CA Clique Redux

[Taryn1]

Why is it that even though we live in the most desirable area in the country, I can’t find good hay??? My horse gets a bubble in his brain from alfalfa, so we have gone the timothy route. Of course, it’s not offered at my fully automated factory of a boarding stable (lest I remind ya’ll that there are 450 horsie bums camped out there). Plus, he’s in a stall with minimal turn out (about an hour), so I like for him to munch all day. Glorious timothy afforded that. However, the tim that we have been receiving has been total s**t, full of dirt (several inches of it in his feeder every day) and -oh yes- burrs and foxtails!

It finally caught up to him last night, with full on drooling, dropping feed, obvious discomfort, and a rotting ass type stench. Vet comes out this morning and clears a ton of foxtails out of of his poor little mouth. He gets some Banamine, and all seems well…

Only now, I’m off on another Great Timothy Hunt. I had heard rummors about a store in Norco carring timothy ambrosia (a rarely seen variety), and after several phone calls I finally get a strait answer. I jump in my car and head towards Norco, Linda’s Feed to be exact. It’s true, they did have very nice timothy, but they had an even better tim/orchard/alfalfa mix (3% alfalfa, only stems). It smelled like sweet cut grass. I shove 2 bales into the back of my rather tiny SUV, and fight traffic all the way back. The only problem was, once he got a taste of it, I knew right then and there that I’d be making weekly trips to Norco for the rest of my life! How come you folks in Riverside county get all the good stuff?

I wonder if they would deliver 50 bales to my garage?

There, I feel better already. And so does Mr. I’m totally spoiled cause my mom drives 100 miles just to get me special hay .

[AAJumper]

Suave, I am now planning on going to the Oaks for both weeks in July! Woo hoo…I’m excited…already put in my time off request at work. So we’ll definitely have to meet there…I’ve got my COTH hat, and I’m pretty easy to spot. Just look for the jumper rider who is perpetually softening her body too much in front of the fence, dropping her eye, and committing other sorts of minor erros which make her horse stop. I think I better change my name to Schooling Jumper rather than AAJumper!!!

So I’m scheduled for a lesson with the trainer’s ex on Saturday because my trainer is going to be at LAEC. She told me he asked if my hands have gotten too low again, and she said “no…she has not moved from the position you put her in several weeks ago!!!” (when I got the picky picky picky lesson about my position - it was necessary). Yeah…except for that damned right hand that softens too early one stride before the fence, causing Cypress to get off balance and perform a contortionist act to get over the jump.

[rusty]

Merry send spot north, I need all of the help I can get right now.

[Bumpkin]

Because of rain?
I wish they would think about that up here!!

[Coreene]

I thought she was half Anglo-Arab? This would not be a poisonous thing at all. Look at the divine Anglo-Arabs in Europe. Hardly a whackjob amongst them.

I think Grace is a cutie. Is it Grace you’re selling, or Jade?

[Coreene]

Wow, we’ll be very BB throughout Irvine then.

[JustaLurker]

MO says:

Now another question for all you California Girls, Where do you think the term’s, “wash rack” and “show bill” came from? I alway’s referred to them as, “wash stall” and “prize list”. Then I met MCJM and heard her use those former terms. Must be a California thing?

I’m with Merry on this. We in California call them “wash rack” and “prize list.” So, “show bill” came from somewhere else. Could it be Mexico or Nevada?

I love rusty’s definition of “show bill” and believe that must be it. Perhaps dreamed up by MCJM herself for use when billing just you, the mark from the East.

Cheers, Maggi

[elizabeth]

rusty, we’ll jingle for ya.

Now, I’ve only dealt with a planning commission once, and perhaps you’ve dealt with them more, but to ensure that you kick a&*, are you TOTALLY prepared?

Have you outlined on paper every possible concern that might be raised and your response thereto?

If the commission doesn’t simpley agree with the argument that 1/2 mile from the road is enough, do you have a back-up argument like “The pastures are set-off from the road and not visible” or “manure is removed once every two weeks so that there is no smell or vermin” or “you [the commission] approved a similar structure on Fox Road last fall”?

I’m just asking, rusty, b/c I want you to WIN WIN WIN!!

[Merry]

Let’s summarize. It went about like this:

1. Awaken at 4:30 a.m. & wonder if I’m either A)getting too old for this, or B)insane.

2. Drive to Del Mar (San Diego area, along coast) in intermittent fog, which means QHSM is supplying both weather reports and horse-hauling instructions the entire span of the 15 Freeway.

3. Arrive at Showpark. I’m about the only haul-in, as it’s a multi-day show. Hammie promptly whacks QHSM in head while disembarking from trailer, which leaves a stubborn fluorescent orange “kissy mouth” of lipstick on his neck.

4. I begin longeing in longe arena, only to have Hambola slip and fall, creaming my Pessoa saddle and embedding wet sand into his floofy sheepskin pad. When he stands up he’s DFL (Dead F****ng Lame). But he walks out of it. Return to trailer to clean him up.

5. Hacks beautifully for eq. class. Proceed to Ring #2 for flat class. While standing outside gate, Hambola is amused by pony hunters under saddle in adjoining ring. Suddenly squeals and leaps into air, pitching. Return to warm-up ring to canter around in two-point.

6. Enter Ad. Am. open eq. on flat. Hammie is intrigued by the incredibly long, flowing, silver tail of a gray that drags about four inches on the ground. I mean, he’s transfixed. I decide to extricate myself to opposite half of arena. Class goes well, but during downward transition from canter to posting trot, I get a lovely transition, about six trot steps, and then Hammie decides perhaps cantering was better, and breaks into a canter for a couple of strides, naturally right in front of judge.
   We also have one pitching episode when judge coughs inside booth as we do sitting trot past her.

7. I still end up 3rd.

8. Go BACK to trailer again for change of bridle. I now know to use a wire-wrapped dee-ring, okay? I get to do a total of 3 x’s and 3 oxers, and school a couple of changes on a figure 8. Enter arena. Land on correct lead after first fence, lope thru lines, pitching fit in one corner, so I circle, clueless when I ask for next lead change, but otherwise course is very nice.

9. Go back in for second round. “Wow,” I’m thinking, “he was absolutely awesome over the long approach to the single oxer!” I get my lead change. Could I be on a winning go? Jump thru next line well, ignores request for change, I get 1/2 finally, continue around turn for diagonal line, and he starts bulging into my right leg. So I start this argument: “Get the heck off my right leg!” all the way down to the line. Finally, he KICKS OUT TO MY RIGHT LEG, RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE FENCE! Oh, this is very baaaddd pony! I pull him up, because we are not allowed to jump in this frame of mind. Alas, QHSM is holding my crop , so I have to sigh smack him on the right side with my open hand. Then I do a leg yield, canter around and jump out the line.

10. I stop off in the warm-up arena on way back to trailer, and get two lovely lead changes in a figure 8. My low Am Ad classes won’t start for 2 hours, so we decide to call it a day.

11. On way home, I make mistake of mentioning gasoline prices, which somehow gets QHSM reflecting on gas coupons and rationing during WWII, which moves into recollections of Pearl Harbor and air raid sirens. QHSM tears up and sobs the whole way home! Who KNEW???

Sorry for rambling, but I feel oh, so much better now!

rusty, I feel your pain. Since you’ve been opening up fortune cookies, can you stay in the same vein and wave a magic wand and make Hammie one year older, with a season’s worth of show mileage? Please!

[This message was edited by Merry on Mar. 24, 2001 at 08:07 PM.]

[MO1]

" the Ca Clique collectively sighs and mutters happily, ’ ahhhhhh, David’ "

Sorry, not the entire clique!

Some of us do not follow the soaps.

[elizabeth]

Good luck with Ms. Cypress. The indignity of a bumpy-butt.

I shall close my eyes hard and jingle my curb chain bracelet ferverently.

Buster had a huge hematoma (a sack filled with fluid) between his front two legs last year, on his chest. It looked like. . . well. . . a breast. The vet had to come and lance it, b/c gravity was not permitting it to be re-absorbed. It sounds like Princess Cypress’s bump is in a better place, from a re-absorption standpoint.

Poor you and Cypress.

[SuaveReno]

Happy Birthday Rusty Hope you have a great one

Has anyone ever done Pilates (no, that’s not the name of the actor in the Mummy Returns )

When I was in Germany last year, I rode this mare over a fence and got severe whiplash and my back hasn’t been quite right since. I’ve tried all sorts of things for it too. But today I took a Pilates mat class at the gym and the stretching was wonderful and seemed to do the trick. A few hours later I rode and felt very relaxed and no pain! If any of you have any muscle injuries you might give it a go

[JustaLurker]

MO asks:
JustALurker, does this sound like the Melissa you remember?

Gosh, I really think that she, as well as anyone in the free lance training and catch riding horse business for over 30 years, has a few (maybe many) skeletons in their closet. Perhaps she’s a little “strange” but she did a really nice job of riding the jumpers and training juniors and amateurs.

It sure looks as if she worked you over in the breeding barn and I certainly can’t condone that. It’s pretty dishonest, in my opinion. Do I suspect that she may be scrabbling pretty hard to make a living? Not that that justifies what she did, but maybe she saw dollar signs in you.

I did say that I’d ask some questions (and take good notes) when I get a few minutes to talk to my old trainer who knew her reasonably well. She’s off at a show this week so I won’t see her until a week from Saturday. But, she is a fountain of knowledge and will tell me all. I don’t own horses any more but am in constant contact with her.

However, some of it may be juicy and hearsay so I’ll e-mail you with whatever I find out.

[Bumpkin]

I just realized!!!
You had Robin Serfass as your judge, and she was a protege of Judith Spreckles!!! Editor and owner of HORSES, the bible of the CA Clique.
Merry there is another angle.
You can get to Judith through Robin!!

[Merry]

Aha, AAJumper, the key words are “completely insane.”

Wtywmn, I’d love to hear your stories about the aforementioned (or referred to) ex-trainer, only because I guess I have a perverse fascination in how some people continue to self-destruct, being their own worst enemies. Nothing like having stuff handed to you on a silver platter (i.e. great paying customers and a huge barn) and then allowing it to go to pot. It’s really very sad. There are several trainers like this I’ve encountered. What is it, lack of personal coping skills? Lack of good judgment? Lack of self-control or, I hate to use this term, “self-esteem”?

[Coreene]

I vote we keep gassing away until the plug is pulled, and then begin gassing again.

[Merry]

You guys wouldn’t believe this! So our trainer gets new neighbors, who promptly put up this huge metal pipe-panel, breezeway barn— for a herd of mini’s! Now, they’re darling, mind you, and they come in all colors: there are two appaloosas, a bunch of grays and a pinto (I think that’s the leader!). But the lady turns out the entire herd at once, and they begin racing through the grass pasture that backs up to our trainer’s arena— during the lesson! I mean, imagine a herd of a dozen mini’s, galloping full bore, around and around this pasture, then up through the breezeway, and out the other side! Needless to say, it was quite the distraction.

Now Beezer, don’t go making Hammie out to be so awful. He’s actually very good… well, like all four year olds in a group lesson, he’s given to moments of doofusness. But I must admit, I felt like a kid with a spoiled pony. “Mommy, my pony doesn’t go left very well… Mommy, my pony kicked out at my leg… Mommy, my pony won’t stop eating the grass…”

[B.G.M_heidi]

Elizabeth, the only problem I can foresee is that you won’t drink enough - thus indifferent to slurring through broccoli-impacted teeth.

As we share a common misery - we’re also in for four days on incessant rain - I shall park myself in the CA clique as a temporary member, if that’s okay with y’all.

Merry, did Sumo make it to your ranch safely? I did pin a note to his parka when I deposited him at the airport, reading, “Please help me get to my new mama Merry’s ranch. Follow the scent of strawberries and the jingling of curb chains.”

[AAJumper]

OMG Heidi…I think you have taken over the lead from TuxWink…the socks on the table…aaahhh!!!

Elizabeth, I don’t know if I should mention this, but the wearer of the socks with the 3" holes is named…DAVID!!!

NancyL, my friend lives in Santa Rosa, and we’ll be staying at her house on Friday! Thanks for the tip about the traffic…I was thinking it would be pretty bad, so we’ll try to get a really early start. We made pretty good time up there when we went to my friend’s wedding. But then again, we were driving my fast car…this time we have to take the in-laws van since we are picking up a motorcycle.

Wow…all this talk of wine is making me wish that my husband and I actually liked the stuff! I think we are missing out!!!

[daytimedrama]

hehehe it’s amazing, no one even noticed my little comment about how I am will rule the BB when the retired members can’t see the moniter anymore. E-X-C-E-L-L-E-N-T ::EVIN GRIN:: MY PLAN TO TAKE OVER IS FALLING INTO PLACE EARILER THAN EVEN I EXPECTED!

~Christina~
“Chaos is what killed the dinosaurs, Darling!” JD;Heathers