Thursday, September 30, 2010

I think we're all a bit crazed by the rain

I woke up this morning to Keil Bay's extremely loud, very distinct hyena squeal, which he went on to repeat three times before my husband went out to give morning hay and make sure things were all right out there. Everything was fine - my guess is that the pony was being a pest, bored from being in most of the day yesterday and all night, as we have been completely soaked again over the past 24 hours.

Husband came in and discovered that Bear was chewing on the remains of a dead squirrel, Keats the cat had left a puddle on the STOVE, and Dickens E. Wickens had camped out on the sofa all night, which is a big clue that the rain gauge is over the top.  When I walked into the living room, in fact, there were three of our cats sleeping on the sofa, sort of like the last die-hard partiers from an all-nighter. It's one of those mornings when I have to wonder: what went ON in here last night?

We needed the rain, but now we've had it, in excess, so I'm watching the radar and hoping it comes to an end so we can move on to sunshine and a bit of time to dry out.

And now, I'm dreading the next chore - mucking out those stalls. On days like this, when it's still raining and you know they aren't going to go out, the lovely meditative quality of mucking veers into "oh, god, how much more can they poop?" - said as I give more hay, fueling the fire, so to speak.

This is one of those times I come up with ideas like indoor exercise trails, sort of like equine fun houses, where you give them a muzzle-ful of tickets each and send them off to have fun while the chores get finished.

And there goes the Big Bay, squealing again. We may have to bring the pony in the house.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

klimke - and now back to the right way

Klimke at Aachen in 1995 - look at the difference

more from WEG: Kittel and Scandic - SHAMEFUL

The absolute SHAME. I want to know what the ring stewards are doing during all this!

Does this look like how the FEI defines dressage?


The FEI Rules describe the object of Dressage, which means “training” in French, as “the development of the horse into a happy athlete through harmonious education. As a result, it makes the horse calm, supple, loose and flexible, but also confident, attentive and keen, thus achieving perfect understanding with his rider.”










overwhelmed, but this made my day!! Dutch rider eliminated at WEG due to blood in horse's mouth!

Daughter dislocated her finger last night and after a trip to the ER she is now wearing a splint for the week and is of course not able to do her usual chores. I went out this morning, took one look at the stalls that have to be cleaned due to rain and horses being in most of the night, and decided that at 72 degrees and sunny today, they are all proceeding to daytime turn-out, at least as long as this weather holds.

I spread hay all over the back field, checked the water trough, and after their breakfast tubs were done, said "see you later!"

Now I'm back in dealing with some very annoying ants, and basically am ready to bomb the house with ant poison.

It's just one of those days.

But then I took a break to check in on WEG and found this, which really made me happy. Thank you, judges. I applaud your doing your job!!

Photo added, from Dressage-News:



Adelinde Cornelissen eliminated from World Equestrian Games

Sarah Jenkins, H&H reporter at WEG
28 September, 2010
Dutch number two Adelinde Cornelissen is out of WEG after blood was seen in the horse's mouth in the grand prix
Adelinde Cornelissen and Jerich Parzival, gold medal prospects at the World Games, have been eliminated after blood was seen in the horse's mouth.

Judge at c and head of the ground jury Britain's Stephen Clarke had to ask Adelinde to leave the arena after her halt and rein back on seeing the red in the foam around the horse's mouth.

Speaking to Stephen Clarke at the national championships last month he said that he was honoured to have the responsibility of judging from C, but was dreading something like this happening and having to send a rider out.

Adelinde shrugged her shoulders and patted her horse, dropped her reins and walked out.

Up until that point she was well in the lead, scoring nines for their halt, extended trot and both half passes.

The Dutch still lead the team competition but being down to three riders Edward Gal cannot afford to have a big problem this afternoon on Totilas.

This puts Adelinde out of the individual competition too, and throws open the possibility for our top rider Laura Bechtolsheimer to stand even higher on that podium.

The following photo is (I think) Adelinde during warm-up. Is that Sjef in the background? Big fat clue: if your body is that torqued out of position, what you are doing is WRONG. End of story.