Lesson #??

Oh man. I've been so negligent with all my blogs but this one in particular. I've been so lazy with uploading pictures to my computer, I'm now on "vacation" (more like holidays) so I think I will be uploading and blogging like crazy. Taking pictures like crazy.

I have a crazy idea. I don't know if I'll be able to do it for awhile. But I would love to be able to videotape my riding lessons and post them up here. Or at least bits of it. The good, the bad and the ugly.

Maybe I'll get the boyfriend out one day to tape me.

Lessons are going really well. I'm on a different horse again, but I think I've found my match. :) He's a Morgan-Arabian cross (which I'm not a huge fan of, generally) but he's super cute. He's super tiny but he's all power *cough Morgan cough* I've ridden him 3 times now. He's super cute! He was a little spooky last week, but nothing unmanageable. He has a nice canter, haha. He's so comfortable, and he's fun. He makes learning dressage fun. =D

Brodie!!

Isn't he cute?
xoxo

Slight Hiatus

Sadly, I won't be able to update this one as I won't be in any riding lesson until December.

The price of getting your eyes lasered! The surgeon said I needed 2 weeks off so, 2 weeks it will be.

See you in 2 weeks!
xoxo

Lesson #4 and #5

I am sad to report that Winston, has been sold. I was very sad over this, because I loved him. He was such a sweetheart!

So instead of riding Winston, I began riding a beautiful dapple grey mare named Gillian. She's really nice, REALLY trained, and so far... A major C-H-A-L-L-E-N-G-E.  For me anyways. I've had one really amazing lesson on her. It just worked. I had her doing what I wanted, not the other way around. Shocking, I know. I have no idea what I was doing that worked SO well, but I can't seem to get it back. Oh, trust me, it's not for a lack of trying. She tricks me, this mare. She'll do it off right and then I relax and she takes me where she wants to go. *shakes head* The good thing, is that Debbie got on her last night (I froze on the ground though. November is too cold for me already) and she was surprised at how bad she was. It was really cool to see Debbie ride though. It showed me how she rode, what she did to correct, and what it's actually supposed to look like. Also glad to know that it wasn't just ME who was being mentally handicapped when it comes to riding her. (Not that Debbie was, but I found out that she's ridden by 3 other people, and that she wasn't giving her ribcage at all, so it was more difficult than usual to do anything with her). I also realized that this week, she wasn't ridden before me, so she didn't have all the time to warm up.

A couple weeks ago, Bridget and I had our first Lunge Lesson. We had never really had one like this before at all. I was SO tired afterwards. My legs died. It was so intense, but it allowed me to try Kermi! It was so good. I got a canter out of him, and it was fun doing no reins, no stirrup work. So much easier when you don't have to worry about where your horse is going to end up! It was nice to be able to not think about other stuff that had to be done and just FEEL.

It's nice because I finally think that the other girls are warming up to us! They actually talk to us a little bit. I always hate being the new person in a barn. It's like school... So intimidating!

xoxo

Winston!!

He's so PRETTTYYY!!! :D
xoxo

Lesson # 3

Brilliance. Pure, and utter amazing.

I rode Winston again this week.  I absolutely love this horse. He's the epitome of what I want. Big, beautiful bay gelding. Sigh. My life is complete!

Anyways, this week, was pure genius. I started off having a little bit of trouble, with staying on the rail. Have come to the realization that my left leg is pretty much useless. I don't know why I even have one when it comes to riding. So my coach got me to work on a circle, and then move to some figure 8's. Pure genius. I started off at a walk, getting him moving off my leg, and the she came and talked to me, got me to move up into a trot, and I had it.

Collection!

Fabled, I know, but I have hit it. This week anyways. It was amazing. I could feel it working, and him coming together under me. He had forward movement without me working to hard to get him there. He had flexion. He was moving off my legs. It was pure bliss. 

Can't wait to see what lesson #4 throws at me. Hopefully I'll be riding Winston again!

xoxo

Dressaggge.

O.M.G.

I realized that switching disciplines would be difficult. But not this difficult. Last week, couldn't canter to save my life. This week, couldn't walk in a straight line, get out of corners or the middle of the arena.

I've never ridden a horse that is completely push button. Sounds easy right? So wrong. It'll be easy once I've found those buttons, but until then, I'm a terrible rider. I keep doing something with my body that tells Gillian (my horse) that I want something that I don't want. So it's not her fault, it's mine.

My new mantra:
I am a good rider. I am a good rider. I am a good rider.

Right?
xoxo

Another Kind of Reunion

Well. It's been awhile and I have soo much that's new!

1. I'm riding again!! /B and I have started up dressage, at Equestrian Dreams riding facility and are absolutely loving it. I had a rough lesson last week as I have come to realize that I'm not going to bounce back as quick as I thought. I could not for the life of me get my horse to lope My bad, canter). I love the horse that I'm riding, it's this big Clyde/TB cross and he's gorgeous. BAY! My kinda pony. He's a little younger than general lesson horses, and I'm so not used to the crazy amount of leg I need to use. Granted I have been off for a year, but I'm not used to it. Very frustrating moment when my body wouldn't do what my mind was telling it to do. GRAH is all that went through my mind. I was beating myself up in my mind. All I can do is hope for a better lesson next week. *fingers crossed*

2. My mom and I went out for dinner with a couple ladies that I haven't seen in what seems like ages (possibly a year or more now) and got to catch up with them. It was wonderful! I didn't realize how much I had missed them until I saw them again. It was another mother/daughter combo and the daughter is a year younger than me and going through university to become a large animal vet. Kudos to her, I say. I could never do that length of schooling and still be sane. She always was the brains in our operation though. Her mom always makes me want to become a librarian. She is one, and it just seems so cool. It's always been a back up of mine. Books, and stern looks? I've got those down to an art! Maybe if I need a change when I'm a little bit older and more mature? There are always options and doors!

But now I need to go to bed, so
xoxo

Horse Sense Training Reunion

Since Barbara has retired, they've been having "reunion" dinners once every couple months. I missed the first one, because I had already made plans to go out that night. But last week they had another one (which I made it too). It was held at the Montana's, and it was so much fun. :)

The whole gang

A lot more people showed up to this one than the previous one. It was a night of good times and good food. Can't wait for the next one!
xoxo

Barns, Barns and More Barns!

Ok so this is a little behind, it's tough to keep up when this weekend was crazy-hectic!

It's so much fun just hitting the road with a fellow horse junkie who is also looking for a new place to ride and just seeing what barns are in the neighbourhood. I have missed that since I've either had a barn the entire time, or just wasn't ready to commit to actual lessons yet. I haven't had an actual structured lesson since I came home from college, so about 2 years. That's a really long time in this industry. I've probably picked up some bad habits along the way. Something that a new coach will have to deal with. Poor them :)

Anyways, Bridget had planned the whole trip and the communications with some barns, and only 2 replied to us, so we went to those too. First on the list was Cricket Lane Farms. Owned by a couple who is in the Jousting circle, Bridget is super interested in that. It'd be pretty cool to try out. The only thing is that it's out past Hamilton, so it's quite the drive for us (no weekly lessons there) and they are a new facility who haven't worked out all the kinks yet. Amazing ideas for their barns/boarders. It's a converted chicken barn, which is amazing. It's a 300 ft barn and half is being made into an arena (which is perfect for the jousting lists, because it's long and narrow), the rest is going to be stalls, standing stalls, tack areas and run-in sheds. Oh, and the area for the chickens and the pheasants. Of course. We left early in the morning to arrive there early (before we were expected. Good thing horse people are early risers.) Nicest couple to let us tour their place. Still under construction, it'll be amazing once done. They even let us ride! We got on their beast of a horse, Gloucestre.  He's a serious beast. He's a Trakhener/Thoroughbred/Breton Cross and just has weight to him. I'm so used to Peter and his nothing-ness (woooot he's maybe 700lbs) and just the aweome power of Gloucestre was exhilarating. 3 strides and I was at the end of the arena. I didn't throw the spear at the haybale, (Bridget did) I just have terrible eye-hand coordination. I helped Stephanie get out of her light armour (yes ARMOUR!). That was pretty cool in itself. So, they had to get ready for company coming over after lunch and they were leaving the next day for a tournament in Pennsylvania. So we hustled out of there as politely as possible, we didn't want to impose to much upon their courtesy. We left them with a lot of food for thought, we suggested maybe if we could come up once every month or two months for the day and help out, ride, etc. Now, we'll just have to see what happens when they come back from Pennsylvania in 3 weeks. 

Gloucestre and Stephanie

So we left their place at lunch time, and we were starving so we finally hit something that was decently big and ate at McDonalds, which is something for me because I had it twice that week. Makes my arteries cry just thinking about it. 


Anyways, we decided what to do from there. We decided to visit the only other place that responded to us, Equestrian Dreams, and see how it goes from there. We were supposed to arrive after 3.30 but since our timing was off, )even though we got a little lost...) we arrived early. At first glance it doesn't seem like much, but once you pull into the driveway, it's a gorgeous facility. The arena is huge, competition sized and so nicely ventilated and so light! So much natural light, it's amazing. The barn is so nicely done, with nice big tack areas and huge stalls. The horses are gorgeous and obviously well trained. Debbie, the coach had a lesson that she was about to go teach but she talked to us for a couple of minutes, before taking them into the arena. We talked with her husband Jim, for almost 2 hours. It was really nice. Another super nice couple, and very funny. It was nice to see that it wasn't pretentious even though she has many qualifications that could make it so. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting them and can't wait to start riding there. Bridget can't start lessons until September anyways, because work is so hectic for her right now, so I won't be starting until then anyways. I can't wait! I'm so pumped because I've been wanting to ride dressage for so long, and I'll actually be able to soon!


I will keep up the posting when I find out more information!
xoxo

Working On It!

I'm currently working on an upcoming blog for this one!!! So much has happened this weekend it's insane!! Will have this one up *fingers crossed* by tomorrow!!!

xoxo!

A New Beginning..?

I know, I've been MIA in a looong time, but that's just because I've nothing horse-y to say anymore.

BUT that's all about to change now, because I finalllly got to meet a potential part-board of a horse. An English jumper. VERY English. I haven't been in any lessons for a long time, but it's funny how different Western and jumper is.

Jumper lesson: Canter canter canter. Jump jump jump.
Western: Railwork. Transitions. Obstacles. Patterns.

I guess that's where the old Western vs. English battle rears its' ugly head. For me, I don't see why you can't do all the Western ground work AND still jump. I'm not saying that some people don't do that. But the majority don't. I remember doing a lot of on the rail fast work, then jumping. But I digress...

The funny story about this part-board hookup is that I found out about this girl through my doctor. She worked for her at the time, and my doctor gave me her phone number. When she wrote down the name, in my head I couldn't help but think that the name sounded SO familiar. I asked Rider (from BC) whether or not we knew someone from college named that. She said, nope. Maybe high school? What are the chances that we DID go to high school together! She's a year younger than me, but we knew each other, just not the closest of buddies. Seriously, six degrees of separation is truly freaky and scarily true. So, all summer we've been talking about getting together to watch her ride, meet her horse, see the place etc. Every time though, something came up. Lessons cancelled, parents working - you name it, it probably happened. Such was our luck. I was starting to feel bad about not showing up and wasting away the summer. Not that it's been the greatest weather. So HUMID out that you can't really do much riding anyways.

So we finally make a date, and I get up there to watch her lesson and give her a try.  She's a tough cookie, this mare. She's an ex-Thoroughbred racehorse. Generally not my favourite kind of horse, but she's very sweet. She has a stubborn streak though. And she's a fighter. I rode her for less than 10 minutes (and granted I'm out of shape) but I was K/O'd for the next 2 days. My shoulders were just two huge knots of pain. She fought me the entire time I was riding her. I didn't do anything super strenuous. I walked her around, asked for a trot, did some serpentines, a couple lope circles. Her face was in my hands the entire time. Her owner is super sweet and we worked out that I'll try, for the month of August, a couple of lessons on her to see how it goes. You can't get a true reading from anything in 5 minutes. And it's nice because at the end of the month there's no pressure to not commit. Takes a lot of pressure off of my shoulders too, because I hate having to say no to anyone. Once I hear back from her about lessons, I shall keep updating about it.

But this Saturday, I'm going with a friend to check out some new riding barns. :) Hopefully that proves fruitful!! I need a new barn. Stat.
xoxo

Seeing the Wee Beastie

I finally went and visited my wee lil beastie, Petey. I had the most awful dream about him the other night, I dreamt that he had died! And then my friends were all being really unsupportive of me, I woke up crying. Fell back asleep, and went back into pretty much the same 'Pete dead' dream, but this time I could see him, and it was like he had come to say good bye. Again, woke up crying. Not gonna lie, pretty darn traumatic.

So I made a decision to go see him (make sure he's still alive) and he is. Alive and well. Almost too well. He has too much spunk! But that's why he's mine. I had a little love fest with him, took too many pictures, but they look so good! But the creepy thing is, even though he's not dead or dying, he's still leaving!! He's being shipped off to London, Ontario for a trade horse thing with another coach (One of my old coaches, to be exact). Premonition, or what! It's cool because I haven't seen this coach in ages and it'd be awesome to go visit her. And an hour and a bit east or west doesn't really make a huge difference.

Tiz came up with me, and he was riding Lake Skimmer, and I'm so happy that he loves it! Makes it so much easier because he's always like, 'Let's get a farm, Jazzy'. Me: We don't have money. And I thought we were going for apartment first? (Oops, did I just spill a secret ;)?) It was such a nice day out, all sunny and warrrm. Woot for the first nice weekend in spring, spent with the ponies! I went total drill sergeant on his ass, coaching him. It was pretty fun, and I was totally into it, and he and I could both see/feel results. Go me! Haha.

It's been a long day, but it's been fun. Gotta hit the hay, as they say!
xoxo

Time For Me to Get A Beast?

As I come to the conclusion of the fact that (right now) I am not interested in working in the industry full time, and want to just keep horses as a hobby, to have, to love, and to ride. I am thinking that it might be time to find a new project? Something that might be a bit closer than Uxbridge, methinks. 


Any one know of any very cute QH geldings?
xoxo

As my mother is a fan of the TLC show Unstable, she was watching it and there was a ranch out in Banff, Alberta that she thought looked like it would be interesting for me to work at. I googled the ranch, and found that they were accepting applications for the summer season. I thought about it, and thought about it, and even made up resumes and cover letters for it. But in the end, I loafted on the photo of me. And then I decided against it, because I don't really like Alberta, and I don't want to be away from home yet, and Tiz, and I need to get my driver's license, and I just don't want to get burnt out like I was last summer. So I deleted that letter and email to them, and am going to stay in Ontario for the rest of the summer anyways. It was a good idea while it lasted.


xoxo

I'm Still In This Industry.. Right?

Man, it's been so long. I don't really have anything to write about that's recent because I'm not currently working in the industry, but I'm trying to get back into it. I'm applying for a job that's in Alberta for this summer. I've been procrastinating on sending off my resume because I need to take a picture of myself and I don't have any that are *ahem* appropriate, and ones that are recent. I feel like I haven't been on a horse in so long! (It's technically only been a couple months.. I think November..? Maybe it was December... But it wasn't like I did anything productive. I played with Petey for an hour, took Tiz up with me and he rode Oreo *and loved it* (so he got the approval of Diane, my ex boss). 


Working for her was an experience. Part of the reason why I have been on horse-hiatus for almost 6 months now. Diane, I love her to bits, but she's a bit... scatterbrained. She has 3 children, Taigh (14), Lane (9) and Deirdre (4), and I guess Sean (her husband). She has approximately 25 horses on her property, chickens, 3 dogs (Jock, Jackson and Wolf), and God knows how many cats. She breeds horses (her QH mare, Zip, as well as some TBs), trains horses, teaches lessons, as well as all the barn work. So I decided to work for her last summer and help her out a bit. As she just bought the property that she is now currently living at, it needed a lot of work (fencing, paddock making, etc.) She was also making trails, and a gallop for training her TB, Cashmere. When I was working there, she also had 2 yearling TB colts, that she was going to break. I was nice and naive, thinking I would be getting a lot of hands on work with just horses. (I did, plus a lot more)


A typical day would look like this:
7.00am - Wake up, get outside, turn out and feed horses (grain and hay), cats, chickens and dogs
8.30am - Eat breakfast 
9.00am - Start on stalls
12.00pm - LUNCH TIME! (I had to just take it, because otherwise Diane would forget to eat)
1.00pm - This changed daily, either it was riding time, fencing, working with wood, it was whatever needed to be done that day.
4.00pm - Bring everyone back inside, feed, etc. 
6.30pm - I usually went inside, made dinner for the family, cleaned the house and talked with the boys. Diane usually was teaching a lesson.
8.30pm - Eat! Then usually the rest of the night was break time.. But then I would clean as well. Send the kids to bed, and pass out myself. 


Thank god I went home on weekends. I realize that millions of people do that everyday for the rest of their lives, but it was seriously draining me. I was tired all the time, and it was stressful! There was a lot of drama and yelling in the family and it made me tired. I was always stressing over what was going to be the next argument in the family. And it also seemed like I was always working. Taking care of the kids, taking care of the house, taking care of the barn. Sometimes I even taught her lessons. I also helped organize her bills. That was scary. Haha. It just got to me. I was quickly learning what I didn't want to do with my business (if I ever get one...)


I started getting really pessimistic about my life, and horses in general. Now that I'm not working with them (or at that barn) I am more positive. Tiz helps with that as well, he's encouraging me to get back into as well. Which is good. I really love it, but I have been contemplating whether or not I want to get a "real job" and just keep horses on the side. Have a job that can support one or two horses, a place that I can ride (or board). I'm just not sure what I want to do yet? I don't know what I want to spend 4 years doing. 


Lots to think about for me...
xoxo

A Personal Project...

I made this blog with another idea in mind for it, but then I never used it. It wasn't really on a subject that I knew amazingly well. So now, since I made a "test" banner and it turned out decently, I figured I might as well put it to good use. And since I am comfortable and (for the most part) know what I'm talking about, when I talk about horses, I might as well blog about it. 


I'm not claiming to be some master trainer. I have my beliefs and I know that many people are divided in them. I'm not out to preach, or make people use my methods. I'm just saying it how I see it, so don't shoot me down if you don't like it. I've seen many things, and I'm getting great at deciding what I don't like. 


A little about my "career" (as it just begins)...
It all started way back when I was a wee child of probably one years old, and it was Canada's Day, and my mother took me to the fair/celebration at City Hall, and there they were. The pony rides. I went on those suckers for as long as I could, every single year. Until one vacation in Montreal, my family went on a trail ride with "crazy French speaking horses", as my mother likes to call them. I was not yet seven, and got put on a horse by myself, who upon sensing I was clearly a beginner with no upper body strength at all, took direct advantage of. He walked pretty much every where but the trail, ate all the grass he could get at (which, obviously, there was plenty). My mother was just a little panicked as she kept calling to the trail guide, "Um... my daughter? Her horse is going in the other direction?!?" As an unseasoned rider, and never before riding on my own, I was doing pretty well. Or so I thought. As it was a Western trail, I was never told to not keep my hands in front of the horn. Hands behind the horn plus horse constantly putting his head down to eat equals my knuckles in pretty rough shape at the end of the hour. We all got off, and are back at the car, and as my mother bandages up my bloody knuckles (every one was bleeding, and I still have slight scarring) I announced to her, "That was the best thing ever. I want to start riding." My mother, always the skeptic, asked me if I was serious (as she's cleaning up the damage). But, she dutifully signed me up for lessons, (making sure that they were English, so there wasn't a horn on the saddle!)


Needless to say, from that day forth I was hooked. I rode English jumper from age seven to eleven, took a break during one summer because I was getting tired of the push to jump, jump, JUMP! all the time. So I meandered into soccer, (we won the entire league tournament, woot for numba ones!) but I decided that it wasn't for me, horses were my true love and set about finding another barn, and a different discipline.


Western. Back to the saddles with the horns. Granted, this time they taught me how to ride with my hands in front (although I had learned that due to the English lessons). I rode solid Western only for about... three years, before I started dabbling in English again. I also got into Western Speed events, showing Performance and Speed, have done a littttttle bit of Team Penning (so much fun!) and work with my baby and love of my life, Pete. (See picture above...)


Then, I always had decided that I was going to work in the horse industry, and I thought I had a pretty firm grasp on that. Grade 12 I worked at a barn for co-op four days a week, one day at school (Horse lover's dream, or what?) and then I applied for the Equine Diploma program at U of G - Kemptville Campus, and took major private lessons to get my Western Level 4 (OEF), and got accepted. So that September, I was off to University! It was definitely an experience, life and career. I have now opened more avenues that I could possibly work in, (Dairy and Beef cattle) and did not come out knowing exactly what I want to do for the rest of my life. Clearly, I'm still a work in progress. 


Peter. :) I've known him since he was two, he's now nine (geez how time flies). We have been through it alll. Pete is definitely another post to himself, but I put all the work into him that he has in him. So I'm pretty proud of what I and him have accomplished. We are a team, through and through. Although, I do wish he was a little bigger! He's a Grade-A mutt, a mix of (I think) Morgan, Appaloosa, Quarter Horse, and some type of pony? Or he's just all horse and never grew. Sadly, he is only 14.2hh. And he kind of has short legs so he'd be an amazing gymkhana pony, not so good in speed against Thoroughbreds and huge Quarter horses. But conformation wise, you can't go wrong. He's got a big head, but his legs are good, he has amazing feet (he doesn't wear shoes) and he's got the short back of the Quarter horse. 


I'm a little on the biased side, I love QH's. They're my breed of choice. I appreciate all other breeds, and I know that they have uses too, but there's just something about the raw power in the tiny QH body. (Gotta love that old stock).


Well that's quite the first entry... I think I'll end it there before I run out of space! 
xoxo