Not a whole lot going on

I have been sick. Yucky, uber, awful, stomach virus sick:( Therefore, my pony has done pretty much ... yep, NOTHING this week.

Tuesday I rode in the dressage tack in the ring. I thought about LOW frame. Something the judge from our IEA show said about one of the horses in the ring, "He needs to learn to seek the earth". Hmm, got me thinking. Tiki gets very upright, behind the bit, and tense. Seems to me that "seeking the earth" might be a good thing for his royal highness. So, I began the ride on basicaly no contact. Within minutes, Tiki was trotting with his nose on the ground. Interesting! He's never done that before. I rode the whole ride like that; encouraging him to reach down and stretch and go forward. It was a cool ride, I feel like I found another tool in my toolbox.

Wednesday, I tacked in his "cross country" stuff, and we made our way to the front pasture I always used to ride in before the ring was finished. It was an interesting ride. He was a little fresh, a little distracted. No headshaking and leaping in the air, like he did 2 years ago! Eventually, he did settle. I had to work really hard to get him to stretch and reach; he gets in the field and wants to be quick and choppy. Lots of circles, lots of leg, and lots of no-nonsense forwardness. Ended up well. He didn't feel soft and stretchy, but I was satisfied with the horse I had at the end of the ride.

Thursday was my birthday, and I jumped on for 4.8 seconds with his halter to walk hills. Friday, I woke up with The Bug. I couldn't even get out of bed. Every time I rolled over, I threw up; it was HORRIBLE! I had SO much to do since our IEA Regionals were on Saturday. My friend Becca called me, realized how bad off I was, and took care of my entire day for me. I did have to call in sick to Joyce, but Becca drove an hour and a half out to me, picked up Star and Tiki, got them to Rising Fawn, got on and rode them, then her own Captain. Saturday, she got on him again and warmed him up, and he had reached rockstar status. I managed to somehow get through Saturday, phew. My team ONCE AGAIN made it forward on to Zones. We managed to pull a Reserve Champion out of our rear ends, so it's on to Sewanee, TN and the University of the South.

Since then, I've been off and on. I'll feel better one day, then crappy the next. I haven't ridden all week. Hopefully I can get on tomorrow and Friday, then get back in a good place next week. Got a date for a xc schooling at Calimar with my friend Marissa, woo hoo! March 13 is that date. Hunter pace on March 26, then vacay, then who knows???!