Saturday night I went to my first-ever roller derby. It was fantastic! I knew nothing about roller derby beforehand except vague memories of watching Xanadu when I was little. And I'm not even sure that was roller derby. Anyway, luckily for me they explained the rules beforehand. Basically there's a pack of eight skaters, four from each team, and one jammer from each team coming up behind. The jammers try to get through the pack to earn points. The pack tries to hinder the opposing team's jammer and help their own team's jammer. They all go really fast, slam into each other a lot, and fall down violently every so often.
The teams each have a theme. Here are the Andromedolls during introductions, shooting the crowd with their laser guns:
Derby girls get to have rockin' derby girl names, like Reign of Tara, Assista Suicide, Rex Havoc, and Turnin' Trixie. I think my derby girl name would be Auntie Maim. I'd probably need to get some tattoos.
It's really, really, really hot. 100 degrees every day this week, maybe cooling down on Friday. I think I'm going to reschedule my Thursday lesson. I waited until late last night to ride, and it was still over 90. Living in Oregon, the horses aren't really conditioned for this kind of heat (not to mention the riders), so I don't want to overdo it.
So, I've been really happy that Willow is mostly off my hand. But something still seemed to be missing, and I finally figured out that she's still holding the bit, which means she still has tension in the jaw. So I've been working on getting her to let go. At least now it's a lot easier to play and twiddle with my fingers -- it wasn't easy when I had fifty pounds in my hands! The last few rides I've gotten her to start to chew. It's more nervous chomping at the moment, but it's a start.
1 comment:
I love the derby as well! I sort of wish I could do it, but the Lincoln team practices 4 nights a week I hear. I'd have to give up all my other hobbies.
Post a Comment