2018 Goals

Since I really don't feel like I accomplished much in 2017, I am really hoping to accomplish much more in 2018. My goals for horses have changed, but I still want them to be the biggest part of my life.
So I will start with the goals for my own horses. Due to the craziness of the last year I have not been able to ride my own horses much at all. That needs to change.
Pepsi

• Get her back in shape for frequent riding. 
• Get her better at holding herself in frame without constant help. Since I got her she has had a problem with wanting to trot around with her head on the ground. 
• Get back to not leaping into the canter.
• Work on Flying Lead changes again. 

Java

• Get him back in shape also. He is as fat as can be!
• Work on more consistency at the trot and canter. 

Addie

• Get her back to work. She has not been under saddle regularly for 3 years now. 
• Really just keep her in shape and at a good weight.
• Possible show her a bit. I have a friend that wants to ride her at shows, and we will see if this is a possibility. 

Then there are the Horses I am working with, not in my regular job. 

V

• Her owner wants her to be an eventing horse, so my main goals for next year are to start her over fencese. 
• Get her more confident outside the arena. 
• Make it easier for her owner to be able to ride her. Her owner is a beginner, and I want her to be able to ride her easily enough. 
• Get her calmer on the ground. 

A

• Keep getting her used to having someone sitting on her. 
• Work on lunging and leading patiently. 

For those in my working job... I now have two new horses that have joined our program. 

• Get the new boys used to the craziness of being therapy horses. 
• Help J work on her confidence under saddle once again. 
• Work on B leading skills. 
• Keeping all fit and happy.

For my personal goals:

• Show in a dressage show again. I haven't shown dressage in over 5 years. 
• Of course show hunt seat, but I also want to add in a jumping show. 
• Work on my right shoulder. It wants to creep forward constantly. Stupid shoulder. 
• Take lessons regularly. 

A Crazy Year almost over

This year has been a crazy year, one that I hope I never have to go through again. Work, health, and just plain life, I am finally getting to the point I can breathe again.
But I have also had some good things happen!

In October we added another four legged friend to the family. Her name is Cygne (Syg-Nee) and is some sort of collie/hound mix. She has been super easy to train, and so far so good. She is about 6 months old now, and it was the best choice!

She has passed basic obediance, and we are moving on. I am hoping that we can get her therapy dog certified when she gets older!

I also moved. Just down the road from where I was before, but on much more land. I was just able to bring my horses this week and it is so nice to have them home. I also built a barn, something I have never had before. Of course, it is not finished yet, I am doing it as the budget allows. But I am so excited to see it finished!

I have also had the privilege to start working with some amazing horses. I will write them their own post one day, but they are so fun. One of them had never been worked before, barely knew how to work on the lead line at 5. The other had been ridden at 2 for 30 days, and is now 7. We are really getting somewhere though.

I really am looking forward to this year being over, so at least I can feel like I am starting over. But the good things have sure kept me going! I have so many goals for next year, so we will see where we will go from here!

What a week!

What a week it has been...
To start with the good things. I had another lesson on Java. I was super worried about this lesson due to the 30 mph wind. Java is a nut in the wind.
The day didn't start well, he kicked out at Pepsi and got me in the ankle. That didn't feel great, but he didn't mean it and knew that he was in trouble. I let him loose in the arena for about 10 minutes and he ran like a mad man. He walked in circles while I was saddling him and when I was getting on. Once I was on he went to work. It was one of the best rides I have ever had on him. He is still VERY green, so we are working on softening to the bit. He was finally figuring it out today, and I am looking forward to what the future holds for him.
Addie and Pepsi have been hanging out. Last week was cold and windy and this week is so windy you can barely go outside. Friday the temperature is dropping down another 30 degrees. Yuck!

Yesterday was a tough one. I work with 7 horses every day of the week. One of them has had DSLD for the last few years. This past year has been much worse for her. She was struggling while getting her feet done, and had just not been feeling her best. We made the tough decision to have her put to sleep before she was in more pain, or unable to get up. I am comforted by the fact that she went quickly and painlessly, and that she will no longer be in any pain. But I will sure miss her.

New Year 2017

I have never been one to make resolutions, but I definitely have plans that I would hope to complete this year.
1) Riding my own three horses. - I ride horses all the time at work, but this year I have different goals for each of the horses.

•  Java - I took my first lesson on him this week. He is so incredibly green that I always felt it wouldn't be worth it. We had a great lesson though! We did a ton of trot work, worked on his canter (which was my biggest concern, he has only cantered 5 times before with a rider.) He was a good boy, but I think he thought he was going to die, that was just to much work! So my goal for him this year is to get him going well W/T/C, Maybe even showing at the end of the year. We'll see!
• Pepsi - I want to get her going with a bit more english collection. She is a western pony through and through and will hold herself with loose reins, but hates contact. I want to really work on this, as I have just kind of rode her like a western pony in the past. 
• Addie - I will be happy if I can even keep her sound enough to ride this year! I have started her on Adequan and so far her attitude has improved, so I am hoping for the best. 
• Ride at least two of them twice a week!

2) Riding Dazzle at least twice a week. Shouldn't be to much of a challenge, but I get overwhelmed easily. 

3) Go on more trail rides, or fun shows where there is no pressure for the horse or me to get a blue ribbon. I just want to have fun and learn to enjoy taking my horse on the road again! I wouldn't mind signing up for the AQHA riding log thing. (I never remember what they call it.)

4) In general I would love to ride 3-4 days a week and just enjoy my horses again.

Of course I have some non-horse related things I would like to do, but I think we can stick with that here. 

Blog Hop: Location, Location, Location

I stole this  blog hop from "A soft spot for stars." I am always amazed at what is needed to own a horse depending on location. So here goes!


My horses and I are located right smack dab in the middle of the country; Kansas! Now, many think of Kansas as a state they hate to drive through because it is ugly and boring. But I call it home, and I LOVE it here. I have no plans to move anywhere else. There are many farms, and many other people own enough land to at least keep their horses at home. That being said, there are still the few larger boarding barns in the "big" cities!

• Trim: $25-$35 depending on who you use

• Shoes: $50-75 for front shoes. $80-120 for all around

• Average cost of a month of full training: : If training includes board the average is about $750-900

• Average monthly pasture board: $150-$275

• Average monthly stall board: $450 if there is an indoor arena. $300-350 if not

• Hay:

• Round bale - It depends... $60 for brome, $30-40 for prairie

• Square bales - Brome is about $7 a bale, Prairie is $5. I feed brome most of the time.

• Mountain Views? : What!? HAHAHA! No

• Weather? - Summers tend to stay in the upper 80's and 90's, but some summers can stay around the 100 degree mark for weeks. We also have very high humidity some summers which makes for extremely miserable days. Winters can be mild with upper 30's/lower 40's, with the occasional below 0 day. There is no normal with snowfall, one year we will get 30 inches, the next we get 2. Spring can be very wet, and of course we do have to deal with the threat of severe storms or maybe even the tornado threat. But the temperatures are usually very nice. Fall... we tend to go from summer to winter with what feels like three days of fall. This year however, we have had a GREAT fall in the 60's and 70's. I loved that.

• Riding demographic for the area?  - The vast majority is western and trail. Three hours north or south and you can find some large english barns. There are NO tack stores within three hours (other than Atwoods, for a western saddle pad or something.) 

• Other notes? - Lots of hunting here, so our horses are used to it. There are also always wild animals running around, so my horses are not really afraid of deer. Even the barn I work at, which is smack dab in the middle of the city, always has deer or coyotes running around. I love Kansas because it is so open, the very reason a lot of people do not like it. I LOVE to be able to go ride on a 10,000 acre ranch and be able to see for miles when I get up on a large hill, it's amazing to see no roads, buildings or any other sign of what humans have done to the world.... I wouldn't trade it for the world. And just because it is known as the flat state doesn't mean there aren't great places to ride!

Frustrating things about your area?

• My biggest issue? I am an English rider in a Western dominated area. But that's okay! Even though it can be a challenge you can find a good trainer. It has given me the oppurtunity to branch out and learn how to ride disciplines that I probably never would have otherwise. 
• No tack stores... I always love how tack stores have special sales, etc.. With the closest English Tack store being 4 hours away I just make the most of it when I can get there!

Since I can't seem to keep up with my blog at all I figured I would get myself motivated by joining this blog hop, which was started by Aarene over at Haiku Farm.

Here's the directions:

Answer the questions (below) on your own blog, and leave a link to that post in the comments here.
In your post, invite readers to answer the questions on THEIR blogs, and link those blogs to yours AND to here.
Let's see how far this can travel!
Pictures!  Let's see lots of pictures of people and horses!

*  Introduce yourself!

*  Introduce your horse(s)!

*  What's your favorite horse sport?  Do you cross train in other activities?

*  Who else in your family rides?

*  What's your proudest equestrian accomplishment?

*  What was your lowest moment as a horse owner/rider?

*  What's the most important small thing you ever learned in a lesson?

*  Do you have any riding rituals or superstitions?

*  What are your short term goals for yourself/your horse?

*  Long term goals?

*  If time and money were no object, what is your dream equestrian vacation?

*  What kind of horse activities were you doing 10 years ago?

*  What kind of horse activities do you think you'll be doing 10 years from now?

*  What is the quirk about your horse that you like most?

Introduce yourself!
The short version? I am a 23 year old  who works with horses and kids all day, every day. I love my job and enjoy doing it, but it does cause me some extra stress! I live in the great plains and LOVE it, even though so many would rather live in the mountains or by the ocean. 
Introduce your horses!
I own 2 horses and my sister little guy lives with them. I own two mares, both of them are chestnuts which I laugh about now. I always swore I would never own another chestnut, but here I am!

Addie is my 18 year old OTTB mare. We did some eventing in the past, but a neighbors dog ruined her chance to ever jump again. I hope that she will be 100% sound again one day, but at this point we can do some walk/trot dressage work. She is by far my most expensive horse, and I do what I can to make her comfortable. Her early years weren't the best and even if she is a pasture puff she will be with me for the rest of her life. 

Pepsi (Fancy Time Chic) is my 10 year old AQHA mare. Addie is a great mare but has never been great for a relaxed trail ride, so I wanted a horse that I could have a nice relaxing ride with some friends. I swore it wouldn't be another chestnut mare... but you know how it goes! I love this horse. She is willing to do just about anything, and I have learned so much from her. 

Java is really my sisters horse, but I ride him more than she does due to his tendency to be quite... fresh. Java is a Hackney Pony cross around 7 years old. I have no idea what his past was like, the people we got him from tried to use him for their 5 year old. He was not broke at all and they pretty much gave him away. Java is a spitfire, but he is a blast. I wish I had more time to bring out his full potential, but I hope to someday show him!

What's your favorite horse sport? Do you cross train in other activities?

I have always had a great love for dressage. I think it's an amazing sport and I think it will always be my favorite riding style. Of course, I also enjoy jumping. 

I work at a barn that is almost solely western pleasure and hunt seat pleasure horses. It has been a huge challenge for me to get used to, they are almost all spur broke, which goes against all that I have ever been taught. The riding style is also different. I showed a season with them, and while I really enjoyed it, but I have recently gotten back into dressage and I still think the others do not compare!

Who else in your family rides?

My sister rides occasionally, but not as often as I am sure she would like. My mom used to ride with her mother when she was younger, but doesn't really ride anymore. My dad has never even liked horses. 

What's your proudest equestrian accomplishment?

I tend to be proud of even the smallest of accomplishments, but I think my favorite was last year. I showed a palomino from work in halter, and hunt seat pleasure, I have never shown either before and it caused me a lot of anxiety. He is a halter horse, not really built for riding and was so lazy and explosive that I really struggled at first. By a couple of shows in we really hit our nitch! We ended the year with high point in AQHA and Palomino Halter, Hunt Seat Pleasure Senior horse, AQHA and Palomino, and did well in most other events. I think I was so proud of him, just because I know how challenging it was for him to work correctly even a little. 

What is your lowest moment as a horse owner/rider?

I always hate when I get super frustrated with a horse. But I think the one on my mind right now is a situation at work. We have a really nice 11 year old AQHA that has such a great mind. He began showing lameness late spring and we were unable to really pinpoint where it was coming from. Months later, MANY vet visits (numerous vets) and we are still unable to find the exact cause. He is arthritic in his neck, fetlocks, and hocks and he has graduated to powder puff for the time being. I am sure that he will not be comfortable even in pasture forever. I feel like I haven't done enough for him, even though I know this isn't true... that really sucked. 

He is sooo handsome!

What is the most important small thing you learned in a lesson?

Oh boy... I have learned so much that I think of as important that this is a challenge for me. I think the one thing I think has impacted me the most is the lesson I learned about my own mindset. I used to get so frustrated if things did not go the way I though they should. It took me a long time to just go with the flow and to know when it was time to just get off. 

Do you have any riding rituals or superstitions?

No, not really. 

What are your short term goals for your horse/ you?

My main goal for myself right now is to take a couple of lessons to get my excitement about riding up again. My goal for Addie is to get her going well enough that she can doing even training level Dressage again. (She used to be doing well thrid level, but I do not expect this at all.) Pepsi... I want to get her carrying herself better undersaddle, and wouldn't mind doing some low level showing with her and Java!

Long Term goals?

I want to own my own horse property, and be showing at least one of my horses at least first level. 

If time and money were no object, what is your dream horse vacation?

I am a homebody... my dream vacation would be time off to ride my own horses!

What kind of horse activities were you doing 10 years ago?

I was taking lessons twice a week, and riding my own horses a whole lot more than I do now!

What kind of horse actitivites do you see yourself doing 10 years from now?

I hope to just be happy with my horses, but I would be so happy to own a horse I can show again without worrying about lameness. I would also love to be working with horses more often than I do now to help afford my own!

What is the quirk about your horse that you like the most?

I love that Pepsi is so people oriented, she sticks her nose out for kisses, and sticks her head on your shoulder. Java has an awful head toss out in the pasture... he does it when you lunge him and he doesn't like what he is being asked to do. I think it is hilarious. 

Sometimes I think that my life is to busy to even own my horses. But I really don't know what my life would be without them.
Work this year has been so busy and exhausting that I don't even know how many times I have been able to ride my own horses. I have been riding a bit at work, and I have attempted to ride my quarter horse as much as I can. The other two have unfortunately been sitting for a bit, and I really can't wait until that changes.
I went to another show this weekend and of course not riding does affect how well we do.... We actually got 3rd in four classes, with a 4th in another. I couldn't have asked more of Pepsi, she did everything I asked her to do, but nothing can make up for a lack of time in the saddle.
I really hope to change this soon, I want to ride my own horses more often, and just need to work hard to make that happen.