No, I do not have the plague. But I can assist you with it, if you happen to have it. As you can tell by the background on my blog, I like plague doctors. Here's a brief history: plague doctors were around in the 1600's. They were dressed from head to toe in leather or super thick fabric, keeping them "safe" from the plague. One of these things featured a beak like mask. Often they would put flowers or strong smelling herbs in the mask to help hide the stench of the diseased and dead. They also were not sure yet how the plague was spread, and some though perhaps it was the birds, so the beak pointed towards that as well. Their hats helped identify them, much like a a chef's hat does the same. They examined the sick with a cane, because ain't nobody want to touch or get close to that business.
Hey Pink Zorro, they had PS of Sweden in the 1600's right?
I had been set on being a plague doctor for the annual Halloween Jump Night since the beginning of the year. I decided on a partial mask to help improve vision (and perhaps breathing and/or staying alive) while riding. Enter some steam punk goggles, and a felt halt that I had to fashion over my helmet. Yay for adhesive felt! I searched from something resembling a trench coat, but didn't have much luck, unless I wanted to be a super fashionable plague doctor sporting a cute tan garment with fancy buttons. A fun leather belt and my long Kerrits jacket worked just fine.
Seeing and breathing in that was fun. Just saying.
I have been soooo excited for this jump night. Although the format was changed up a bit from last year to help control the crazy, I was pumped and ready to go. Bacon got her bloody drip trace clip, a bloody hand print gauze thing over the saddle pad, and a bloody arm attached to her breastplate. What a good carcass carrying pony! I was worried she wouldn't recognize me or she would be worried when I came out all dressed up, but she didn't care.
Ah, the arm. Love it.
NOBODY knew who I was. I scared a little girl when we got to the barn. Whoops. On the way over, this dumb guy went super slow as he drove past us and I said allowed "What are you looking at?" and then realized that maybe it was the plague doctor sitting in the middle of two regular people...Anyways, people kept asking who I was or I would hear them talk about me as I rode past. A lot of people loved Bacon's clip, and liked my costume too. But a lot didn't know what I was, and that is ok. The format this year was a costume contest, equitation contest, and high jump competition. Bacon and I tied for second place in the costume contest. The winners were a bee keeper (the rider), her bee horse, and her bee pug. It was pretty awesome. The pair I tied was entertaining, because the horse was dressed as a cow and he is TERRIFIED of cows. I am already thinking about next year (Jekyll/Hyde anyone?)
I won me a bucket of candy!
Next was the equitation round. It started out like a normal flat class. Walk, trot, canter, etc. Then a drop your stirrups, post, halt. Reverse. It was going better than I thought it would. Lindsey (the Pink Zorro!) and Prisoner were close by when one of the other ottb's was done with the whole thing and went careening in our direction. At this point, we were supposed to be doing two point at the canter without stirrups. Prisoner said WHOA MAN CALM DOWN and Bacon said WEEE RACE TIME. At that point, it was called for everyone to come to a halt. My carcass carrying mount had no more brakes, but I got her stopped. Somehow. We each then jumped a cross rail, and a winner was awarded. It was not us.
Such a fancy carcass horse.
Pink Zorro and Wonder Woman!
Flutter Shy and Spike. Hang on Spike!
Nice knees over the xr.
Lastly, it was the high jump competition. I figured we wouldn't do too well because somebody likes to rub the first rail to determine the height we will be jumping. Lindsey put it best. Bacon is a good jumper, but not a clean jumper. It started out at 3'. Got over that just fine, no biggie. Then up to 3'3". No problem there. I had to hand off my goggles because they fogged up so bad that I couldn't see anything. And my hat flew off. Then up to 3'6". Here it started to look pretty big to me. I don't ever recall jumping that high, maybe we have, but I don't remember. It was just this floating pole, no fill, and it was kind of hard to know how to ride to it. Fortunately, there was a placing pole about a stride out, so that was helpful. Cleared it just fine.
Spiders and spider legs.
3'6" and a bald plague doctor.
Coming around to 3'9" was a kick in the pants. I kept thinking that maybe Bacon would stop or have a weird go at it. I have no idea why, because that mare just kept coming right to it and went over it like we do it all of the time. Clear. Of course, that was the biggest we had ever done in our lives, so that was freakin' awesome. Up to 4' it went. We came around again, but this time we ran out of luck. We took the pole with a front leg. I didn't care. Bacon was totally awesome the whole time and gave all of the jumps a good shot. It is hard to get your long giraffe leggies out of the way! There were three or four of us left in the 4ft round, and only one horse cleared it. He competes at that height, so I didn't feel to bad losing to her either. But guys. We cleared 3'9"! How cool is that?!
3'9" son.
Aaaannnd the attempt at 4'. Whoopsies!
We threw the horses in the trailer after, and had us some chili and conversation. We got lots of compliments and it was a total blast. Husband got all super competitive for me and told me his grand plans on the way home. He wants me to win the high jump next year (ummm, ha, yeah, sure) and he really wants me to have a truck so I can haul to all of the competitions next year. It made me happy to see him enjoy himself there too, and see Lindsey and Prisoner do so awesomely as well. Ah, Halloween Jump Night is the best!
Side not: Pony got her trace clip in the form of oozing blood for our Halloween costume!
Dressage in the field is the only way to go. For me, at least. Dressage in a sand box is frustrating. Bacon and I were enjoying our little vacation at Prisoner's house for a few days and that included a dressage ride. We started out fairly well in the sand box working on some shoulder in at the walk and what not. I then tried to put us to work and my sides started cramping up.
I do not have matching legs with my horse.
Always drooling.
Lindsey had us working on me planning things ahead in my ride. I get super rushy and just blow through turns or changes of bend and so then my horse does the same thing. Duh. We were having some success, but I had a tricky time riding through the pain and felt pretty sloppy. So many things to think of when I was up there and the whole trying to avoid the penis thing. It is hard folks!
Uh oh. Penis needed.
Riding in new $32 Ovation breeches that feel like sweatpants.
I must be part t-rex.
We also tried to get my hands more out in front of me, which was also ok (until I got out into the field). We worked on some canter in the sand box too, mostly trying to get her off of her damn forehand going to the left. She was not that downhill last year, and though it is disheartening to be battling this now, this is horses and they keep us humble. There are ALWAYS things to work on.
Oooo light!
GOLD.
Linds coaxed us out into the field for some photos. I thought I would just walk around. And then that turned into some trotting. And then, what do you know, some canter too! How can fields make things funner? I do not understand, but I will also not complain. Bacon played along and we had a fun ride out there as well. Even if I rode like a monkey in a lot of pain.
So yeah, the Slipknot concert was a week ago (the hell? how did that happen already?) but I am still feeling the pounding bass in my chest and feeling the vibe through my body (maybe that is why my tremors have been acting up in the morning). To say it was awesome is an understatement.
Look at all the FIRE. And the pit going on on the floor.
I urge any and all individuals to go to a Slipknot concert even if you don't like metal. It is a grand performance. You can tell the band is completely wrapped up in giving you everything on stage. We opted for seats at the concert because I witnessed what goes on on the floor at the last Slipknot concert I was at. I am a little too weak to be dealing with those shenanigans. But even being so far away, I still felt "involved".
Yay Beartooth!
Beartooth was the opening band, and I really enjoyed them. I had heard one of their songs on the radio a few weeks prior and found it catchy (though not my usual listening style) and was delighted to learn that it was them playing it. It is a little screamo-ish, but with nice vocals, and the song I heard was In Between. Basically a song about all kinds of hard or horrible crap in your life, and friends picking you up out of it to help you get through. Ah, very fitting for me, as I have great friends that do this all of the time. I like quite a few of their other songs now too! The played quite well live, although they did not have the vocals set up well enough and his lovely voice was drowned out by the music. Nonetheless, I enjoyed them, and so did my husband. It was cute watching him sing along.
Next up was Suicidal Tendencies. They are a fairly old band. I did not enjoy them. The end.
Go Sid go!
Slipknot is notorious for taunting their fans before the concert begins. A giant curtain with their symbol is lit up, and they play their funky and tribal-y sounds behind it ever so slowly, until BAM. Curtain drops and the fun begins. Corey Taylor knows what he is doing up there. I always love watching Sid Wilson , the dj, do his crazy things. He had to take it down a notch at our concert because the little fart injured himself just days prior. He is known for climbing up tall structures and jumping into the crowd. One time that landed him two broken ankles. He made up for this lack of high diving by throwing down some awesome dance moves. And some karate kicks. Chris Fehn and "Clown" are two of the other percussionists, and their drum sets are on spinning scissor lifts. There is fire. LOTS of fire. I could feel the heat from it from where I was sitting, so I don't know how they didn't combust on stage.
They know a good color when the see it. Good job on the purple, Slipknot.
The best part of any Slipknot concert? When Spit It Out comes on, and Corey Taylor makes the whole crowd get down and crouch. When he says JUMP THE F*CK UP, everyone jumps and it gets crazy. It feels so cool to be one giant unit anxiously awaiting those words. You are a part of the concert. Asking yourself, is this real life? One of these years, I am going to make it to KNOTFEST. So, as I said, go to the concert. Just do it. It will be awesome. I promise!
So, what all happened last week? Well, I will tell you.
MUCH EXCITE.
I drew a few cartoon horses and got recognized by a fun company that you all know. I drew them a few sketches and things, and when they come back from a big show this weekend, we will discuss more details. Until then, you don't get to know who it is, but here is a hint...
Hmmmmmm
On Wednesday, I saw my second most favorite band of all time. That is right, SLIPKNOT baby! By the way, Led Zeppelin is my favorite, just so you know. But SLIPKNOT also came with Beartooth and Suicidal Tendencies. I will share more about the concert as well. But I will tell you I loved it. I knew I would.
You know you are jealous.
Thursday we trailered my horse out to Prisoner's house. We did a quick ride, which included this fantastic jump:
Also jealous of this.
After, I rushed over to go get my hair and make up done for the 60/70's themed photo shoot. We went back over to the barn to do the photos, and they were pretty fun. More on that later too!
Bacon watching her mother pose from afar.
Friday was a quick jump school, where Bacon and I were fairly successful for our preparation for Satuday. What was Saturday? Why it was a horse show!
Just hangin' on.
Ok ok, I will tell you about the show. It was our last show of the season. A local schooling jumper show where we entered in the 2'9" and 3" classes. And those were the first two classes of the morning. I got the Baconator out of the trailer at about 8:30am and hopped on. She warmed up quite nicely in the foreign arena, just briefly looking at a few things but walking calmly on the buckle. When we went to pop over some warm up jumps, I must have swapped out my horse for a for a wildly careening speedy giraffe, because that is what I had. A controllable crazy. We got a few long spots and then a good jump and called it good because Bacon was having none of getting in closer.
SPIDER JUMP!
Vrooooom.
The course was really nice. Easy turns (if you made them easy) and easy for me to memorize. There was also a spider jump that I helped decorate (YAY SPIDERS!!!) and I was excited to jump that. When Bacon and I got out there, home girl was gawking at every jump out there. This could be fun, I thought to myself. It was. We would be hauling ass, she would notice that there was a jump in front of her, jump it, and continue on our drunken speedy course. The most difficult part of the course was a tight bending line to a wine barrel jump (usually ended up being three strides to it). It came up so fast, Bacon went "da hell is this?" as we wipped over it. We came out of there fast and clean. And I have every thought that is was the fastest round (not by choice).
Two stride line.
Roll tops are not scary.
Bacon danced around as we waited for the 3" round. This round was a little less drunk, still fast, but still successful. No rails, and I am again certain that it was the fastest round (there were no ribbons at this show). We had some pretty damn sharp rollbacks in places that didn't need them as well. Oh Bacon! I was pretty excited knowing that we could bust out two rounds without any rails. At our first jumper show this April, she would rub the first rail and jump a little safer after. She had herself a great time out there. After she was done, she behaved herself for hours in the trailer and had very minimal weaving. Yay Bacon!
Brick wall six stride diagonal line.
Fall colors are always good.
Wine barrel jump, complete with TAIL OF EXCITE.
PURPLE SPIDERS TOO!
So there. You will hopefully have a week of fun posts from a crazy past week. Hope you all have a great week ahead of you!
I took Lucy out the other day after I asked Blake if I could try her in the dressage saddle. She hasn't been doing too much for the past year or so, mostly because she seems to be getting some arthritis in her hips and may be on the verge of a metabolic condition. The girl is almost 19 years old, after all, and was used pretty roughly as a ranch horse before she came to live with us.
I shortened my stirrups a hole, and yikes!
I recently started her on Bute-Less, a supplement product that is supposed to be somewhat anti-inflammatory. She has been feeling a bit better, from what I can tell, although she has dropped quite a bit of muscling and weight in the past year. We had been doing some work outs focusing in building her strength back in her hip area earlier this summer, and then things started to get in the way, and you know how that goes. But she still moves beautifully, and thought she might benefit from a light ride.
Still has a nice butt.
I had to laugh as I tacked her up as my husband watched with this face full of ick and disgust. He would always tell me that his horses are not allowed to go in anything english, but he knew that this could benefit her. Plus, we had to bust out the ugly green bonnet for her, because green is her assigned color and because Blake said so.
Look at that hind end.
Just look at it.
I kept everything pretty brief. She has always been a lazy creature, so staying active in the saddle is a must, especially if she is being ridden without other horses in the arena. I played a little with trying to get her to have some contact, and she figured it out here and there. Her trot is still dreamy, and I wish I could take a dash of it bottled up and pour it onto Bacon's grain. She could use some of that slow moving, floaty trot. She was very reluctant to turn her head to the right, so that was very telling of some poll pain that she is always battling. I asked for a couple of laps of canter too, for funsies, and she reluctantly moved into it. She still did very well and I was very pleased with her! Her turning was not so great in our tiny 50ft square, but most any horse would have issues with that. The other funny part was when I would talk on her, if she heard any word resembling "whoa" she would do her slam on the breaks reining stop. Of course, I was never prepared for the stop.
I hope to continue little rides here and there on her to help keep her moving and maybe build some strength back. She is a sweet girl who is willing to do whatever, albeit slowly and casually. And hopefully we can get her metabolic stuff straightened out as well. But we all learned something. Ranch ponies can do dressage!
