New And Improved!

Well, if you can't tell it's been a long time since I've made a post here. I actually kind of forgot about it...oops :) But, now I've remembered my awesome little blog so I'm going to update it some. As I posted before, I moved barns a couple of months ago. I really thought I was going to put showing aside for a good while, but I missed it a lot more than I thought I would. In the past six months I've done two shows, one with a total greenie and one with a young but much more experienced horse. I LOVE doing the bigger jumps with the more experienced horse, but the I think I am going to stick with showing the greenies because then I don't feel near the amount of pressure to do well. Ever since I switched barns I've been even harder on myself, and though that may be a good thing to some extent I definitely think the laid back jumpers or working with the young horses is best suited for me right now. I also have found that I really enjoy working with young riders, so I hope I'll have the opprotunity to teach some younger riders at some point in the near future. So, yeah  I'm just riding a little and trying to figure out what I would like to persue in the "horse-world", because I have most certainly found I can not leave my lovely equines in entirity but I also don't enjoy the same things I used to. On another note I'm leaving for college soon! I'm extremely exctitied to see what's in store for my life because honestly I have no clue what's going to become of me...luckily I like surprises :)

New Year, New Times :)

Wow, it's been a really long time!! A lot has happened since I last posted (: All I can say is I am reallyyyy excited for 2012 and I can only hope it will be better than the past few months! haha. If not, I know God has good reasons for everything. I switched barns recently and I really like the horses I've ridden recently! Today I rode Chloe and Alaze. Hopefully I will be able to show one of them in the next couple of months. I really like the people out at the new barn as well, they're all very welcoming (: I can NOT wait until Buckshot gets to move over there...I'm going to really miss not being able to go visit him anytime I want to, but it'll be good to get used to it for when I leave for college. PLus, the real reason I'm excited is I hope he can get leased out to some little kid...he needs another kid to bring up the levels. He's such a saint and right now I'm just not using him as much as he needs to be. He's totally and utterly bored at my house, and frankly, I don't blame him lol.  Well, here's to a bigger and better new year!!

Cross Country Outing :)

Today, Ashton, I, and several other riders in our area went and schooled a new cross country course! It was a lot of fun :) Eventing is definitely NOT my thing, but every now and then I do enjoy schooling. We also went swimming in a nearby pond afterwards which was soooooo much fun! I love taking the horses swimming, especially Buckshot...he shoulda been born a duck I swear. Scooby only tried to kill Ashton a handful of times and he was an angel over the bigger jumps :) Buckshot wishes he was about a hand taller so he could more easily get over the big stuff lol he still manages to keep up with the big boys though :D Maybe next time Sky can go too hahahahaha...he'd faint at the sight of a log ;) Gotta love him. So, without further ado here are some pictures of the outing :]

Scooby jumping a big boy jump ;)

I love this picture of us! It's very huntery...just in an eventing setting.

Favorite!

hahahahaha...he loves to leave long, but you'd never guess it.

I wish I had pictures of the horses swimming, but I don't sadly :( I had so much fun riding and jumping even though I thought I might melt in the heat a few times!

Long Time, No See

So, as you know, I went to North Carolina over two weeks ago and just got back Monday :) I loved it up there! I'm not upset that I had to leave, but I would have happily stayed longer too. I can't wait to see everyone again...wether it's in a month at a clinic or 7 months in Gulfport. It was such a privlege to hack Vick's grand prix horses, show horses that are far more expensive than I'll ever be able to afford, work with Natalie, and the many other opprotunities I was blessed with up there. I took about a gazillion pictures, but here are a few of my favorites and I'll probably post more another time.

Entering North Carolina.

This is Lucky. He acts like and looks like a short sturrip pony, but he's won many grand prixs...the shock factor is fun when he beats all these high strung horses haha!

This is Isis. She was one of my favorites to ride. I so would have brough her and Mari (another grey mare who I don't have any pictures of, sadly) home if I could!

This is Savannah. She's a mare I was going to show, but I ended up showing some others :)

This is Achilles. His showname is Fuerfleige which is German for "firefly" :) He was a super sweet horse, but we were not the best match xD He had a little to "go" for me, but he'll make someone an awesome show horse...he's just got to find "his" rider.

The cute little town we were close to.

Achilles was a cutie :)

Belvedere! He was the horse I showed the second week until he went lame :( He was new to the barn so no one knew what it was caused by. It was really muddy the two days I showed him so something may have flared up from the mud, but yeah hopefully it isn't soemthing serious. He looks so much like Sky it's kind of creepy. He had the most perfect lead changes and a jump to die for! I must have a liking for greys...Isis, Mari, Belvedere, Sky, Comet, and Cullen haha xD

CHUBS! Okay, his real name is Teak, but he's just so chubby :D

Belvedere again. He's a pretty horse, that's for sure.

Fidalia. I rode her twice before the show and then another girl showed her the first week. After Belvedere got injured I showed her and we got 2nd out of 9 1st out of 9 and then we won the 3ft Children's Classic!! We meshed really well :) She was soooooo much fun to ride...I even got my highest personal score of 80 on her :)

Emily with Zoe and me with Fidalia!

                                                  Walking Fidalia back after our jog :)

Rachael and me after my classes!

Rachael, me, Natalie, and Fidalia after the show :D I also got an awesome cooler for winning the classic! It was a PERFECT ending to the show :)

Sweet Summertime :)

So, today was definitely a lovely summer day :) Ashton and I rode three horses each and though we nearly died of dehydration we had a lot of fun! I'm leaving for North Carolina tomorrow morning :D I'm excited and nervous...I've never been that far away in my life, especially without family with me. I just hope that it all goes well and God teaches me something (hopefully something good! lol) Ahhh, just so much could happen (good and bad) it makes me so nervous! But, I'll just chill out and go with it and hope for the best :] So, anyway, back to our riding. It was beastly hot, but Ashton rode Scooby (her baby) and I rode Sky. Then, we switched and she got on Sky for a second...which was freakin' hilarious, because she screamed the whole time (she's used to horses under 15.2hh and Sky is right at 17.2hh LOL)! So, yeah, then I got on Coco as a "goodbye ride" (we're bringing her to NC with us to be sold). She was really hyper, but very good for her. Ashton got on Teddy (a large sized pony) and he is the cutest thing ever! Personally I like the name Pillsbury Doughboy as his show name ;) he's as wide as most of the horses hahaha...I usually resort to calling him Butterball instead of Teddy, it suits him much better. Lastly, I rode Maroq bareback (he's being boarded out there for the month while we're away) and Ashton rode Crawdaddy for the first time :D He's such a handsome horse. Well, to wrap things up here are some pictures of our rides...most Ashton's rides xD

Ashton screaming as she rode Sky for the first time...

But she actually rode him super well!!

Well, the jumping was a little rough ;) I'll give him some slack though since he was actually supposed to trot over it and not jump over it..

My "goodbye ride" on Coco!

Teddy!!!!

Sooo, he's still learning how to turn xD

Trot, trot, trot.

My little ponyyyy, my soooo prettyyy ponyyyy :)

Yeah, he's pretty stinkin' adorable, too bad he may be leaving soon :(

Smiles :D

Crawdaddy. Someone seriously needs to learn how to pick out better names...he's a horse, and in no way does he relate to seafood. Oh, those Cajuns.

Texting while riding...I do not recommend this.

Pretty Boy!

:)

Huh?

The End!

Did I mention I'm going to North Carolina tomorrow? :D Welllll, yep I'm full of nervous excitement ;) So, adios!

Lesson Day in the Rain

Yeah, that was my attempt at a clever title. I know you're impressed :) Well, I spent most of the day running errands with my mom (which I know is beyond exciting to you). Then this evening I had a lesson with one of my best friends...in a thunderstorm. We're just dare-devils, what can I say? I rode Jackson, who is a bay, (I'm just guesstimating here) 16hh,  Appendix Quarter gelding. He's not the fanciest horse in the world, but he's super cute and he tries to please his rider. The one really cool thing about Jackson is he can clear pretty much anything...it may not be with perfectly square knees, but he'll clear a 4ft jump with room to spare :) I'll post some pictures of him and a few of the other horses I frequently ride.

This is me jumping Jackson 4 feet last summer. It was my first time over that large of a fence and he was such a gentleman :)

 This is Buckshot :) I've had him since I was eight years old (he was 3). We've basically grown up together and I love him to bits. This was him earlier this year taking a younger rider in a class...he's a saint :)

This is Sky, the horse I ride most often. He's a 17.1hh Trakhner gelding that was VERY kindly leant to me this past year. We've come pretty far in the past year or so, even though we've had several set backs. This was us showing in the Children's Hunter class at the Gulfport Winter Classic (my biggest show to date!).

This is Coco! She is COMPLETELY a 4y/o Thoroughbred mare haha. I ride her occasionally, but she's a sale horse of my trainer's. She is absolutely stunning in looks and she'll make one heck of a hunter horse in the future :)

This is Crawdaddy...yes odd name I know. He was a lesson girl's horse, but she dropped out of riding so know he's a sale horse too. I've only ridden him a handful of times (he's probably the most eye pleasing horse on the farm...and has a wonderful personality). He was treated for EPM (he responded very well) and is back in work now so hopefully a friend and I will start riding him soon.

This is Maroq, the other horse I truly own. He's a 26 year old Arabian who is basically in semi-retirement haha. He used to be a lesson horse before we bought him and he's a quirky old man.

And, finally, this is Serrano. We call him Buckshot's twin, because they look so much alike xD He's not my favorite horse at the farm (as silly as it sounds he's basically an "off-brand" Buckshot...you know, like Coco Puffs and Choco Puffs or something. They're never quite as tasty lol.) He's a nice lesson horse and everyone but me really enjoys riding him!

Well, hopefully that was somewhat entertaining. I leave for NC in two days :D I'm so excited and I'll be sure to take a lot of pictures :)

Dream Big!

Nothing interesting has really gone on today. I did FINALLY get to ride Sky today though! I haven't been able to ride him in about two weeks due to him being a little off. The vet came out and gave him the "all clear" and he was great today :) Now I'm sitting at home being lazy :P I guess I should go do something productive, but instead I'll post this awesome video. I hope this will be me someday! Well, considering I have to be under 18, I hope this is me soon! haha. I just admire and aspire to have beautiful equitation. It's so awesome to make riding look so effortless when in reality it's VERY difficult. I don't know if I'll ever be able to reach my dream of showing at indoors (the Maclay would be wonderful, but to show at any of the indoors would just make my life!), but I don't think it's impossible. Unlikely, yes. Impossible, no :) So, yeah, I just love this sport so incredibly much. Enjoy!