The Post Holiday Rush

    Most people talk about the post holiday crash. I prefer the post holiday rush. For me, the holiday season is a time to reflect and recharge, to see friends and family I spend far to little time with during the competition season, to participate in sports that DON"T require a horse, and to eat far to much. My horses don't get a whole lot of down time (maybe two weeks if they've had a long, hard season), but I do decrease the time and intensity of my rides in the dead of winter. Lessons tend to drop off a bit right around the holidays, too, as people attend endless parties, Santa visits, entertain relatives, and catch up on last minute Christmas shopping. The end result of taking it easy for a while is that by the time the holidays are over, everyone, horse and human, are ready to get back down to business!
   For a year that started off with so much promise, I do have to admit, I was a bit disappointed at the end! I really thought Cha Cha would move up to intermediate after the CCI* at Colorado, but sadly, that was not to be. We finally discovered some changes in his pastern joint after a disastrous showing at Rebecca Farms, where he drug me around as the world's slowest runaway. I decided to finish out the season on him after injecting the joint- I was hoping to get a qualifying score at the CCI* at Galway in November. I ended up pulling him from the three-day anyway, and then pulling him up on course in the prelim at Galway. It was his last event, and next year, he moves into dressage land. He'll still get to jump for fun, and I may even let him cruise around a training level here and there, but I'm back to just babies for now. Luckily, I found a great young thoroughbred while I was at Galway (because what else do you do when you are stranded in Southern California for an extra day with no trailer brakes- you go horse shopping!), and mom lent me the money to buy him, so watch out for Luke next season!
   Delilah did a few training levels, and was pretty good. She was a bit of a pill at Rebecca Farms, but thoroughly redeemed herself with a LOVELY double clear show jump round. She had a silly stop at area championships at a very spooky graffiti covered bank, but still finished 5th. Colorado Horse Park was where her season ended, however. She misjudged a fence out of the water and left legs all over it and down we went. It hurt. And it destroyed my second helmet in 2 years (there are hoof marks on the thing). It was so unlike her- she's such a careful mare and a good jumper to boot, and when we got home she still wasn't quite right so she sat the rest of the season out.
   Coco, at least, ended up the season on a high note. She went to a couple of schooling shows and discovered she could do all sorts of things, like get peppermints from very obliging dressage judges, and go away from her friends and I would hold her hand. She finished 2nd in her very first beginner novice (and would have won if she'd had a more competent pilot), and ended the season with an 8th place at Colorado. She is going to be really fun, and I'm looking forward to competing her next year!
   Things went for the most part, better for my students than they did for me. There were a few pop offs, Suzi having the most memorable one, because she has the whole thing on helmet cam! There were also lots of good placings- Summer has a solid prelim horse now, Marley more than just got her feet wet at training, Grace and Luke had a super year, Lani has a nice young horse who is fun and willing, and Suzi had some good showings, but more importantly, maintained her positive outlook even when things weren't going well at all.
    The training horses went home in November, and I got to have knee surgery. This is a very good thing, and was long overdue. I'd managed to schedule an appointment with the doctor for the Monday after Colorado Horse Park, and I'm pretty sure I horrified him. How do you explain to someone that you've just been fallen on for the second time in just over a year, and its your job? I could just see the wheels turning- his kids will never get to have pony rides at the fair ever again... While I recovered, Steph kindly kept Cha Cha and my new thoroughbred Luke going for me, and Suzi took care of all the day to day things like grain, as well as working a couple of the horses. During December, I also lost both of my old advanced horses. Moon was 26 and Celebrity was 30, so they weren't exactly spring chickens, but I still miss them. I'm also secretly hoping that Moon's dressage prowess and Celebrity's cross county skill will magic their way into Luke. Every thing else about that horse has seemed as if it were meant to be, so I'm crossing my fingers!
    So, now that I've compressed eight months down into a couple of paragraphs, I'm going to go. I've got horses to ride, and its supposed to be warm enough in Salt Lake for the footing to thaw, so I'm headed down to teach this afternoon. I haven't seen the kids since before Christmas, and I'm excited to get everyone going again. I head to sunny California in a couple of weeks for teacher training, and then its not long until we'll all be on the road for the first event of the year. Oh, and my New Years resolution is to keep this blog updated! What are you sitting around reading for? Go out and ride your horses!