Category Archives: horses

ponies, pals, and pictures!

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What on earth are you supposed to do with yourself when your husband is out of town on a business trip? Luckily, I didn’t have to worry about it too much because my best-ever-like-a-sister-to-me friend Lelia came up to visit and keep me out of help me get into trouble!

I haven’t had horse time in awhile, so it was pretty awesome when Lelia let me come out to the barn with her to visit all the pregnant mares, yearlings, and the ONE foal born so far! There is nothing I love more than spending time out there. Hours just fly by.

I was so excited to meet Jubilee’s colt, Sawyer! He sure is a handsome guy 🙂

Sleepy boy. It’s tough being a baby.

We trekked out far into the field to visit the yearlings. Tango and Amaretta wanted to eat my shoes!

Lelia got her pony cuddles from Prissy…

and big hugs for her favorite, of course, Rosie!

I got a hug, too. BFFs (even if she is super squinty)!

you better belize it

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The first country we visited on our trip was Belize! We had to tender to shore. How exciting!

Michael and I had signed up for a trail ride at the Bacab Eco Park, so we were pretty excited!

Our horses were “Brownie” and “Ivan”. MIchael always gets the cute one. I’ll try not to pick on poor Ivan 🙁

We had a really great time and the tour guides definitely know so much about the plants and animals of the land. It was a “ravine forest”; not quite a rainforest. We heard Howler monkeys screaming in the trees, but didn’t get to see any. It was still pretty exciting!

We saw the tallest palm trees I have EVER seen in my life. Our guide told us that American hotels will pay $100 per foot of palm tree. Crazy!

 After the ride, we got to have a typical Belizean meal. Red beans and rice, fried plantains, and “Choo” chicken. I loved the spices. It was so delicious.

We ate lunch in this awesome hut. (That’s the national flag up there!)

We also saw a baby crocodile!

Michael was so excited to get in a hammock.

The day went so fast and I’d wished we had more time. Bye Belize!

lexington encore!

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This weekend was crazy and great! On Friday afternoon I was sitting in the doorway of Lelia’s room, just relaxing and chatting. She was getting ready to leave for a horse show just about any minute, so I was pretty surprised when she suddenly said “You want to go?” I thought for just a moment and then said yes! We were out on the road in just a few minutes, and I’m so glad I went along because I had a blast! Something about Saddlebreds and the way they move just gets me pumped up!
Of course I was there practicing my “sports photography”. Definitely not my forte, but hey, I got a few good shots!

We also saw Lelia’s friend Kendyl show. She gave it her best shot but the mare was just crazy and quit on her.

It was a good time!

trail mix

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Today I was SO EXCITED because we got to go on a trail ride!! And when I say we, I mean Michael and Karl and I!  I was really anticipating being out in the woods and enjoying nature and all, but I think the most exciting part of the whole thing was that Michael and Karl finally got to ride too! It's fun when your family gets to do something that you really really love doing.

Another really exciting fact is that the majority of the horses used for this program are rescues! Why not take a good horse and give him a job?

This was Karl's first time riding a horse. Michael has been on a couple times, but he already knows a lot just from watching me learn. No kidding, this guy is very observant!

Karl had a little cutie named Ace!

Michael had an Arab named Jin! Sweet sweet boy.

And I had Carmen! I was a little nervous when one of the ladies in charge warned me that Carmen hates pretty much every other horse, so I had to keep her away from everyone else! I guess they considered me "experienced", but I handled her just fine and nothing bad happened! Success!

We were out there for an hour, but it felt like 10 minutes.

 

take me out to the [horse!] games

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About week and a half ago I had the opportunity to ride in a "fun" horse show. Now, when I say the word "fun", I actually mean that it was a goofy show full of crazy races and challenges! Of course I rode my favorite boy Rae, and Lelia was my partner for two of the races. In one of them, Rae and I had to race down to the end of the arena, then Lelia had to jump on, and we had to race back.

The other partner race was called "Baby Bottle" and consisted of me trying to feed Lelia Koolaid while she sat behind me. We looked pretty goofy!

We also ran the barrels (yes, in an English saddle!) and did some bobbing-for-apples and a carrot race.

At the end of it all, I ended up riding bareback! The objective was to keep a dollar between your knee and the horse. We got second place! Honestly I was suprised we stayed in the contest so long because I had never ridden bareback before!

lexington

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On Friday night Michael picked me up from work and we were headed off to Lexington to surprise Lelia at her horse show! We even had dinner in the car on our way because there was no way we wanted to miss this!

We found the barn she was in (which really was a miracle, this place was huge and had probably 50 barns!) and peeked around the corner. She sure was surprised!

I found out I love watching Saddlebred shows. The way they move is just gorgeous and I had a lot of fun just taking pictures!

It was night by the time Lelia showed, so I struggled a little with the camera but overall I'd say the results weren't bad.

first horse show

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On Saturday I had my very first horse show! It was local (at the stable I ride at, actually) so it was a good opportunity to get some experience. I have only been riding a few months, so I am by no means great at this. One day I will be, but that is a lot of rides and hard work down the road.

We went through three classes. I was so nervous on the first one (not to mention on the wrong diagonal!), so we didn't get anything. In our second class we took 6th out of seven, and the third we got 3rd of three. So maybe we weren't spectacular, but we tried. For a first show, I consider it a success just to get over my nerves and want to go back and show again.

Didn't my boy look handsome?

And this is my favorite picture from the whole day-

What would life be without a great family and a good horse?

jumping in

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This past Monday I had my first jumping experience. Yeah, I know you're looking at the picture and thinking, "What jump? That fence is like 1 foot tall!", and well friend, you are right. But you have to start somewhere, and admittedly, it was a little scary the first time. I went 3 or 4 times so I could at least do it decently.

I've also been riding a lot more this week. By "a lot more", I actually mean that I've ridden 5 times as opposed to my usual once a week! My legs are screaming in pain… I mean shouting for joy… from all the hard work this week. It's actually not so bad. I am a little sore, but it is well worth it. I've had some time on my own to just practice stretching my leg down the way it needs to be and getting in control of the trot. At my lesson yesterday, my instructor was so pleased with my progress.

I don't think I have ever worked so physically hard to get good at something. I am still far from being good at riding, but I feel great everytime I go because I put all my heart and all my energy into it to do my best. This experience is teaching me that I can reach any dream and any goal I have, as long as I put myself to the test and grab the opportunities I get to learn and practice.

And you can't go wrong hanging out with horses every day of the week, either!

addiction

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If you haven't already figured this out, I have a little obsession.

It starts with an H and ends with O-R-S-E.

Yep. It's true. But I just can't resist how truly beautiful they are, especially when I see them galloping freely in the field. Unless of course I'm in the field trying to catch the horse, and he's galloping toward me. Then I stop thinking how beautiful he is and pray that he'll stop before he runs me over!


puppy love

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Okay, so it's not exactly puppy love… It's "horsey" love. But how can you not love this cute face?

His name is Rae and he is so much fun! I've been riding him since my second time trotting, and I think I fall more in love every week (even if he does sometimes try to get away with what he wants because he knows I'm new at this!)

He also loves acting like a tired old man. We were all done, so I took my feet of my stirrups to stretch down, and he was falling asleep in seconds. Goofball.

At least he pretends like he's my friend.

As far as riding actually goes, I'm making some progress. I've got good posture and today my leg was really good, too! I want to keep going till I get it right, but that might take awhile.