Merry belated Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Zoey and me.

Hope that everyone had a great Christmas and spent some quality time with loved ones. The DPH and I took it easy this year, which was wonderful! I am so blessed to have such a great husband. Lots of good food, great gifts, and time with family.

Showing

To start off this post, let me shamelessly plug a contest that getmyfix.org is having. They are giving away a custom Hayward hunt coat. To be honest, I read about the contest/brand on Tucker the Wunderkind's blog and did a little research on the Hayward line. I am not in the loop as far as current fashions go (both equine and regular life, sad to say!) so I had not heard of this company. If you ever show hunters, jumpers, etc. then their FB page/website/etc. is definately worth a visit! I may not know exactly what is in style but I have been seeing some gorgeous (and I mean GORGEOUS!) hunt coats at the shows. Gone are the days where you got to choose from navy with subtle blue pin striping, navy with subtle red pin striping, or a nice charcoal. There are options up the wazoo now. I personally am coveting a chocolate coat with a subtle turquoise lining. Yum. Check it out and visit getmyfix.org to enter the contest!


I am hoping that I will get to show some this spring. I get really frustrated at times because I do not know how to get from Point A (where I am now...starting these young horses) to Point B (getting to show at least a little) to Point C (being a successful trainer). The answer seems simple enough; get the young horses to the point where I can show them and go from there. The problem would be that all of the young ones that I ride are sale horses. Generally, we sell them right about the time that they get to be pleasant to ride. This does not bode well for getting them to the show ring. It is also hard to try to get back into showing successfully with really green horses. I know, I know...complain, complain, complain. It is just one of those days!

On top of all that, my special extended NaNoWriMo word count is sucking big time. (Becky-hope yours is going much better!). I should have written quite a bit last night but I ended up cleaning out one of the bedrooms in our house. I have a huge pile of stuff to throw away and a huge pile of stuff to go to the local charity resale shop. Unfortunately, all that stuff = no words added to the word count. Darn. Maybe tonight?

Writer's Block

I have the hardest time coming up with a catchy title. I read other people's blogs and turn green with envy over their witty headings. Unfortunately, I may be doomed to always have boring blog entry titles.

As predicted, I failed utterly at NaNoWriMo. My final count was 25,232. Part of me is rather impressed that I made it halfway there. The sad part is that I think I had enough plot to carry me to the magical 50,000. Just not enough hours (or motivation to give up sleep for a contest where the only competitor was myself) in the day to make that happen. I have not opened the file on my laptop since then. Part of me was pretty disappointed. At first, I felt like I had written all these words so quickly and had sacrificed quality for the sake of quantity. Whenever I have sat down to write something in the past, I hem and haw over finding the perfect prose to convey my character's thoughts and emotions. Eloquence reigns and the editing that I have to do later is non-existent.

That is not the case for my 25,232 NaNoWriMo words. Not the case at all. I need to run rampant through the pages with a red Sharpie.

On the other hand, 25,232 words is the most progress I have ever made on a novel. I know that I can edit things and clean them up at a later date. Maybe what I need is to just write for the sake of writing. Word vomit, if you will. At least I have that many words to work with and edit now.

Who knows. Maybe I will go ahead and try to hit the 50,000 word mark. It is not technically NaNoWriMo anymore but I can set my own goal. By the end of December, I am going to have 50,000 words. I will update my progress here. Hold me to it, fellow bloggers.

NaNoWriMo

I am a complete failure at NaNoWriMo. I am tragically behind on my word count. Of course, the fact that I did not start writing until November 13th might have something to do with that. I might just have to give myself a different deadline...National Novel Writing MonthS.

I am still not exactly sure where this novel is going. I had an idea, started writing, and am hoping that the characters are just going to determine what they want to do. You always read about writers saying things like that. "Oh, I thought Character A would end up doing this but she told me differently." I am still not convinced that this is not a total, bald-faced lie! I'll let you know how it turns out.

To make up for my lack of a real post, enjoy this video of naughty Miss Zoey. I told you guys that she has a bit of a temper! She was fresh and was just letting me know that she had an opinion about having to canter. Make sure your volume is turned up to get the full effect of this video...

OKC World Show

I have been an absentee blogger recently. Life has been crazy (whose life isn't crazy though? What a bad excuse!). I fired the guy who was starting the BO's young horses so I gained seven more to work. Yikes! Unfortunately, I did not gain any more hours in the day. The time change actually took away an hour of daylight in the evenings. No help + less daylight = hectic days!

OT and I took a little field trip up to the AQHA World Show in OKC over the weekend. We had a fantastic time. It was great to just get away and go hang out for a few days. We got to watch some amazing horses show. We saw the prelims of the Sr. WP, the Sr. Western Riding, the Jr. Hunter Hack, and the Jr. HUS. If I ever hit the lottery, I will be buying a horse for the WR. I just LOVE a good lead changer. It's fantastic. With any luck, Zoey and I will be at the WS one day. I can't wait.

Zoey update: she got turned back out in the pasture. She had three days of working in the round pen, wearing a surcingle, and getting handled. She did really well during all of it. My sweet, innocent looking little filly has a bit of a temper though! I put her out in the stud pasture one day after I worked her. I thought that she would enjoy a nice romp since she had been stalled for two days. As it turns out, I was wrong. She was not at all happy to be out there by herself while her buddies were still stalled. She tried to dig her way out of the pasture. She also tried to shove her way under the gate. Naughty, naughty girl.

I was too busy trying to prevent her from making an escape to take any good pictures but I did get a few mediocre ones for your viewing pleasure.

"BRING ME IN NOW!"

Kind of a funny shot but it shows what a great front leg she has. Love that swing through her shoulder!

18 months

Zoey turned 18 months old on October 26th. It's crazy how quickly time flies! I feel like it was just yesterday that she was that cute, tiny foal that I wanted so badly.

I brought her up from the pasture today. One of our clients has a weanling that is going to be living with the yearling herd eventually, so it's Miss Zoey's turn to befriend him. She was less than thrilled to be taken away from her buddies and made it known by pacing her stall behind the round pen while screaming. Within 5 minutes, however, she had settled down and was calmly munching on some hay.

I put her in the round pen for a few minutes tonight so that I could see how she moves. She is getting F-A-N-C-Y! She has grown quite a bit; I need to stick her at some point. She is also really intelligent and I think that she will be really easy to train. This was the first time I have had her in the round pen and asked her to work a little. She picked up on it right away, trotting calmly around the perimeter of the pen. As soon as I said "Whoa", she came to a halt and stood watching me. Love that! I also love how she was not concerned by the screams from the other yearling and the weanling that are stalled next to her behind the round pen. Good girl!

Now before anyone freaks out, I am not asking her to do much. She trotted around the round pen exactly four times-nothing too strenueous! I am not going to do anything to harm her. She is obviously growing quite a bit and the last thing that she needs is extra stress put on those bones and joints! I just want her to begin to learn some of these skills. She will get handled for a few days (walk around the arena, stand in the barn, possibly get introduced to clippers, etc) and then she will go back to the pasture.

It's so fun to be actually doing something with her! She's so pretty and is turning out to be such a good mover. It is hard for me to believe that she is mine!

Recap of the weekend

I have been quite the negligent blogger this week, which is just not fair to the FOUR (that's right, FOUR) followers that I seem to have acquired. How exciting is that??? For you experienced bloggers out there whose follower lists are in the three digits, probably not so exciting. For me, it's a big event.

Anyways. Enough about that.

We did end up going to the show last Sunday. I took Macy and Louie, OT took a stud that he is showing at the App World next week, and the girl who bought Patrick took him. Leaving the barn at 5:20am made it an early morning, especially since I usually get up around 7:30am! I was tickled with how Macy loaded-she marched right up the ramp without hesitation and began munching her alfalfa. Pretty awesome for a 4yo that has never been on a trailer!

We arrived at the show grounds at 6:30am. Being October, it was still pitch dark. We turned on the spotlights on the outside of the trailer and pulled the horses off. I was a little concerned about how Macy was going to take getting off the trailer and being in a new place in the dark.

I definately had nothing to worry about, as it turned out. She walked off the trailer, looked around, and started grazing. I longed her for a few minutes (in the dark, of course, in a large field next to some woods). She was perfectly content to trot slowly around on the longe line. No screaming. No spooking, not even when a large, unidentified something went crashing through the woods.

Call me impressed.

When I decided that she was not getting much out of her longing session, she got tied to the trailer to wait for me to longe Louie. He was pretty unexcited about the whole trip as well. I love the minds on these horses. How many 4 and 5 year olds that have been hauled as few times as these two will arrive at a show in the wee hours of the morning and just take everything in?

After that, Louie got to hang out at the trailer while Macy was saddled and taken to the arena to ride. The facility that was holding the show is just beautiful. The barns and parking areas are at the top of a large hill. You get to the arenas by walking down a wooded trail. At the bottom of the hill, they have multiple riding arenas/warmup areas next to a large lake.

Macy did get quite wide-eyed when we walked down the hill and she saw the large arena with all the lights blazing. I got on and just let her walk around, taking in everything. She never spooked and was noticeably less tense within five minutes. After ten minutes, she was as quiet and steady as she is at home.

We did all of our flatwork and then began jumping by taking a small single. The poles had been removed, so it was just a little gate. Macy trotted right down to it, smoothly jumped it, and cantered off. No peeking. No overjumping. Definately no thoughts of refusing. By the end of our schooling session, she was adding around the entire course without any trouble.

I just can't say enough good things about this mare! She is so uncomplicated, so willing, and just a pleasure to ride. It makes me feel good, because I have done all the work on this mare myself. I am not delusional enough to think that it's all me, of course. I feel like most people could get good results from this mare, because she is just that easy to work with!

And now...a video of the amazing Macy:

I didn't show Macy, although she definately would have jumped around the 2'6" without any trouble. I felt like she had been so stellar that she deserved to hang out at the trailer with her hay bag while the rest of us showed.

Louie schooled well, as usual. That one is harder for me to jump, because he just uses himself so well! He really rounds his back and drops his neck over a fence, which I am just not used to trying to ride. I did end up showing him and managed to survive. I was nervous about making the strides and tried to add everywhere. In retrospect, it would have been smarter to just let him make the steps. We ended up chipping out of almost every single line. Duh! Complete fail on my part.

He is so honest, however, and just packed my sorry butt around when he jumped me loose. I am not sharing the video of his rounds. Too humiliating! I think I will be tuning up all the lesson horses next week in my English saddle without my stirrups. I will leave you with this picture. Ignore my equitation (or my distinct lack thereof, as the case may be!) and instead admire the cuteness that is Louie!

It was great to show again, although I was totally nervous! It had been over FOUR years since I had shown in a hunter class. First I was broke, horseless, and in school. Then I started working here and never had anything broke enough to go show. The equine market is still somewhat down, so now I have horses that are sticking around for longer. This is great for me, because I am getting to jump more and more! Obviously I need the practice...

The Ground is Not Your Friend

PSA: the ground is not your friend. Try to avoid landing there at all costs.


Allow me to expound on that gem.

As you probably know by now, I ride young horses for a living. It is inevitable that the ground and I will meet up at various intervals.

Today was one of those days.

The other trainer at the barn and I are taking some green horses to a small hunter show on Sunday. They need to get out, see some different jumps and arena, and be exposed to a show environment.

Quick introduction to the two that I am taking:

Macy is a four year old mare. Love this one. She jumps cute, is quiet-minded, and just a lot of fun to ride. She goes just like I like mine to, which makes sense being that I am the one that has done all the riding on her. She's going to make someone a fantastic hunter. She has never been off the farm, so we will see how Sunday goes!

 

Louie is a 5 year old gelding by our TB stallion. Super cool horse. He has a ton of jump, is almost too quiet, and not at all spooky. He takes a ton of leg to ride...you have to ride him up to each jump pretty hard. If not, he just kicks into a lower gear. This one takes some of our younger kids to the local shows to do the crossrail division. Got to love that mind!

You are probably pondering which one of these lovely animals was responsible for me meeting the ground today.

I schooled Macy first. She was FANTASTIC. In the last week, her canter has improved so much. It's like a light switch was thrown; all of a sudden she has decided that she can canter balanced and in a frame without any trouble. She jumped around (this horse is so honest-absolutely no stop in her!) and even had some lovely lead changes. I was thrilled with this one!

I rode a few of my three year olds on the flat before tackling my next fence horse. Enter Louie.

To be fair, none of what took place was even remotely Louie's fault. He was actually jumping around really great. I was having a hell of a time keeping him pushed up for the jumps, however. We started out wonderfully. He was forward and light off my leg, swapping leads like a pro, and generally just jumping like a seasoned hunter.

Once he got tired, however, the gas pedal started to get sticky. I would come out of the corner, close my leg to keep a nice steady pace, and...nadda. My beautiful spot that I saw from the corner would slowly disappear as my horse's pace dropped and dropped and dropped to a lovely chip.

Louie is a saint. It's a good thing that he is athletic, because he is honest over fences to a fault. If you point him anywhere close to anything that resembles a jump you had better be prepared to hang on. He is going over no matter what spot you put him at.

Louie, the ultimate horse at taking a joke.

We got our pace issues sorted out and then proceeded to take the two stride that we have set up in the arena. The good news is, we jumped out in a nice two. 

The bad news is...well, this would be a good time to interject that Louie has a tendency to jump like this:

Got bascule?

Yup, we have it.

Unfortunately, Louie also has the tendency to hit the ground fairly hard on the landing side, with his head in a nice, relaxed, low position. It looks great but...it doesn't end well if one happens to have the horrid habit of giving an unnecessarily large crest release while throwing yourself at your horse's neck (just to be SURE that you don't catch them in the mouth).

Ahem.

Guilty as charged. Louie cracked his back over the out jump of the line, I got too forward, and off I flew on the landing. I was fine, although my shoulder is a bit sore. The other trainer (OT) got on, jumped him a little, and then I got back on. Made sure to keep my upper body back a little (gee, novel concept!) and it went much better!

Add hitting the ground to the 2 1/2 hours that the OT and I spent at the gym this morning (yoga, ab workout, and water aerobics!) and I am going to be moving slowly tomorrow morning!

I get frustrated sometimes, because I still have so much to learn. Working on all these young horses all the time has been a great way to develop truly atrocious equitation habits. I used to ride by myself (before OT moved to the barn), so at least now I have eyes on the ground to help me!

Sometimes I wish that I had a super nice packer to re-learn all this stuff on. Taking several years off of jumping for college did nothing for my leg or my eye! I am used to starting the young horses and getting a solid foundation on them, both on the flat and over tiny jumps. This whole jump them around bigger courses at a show thing still throws me for a loop every now and then

I have to remind myself that I would not have any horses to ride if it weren't for this job. I have to remind myself that I am improving as are my horses. I have to remind myself that I am young and have time to reach the level of proficiency that I want. I have to remind myself that riding and training is a constant learning process.

I spend quite a bit of time reminding myself of things, obviously!

My horses are not coming along as quickly in their training as they would if OT were riding them but they continue to be solid citizens. I continually see improvement in their confidence over fences, their flatwork, and their work ethic. One thing is for sure: they learn how to take a joke!

Moment of Silence for an Amazing Mare and her Amazing Human

I don't have very much to say today. I just finished reading Andrea's moving tribute to her mare, Gogo. I don't know if any of you have followed Andrea and Gogo's journey over the last few years. It has been a roller coaster ride with its ups and downs. Unfortunately, the ups have come more and more infrequently in the past few months.

It all culminated yesterday with Andrea's heartbreaking decision to put Gogo down. Her suspensory injury never healed properly and was resulting in a breakdown of her hind legs. Andrea's strength and ability to put her mare's needs above her own is so very inspiring.

Andrea, you may never read this but just know that you and Gogo have touched so many hearts, including mine. Hundreds of people you will likely never meet wept over the loss of that special, fiesty, beautiful mare. Rest in peace, Gogo.

For love or money?

I have had people tell me not to mix my passion in life with work. Many wise people advised me to graduate college, go to grad school, and get a high-paying job so that I could keep horses as a hobby rather than as a job.

Did I listen? Of course not.

I graduated from Texas A&M (whoop!) and took this job. I desperately needed a break from school and had worked for the BO all through high school. I knew what the job entailed and knew that I would enjoy it.


Here we are, over two years later. It's been a great ride so far, both figuratively and literally! I get to wake up every morning, walk out my front door, and ride some amazing horses. I work for an amazing boss and have free rein (haha, pun intended) to do whatever I feel needs to be done. Good group of boarders-the list of positives goes on and on.

            

                       

It hasn't been all fun and games, however. I work A LOT of hours. Something about managing 60+ horses, three employees, 15+ lesson kids, and 15 training horses takes up an amazing amount of time. I have had to learn to acccept that whatever does not get done at the end of the day will still be there the next morning. (Horses being fed, appropriately clothed for the weather, etc. not included in this statement, of course).

The horses have not become just a job for me but I do find myself spending less time just standing in the barn listening to them munch on their hay or watching them play in the pasture. In high school, I used to spend hours just sitting in the stall with Patrick. I would read a book, watch him eat, or just talk to him.

I miss times like that. Real life seems to have caught up to me, however, and I find myself doing grown-up things instead. Dishes, laundry, spending time with family-all these essential things that have to be done.

A much-needed storm moved in last night. The DPH was working on some things for school and I was having a hard time not distracting him. I wandered out to one of the smaller barns right before the rain hit. I had a glass of wine, a book, and my heart-dog with me.

I ended up sitting on a stable sheet on top of a big bale of alfalfa, glass in hand and dog curled up next to me. We had a huge storm, complete with thunder, lightening, and rain pounding on the tin roof. Mariah, the three year old filly in the stall closest to the bale of hay, was so interested in what we were doing in her barn.

There was something about sitting there, watching the rain and stroking Mariah's velvety nose, that made me appreciate my life on the farm in a way that I haven't in a long time. I am so blessed to have these animals in my life. It was so peaceful. The book was abandoned as I sat there, taking it all in. I realized that I need to make time for things like that again. It helps center me; helps remind me of how I got to where I am today. It's good for my heart.

To quote OneRepublic, "it's a good, good life".

Girl Power

Some horse people truly loathe mares. I cannot tell you how many people have called about horses that we have for sale that specify that they will not try a mare, no matter how perfectly she might work for them.


“Mares are just too hormonal.”

“Mares don’t make consistent show horses.”

“Mares have such attitudes!”

　
I have heard all the typical comments about mares and thought that they made sense. Geldings never come in season. Geldings are sweet and affectionate. Geldings will perform consistently at shows and are undisturbed by the presence of stallions. Blah blah blah.


I have had geldings that I completely adored. Patrick had enough personality for five horses and was very affectionate. (I am not sure why I used past tense…he still does!).



That being said, I think that I have gone to the dark side. I am coming out as being a huge fan of mares.
I ride quite a few different young horses on a daily basis. I work with both mares and geldings. I can honestly say that, as a general rule, my favorites are mares.


Allow me to give you some examples.


　
There was Lizzie. Fantastic, opinionated, and talented mare. She was an elegant mare with that feminine look that I love. Pretty head, pretty neck-just the type of horse that you look at from a distance and know is a mare.

Lizzie would, on occasion, get that attitude that so many horse enthusiasts hate.

There was the time that I sent the working student to retrieve her from her paddock. She didn’t want to come in and let that be known with a well-placed hoof to the innocent student’s thigh! (Please understand I am not condoning kicking and she was appropriately reprimanded. She was two at the time, had just been brought up from the pasture, and was in her semi-feral, naughty stage…).

There was the time that I turned her loose in the arena and she cantered gracefully off, firing two hind legs in my general direction as she got halfway across the arena.

As an early three year old, she would grow quite impatient with standing tied in the barn and paw. She could be fussy, opinionated, and borderline obnoxious.

However.

As Lizzie matured, she began to channel that assertive nature into her work under saddle. That pushiness in the barn of her younger days, that boss mare mentality- these things served her well as a riding horse. Lizzie was not spooky. She was extremely intelligent. All I had to do was introduce a concept once and she understood.

She became dependable under saddle.
Unflappable, even. Introducing small jumps to her daily routine was a non-event. Larger fences with colorful fill? No problem. Nothing seemed to phase her.

The first people to come out and look at her decided to buy her. I was not surprised. She is currently being prepared for her career as a show hunter. Her new owner has taken her to several hunter shows to hack around and reports that she is retaining that unflappable personality.

Love it.

I had another mare's story typed up but, when I went to publish this post, blogger.com somehow ate it. Fantastic.

And I still have not been successful with commenting. I may be hopeless.

As it turns out, I am blogger.com illiterate

Okay, all you seasoned bloggers out there...how in the world do I respond to a comment? I just spent 20 minutes of my life that I will never get back trying to figure it out.


The comment that I was trying so desperately to respond to was Becky's about the chestnut baby. Meet Reba.

She is actually Zoey's half sister (they are by the same stud). I definately think Reba will end up bigger than Zoey, however. She is currently 18 months old and 15.3+hh! She's a moose but is a sweetheart.

On another note, I apologize (to my one reader-aloha Becky!) for the recent lack of updates. Four posts in and I am already slacking off! My mom just sold the house that I grew up in and I spent a lot of time helping her move/sorting through all of my childhood possessions.

For the record, 23+ years is way too long for a family to be in one house. Moving is a pain in the ass but it definately helps sort through stuff before it piles into large, unmanageable mountains of useless things.

The things that we had kept over the years was ridiculous! Of course, some of it was quite entertaining. Lots of old journal entries detailing my huge plans for the various equine partners in my life. The most notable was the palomino paint cow horse that I rode when I was in 7th and 8th grade.

"Dusty" belonged to a friend of my father's and, in retrospect, was one of the most tolerant horses ever to exist. I had big plans to turn him into an eventer, of all things. I was the strange child that asked for PVC pipes for her 14th birthday. Hey, I had to have jumps, right?? I am sure that it was a completely safe move for me to stick them between two open folding chairs and urge my trusty steed over them.

I will dig up the pictures of me and Dusty one of these days. I was up to date on all the latest equestrian fashions, including a hot pink bicycle helmet and stretchy yoga pants for breeches. Did I mention that I went through very chubby stages quite frequently in my childhood?

Ahem. Moment of silence for the poor, clueless child that I was. Maybe it's best to leave those photos stashed away after all!

Lazy Sundays

I love Sundays.


Favorite day of the week.


I work the other six days, so Sunday is my day to catch up on housework, cook a nice Sunday dinner, and do charitable works for others.








HAHAHA. Excuse me while I regain my composure. If you believed a word of that last sentence you clearly have a lot to learn about me. I am certainly not opposed to the idea of housework, cooking, or charitable actions but here is how a typical Sunday at my house tends to go:

• Wake up around 7am to let the dogs out, proceed to get back in bed
• Doze in that wonderful dreamy state until the DPH wakes up and decides he has to have his daily coffee fix
• Drag myself out of bed, usually clutching my blanket and pillow. Relocate to the couch
• Flip through the channels and find a guilty-pleasure show to watch (favorites include America's Next Top Model, Toddlers and Tiaras, Teen Mom, etc. Don't judge me)
• Eat something
• Distract the DPH from his studying
• Eat something else
• Resume rotting my brain with more trash television
• Bother the DPH
• Feel guilty for being so lazy and unproductive
• Start to do laundry, get distracted by the Naughty Cat
• Resume watching television

You get the idea. Sundays are not generally productive for me.

Today, however, I outdid myself. I did TWO loads of laundry (okay, so the first load is sitting on my dining room table waiting to be folded and the second load is still in the dryer. Close enough). I completed a sale on one of the barn's horses and loaded him for his new owner. I moved some boxes from my mom's house (she sold the house and it closes Tuesday). The DPH and I spent some quality  time together. All in all, a pretty productive day.

I am calling it a night...I have boot camp at the gym in the morning. My abs still hurt from boot camp on Friday, so I am not especially excited about this prospect.

I hate to leave you without any sort of pretty pony pictures to look at, so here you go:

Larry, the TB gelding I sold a few months ago. He is getting ready for fox hunting this fall with a 12yr old rider. Great-minded horse-he is the kind that helps combat the rumors of how crazy OTTBs are!

Raising babies

Zoey currently spends all of her time in a large pasture with her four yearling buddies. I really like the way that the BO raises all her young horses.

All the broodmares and babies go into a large pasture in the back during the day and are brought back in to their stalls at night. When the summer weather arrives, the mares and foals stay out 24/7. There is a pond where they play to stay cool during the hot summer days.

Weaning occurs when the babies are 5-6 months old. They are weaned in pairs., so they have a friend throughout the process. We continue halter training during this time. Once they are leading reliably from the pasture to their stalls every day they are put in another large pasture. They live out all the time, which I love.

We handle them for vaccinations, the farrier, deworming, and that is about it. They get to play, grow bigger, and just be horses.

Zoey, Reba, and Lyle

Faith and Zoey

Play time!

Zoey might be a month younger but no one pushes her around!

Zoey is going to be 17 months on September 26th. She does not trailer load. She will not be doing any sort of longe line futurities. She has never had a saddle on her. She has never been ground driven or sacked out with anything. For some trainers, she is already behind.

You know what? That's fine by me. She runs up to me when I walk out to the pasture, ears alert and eyes bright. She is always inquisitive. She stands perfectly for the farrier. New experiences do not phase her. I can't wait until she is old enough and mature enough for me to be comfortable starting her under saddle.

We will go slow. I'm not in any hurry. I am hoping that Zoey is going to be my forever horse. I want to do things right. As long as she is happy and continues to be interested in me, I think we are on the right track.

Hey mom...what are you doing? I can play? Hi!

Further introductions

It's time to meet the rest of the cast.

I already introduced the DPH, who truly is the most patient man in the world. He went from not growing up with pets to marrying me and gaining two indoor/outdoor dogs, a wild cat, and two horses. He is such a good sport...check out the design of the thank you cards that we sent out after our wedding:

You all met Zoey yesterday, who has the starring role in this blog. I can't resist sharing more cute pictures of her, so here you go! If pure cuteness bores you, then skip the next few pictures.

Hanging out with her mom in the pasture

Wheeee-I canz FLY

A few months old here

 

Okay, enough Zoey-cuteness for one post. Moving on in the introductions...meet Sadie the Wonder Dog. She was the first animal that I coerced DPH into getting DPH and I decided to get together. We picked her out from the shelter when she was a tiny puppy and she has been the World's Best Dog ever since.

 

Next in the line-up is Tucker, the World's Sweetest Creature. Tucker joined the family a year after Sadie. All Tucker wants in life is to have his tummy rubbed. He is the most happy-go-lucky animal I have ever met.

 This picture sums up his entire outlook on life

Carmel is the other equine member of the family. My parents bought her for my sister seven years ago and, after my sister gained interests other than riding, was ridden a little by my mother. When my parents decided to sell her last year the DPH and I bought her from them. I use her as a lesson horse now. She is a fantastic babysitter and an all-around good citizen.

At a show with one of the lead-liners

Last but not least is Oliver the Naughty Cat. Someone dropped off a young, very pregnant cat at the barn and, being the soft-hearted sucker that I am, I brought her in our house so she could have her kittens inside. Naturally, I fell in love with one and had to keep him. Before you judge me, take a look at this picture and tell me if you could resist how cute he was!

Wonder Dog and the Naughty Kitty are BFFs

Congratulations if you made it through this entire post! As your reward, I present you a picture of Zoey at 14 months old. She's lost that cute baby look but I'm happy with how she is turning out so far!

Welcome, welcome, welcome!

Welcome, loyal readers (of which there are approximately zero at this point in time) to my brand-new blog. I have been telling the DPH (dear, patient hubby) that I was going to start a blog for quite some time now. I am a pretty serious lurker on several other equestrian blogs and I love how they have their horse ownership journeys chronicled! I try to keep a journal detailing my life but I am admittedly lax in my dedication to that. I am hoping that someone will want to read my often random ramblings and that I will be inspired by my readers to update frequently! We will see what happens.


A short summary of my life thus far: grew up about 4 miles down the road from where I now live, went to a private high school, graduated from Texas A&M, got married almost two years ago, and live a hectic life with the DPH, two and a half dogs (more on that later), a cat, and two horses. The DPH and I live in a house at the barn that I manage. It is a really great set-up for us at this point in our lives. I love my job; I get to work with some amazing people and horses.

 

The DPH and I in Mexico on our honeymoon

The main reason that I decided to finally bite the bullet and start this blog was so that I would have a record of the progression of my young horse’s training. The DPH surprised me last year by buying me a beautiful filly that I absolutely coveted. She is by Its All About Blue (a big AQHA hunt-seat stallion) and out of a TB mare that the barn I work for owns.
A little backstory: I actually leased and showed a gelding (named Patrick) out of this TB mare when I was in high school. I was completely in love with him-he is big, pretty, and full of personality. Patrick’s stall was where I huddled when teenage drama overwhelmed me and I felt like my life was crumbling. His was the shoulder that I cried on when I fought with friends or my parents. I skipped school dances, social events, and date nights to go ride or show him. He took me to my first two Youth World Shows. He taught me how to ride a difficult horse. I was truly devastated when I graduated from high school and had to tell the BO that she needed to try to sell him. My parents couldn’t afford to send me to school and continue to pay Patrick’s expenses. Purchasing him was out of the question. There was no way that we could afford him. All’s well that ends well, however. A younger girl from the barn ended up purchasing him and they make a fantastic team.

Patrick and I at a local hunter show

The story does not end there, however. DPH and I had contemplated purchasing Patrick’s dam in January of 2010, with the intention of breeding her that spring. I was slightly hesitant to do that, however, as the BO had tried to breed her in 2010 and, after being checked in-foal at 17 days, was checked as not in-foal at her next ultrasound. The BO was quite disappointed and had her checked a third time, just to be certain. Not pregnant. The mare is older (18yo this year!) and I was a little concerned about her ability to maintain a pregnancy. Imagine our surprise when she started looking…rounder during the month of February. We had her checked again and she was in fact pregnant. I am not sure how the vet missed that twice! The mare foaled a huge, healthy filly in the wee hours of the morning on April 26, 2010. I had to assist with the delivery, as this baby was HUGE. We measured her at 42 inches at the withers the next day. Four white socks, a big blaze, pretty little face-I was in love immediately.

DPH knew how much I wanted this foal but also knew that I would never buy her for myself. He is currently going back to school for a 2^nd degree, which means that our budget is fairly tight. DPH spoke to the BO, worked out a payment plan, and then surprised me with my dream horse! Enough talk…meet Zoey!

Right now she hangs out in the pasture with her four yearling friends. We have successfully survived a very mild gas colic as well as a gory gash on the back of her left hind ankle (superficial only, thank goodness!). The nail-biting period between her birth and her growing old enough to start inspired the “a little luck” part of the title of this blog. The “hard work” part was inspired by all the work that will go into starting and training her. I am hopeful that she will be my next show hunter, although only time will tell! Obviously there is not a whole lot to report on the training front for the next year or so but I do have lots of cute pictures to offer you, my dear readers! Welcome to “Hard Work and A Little Luck”.

1 day old, still figuring out how to work those legs!