Double the Love...and Trouble!

I haven't participated in a Blog Hop before but two of my friends, She Moved to Texas and House on a Hill wrote great blog hops about loving the one you're with from Viva Carlos. I've got two horses in my full time care that are "mine" (I say with quotes b/c there are 4 horses that are a part of my family and live with me, but I only regularly ride 2 of them) Since I've been an neglectful blogger (oops!) I haven't mentioned the newest member of my horsey family, nor have I mentioned that I bought a horse farm in December ... about that....well I guess now is as good of a time as ever to introduce the horses in a blog hop!

Cool Marlene- OTTB (raced 6 times)
aka Marley, The Grey Ghost, and Princess

You all know some of the adventures of Marley, I have written a little bit about her on this blog so lets start with her. Reasons I love Marley:

She's fearless- no joke- a huge tree can fall down while we're cooling out on a loose rein, she doesn't care, an owl eating a snake 10 feet in front of her flies off, she doesn't care, take her out on trail rides by herself or in a group, either one is fine with her. She has the best brain of any horse I've ever ridden in my life. She takes everything in stride and is not bothered by much.

She's super sensitive- I'm becoming a much better rider because she can feel the slightest change in my position. In order to help her perform at her best, I have to ride at my best.

Marley loves to jump- we haven't been able to do much jumping recently, but when I do jump her, I'm not worried about her not wanting to jump!!! Watch out because she will go if you maybe think you might sort of kinda want to jump that jump over there!

She's smart. She's a quick learner and if she doesn't understand the question at first she'll have it figured out in the 2nd or 3rd trip through. 

She's the kindest horse ever. I really don't know how to describe it, but she is just kind. She's not a very "loud" horse, she doesn't demand attention, she's got great ground manners, doesn't neigh that much, she's curious without being rude, and the best way to describe Marley really is using the word kind. This is why I call her Princess because she acts how I would imagine a fairy tale princess being,  courageous and strong when need be, but gentle hearted and kind to all of the people in the realm. Plus she's pretty :)

Chimi Chonga- Oldenburg

aka Chimi, German Burrito horse, Chim-chim-in-ee (chim-chim-sheroo- cue in Mary Poppins chimney sweepers)

May 2013- right after I got him

Chimi is a big ass Oldenburg- he's 17ish hands tall and wears a 56" girth when he's fattish or skinnier. I'll write more on him later b/c I'm aiming him at his first show in May and hopefully there will be more pictures of him!

Things to love about Chimi:

He's a beast! He takes up my leg and then some! I have never ridden a horse with a well sprung barrel- every horse has been slab sided and the fact that when I put my leg on there is a barrel instead of air is a breath of fresh... air! hahaha

He's extremely athletic- I saw a video of him jumping a 6ft jump like it was child's play.  I haven't come anywhere close to jumping that height with him (he's basically had a year off with some light riding thrown in there) as I'm just now bringing him back into work after a year of "detox" (solving nutrition, feet, and saddle issues). But when this guy is fit- oh heck yeah!

He's silly! Every morning I'll look out my window and watch Chimi play tag with Finn. They are such goof balls constantly chasing each other around the pasture in the morning before breakfast. 

He's pretty brave too- I took him out for a solo ride the other day and he didn't blink an eye at the millions of deer we saw. They were jumping through the woods and even then he didn't seem to be bothered. 

He's a bit of a ham- loves attention!

And of course I'm still crazy in love with the Gus Pony- he may not be living with me but I still think of him as half mine ;) So in an ode to Gus- here are some things to love about him...

He's a pocket pony- loves attention from anyone. If you rub his ears he will love you forever

He's damn cute! He has the pony face on horse legs so my tall self could ride a pony!!!

His heart shaped star- I love his markings- and the little paint dribble down his nose...

How much I enjoy riding him. 

photo by Erik Olson

Ok! That's it for this blog post!!! 

The story of Jello

In the equine world many trainers, riders, barns, etc, have a canine companion tagging along or napping in the barn aisle. I am no exception- my furry little friend is in the form of a 25lb (sometimes more when she finds extra nibbles!) Blue Heeler/Jack Russell cross named Jello. She has been my faithful companion for the past 4 years and I look forward to many more years with my little ball of cuteness! 

 I found Jello on Petfinder, back when I was lonely and dogless. Sure my parents had dogs that I could play with, but they weren't MY dogs. I wanted my own shadow that would follow me around and be my friend. Dogs have always been a part of my life and I was finally in a place where I could take care of one on my own. So enter Petfinder.com- I use to search through and envision my life with any one of these dogs but knew I couldn't take care of one properly. I had fallen in love with a particular dog named Jello, and after I had made the decision I was ready for my own dog, I thought if Jello is still there, I'll take it as a sign she should come home with me. Sure enough, there she was- still listed on the website. So I immediately sent a request and a few weeks later the energetic, wiggling, 7-9 month old, mangey dog came home with me! She had been adopted out a few times before I got her but was always returned b/c she was to energetic and had a form of demi-mange (non contagious) that was easily controlled if done properly. 

The one and only- Jello

So off I went to somewhere NC, and found a crazy dog that needed a home. Holly, Jello's foster mom, let me take Jello out for a walk so I could get to know her and decide if I wanted to bring her home. I had already made up my mind that Jello was coming home with me, but I accepted the offer and off Jello and I went. Jello was crazy. She was to busy looking at everything going on outside that I could barely get her to pay attention to me. She was a neurotic mess- and I knew that I was in love. We headed back inside and I told Holly I would adopt Jello. After filling out paperwork and all that jazz, Jello loaded into my car and we headed home. That was the beginning of my story with Jello, and I couldn't be happier with my wiggly Jello dog. 

A few days after I brought Jello home in 2009

Even with new puppy bliss, it still took some time for Jello and I to adjust to a life with each other. I quickly found out that she had serious separation anxiety, the blinds in my apartment took the brunt of that test run when I left her at home alone for the first time. No return on my pet deposit there... But as Jello became comfortable in her new life, her demi-mange went away, her energy was spent chasing squirrels at the barn, and we settled into each other lives.

Snuggly Jello

So here I am- 4 years later and still crazy in love with the Jello dog. She sleeps in weird places (search #jellosleeping) and positions, sheds like crazy, and follows me around where ever I go. I know that my little ball of cuteness is never to far away. She trots down to the barn in the morning and lays out in the sun while I'm feeding the ponies, she is always ready to go on car rides and even gets upset if you leave her at home! She'd rather wait for you in the car than wait for you at home. Every day I see her cute little face and I count my lucky stars that the best dog in the world calls me Mom.

look up #jellosleeping on Instagram and you will find various Jello napping spots!

This chair is just right- perfect for a Jello dog

Jello on a mission 

Don't leave home without Jello- she loves her car rides!

From Bay to Grey

Last year I was making plans with my little bay Connemara/TB cross. I was going to event him beginner novice, try to qualify for the Eventing Championships, and generally have fun with my cute little guy. But since change is inevitable, and plans don't always go accordingly, I find myself a year later with a exuberant grey OTTB mare that I'm trying to keep inside a dressage arena and not go advance speed around a BN cross country course!

schooling Gus through the water- April 2013

The grey ghost herself, Miss Marley- May 2013

I competed Gus at the FENCE HT in April, and we finished 4th overall. We would of been 2nd had Gus not been so in love with his friend Finn and looking everywhere but at the first jump on course, plus I wasn't riding him the way I needed to towards that jump, especially with him being an air head about his buddy. Even if the rail had stayed up and we did finish 2nd, I knew in my heart that Gus just wasn't all that jazzed up about jumping. He can jump, and is a cute little jumper, but his heart just isn't in it, and when the jumps get bigger it could become pretty dangerous. I've taken my share of falls from Gus because he wouldn't pick his feet up going over the jump. As my coach Annie says, he just doesn't have any self preservation and that can be very dangerous over bigger jumps. So I put some feelers out for Gus and ended up finding the perfect home for him. He is now trail riding and fox hunting with my mom's good friend Cyndi. She is a great rider who just wants to have fun and puts up with Gus's silly moments. Plus I get to see him every time I head to my parents' because he's boarding at their place! 

Gus is a cute jumper when he wants to be!!!

 With Gus now enjoying his life as a fat, happy, trail/fox hunting pony, the grey mare that I've been riding on and off for a while had a chance to step into the lime light and become my main focus. Previously I wrote a post about taking her XC schooling for her first time last fall, and then I took her to a Ralph Hill clinic back in January. She's such a cool OTTB with so much heart, but trying to keep her relaxed while riding her is like holding a ticking time bomb. If you "cut" the wrong wire you've got pieces flying everywhere, but there is very little difference between the right and wrong wire. To be fair to her, she's only been in consistent work for 3 months, and even that is a bit questionable b/c we've had sooooo much rain this summer!!!! Either way, Marley has been getting a lot of work and really is progressing, even if at times it feels like at a snail's pace.

This past weekend I decided to take her to her first event. We headed off to the Tryon Riding and Hunt Club Sizzling Summer Schooling Horse Trails (non recognized) for our first outing at Beginner Novice. Last year I won the event with Gus, but this year my goal was to stay in the dressage arena (no joke- this was real goal, not just a laugh!) and to stay in a controlled trot/canter in stadium and XC. I wasn't worried about time or jumping faults, or even what the final Dressage score would be. I just wanted to complete and not scare the living daylights out of the jump judges!

The end result- SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We stayed in the dressage ring, had a terrible score, but again considering I was worried about elimination, I could care less about the score.

Marley being calm...

submission- what?

ok, back to being good...ish

 Had a very green rail in stadium (not listening to a half halt to the 3rd jump on course which was a vertical with a downhill approach will do that to ya). We started to find our rhythm towards the end of the course, but we need to work on keeping a steady pace and not letting the momentum keep building jump after jump- gymnastics are going to be our life for a while!

weeeee!!!!! 

And to seal the deal, we had an amazing, mostly controlled, cross country round! She calmly cantered most of the jumps, and we came in closer to the optimum time instead of the speed time!

making the warmup jump look like a piece of cake

Overall we ended up in 6th place, I think out of 10 or 12, and I couldn't of been prouder! Technically we were last of everyone that completed, but that is not something I cared about at this event. Marley is still quite green, and is still learning the basics. We were nailed on submission and impulsion in the dressage which showed up in our stadium. But this horse has so much heart that I know I must take my time and do it right with her. There are no short cuts with this girl!!!!

Marley in her new pasture

she's such a pretty girl

Marley and her "gang"- Finn, Arrow, and Chimi

The Grey Ghost goes XC

The other weekend I took a green grey mare out cross country schooling. Only had plans to do little baby things and play in the water but that soon changed!!! After an exciting "walk" around the field (where we had many lovely airs above the ground!!! Levade anyone?) we headed towards the baby jumps. There was a nice inviting water that we started playing around in to get started and as soon as Marley (the horse I was riding) realizes we were there to work she settled down and had the softest trot. She was still very forward in the canter but at least we were going in a straight, forward line instead of up and sideways!!!! When it came time to start jumping the logs she didn't bat an eye, even over the scary black pipe she kept her cool and made it seem effortless. As the schooling went on we played around with banks, ditches, and water- for Marley it was all easy and the only thing she cared about was going forward!!! We has to work on control and still have a lot of steering issues to work on, but besides all that, Marley is a cross country machine!!! She was jumping baby coffins, jumping out of the water, actually dropping down banks instead of launching into space- overall one of the best horses I have ever ridden around a cross country course!!!! This little mare has future superstar written all over her!!!! Keep an ear our for the grey ghost (her nick name) because you might very well hear "Cool Marlene" over the speaker at an event and it will only be good things being announced!!!!

Happy Surprise

On August 26th I finally got around to breaking my almost 10 year dry spell of not competing in a horse trials (Last HT I competed in was Nov of 2002!) I took Gus to Tryon Riding & Hunt Club's schooling horse trials at Windridge. Even though the recognized horse trials drought still continues, I was so excited to FINALLY get out and participate in something!!! I wasn't even sure if we were ready because we hadn't been cross country schooling, had only had a few jumping lessons recently, hadn't looked at my Dressage saddle since March, and I hadn't been riding him as consistently as I would of liked. But despite all of these thoughts running through my head I decided to enter anyways because I was tired of  having so many excuses and there comes a point where you just do it, and so we did! And what a successful day it was! Gus was a super star (like always!) and he rocked out a 29.1 in Beginner Novice test B, jumped clear stadium and clear xc! 

The super cute pony face that is Gus

 It was one of those days that everything went awry yet somehow came together for a great result. It started out with me running late to the barn, continued with time management nervousness (I think I have it under control and then I realized I don't!) Panic at losing Gus's shadow roll (which I washed the night before and could of sworn I packed it!), sending friend Rachel to look for something that would work while I warmed up for stadium that started in 15 mins (did find a substitute and then found the one I was looking for hiding under something in my truck!) and then completely forgetting that cross country was timed, had no idea what the optimal time was, had no watch to even time it if I had wanted to, and just decided to ride and not care because I was having fun! The end result was something I was not expecting, but completely welcomed, with a boost of confidence in myself and my horse.

Happy pony and rider on XC

Despite all of my worry and terrible time management (it's something I work on every day of my life haha) Gus and I somehow pulled off bringing home a BLUE ribbon!!!! When I saw the organizer walk towards me with a smile on her face and a blue ribbon in her hand I thought surely she was going to walk past me and hand the ribbon off to someone else, but she stopped at Gus and said with much excitement "Congratulations! You did a fantastic job and this is for you!" I really did tell her she must be joking because there was no possible way we could of won, I'd forgotten my watch after all! She laughed and told me to check the score sheet because I really did win! 

heading towards the ditch

 And so after checking the score sheet I gladly accepted my blue ribbon and showered Gus with more kisses and pets and OMG's how did we pull this off??? and You are the best pony ever!!!! 's :) Don't worry, he'd already received many pets and kisses and good boys after every phase we completed, but there is something about being handed a blue ribbon that starts them all over again!!! My little helper, Small Fry (as I nick-named her) fed Gus many peppermints and of course had to put her hat on him because winners wear hats right? And Gus being the best little pony in the world (ok so he's not a real pony since he's 15.3, but being half Connemara gives him the right to be called a pony!) he wore the hat with dignity and didn't try to eat it either!

Small Fry and Pony Face :)

Even though we were just competing Beginner Novice, I couldn't help but think we had just finished up a qualifying score for Rolex. After all Gus is just starting his eventing/jumping career and I'm dusting off the ol' boots and britches and finally getting my game on!!! Hopefully this is just the start and we'll be in full swing event mode before you know it!!!!

Over the 2nd to last fence

landing...

Galloping

away

Time Keeps on Slipping

Time really does find a way of sneaking away when you're not careful! I don't even know where to begin with this post b/c I'm sitting in a hotel  in Hilton Head trying to fall asleep (which obviously isn't happening!) So basically I have way to much to write about and no time to do it in b/c I've got work in the morning!!! So instead I will post a bunch of cute pictures for you to look at :) These pictures were taken at a Morgan Harris clinic that was held at the barn where Gus lives. It was back in March just when the Pear tree was in bloom which made for some pretty pictures. The grey mare is my new project that I'm slowing working with. I took the pictures so that is not me riding her this day (work conflict only allowed me to be there in the mornings) but she has made a lot of progress since this day! I'm hoping that she'll be a really nice eventer in a few years!

Marley and the Pear Tree

Speedy in motion

Will you Love me?

Three's a crowd

I'm going to get it!

BALL!!!

Sweet Marley

can't take credit for this photo, it was taken after I left but horse eyes are always captivating!

Rain Rain, Go or Stay?

yikes!

As I sit here typing away at my computer I keep glancing outside, hoping that the rain that is falling down steadily will either lessen up or stop. I had plans for today, but those plans, and basically all of next weeks plans have been postponed or canceled :(

Is the rain a blessing or a curse? 

I can't quite decide! I'm glad it's raining because living through a drought isn't a lot of fun, but is it raining more than necessary? It sure feels like it! Every time it rains, horse people face the facts: rain is needed to keep water levels high for the horses to drink, it helps the grass grow for the horses to eat, it cleans off our trucks and trailers that we might neglect in that department because whats the point if it's just going to get muddy again? But there are lots of drawbacks to it too. Grey horses turn a nice chestnutty red or a really dark black (depending on the type of soil you live on), blankets lose their original color (and you hope they are still waterproof!) shoe sucker mud comes out in full force, and doing basic barn chores just got a lot worse! Not to mention if you don't have a covered arena you are most likely sidelined until your footing dries out, after it stops raining for a few days!

That's a lot of mud!!
 http://hoofcare.blogspot.com/

The saving grace for the current rain storm is the temperature. Thank goodness it is warm enough outside (or at least where I am!) that you can stand being out there long enough to get all the stalls clean and set up again. There is nothing worse than a damp bone chilling cold that makes every part of your body numb and achey. The only way to warm back up after a day like that is an extremely hot shower and a cup of hot tea! 

There are other reasons that the rain is good. You know all those indoor things you should do but somehow get pushed to the back? The rain keeps you inside so you can get your work done! I have a list as long as my arm of things I should do but keeping coming up with ways to go out to the barn and ride my horse instead... So is today a good day to start on that list? Well I have an entire week of rain in the forecast to get everything done! Though I'm sure I'll be putting on my boots and trudging out to the barn to see my pony on a regular basis- because lets face it, not even rain can keep me inside for to long!!

Oh!! Another great reason to stay inside when it rains- YOUTUBE!!! There are sooooo many great videos out there (and really terrible ones). I'm sure you're familiar with Ed the Naughty Pony, if not- look it up! But I just stumbled across a really funny christmas themed clip! I know it's January, but this one is to good to not share!!! Just think of it as a Candlemas present to you guys ;) Thanks to this post on Hoof Blog for finding some cute videos!

So if it's raining where you are, maybe start on that long "for a rainy day" list, and when you need a good laugh, have an enjoyable moment watching youtube! Or a good horse movie :)