On being a horse girl

A year ago, a rather new friend — Diane — invited me out to the barn to ride her horse. What happened next didn’t surprise the people who knew me back when, but it sure seemed to shock some of my more recently made friends: I fell down the rabbit hole. You know… the big one that ends in a barn. Or a paddock. Or a field.

I fell straight back into the one thing that I truly feel passionate about, the thing that I love most. Directly into pairs of skin-tight breeches and waterproof boots and ball caps. Smack-dab into hoof picks and leather conditioner and fly spray. I tumbled head-first down a barn aisle surrounded by horse girls and their ponies, encouraged by their parents and their trainers, and fueled by the knowledge that horses are a non-negotiable part of life.

Some girls grow up and fall in love with boys. Others, like me, fall in love with horses.

Back in January of this year I talked about how injecting horses back into my life changed everything, and boy was I not kidding! I stopped spending money on random trips to Target and started spending money on lessons. My weekends began to fill up with horse-related activities and events, and with every experience I learned something: I grew.

We started with off-farm trail rides…

… cross country (XC) schooling…

… and the fall Marlborough Horse Trials (MHT) Hunter Pace:

In January, I competed in a 2’6″ hunter division at BEST. It was a great re-introduction to horse shows (and horse show nerves!), and Lincoln and I actually brought home a few ribbons for our effort!

At the end of February/early March, I traveled down to Aiken, S.C., to ride in Mogie Bearden-Muller’s winter training program (Foxhill Eventing). For two weeks I took a daily lesson in either jumping or flat work, went cross country schooling and on a trail ride/jump school in Hitchcock Woods, and competed in my first Combined Test in the Beginner Novice division (placing 4th). I learned so much; it was perhaps the best way I’ve ever spent two weeks of vacation leave!

Once back home in Southern Maryland, I entered the Beginner Novice division of Loch Moy Farm’s Maryland Horse Trials (MDHT) Spring Starter Trial #1. Lincoln and I jumped clear in stadium and cross country, finishing on our dressage score of 26.0 and taking home a blue ribbon!

 

We also showed up for MHT’s second Jumper Derby in April, jumping both a 2’6″ (1st place) and a 3′ round (2nd place).

Sometimes you have to leave the horses at home and go spectate at an international competition, such as the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event (RK3DE), a 4-star CCI event held at the Kentucky Horse Park in April. Watching the “best of the best” horses and riders compete in your sport is exciting, and getting to see these massive jumps up close sure makes Beginner Novice and Novice fences seem easy!

Linc and I were signed up to compete in our first recognized event in May, running Novice at Kelly’s Ford, but on our way to the show we got a phone call stating that the entire event was cancelled due to extreme flooding. Disappointed (but glad to get the call before paying the $18 bridge fee!), we went home, had a nice ride out in the front field, and even watched a helicopter land next door!

This past weekend (June 7/8) we drove up to Mogie’s farm in Centreville, Md., for Saturday lessons. Spending the night, we set off in the morning for Plantation Farm in Unionville, Pa., to compete in their unrecognized Sunday starter trial (which uses Saturday’s recognized stadium and XC courses).

Lincoln warmed up for dressage like a pro, thanks to our lesson the day before. It was my first time executing a dressage test on a grass ring “with terrain questions”, but I felt that overall the test went very well… except for a little slip-up at the end. I forgot where I was supposed to do my downward transition from the canter to the trot, making our turn down centerline to finish our test a little awkward.

Our stadium round was one of the best I feel we’ve ever jumped, and running Novice cross country on Lincoln is so much fun! Plantation was a new venue for him, and he really looked at the terrain and the fences. At least three or four times, I felt him back off significantly while approaching a fence. This turned out to be a good thing, because riding forward to a question in XC is actually easier than having to ride the brakes the entire time. We took a slight flier over our last fence and I cantered up the hill and through the finish line smiling.

I heard the Foxhill Eventing crew cheering, and it was after completing the event that Mogie told me our dressage score (34.8) had put Linc and I into a tie for first place! Since cross country isn’t timed during a starter trial, there wasn’t a way to break the tie. Normally, the horse and rider combination that got closest to optimum time would win. But in this case, the other girl and I each took home a blue ribbon and split the prize.

My desire to be the best I can be at what I love doing has driven me toward great achievements in the past 12 months. I’m focusing my energy, time, money, and patience toward the pursuit of being an equestrian. This doesn’t just mean being a good rider and bringing home ribbons, but rather learning all I can about every aspect of this sport.

To grow in this manner, doing what makes me happiest, is such a privilege. And because I feel that way about it — that it is a privilege — I’m being proactive in other areas of my life in order to support and sustain my need to stay down this rabbit hole. I’m working with a financial advisor to completely overhaul my spending, savings, and investments. Diane and I began following a weight lifting program about seven months ago, supplemented by personal training sessions since last October, and we’re already starting to see some significant returns in muscle mass, strength, and fitness. I got a roommate to help balance out the costs of a half-lease, lessons, and showing. I make time for opportunities that allow me to experience something new, practice, watch, learn, assist, and yes, even fail. I push myself to step outside of my comfort zones, while at the same time keeping tabs on what I must be aware of in order to be successful when I need to be.

 

“It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

I was a different person yesterday, just as I was a different person last year and 10 years ago… But I have been, and always will be, a horse girl.

 

Challenging myself

For the past three years, I’ve participated in the Goodreads Reading Challenge. The idea is that you set a goal for yourself to read a certain number of books in a calendar year; you get credit by completing (or finishing) a book that you’ve logged into the online site or phone app.

Participating in the yearly challenge keeps a book in my hand and encourages me to read every day — even if it’s only a chapter. I like the satisfaction of completing the challenges, and being awarded the badges of completion:

Personally, I like Goodreads because it allows me to keep track of the books I’ve read by year (custom “shelves”) as well as keep a thorough “to read” list that I can access whenever I’m online, in a library, in a bookstore, or at a friends’ house. I also like being able to capture my thoughts about each book in a written review… I can always go back and remind myself what I thought about a book before I recommend it to someone with a vague, “I think I liked this one!”

I also like the social aspect of Goodreads (it basically being Facebook for avid readers), although I don’t think I use it to its full capabilities. What about you? Do you like to read, and if so, are you on Goodreads? How do you use the site? Any book recommendations?

Welcome, 2014

Yesterday was Mom’s 66th birthday and I spent 10 hours at her house with friends and family, eating fried sourdough bread, and lavishing attention on my fur-nieces. It was a great party, and Mom had a great time being the Birthday Princess!

At the end of December WordPress sent me a 2013 “year in review” — how sparse my attention has been on this little corner of the interwebs, but I can’t apologize because the main reason I have little time for writing is because I’ve been riding. As in, horseback riding. And as of 1/1/14 I am officially half-leasing Lincoln, which comes with additional riding privileges and barn time, lessons and learning, shows, and the promise of being able to do many fun things!

I couldn’t be happier.

Getting back into horseback riding was like waking up from a coma, or coming out of a dark closet. I’ve rediscovered my passion, and with that my entire outlook on my life — where I live, who I live with, how I spend my money and my time — has flipped over. I’m restructuring everything, and that takes time, energy, and patience.

For the first time in a long time, I’m looking forward to something. And the things that I’m not super-thrilled about are more tolerable because I know that I have barn time right around the corner. I’m excited about 2014! But first, here are the Top Ten Things That Were Good About 2013:

1. Horseback riding
2. My parents
3. My sister
4. My 96-year-old grandmother
5. Friends + Happies
6. Miss Kitty
7. Healthy habits (bicycling, swimming, gym, running)
8. Books
9. Travel (NYC, camping, Maine)
10. Home (mortgage refi, new HVAC)

I didn’t make a new year’s resolution, but here is a short list of things I’d like to accomplish in 2014:

1. Become a better horseback rider
2. Find time to keep up my healthy habits
3. Cook more, for myself and others
4. Visit my sister in NC
5. Restructure my finances
6. Find a considerate, responsible, and sane roommate
7. Learn to pull (and back up) a horse trailer
8. Write more (letters, blog posts)
9. Pick my knitting back up and finish Mom’s scarf
10. Continue to say yes to new experiences

Welcome, 2014. Let’s be good to one another.

A happy, busy little bee

Hi there. How are you?

I’m well. Actually, I’m better than well… I’m quite good!

It’s kind of a relief to feel that way, and to have nice things to report. I start a lot of blog posts in my head, but never seem to have the time to type them out… and it’s not because I’m too busy couch surfing or sleeping, it’s because I’m too busy DOING. That, and a large part of my need to organize and document my activity is served through posting status updates and photos to Facebook… which left me unsure as to what I really want the purpose of this blog to be — secondary documentation of my physical wanderings, or more of my thoughts, feelings, and hopes (mental wanderings)?

Work is busy. My boss now telecommutes and I’ve picked up the lion’s share of her team lead responsibilities in her physical absence. My co-worker is pregnant and we’re trying to accomplish as much as we can together on a large project before she goes out on maternity leave. I’m mentoring our summer student, keeping her busy and exercising my editing skills on a weekly basis. Most of us in the area are preparing for an 11-week furlough (a 20% reduction in pay), trying to figure out how to cut costs, to survive without dipping too deep into savings or relying on credit.

I’m more active than ever before. I trained for a 5K on May 4, which I completed faster than my only timed treadmill run of the same distance, and for a 29-mile bike ride on June 1, which left my friend Amanda and I thinking that if we kept riding consistently we could do the 47-miler next year. These two activities are new to me; I was never a runner, and even though I’ve had my bike for three years, this is the first year I’ve actively put  mileage on it. I love what running and cycling are doing to my body though — adding those two disciplines has definitely slimmed me down in a way that my regular gym workouts (cardio & weight lifting) and swimming did not. I’ve lost about 10 pounds in the past couple of months, and am feeling fit and capable!

After my rather severe allergic reaction to mold last year, and subsequent allergy testing, I discovered that I’m allergic to dairy. I was able to pinpoint the issue specifically to casein — a protein found in mammalian milk that happens to make up 80% of cow’s milk. This is good news, because through trial and error I discovered that my body can tolerate sheep and goat cheeses, and water buffalo mozzarella. I don’t have to give up pizza (I just have to make it myself)! Before the knowledge that there were some cheeses out there I could eat, I cut dairy out of my diet completely.

A side effect to not eating as much cheese and sweets, and spending a lot more time cooking for myself, is that I began to eat healthier, stopped craving unhealthy foods (including fried and fast food), and lost some weight. I have to travel over an hour to get to a grocery store with the specialty cheeses, so they’ve become a treat instead of a staple, and I find myself being grateful for my dairy allergy and the change it has made in my eating habits (rather than resenting it).

In June, Diane asked me if I’d like to ride her horse, Lincoln, once a week and I jumped at the chance! I’ve always loved horses and horseback riding, and it’s been about a year and a half since the last time I rode. I didn’t realize how much I missed it until I swung up onto Linc’s back and my mind and body responded: Home. Lincoln is a talented draft-cross who can do hunters and eventing (dressage, show jumping, cross country), so I’m looking forward to the opportunity to learn and grow as a rider, and to have quite a bit of fun horsey time and meet new horsey people.

The people who make up the Happies group have become an essential component of my personal happiness here in Southern Maryland. Over the past year, I’ve gone from showing up to chit-chat with the group once a week over a beer or two, to spending quality time engaging in all sorts of shenanigans outside of Thursday happy hours.

Liz, Amanda, Richell, and I try to schedule once/month hikes + a homemade lunch. Amanda and I have been cycling together at least once a week since April, and last month we took a “confident city cycling” class and then biked the Mt. Vernon trail together. Diane, Erin, and Julie have welcomed me into the sub-crowd of “horse girls”, and have introduced me to other horsey people. (I may have even found a second horse to ride this summer!) A large sub-group of Happies are kayakers, and on June 9 we participated in the Second Annual S. Wells Memorial Kayak Trip. It’s been raining — thunderstorms — almost every evening since May. If this summer weather would start cooperating, I’m sure we would take advantage of many more opportunities to get out on the water. At least this month a bunch of us are going on the Green Door canoe/kayak trip to paddle down the south fork of the Shenandoah River, a trip that I didn’t get to participate in last year due to being sick from allergies.

Over the past 16 months, I feel like I’ve invested in solid, reciprocal friendships over fun activities like dinners and happy hours, birthday celebrations, holiday parties, movies, River Concerts, pub crawls, live music, cooking dinners, baking cookies, camping, a trip to Portland (OR), races, lots of conversations and much laughter.

I enjoyed last year’s 4th of July picnic at the marina so much that I volunteered to organize it again this year. Around 20 of us gathered in the shadow cast by a pop-up tent to hang out, eat good food, play games, and be merry until the sun set and the fireworks started lighting up the sky.

Yep, life is good.

My grief is an island

This Sunday is the anniversary of Sean’s death: March 10. I only know one thing, and that is that I will go swimming. I won’t commit 100 percent to anything else. 

Last night, after chowing down on sushi and guzzling a well-earned Sapporo at Happies, Joel got up to leave and asked me if I was going to make it to the memorial toast on Sunday.

“Possibly,” I said. Of course, the boys wanted to know why I wasn’t a 100 percent “yes”. My expanded answer is that I want to go, but all I’m planning on is swimming. If I feel up to it and trust myself to drive to the bar, then I’ll come. If not, then… “If I can’t drive myself, you could pick me up!” I volunteered.

Gary stepped forward and gave me a hug. Ben told me to “at least go outside on Sunday,” because it’s going to be beautiful. Joel acknowledged that my answer was good enough. And is has to be, because my grief is an island.

Liz’s grief is a chasm; Sean was her person. And while I don’t intend to trivialize the myriad of feelings felt by all of Sean’s friends, I can’t help but think that for them it was a shock, like being slapped in the face by a ghost: Sean was here, now he’s not.

I can’t classify how I feel, and I’m still often surprised by my thoughts and memories. My grief is driven primarily by the fact that I was there. I hate pointing it out, because there’s a tiny, snarky version of me inside my head that says, “Oh, don’t say THAT. What are you doing, fishing for extra empathy? Being there doesn’t make you SPECIAL.”

Believe me, I don’t want this event to be what makes someone consider me special, but being at the pool with Sean on March 10, 2012 does set me apart. No one else, except perhaps the lifeguards on duty that day, find themselves thinking, “What do you call that particular shade of purple? I’ve never seen a human face turn that color before.”

I talked to my friend Jamie last night, and told her that I’ve come to terms with so much that happened that day. I don’t think that the outcome would’ve been different if I’d gotten out of the pool one lap earlier. But I do wish that I’d gotten out 60 seconds quicker, and had touched him. I wish I had held his hand or patted his arm, a small form of reassurance paired with my voice. I don’t think that touching him would have kept him safe, alive. And I could have fought for that touch, but I know that it was the right thing to do — going for Sean’s wallet instead of getting in the lifeguard’s way when he started to seize. But I still wish that I had used just one moment to reach out to him with my fingers, to press my care, concern, and love into his skin like a parting gift.

They wouldn’t let us touch him at the hospital; he was already gone but they wouldn’t let us touch his hand or kiss his bald head. Liz and I were left to stand, leaning against each other for support while we stared as long as we could and tried to make sense of it. Through a fog of disbelief, we both admitted to being glad that he had a beard. We both liked his red beard. We both desperately wanted to touch him, to prove to ourselves that THIS WAS SEAN and not some wax dummy imposter. Instead we tugged on his features with our eyes. So that’s it: I wish I’d touched him. And when not mentally or physically occupied, I’ll find myself reworking through that day and trying to envision a scene where I got to do just that.

I think I’ve actually been doing pretty well, and I work hard to stay positive. I’ve focused primarily on remembering all of the good things and adding elements to my life that honor Sean, or what Sean would have been proud of me for doing. But as the anniversary approaches, I find myself unable to focus my thoughts on only the good bits. Instead, I’m remembering and reliving that day. Replaying the moments that led up to  putting Sean in the ambulance, and that lightning bolt of ice that ripped through my heart when the doctors finally told us that he didn’t make it.

My little internal horror movie is longer than everybody else’s. Liz’s starts when I called her from the pool. Everyone else’s starts later that day, when cell phones and Facebook helped spread the devastating word. Mine starts at 11:45 a.m., with a smiling Sean waiting for me at the door to the Drill Hall. A hug, and then him happily telling me about heading up the road last night to help his nephew celebrate his 21st birthday. His long, bare feet on the tile of the pool deck. His grin because he enjoyed the cold water and the exercise that he was about to begin. The disconcerting feeling of seeing him lying on his back on the pool deck. The surprise in the lifeguard’s eyes when I asked her if Sean had told her about his heart condition. Not being able to remember if he spoke to me when I addressed him, or if he just looked at me — a single look can be so loud.

The juxtaposition of these memories swim around me, in the flooding that surrounds my heart. They are awesome and absurd, bright and dark, sweet and bitter, and colorful. Like snippets of the variety of movies that we watched together: fun, dangerous, happy, sad, quirky. The shark in the water is March 10. Duuun dun duuun dun dun dun dun Sean made me watch Jaws for the first time just last year. No wait, it must have been two years ago. (Oh God.)

As the anniversary of his death approaches, I don’t know what mood will prevail: happy to have known and been friends with Sean and to now share a friendship with Liz and his Happies crowd, or a perverse lonliness where intellectually I know I’m not alone in my sadness, but the differences in what I’m thinking about and how I’m feeling make me feel separated, apart. An island floating so near a land mass of hands and hugs, laughter and tears, beer glasses clinking, and memories verbalized.

I’ll try to be there, for the memorial toast. It would be nice if the good thoughts, the ones that are easy to share and express, helped make a bridge across those troubled waters. It would be nice to not feel so alone, so recently again haunted by pictures that don’t exist in anyone else’s memories.

Neighborly spirit

I woke up this morning and peeked outside to see my familiar neighborhood blanketed in white, the known world reversed like an infrared image. Four to five-and-a-half inches of snow were reported throughout Southern Maryland this morning, and we’re forecasted to get at least another inch this afternoon/night.

This dusting of snow — especially this light, powdery kind — doesn’t typically cause me much distress. It’s the ice that makes me slow down, plan ahead, and lead with my shovel.

Lead with my shovel?

Yeah, I wrote that correctly. See, I learned a few years back that when you walk or drive through the pretty snow, you expose pavement or asphalt, and when the sun comes out later on, the packed-down bit of snow left in the bottom of your boot print or in your tire tracks will start to melt. But because there’s really no where for the water to go, it’ll puddle and then freeze overnight.

Nothing really much matters when you get the heavy, wet rain that Maryland normally sees — that stuff packs down and sticks to the ground until March, with a layer of ice underneath. However, when you’ve got dry, fluffy snow, you’re better off leading with your shovel. Remove the snow without packing it down, and then if you’re so inclined, you can sprinkle salt down to keep whatever snow melt remains from freezing solid.

Unless, of course, you really like to play on winter’s dangerous Slip-N-Slide. Go right on ahead. Just remember that a visit to the ER will put you right there amongst all of the cold and flu victims — GERM GREMLINS — that this season has to offer.

But I digress…

So this morning I woke up, saw the snow, and decided to wait for the sun to help me before I dug out my car. A leisurely breakfast, a book, a cup of hot tea — I could really get used to mornings like this! Around 7:30 a.m. I confirmed that at least one truck had broken free of its parking space, crunching down on the little snow bump that the plow leaves behind. The light was still weak, and it had started snowing again. I washed dishes and started a load of laundry.

By 8:30 a.m. I was bundled up — snowpants, down coat, wool hat and thick winter gloves. I cleared my sidewalk and then began to circumnavigate my vehicle. A soft broom helped me clear the windshield, hood and windows. Guaranteed avalanche-free, I started the car to warm up the engine and continued. I was an explorer, breaking ground on my way through the frozen polar tundra. I was a moose, knocking the snow and ice off of my antlers. Then I returned to myself and became a good neighbor.

I like my neighbor, Joe. He’s a good guy, retired, quiet. Last year he had heart surgery, but before that we would trade off helping each other out with the mowing in the summers. I can’t tell you how amazing it was to come home from a crappy day at work, knowing that the grass couldn’t be put off for another day, only to park and see that it was already taken care of. Although he likes to do it, strenuous outdoor work is still a little bit too much for Joe. And I couldn’t bear the thought of him being trapped inside of his house, or slipping and falling on some ice because the tree in my front yard casts his sidewalk in shadow for most of the day.

Remembering my mantra to lead with my shovel, I created a cleared-asphalt bridge between my car and Joe’s car. Then I cleared his car off using the same pattern I worked around mine: I circled the vehicle once first, then used the broom to gently sweep the accumulation off of it. Then I re-circled the car to clear the path again, and went to work dismantling the snow plow’s wintry gate to the main drive.

It took a bit of shovel-thrusting, but eventually I found the curb in front of Joe’s unit. A few additional stabs, and I found the end of his sidewalk and cleared to his front door, making sure that the curb and the step down from the curb to the street were clear as well. A liberal sprinkling of snow melt (salt) later, and I was finished!

All in all, it took me less than two hours to clear two sidewalks and two cars. Joe and I each have two parking spaces, but only one car. I didn’t clear our extra spaces — the sun is going to have to help me out there! Still, this random act of kindness made me feel good (and kept me outside and moving for a little while longer, which felt good). I know that Joe will appreciate my effort, and it will make his day *that* much easier when he needs to get going somewhere.

Have you ever provided a random act of neighboring within your community?