Tzedakah

Tzedakah: Jewish word for charitable giving, seen as a moral obligation.

There was no obligation on Saturday, however, just a lot of joy in being able to shop for children who otherwise might not have anything. This was our third year to travel south to Takoda Tavern, meeting up with Deb, GS, Gail and Irina (from our barn) and Kris and John (also horse friends) for our annual tradition. Deb, having posted our intentions on FB, had been gifted with donations from her network to the tune of 24 kids she could pick off the tree. 

Deb pulled all of the cards on the tree for kids who were requesting clothes or shoes.

A total of 22 kids.

The place we met was Takoda Tavern in Parker. The cards were provided by One Nation Walking Together. One Nation provides goods and services to 11 reservations in 7 states, plus provides educational programs, powwows, film festival and a food sustainability program. I feel pretty comfortable with contributing to the project, since I feel confident that the gifts will actually reach their recipients. I had a 14 year old boy, a 5 year old boy, a 4 year old boy and a 6 month only girl. J had four boys aged 15 to six months, 

The plan was to meet, pick kids, go to Walmart to shop and then return to the Tavern to eat lunch together. 

Intrepid shoppers

Shopping took some time. I insisted on picking up candy canes (the inch thick poles) and the filled candy canes (with sour sweetarts) to go in all the bags but the infant bags. Candy was always something I wanted when I was a kid and I had to get it for the kids. After that, we wandered looking for specific items. It’s been a while since we shopped for a kid and a lot of what was asked for was new or unknown to us, although J was not shy at asking those around us for guidance for some of the toys. When we finished with our shopping, we met up with Deb and GS, to help her finish up. She had a completely full cart of all types of items, organized by child by GS, who kept track of who had been shopped for and who else we needed. We were finally at the point where Deb had two kids to buy for, both teenaged girls wanting make up. J and I headed to the check out and let her go shop for makeup without us. At that point, it was going on two hours of shopping in Walmart and we were all hungry.

My phone rang and it was Deb, She was almost in tears, furious, demanding a manager in between telling me that her cart was gone. I told her we would finish putting the packages int the car and I would be right there. Walmart, who is not know for their efficiency, took Deb’s cart while she and GS were bent over picking out makeup brushes. GS swears it was less than 3 minutes between when he put the last set of makeup items into the cart and when he discovered the cart was gone. By the time they tracked it down, the girl had emptied it, stripped the wheels and left it derelict in the gutter. Deb was beside herself. Luckily, she knew what she had picked out and she and GS gathered the items out of the baskets they had been sorted into, in between demanding help from management.

I do have to say that the manager stepped up. Not only did he help GS and Deb find the items they needed, but he personally checked us out, child by child. Each gift went into a separate bag, and Jenn secured them with the tag before they went into a new cart. I helped GS sort and match items, while Deb raced around the store picking up the last of the items she needed. Deb always gets whatever is on the card, but then she supplements the gift with a set of socks and a hat, or hat and gloves. Her heart is so huge. Finally, the last of the items were in their bags, tags attached and payment made. The manager helped there as well: he gave Deb a $50 gift card toward the cost of the goods (and to compensate for the mistake). It helped.

The back of GS car

Peeps and packages

Some of the 43 gifts we brought back.

Deb was still getting texts from her friends while we were shopping and kept adding items to the list.

There was not enough room under the tree, so the rest of the gifts were stacked in the back.

Then we sat in the sun, sharing laughter and stories of horses, while eating great tasting food. There were some beers, some fireball Jack Daniels, a lot of joy and light and just simple celebration of life and the season. Gail and Irina, Kris and John have already committed to joining us next year. Deb and I agreed to finalize the day earlier so we can get the word out, because a lot of other people would have joined up if they could have arranged their schedule. It was a great day.

Nicole Harrington Clinic

This weekend, one of the riders at our barn organized a Nicole Harrington clinic. Nicole is a dressage trainer from Ohio and she is one of the clinicians that Amanda trains with. Amanda and I had talked about me doing a clinic next time she was in town, to help with the canter work. Amanda thought that perhaps she could provide the bit of the puzzle I seem to be missing. I had two rides over the weekend and they proved to be interesting 

She improved our flying lead changes immediately. The trick? She said to look in the direction of our turn, like we would be making a sharp turn around a pole. Guess what happens when you turn your head and shoulders in the direction of your turn? Your weight shifts to what is going to be the new outside, and the horse changes his leads.

This was our first day clinic with Nicole.

Ashke demonstrates how incredible a horse he is.

The other thing she identified was my grabby-grabby hands. That will probably not change, but it is something I can work on in my lessons.

Working on our lateral work.

I felt like I had an epiphany with the whole “turn the head” thing. I will not be practicing lead changes every ride. We need to build the new muscle and strength, plus see if I can’t refine my technique.

Second day lead changes

They look soooo much better than even the day before.

Turn on the Haunches

He is thinking so hard

Note of importance: moving the Pixem from next to the door/wall to the opposite.corner of the ring made all the difference in the world.

Updates

This is the busiest time of the year for me, which is being compounded by increased work load at my job, so forgive me for the sporadic updates. Ashke is doing great and I am riding four times a week. Life is stressful, but still good.

Hooves:

Funny what changing your environment can do to all the parts of your horse. We are finally WLD free. Finally. 

 Doesn't that hoof look magnificent?

Look at that White Line!!!

This was the really bad left front.

And this is the right front.

Aren't they beautiful?

And he is sound.

I just want to point out that I have been working with this farrier for two years now and he is finally happy with what he is seeing. 

Lessons:

Our changes are coming along. I am finally confident enough that I might start working on them in my practice rides. He is listening well, although you can see his mouth working when we took a momentary break cuz he's thinking so hard.

The beginning of canter pirouettes. He was really lifting his front end in the air the day before.

He was a bit tired and I didn't set him up well for this one.

Dogs:

 Skittle's fav thing to do is stand on the center console in my car, look out the front window for cars, and lick my face.

My hearts. I love how much Lily loves T. I swear she is Red reborn.

I hope to have Pixem videos at the end of the weekend. I am riding in a clinic with Nicole Harrington at our barn. Should be interesting. I'm really nervous.

Catching Up

First off, HCWE had their Year End Party a week ago Saturday. It was a lot of fun with some great year end gifts, our general meeting and a taco bar. I received the High Point Award for L4 Intermediate A for the year.

 Back of the Jacket with Logo

Front of the jacket on the left side.

That was pretty fun.

I rode both days this past weekend. It was snowing and cold on Saturday, but KM met me at the barn at 10ish and we shared the arena together. It is always more comforting to have another person there when you are riding, just because. He was solid under saddle and listening well. We did not work on flying changes, but mostly worked on keeping him listening and cantering quietly. I figure we will work on the changes during our lessons and I will work on keeping the canter from going to shit the rest of the time. Hahahahaahaha. 

Sunday, I spent the time working on all of our lateral work while dodging jumping students who are directionally challenged and have no sense of space. I ride in the same area over and over again, but constantly had to stop because they were sitting in the middle of my ride space watching others ride. It was a tad bit frustrating, but what can you do when you have only the morning to ride. We finished our ride with square corners at the canter, working on moving his shoulders while rocking him back over his haunches. He did well. I'm really glad I didn't set up my Pixem, because I am pretty sure it would have been taken out by one of the jump horses.

The Broncos won.

And Tristan played his special game with Lily on both Saturday and Sunday. She really does love this game and will bring him her ball to get him to play with her. He isn't putting any real pressure on her when he is holding her. The game gets really noisy when Skittle gets involved. Skittle doesn't want the ball, per se, but she likes warning her sister away from it, knowing how much Lily likes it.

Mexican Saddle

One of the things that became very apparent to me at the National Show was that my attire is not going to cut it. The one person showing in an Alta Escuela looked fantastic, with the sheepskin cover on her saddle, jacket, vest and pants matched and fit her very well. She had a crupper (!!!!) on her horse and the two of them looked very put together.

I do not.

Short of flying to Spain and shopping, my best option is to buy an outfit, pay for shipping, then hope I guessed right and it fits (European sizes are hard for me). As an example, it took three orders before I was able to get a pair of pants that fit and in order to make sure that it all matches, I’m going to have to buy it all at the same time. I could be looking at a $1000 for an outfit. Add to that the fun experience of teaching my horse to ride in a crupper, and I decided to look at other options.

So, I found a Mexican saddle made in 1960, which actually fits him pretty good. It is a little wide in the shoulder, but with a couple of thin shims (yoga pad) I am able to get it fit to him.

The Western Poneh

The other side

He goes really well in it. I did the lesson on Wednesday night and his lateral work was even better than in the Alta. We got some very nice changes as well. He goes better in it, but I am struggling to adapt to the shape and feel of the new saddle. Overall, I’m pleased.

If you had asked me if I would find a saddle that Ashke likes better than the Alta, I would have laughed, but it does seem to be better and more comfortable for him. The best part is that I can get spurs that match my bit, and the saddle was only $350. 

Busted Flat

Last night, as I was preparing to use the mounting block to get on, we had a thing. Typically, the mounting block is set so the steps are toward the arena, so the horse circles the back, where the highest step is (three step model), he positions himself properly, and I mount with my back to the arena. Last night as we approached the mounting block, I realized it was facing the wrong way.

No biggie, right?!

I went to walk Ashke around it so we could assume the position. He was following closely on my heels and when I turned around to look at him, he was just coming around the mounting block. I realized that he didn't recognize that the steps were backwards, just as he tripped over them.

I was about a foot and a half in front of him when he tripped, lowered his head to catch his balance, and caught me straight in the chest with his forehead. And all of his body weight behind him.

I flew backwards about fifteen feet and landed solidly in the dirt on my back. My right breast hurt, which is to be expected when you balance your horse on it.

Ashke was a rein length away, looking sheepish, but still standing. Saw me and went WTF are you doing laying down and came over to investigate.

No lasting harm but it once again proves out the point that anything can happen when you are working with your horse. And always wear a helmet.

Pixem Robotic Camera

Back in July, I pre-ordered the new Pixem robotic camera from Move N See in France, designed to work with a smart phone. I was really excited by the prospect of being able to seamlessly record, edit and upload to YouTube  any and all training videos going forward. They announced the Pixem had shipped via FB, and then email, while I was working the National Show in October. It was waiting for me when I got home. The learning curve has been a tad bit challenging, although it might be less challenging if I had actually read the manual before attempting to use it.

First thing to know: make sure you turn on the robot and then turn it back off again after charging otherwise the robot will self discharge. That means that the robot isn’t powered when you go to video yourself. I tried three times prior to finally reading through the manual to find out what the hell was the problem. (I’m special.) Your phone connects to the robot via the Pixem app, via the app store, so be sure that is downloaded as well.

Second thing to know: the beacons and robot can’t be too close toa lot of metal or it will lose the beacons because of interference. That was a problem to deal with because our indoor is a steel building. I ended up ordering four tripods from Amazon to hold both the robot and the beacons so that I could position them a little away from the walls. That seems to have fixed most of the issues, however I am going to try inverting the robot and place it next to the round pen rather than so close to the walls. The first night we tried to video the robot could not find the #2 beacon and kept spinning until it finally fell off the tripods because it had untwisted the screw in the botto of the robot. Doh!

Third thing to know: It is much easier to place the back of the phone against the solid brace on the top of the robot, rather than placing the screen against the brace. I really wanted to kick myself when that was described in the manually, because duh, but honestly, I did it that way three times before I figured it out. Part of the set up process is establishing the size of the object you are recording in the frame of the video before videoing, so the camera and phone know how to keep you centered as you ride closer and further away.

Read the Manual. 

I have been very impressed with the video that the phone takes, even at night when the lights are on in the arena.

The only bad part is where the robot loses me.

First attempt at a night time video

Warm up at the beginning of our lesson

Canter warm up at the beginning of our meeting

Working on the lead changes
This would go better if I was a better rider. And if I hadn't screwed Ashke up by cueing him from the outside and inside at the same time. I will need to work on the proper cue a lot of get it really set for him.

Second set, where we still look like we are flailing.

After lead changes, we go back and reestablish all of the stuff we've been working on, so he understands that lead changes are not everything we do.

Or the only thing we do.

Back to something we know.

More canter.
Seriously, it's like fifteen minutes of lead change followed by 45 minutes of trying to get back to where we were.

Going to something even slower and more precise.

Square corners.
He stumbled, which when viewed slowly via the camera, was a slip of his left hind in the footing.

I'm going to try moving the beacons and the robotic camera's positions to see if that helps with tracking. I will put the robot at  position 3 in the middle of the riding arena at the end, to see if there is less interference,  and made the necessary adjustments to the other beacons (#1 is diagonal across the arena from the robot, with #2 to the left of #1 and #3 to the right.)

I expect I will use it to track my progress in my lessons. Maybe not every week, but every other. It takes a good fifteen minutes to set up and take down, so that makes managing my time, my warm up, etc., more difficult.