WoW Stuff

Of course, there are various Halloween themed goings-on in the game right now. One such event is a regularly scheduled attack on Razor Hill by the specter of the headless horseman. There is a quest to save the town from his rampage. When you complete it, which I did, you get some pumpkins that you can either wear on your head or throw at people. I tried one on and I think it looks awesome!

I also got a trick or treat bag as a reward for another Halloween quest. It contained some candy that turns me into an apparition, as well as a super lame “Human Female Mask.” It looks absolutely ridiculous when I wear it.

Last, while I was in Orgrimmar, a guy rode past me on an awesome cat mount. I asked him where he got it, and apparently it’s part of the trading card set, Fires of Outland. It was sweet!

First Puzzle Comedy Shooter

Jordan and I played Portal all the way through tonight and it was awesome! Of course the puzzles were brilliant and incredibly fun. We took tangents from solving the puzzles just to play with the portal physics, which is exactly what the Valve spokesperson said would happen when I saw it demoed at GDC this year. At times, we got vertigo or had to pause and rub our heads to stop the brain cramps, but it was the good kind of mind boggling. ; ) In addition to the fun of the problem solving and the physics engine, the game was laced with a dark humor that was hilarious. The vehicle for the comedy was a computer that provides information and commentary via the PA system as you proceed through the “test scenarios.” At first, it was mildly amusing as the female voice would deliver alarming information about your likely impending death in a soothing and cheery voice. As the game proceeded, the humor in this vein becomes more and more extreme. At points, we had to take breaks because I was doubled over with laughter. Without giving anything away, closer to the end of the game, the computer’s humor becomes inane and even immature at times, as she lashes out at you with the fury of a 6 year old. After you successfully finish the game, you are rewarded with a Jonathan Coulton song that is it’s own gem and had us laughing hysterically as well. I unequivocally recommend that everyone I know play this game. It is short, taking only a few hours to complete, and it is enjoyable and impressive on many levels. It sets the bar for a genre all its own.

They Might Be Awesome!

I went to see They Might Be Giants this past Sunday at the Fillmore. As one would expect, it was a great show. We skipped the opener, a band named Oppenheimer, but I heard mixed reviews. Now the last time I went to see TMBG was amazing. My then boyfriend and I went to see them at Bimbo’s a few years ago. TMBG had played a role in our relationship, even if not as large a role as MTX. They were bands that we both enjoyed, often commiserated about in the days when we were still doing the long distance thing, and liked to listen to together after I moved out here. I remember he even made a mix tape once with a “hidden track”, Stomp Box. That show at Bimbo’s will always be one of my fond memories, not only because it was a great show, but because it was special to get to see them together and we had a lot of fun with each other that night during a time in our relationship that was rocky.

Needless to say, the show Sunday didn’t live up to that, but it was still great. The thing I love about a TMBG show is that no matter what song you go in thinking that you just have to hear to be satisfied, they pull out 5 others that you had totally forgotten that you wanted to hear and you leave completely happy. They played plenty of songs from their new album, but also a ton of old classics. It helps that they have such a long fruitful history to draw from. Some of the oldies included Ana Ng, Istanbul (not Constantinople), Mammal, Birdhouse in Your Soul, Meet James Ensor, Older, Mr. Me, Doctor Worm, She’s An Angel, James K. Polk, and Damn Good Times. They had horns, but for some reason didn’t use them for Doctor Worm, which of course they belong in! They also played Particle Man with some funny ad libs added to the end based on some running jokes from the talking they did between songs at the concert. At one point in the show, Flans asked who in the audience had a birthday. He then said, “The following song is dedicated to everyone else,” and they proceeded to play It’s Not My Birthday. Classic! They threw in their cover of Cub’s New York City as well.

At the end of the evening, they came out and did two encores after uproarious applause lured them back. For the first one, they did the entire suite of Fingertips songs, followed by the venue song they wrote for the Fillmore. For the second encore, they started with Doctor Worm, during which confetti was blasted in to the air, followed by The Mesopotamians off of their new album The Else, which is actually my favorite song on that album. Needless to say, I loved the show and I’ll be there when they come back again!

Great Ride

This Sunday, I participated in the usual group jumping lesson that we do on weekends at my barn. For the most part, it went really well. Apache didn’t poop out on me like he often does after we’ve been out there a while. He was also really listening, taking the distances I asked for, coming back or lengthening his stride on cue, etc. There was one line our trainer had set up that was an easy 3 for the larger horses if they trotted in. For Apache and another horse, Penny, who are smaller and who move such that trotting fences is hard for them (in Apache’s case because his intermediate gaits don’t provide much spring), we were supposed to canter the line. However, at a canter, it was a snug three, so we really had to ask them to collect down the line. As we worked different exercises, our trainer added jumps each time through, building up to a full course. At some point, she asked us to start trying to get the line in 2 strides, which for our smaller horses would mean really pushing them up to get the length. Apache and I had tried it twice and both times, we ended up not getting the distance and having to put in a tight 3rd stride to get to the fence.

We were finally up for our last pass on the course before the group lesson was over and I was determined we were going to get it in 2. We had a longer line to complete first before we went around to that one though. According to my trainer, he was approaching the line too fast, but I didn’t realize it at the time. I felt we were just picking up our step. After the jump, he decided to really “run with it”. He threw his head up, yanking the reins down so they were loose, and took off galloping, in his goofy way where his legs are going all over the place and he’s taking precarious steps with each stride. The end of the line was actually just poles, but he decided to sail over those anyway. Since I was distracted with trying to slow him down and regain control and wasn’t really expecting him to jump the poles, certainly not to that degree, it took me by surprise. Thus, I didn’t really go over with him properly and I think I probably jammed him in the back when he landed. At that point, he decided he was going to buck, which wouldn’t have been a big deal. He always bucks when he gets excited or annoyed and he never bucks big. However, since he was running at the same time and not paying attention to where he was putting his feet, when he lowered his head to buck, he caught a toe and tripped hard instead.

All the sudden there was no horse underneath me and there was no way I could have stayed on. There was nothing there to stay on! I sort of rolled sideways down the front of his shoulder / chest and, as I was falling, I realized I was going to land in front of him and had time to think, “Crap, he’s running, I’m about to have a hoof in my face.” Fortunately, after the trip, he just stopped dead, probably because I fell off. He looked down to see if I was okay. I was, so I stood up and he looked me over to make sure. Then he spun around and took off running and bucking right through the group of other horses in the lesson who were standing waiting for me to finish the course. Then he stopped at a jump and my trainer grabbed him while I got back on. It was a really harmless fall. I didn’t have a mark on me and it didn’t hurt at all. However, I was really bummed since it broke my three year streak of not coming off my horse.

My trainer had us finish that line that had resulted in the mishap just to end on a good note and then we were done. I was pretty disappointed that I never got to get that shorter line in a 2. However, when I showed up for my lesson tonight, she said she thought we should do some jumping. She still had the same course set up, but had us work it a little differently. Part of the course was a small X on the diagonal. She had us basically do a figure 8 over that jump a few times, jumping up the line on a left lead, then swapping leads and coming back at it on a right lead. The turn to get to the jump from the rail on the right lead was pretty tight, which was interesting, because it meant you really had to ride that turn, making sure you kept some horse to ride, but still finishing a good corner to set up properly for the jump. It also meant that Apache didn’t have any time really to look at the jump but was basically coming out of a turn and there it was. He had to go over based on trusting me, not based on having had time to think about it himself. We actually did really well on that part of the exercise. He was jumping great tonight. Also, considering that we were doing jumping in my individual lesson, so he was not getting breaks while other people did the exercise like in the group lesson, he held his energy level amazingly well.

Finally, she decided we were going to add that small line again, but she told me that she had moved it out some for a larger horse, so it should be a really comfortable three, even without collecting him. We did that line a few times and the third time, he was carrying his stride and jumped in so well that it ended up being kind of tight. She adjusted the line to be a little longer to compensate and told me to ride it exactly the same to see if it rode better. Well that time, when I asked for the distance at the first jump, he added in another step instead. He jumped the second jump okay, but she asked us to do it again and to pop him with my crop and get after him if he didn’t give me the distance I asked for. She also said to move him up a little as I rode around the rail to the jump, to get a feel for what I had to ride. He was moving up for me nicely as I approached the jump. When I got there and asked for the distance, he did give it to me, but he kind of stalled out over the jump and ended up trotting out of the line.

At this point, my trainer said she wanted to see it one more time and to pop him with the crop and really squeeze as I asked for the distance and to move him up after we landed as well. Well, we came around that time and as we came up to the jump, I asked him to move up and he really started carrying a big step. I popped him with the crop in addition to giving him leg when we hit the distance and he sailed over the jump. I squeezed again when we landed and he got his huge stride right back as he hit the ground. The next thing I knew, we had only gone 2 strides and we were at the second jump. The distance was a bit long, but there was no room for a third stride, so I asked for it and he reached huge and sailed over it. It felt awesome! My trainer was so psyched. He wasn’t able to get this line in 2 when it was shorter and now that we had moved it out to be a really comfortable three even when carrying some step, he suddenly gets it in 2! What a rush! I am really loving jumping and so is he. I can’t wait until we get to jump at a show.

The Details

Okay, finally feeling up to posting the full story.

So we showed up Friday night, September 21st. I put Apache in his stall and gave him some hay. He was completely content and relaxed. He’s totally gotten used to this whole show thing by now and is mellow about it. I went back to my hotel and hardly slept at all, as usual the night before a show in a strange hotel room. I got up around 7 a.m. and headed over to the show grounds. It was drizzling and chilly, but nothing too bad. Amazingly, when I opened his stall, Apache had hardly a mark on him. There were a few small green spots that came right out with Cowboy Magic. The biggest pain of showing him is definitely keeping clean the 50% of his coat that is white. Usually he ends up with large green spots from laying down in poop when he sleeps or scratching himself with his mouth while eating hay. However, he stayed remarkably clean at this show, even with the rain and mud.

So once I got him clean and the first class was getting close, I tacked him up and took him to the warm up ring to see what I had to work with. Usually he starts super hyper at the beginning of a show and gets lazier with each class. By the end, I’m having to really push him around the arena. Well, with this show, he started out fairly lazy to begin with. I had to take a crop into every class and he made me work hard for every performance.

Our first class was the second class of the show, SSH English Trail Pleasure Open 2-Gait. It was an open class, meaning that it was open to trainers and amateurs. I was the only amateur in the class with two professional trainers. However, one of the trainers called for a gate hold and ended up taking 5 minutes to get in the ring. All the while, we’re going around and around and Apache is getting more and more annoyed. He knows how these things are supposed to go and that we aren’t sticking to the program. Thus, by the time the trainer showed up and the class finally started, he was pretty irritated. We went around at a slow gait for a bit and then the judge called for a show gait (i.e., second gear). Since Apache was annoyed, he decided to try and give me a canter instead. I asked him to speed up 3 times and each time, he popped his shoulder up and took half a canter step before I half halted him back down. He finally gave me the faster gait, but we’d already covered about a quarter of the arena fighting over it. The judge had to have noticed at least some of that. We ended up getting 2nd in that class. I really couldn’t complain given that he had messed up and I was showing against trainers. I do wonder if it would have made a difference if that hadn’t happened. We’ll never know!

The next class was the 9th class of the show, SSH Western/English Trail Pleasure Ladies Amateur 2-Gait. There were 4 women riding in that class. Apache again made me really push him the entire class, but he did stay consistent and never broke gait. We got 1st place in that class, and so began the streak that took me by surprise. Apache then got a 5 hour break while I went back to my hotel room and waited for the night time classes.

The last class of the first day was TWH English Trail Pleasure Open 3-Gait. I went into this class expecting nothing. I have never in my life seen a gaited judge place a spotted walker over a solid one in an under saddle class. There was only one SSH 3-Gait class offered at this show and I wanted to do more than one 3-Gait class and I also wanted a trial run for the SSH 3-Gait the next day. That’s why I went into this class. There were 4 of us, the other 3 were all solid TWH, and not surprisingly, we got 4th. That was it for day 1.

The next morning we were again in the second class of the day, a model class. The rain had stopped by day 2 and Apache was again pretty clean and easy to get ready for the model class. We went down when our class was called and to my dismay there were two big gorgeous black and white spotted horses down there. I knew we were in trouble. Apache was also doing his usual chomping furiously on his bit and consequently spewing slobber everywhere. Ugh. Never pretty when you are trying to show off your horse’s good looks. I got him to behave moderately well in the class. He never moved once I parked him out, which was awesome and a first, but he wouldn’t stop chomping for more than 3 seconds at a time. Despite that, to my amazement, when the results came in, we got 1st place! I was so thrilled. I can’t believe we beat out those black and whites. Perhaps the judge was looking for a smaller saddle type horse per the more recent direction of the breed registries. It’s always impossible to know what they are looking for.

After all of the model classes were over, which gave us about an hour break, we were in the first under saddle class of the day, SSH Western/English Country Pleasure 2-Gait. Now usually if you enter in Country Pleasure classes, you cannot enter into classes in any other division, which is why I have never entered any Country Pleasure classes before. I’ve often wondered if that would be a more appropriate division for Apache or if Trail Pleasure is indeed the correct place for him as I suspected. We went into the class and the same 2 gorgeous black and whites from the model class were in there, plus another pretty black and white. Another hard effort to get Apache around, but I did pull it off. We ended up getting 2nd in that class. I can’t be sure, but I think it was the judge’s way of letting me know that Trail Pleasure was the better division for us. It’s nice to know that I’ve been doing the right thing with him.

The next under saddle class was another hour or so later and the SSH Western/English Trail Pleasure Open 3-Gait. It was just me and one of the pretty black and whites in that class. Apache got both his leads, although he did trip just after we picked up the canter going to the right and I thought for a second that he grabbed the wrong lead afterwards. Fortunately, he hadn’t. He of course made me keep on him the entire time to stay in gait, but I was happy that he did and that he got his leads with no fuss. On the line up, the judge said, after we finished backing our horses, ‘Nice class ladies, nice ride.” I always appreciate when they make comments like that. We got another 1st in that class and it felt hard won given the judges comments.

Finally, several hours later, it was time for the championship class. I went in and it was one of the pretty black and whites and a two time winner of the championship in the past, Colors Dream Chaser. As we went around the ring, I literally felt like I was pushing Apache for every step and was squeezing the last little bit out of him that I was going to get. When the results came in, we got the championship! When I went to get the trophy, the judge told me again, ‘Nice ride.’ We got a championship ribbon, a small trophy to keep, and a perpetual trophy that we get to put our names on and stays in rotation annually. As I was trying to grab all of it from horseback, the ring steward said, “Where are your barn people?” I said, “Oh, I’m here alone!” He helped me by carrying everything out for me, so I could leave the arena for the next class to come in, and then grab it after I dismounted. As I was walking back to the barn, Jay Manos, a local trainer, came up to congratulate me and told me it was a nice ride, which I really appreciated. The show manager, Jen Hackney, also gave me a hug and told me congratulations on the great show I’d had. Everyone was very nice and supportive. I will definitely go back to that show next year. I was so proud of Apache and he got almost a full week off. Hopefully at our next show he’ll have a little more spark in his step!