Stupid right leg

In the video of my last lesson, I noticed my right leg flopping about whenever I tracked right. I thought to myself, all smug, well, I'll just fix that on my next ride! So here's my next ride; I am utterly sure during this ride that I am keeping my right leg quiet. Ha! Bang-bang-bang whenever I track right. More about that in a minute. Other than my floppy right leg, I'm pleased with how Huey looks here. He had competed at a jumper event the day before, so he's pretty tired. When he's tired he's easily distracted, and when he's distracted he throws his head about and/or twists it--and you'll see a little of both here. But mostly he looks forward and relaxed.

Back to my wayward right leg. I figured it could be one of two things: either the right stirrup was too long, or I was pulling my leg up in time with my posting. Since my right leg wasn't banging when I tracked left, I doubted the stirrup length was the problem, and upon checking, it was not. Stirrup leathers totally even.

That left one answer: I was pulling my leg up in time with my posting. So today was focus on me day as I schooled Huey. I started on a circle to the left and watched my left boot. This being the obedient leg, I could see my toes all the time. I switched to the right and looked at my right boot. My toes were swinging out of sight every time I rose, and back into sight when I sat. Merde! I tried sitting the trot, and my right leg behaved. I tried two-point, and it behaved there, too. So I went back to posting, got myself perfectly square and even in the saddle, and focused all my attention on the muscles of my right leg. I finally felt the little twitch above my knee that was pulling my lower leg up. It was causing me to weight my left stirrup more and give Huey an "out" on bending to the right. I focused on stilling the twitch (which took a few circles, let me tell you!) and finally my right toes stopped disappearing. It took some new muscles to keep that right leg on and sitting deep--it's sore tonight. I videotaped and can see in the tape that my right leg is much quieter. Also, once I got the leg fixed, Huey offered a few quiet groans, which is Huey-speak for "I'm bending, but I don't wanna." I apologized to him for all the banging on his right side and promised to do better.

The Brook Lee Catastrophe

Last night a friend and I checked out the Brook Lee Catastrophe at a local pub. They were terrific. They're sort of an indie rock/folk/alternative outfit, with a fiddle and, sometimes, a psychedelic vibe. If you'd like to hear some music/see some videos/check out tour dates, visit their MySpace page.

This is my favorite song by them. The video appears to be fan-made (and not that great, IMO).

Lesson on Baby Huey

Here's a bit of my latest lesson on Huey. Unfortunately, the camera died after seven minutes, so you don't really get to see the good stuff. We had a super canter going at the end of the lesson. What you see here is really just warmup. Huey's not very forward and kinda crooked.

What this clip did help me to see was: Ugh! Banging right leg when tracking right! Stop that! I don't know when I picked up that habit, but I'm going to quit tout de suite. Huey doesn't like to bend to the right, but I've gotta find a quieter way to ask. Maybe it's time for some stubby spurs.

Camilla successfully jumped Huey at four feet last weekend. Way to go, Huey!

Today is Life in a Day, wherein you can submit video you shoot today to YouTube, and it might get chosen to be included in a Ridley Scott documentary. I thought that was kind of neat.

In the next couple of weeks, Willow is going to Louisiana to do some eventing training and let some people there try her out. Maybe we'll find a match!

Dude, just how high were you?

I thought everyone had seen this video by now, but I talked to a couple people today who had heard of it but hadn't seen it, so I thought I would perform a public service. Behold the best weather-related freakout of all time! With every viewing, I'm more amazed by this fellow's ability to go from happy giggles to full-on sobbing in less than two seconds.

Of course, in this Web 2.0 world, it wasn't long before someone remixed his ramblings into a catchy song:

Nathan Fillion is recommending "double rainbow" as the latest synonym for "awesome," as in "That song was so great, it was full on double rainbow all the way."

I had a super lesson on Huey on Sunday. He's so much less fussy with his head. I've been playing around a bit with walk-canter-walk and it seems to be no problem.

Happy ending

Last October I installed a doggie door for my dogs, and they love it. Last night I went to a friend's birthday party for three hours. Unfortunately, I didn't add up (doggie door) + (4th of July fireworks) before I left for the party. My little beagle Abby is usually the sort to stay put, but the fireworks spooked her last night, and I came home to just Sam, no Abby. She had monkeyed her way over the fence.

I wasn't too worried for the first hour or so. I figured she was just running around the neighborhood and would turn up on my porch before long. But by 10 p.m. I was starting to panic. She was wearing her collar with her rabies tag on it, so if someone found her all they had to do was call the vet and we'd be reunited. Unfortunately, the vet is, of course, closed for the holiday, so that wasn't going to be a very speedy way to find her. I still hoped she would find her way home on her own. I left the front and back porch lights on and slept with the front door open -- just the glass storm door closed. I scooted my bed over so I could sleep looking directly out the front door. I got almost no sleep, although I know I snoozed a couple times because I woke up hallucinating that Abby was at the door.

This morning I called the police, who also serve as animal control, and made a report. The dispatcher I spoke with was as sweet as he could be. I spent most of the rest of the day alternating between walking around, driving around, and sitting in my living room worrying.

At around 3:00 the police dispatcher called to tell me that some folks had found Abby, had decided she needed a bath, had taken off her collar to bathe her, and had then proceeded to lose her. Un-frickin-believable. Thanks so much, folks, for taking off her one form of ID. But at least then I had a new place to search, 2 MILES south of my house. Sam and I started walking up and down the neighborhood, and then hallelujah! A nice young gentleman called to say he had Abby safe and sound in his living room. Sam and I sprinted back to the car and drove over, and there was the nice young man standing in his front yard with Abby on a leash. She was so exhausted she was wobbling. That nice young man is totally getting a gift certificate.

Once home, Abby ate her dinner, drank a bucket of water, and has been sleeping ever since. I, myself, am totally crashing. I haven't slept or eaten in almost 24 hours. I feel like sticking Abby in a papoose carrier so I know where she is at all times. Both dogs are getting deluxe ID tags and microchips ASAP.