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