Overdue update!

Phew! This is going to be a long post!

I have been insanely busy lately!

First, the boring stuff. I had my excisional biopsy done last Monday (the day after I came home from Virginia). It was not a pleasant experience, though the doctors were very kind and I think they found me to be an easy patient (I joked around the whole time they were slicing and dicing). I walked away with a much bigger scar than I anticipated and 13 stitches. Boo. They weren't kidding about the "not doing anything physical" thing. It's in such an awkward spot on my back -- just right of center in between my bra strap and my shoulder blade, so literally everything I do puts tension on it (and forget leaning back in a chair or lying on my back). They made the incision diagonal so it would heal a little easier, but it's super annoying. I cannot wait to have the stitches out so I can stop wearing a stupid bandage. This all sounds like a load of useless complaining (it is), but the good news is they think they got any remaining suspicious cells and this should be the end of it -- which means that when we return from vacation I can start back up riding right away! Hooray!

My trip to Virginia was just fantastic. Thursday we drove down (4 ladies in the car) to meet up with about 6 others. We were a little late due to some unexpected traffic, but since we'd all been to the farm before it was simple enough for us to be pointed at our steeds to tack up and get ready for an afternoon hack in the Virginia countryside. I haven't been down to Virginia in a year and half and I expected that many of the horses would have been sold (they were) -- but there were a few familiar faces and some new, exciting ones. I was directed to the lower barn to meet my friend for the weekend. An Irish Sport Horse mare named Aerie:

Oh hi.

It was love at first sight. She's a 5 year old who spent the spring fox hunting. She's still quite green, but boy is she willing. We took the the hills for a get-to-know-one-another (horses and new friends) hack. To be perfectly honest, riding in the Virginia hills both thrills and terrifies me. There was a wide gamut of riding levels and some of the horses were pretty green, so it always makes for an interesting ride. One horse in particular (Bella - a paint gelding) was being a little jerk for the man riding him, they were in back of the pack and Bella was losing it. There was lots of commotion behind me for most the ride, which is unnerving for me on a tiny trail! There were a few spots where this particular trail had been washed away due to heavy rains and we had to climb down some very, very steep banks. At one point in the ride we came across a giant nest of bees -- I was probably 6 horses from the lead and I could hear them buzzing -- we managed to sneak by them without any drama. Riding in these hills probably wouldn't be so worrisome for me if the first time we visited for a camp like this, 4 people hadn't fallen off on the first ride! Aerie was a good girl for the ride and her greenness only showed when we'd walk past something oddly placed in the woods or we'd leave the other horses to walk on the grass (vs. the road). We were out for around 2 hours which was just enough time for us to get a feel for our horses.

Some periodicals in my room.

The next morning (I did NOT sleep due to what sounded like Sasquatch roaming outside of my window) we woke early for an 8 am lesson. This was taught by Jackie (Betsy's mother) -- a former A level pony clubber and instructor. Our lesson focused on what judges might look for in a hunter hack class. We did a variety of exercises (focusing on doing LESS) and then we had a mock hunter hack class. Aerie was brilliant except for right in front of the "judge". She's start goofing around and I looked like a hot mess for 6 strides and then back to perfection. At the end of the lesson we did a little jumping (again, to mimic the hunter hack class) -- Aerie was awesome. Admittedly, it's my first time jumping in over a year (outside of a lesson I had right before we left where I jumped lots of fun things) so I was rusty to say the least.

Lesson time!

Boiiiiiing -- over the gate! Not too bad looking I guess.

The funny thing about when I jump ANY horse, even the greenies, is that I just assume they will go over whatever I point them at. Not in a naive way, but rather, if I set them up for success (straight - leg on - impulsion) they'll go. I had no reason to think she wouldn't go, but later I was told that she doesn't go that nicely for a lot of people and has some antics in her when she feels like she's done. Yay.

After our lesson we headed up to a beautiful farm for a lesson on carriage driving. We were invited to attend a very nice brunch at the Upperville Horse Show on Sunday held by the carriage drivers, so it was especially nice to meet some of the members and learn more about the sport. I know some horse people stick to learning about their particular obsession (whether it be dressage, eventing, endurance) but I've always been one of those crazy horse girls that wants to know everything about horses (ALL OF IT!) -- and as my trainer would say, I'm like a little sponge when it comes to horse knowledge. I cannot seem to get enough! I also think that when you're a spectator at a horse show, it's really nice to know the behind-the-scenes part of a particular sport. The first time I ever saw polo (it was arena polo), I parked myself near the gate so I could see exactly what was going on between the Chukkas. I wanted to see the horse being groomed and tacked, see them coming off the field, watching the riders get ready etc.

Our instructors for the afternoon:

Brothers! 1/2 Hackney, 1/2 Clydesdale

We learned all about the equipment, each and every safety precaution, training routines, and lots of details about what makes a good carriage horse.

Spoiler alert: pony on the right made his brother do all the work!

They took all of us for a lovely ride around some old polo fields -- we even galloped up some hills! I got some great video of riding in the back! I'll put it up if I can figure out how to rotate it!

Gorgeous view.

Saturday we had a jumper lesson with my instructor. There were at least 10 of us in the lesson, which made for a little bit of chaos with the variety of riding abilities, but she handled it well breaking down each exercise in a way that everyone could learn from watching one another. We finished up by riding a series of fences on tight turns to reinforce what we had worked on over poles.

Weeee! This was in the middle of three fences set on a sort of serpentine. Harder than I thought!

After our lesson, we headed over to Upperville to watch our friend's daughters compete in the lead line and walk-trot division.

Lucy with Farnley's Contact!

 We watched a couple of classes before heading over to Middleburg for some shopping. YAY!

Side-saddle jumping... just. flipping. nuts.

Saturday night, we were invited to watch the Belmont Stakes at infamous Hickory Tree Farm (read more about it here) and to have a little cookout. The farm is everything you would expect from a place of this caliber... immaculately kept grounds, perfect airy barns (with indoor dirt tracks), a full training track outside (complete with a starting gate), and a graveyard for stallions. Who could ask for a better backdrop? We hung out with some old friends and made some new ones, all while watching the sunset over the Blue Ridge Mountains. Not too shabby.

So many babies! These three were nuzzling my shoulder while I snapped photos of the sunset.

Pretty training barn.

Sunset.

Training track.

Sunday, we woke early for a long hack (we did a little XC jumping) and got in a nice long canter up and down some huge hills. it was thrilling being out in a huge group hearing nothing but your own breath and the thundering of hooves over the countryside. It was such a perfect final ride for our trip. I was very sad to kiss that pink nose one last time as I turned Aerie out...

We headed back to Upperville to attend a carriage brunch, complete with mimosas -- yep, there was a bartender at this brunch) and to watch a little of the driving before heading home.

Tiny pony!

Gorgeous!

All in all, it was just what I needed. I have been feeling pretty down about not being able to ride while I'm recovering (and further more, I was frustrated with where I was with my riding). All this starting and stopping really messes me up and it was really nice to have a big boost of confidence before taking a another month off. I made a couple of new friends and fell in love with yet another mare!

My new bff (ha!) and a nervous horse -- they bonded very sweetly!

Ladies weekend, 2012.