Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Chicken Soup Anyone?

Hi Mom!  Feel better soon!
How does a horse crazy gal spend her time when she is sick and can't get to get to the barn?  After all, she still needs he horse fix, right?

1) She plays with Breyer horses

2) She indulges herself by watching a lot of video from EquestrianCoach.com.  I had a "moment" while watching Archie Cox's flat training segement where he has his student move the horse out a foot at the canter and then in a foot at the canter, and  talks about how important this is when choosing a distance.  He says, "It allows you to give the horse a little more room to create a greater distance if you're getting little close to the fence."  From now on, to be able to do this - to see a distance and manipulate my horse's line at will to create a better one- is my Quest, my Holy Grail.

3) She watches even more video, this time on FEITV.  She endlessly counts 1-2-1-2-1-2 as the horses and riders navigate the various World Cup courses, hoping to absorb a better sense of rhythm and pace.  (My husband walked by, heard me doing this, and in his best Rain Man impersonation, said, "Uh oh, fifteen minutes to Judge Wapner." 

4)  She watches the movie Secretariat. For the 18th time.  And still gets tense during every race. My husband had something to say about this as well, as I leaned forward, gripping the armrests during the Triple Crown scenes.  "You do know he wins, right?  Every time you watch the movie, he's gonna win."

5) She researches the tatoo number of the OTTB her kids are now riding.  He's probably much happier being called James, as his registered name is awful.  I won't even mention it, as it sounds like a skin disease.  James was completely undistinguished on the track - unplaced in 3 starts, with winnings of just over $4000.  However, his pedigree is interesting as it has several notable names in it- Man O' War, Northern Dancer, Nasrullah, Nearco and Native Dancer, to name a few.   My Babu is also mentioned twice, which is interesting, as his descendants include Anky Van Grunsven's Olympic gold medal winning Bonfire, Bruce Davidson's JJ Babu, also an Olympic gold medallist, and Anthony D'Ambrosio's Grand Prix show jumper and puissance standout Sympatico. 

6) She badgers her husband into taking pics of the horses and texting them to her whenever he takes the kids to the barn. 

And she drinks a boat-load of tea, downs a trough of chicken soup, and gobbles a ton of Vitamin C so she can get back to the barn as soon as possible, because she misses her ponies.

5 comments:

  1. Sounds like the best prescription to me! ;D (So glad to know I'm not the only one with this thought process; my mom is beginning to despair. . .) lol!

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    1. Dear SammyJo - Any time you need to hang with like-minded folk, come to AWIP. And tell your poor Mom it's not a fatal mindset -- just one likely to induce long term poverty. :)

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  2. I know what you mean about Secretariat. Shows you what a double shot of a willing suspension of disbelief can do. Great movie!
    That was pretty cool coming up with all that info on James. He's probably happier about a lot of things these days.

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    1. Yep, Secretariat is one of the all-time good ones - even my husband likes it, which is big praise from a non-horse person! And yes, James does seem happy, although a touch bemused at why two children are constantly orbiting him.

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  3. I hope you're feeling better! When I had mono my Dad caught me trying to get into my truck... Without my keys. He had to carry me back into the house kicking and screaming "BUT I HAVE TO SEE MY PONY!" Do I remember that? Not at all. He finally drove me to the barn two days later and argued with me as I tried to stack hay. Something about my spleen? We're horse girls, no matter what age, you're never going to stop!

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