A Day of Cutenesses and Rolex Dreams

I am tired. I've been up since 5am, went to Lex's barn twice (once to feed the horses, once to meet the farrier), met with a student between barn trips, taught a lesson, rode a horse, and now I'm zonked. It doesn't sound like much, but add the Florida sun in there, and it's a little intense.

The Cutenesses

However, pretty much everything today was adorable. I groomed Lex this morning while the other horses ate breakfast, and she was very snuggly and sweet. I don't know why, but last night I'd really convinced myself that I'd ruined her attitude forever. I can be a little dramatic sometimes, ha! She was fine, happy to see me and get attention.

She does this every morning, waiting for her turn to come in and get some love.

Of course, as I was going to turn the horses out, they all decided this would be a GREAT morning to head for the hills (we just kind of let them out of their stalls into the paddock around the barn and then herd them all out into the field. They can't go far, but chasing them is annoying).

When I got back to the barn, I brought Lex and my old man Baron up for the farrier to work on. Baron's owner just got him a new fly mask, and I think it makes him look adorable like a bunny.

I love this old guy.

 Both horses were happy to stand in their stalls and snooze while we waited for the farrier. We did Lex's feet first, and Lana thought her feet looked great, but she couldn't believe it had only been four weeks since our last appointment. I brought Lex home four weeks ago today, you guys. It feels like a lifetime. Anyway, Lana said that for now, since she's happy barefoot, we should leave her that way, which is my feeling also. Once we start jumping for real (Lana held her hand up to a height that I think was about 3'6") she said we'll have to do a lot of strategizing about shock absorption and stuff, to prevent ringbone and other problems. Sounds good to me. I also believe in training slowly and carefully and getting as much done with as little stress as possible. The way I see it, each horse has a finite number of jumps. Let's not waste any just goofing off or riding carelessly, and let's take it easy and build strength as we go. Between Lana's brilliance with hooves and sensible training, I'm hoping we can keep MareFace happy for a long time. She stood well for the farrier and was totally snuggly and adorable the entire time. YAY.

After Lex was done I turned her out, because Baron doesn't care if there's another horse around or not. I figured she'd trot off to find her friends, but instead, she stood quietly at the gate the whole time we worked on Baron.

Not the world's greatest picture, but I just snapped it while holding Baron.

SO ADORABLE. As you can see, she's sleeping. She wasn't pacing the fence or whinnying, just hanging out. I love her so much.

Then I went out to the Teaching Barn and gave a lesson to a really nice girl who used to ride and wants to get back into it. She's awesome and I think we'll have fun. Then I was chatting with the barn owner about how I'd like to get on a horse and jump around, and she was saying that I'm giving one of their more advanced students a lesson on Sunday (gulp! I hope I can help!) on a little bay horse named Lexx! Funny! She said I could hop on him any time to get a feel for him, and since the ring was empty for the rest of the evening, I was like, "No time like the present!" I'm a bad blogger and forgot to take a picture of him, but here's a long shot from the school web site.

CUTE, right? He's an Anglo-Arab. I'm biased, of course, because I think my Lex is prettier, and he's much narrower than she is, but it was really fun. We warmed up a little, trotted a couple crossrails, and then popped around a tiny course that was set up in the ring. I think the biggest jumps were probably 2'6", but that's fine. He's new to me, I didn't feel like getting off to put up rails, and I didn't want to tire him out (remember that thing about finite numbers of jumps??). He's really quick and light off the ground, which was a cool feeling. The barn owner, R, said I could ride him again tomorrow if I want. Maybe I will. We'll see how much time I have and how hot it is. He's the toughest horse on the property, apparently, so R likes to have the instructors get on him for a tune-up from time to time. He didn't give me any trouble at all.

I also got a new picture of Rocket!

That face is KILLIN me.

Apparently she is doing well at the foaling farm, and she's a silly girl who would rather play and not work - just as a baby should be. Mom and I will be bringing her home on Thursday of next week, which is also the first day I'll get to meet her in person. I love her tufty little baby forelock and the grass-stained knees. Kids should have grass-stained knees, you know?

The Rolex Fantasies

All of this is a good distraction from the fact that I'm not at Rolex. My parents and I used to go watch Rolex every year but I haven't been in probably five years now. I told Mom that we need to plan to go next year (although inevitably, while I'm at Rolex watching other people ride, the only thing I want to do is go home and ride my own horse). We would have gone this year if the date hadn't been so close to "Rocket Launch," as my mom put it. It's probably good for my bank account that I'm not there! My tack-accumulating tendencies are out of control enough as it is.

Maybe someday, if Lex wants to be an eventer, but I think we're heading to the show ring instead.

I look at the Rolex cross-country course and have these two simultaneous reactions: "I want to do that because it is there and if other people can do it, I can do it too," and "Oh my god, I am going to throw up." When I look at the stadium rounds, though, I KNOW I can do that. Well, not today, but I could get back to that point, and I plan on it. Honestly, the dressage would probably be the hardest part for me! Ha! So, Rolex is probably in my future only as a spectator, but I sure do love it.

Anyone else have any big plans? Rolex aspirations - including raiding the trade fair for those sweet Sunday discounts?