On my own two feet.

So my life is finally back to "normal" or the closest semblance that I can currently find. Which means I'm crazy busy all the time, yet I'm ridiculously happy despite the lack of sleep.

On Wednesday, I officially completed my separation papers and was officially "free". No more lawyers, no more pounding my head against the desk over unnecessary phone conversations. Completed. Finished.

Everyone seemed to think I should be ecstatic and overjoyed, and I really wasn't. And not because I was sad or upset. As my friend H told me, the opposite of love is not hate. It's indifference. Hate is still a strong emotion; indifference is the lack thereof.

And so it was. The entire final signing was a non-event. Other than some frustration on having to pay more $$ : P  God bless the lawyers ; )

Honda had also approved nearly 100% of my transmission repair costs, leaving me with just the fluids and wheel alignment to cover. A mere $250 in repair costs, for a $6k quote. I'm THRILLED.

So yesterday I took my car back to the dealer so they could pull the serial number and order in my part. Good chance I'll be back in ol'blue by the end of October. And before the weather gets cold! (love heated seats and command start!).

Of course, yesterday I made it out to the barn, and did ring work for the first time in WEEKS! Or maybe even months. I've lost track it's been so long.

However, the FIRST thing I did was snap a picture of the AWESOME prize I won from Val and his owner over at Calm, Forward, Straight blog! I've been meaning to get this pic taken, but being at the barn after dark feeding just wasn't letting it happen. So finally I had my moment and snapped this pretty awesome one:

Thanks Val and Calm, Forward, Straight!

So Mr. Moon-pie. I.love.this.horse.

Like LOVE him. I tacked him up in his jumping saddle, rode him about, he stretched down and out so lovely for a horse who hasn't been asked to work in weeks, and then I pointed him at a fence. We did a couple of x-rails, and then I upped it to the 6th pin-hole. I think that's about 2'3 or 2'6". And pointed him at it.

He swapped to a happy canter three strides before, SOARED over it cleanly and gave me a few canter strides on the other side. I LOVE this horse. For a little QH, he just loves to do it and is so willing.

And then we had a problem. I psyched myself out. The second time to it, I was literally staring at the jump and trying to keep him from cantering (in my head going "but you don't know HOW to canter to a jump!"...if you're rolling your eyes because the jump just previous he cantered cleanly all on his own, roll away. My mind never does make much sense!) and pretty much drove him right at the jump standard : P Since we jump skinnies (lucky if they're 5' across), there's no much chance for waiver.

Coming through the third time, he jumped clean, but again we drifted off the rail and my FOOT actually caught the standard! And down the whole thing came behind us. Whoops! Sorry bud!

I sincerely can tell you, our jumping problems all relate back to me. I video'd the whole thing, and it's obvious that he's willing, tucked and has great clearance. Just some noob is up there freaking out and trying to jump the fence for him : P

Feeling like I was making a good situation bad, I dropped the pole 1-notch (so 3") and took him around again.

He jumped clean and lovely, landed on the other side, and some NOOB once again, let their heels come up on one side. Since Moon likes to head right after the jump, I came right off over his left shoulder...

And wound up standing there beside him on the ground. Yup, landed PERFECTLY on my own two feet in the sand, facing Mr. Moon, still holding the reins. And Mr. Moon literally stopped DEAD the instant I came off. I mean, he just STOOD there, staring at me with bug-eyes.

Poor buddy. ; )

The only downfall, was despite wearing a helmet, my left stirrup iron got perfect pendulum momentum and swung 'round to wallop me in the base of the skull just below the back of my helmet. OUCH.

Back on him I climbed (tortured horse) and we did it again, this time totally clean. PHEW.

Lots of love, did some canter circle work, and then just loved on him. He is without a doubt, the best, best horse of my life. And I can't wait for more fun together!

And yes, I caught my fall on video...just need the next month so I have data again to upload it. It's pretty funny looking : P

Chuckle.

I thought everyone could enjoy a chuckle, so I present to you my Tuesday morning...which is completely un-horse related, other than the fact that it relates to my car, which everyone knows is the sole bane of my existence and thoroughly at fault for my lack of showing/training this summer...

The story starts early, early this morning, before the sun had risen from its bed on the eastern horizon...

I hauled myself out of bed, dragged myself downstairs to my parents car and drove the 1/2 hour to their home to pick up my Honda. I swap keys with my mom, climb into my car and head off down the road to take it to the dealer in the city who would assess it and let me know if Honda will cover any of the repair costs on the transmission. You'll recall about 3 weeks ago the reverse went and it simply sits there and grinds...

I head up the driveway as the sunrise illuminates the road behind me, and as I near the end of the street, a good 3/4 mile from my parents', I remember that I left the temporary registration in my parents car. I do NOT want to risk driving without registration and insurance, since my luck would be the thing would get run-over by a semi-truck and I'd really be hooped. More so anyway, than I already am.

So I do the normal thing one does, and pull into the next driveway to turn around...

...move my hand to put the car in reverse to back out of these folks driveway and...

*FACE PALM*

Yup, DUMB with many capital letters in that one.

I'm not really an "angry" person, so I figure I'll just ring my mom and get her to bring the other car 'round. Surely her and I can push this blue hunk of trash off this driveway and I can carry on to my appointment.

Ringing and ringing and ringing. Of course, my mom is out playing with the dog in the yard at 7:00 in the morning...

So I walk the 3/4 miles back, in the crisp cool morning, trying to call her over and over...

Find my mom, drive back to my car with my folk's car, and my mom and I try to push it back onto the road off the driveway. Uphill.

Which would have worked except there's new pavement and a 1" lip to get up. Not happening. I'm a waif of a thing on a good day ; )

However, luck has it that we're PROBABLY well enough back now that I could drive forward, we could roll it a couple feet on the side of the road, and I could pull ahead and out! Score.

So I grab the car keys and turn them in the ignition.

...wait...

...nothing.

Battery is dead. Why? Because I drove it all of 3/4 of a mile after it sat for a month. : )

Beat head on dashboard.

Hop back in my parents car, drive to their home, grab booster cables and a tow rope.

My mom says "Do you even know what  you're doing?"

Nope. Never towed a car myself, never boosted a car with cables before. But not going to tell my mom that!

Hook up the tow rope, throw the honda in neutral, drag it onto the road. Go to unhook the tow rope and...the school bus pulls up. Yup. You see, my car and my parents car are spread across the road : )

Thankfully, it's my childhood bus driver, still driving the same route 10 years later.

So they get to watch me unhook the one car, back out of the way, boost the second car (there were PINECONES on my engine!), and move it out of the way! Not embarrassing at all.

Finally the bus heads off and I am able to carry on my way with the Honda back into the city. ONLY going forward.

Oddly enough though, I'm only 20 minutes late... ; )

_____________

Final word on the story...

I'm waiting to hear back from Honda, as my car maintenance minder has never requested a transmission service, and there's a slim chance Honda will assist me to some extent with the repair costs. I'm not going to get out of this scott-free, but I might not end up as badly off as I could. Or maybe I will.

Fingers crossed. And hey, when life gives you lemonades, start drinking. ; )

Normalcy.

It took the mom of a little haffie extraordinaire to remind me that I seem to have vacated my blogging life, and despite the chaos, Mr. Moon-pie and I have garnered some followers over the year. And I, like many other things of late, have neglected you.

Truthfully, I should have tons to blog about. I've been out trail riding in the beautiful fall weather more often than previously thought, though less than I would hope. I have ridden with well schooled horses and riders, to green horses and riders, and sometimes a mix in between. Mr. Moon and I have covered many miles of grassy trails, enjoyed sunset rides and walks, and while I haven't schooled a single drop of dressage in weeks, I'm thrilled to be spending time with my bestest boy.

Last Thursday was a beautiful fall evening, and while there was some turmoil in my life pre-ride, nothing brought me back to the heaven on earth as tacking up Moon and galloping down the side of the road as the sun set behind us. We stood at a pasture fence and watched as horses galloped to the fence to greet us, and at one point, the sun was no more than a giant orange blaze on the horizon, and Moon and I galloped wickedly through a farmers field, tears streaming down my face and me laughing with pure exaltation.

Yesterday, it was another Sunday morning ride with a dear friend and another, into the beautiful park where the leaves have all changed color and are starting to fall from the tree branches. The canters we did, side by side, the ground rolling beneath us, were magic. And then the final gallop, where we let our horses out, and I raced one of my best friends down the side of the highway, our horses hooves pounding the ground, our breaths equalled paced to our mounts and both of us laughing and giggling like children on Christmas morn. It was bliss.

And so life has resumed some figment of normalcy. 

So, a very good quote to end this, from Miss Marilyn Munroe...

“I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.”