Tenth Lesson

Lots of pictures from this week, I'm not going to post them all here, so see them here instead.

I got to ride Gretsky today. The woman who normally rides him showed up when I was just finishing off, and Anna told her she could ride Domino instead. Today was mostly about getting used to riding a horse other than Kaibab (who was picked up at 1:30 am Monday morning... or does that still count as Sunday night?). Gretsky is very curious about what is going on around him. It's a little hard to keep his attention, as he'll see a couple walking their dog down in the river bed, or Pia in a tree, or someone taking pictures, or a bird, and forget to listen to the person on his back.

Apparently I'm quite lucky, as Gretsky only just got used to Pia climbing trees. Although I guess it was her coming out of the tree that really concerned him (it's raining dogs!). He was wary of dogs and trees, especially in close proximity to each other, for weeks after Pia's first tree climbing adventure. I believe the tree climbing pictured above occurred before Pia got to finish off Anna's coffee (that's right, the dog climbs trees, drinks coffee, and even climbs into buckets to sit in the water when she's hot).

The box from last week was still there, though this week we didn't try to do anything other than walk and trot through it.

Speaking of trot, Gretsky's is a dream compared to Kai. He's actually so smooth at a trot, I was noticing I had to work to keep posting. With Kai, your butt hits the saddle, and he's so bouncy, you're half way up again before you realize it. With Gretsky, I think I could have comfortably sat his trot the whole time. Almost no bounce at all.

No lesson next week, as Anna will be gone. Guess I'll have to find something else to do at 6:30 am on a day off... maybe even *gasp* sleep. :)

Boxing Kai

Kai wasn't in Alabama yet. Apparently everything's done from Anna's end, now she's just waiting on the haulers to call and say they're picking him up. Since that wasn't likely to be at 6:30 am on Saturday, I got to ride him again.

Today Anna made a box out of poles on X.

The first lesson was to walk into this box...

And stop, within the box. Which actually turned out to be quite easy, as Kai is always quite eager to please with his stopping.

Since that went well, we got try the next exercise. We were supposed to trot into the box, slow to a walk within the box, and trot out of the box. I think I was concentrating too much on actually getting at least a stride of walk, as it turns out, this was supposed to be my introduction to the half halt. I don't think the actual walk was important, just that stage right when the horse is going back to walk, as soon as I got that, I should have been trotting again.

And here's Gretsky being ridden by the lady who rides him while I ride Kai. I learned something from her when she walked past us when I was grooming Kai to get him ready. She often has a small treat for him in the morning, and today that treat was a piece of watermelon rind. I had no idea horses liked watermelon!

I'm a Problem

I was looking around in my company's telephone directory today. I didn't find what I was looking for, but I did find my team. The directory is outdated, and doesn't have the correct titles for people. My peer in Utah and I are now both Reporting Assistants, although we both came from the phones. In the directory, he's listed as a "Customer Service and Problems Rep", and I'm a "Customer Service and Problem."

HEY!

Chapter 1 of The DMV

In Karate last week, the ex handed me some mail that had come to his address. It was the registration for my car. I don't need to get an emissions test, just pay it. But the registration was addressed to my husband and me under my married name. The car's title is still under those names, and it shouldn't be. So I decided to get that changed before paying the registration, in hopes the registration would be sent to the right address.

Although I spent the morning procrastinating, I did finally go to the DMV yesterday. It's a half hour drive, and I got there at about 1:45. It was busy. I had to wait in line for 15 minutes to get a number. C109. Then I got to sit and wait. The C's actually seemed to move along pretty quickly, they were on C72 after I got my number, and by 3:15 they called C99. At 3:45, the end was in sight, and C107 was called. At 4:00 after close to 10 minutes with NO numbers being called, a guy came out to inform us the computers were down, state wide. They were still trying to get stuff done though. At 4:15 I was called, but the computers would not cooperate.

By 4:45, with the computers down state wide, and no ETA on them coming back, the poor lady at the window I was at suggested I try another day.

"What you need done doesn't take long," she explained.

"I've been here for 3 hours."

"...once you get to a window."

The return trip hopefully won't be exciting enough to write about... but there will be one. Probably next Friday... No procrastinating the morning away though. :(

Farewell Kaibab

No pictures from today. I rode Kaibab again, but he’s leaving on Wednesday to spend a year in Alabama, so I won’t be riding him again for a while. Not sure who I will be riding next week, and someone usually rides Gretsky while I’m on Kai… Oh well, there’s still Wild Thing and Ikarus, and maybe Domino for the other lady.

More work on the 20 meter circle today. I must have been doing ok, because Anna threw in a serpentine change of direction. Two half 10 meter circles through the middle of the 20 meter circle, and you’re back on the bigger circle going the other way. Thing is, at trot, half a 10 meter circle is really small.

“Remember, Cross Your Heart… lift and separate,” was Anna’s reminder to keep my shoulders back. She also pointed out that I was one of the lucky ones, I could have correct posture without leading with my bust... Score for the flat chested women.

When I was done, and giving Kai his post-lesson groom, Anna's next lesson arrived. A little girl, maybe 7 years old. She wasn't even going to ride the pony either, they brought out Wild Thing.

Blonding

I got my hair from my father's genes. I have the same thick, reddish brown hair as my Dad. He's around 60 now, and still has hair so thick he can't wear a hat. Hats literally pop right off his head.

As he's aged, the reddish brown has gotten "blonder." As white and grey hairs interspersed with the reddish brown, the end result was just a general lightening of his hair to a kind of dull strawberry blond. Now he's finally gotten enough grey (especially in his beard), that it is actually taking on a grey hue... but for a long time we used to tease him that he was blonding.

I'm blonding.

I've always had white hairs. I mean, I can remember at 6 my mother finding my three white hairs. They were placed randomly on my head... one at the front, one on one side, and one somewhere on the back.

As I was getting ready for bed last night, I looked in the mirror and saw a little baby white hair growing in, right at the front. I wasn't too worried about it, until I noticed the other longer one growing right beside it... I leaned in, and there was a third one right there too! I adjusted the spot with my fingers, and a fourth came into view! I have 4... FOUR, white hairs, growing in just above my left temple. FOUR!

I said I'm blonding!

The Jeans

On July 3, I went up to Phoenix and went shopping with my mom. The original plan was to get "interview clothes" and a pair of shoes, but that morning, I pulled on my favorite pair of jeans and ripped the ass out of them. So, new jeans too.

We went to Express, because that was the first store I ever found jeans that fitted in, first men's pants (back when the men's side was Structure), and finally women's pants when they came up with the BRILLIANT idea of having different lengths of woman's pants. I tried on a pair of jeans, and LOVED them. They were an absolutely perfect fit. Just perfect. I decided to get two pair, and grabbed another pair of the same size, same cut, different color jeans, and bought them, without trying them on. My mother told me to, but I scoffed at her... These jeans were PERFECT.

When I got back to Tucson, I removed all the tags from all the clothes I'd bought, and the next day they all got washed. I wore the pair I'd already tried on before, but yesterday morning I was going to wear the second pair for the first time. And they don't fit... They're the same size and cut as the other pair, but these jeans have a waist so big I can pull them off without unbuttoning. The waist is so big that if I try to belt them, it bunches up and digs into me. The front of the waist is too low, and the back is too high. In short, these jeans are totally unwearable, but I'd already taken off the tags and washed them, so I highly doubt I can take them back to the store.

I HATE it when my mom is right!

Riding Solo

Today, I was on my own! Check out Kai and me, sans longe line! More pictures from today can be found here.

This lesson had a lot of walk and trot, and transitioning between. Going from trot to walk turned out to be very easy. Whenever I stopped telling Kai to keep trotting, I was back at a walk. Basically, ever time I decided, "I'll ask for walk right up there..." I was already walking.

Lots and lots of trotting today. My calves hate me now. We also did some 20 meter circles... ok, calling them circles may have been a little generous.... how about 20 meter ovals, eggs, diamonds, and various combinations of those shapes.

I do need to work on my posture and position. Every so often I would remember, and correct myself, shoulders back, sit up straight. And 2 minutes later I would be hunched forward again.

At the end of the lesson, I got to walk Kai around the property. Just walking wherever I wanted to go. I got to watch the guy on the grey horse who always has a lesson in the main dressage arena at the same time as I do on Saturday. I got to ride a bit on the trail that circles the stables, and go up and down tiny little hills.

Anna did say I was doing quite well. I was pretty pleased that even with all the trotting, I wasn't pulling on the reins to balance (after all those blisters from pulling on the little strap in front of the saddle, I was a little worried about that).

The World We Live In

I hope everyone has heard by now about the bombings in London. Four bombs, three on trains and one on a bus went off during morning rush hour. See here for the CNN story.

My Irish cousin Vicki lives in London now. Her husband is a London transportation police officer... not sure exactly what they're called, but they are in charge of security for bus stations, train stations, and airports within London. He's the guy who's going to be combing every bus/train/and station in London to see if there's any more bombs. As of 8 am my time, when I called my mother in Phoenix, and she called her brother in Ireland (Paddy... I swear that's his name), and his girlfriend (they've been together for 40 years and have two children together, but they're NOT married). Vicki had been in touch from London, and Ian is fine. He works nights, so should have been getting off about the time this happened... He's not expecting to go home today.

The funny thing is, this is getting more coverage on CNN than it is on the BBC. Terrorist attacks in London aren't unusual. This one is bigger and seems better organized, but it's still a terrorist attack in London, and there have been lots of those in the past, and no one expects that trend to suddenly stop just because Bush has his "war on terror." The top story on the BBC this morning, is how these attacks, and the fact Blair has left the G8 summit to return to London, is affecting that summit. The British live on a little island, and they know it. They also had the largest empire the world has ever seen, both in land size and population, and they know it. They spend a lot of time looking out at the rest of the world instead of looking in. The fact that four bombs went off in London is news, but the fact that it's affecting the G8 summit is the headline.

Screwed again...

Last week at karate, I thought my driver side back tire might be a little low, but The Fat Man didn't think so, and despite meaning to keep checking it, I quickly forgot.

On Sunday I drove up to Phoenix to see my father who's going to be working 12 hour nights for the next 3 months. When I arrived, the driver side back tire was low... very low. My dad pumped some air into it while I was there, and it didn't seem to go down any, so it was decided it would be safe to drive back to Tucson, and take it into Discount Tire Co at the first opportunity. That opportunity was today.

I left work a little early, stopped off at the apartment (which honestly is on the way), to grab a book, and went to Discount Tire Co. I parked, walked in, and was greeted by a worker.

“I appear to have a slow puncture,” I explained, and he led the way back to my car so he could see the problem.

“Back driver side,” he said when we were still over half way across the parking lot.

“What?”

“It’s the back driver side tire that’s the problem?”

I hadn’t told him which tire yet. I looked back at my car. The back tire was a little low, but nothing to really scream at you. It was at that stage (after the refilling on Sunday), where you think it might be low, but can’t really tell yet.

I must have looked confused, because he explained. “There’s a screw in it.”

I look back… sure enough, there was a glint of silver in the tire tread. “Oh… I seem to have a habit of driving over those.”

Anyone know where I could be picking up screws? Cause… I really don’t like them… at least without dinner and a movie first.

I'm WHAT size?!

When I was in high school, I remember wearing size 8 or 9 jeans. I swear, I remember that. When I went shopping last weekend for "interview" clothes, I clearly remembered that I used to be a size 8. After glancing at a pair of size 8 pants, I decided I must be a 6 now. After trying on a pair of size 6 pants, and being concerned that a strong wind might make them fall down, I decided to go with size 4.

When did they start making clothes bigger? Cause I swear I used to wear a size 8 or 9 when I was in high school...

Riding Lesson 6

I got to ride Kaibab again today, and next week, Anna says I get the reins. Finally! :)

Pia was back this week, and hard at work ridding the stables of whatever lurks down those holes.

Today I got to stand up a lot... it's a lot harder than it looks. Balancing when you have a moving horse between your legs is not easy.

Kaibab was not too happy with all the trotting today. He eventually decided to go for a little canter instead. Anna complimented me afterwards for having a good seat. Apparently, I hung on well. :)