Princess's Thanksgiving

Many of you relaxed and had a delicious dinner served to you with much fanfare.  Me, I had to work for my oats this Thanksgiving.  You would think that serving up ride after ride would get me a pass, but no, my owner/guardian Joan signed us up for the Bernie Traurig clinic over Thanksgiving weekend.  I have only been "off campus" once since hanging out with Joan in March of this year. So this was new and different and I intended to milk that novelty for all its worth.  Add some winter chill and you night even call me feisty.

What, exactly, is a horse clinic?  That is when a phenomenal world class trainer comes to your area to teach master classes over a weekend.  Four horses, four riders, with Hugh included, signed up from our barn.  We joined about 15 others divided into 4 classes.  This took place at Kilham Farm in Nicasio.  Three of use were in the first session in Saturday.  That meant arriving on Friday and getting introduced to the new surroundings.  I did get a little amped. But Joan figured the best solution was forward, forward, forward, faster than I wanted to go, with no opportunity to go vertical and buck her off.  I tired out and agreed to a truce.

Saturday, the class was 90 minutes long, with 5 horses in the area.  I did lose some concentration ability part way through and got a little difficult, but mostly cooperative.  Sunday, noticeably more cooperative and patient, I didn't look like such a newby .  Joan learned some pointers to make her ride me better, I hope she remembers everything because it could make quite a difference.  Mostly Bernie stressed keeping arms elastic with consistent contact in the canter, getting a rhythmic cancer.  I am a very sensitive mare, you know.  She can't get away with nothing! Guess that is why she needs three thousand lessons a week.

It's not "Baby Blue," It's Indigo

Some projects take longer than others.  I bought totally Marin yarn from Windrush Farms, meaning the sheep are raised in Marin, fleece is cleaned and spun and naturally dyed, in this case with indigo.  I knit up the front, back, and sleeves.  I hand sewed the shoulders together and then knit the neckline in the typical 1-1 ribbing.  But then, all progress stopped.  the simplistic task of sewing the side seams and sleeves was just a tad too tedious to undertake.  Those of you experienced knitters know what I am talking about.  The knitting books make it look so easy.  Stitching yarn at the precise part of the edge loops to make a thin invisible seam.  But I had other pressing things to do, laundry, sorting mail, cooking dinner, even cleaning bathrooms.  It seemed like anything that needed attention got out in front of this seam thing.  Like a writer's block, some trivial appearing but insurmountable feeling task was looming on the horizon.  And I pride myself on the other "F" word, finish.  So fun to finish projects.

At the last Conference of Northern Californian Handweavers conference, someone mentioned, oh, don't bother with the slow cumbersome method.  Just sew up the seams with your regular sewing machine.  Look at any commercial knit item, machine seams all over the place.  So pin and sew and Voila!  A completed sweater that fits and is warm.  Only problem is it is baby blue, I mean indigo.

From Silly to Sublime, Princess Learns to Fly

If you are going to commit, why not go all the way.  You have a horse, go to a horse show over Halloween weekend, and not dress up?  How is that even possible.  My daughter-in-law suggested an Avatar outfit.  Not the dorky multi-legged horse, but the elegant flying pterodactyl-cum-dragon and myself as the blue maiden with pointy ears.  Sure, that will work.  Not commercially available, I started sewing.  This was Princess's debut away show with me. I was worried about causing her stress and consternation with the outfit, but she had no concerns about any accouterments foisted upon her.   On the other hand, the other horses in costume got her unglued.

We were totally overshadowed by some spectacular outfits, and had a great time in the mix of at least 100 other horse-crazy people in the costume class.

But Sunday was the real flying lesson.  I cautiously entered her in 2'9" classes for the first three days of the show.  Since she generally only cleared them by a foot, I thought moving up 3" was within her scope.  The last class was a 3 foot hunter class in the outdoor arena.  I thought the Halloween special events were over, but a pair of hot air balloons, close enough that you could hear the propane heater fire off, got her attention.

She walked into the arena.  Her eyes instantly calibrated the difference from all the previous classes.   It was as if she said, now this will be fun.  Very purposefully and carefully, she punched out a little extra vertical trajectory and tucked her front legs so tightly her hooves touched her elbows.  I miscued on one diagonal line, we do need a little more experience.  Otherwise, she was fairly brilliant and a blast to ride.  It was as if she still had the Avatar wings for the round.  Walking back to the barn, I think she was happy to look like a horse again.