She swings both ways....

Here is my baby...Look how purty she is with her English garb on. Okay so she's not fully dressed the girth was a little too short. But the BO assistant came to the rescue with one that actually fit. I took a little video on my phone but we'll see how that comes out.

So as you can see she swings both English and Western...probably would prefer English but Mom prefers Western and Mom pays the bills so I win.

Don't get me wrong someday soon I would love to hop up in that English saddle and try it out. I think I might have my trainer try her out in her English gear this weekend maybe. We have a lesson planned for Sat at noon.

So anyway just wanted to show Grace off.....Just Beautiful if I do say so myself!

A little help from your friends...

This week we had a couple of great rides at the barn...okay it was a fantastic night! Grace was LAZY...LAZY....LAZY. She didn't want to go faster than a slow crawl if that. I don't know who's horse this is.

I did get some insight though I talked to the owner of one of her half sisters and she told me that the line gets calmer and calmer the older they get and by 4 which is how old her mare, Ellie, is she is super laid back and easy going. So who knows there maybe hope for Grace yet.

So anyway..I'm clucking and bumping and clucking and bumping and nadda, zilch, no response...So BBFF says here try my dressage whip...I'm like uh no..YOU try the dressage whip. So she hops on and bump, nothing, Cluck, nope, and TAP Oh yeah sister we mean business. And we are off to the races!! So she goes a few rounds, hops off and I hop back up and we we are off.

A good couple of circles at a good forward trot and OH SHIT there is something loud and scary outside in the dark (aka the BO's hubby moving hay or the moo cow bellowing or both at the same time) and the dreaded spook that I've been waiting for happened...But hold onto your hats...I rode it out...okay it wasn't that bad but Grace took off on me scooted to the right and then it was over....to be honest it was bound to happen sooner or later and it was a great confidence booster for me. I gained control of her almost as soon as she lost it.

Oh and I forgot to tell you that while we were trotting around the arena at a good clip I sat back picked up the reins and I swear we had a sliding stop...I am not joking. It was amazing. Not bad for a NSH, right.

So on to today...

I invited myself to the Canby Tack Sale with JP1 and we both scored some pretty awesome stuff...I'll grab pics of it when I get out to the barn with the camera. A couple of my favorite buys are...

1 gallon HealthyCoat Supplement $12 (normally $36)

and

Breast collar...$5

Had a blast...Went to the barn cleaned it up...wanted to try it on the Money Pit but she was out in the down pour and soaking wet. So maybe we'll try it out tomorrow.

Yet another weekend NO pony time.

Just wanted to vent...

BBFF and a bunch of other gals went on a super long trail ride today....can I just say how jealous I am. I board at a beautiful barn with hours of trails that I have yet to take advantage of.

Why you ask...well see the post from a couple of days ago.

But I swear if I could have gotten out today I would have gone....true story.

I have a lot going on this week...trying to catch up on the work I missed being out for 3 days last week, BBFF's birthday Dinner (happy birthday darling!!), my 4th wedding anniversary (I love you sweetheart!!), trying to get out to ride this week, oh and lets not forget the pumpkin patch and more soccer.

I'm tired already and I think I deserve a Mojito. So there.

Great Horse for sale if interested....

http://esteembootedme.shutterfly.com/

Click on the link above to check out Charm...Great family horse. If I had the funds I would snatch her up in a second....

Hmmm maybe JM will just let me borrow her for a while ;-)

Finding my riding Mojo....

Okay so we have all established that I am a green rider....I mean I've ridden since I was 10 off and on...more off then on. Do you remember when you were a kid riding and you had no fear.

I rode my friends horses because my mom raised me pretty much as a single mom and we didn't have a ton of extra money. Especially money for a pony and all the stuff that goes along with owning a horse.

I remember the first horse I ever rode. He was a palomino snow cap Appy. (I didn't know what that was and really didn't care) His name was Sunny. I also didn't know how exceptional he was back then. (Ahh the things we know now) He was my best friends sisters horse, she had moved on to boys and cars so Sunny wasn't being used much until I came along.

(OT, My BFF was madly in love with Micheal Jackson, I was into Duran Duran lot's of hours belting out Wild Boys and Billy Jean in her hay loft)

I didn't know how to do a butterfly knot so it was just easier to ride bareback...we rode all over the Amboy hills..logging trails to the reservoir, up Mt. Tum Tum (yes that was the name of the MT.) We rode to the corner store, jumped chains that had no trespassing signs hanging from them to get to logging roads, raced in the pastures, had not a care in the world.

I remember the first time my mom saw me on a horse galloping up the driveway, I don't know how she let me ride off after that...no helmet, no saddle, just my hands tangled in his mane and reins. I can still feel that adrenaline rush. Thank you Sunny for giving me such amazing memories.

Oh and my second Cousins horse Richard, yes his name was Richard, my aunt would always say you can ride him if you can catch him. God I hated that horse...he was fun to ride but I swear I spent more time chasing him around than I ever did riding him. I always had to have at LEAST an hours head start on my friends if I was riding him that day. He was a show horse....I think that means he was used for 4-H.

I want just a quarter of that fearlessness back.

I will find it. It's just taking time, the more I ride the more comfortable I become....I am slowly building up that confidence. Grace and I did ride in the outdoor and it was great...it was a little hard riding a giraffe since the nosey moo cows came over to gawk at us. Grace wasn't very impressed with them, but it was one step closer to taking her out in the open pasture.

Skeerdy horse....

This was what my mare looked like tonight...(she is 1/2 Saddlebred you know, with a neck to Jesus).

With all the Skeery dark corners and the BO training her cutting horses with the mechanical BIG horse eating Flag that makes the far dark corner of the arena the "Hells to the NO I'm not going there, I don't care what you say" place, because of the pulley that makes sounds that remind Grace of the Horse Eating Tiger that lives in her nightmares...

She actually did pretty well considering doing most every thing I asked with little resistance, even though she was on high alert.

She was very conscientious of me being on her back..Her trot is getting better and more consistent.

I already miss summer and the riding in the daylight. So every night when I say my prayers I pray that they put lights in the arena SOON. Using only half of the arena with 3 or 4 horses just isn't very fun...I'm too worried about where all the other horses are and what they are doing instead of focusing on how Grace is moving.

All in all a good night at the barn. I need to get more focused and have more of a plan when I ride. She needs to be learning something every time we ride. I like to make myself feel better by saying that just exposing her to the skeery stuff is good enough but really I need to have a plan.

I need to get a lesson set up and soon...