Horseless
Leo has been down in Aiken with Sally since Jan 29th. I haven't ridden since Jan 25th! That's almost 3 weeks now. I'm definitely in withdraw. I'm still doing my T25 in an attempt to stay fit. I still have another 10 days before I leave for Aiken myself.
Sally's reports on Leo have been mixed; as is life with Leo....some days he's a "little up", other days he's "really good." Sally said when she started jumping him he was a "little suspicious", but got better as he went. We've decided I'm only going to do one competition with him in Aiken: Full Gallop. It will be a big course, but Sally thought I should skip Sporting Days the week before and just concentrating on training and practice.
After Aiken, there are big changes in store for Leo and I myself. We are moving back to Pennsylvania. Mike and I ended our engagement and while I love Maryland, Baltimore and the horse people I have met there; my job, friends and family are in Pennsylvania. I'd love to be able to say the horses had nothing to do with how my relationship turned out with Mike, but that wouldn't be the truth. If you ask Mike, he will also deny it. But he came home one day and said he was ready to have kids and he was concerned about my willingness to sacrifice other things to have a family. Hmm...sacrifice. I hate that word and Mike loved to throw it at me from time to time. When I dug a little deeper, Mike explained his visions of me running off to the barn when he got home from work, leaving him with the kid(s). He said horses weren't a hobby; they were a lifestyle which required far more time that a traditional hobby. I failed to see how two people with our financial resources (Mike is a doctor after all) couldn't have both a family and horses, but that future required that I be able to depend on Mike to help me achieve my goals with riding. He didn't want to be that person for me. He didn't want to compromise that far.
There were other things wrong in the relationship. The family versus horses issue was just at the forefront. We called it quits the week before Christmas, just shy of 6 years together. Arguably, this was the absolute worst way to enter the holidays and the new year (and somebody please tell me why they follow New Years with Valentine's Day???)
In January, I stayed with my friend Jen and her husband who live near AOPF. I took weekly jump lessons with Daniel Clasing which was fun! He kept the jumps relatively low (the complete opposite of Denny Emerson's Facebook posts for the month of January) and focused on exercises to develop footwork. He also concentrated on having me stay super relaxed and allow Leo to make mistakes. For example, if Leo charges towards a fence or through a combination, I had to let him and not hold him off the fence so he didn't have a rail. Dan said in competition, I should definitely micro-manage that, but in training Leo needs the chance to err and correct himself. SO HARD!
I even got a couple of dressage lessons in; one with Mara DePuy and another with Phoebe DeVoe. Despite personal life issues, it was a productive month for riding. Then I completely lucked out with work and had the opportunity to go to Copenhagen and Stockholm to visit some of our clients. Funny how one part of your life can be going so bad and other parts can be going just fine.
2014 is shaping up like this....
What can I say? When life gets shitty, I make a plan.
Sally's reports on Leo have been mixed; as is life with Leo....some days he's a "little up", other days he's "really good." Sally said when she started jumping him he was a "little suspicious", but got better as he went. We've decided I'm only going to do one competition with him in Aiken: Full Gallop. It will be a big course, but Sally thought I should skip Sporting Days the week before and just concentrating on training and practice.
After Aiken, there are big changes in store for Leo and I myself. We are moving back to Pennsylvania. Mike and I ended our engagement and while I love Maryland, Baltimore and the horse people I have met there; my job, friends and family are in Pennsylvania. I'd love to be able to say the horses had nothing to do with how my relationship turned out with Mike, but that wouldn't be the truth. If you ask Mike, he will also deny it. But he came home one day and said he was ready to have kids and he was concerned about my willingness to sacrifice other things to have a family. Hmm...sacrifice. I hate that word and Mike loved to throw it at me from time to time. When I dug a little deeper, Mike explained his visions of me running off to the barn when he got home from work, leaving him with the kid(s). He said horses weren't a hobby; they were a lifestyle which required far more time that a traditional hobby. I failed to see how two people with our financial resources (Mike is a doctor after all) couldn't have both a family and horses, but that future required that I be able to depend on Mike to help me achieve my goals with riding. He didn't want to be that person for me. He didn't want to compromise that far.
There were other things wrong in the relationship. The family versus horses issue was just at the forefront. We called it quits the week before Christmas, just shy of 6 years together. Arguably, this was the absolute worst way to enter the holidays and the new year (and somebody please tell me why they follow New Years with Valentine's Day???)
In January, I stayed with my friend Jen and her husband who live near AOPF. I took weekly jump lessons with Daniel Clasing which was fun! He kept the jumps relatively low (the complete opposite of Denny Emerson's Facebook posts for the month of January) and focused on exercises to develop footwork. He also concentrated on having me stay super relaxed and allow Leo to make mistakes. For example, if Leo charges towards a fence or through a combination, I had to let him and not hold him off the fence so he didn't have a rail. Dan said in competition, I should definitely micro-manage that, but in training Leo needs the chance to err and correct himself. SO HARD!
I even got a couple of dressage lessons in; one with Mara DePuy and another with Phoebe DeVoe. Despite personal life issues, it was a productive month for riding. Then I completely lucked out with work and had the opportunity to go to Copenhagen and Stockholm to visit some of our clients. Funny how one part of your life can be going so bad and other parts can be going just fine.
2014 is shaping up like this....
- Spend a couple of weeks in Aiken with Leo (found a cute little cottage I'm renting with Becca)
- Kick off the season at Full Gallop in March
- Move Leo back to Flying Horse Farm in Pottstown, PA
- Get the cats and me set up in my new apartment down the road from the barn
- Work out a new fitness routine for Leo (we are downsizing from a 70 acre farm with access to endless hunt country to a 15 acre farm in the middle of suburbia)
- Start eventing again with my old crew: Becca, Zoe, Ellen and gang
- Tentatively aim for a P/T division in April (depending on how things are feeling in Aiken)
What can I say? When life gets shitty, I make a plan.
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| One last hack around AOPF |
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| Paradise covered in snow |
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