Thank You Johanna

 This morning started like any ordinary day, feed, coffee, clean stalls, walk Cordelia. When I got back in the house my world was rocked by a message from my friend, Karen that Johanna had passed away on Thursday. 

We don't know what happened but it was a shock. I've been spending the whole day thinking about the clinics I've taken from her. Long time readers of my blog will remember that I've benefitted from Johanna's teaching since 2015. In those early days with Carmen she gave me hope that we'd be okay. 

May 2015 

Johanna loved horses to her very bones and they knew it. When Carmen came home and really wanted nothing to do with any human she was completely drawn to Johanna. And that never changed. 

2016

Even when the clinics paused because of Covid, Carmen greeted Johanna each time like an old friend.  Johanna believed in keeping things simple. Make it clear to the horse and stay out of their way.  She freaked me out at first because she was often quiet during her lessons. At first I thought it was because she thought I was so bad she didn't know where to start. But then I learned that she used the quiet to assess how things were and then begin to work.  when she introduced something new she would tell you to go off and play with it. She never expected that you would have mastered it. Instead she gave time for it to sink in. 

We all know how difficult my early years were with Carmen and I've had tons of help from many people. Johanna was a key part of our journey. She never even voiced that we should part ways or that I couldn't make progress. Each year she would note the progress we made and then get us a little further. 

Quaid also benefitted from her expertise. 

one of may first rides

Johanna was not just a clinician, she was my friend. She had a wicked sense of humour. She was an easy house guest. She retired a few years ago and moved to Portugal. She took two horses with her. One of the horses was one that had been set free in the national park near her Hacienda. The horse was a mix and many horses were being dumped because owners couldn't afford them. This guy assessed her property and decided to move in. Instead of moving him off she took him in. the past few years we talked a lot about an adult German shepherd she rescued. The poor dog had lived his life on a tiny patio, never touching grass, going for a walk or hanging out with his human. She gave him the best life. I know it's ridiculous but thinking of that dog and the two horses she left behind. I'm sure they are taken care of but do they know? Probably.  

So I'm sad.  I am in my 60's,  I know that none of us are getting out of this alive. But I miss the friends I've lost.  Johanna made the life of those who knew her (animal and human) better. I hope I can do the same. 

Thank you Johanna. 

 

Spring Things

 It has been a very wintery winter- cold and snowy. It has been the snowiest that we've had in a while. 

this photo sums up my winter

Things were starting to clear up when we were hit with a blizzard that dropped a crap ton of snow right at the end of February. 

Feb 25th

I needed snow shoes to walk Cordelia because parts of our walk the snow was up to my thighs.  Then the temperature began to rise and things started to melt. The last two days the temps have been in the teens and the snow is pretty much gone.  Yesterday I started work on cleaning up the poop that has accumulated. 

This morning I did laundry and hung it out on the line. On my walk this morning I saw that my ring was mostly bare. And no only that- it wasn't frozen rock hard. 

two days ago the snow was a foot deep here. 

It seemed like a good idea to knock some of the mud of the horses and get them back to work. I was tempted to ride but thought I should probably use today just to lunge and do groundwork.  

Carmen was pretty chill about the whole thing. It was just a bit of exercise to get her going and to check in on her focus.  She's going to be 16 this March and pretty much knows the drill. 

this was her AFTER I groomed. Sigh
Buy a gray horse everyone. They are so pretty

She's not too overweight but definitely out of shape.  We worked about 25-30 minutes and called it quits. 

I then got Quaid out. 

Quaid: what's happening, are we doing stuff? 
We're doing stuff aren't we? 

Quaid behaved pretty much like you'd expect a coming 6 year old who's been confined by deep snow and a mare who has zero tolerance for shenanigans.  He really wanted to be a Quaid-shaped kite. Then was offended when I said I had a 'zero kite rule'.  We had a little bit of 'you're not the boss of me' with some distractableness thrown in for extra spice.  

I just stuck to the plan, matched his energy and had more resolve so we settled reasonably quickly. It helps that he still has his winter coat and it's warm. But I'll take every advantage I can get. 

Quaid: you're no fun

In the end he was lunging politely, leading and yielding easily. 

Later we got a delivery of hay. Quaid was fascinated watching them dump it. Carmen just napped. 

I love being able to have hay delivered

It's early days yet and I know that there will be cold, wet and possibly snow. But today was a lovely and it was great to get back to work. 

Lighting the Fire: 2026 Goals

 Today is the Chinese New Year and it is the year of the Fire Horse.  According to Chinese Astrologers it is the year to take action and start galloping. 

Winter is still present here but the sun has some warmth to it and the days are getting longer. You can feel that spring is coming.  

enjoying being naked

guess who's 2?! 

I'm getting itchy to be riding again. So it makes sense to work on my goals for the year.  

For Me: 

1. Be relevant 

I always find it interesting how certain messages seem to come from multiple channels.  I was listening to a podcast from Stacy Westfall that really resonated: She was talking about how riders can freeze or shrink when horses get ramped up. It comes from a desire to be calm but is often perceived by the horses as being abandoned. That we need to match their energy to help them know what to do. Then I saw a post on FB from Dr. Shelley Appleton. she was talking about how women are taught from a young age to shrink and not take up space. But this doesn't work with horses 

"Because horses do not interpret shrinking as kindness. They interpret it as irrelevance.

When you hesitate because you do not want to upset your horse, when you soften your request halfway through, when you step back the moment you feel uncertain or judged, your horse does not admire your sensitivity. Your horse simply concludes, “I’ll organise this.”

So it scans the environment. It drifts. It disconnects. Not because it is dominant or damaged, but because you diluted your own significance."

When Carmen was really acting up I would try to stay calm and took off all the aids. That just freed her up to make choices. Then last year when Quaid was struggling I tried to create a calm centre but in that I stopped giving him direction. So he fell back on instinct. 

All of which is a long rambling way to say my overarching goal is to stay present with my horses and be relevant.  

2. Work on my health and fitness: I aim to continue to work on my strength, flexibility and core.  

3.  Stretch myself a bit. I'm hoping to travel further to show this year.  

For Carmen: 

AI is fun even if the feet don't make sense

1. Improve her flexibility and suppleness. Carmen tends to lock her jaw and neck and then everything becomes tight. We ended last year really working on her flexion and I could feel it helping. 

2. improve her self-carriage: push from behind and through transitions. 

3. Improve our transitions: both between and within gaits. This could also be written as 'improve our half-halts because it's all connected. 

Those are all process goals, but I also have some outcome goals: 

1.  be able to do flying changes. We need this to leave second and get to third. 

2. do a freestyle. I keep playing with the idea but never move forward. I'm not sure what's holding me back but I really want to do one so if I write it out 

For Quaid: 

1. Improve Quaid's confidence at home and away

2. Learn to keep his focus on me despite his worries

3.  Establish and keep a forward rhythm 

Outcome goals: 

1. compete at training level 

2. learn to hack out 

For both horses: trailer out and do new things. So far I have Quaid signed up for a groundwork clinic away  and both for two clinics. Like I said above I'm working out a plan to do an additional show away in addition to the two we normally do. 

Winter is still here and I know it's not done with us yet. But it's fun to start thinking about this year and make plans. 

What plans do you have for this year? 

Holding Patterns

 I've not been active on this blog for the past month.  And that's because I'm hunkered in from winter. 

 For weeks the temperatures have been bitterly cold and made it difficult to spend extra time outside. We've had a few storms and even a power outage. But the last storm predicted took a turn and missed us completely. Other than the wind that blew previous snow around. 

looking for the perfect spot to roll in fresh snow

I was really happy to see January go and have been enjoying the more mild temperatures that have arrived this February. The horses too have been out soaking up the sun. 

My snow shoes have created a path for Cordelia
and I to have our daily walks. 

I probably should be using this time to advantage and create my goals for next year. Instead I am baking. 

ginger crinkles

And reading. And going to my various fitness classes so I don't turn into a total flabby blob.  The weather has turned mild (for February) and there's nothing on the horizon for weather (at least for now). It does make me dream of thawing and getting back in the saddle.  February for the past few years have been busy with horse  incidents (Quaid's hoof puncture, the truck catching fire while trailering) so I'm happy for the calm.  I have moments of envy of people with an indoor. And I know I could trailer there but I don't really want to trailer on snowy roads. 

So the holding pattern stays for a few more weeks. We do have a trip south planned for the end of March which is something to look forward to. 

2025 by the numbers

 

I know I've MIA. I've been struggling to find things to write about and feeling kind of 'meh' these days. Winter has settled in and has been particularly nasty so far. It's been cold and windy. And when it warms up it's rainy and windy. So, yeah. It's the time of year where the horse work goes up and the horse fun goes down. 

Willow has the right idea

But enough whining. I figured that it would feel good to review last year pony activities. 

For the past few years I've been a member of a FB group that has members set goals around riding and other activities. It's been a great group to celebrate rides and working towards my goals. For 2025 I set the goal of 100 rides for each horse and 150 workouts.  In looking back on that it inspired me to look at number data from last year. 

Saddle Time:

I got a lot of time in the saddle this year- I recorded 2018 rides compared to 205 in 2024.  . I had a geek moment and graphed 2024/25 data: 

2024 is blue and 2025 is green

As expected the majority of rides are April-October.  I know in the summer I rode almost every day.  

I miss this

Fitness: 

In addition I did 174 workouts. It really helped with riding and my overall health. In there I did about 100 karate classes.  It was a new thing for me and I started in January. I got my yellow and orange belts. And in December I successfully tested for my green belt.  I continue to really enjoy it. I'm hoping to get my black belt before I turn 65. 

Not counted in this are the many, many walks that Cordelia and I have taken this year. 

dogs don't care if it's cold and snowy

Learning; 

There was a bit of slow start to lessons last year, but in all I told 24 lessons and 3 clinics. Two of the clinics were with Jane and one with Johanna.  Every single ride I learned a little more, understood things a little deeper. I am also no where near done. I do remember a riding coach said to me (a long, long time ago) that by the time riders were in their 40's they were unable to really advance their skills. I'm happy to report that she was wrong. She also was not a good coach and the relationship did not last very long but that's a whole 'nother story. 

Shows: 

The horses and I competed in just two shows last year. Like, why did I write 'just'? That sounded really judgy. Let me fix it: I took both horses to two shows and it was fun, exhausting and we learned a lot. Carmen and I got a lot more grounded together and Quaid and I found some holes to fill. Carmen and I earned our silver pin for our scores which was nice. And we were 2nd level champs at our show in June. 

I also travelled to Quebec to help at the Eastern Dressage Championships. It was a lot of fun and a great experience. I met some great people and saw some lovely horses. 

Those are the things that I can count. There are also all the things that can't really be enumerated. Things like changes in confidence and skill. The fun times spent with friends and family. It was a really good year for me and it helps to look back. Especially on a day like there where the wind is trying to peel the skin from my face. 

How was your 2025?