The best of 2010.

These are some of the years highlights from my world.

1. Horse ownership and my dream come true that is Steady.  This is the post of our first ride together.

2. My daughter getting her very own horse.  This is a proud moment in my life.

3. Riding my first cross country derby.  The most exhilerating experience!

4. Losing 35lbs.  Now that's alot of cake!!

Those were my personal highlights but here you can read more on all the highlights with the family and on the farm thoughout the year. 

2010 has been a great year!!  I am expecting even more excitement and more goals achieved in 2011!!!

Wishing you a happy happy New Year!!!!!!!!!

Back at it day two and a video.

So two days in a row really was a miracle with this weather.  I am so glad I got to though because day two proved to be 100 x's better.  I also gave up on relying on 2 goofy girls to video for me and set up the camera over a chair with board over the arms.  So people use tripods, country girls, we improvise..:).  I have cut and edited the video to get to the point. The our ride was about 30 minutes and he even worked up a sweat.

You can see in the warming up clips his signature head high, nose out and all stretched out trot.  But after a minute you can start to see some of the beautiful movement he has.  You'd never guess he wasn't meant for dressage when he starts moving like that. You definitely wouldn't guess he spent the last 10 years at the track.  You will notice sometimes his reaching for the bit becomes a bit excessive but I learned out to correct that pretty quickly and easly from the clinic this month.

I am most proud of his canter.  It has been a long time coming to get anything halfway decent at the canter.  I actually have not even focused on it at all up until December.  I figure we needed to get our aides down pat  before we went farther in our training.  The slow steady process seems to have really paid off.  There hasn't been long frustrating rides.  It has really set us up for continued success.  There is some patience involved with not just jumping on going full speed ahead in training. But I can say from experience it has made this process so enjoyable for me and for him.

P.S.  I set up our saddle fitting and lesson for Monday at noon.  Looking forward to it!  Keep your fingers and hooves crossed we find a good saddle for the both of us.

WOW!

This year is going to be a dream come true in many ways.  This is a huge part of that dream and I am soooo very excited about it.  On June 23rd I will be flying out to Sacramento, CA to visit a friend and go trail riding.  We will be camping and riding this trail.  The veiws are absolutely breath taking.  I plan to get a helmet camera by the time this rolls around so you guys will be able to experience it along with me and I can have it documented.  Here is a video of the trail we will be riding.  A caption comes up that says Big Meadow and that is where our campsite is.  I am blown away by the trail and cannot wait to experience this. Check it out!

Eventing Camp. I am over the top excited.

Eventing Camp at CAF July 11-14 with eventing superstars...

Leslie Law

Dorothy Crowell

Peter Atkins

I haven't yet posted about it because it is pretty far off at this point but I cannot contain my excitement any longer and must post about it.  A friend of mine introduced me to the wonderful farm and owner Come Again Farm (CAF) and Lee Ann Zobbe(LAZ).  Lee Ann is an amazing person, trainer and has done an amazing job turning CAF into THE eventing farm in central Indiana.  She litteraly built an amazing cross country course.  By built I mean she constructed many of the jumps with her own two hands.  Each year she puts on an Eventing Camp.  Last year I did not know about it.  Actually I didn't even really know about eventing(gasp) yes it's true.  This year though I plan to be first in line when it come time to register.

From what I have heard it is a jam packed 4 days.  Starting Monday and going through Thursday with a schooling show to follow on Saturday.  Listen to the line up!  Dorothy Crowell, Leslie Law, and a name you may have heard this year or you have been under a rock Peter Atkins has just been confirmed!!!  She did have Becky Holder but schedueling did not work out.  Though Becky will be doing a clinic in Indiana in August so I am hoping to make that also.  They pack in as much information as possible.  Such as last year they had a vet come in and talk about lameness in sport horses during lunch.  How to spot and treat it.  I seriously get butterflies just thinking about being out on the cross country course with with all these amazing olympic and WEG medalists. 

So come July 11-16 I will be in eventing heaven!!!!

I snuck it in.

Oooof that was one of the worst rides I have had in months.  And trying to have my 7 and 5 year old video was just as terrible.  Steady clearly had other things on his mind and cared not for what I wanted from him.  I do believe though we are having yet another saddle issue and I not only need to get in for a lesson but also a saddle fitting and have my fingers crossed I can find a used saddle that fits.  First sign is the fact that he reaches around as I am tightening the girth as if he is really ticked or just flat out wants to take a chunk out of me.  Instead he takes chunks out of the board fence he is tied to.  Thats a good sign something is not right.  Oh saddle fitting woes I know someday I will rejoice when you are over.  Down the long side he immediately put his head up in the air.  I am thinking it may have been that the snow was deeper over there and he was struggling to get through it but who knows.  This was a  problem he had in the begining and it has been a while since it reared it's ugly head...ok silly pun.  But on the near side he would at least start feeling for the bit and rounding some.  But all in all his energy was high and he wasn't focusing.  There was ALOT of hard bridging.  Agian not something I have had to do in a long while.  The one and only positive that came out of the ride is that he is starting to pick up his correct leads and right when asked and the canter is bouncy and fun and somewhat collected.  So I guess my goal for the winter months was to get the canter under control and to slightly resemble something that belonged in a dressage arena and that is actually coming along.  I just didn't expect to loose all the other stuff we had down pat.  Again another reason to head to that lesson.  Ho hum lets hope tomorrow proves to be a better day.  So not really any salvagable video but I will leave you with this.......baby it's cooold oooout side!

Sneaking in a ride.

It looks like today and tomorrow are my only chances of getting in a decent ride in the near future.  The sun is shining and a warm 27 degrees(insert sarcasam).  Tomorrow's high is 32...oooh ahhhh.  Then comes the rain which will turn our winter wonderland into a slippery, muddy, winter mess.  So I am going to sneak in a ride or two and enjoy it while I can.  And we got a video camera for christmas so I am going to see if I can't sneak in a couple videos too.  Now if I am riding my 7 year old will be maning the camera so don't be expecting much.

Horsey wishlist 2011

I have a selfish wish list and of course I don't expect to get any of it but well I guess that is why it is called a "wish" list and go figure almost all are horse related.

I really want a cross country vest and kind of need one in order to do any cross country schooling or showing. 
A new helmet which is probably going to happen because with Macy starting to ride we will need another helmet and Elaina fits into mine so I guess that means I need a new one! 
An outdoor riding arena.  It is not neccessary but would be soooo helpful and then I can also take on more lessons and not have to worry about letting Elaina and Macy going out to ride. 
A new saddle.  This is just wishful thinking.  Saddles are so expensive and I have had such a hard time finding one to fit Steady.  If nothing else I hope to find a used one that will at least be better than the one I have for him. 
Build a tackroom in my barn.
Get 2 more acres fenced in.
A new bridle but it doesn't make sense to get a new bridle before I have my saddle.  Who knows maybe I will just get a new schooling bridle considering mine is like 20 years old.
Show clothes; breeches that fit, a shirt and collar, a jacket and gloves.
Also a few smaller items like Saddle pads and boots for Steady.
The list could go on but I will stop there because at least these are the more realistic from the list.
The unrealistic are a new trailer.  A truck. Build a new barn.  Have a pond dug.  Remodel the bathroom and bedroom.

And the thing I need most of all to afford all of it....A JOB!