Perks of Google, Facebook, and Horses

Chimi a couple months after I got him

I am in the process of updating my blog so it is more informative than it currently is. Well in the process of filling out basic profiles for my ponies I realized I'd never googled Chimi's sire and dam. I don't know a lot about breeding, tracing bloodlines and pedigrees, but I do think it's kind of fun to look around and see what is out there! So with endless possibilities in mind I headed to Google started my search for Chimi's parents- Coromino x Liza's Lady Jane (Our Home Port).

Coromino

First up- Chimi's sire- Coromino. This was easy! As soon as I typed Coromino in the Google search a list of options to search popped up! On just the first page I found a YouTube video of his 100 Day Stallion Test, his very own COTH Post, and a Facebook page!!!! After spending way to much time looking at pictures of Coromino and his babies I sent them a message letting them know I had a 2003 baby out of Cory and sent them a few pictures of Chimi. The lady who manages the page replied and unfortunately she didn't know anything about any baby pre 2005 because that was when his current owner bought him. But I've been really enjoying reading about other Cory babies. There are a few babies that are eventing, some are Dressage stars, and others show jumpers. So basically Coromino babies can do it all!!!!

Everything I've read about Coromino babies seems to follow a trend of nice movers, great jumpers, and fabulous brains. (Chimi checks out in those three categories!) I'm kind of excited to find out that Chimi has such a fancy dad. I never thought I'd own a horse with fancy parents!

As for Chimi's dam- Liza's Lady Jane- all I could find was her TB pedigree. This bodes well for Chimi's potential eventing career :) That's about all I know or can find about her. I'm not a very skilled Google searcher so someone with better skills might be able to find out more about her but for now I'm quite content with knowing she's a TB.

It was a fun night of googling ponies and seeing other Coromino babies out there doing some fun stuff. Just hope that I can add Chimi to the list of accomplished Cory babies!

2015- The Year of Doing

headed home from Deer Field

I have self proclaimed this year to be the Year of DOING!!!!! I have been trying to compete successfully since graduating college but job, money, horse, life, seems to get in the way. I know I'm very fortunate to have a horse because many of my horse friends growing up don't ride anymore due to babies, money, grad school, job, living location, etc. I started to get back into the swing of things with Gus but the past 2-ish years have totally thrown any competition dreams for a loop with new additions to my family (I got married in November!), general horse problems that seemed never ending, moving, changing jobs, new job having ZERO flexibility, planning the wedding, buying a house, moving again, and millions more excuses that just find a way to pile up and before you know it- it's been 2 years.

NO EXCUSES! DO IT!!!! That is the motto for My Year of Doing! My friend Em is going to be joining me in the YoD and hopefully getting some rides on Gus and helping me keep all the beasties at my farm in riding condition.

Em on Finn during the New Years Ride

So GOALS for this year (like all the other blogs out there- but it's a good thing to do!)

• go Beginner Novice with Chimi
• Fingers crossed we'll shoot out of the starting gate in April at this level. Chimi has felt great these past couple of weeks that I really feel we have a shot at BN this spring. But horses are horses.... we'll see where we are come April...
• Compete in some of the local hunter/jumper shows
• There are lots of fun local shows in this area. PSJ, BRHJA, and a great little series of schooling shows that are perfect for getting some experience under your belt. Also hoping to find myself at Tryon International  for some of the shows there. We'll just have to see how that goes- schooling shows are much more budget friendly but potentially for winning money at TIEC??? We'll see :)
• Get Marley going again
• Marley's had a string of bad luck since fall of 2013 and I have given her some time off, made some changes, and will hopefully get her up and going again sometime this year. 
• Become fitter and stronger
• joined Curves end of November (closest gym to my house- Jillian Michaels workouts there kick my a$$!!!!)
• Blog More
• I think I average about 3-4 posts a year? My internet is crappy so uploading pictures takes forever to Blogger and I flip around the internet while waiting and then I get distracted and don't have time to finish the post. I probably have more drafts than completed blog posts- whoops! Going to work on this....
• Go Fox hunting
• I grew up hunting and there are 2 fabulous hunts in this area. I need to make it a priority and actually go hunting!!! 
• Go Novice with Chimi
• This would be a fall goal vs. the spring season. Chimi just needs experience because height is no biggie for him. The main difference between BN and Novice really is the height of the jump and if he feels confident I really think we could make our Novice debut this fall. I don't know what/if any show experience he's had in the past, but I don't think it was much. But he's a clever guy and I know just getting him out will help with his show nerves :)
• Go on a lot of Hunter Paces
• I want a year end ribbon! I love ribbons!! But starting this quest when half a season has gone by... even if the ribbon doesn't happen these are great ways to get out and about and see things. Plus major fitness points! 1.5-2 hours, 6-9 miles of walk, trot and cantering- Heck yeah.
• LESSONS LESSONS LESSONS
• have started back with weekly lessons. There's a covered arena so even if the weather is crappy I know my lesson will still be on!! (unless it's super cold- I don't do super cold- like below freezing super cold. I live in the south- I don't do major cold!)

Who? Me?

Here's to the YEAR OF DOING!!!!!! May my Ponies be sound and happy, excess weight disappear, and all of my goals met/kept up! DOING IT!!!!

a winter ride

In which Chimi is Afraid of a Mini Horse

With fall in full swing and winter approaching way to quickly, I am getting back into the swing of things since I took some time off to plan my wedding, get married, and enjoy a fun little honeymoon! So now I'm faced with a pasture of fat, furry unfit ponies that are getting ready to head into winter. With predictions of this coming winter, and arctic air already finding it's way towards us in SC, I'm trying to get in as many rides in as I can!

Warm summer day trail rides of past....

So the other day in the cold (42* is cold for November in SC!) I took Chimi out for our first ride of our "Back to It" fitness program. We headed out to the woods for a pleasant trail ride (plus I don't really have a great area to ride at my house- the flattest part has a burn pile on it that was started by the previous owners and we keep needing to add stuff to it!)

I decided to go on the River Ride because it was fairly flat, good footing, and would be quick enough for me to get home before it got dark. So off I go on a fresh 17h Oldenburg who was excited to be out and about. Chimi enjoyed a good trot down the driveway and then we wiggled through the woods, down along the road and headed into the Small Field that would take us to the trail that follows the river. Well, the neighbors that live in the house by the river have 3 horses- 2 normal sized ones and a cute little mini named Prince. As it happened they were out walking/riding in the River Field which you can just sorta see from the entrance of the Small Field. Both the bay and the grey had riders and there were 2 people on the ground with one walking the Mini. Now to give you guys an idea how far away they were- I couldn't tell who was who. All I saw was 2 horses and 1 mini with some people on the ground. If I could guess how far away they were I'd say easily 1/4 of a mile as the crow flies. Again- note of importance THEY WERE FAR AWAY. Suddenly Chimi's head went straight up in the air and he stopped dead in his tracks and refused to move forward. I know that my horse has some unnatural fear of mini's but usually he doesn't freak out unless they're close. Prince was a QUARTER of a mile AWAY and walking the opposite direction of us! I did everything I could to get Chimi walking forward but all I got was a horse quickly descending into a full blown panic attack. Chimi was running backwards, hopping up, and shaking like a leaf. I knew I had to get out of there because I was by myself, the situation was only getting worse, and did not need to push the issue at that moment. Poor Chimi was so freaked out he couldn't even process that I was trying to walk out of the field (in some manner of control) that he just kept going backwards and looking around for the "Evil Munchkin". FINALLY after about 5-10ish minutes he blasts through the opening in the fence and we jog our way back the way we came. I let him open up into a controlled trot b/c he needed to get some distance between us and that "Thing".

REALLY Chimi??? They're so tiny!!!!

I finally get him calmed down and headed off towards the Grain Bins- the opposite way of the river and my intended plan! On our way to the grain bins we passed by my neighbors house and their 2 dogs were out. They started barking and jumped out from behind the trees to bark some more at us- Chimi could care less. He just kept walking. We head into the woods and up to the Hill Field with deer jumping through the woods getting away from us. Chimi ignores them. We then have a nice trot around the Hill Field , scaring even more deer, and Chimi just blasting around the field in a big trot enjoying himself. We head back into the woods and scare up even more deer and Chimi continues to ingnore them. I mean seriously- my horse is afraid of a MINI but doesn't even bat an eye at camouflaged deer and barking dogs leaping through trees????????? 

Fall leaves- somewhere in those woods are hundreds of deer!

We even spotted a 6 point buck and his doe-friend on our way home and it was like Chimi and the deer were good friends. We just walked by them and they watched us go by without taking off into the woods. I think Chimi did a little horsie wave as we went by. Heck I wonder if the buck comes and shares a blade or two of grass with Chimi at night. They could be sitting around at night talking about the weather for all I know!!!

Do you see the Buck? He's in the middle

But thinking on this- I'm glad my horse isn't bothered by the deer. There are so many that live near us that going on trail rides would be very difficult if he freaked out every time a deer jumped. I think we'll run into more deer around the area than we will miniature horses. But I do need to find him a mini friend so he can get over his fear!!!! My mom has a neighbor with a bunch of mini's.... Might be talking to her about keeping Chimi for a day!!!!! HA!

Between the ears 

SFTS Blog Hop- The Horse that Made Me

I've always wanted to participate in a blog hop and just haven't gotten around to it. So here goes- this one sounded fun and who doesn't like to talk about their horses???? Thanks to Stories from the Saddle for this Blog Hop!

I've been blessed with a lot of great horses in my life that have shaped my riding and made me who I am today as a rider. Every horse/pony from Joker to my current guys, Chimi and Marley, have had an influence in propelling me forward in my horsemanship, riding ability, and love of all things horse. But the horse that stands out as the most influential is Johnny, hooves down.

Johnny at Up and Over

I was 14 when Johnny and I started our relationship. I remember it was the summer of 1999- he was a green 5 year old and I was ready to step up to a horse that could take me to my upper level Pony Club ratings and one that I could learn, train and compete on. Even though he had been in training for just about a year, his personality was such that we could learn together and he would forgive me for my mistakes and I could learn from his.

Johnny at FENCE- Fall 1999

Johnny and I had a short show career together all considering, but in those 2 years I learned so much and my riding really took off. Our first season of Eventing was Fall 1999 and our last event was at Farewell- Fall of 2001. It was almost fitting that out last event was called Farewell! Between those events we went from bumbling our way around a BN course, to qualifying for Pony Club Nationals in Show Jumping (2000) and Combined Training (Training- 2001), achieving my C-3 rating, and moving up to Training level. We were looking at Prelim when everything started to fall apart.

Last show at Farewell- 2001

 The story of Johnny is long- and if you're interested you can read it here. Eventually a pinched spinal cord prevented Johnny from continuing on and now he is happily retired. He has a girlfriend named Ellie and the two are like peas in a pod. He's probably been a pasture ornament longer than he was under saddle but he deserves to enjoy his retirement. 

Johnny and Gus snoozing

Johnny and his lady friend Ellie

When it comes to my development as a rider, Johnny gave me the confidence I needed at that point in my riding. I went from being scared to jump 2'9" to jumping 3'6" courses. I went from thinking I was going fast at BN and coming in with slow penalties to getting speed faults at Training level. I learned what success felt like and I learned what defeat felt like. And I learned how to pick up the pieces and move forward. Cheers to Johnny for making me the rider I am today!

BN at Hopeland

Dressage warm-up at CT Rally- FENCE 2001