The Beast making mountains out of molehills...
I grew up in a household filled with aromas of freshly baked breads, beautifully created treats, and deliciously balanced meals all around. I would say I grew up a bit spoiled in the food department. Everything my mother makes is from scratch. If you ask my mom the following she will look at you like you have 4 eyeballs: did this come out of a box? My Mom: This most certainly did NOT come out of a box….I made it all. The worst part about growing up and moving on as an adult was leaving those unforgettable fragrances and tastes behind…now I am left to fend for myself. Poor me!
One of the coolest parts about watching my mom grow as a cook, as a baker, and as an artist (I have to use the word artist here because what she creates truly appears to be in art form) is how her methods have changed over time. I remember as a child my mom would study recipes prior to cooking anything. Now if you walk into her kitchen on any given night she most likely is creating something totally invented by her imagination. She will still use recipe books on an occasion, or she’ll start with a recipe but over time she’ll turn it into her own. She never makes the same casserole twice. She never makes the same blueberry pie twice. Often times, she’ll find a certain recipe she likes, or has created and might use that same recipe for some time, but then after a while she will tweak the ingredients or change little things here and there. My mother’s cooking has this incredible balance between staying the same and constantly changing if that makes any sense.
I think the same can be said about riding horses. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am border line obsessive compulsive about many things in life. Once I find something I like, I stick with that thing. I prefer Masala Chai Tea because that’s the kind I have been drinking for years. I can only fall asleep if I have a down pillow beneath my head. If I am wearing sandals I have to paint my toenails. I always put three sugar cubes in my coffee. Clearly I am a creature of habit and once something works, or once I am hooked, there’s no turning back. I think there are people who have similar likes and dislikes. This isn’t a bad way of life, but I am learning that change is A OKAY especially in the world of horses.
Let me introduce my Beast…aka, “Valonia.” The two of us have been in a steady routine now for over three years now.
I have a very specific warp up routine that I have been using for probably over a year plus now, whether I am warming up for jumping, or warming up for dressage. Since the Beast is quite large (hence the nickname) and since she is a she….you can imagine why I would do a slow, gentle, soft, through and over her back type of warm-up right? She is not one you can immediately tell to be on the bit, be super engaged, be in self carriage, and acquiesce to my inside leg in both directions. With the Beast, everything has to be a question where the questions does NOT have a question mark in the end. Example: Are we going to canter nicely to the right today. Opposed to this demand: We are cantering nicely to the right today, and that’s that, so deal woman!
Funny how my go to warm-up routine that worked flawlessly for over a year now is not really working anymore. We are having the Beast sit and lift this year more than ever before. Her answer to sitting and lifting is to go faster, get longer behind, and if I am really lucky start to bear down and try and plow the earth on her forehand. These are not uncommon side effects when asking a horse to be more engaged. So, the little princess started to see my previous warm up routine as an ample opportunity to get heavy and forehand-y. Ahah-she thought to herself, now I can really disengage my hind end and have my mother hold me up. For now, I have to tweak my warm-up routine in order to compliment her training.
Riding horses is so much about routine, regularity, being systematic and sticking to a schedule. Many horses seem to thrive off a predictable schedule. A horse doesn’t learn to jump if you jump them once a year. A horse learns to jump by jumping on a fairly regular basis. We teach horses by being repetitive. You do and do and do, and ask and ask and ask until they get it. From this we formulate techniques and special routines, or warm-up patterns that we use repeatedly. As we grow as riders, and as our horses mature, we have to tweak, or alter our routines so that nothing becomes stagnant. As riders, and competitors, we want to establish certain levels of training, but you don’t really want to be stuck anywhere for too long. Like my mother’s casserole, find a solid base that works for you, but keep building upon it and tweaking your recipe from time to time and you and your horse will grow!
