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!