Nature's

dunno if you guys have seen this yet or not. but here it is. 10 points if you can guess what it's a picture of.

http://www.mikeschaffer.com/vids/b…


oooooooo.... i was the first person to see it! check it out. it's pretty impressive.

**10 YEARS AGO***

How old were you?: 9
What school year were you in? 3rd or 4th grade
Where did you go to school? thornton creek
Where did you work? nowhere
Where did you live? with my parents in the outer suburbs
Where did you hang out? travis's house, erica bivens house, heather balon's house, tara something's house, my room.
What was your hairstyle? long, flat, slightly greeasy...
Did you wear braces? nope, but i had a retainer
Did you wear glasses? not yet.
Who was your best friend? erica bivens and heather balon and tara something
Who was your boyfriend/girlfriend? Hah!
Who was your celebrity crush? i didn't even know that they existed at that point
Who was your regular-person crush? Leo Oteza... oddly enough he's the younger brother of my ex's best friend's girl friend...
How many piercings did you have? none
How many tattoos did you have? none
What was your favorite band? fucking enya
What was your biggest fear? umm... i dunno... living...
Had you smoked a cigarette yet? no.
Had you gotten drunk or high yet? goodness, no
Had you driven yet? my plan at that point was to never drive but to ride horses every where...
Had you had sex yet? fuck no.


***5 YEARS AGO***

How old were you? 14
What school year were you in? high school freshman
Where did you go to school? old pill hill aka northville high school
Where did you work? the barn and at D+M
Where did you live? my parent's house
Where did you hang out? all the punk rock kids: joe, phil, steve, jon, ross, janine, janie, emma, daisy, and travis of course, and the barn people.
what was your hairstyle? short as shit, any colour on the spectrum barring yellow and black (not on the spectrum, but oh well) and spiked...
Did you wear braces? no.
Did you wear glasses? Yes!
Who was your best friend? janie maybe? travis? phil? I didn't really have one...
Who was your celebrity crush? i was still thankfully amish
How many Piercings did you have? just my first hole
How many tattoos did you have? None.
What was your favorite band? rancid like whoa
What was your biggest fear? That I would sell out
had you smoked a cigarette yet? just one hit, and my lungs ached for days
Had you gotten drunk/high yet? yup.. i got stoned before i smoked a ciggarette, and let me say, it's much easier on the lungs than cigs...
Had you driven yet? nope... i was still determined to ride my horse everywhere
Had you had sex yet? nope, i'd just managed to fuck up my first hand job...


***NOW***

How old are you? 19
What school year are you in? college sophmore in age, i think I might be a junior in standing...
Where do you go to school? the school of the conceptual art institute of chicago
Where do you live? logan square
Where do you work? the feild museum
Where do you hang out? at school, in my room, with jesse, with andi and connie...
What is your hairstyle now? long, flat, slightly greasy...
Do you wear braces? no
Do you wear glasses? yeah...
Who is your best friend? i have a few of those... at home i have emily, here i have jesse and andi...
Who is your boyfriend/girlfriend? ha!
Who is your celebrity crush? Asano-san all the way.
How many tattoos? None.
How many piercing do you have? 7 only in my ears, but i've been thinking about a facial percing, but mike would kick my ass like whoa and i have glasses so it'd look lame as fuck.
What is your favorite band? right now i've been into pavement, neutral milk hotel, and clinic.
What is your biggest fear: graduating and not having a job and ending up a bum.
Have you smoked a cigarette yet? no, not me... i never smoke unfiltered and have an ash tray sitting by my bed... an ashtray i made in ceramics. hahahaha
Have you gotten drunk or high yet? it's one of my favourite past times...
Have you had sex yet? ahh... have i had sex this year, no. but have i had sex? yes. unfortuantely not this year...

Something is fucked up with my account...

I've been getting complaints from members about all the god shit posted on here... I just can't see it on the natures page... maybe it's on the Natures friends page?

Anyway... The point is, NO FUCKING GOD SHIT IS ALLOWED IN THIS JOURNAL. I'm sorry If I've offended anyone, but my horse can take a shit on baby jesus for all I care. I created this journal to talk about horses, not jesus... it's cool if you like god and all that shit, but as long as you don't post about him in this journal, then cool.

so all in all.... any religious posts are out. by religious i mean i don't give a fuck what religion it is, i don't want it here.

If the religious shit continues, then I'm removing the perpetrators... even if it's my best friend (emily: no god shit please, i mean I know you're having a torrid love affair with him, but we can gossip later)!

ahhhh... hahahahaha

I can't really say this anywhere else, or I'll get in sooooooo much trouble... but...

I'm moving out! (yeah, that's means I'll be moving in with Zissou, Isyemille, and lucy) for all of you who don't know, zissou is one of my best friends her (not as close as andi and connie) and is something of a prick. he also looks like Orlando Bloom except not gay and less like a plaster cast of a human. He's going to be coming home with me soon.. I'll be bringing him out to the barn, yes. And he's a pretty fucking good kisser (not that I do much of that with him)... so, um... Eat it! hahahaha...

I'm totally into this guy... micheal.. i can't post a picture of him on here... but copy and paste this link, it'll take you too his myspace... or it should.

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/in…

i'm not going to say much about him, because when things don't work out between us i don't want to get all mopey... i also don't want to get into trouble...

Hey does anyone know if this : http://www.horse-rider-etc.com/fox… is also the correct way to tie a stock tie in dressage? After almost choking myself a few times, I managed to do it...http://www.libertyvillesaddleshop.… that is also the same way, but without verbal instructions.

I thought this was really sad.
I know a lot of girls enjoyed seeing scout at the stallion expo so I thought I'd pass it on.
I'm probably going to be ridiculed for this later,
but it really does make you think about how quickly things can take a turn for the worse with horses...
I know I'm going to give aris an extra hug next time I'm out.
Geez...

http://www.scout.monochromeacres.c…
Just before midnight on April 15, 2005 .. our kind and oh so beloved "Scout The Friesian" danced his way down the Grandest FEI center line to his theme song, "I can only Imagine", with his head held high, making his way, in the purest of gaits, towards that rainbow bridge, where other beloveds have assured us they will gallop out to welcome him, and bestow on him, his very own ..."WINGS OF LOVE", for he has already earned them here on this earth.

BARN CAMPOUT IS JUNE 16. I will be putting up a sign up sheet for food/tents soon. There will be an age limit (example- no one under 12 is allowed to sleep over) I think we set down a rule similar to this last year. Any ideas on how old you have to be to attend?

The Dressage Rider's Survival Guide: Memoirs of a Struggling Dressage Rider
by Margaret A. Odgers, Half Halt Press, 2004
www.halfhaltpress.com

[Excerpt From Chapter Two: Your Journey Begins]

The First Lesson to be Learned

Pulling on the reins implies the use of a backward action of the hands which is always, under any cir***stances, fatal…"
Henry Wynmalen, Dressage: A Study of the Finer Points of Riding, page 228

Teaching you the First Lesson to be Learned is why your first trainer will not be your last trainer. It doesn’t matter if your first trainer is a really great trainer. As you begin Dressage you will be quickly overwhelmed by how difficult it is. Given the lack of the all important culling process, you will inevitably become convinced that your First (but Not Last) Trainer must be wrong. It’s only human nature.

You see, the very first lesson you will learn in dressage is that everything that goes wrong is the rider’s fault. This is different from any other form of riding you’ve done – when one generally thought of the horse as either getting or not getting the message. Sure, you needed to perfect a few skills, like posting to the trot, but in these other disciplines, you were never considered intrinsically incorrect for the get go.

Depending upon the effectiveness of your Trainer, this point must be driven home like a stake through your idealistic heart. Your seat, your hands, your leg position – all together – contribute to driving your poor horse crazy.

Conversely, everything that is good and right about your riding is directly the result of the innate generosity of your horse, for overcoming your many obvious riding flaws. In the case of a new Dressage rider, if the horse happens to “get it” it was purely an accident.

This is the first, yet the most difficult lesson to absorb. It is a subtle thing – you think you have accepted it, only to find fatal arrogance will creep back into your training at various stages. In fact, you can anticipate teetering between soaring conceit and utter despair throughout your Journey.

As one starts dressage lessons, and this message because apparent, you are at the beginning of watching your self-esteem crumble. It is not that this lesson is necessarily incorrect or meant to be cruel, it’s simply that dressage, as discussed, is a lifelong Journey and by definition, after a lifetime, you still won’t get it right. This is why to correctly learn Dressage the correct way, one goes to the Spanish Riding School of Vienna.

If it’s any consolation, your First (but Not Last) Trainer will not be surprised when you eventually abandon her. You see, this Trainer is the one with unenviable task of introducing you to Dressage. Whether good, bad, or indifferent, this Trainer’s task is a difficult and thankless one. Unfortunately, given the chaotic state of Dressage training in the United States, you will no doubt go through many trainers before truly accepting the first truth of Dressage: It’s all you’re fault. (“When you can take the pebble from my hand, grasshopper….” says Master Po to Kwai Chang Cain.)

To think you gave up trail riding for this punishment?

In Search of ON THE BIT

"A horse "held in shape" by his rider is only posturing in a seemingly correct outline, usually for the benefit of the inexperienced observers."
Charles de Kunffy, Dressage World, Famous Quotes, www.dressageworld.com

And why, you might ask, is this First Lesson to be Learned so difficult? The reason is you fundamentally misunderstand the concept of Dressage, which is the development of self-carriage in the horse through the perfect seat of the rider. You will be sidetracked from that objective because you will be desperately seeking ON THE BIT. Deep down, in your heart of hearts, all you really, really want is to get your horse to arch his head and neck – to be ON THE BIT – just like in all the pictures.

This is called ON THE BIT riding and has nothing whatsoever to do with Dressage. Beginning Dressage Riders are obsessed with ON THE BIT riding. You believe that is what Dressage is all about.

Done correctly, we ride our horse from back to front. This means we engage the hindquarters, through our seat and legs, and bring the energy up into the head and neck, whereby at some magical point the horse will arch his neck in the classic Dressage frame. The hands merely regulate the energy generated from the hind end. That is riding back to front. Simple – ha!

The reality is somewhat different for struggling new Dressage riders. We can’t see what’s going on behind us – we can only obsess endlessly over what is in front – therefore it is simply irresistible to use our hands to get our horse ON THE BIT. Our rides become a grueling torment, where we yank and pull and kick, all to get our horses to arch their head and neck. It doesn’t work. Hence, our self esteem continues its downward slide.

Your First (but not Last) Horse

The quick answer... and I know this is cheating on a tough question.. is don't put green on green. You're a beginner in dressage. Your horse is a beginner in dressage. In that situation, every beginner ruins their first horse…
SmithsonLM “And yet another question about contact” 8/28/03, UDBB

The reason your first Dressage horse will not be your last Dressage horse is the same reason why your first Trainer was not your last Trainer. You are referred to as “green on green” – neither of you has a clue!

Again, it is helpful to look at the German model here. Beginning Dressage riders in Germany are started on appropriately trained school horses. In the United States, there is no such thing as appropriately trained school horses.

As Americans, we tend to think of ourselves as the independent type and quite clever to boot. We don’t need start on some old, moth-eaten school horse when we already own a perfectly fine horse. All we are really trying to do is get our horse ON THE BIT. What’s the big deal? So, we think, we will take a few lessons on our perfectly fine Non-Dressage horse, and learn ON THE BIT.

It quickly becomes apparent, however, that our perfectly fine Non-Dressage horse just isn’t getting this ON THE BIT thing. It becomes very discouraging to take lesson after lesson after lesson, and still, no ON THE BIT. Stupid horse, you think, because you haven’t fully absorbed the “First Lesson to be Learned” – please re-read that section.

What’s worse, your First (but not Last) Trainer will get on your horse at any point, and get your stupid horse ON THE BIT, while explaining, in unexplainable jargon, that ON THE BIT isn’t really the true objective of Dressage and that you still have not absorbed the “First Lesson to be Learned”. This Trainer will throw out obscure terms like lightness and thoroughness and schwung! You won’t be listening. You are too busy staring at your horse’s head to ascertain if he’s ON THE BIT. And you yank and crank and kick and…….

Soon, you are despairing of your First (but Not Last) Horse. You are becoming suitably humiliated at every lesson, and eventually come to the decision that you need to get a horse more appropriate for your purposes – in other words – a horse trained to go ON THE BIT.

It is incredibly bittersweet to part with your First (but Not Last) Horse. He was a great guy, just not capable of ON THE BIT. Your First (but Not Last) Horse, on the other hand, is relieved to be changing hands. At this point, he is the finest shape of his lifetime. He has been schooled five days a week, and is in fighting trim. His feet are perfectly balanced, his back has been massaged and his teeth in perfect order. Never in his life has he been so fussed over. He will happily go off to the Hunter/Jumper barn with a rider who is in awe of his skill of bending into corners and getting the correct lead and doesn’t care in the least about ON THE BIT.

The Dressage Rider's Survival Guide: Memoirs of a Struggling Dressage Rider
by Margaret A. Odgers, Half Halt Press, 2004
www.halfhaltpress.com

Approved Home Only. 17 year old 16.1 hand bay with star TB gelding. Legs
of iron. Must find him a kind loving home. He is very sound, big powerful
mover and big bodied. Sweet disposition, in your pocket, lover bunny. Was
raced until he was 8 years old - stakes winner. After that life he was
owned by one person who hunter paced him, showed him in the lower levels of
dressage, and jumped him lightly. He needs an experienced rider because he
can be a little hot and is quite powerful. Not mean, just energetic.
Excellent to clip, bathe, tie, truck, excellent for farrier and vet.
currently barefoot - just had a trim. In heavy work should have shoes, but
has excellent feet. Does not get along with geldings but can be turned out
with any mare. This horse has been on my property for 8 years and I know
his history pretty well. He'd be a lot of fun for someone to ride and enjoy
and he loves attention - all that he can get.

Sorry, no online pictures at this time.

Located in Woodstock CT.

Contact:
Cindy Downs
cindydowns@hotmail.com
(860) 974-1088