his eyes, but it works so well when it's too cold for bits. (yada yada, bit warmers, yada yada.. Ever had a tongue freeze, in the mouth, to a warm, or cold, bit because the air is so cold? I've seen it, just not my personal horse. not fun). It's also looked a lot like this:

(and add another blanket for the past two weeks - he's clipped y'all don't go psycho. lol)

But, we've been riding the challenge :) On top of that, Blue and I started our first lesson at the end of January and he had a full workover, massage, pedicure, and all the works beforehand. It's had him feeling like a million bucks (at least what I think it would feel like, I don't actually know, lol). I really learned a lot from the lesson and for two hours, Blue was an absolute champ, giving 110%, as always. I'd been so looking forward to this lesson with Trisha Reed, I'd heard so many great things an was not disappointed. During the lesson, although I felt like the human embodiment of a dumpster fire, Trisha assured me we were not as bad as I was thinking and pointed out some ways that I could work on activating my seat so that I had better control and energy responsiveness from Blue. I had been noticing that I was quite rigid, but not sure what else to do. So very appreciative of the many visuals and exercises Trisha knew to help me get the right feel. Just like with snowboarding, I get nervous about all the things I should be doing, panic at the overwhelmingness of it and forget to breathe, which makes me rigid through my core, blocking a greater energy from Blue. Makes sense. So very helpful.

However, despite the blurry top photos, there was much improvement. Since the clinic in October, I'd been really working on my position and have been very pleased with the results. It was very reassuring to get perfect remarks on equitation and position, especially coming from someone who is a judge. We've both worked so hard to get to where we are and I'm so self-conscious about it. I want the improvement, I want to be better, so Blue can be his best. It's been a humbling journey how much he's accommodated the past years. Patiently helping me to find the right place. He's drastically improved and is a phenomenal ride. All the little pieces that were instinctively there in both of us working to get a job done is finally being articulated into everyday riding. I thought Blue would resent it, and at first he did, but now he thoroughly enjoys it, he's so much happier in his work and comes up to greet me. It doesn't matter what I ride him in, or where we go, he's so much stronger and sure of himself and for that, I am the proudest. I have started and ridden many horses to some incredible things, but for the work with Blue is my crowning joy. I have learned so much and I'm not sure this journey would be possible with any other horse. (And yes, he's behind the vertical and I'm working to correct my issues that are influencing that). We also got full marks for presentation :D

But how can you not take advantage of an opportunity to wear the pretty, sparkly things. What am I looking forward to? Well, we're also signed up for two upcoming clinics! One is this weekend with Jennifer Keiser, for dressage. October clinic part two at the lovely Madison Valley Equine in Three Forks, MT. Jennifer helped to catapult us forward on this journey and I'm really hoping she'll be pleased with our progress. I'll be driving over on Friday, as the weather is supposed to be less than pretty on Saturday, so I'd rather be safe than sorry. Cress is letting my husband and I stay at their bed and breakfast which will be amazing. I do absolutely adore Cress, she really is amazing and I'm looking forward to watching her work with her two boys. Second one is a team sorting clinic March 27th at the Rock'N B Arena in Stevensville, MT. I figured this might be the only cow-work we get to do this year, so it's my treat to Blue for being such a good cookie these last few months. I'm hoping he'll really enjoy it. Every encounter with cattle has sparked a fire inside of him, and although he's nervous at first, he gets into it quickly. I love feeling him come alive and enjoying the task at hand. So that about covers that! What we've been up to and where I've been. Training, lots and lots of training :) Look out May, here we come!