Because I AM Dorky enough to Celebrate My Horserversary. Every Year.

I know, I know. I am such a sap/dork/weirdo/dope. But on this day eight years ago, I was having a hard time falling asleep because my first horse would be arriving at my new barn the next afternoon. I don't even know how I made it through the school day.

Neither one of us was perfect, and at the time we probably weren't the smartest match for the other. He needed either someone with a deathwish, or someone with more knowledge than I could provide, and I really just had no idea what I was doing.

But it worked out. Better than anything in my life ever has. That bright-eyed Arab has become my best friend and soul mate. He is my ATV and ambulance, my compass and my heart. He changed the path of my life, he saved me, and he gives me joy every day. I am so thankful and blessed to have him. Here's to another twenty more years.

The infamous fatness picture.

 

The things he puts up with...

 

 

His goofy, engaging personality...

 

 

He makes my heart shine.

 

Our own version of high fives.

 

I love my kid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Well hewwo!

It's been a while! I haven't had much to update at all since the last one. Benny went lame two days after that last post, when a case of scratches on three legs got particularly bad, so we've been battling that for a few weeks. He is finally sound and back to work, and I am taking him to a local dressage show next month, where we will continue to do our thing as ambassador for western dressage. If I can get my butt to sit down in the western saddle at the canter. His aunt The Dressage Queen visited from Florida last week, and he was predictably grumpy about having to work, but at least he got a beautiful halter out of the deal!

He can accept anything as long as he looks fabulous.

Except the scary ball that moves with a mind of its own and therefore is a threat to Bennykind.

He is definitely not planning climbing under that...at least, not while I'm sitting there.

Having him around all day has been wonderful, though. I missed him so much when he was at my friends' place. I have to hear that happy voice repeatedly throughout the day, or something just isn't right in my world. Sometimes I think he likes having me around, too.

Miss Mare is doing all right, too. I can't say I've been riding her enough! I'll get on her in the morning and see where we are (besides up for sale on equine.com as of last night :(  ) I think I've given up on her mane; it keeps switching directions and turned back into a long fluffy afro after I pulled it the last time, so WHATEVER, girlfriend, be a hot mess! I really enjoyed having my friend The Dressage Queen get on her; it was great to see the mare look so wonderful and get closer to her potential with a competent rider on her.

 

Although TDQ did yelp the first strides of canter.

The stride this little gal has just amazes me.

I think I'm going to copy and paste my own face onto this one, okay?

Hopefully I'll have a more worthwhile and verbose update soon!

Back to Work, Benjamin

So my new boss and I went and picked Benny up last Sunday and brought him to the barn. He loaded and travelled pretty well; there was a little crying with Zaki, especially since Zaki acted sort of happy to be shot of him and ran off into the sunset once Ben was shut into the trailer. Poor Ben.

Bye bye, buddy...

He is already behaving himself so much better. At first he was calling and looking around when he was in the barn, but I've ridden him four times since he got here and today he was absolutely quiet and chilled out. He wants to hurry away from me at the gate to go to his new buddies; he's teamed up with a big paint named Lamb, but at least he isn't neurotic about it, and he can work without falling apart. After a couple of days, I can canter him on the buckle again. He still needs to work on not falling shoulder-first through corners, but I believe that to be a symptom of years of teaching beginners. Ditto accepting the bit. I am so happy to have him nearby all day again. It feels complete now.

Beyond that, I feel much too lazy to write anything else, so here's some pictures from today's ride! Thank you Boyfrand for the great pictures!

We are just oh so silly

bah shoulder. I HAVE been working on it, I swear!

Very cheerful about this extending the trot thing...

Doop de doop de doop

WHOA, A JUMP!

bah me

Snuck a "big" jump in on him, hee hee!

Not so lucky on the second fence, ah hahaha

Oh chicken pants

So cute

Getting our confidence back and chilling out

The end!



Oh Epiphany

I apologize to my followers for not posting in a while! Boyfriend and I have been pretty busy; a couple weekends ago, we went out to cut the grass and weed whack, but the battery in the mower was dead, so I decided I wanted to prune the devil holly bushes in the front flower bed while we waited for it to charge...which turned into cutting them and the tree in the front yard down, which meant we had to pull the stumps out, clear the stupid, slippery pebbles out of the flower bed (I mean, wtf would you even put them there?), and commence redoing the entire thing. So, we went from stabby holly bushes in stupid slippery pebbles and a tree that encouraged spider webs in our faces to no tree, tiger lillies, asiatic lillies, and lantana plants in pretty red non-hazardous mulch, and a cute little pond!

We are so excited about the change! We worked very hard on it, and of course we chose to do everything right in the middle of the 105* heat wave. But I would say it's worth it.

As you can imagine, with the heat wave and all the overhaul in the front yard, I haven't been riding much. At least, not my own horses on my own time. I have sort of decided not to ride Benny again until he moves out to the barn; the frustration is just not worth it, and I don't want to give him a chance to enforce his sudden bad habits. I am hoping to move him next Monday, perhaps before then. Hopefully his baby-sitters will understand and his buddy won't be too upset...I did mention it to the woman a couple weeks ago, and told her it's nothing to do with them or the care he's receiving; I just can't allow him to behave the way he is under saddle and I think he needs the structure an actual stable provides, as well as a large herd that he would actually prefer to be separated from.

He looks pretty good, though!

Tooey is doing all right, too. I hadn't ridden her a whole lot for a couple weeks, but since I've sort of decided to go ahead and sell her if she'll sell, I dragged my sister out last Monday morning to get some updated videos and photos...and it randomly stormed badly enough that I never left the indoor and gave up on getting anything done since her poor brain was too distracted by the storm and the farrier half parked in the ring to think about balancing or, you know, listening to her rider. So I had my sister throw her big ball in for us and we kicked it around for a bit and called it quits.

She even kicks it around by herself sometimes.

So yesterday after fishing, I brought Boyfriend to the barn with me and asked him to take some video and photos. She was a hyper turkey! I can't blame her at all, but seriously? I took her out in the grass ring to wear her down a bit on the hill, and she focused a bit better after that... until I tried to work on trotting a 15' vertical, which she absolutely bolted after every time. To be fair, I've barely jumped her since we moved, but before we did move, she seemed to have a good grasp of "don't build during jumps." Not so much now, I guess. We did have a couple of good lines eventually, after one small semi-bucking fit, one episode of nearly bolting into my boss and the horse she was riding, and a few...okay, several moments of jumping like a wrecking ball, but, ya know...these things happen. Right? Yeah...

I rode her again today because it wasn't too hot after work, and she was so much better. After looking at the photos and especially the videos Boyfriend took yesterday, I couldn't believe the state my hands and arms have gotten into! I don't know when I started riding with rigid arms and broken wrists with my hands in my lap; I know I've been doing it for a while, but I never feel like I am. So today I tried to exaggerate bend in my elbows and a straight wrist. Actually, I tried to over-bend my wrists so that eventually a straight wrist will feel natural, and she was so much more relaxed and round. Her trot was so springy and driven after a bit of a good warm up! I wish I had video of today's ride instead of yesterday's. As far as her canter goes, I've realized that almost immediately after I got her, I decided there was no way I could ride her canter nicely and gave up on it, and threw my body away every single time I've cantered her since...well, no more. I've started thinking about the inside of my foot in my stirrup while I ride, which seems to help a bit on keeping the insides of my legs on her instead of turning out and having daylight between my knee and the flaps. It's not perfect yet, but it's allowing me to open my hips and relax more, and I feel like the more I do it the better it will get. That is, as long as I DO have her. I've contacted her old owner to see if she'd like her back, but she doesn't have the space. She said she'll help me find her a good home, but I think I'm going to wait through August before I push it. That'll give me a little more time to work on both of us, and it'll be easier with both of my horses out there.

Now, doesn't this look a bit better?

Ignore the crazy 'do, I'm trying to get her wild Indian woman mohawk to lay down.

And for anyone bored enough...there is some actual riding in there. Be gentle; I've already discussed the hands, and I should go ahead and mention the floppy legs and wiggleworm spine I've got going on...

 Video!