Monthly Archives: December 2013
Riding lesson
Today was a great lesson. Steve and I got to the barn early with Emmy and had time to longe her first to get the ya-yas out. Today we worked on posting and leg position. I wrote a little reflection on my lesson:
Riding lesson with Emmy!
Undoing the hunter-jumper mindset – the myth of the quiet seat.
Is it possible that all my training and years of riding as a girl basically just taught me how to stay on a horse vs. really drive it with my seat? I think so. I thought I knew how to ride, but I am learning that I never truly did. I was just staying on most of the time. Having a stubborn pony helped me develop strong legs, and my trainers did a good job in the fundamentals. I learned to drive the horse with my legs and use my upper body (forward or backward inclination) to communicate speed. But I’m not sure I really got training in the use of my seat other than try to keep it!
For instance, good posting meant you looked decent getting around the ring. The idea was not to flop all over. Now that I am learning the discipline of dressage, I am throwing some element of my previous training out each lesson. However, sometimes I don’t know what I’m supposed to throw out until I unravel why I keep doing what I’m not supposed to do. Why am I supposed to be thrusting my hips forward so assertively with each post? Today I finally understood that the swing of the hips through the post is not about appearance, but rather serves to drive the horse forward. Now I get why we’ve been working on it. The point is the function it serves, not simply the form. Proper form will follow (eventually) if I can keep focused on the function.
Now I just need to find a way to ride more!
Here’s a video of the lesson. At 0:55 sec Emmy got spooked by something so I got to enjoy an unexpected canter. 😉 Thanks to Steve for capturing this!
Gibbs Lake
We enjoyed a great little hike on a new trail yesterday. Gibbs Lake is on the way to Port Townsend and the trail is only about 2.6 miles long. The boys are a little tired from their holiday hours 🙂 Ben wanted to go to sleep at 6pm! He got in a little sport stacking first, though. That is Sam’s new hobby – the cups came with his Speed Stack timer which he uses for cubing. It’s really fun! Here’s a link to more info on it (http://www.speedstacks.com/instructors/resources/history/).
The sun is trying to peek through the trees at Gibbs Lake. Sam is getting tickled while Ben looks on with enjoyment!
I’m trying to outrun a creeper with a flailing hiking pole! I really enjoyed getting out on the trail with my family! The boys have new hiking boots, too!
Shoe farm
All worn out after shopping for shoes 🙂
We went to Big 5 for a pair of basketball shoes and came back with a stable of shoes for each boy! I am thankful that we have boys who wear out and grow out of shoes so quickly, it means they are active and healthy. But man…$220 and I was in the clearance section the whole time!
So we went out to get some basketball shoes for the boys and came back with three pairs of shoes each! One pair of game shoes, one pair of knock-around shoes, and a pair of hikers! These boys go through shoes SOOOO fast! Literally a month ago we got them new shoes and they are nearly worn out!
Christmas!
These cute boys were so excited about Christmas they could barely sleep and were up before dawn! We hope you had a wonderful Christmas with friends and family near.
The last week or so in pictures.
Tedeschi Trucks Band with Dave! It was awesome!
Chopping some wood together! Sam is finishing this one off with Dave’s axe.
Ben’s first solo split! What is so cute is that after he did it, I wanted to take his picture so he set up this pose all by himself, sinking his axe into the wood then grabbing the piece he’d split and putting his leg up. Entirely on his own!
The elves were busy finding perfectly good used toys to donate. We do this each year, filling an Amazon bag full. We then circled the bag and held hands as we said a prayer over the toys, thanking God for our blessings and praying that they would bring happiness to another family.
Off to ACE for some holiday bows and things!
Sam loves having his picture taken!
I miss my brother and Mary and Isabella. Boo hoo.
Out on a jog this morning – this is my “Monday route” around to the beach and Bay Hay. Doug jogged with me last Monday – I’d been looking forward to taking him on my route for so long. It was so great to have him with me, and to show him off! I miss you, Doug!
Little Esther was watching our soccer game with great interest!
Ingunn even got out on the “field” to play! She is awesome – the funnest mom and neighbor. She’s an excellent tree feller, wood stacker and chantarelle hunter, too.
Kai and Sam made travel mugs of tea and hot chocolate over at Kai’s house, then came back and hid behind a bush, making strange hawk sounds. I was out playing soccer with Ben and got concerned for the chickens. I immediately started looking around, spotted something blue in the woods…but pretended not to notice. I called out to Ben “Hey, Ben! What is that noise!? Do you hear that strange bird?” Then the boys bounded out of the woods to “get” me!
Esther, it was so nice to have a cheerleader for the big game! Remember – it tied 8 to 8 🙂 Or “acht to acht” – is that how you spell 8 in German? We had our stammtisch today so German was on the brain.
Christmas is here!
We got our tree!!
In the Nov album there are several new videos of the boys playing guitar and ukulele…enjoy!