The Late Garden Update

This is probably the first I've mentioned much about my garden. If you've been around here for a while, you'll know I have dabbled with vermicomposing and enjoy my time outdoors (however fleeting those moments can be). This is the third summer I'm gardening in the backyard through raised beds that my +brother built and put in the back breaking labour to get them set-up. It's been me and Captain Obvious keeping up the maintenance and growing. Sometimes I'm not as diligent as I could be, to ensure a very fruitful growing season. Plants require as much care as other living critters... the only difference is that you can plan to have more time to yourself.

Garlic Scapes

What did I grow this season? I planted garlic last fall with 75% germination success and I'm waiting to harvest. Uncle B has been really helpful to get some of the other things started like my beans and potatoes; I planted potatoes from "seed potato", which is an interesting process--one I'm not familiar with. The season started the same it has in the last year... with pests digging up my plants or outright killing them. I didn't have any insect problems but I must have a feline or squirrel issue; my bean seedlings were broken or things were all together pulled out. I did plant a catnip plant in one of the corners in hopes to lure feisty felines out of the other boxes but it hasn't worked as I hoped and early in the season before anything was planted, Bucky was spending his outdoor time rolling around in the boxes and eliminating himself on occasion. I let that be for a bit but have since had him cease the behaviour.

Last night's dinner was a testament that the food we get straight from our garden is by far several times tastier than the stuff you get at the supermarket. Things at the supermarket somehow taste 'cheap' and mass produced (that's because they are!). The beans were crisp and sweet. The tomatoes sweet and full of tomato-y flavour and the lettuce was firm, not bitter but flavourful (both from a small Brampton farm). I ended up throwing together a nicoise salad with chicken.

Lesson #118: Dressage!

My trot warm ups are more composed and I get on Ariel with conviction, control and confidence. And you know what? I can feel her being more agreeable with me. However, as soon as we move into canter work, things get messy and she fights me and falls in. Apparently I'm not the only one with that problem... one of the other adult riders told me (her daughter was riding Ariel at one point but seems to have moved onwards to another gelding) that she has the same issues with Ariel when she rides her. At least I know it's not just me. I mean it is "me" but I'm not the only one experiencing issues.

Anyway, I struggle with Ariel at the canter and I have to really man-handle her to get her deep into the corners. I do pulse my inside leg on her and it helps. It takes a lot more than me pulsing once she's falling in though... I have to prepare as I'm coming into the corner with a reminder and continue with some pulsing and pushing her back out and I just let her do her thing if she's doing as she's being told. But I have to be quick if I feel that she's starting to fall back in or lean or get naughty.

Today's lesson: a command lesson. At least that's what I think Sheri called it. No jumping today, we focused on flat work exclusively. It's the first time we've done something like this. At first, we start out on the rail and we merely do as we are told--kind of like Simon says. We haven't worked on a lot of technical moves like shoulder-in, leg yielding (just on occasion), pirouette, collected canter etc. Right now, we're doing things like walk (both collected and extended), trot (collected sitting and extended/working), canter, turn on the forehand. It's simple stuff in terms of items considered separately but putting it all together with smooth and instantaneous transitions at the letter is challenging.

Our first turn at it has all three of us, K, +ADW and I out on the rail just doing what we're told. One we finish this, we take turns. I'm first. And everything is fine until we have to do canters. The transitions are not smooth nor on cue; often they are speedy trots leading into the canter. Other times they are cutting corners and just zipping around in an unbalanced mode. I know my cues and I know what I'm supposed to do but I don't always translate that correctly to our friend Ariel.

Sheri adds that at this point the type of showing we should consider are things like dressage tests since we still need work on jumping courses. It does feel nice to know that I'm moving forward in my learning/training though! And this is just the "training level"... our aim is to be so on the letter and so close to the end of the rails that things look effortless and you don't hear me cursing and muttering under my breath when things go wrong.

ADW and K take their turns and are doing varying things too. When we finish, Sheri tells us our homework for the week is to look up some training level dressage tests that have things like trot, canter, walk and some basic turn on the forehand or such. Nothing about leg yielding or the such at this point. I have been checking out the FEI and EC for some but so far (really, just this evening) nothing suitable has really turned out. When I find something good, I"ll be sure to post some up, of what we're going to be working on in the next few weeks/months :)

Lesson #117: Moving Up the Herd Ladder

I didn't compose a post for the last lesson since we weren't doing anything particularly complicated as Sheri was under the weather. But, let's focus on last night's lesson: it was great. The traffic was more or less agreeable and I got in with good time and one of the young girls was so kind as to tack-up Ariel for me so I was ready to go.

After the trotting warm-up which went well because Ariel and I went in with good lines and deep corners. Moving to the canter was me moving up that challenge scale. This became more of a problem... in the corners, Ariel would occasionally lean on my inside leg b/c I was trying to push her back out. It didn't occur to do the pulsing of my leg aid and instead I resorted to half halts but who are we kidding... she was outright ignoring them anyways. It was frustrating, to say the least. And it wasn't just the right side... it was both, this time. I had to get a crop because she was also doing a pony trot and not immediately departing into the canter... or worse... she'd get into the canter and just ZOOM around. *cringe*. And there I am, desperately trying to regain control through insertion of half halts and trying to keep her from falling in or leaning on my leg and maintaining some contact with the bit/reins. When I returned to the spot from before, I made effort to make clear to her, what I wanted of her so that she wouldn't take over the ride.

G was in my class and so we got to working on jumping tonight. The main part of our lesson was a mini course of 3 x-jumps set up: 2 on each quarter line and one on an angle from the corner. For G, it was about regaining her confidence over fences and not over-thinking the fence as she was approaching it... in canter. That's right folks, we've graduated from only doing them in trot to doing them in alternating canter and trot (with simple changes) to all canter. As usual, a mish-mash of successes and failures and areas for improvement. At one point, it was pointed out to me that I have a great 2-point over the fence when distance and ride in is good. I've also been able to recover not such great rides in, by not falling off and making the jump. In the instances where I couldn't get into the canter before the jump, I left out the canter and just went into the fence in trot so I wasn't 'chasing her into the jumps'.

Again, Ariel was inserting her opinion about how to approach fences and how to take corners if I wasn't being clear and preparing in advance (hahaha when I type that, I recollect the meltdowns I've had with the wedding and how "I need advance notice!!". So yea, I get it, Ariel). There was one turn where we went over the second jump on the quarter line and Ariel decided that counter bend the corner and trot sideways was necessary. Unlucky for her, I had enough at that point and just pulled her into a circle and yanked on her face to redirect her to what I wanted. And man! Did that disagreement ever get me a whole bunch of head shaking, nodding, boot chewing (my boot...) and rein pulling for the remainder of the lesson!! But, you know what? That was moment was needed. I regained control after that and while she was protesting and expressing her opinion, we got over fences just fine.

At the end of the lesson, Sheri had each of us review "3 positive/good things from this lesson":

1. I cantered a mini course of 3 x-jumps
2. I took control once and for all
3. I have the potential to have great 2-point over jumps
4. And the obvious... I didn't fall off :P

A Review: the Other Boleyn Girl

This book by Phillipa Gregory is probably her most notable volume about the Royalty of Britain. I haven't read any of her other works so I have little to compare to in terms of similar author style. However, following my trip to England in 2011, I developed an intense obsession interest about King Henry VIII and his six wives--particularly Queen Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. Even though I know the outcome of the story, it didn't stop me from reading and watching. I picked up the Showtime series "The Tudors" since it was originally the one I wanted to watch and I also found the 2008 on-screen movie for "The Other Boleyn Girl". As I mentioned, Henry had 6 wives in total but the most notable coupling was with Anne Boleyn because it changed the the face of marriage, the English monarchy and religion.

It is no secret that King Henry VIII's objective was to have a son in order to have a legitimate Tudor king rule England. Catherine of Aragon was unable to provide him a living male heir, though, I believe she had taken to child six times during their time together; only Princess Mary survived to rule. As with any monarchy, they are surrounded by ambitious courtiers who work hard at gaining favour with the king. Anne Boleyn manages to not only seduce the king, but is Henry's cause for breaking with the Roman Catholic Church and becoming the head of the English church. (They argued that the marriage with Queen Catherine was invalid because she married his brother Arthur first.) But, readers are shown that this game is a dangerous one to play and one could be in the king's favour one moment and then out, the next. Even faster than the relationship was established, it came crashing down and Anne was tried and convicted of adultery, treason and sentenced to death by beheading.

There have been many books written about this ruling monarch and Anne Boleyn. The generally accepted events and details of history are reflected throughout the book as the solid skeleton and the rest of the story is brought to life through Gregory's interpretation and imagination. It's an interesting take to have a secondary character in history take on the narrative of the story. Instead of having the story told by Anne, we see events unfold through the eyes of Anne's sister, Mary. To enhance the sequence of events, each chapter is a specific season and thus range from a few pages in length to a dozen or more.

Since the book is categorized as historical fiction, one can assume the actual thoughts and specific actions that took place; such as the miscarriages of Lady Anne. The horrid dark and criminal actions that the Bolyen children did in the book are all speculation about what might have happened. I'm not a historian and not that well versed in the exact details of the history here but I do know the basics about what happened so the rest, I take as fiction. The two most impressing features that were made very clear to me was the inequality of women and men during the time, and the lack of medical and scientific/biological understanding. Men owned everything and the only way a woman could have a good life was through the man that she was betrothed to, by her family. Women and girls were just pawns in their family's ambition to climb that ladder towards fame, fortune and wealth and if they didn't like that idea, "there would always be another girl ready to take the place of the waning one". Fathers and uncles essentially pimped out their daughters and nieces to advance their own careers and family ambition. The other thing was the extreme lack of medical and biological/scientific understanding. It was crazy for me to read that pregnant women were considered so fragile that their partners (in particular, the king) would take another woman to his bed during her pregnancy and then the last few months she's go into a sort of 'hiding' where they were restricted bed rest and staying indoors in the dark.

The 2008 movie made was a really poor translation of the book and if I could get back that ~90 minutes or so, I'd gladly take it back. The Showtime series on the other hand is very well done despite being adjusted and manipulated for a television audience. The acting by Jonathan Rhys Myers is outstanding and worth watching. He isn't your typical historical Henry VIII (i.e. fat in his later years) but the intensity of character is amazing to witness. The costume and sets are also worth the visual opulence and breath-taking scenes.

When I asked a friend who had read a few of Gregory's books, she mentioned to me that the fiction part tends to be formulaic, predictable and lacking real substance. But, the history and culture that the reader could gain is well worth the compensation. And for those equestrian readers, there were no motorized vehicles so talking about their 'hunters' and the time it took to prepare to travel (by horse), the hunting on horseback... it was nice to imagine what that might have been like ;)

Lesson #115: Learning to 'Just Trust'

I had the day off yesterday to do some wedding related things and horsey stuff (some enh, balanced with hooray!). Right to the hooray stuff, I started in King City where I made a visit to the Tipperary (Phoenix Performance) head office to pick up a protective riding vest. Then, I headed over to my usual week night lesson in Hillsburgh. And let me tell you, even though the drive was ~1 hour, it didn't bother me one bit. Driving in the country can actually be RELAXING! Who would have thought that, eh? The highlight of the drive (I forgot to snap a photo!) was at the corner facing west at Kennedy and The Grange Side-road when you come to a stop at the intersection and you just see a breath-taking vast expanse of land covered in trees, estates and farm plots; it's not called the Hills of Headwater for nothing! The view was stunning and everything that has been stressing me out for weeks (if not months) momentarily melted away. Good thing the side-roads aren't busy ;)

To top off the great drive in, I got to casually stroll into the stable and calmly put my stuff down and get myself together. There were 2 other 'students' in the lesson. I say 'students' because one of them Sheri's companion, who's been riding since he was a boy. We started with a lot of flat work. Ariel seemed sleepy when I found her but better than the last time I went to get her when she defiantly made a dash for the other end of the paddock. The first exercise was a shallow serpentine pattern across the quarter line. We had to get our horses to bend and flex... not Ariel's forte. Needless to say, we both spent a lot of the lesson arguing about what to do.

Eventually those 'lines' became a ground pole, a low X and 3 trot poles. I would say the need to be thinking ahead of the next obstacle while as you're coming into the immediate one was critical. Lots of leg yielding, bending and flexion. All things (again) that Ariel loathes doing. My right shoulder was falling forward and I was torquing my body to the left again so I had to make an extra concerted effort to be in control at all times because let's face it, if I give even a second to this mare, she's taking over and doing it her way. Which actually only means that I need to be on her more consistently and to prepare ahead of time for what I want--not new, I know... we've been working on this for what seems like ages and I suppose I may continue doing so for a while.

That final exercise is tough! Because I doubt myself and Ariel to get through the obstacles that are so close together! And the directions offered Ariel are actually rather minor so in my mind, I can't quite figure out if it's effective or not! Ugh... I'd need to just trust... another example of how the rest of my life is connected to my horsey lessons.