OTTB Charm

Charmer has been an absolute rockstar this last week or so as I've been slowly easing him back into work. I had to move my lesson from Tuesday last week to Thursday with Banner, and it was just pretty horrendous - think temper tantrums every 5 minutes. I left on Thursday feeling pretty frustrated and discouraged, plus being super exhausted after dealing with Banner's antics for the better part of an hour and a half. After I got home, I wallowed in self pity for a few hours as I did some laundry and watched TV, and after an appropriate amount of time feeling sorry for myself about how miserable our lesson had been, I finally picked myself up and went outside to go play with Charmer. The day was lovely, nearly 50* and super sunny, so I felt guilty if I let the lovely weather pass me by. It was a pretty good thing it was so nice outside, or I would've probably passed up going out. My poor property is still mildly a swamp from having basically a week straight of rain, bu...

Last year, I got a bit swept away with Banner about showing and lessons and moving up and improving my riding. Which don't get me wrong, I love  that we improved so much and accomplished so much last year! But unfortunately time seemed to run away from me last year, and my sweet Charms was put on the back burner. It was really no fault of his own, but I needed to work through some of my riding baggage and Banner helped me do that. I would pull Charmer out for a few days every so often to lunge or ride, and don't get me wrong, he got groomed and I stuffed him full of cookies every day or two. He wasn't ignored by any means, but we just didn't get much of anything done under saddle in 2019. Despite the fact that I know  he didn't care about getting time off, I still felt (and feel) immensely guilty about it. He is very talented and I felt like I just let that go to waste for a year. Starting in 2020, I feel like I have adjusted to have some slightly better time...

In late August/early September of 2018, Banner and I began weekly lessons with Trainer C, which has been such a game changer for my riding and for our partnership. Trainer C also has ridden him lots when he was still with his previous owner so she has a really good understanding of him. In the nearly year and a half we have been in weekly lessons, I have worked very  hard to not take off too many weeks in a row. We've had a few times where it has been off - when she had a baby, when I got deathly ill last year, when I went on my honeymoon, or sometimes when my work schedule has prevented it. I try extremely hard not to miss more than 3 lessons in a row because it takes a tremendous toll on my motivation and my confidence. Because of the holidays, my work schedule got all messed up for December and I ended up having to work on the 17th, so I cancelled that lesson, and then obviously the 24th & 31st were Christmas Eve & New Years Eve, respectively, so we opted out on ...

I'm making an effort to be a better, more consistent blogger this year, so here's my first post of 2020 to try and get off to a good start! First off! I bought a dressage saddle! It's a 17.5" (although rides more like a 17" IMO) Devoucoux Makila! I snagged it off of a local friend for a great deal a few weeks ago! Not that I was necessarily looking for a dressage saddle at the time, but I saw her post and the saddle was about as perfect as I could ask for in a used saddle, plus this particular one was local so I could try it on! It pretty much fits B like a glove which is great! Since his jump saddle is a Devoucoux I had a good feeling about it going in and I wasn't disappointed! The seat feels a touch tight for me but a lot of that I attribute to not being in dressage tack for so long. I rode in it for the trial, and while I felt a bit out of place, I knew it would work for us! A few days later, I did our first at home ride in the saddle! ...

What a cool BlogHop idea from May As Well Event ! I've really enjoyed reading through everyone's blogs of this particular subject because it's so cool to see how much has changed in 10 years for everyone! 2010 I'd only been riding for about 3 years by this time. I was absolutely loving it, even though I pretty much only rode once a week in my lessons, or over the summer I would hitch rides out the barn as often as I could. I was the definition of a barn rat, climbing on anything they'd let me, or working all day for a 10 minute trail ride! The pony in the photo, Steel, taught me to have a sticky seat because he was a dirty stopper, and especially hated oxers. Despite the fact he was a bit of a brat, I loved him to death & appreciate all the lessons he taught me when I was young. 2011 2011 brought the coolest little pony into my life. He was a lesson horse that had carried many, many people through their C-3 Pony Club Ratings, first events, and just a...

Over the last few weeks, I've been trying really hard with Banner to stay on a semi-consistent schedule. The minimal daylight hours right now do not  help with our situation, so keeping the same kind of schedule we were on in the summer is just not possible, but managing 3-4 rides a week is generally doable for me. Our #1 goal right now is straightness - and honestly its more for me than him right now! Working on our bigger trot at home About 6 weeks ago, I fell off in a lesson. Pretty insignificant fall for the most part, but it highlighted some issues that I am having with my own body & magnified them. Banner has always been a crooked horse, and somewhere over this last year I became a pretty crooked rider too. And unfortunately we became crooked the same way! I've put a fairly significant amount of money into Banner to keep him in line, but I have neglected that same care for myself (I'm sure all of you can relate!). I used to be really good about chiropract...

This is probably a theme among a lot of horse people right now - the daylight savings time/winter struggle. The cold weather & short daylight hours are brutal when it comes to doing horse stuff. Trying to squeeze in a ride in the short time after work or just accepting your fate that it just won't happen any days you work. Lately, I find myself struggling with this adjustment more than normal. I feel more unmotivated in my riding life, and it takes a lot of effort to convince myself to rush outside right after I get home from work in order to fit in a ride after an already long, tiring day. My nostalgia is at an all time high though lately. Memories on Facebook and Instagram are reminding me of when I first began getting back to regular lessons 3 years ago. Memories of the first ride where Banner finally got it  over a jump last year. It makes me sad that even though my horses are the most accessible that they have ever been to me by a long shot , my motivation to d...