The fine art of “Dressage”

  NOT our usual casual Sunday last weekend..  You know….. doing laundry, mowing grass and generally lazing around the house…Here’s the scoop…Our nephew, Steve, is engaged to be married to a lovely woman named Bobbi Josephs.   And Bobbi owns “Our Farm”.  Our Farm is NOT your usual farm either…Bobbi trains horses and their riders in the art of Dressage.   The word dressage comes from the French word dresser, to train.  Dressage is also called “horse ballet”, and it certainly is beautiful to watch…Well, Sunday Steve’s sister (our niece)  and hubby (Leanne and Tom) called and asked if we wanted to go see a “riding clinic’ at Bobbi’s horse farm..DARN RIGHT WE DO!

Left is Bobbi riding Estrella, middle and right is Bobbi on Amber…Both horses are champions… Last weekend Bobbi had a “Riding Clinic” at her horse farm to train riders in dressage.  Bobbi also gives regular riding lessons and boards horses at the farm.  She has a big stable , an indoor arena,an outdoor arena and a huge pasture area.  In warm weather they train outside, in Winter they use the indoor arena.

Above is looking down one end of the barn. She has 14 horses there now..Middle is the indoor arena…and right are Bobbi, Estella the horse, and Steve, our nephew..Steve and Bobbi are getting married in Hawaii this November..We are so very happy for them both…They each have on child and are also both 57 years old.  It is obvious they are “made for each other”, and we are all very happy for them!!

On the left is Kate. Kate drove up from Springfield, IL to help teach for this weekend’s clinic.  Kate and Bobbi went to Germany for extensive training in dressage.  Bobbi has been training horses for 30 years. Notice the headsets on both.. Kate communicates to the riders via the headset on how they should move to make the horse behave in certain ways.  In the middle picture, is Bobbi, also wearing a headset. This way Bobbi and Kate interact when she rides Estrella (white horse) and Amber (dark horse).  Amber is a very engaging filly who has quite a few ribbons under her saddle, and is a National Champion… And then, on the right pic,  there is “moi”..harkening back to my days of watching too much Mr. Ed.  I actually think Amber can understand me..”OK, Wilber”..

The ribbons and awards are everywhere…On the right is a picture of Bobbi, riding Amber..U.S. National Champion Dressage…Such accolades are common around this stable…And, I might add, these stallions and fillies sure do get all dolled up for their riding appearances…

……………They get their toenails polished, they wear fancy hats…..and they get their hair braided!! Pretty snazzy!

I am loading a very short video if you want to see Amber and Bobbi do some practicing…..Sorry if it makes you nauseous, I am not a videographer!!

Amber and Bobbi ….strutting their “stuff”!

That Bull Mastiff’s name is Paddington…He is 9 years old…and that stable if FULL of cats!

Left picture…  just like I feel after pizza night..burp!………….This sign above says it all, there are 9 cats patroling that barn…Look at that cat food buffet above, would ya??spoil, spoil, spoil….Obviously, Mr. Fat Guy on the left, is the favorite..and the house cat.  Let’s talk OVER SERVED!!

I know this blog has gone on waaaaay too long, but we had such an interesting day that it’s hard to down size anything…Indulge me a few more pictures of these beautiful horses…

Above is Bobbi’s groomer, Marilyn.  She is braiding Beau’s bangs..Beau doesn’t like his band to touch his ears..I KID YOU NOT! ( I’m the same way, Beau.)…Marilyn is a rider too, and rode Beau for a lesson from Kate..Notice the stance on Beau in the middle picture…The key is to keep the horses’s head low…Magnificent animals, yes they are…OK, you talked me into it..ONE more collage…

There are a couple movies that have come out about the Lipizzaner horses who do this dressage.  One is called “Miracle of the White Stallions”.  It is the story of the evacuation of the Lipizzaner horses from the Spanish Riding School in Vienna during World War II.  The other is called  Warhorse, made by Steven Spielberg in 2011..

I hope you have found this somewhat entertaining…I know that I sure enjoyed being in the same space as these gorgeous horses..Oh, and I found out that they do have personalities..When Bobbi had Amber out of her stall and was getting her ready to ride, the horse in the next stall (Skippy) was kicking his stall door and whinnying for attention…Yup..they are jealous!  Steve gave me a carrot to give to Skippy, and I had a time getting it in his gigantic toothy mouth…those teeth were pretty BIG…I dropped the carrot on the floor about 5 times before I finally almost “low balled” it into his choppers…Beautiful, but dangerous if you are a total amateur, such as MOI!

MacGyver, moi, Bobbi and Amber, Leanne and Tom…THANKS BOBBI AND STEVE!!

                                                      “There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  ~Winston Churchill

Guess I need to “tweak” my diet a bit!!

  Everyone who climbs aboard the Medicare Ship gets a free “Welcome” exam from their Doc.  I had mine last May.  That’s when I whined about my arm still hurting after my pirouette into our carpet, and my Doc suggested an MRI, hence finding out I BROKE the darn thing!  My Doc also listened to me crab about my kidney stones and said that a Calcium supplement probably isn’t in my future.  (Little did he know that I was taking one every other day..It was suppose to help keep my bones strong…so much for that pill.)  Dr. Erik also listened to me when I told him about our family history of heart disease….Mom, died age 64 heart attack, her Dad (my maternal Grampa), dropped dead at age 59…heart attack.  Mom’s brother (my Uncle Walt) had a stroke age 67 and died.  And my Dad…he was prophetic and wrote his will out because he wasn’t feeling well, then proceeded to die in his sleep 2 nights later..age 68.  So you see, the “Grabber” has shown his Grimm Reaper face many times in our family…Doc suggested I see a cardiologist for a screening, due to family history.  Good call, Doc.

 

 

 

Yes, my mother was a frustrated hair stylist and apparently loved the commercial about “I’m Buster Brown, and I live in a shoe”…For those of you who have NO idea what I am talking about, this hairdo was deemed the “Buster Brown” .  Named after the goofy lookin’ kid in the commercial who lived in a shoe…Oh, and his dog named Tag.  This haircut was also called the “Prince Valiant”.  (Sorry, youngsters, I,m darn sure you don’t remember that prince!)

 

Long story short, I had my appointment with Den’s same cardio guy (whom I love and trust, as everyone SHOULD feel about their cardiologist!)…Nurse weighs me and asks me how tall I am..Trying to be funny I tell her that I use to be 6’ tall but have been steadily shrinking to my present 5’2”…She was not smiling.  Then she takes my history, my blood pressure, gets an EKG of my ticker and puts me in an exam room that is the temperature of a meat locker.  As she left the room she informed me that the good Dr. was behind and there were 2 patients ahead of me…THEN she smiles….Not to be outdone, I smiled and pulled a book out of my purse ..I came prepared!!

I need to interject  here that I have NEVER been one with high blood pressure…In fact, they use to laugh and say I was barely alive, running a pressure usually around 110/62…..Remember, I DID live in a cemetery..HEE HEE!  So, my Cardio Doc was fairly concerned when I presented a pressure of 147/90….Needless to say, so was I. 

“The exact causes of high blood pressure are not known, but several factors and conditions may play a role in its development, including:

• Smoking
• Being overweight or obese
• Lack of physical activity
• Too much salt in the diet
• Too much alcohol consumption (more than 1 to 2 drinks per day)
• Stress
• Older age
• Genetics
• Family history of high blood pressure
• Chronic kidney disease
• Adrenal and thyroid disorders”(?????)

I crossed off the ones I didn’t think applied…Unfortunately I didn’t get to cross off very many!  My Cardio Doc suggested I try to do better for a few weeks…By this, he told me to limit my salt (DAMN, BUT I DO LOVE PRETZELS!)  He also said to limit my alcohol to (1) 5 oz. glass a day..(“Come on,Doc..really?”…”REALLY!!!!” )..He was deadly serious. 

Then he and gave me a copy of the Dash Diet …DASH standing for “dietary approaches to stop hypertension”..  He asked about stress..Yep, got some pretty good doses of THAT lately. And the “older age, Genetics, Family history, Chronic Kidney Disease I probably qualify for.  Not sure about the adrenal and thyroid stuff, but HEY, why NOT??  Might as well have ‘em all, eh??

  I am also scheduled to have a Stress Echo test at the end of August…AFTER I have been behaving (I will try my best) for a few weeks..I really will behave myself.  If this will bring my BP down, I’m all in!  My Mom and Dad would kick my proverbial arse if I didn’t do as the Cardio Doc said!!! 

“The voice of parents is the voice of gods, for to their children they are heaven's lieutenants.”

~Shakespeare

Our life seems to be “organized bedlam” these days.

OK, blogger friends, I know what you are thinking…Where is Dementia Donna and why is she now blogging only sporadically, with blogs that are waaaay toooo loooong?…(and pretty lame blogs to boot! ) MacGyver and I are feeling very much like we have been put in an old fashion washing machine on the spin cycle and then run through the ringer and hung out to dry…   Not to mention that it has been like a sauna the last few days here..In this heat, if I get my shorts in a knot..I can’t get it out!  Last Thursday was the hottest day of a very hot week…Having no A/C is usually no issue here for us..we “Cave people” have learned how to cope with this after 38 years..Ya gotta shed the animal skin clothing, take the bone out of your hair and just ride your custom log vehicle around in the backyard….

 

This would have been a family portrait many moons ago…The years have passed and MacGyver and I are in the Cave alone now…and actually brave enough to run 6 ceiling fans, two box fans, and 2 old oscillating fans at the same time!!! HEY, WHATEVER IT TAKES!

 

 

Also, last Thursday was the hottest day of the year so far…MacGyver jumped hopped climbed on the trusty John Deere to mow grass before noon (key word here is “trusty”.)  After mowing the front yard, and the immediate back yard, he headed out to the BACK BACK BACK yard.  I need to say here that the lot our home sits on is 59’ wide and 500’ deep..and the house sits on the first 100’…So, Dennis gets all the way to the end of our lot on his UNtrusty John Deere, and the mower quits.  Thank GOD he decided not to try to push it back up to our garage to work on it…NO, NOT IN THIS HEAT!  So…he came back up to the house, got the tow strap out, put it on the old blue truckster, told me to climb in the front seat …we were going for a ride.

No, not a leisurely spin around the block..  we were heading the truck through the looong back yard to pull the mower back.  This involved MOI climbing up onto the mower, standing with my LEFT foot on the running board of the mower and putting my RIGHT foot on the thingy under the seat that lets the wheels turn with the motor off.  Oh, yeah… and steering with my left hand while balancing with my right.…If only there were pictures of this,  but I couldn’t coerce the squirrels into using my phone camera !…

Above is the only picture I took of Dennis working on the John Deere, trying to get the mower deck off and find the problem.  After 44 years, I have learned when it is OK to take pictures and when it is best to  “step AWAY from the camera”…You should take notice that the air surrounding the mower is just a little blue??????  As it turns out, a belt came off…and my hero, MacGyver, managed to get it back on.  Hey, I DID help him pull the mower deck out and push it back..I’m not helpless!

There were some pretty interesting storm clouds brewing in the heat last week…and it looks like some stormy weather ahead for the Cave Dwellers as we try to gently coax our elders toward a safer place in an assisted living facility..  Suffice to say that Den and I ARE trying to understand the reluctance of leaving a home you have lived in for over 50 years.  We get that.  Now all we have to do is convince them that it is time to move on to an environment that is soooo much less dangerous for them both…and a place where they will be well taken care of.  As you can see, life has gotten a tad hectic!.. Hey, if the elders don’t want to go, maybe Dennis and I will!!  JUST KIDDING!….But we have taken the tour with our aunt and uncle, and have had a meal there …This place is really nice and they even have their own chef.   You order off a menu for every meal, and you can have a glass of wine or beer with dinner!..WHERE DO WE SIGN UP???!!…

Above picture was taken on the lower level of the rehab place Uncle Jr. is now at.  They have an ice cream parlor, a couple rec rooms, a popcorn machine and a beauty/barber shop…We took our aunt and uncle to listen to the Senior Singers in one of the rec rooms…They were very good and we enjoyed their old nostalgic songs…He is doing very well in rehab, and shortly  Uncle Jr. will be discharged…we HOPE to some assisted living.

Our lives are pretty full right now, but I am still keeping watch on the Wrens.  I finally have a family nesting in one of our Wren Houses..after 5 years of putting the “For Rent” sign out.  I have always favored the lovely song of the male Wren..and then I began doing a little research online about them…”Male House Wrens start building several nests at once in hopes of persuading a female to mate with him. Pairs typically break up by the end of each nesting season and choose new partners the next year. House Wrens are aggressive. Single males sometimes compete for females even after a pair has begun nesting. In about half of these contests the outsider succeeds in displacing his rival, at which point he usually discards any existing eggs or nestlings and begins a new family with the female. Although they use only one nest cavity at a time, they vigorously defend all cavities in their territory. As part of this defense, House Wrens often pierce and destroy the eggs of other cavity-nesting species such as Eastern Bluebirds and Tree Swallows that attempt to nest within their territory.”. 

SAY WHAAAAAAT????? NO, NO, TELL ME IT AIN’T SO!!

This little female peeks out and even steps out of her “house” every so often.  The 3 photos at the bottom show her walking around the bottom of the house…Notice the middle picture, she is peeking around from the backside..then continues around and goes back inside…I’m not sure what the reason was.  Maybe to check to see if her mate was REALLY out getting groceries, or up to something more sinister..

Since the weather has cooled off this past few days, MacGyver decided it was time to prepare the famous Cave chicken on the grill…

                            Before                                                                     Ready to carve

For those who give a rat’s arse, I will give you the family’s secret recipes …You “home gamers” can give it a try…

Before I close this very long, tedious blog, I would like to acknowledge the new and brave people who are now waiting, albeit impatiently, in the GMC.  A shout out to Dell, who has been married 64 years, has 7 kids and 12 grands…makes me tired just to type that.  Also a welcome goes out to Heidi and Dan.  These two are retired and getting ready to go “full time”.  They have 4 kids and 9 grands..Seems like Cave Dwellers have acquired some very prolific couples here lately!   I know you are ALL waiting for us to get back on the road, and believe me, we would love nothing better!..and we are trying to keep focused on that light at the end of the tunnel!…To quote the words of one of my favorite old rockers, Mick Jaggar…”Lose your dreams and you might lose your mind”.

“Goin' places that I've never been.
Seein' things that I may never see again
And I can't wait to get on the road again.
On the road again -
Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We're the best of friends.
Insisting that the world keep turning our way
And our way
is on the road again.
Just can't wait to get on the road again.
The life I love is makin' music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again.
On the road again”

                                                                                                                                 ~Willie Nelson