Riders 4 Helmets Story Contest

On a whim I entered the Riders 4 Helmets end of the year story competition. All stories had to involve helmets and have photos to go with the written words.

My entry was featured on their website! To see it click Here.

Of course the horse that flipped over on me was Tessa.

Happy New Year's Eve!

Looking Forward

So it's the last week of 2010 and I can't help but look back at all that's gone on this year. Boy has it been long and fraught with drama!

I can honestly say that this year was one of the worst for me personally. When I compare it's major events to years past it is easily in the top three.

However, that doesn't mean it didn't have good moments too. One of the big ones were finding and purchasing UK (obviously). I mean, talk about things just falling into place. I think fate (or the powers that be) couldn't have done much more short of putting up a sign to tell me that if I didn't buy this horse I'd always regret it.

I know I sing his praises quite often, but he really is a honest to goodness good guy. I'm not saying he's perfect, every horse and every person have their faults. His are just minor compared to all his pluses.

So looking back at 2010 what am I happiest about (I'm sticking to horse related things for my own safety)?

1. UK (duh!)

2. Finding Tess a great home with a girl/woman that adores her. Which is more then a lot of horses get these days.

3. Finally being honest with myself about what I really want to do instead of letting other people's opinions overshadow my dreams. (I let that happen a lot when I was younger)

4. Remembering to count my blessings often so I don't loose sight of the real things.

Now then, looking to 2011 I do have some wishes and goals. Will I manage to do all of them? I really hope so, but as any horse person knows having goals just seems to tempt ill luck sometimes. So crossing my fingers, knocking on wood and saying a prayer before I put the pen to paper/ fingers to keyboard...

1. Go Eventing! Or a horse trial or SOMETHING that is actually a real riding competition other then a fair with my horse.

2. Actually take some lessons with an eventing trainer. (I have a history of reading a lot and then going it alone, which I'm getting too old for)

3. Take UK to a show and do a Halter class. Not only have I never done one, but I think it would be a great way to see how Mr. Yuke does in a show atmosphere.

4. Do a hunter pace, hopefully Ride for the Cure.

I know to some people those don't seem like huge goals, but they are for me. I've basically only been riding recreationally for 2 and a half years when it comes to my own horse(s). Sure I've been training, showing and teaching other people and their horses, but not my own.

Plus life keeps throwing up roadblocks, and I'm sick of having to tear them down or go around. Now I'm going to try to jump them! HA! (I can hear my husband wince at the mention of jumping, he can't understand why I can't be happy doing dressage like his mother and sister. Silly man.)

So Friday night I'll be at my good friend (and farrier)'s house for a new years bash, and I'm going to do my best to just look forward and leave this year in the dust.

-- On a separate note, I'm very excited to note that my good friend Kristy (the one who rode UK for me) is getting a new horse on Saturday! I will update and hopefully have some pictures once we get her settled. UK will be so happy to have a new friend! --

So.... I bid adeu to you 2010 and I'll do my best to Rise Up, Ride Forward and Not Be Afraid to Grab Mane in 2011!

I know, I know... I've been bad about posting!

First off let me start out by apologizing profusely for my lack of writing the past couple of months. I had some really hard (non horse) things to get through.
Literally the day after my last post I had a life altering doctor's visit. I'll sum it up thus: There were complications and I ended up loosing my daughter who we named Faith Ann. I was in the hospital for almost a week and spent about a month recovering. Our family and friends were wonderful, supportive and helpful.
Then the holidays commenced and well, I'm sure all of you know how it goes...

As for UK, he's been a peach through everything. We have been working on his big fears (specifically tarps and their plan to eat him alive).
The above picture was a momentous occasion! His feet are actually on the tarp, and it was later followed by actually walking (quickly) over the tarp. (He later ruined all his calm by getting brave and pawing the tarp which of course scared the daylights out of him)

So I was mean and made UK work that morning. I was doubly mean as I moved the tarp from being on the ground to on the fence. The tarp is UK's sworn enemy, he is convinced of this and has been awaiting it's attack for months now.
He started out awesome, then once I started taping he got lazy, which I told him (I cut myself off in the video by accident).
His free lunging has come a long way, as has his jumping. And all that hard work has been paying off! I've now jumped UK undersaddle twice and both times he's been fearless and smart. Thanks to me making him learn how to balance and find his own rhythm he's confident in himself now. Big difference from when I first brought him home. He's starting to even have that wonderful "fifth leg", which has me all excited.
In October UK lost a shoe, again (this time it was my fault, with everything going on I sorta forgot to call the farrier). Here his is pictured reading the manual regarding the proper application of an Easyboot. However the Easyboot didn't last and ended up being returned in frustration as UK made it clear that he did not want it on his foot, not even for an hour.
The upside is his feet are in wonderful health now, and don't chip despite all the rocks...

Then UK was introduced to his new adopted sibling, a black lab mix named General. General is a year and a half old and from Tennessee. UK likes General a lot more then General likes UK.
Their relationship has improved since those first couple of weeks. General has tried chasing UK a couple times, and UK has been unimpressed. UK was even better when Gen escaped and came after us as I was cantering to a jump. I had a heart attack as I saw the black streak come flying towards my horse's back end. UK's reaction? "Whatever" Needless to say Gen was in BIG trouble for that little stunt, and he seems to have learned his lesson. Pictured below they can be seen in their Pessoa blankets... awww.
Winter arrived up here early, with bitter temperatures and biting winds. I sprained my ankle the day before thanksgiving and ended up riding bareback that weekend.
UK has not been staying warm enough, which is surprising, as he was born in upstate NY.

UK was wearing the pictured heavy weight Amigo on a 32 degree day and was not warm.... And I haven't even clipped him at all!
After trying him in my other blankets and finding that quite a few of them don't fit him, ugh. I was forced to order him a last minute Christmas present from the lovely people at SmartpakEquine.com. I got him the Amigo heavy weight stable blanket. It arrived Christmas Eve and he was a very happy pony after I put it on.

After becoming addicted to watching Peter Atkins and HJ Hampton aka "Henny" and joining their fan club, I started to once again pay attention to Eventing (this started in the summer and got worse after WEG). Anyway, I am trying to get to a point. I've decided that this coming year UK and I are going to try Eventing. I talked to my friends, including my friend Kristy who used to do horse trials. Everyone thinks he'd be fabulous at it, and I just know he's got the talent. Now it's just a matter of making it so I can afford it. Ha!
Jumping I've got down, and I know my way around a field with hills and iffy terrain due to the hunter paces I used to do combined with all the crazy stuff I used to do as a teenager. It's the dressage that I'm skeptical about... UK has the moves, but I've never been a big fan of dressage. I did however marry into a dressage family and some of my closest friends do dressage. So it can't be that bad... right? I mean I'm big on flatwork, you can't jump well if you don't do a lot of flat work, but calling it dressage just gives me the heebe-jeebes...

Now I leave you with this festive and ridiculously cute picture of UK showing us how to rock the Santa hat. I mean, I don't think you could get much cuter without someone's brain exploding!

Also I'd like to mention Eventing Nation, this blog has become my new addiction and daily read. The whole crew there have a great sense of humor and make it easy to keep up with all the horse world news and drama.

Now I've just got to try to dig myself a path to the manure pile tonight in the 3 feet drifts left by the blizzard that hit Sunday. FUN....

Toodles, and I promise it won't be another two months before I write again!