My Girls

Tequila Sunrise might not be up to snuff yet (but we're trotting again, at least, which is good news!), but her kids are making up for it.

Promise, the older of the two, attended her 3rd show this past weekend. When she scored 68% in her first test, I was quite pleased--it was her best performance yet, and she had no major mistakes. (A few transitions could have used better balance, but hey--doesn't that happen to the best of us at times?) Then she came back and did Training Level Test 4, improved on the problem spots, and laid down a 70%. I was thrilled. She wasn't satisfied. On Sunday, she repeated Training Level Test 3 (just the one test because I figured with the heat and it being a two day show, she'd be tired), she nailed it... every bit of it, and won High Point with a 74.4%!!! I'm still floating sky high on that one.

Then, we started Quila's other daughter, three year-old Pik's Margarita, in training this week. What a darling "The Little Terrorist" has turned out to be... She is the sweetest, easiest youngster we've ever worked with! You'd think she'd had a bit in her mouth a thousand times before, she took it so easily and once it was in, she showed no reaction. AND, when we asked to her to lunge, it took all of 15 seconds for her to figure out what it was that we wanted, and for her to agree that it was a perfectly reasonable thing for us to want her to do. I daresay, if she'd had the strength, we could have placed a saddle and girth on her today, then put a rider on her back, and she would not have batted an eye--not as long as we told her she was a good girl and gave her a scratch on the forehead. She lives for praise and extra love and attention. It breaks my heart that I have to sell her, but the reality of the number of horses I own (and particularly the number of horses that require my attention and the fact that God has only given me 24 hours in a day) has become painfully obvious, and I'm having trouble keeping up with Quila and Facet right now. I've realized adding Endor to the list will be beyond me, so a junior rider at our barn is going to get a few extra rides on him (which should do her riding career wonders while her young horse is learning the ropes) during those periods when Susan is too busy with college. I will MAKE time for Promise this Fall, but there is no way in heck that I could manage Margarita, too, even if I do retire Quila. No way. And I can't forget that I've got Vittoria growing up out in the pasture, too.

(And what kind of sense would it make to have two full sisters, anyway? Because really, it would be a choice between Vittoria and Margarita... and Vittoria has Facet in her, too. Oh, I hate this. I truly do... Why can't I have everything--the old my cake and eat it, too, syndrome). The best I can hope for, I guess, is a home where Margarita will get the love and affection I would give her, and I hope it will be someone that appreciates her talent and that will show her. (And that lives close by, so I can watch her grow. In a perfect world, they would get help from Jürgen, so I would know that she's getting the right training and progressing according to the correct methods...)

Just look at the two photos. You can see how identical Promise and Margarita are... same active hindleg, and Margarita will develop the same lovely topline. I whispered in Quila's ear that I would breed her again this spring--I'll bet you can guess which stallion I picked.

There are links to videos of Promise's SUPER TEST and Margarita's SECOND DAY LUNGEING here.

The German Riding Fairy

The bad news: it was more than tempo.

The good news: I don't care. The German riding fairy has paid me a visit and granted my wish, so I had a fabulous ride on Facet today anyway. I actually FELT like I knew what I was doing (there are days when I'm told I look like it, but I've yet to feel half as good as I'm told I look).

You see, after that great ride last week where I made the breakthrough with tempo, I could never quite reproduce it again. Sure, things got BETTER, but not better enough... I was still struggling to do Training Level work, just struggling a little bit closer to my goal.

Today, however, I actually rode SECOND LEVEL WORK. And, I haven't ridden a horse since Saturday. Clearly, I've been blessed by the GERMAN RIDING FAIRY. Actually, the real difference is that Facet's saddle is in the shop, so I had to ride him in Quila's saddle, and for the first time EVER, I forgot I was even sitting in a saddle. I forgot about my seat, forgot about trying to sit on his back, forgot that I had ever had difficulty sitting his gaits... it was like I'd been riding him all my life. IT FELT LIKE HOME.

Can a saddle make that much difference? Obviously it can. Because it did. I didn't struggle today, not one little bit. I rode shoulder in--and like Quila, I'm a helluva lot better to the right than I am to the left, so I guess it MUST be my problem since Facet's stiff side is opposite hers--and I was able to COLLECT the canter, ride counter canter and do some canter-walk-canter transitions. (We won't discuss my requests for flying changes that he studiously ignored--as in completely 100% ignored my aids, "I'll counter canter for you all day lady, but until you get your aids and timing right, I'm not even going to think about changing" ignored. We decided to try again another day.)

Last week, I struggled to even maintain working canter. Today, I was riding COLLECTED CANTER, and I could do it. Mostly. I was admittedly pushing the envelope, and there were times I pushed the envelope too far and we ended up trotting, but that's part of learning (and once I'd done it a few times, Facet started to play with me and started to fall out of canter earlier and earlier until I gave him a smack with the whip, then he was back to his good old gentlemanly self). I also extended and collected in the canter and felt my sporty stallion respond to leg and seat in a way Quila never has (and that he's never done for me before)--GREAT FEELING--and I rode a trot lengthening.

You cannot imagine what today did for my self-confidence. I do not feel like the same rider that I was last week. I still need to learn his buttons--he responds so differently than Quila--but I was actually able to RIDE him, something I'd been struggling to do before. I'm not a klutz, I'm not, I'm not. Jürgen hasn't been wasting his time on me.

I hope they never fix Facet's old saddle (which interestingly is SUPPOSED to be the same make and model as Quila's, but it sure doesn't ride like it)... or rather, that when they do, it feels just like hers. If it doesn't, I think I'll pretend I never saw it. I will not go back to the struggle. Why should I? Her saddle fits him well, and I don't think she'll mind sharing.

Her saddle is the equine equivalent, I think, of the pants in the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. So far, it has fit every horse I've tried riding in it on. Jürgen says that saddles like that come along once in a lifetime, and that I should cherish it. I do. It will have a spa day on Monday, with a nice mineral oil bath.