This should probably be an actual page not a post. Yanno so i can look at it all the time with it starring me back in the face every time I see my site, for motivation. Not that I need a ton, im a self motivated person. I’ve been a freelancer for the last 12 years. When I was a fancy shmancy art director in La La land I learned right quick to hit your motherfucking deadline. Of course that means you have to manage your workload, your clients expectations and make sure you buffer in for the unexpected. Setting goals is no different. The expectations you are managing are your own, the unexpected buffers you need to build in could be injury’s and changes to your time-line. This is kinda management of ideas, thoughts, actions and deeds is what i do on the daily. Oh and If i don’t hit my deadlines, i don’t get paid so I’m pretty good at it. So on to the goals…
Horses:
Buy Circe her own saddle
She needs her own stuff. Jez’s saddle fits her really well but i don’t like her having the hand me downs and seconds like shes the red-headed step child. She needs her own and i’m going to get it for her.
I don’t think a Hermes saddle is in our future but a girl can dream
Convince Blaine to come to MD a few times this year for riding instruction
I love Blaine (Blaine Orris Eventing), hes a great teacher. I learned a lot from him in the short amount of time I took lessons before he moved to PA. I did see he’s had some clinics in my area so I’m going bug the crap outta him in the spring until he relents and makes the drive. Sure getting him down here will cost a fortune but eh, its only money.
Show Jezebel
Yup, thats right I’m going to show her, okay it will probably be a local schooling show but its a start and Besos needs to learn to handle shit like that. I have no Idea what I will show her in though. Working hunters over teeny tiny itty bitty fences maybe?
If there are ribbons for cuteness we will surely win
Get Jezebel trail ready
This one might be harder as I only have one person to ride with and shes probably putting her horse up for sale. Jez has been great on the trail so far, especially for a horse who’s only been out a handful of times. I’m super impressed with her ability and potential. She needs miles on the trail, lots of miles and she needs exposure to scary things like traffic and other scary trail things. I also will need to get her out alone since its pretty clear I will have a lot of solo riding in my future. I used to ride my old mare Mercy alone in the Hollywood Hills for hours and i enjoyed it a lot though riding solo was a byproduct of not having friends at the small private barn I moved her too. I came to be super confidant on her out there alone in the wilderness. I want the same for Jezebel. This is also a byproduct of not really having trail partners but it is what it is. I did it before, i’ll do it again. It’s funny how life comes full circle.
Get Circe ready for my better half to ride her
Its no secret that i got the second horse so that my amazing better half could ride with me. Took me a year of “suggesting” he take lessons until he relented and hes doing great. Circe is his horse, well shes mine and his. He works too much to really be a full time horse person but you gotta hand it to him he gets it. Love me, love my horses. In 2014 i’m going to step up her training so that she will be able to be ridden by a intermediate rider. Shes got the right attitude for it, her heads in the right place but she needs more training and more miles. So thats happening.
Red-Heads Rock!
Keep both girls healthy in 2014
Having to rehab Jez though her injury sucked and i hope i don’t have to do anything like that again. Cuz it sucked…did i mention how much it sucked?
Keep me healthy in 2014
My injury sucked as well and i still don’t have full use of my left hand. I don’t know if i ever will. (been practicing holding the whip and the reins in the left, taint easy) So i’m going to do what i can to stay healthy and uninjured.
Personal:
Take more pictures with the real camera
I rely too much on my iPhone cuz its easy. I did go to a well respected and way to expensive art school and i do have a minor in photography but that iPhone is sooooo easy. I did before moving here to MD actually get paid to take photos. Granted they were in a specific niche that isn’t available to me out here much and i shot mostly people. I’m rusty and lazy so i’m going to force myself to shoot more. To that end i’m buying a new lens to motivate myself.
Make more friends
Moving to MD was one of the hardest things i ever did. I’m happy i did it. I moved for love. The back and forth from west coast to east coat was killing me and my better half both. However its been really hard, its had lots and lots of challenges. I had a lot of friends in LA, I was ingrained in my neighborhood and my local watering hole. I quit a magazine job to move here, i left my family, my friends and most of my possessions behind. I had lived in LA my entire life and i had a very full life there. Making new friends is never easy, the older you get the harder it is as well. Add to that I’m a touch unconventional. I have tattoos, pink hair (sometimes its red, sometimes its too many colors to count), i curse like a sailer, i don’t have kids or own a home. Though that was common for my circles in LA not out here in the MD burbs. I didn’t do what other people my age have done, and i work from home. It makes finding Peers hard. I’m resolved to make new friends, people i can relate to on several levels (not just horses). This is a goal I will likely fail. Cuz the other part of this is, people piss me off and i have no patience for crazy, stupid, dumb…
Yup, pretty much
Okay so thats it, all obtainable and if i don’t hit any of them i don’t really care. As I’m not married to any of it. My better half could get a job on the other side of the world and id pack up the horses, the dogs and us and drop it all to move to where ever. I don’t stress over things like this, I set them i achieve them unless circumstances are out of my control. I’m very clear on what i can and can not control in my life. So i don’t sweat it. I stress about the health of my horses and money. Pretty much thats all everything else… is manageable
Sunday is my regular day with my trainer, its the day she works with both horses, yanno providing the weather agrees. Today it did not. Everything was still, snowy, frozen and for a little added bonus we had off and on again freezing rain. Training was canceled, well try again mid week. Sunday is also the day my better half takes his riding lesson. They have an indoor so if the roads are clear class is on. The roads were clear. I like hanging out at his lessons, the last two sessions (they go on 10 week sessions) i met people i really liked and keep in touch with. One is using my trainer to work with her 11 year old daughter and the appendix she keeps at home. I really enjoy meeting other horse people who are not connected to my barn or my insulated horse world. This time around my better half’s class mates are less serious then other sessions. Which in turn there are less serious family members for me to hang with and get to know. So this dismal, wet, gloomy Sunday i decided to wonder around and take some pictures on the farm while the lesson was going on…
Wardaca is a pretty well known facility in my area. They do horse trials there, have a big indoor, several outdoor arenas, miles of trails and a X-country course that you can school at (its on my list of things to do) My better halves instructor is pretty great and ever so patient. A really great quality in a beginning instructor, though i think she teaches the uper levels too. So I grabbed the real camera and wondered around the grounds….
Paddock
This guy was pacing around the paddock right by the indoor arena. You can see the track he created. It had just started to rain a little and its as if he was trying to get the attention of anyone to let them know he needed to be brought in. Pacing and pacing and pacing.
Helmet rack
Wardaca is also a big lesson barn and you don’t need your own helmet to ride, they can and will let you use one of theirs. They also teach a ton of kids and have a summer camp. I think id pass on ever putting my head into any helmet frequented by lice cariing children.. My better half uses my old Troxel trail helmet. Its super nice but i found it heavy after only wearing it a few times before i bought a lighter helmet.
Standards galore
A plethora of jump standards, just standing there by the back entrance to the indoor arena. I covet having that many standards just laying around to use. They had cleared the ring they are usually set up in. My guess is to stop the daredevils from trying to jump in this terrible weather and footing. You know someone would do it too. Snow jumping… heh
Rails!
Rails exposed to the elements
A big head of brightly colored rails, i wanted to stick them in pocket and sneak off with them. I love the great colors and how they mix it up some. When i get my rails for my new jump blocks in the spring i want to paint them wild colors. I think its great how these rails look so well worn with use. They do a lot of jumping at Wardaca, the rails prove it.
Then it started to rain for real and me and my camera were getting mega wet, so I high-tailed it into the observation room to watch the end of the lesson and saw my better half cantering down the long end of the arena on his regular lesson ride Grace, a read-headed draft cross. He was sitting it rather nicely, it made me smile.
Snow day
When I got the the barn it was all covered in a soft white layer of fluffy snow. It looked beautiful but I know better it was cold out there. My car temperature gage read 23 degrees. Thats cold for this Southern California girl. I was prepared, I had all the clothes on. I thought maybe I’d ride Jez as Circe hasn’t been ridden in a bit due to her sore hoof. Tina was working so the trail was out. She’s my trail buddy and Jezebel isn’t ready to hit the trail alone, we’ll get there eventually but right now its just not possible. I checked out the ring and it looked usable. They snow hadn’t turned to ice yet and it was all fluffy on top. It was worth a shot. Then I almost ate it on the driveway..hard… more then once. The ice on the ground was treacherous. If i couldn’t get my footing then i wasn’t about to take chances with my ponies. Its going to warm up a little tomorrow and theres rain in the forecast with probably means the fluffy snow will become slick nasty ice and my training session for both girls will have to be canceled. Canceling training for weather is the thing i dislike the most these days. Weather.. boo!
I decided to grab my real camera which was in the car and head on down the the field with my ponies, take a few snaps and see if i could get anything good. Jezebel and Circe were both happy to see me and wanted treats and snuggles. I played with them both and snapped away but part way though my impromptu photo shoot Jez decided that she was the only one who could be next to me and that she was top fucking horse. Thats my girl! I managed to not get kicked in any of the horse politics around me and i got a few good shots of my horses in the snowy field. It was fun running around the field with my horses taking pictures and playing with them, i simply have no words to express the joy I feel when they let me know I’m part of the herd. I had on my nifty fifty lens. I love that lens to pieces It makes everything look beautiful. However I’m getting a new longer lens in the next couple of weeks so I can shoot the deer herd next door and the ponies from further out and I can be more sneakier shooting them and get better stuff.
Oh and in other news I joined Pinterest. I don’t quite get it, I mean its like a prettier Tumblr with less nudie shots but none the less I’m giving it a go to see if i like it. I had been resistant cuz really theres too much social media in my life as it is but if you are on Pinterest let me know so i can follow all your horsey stuff and other wise.
Okay on to the results of my on the fly shoot.. Snowy farm day!
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- Jenny and Suzy
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- Horse politics
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- Give us a kiss
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- Icicle light
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- Look ya in the eye
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- Jump around!
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- Oh its you!
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- Kara the Icelandic
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- Horse politics
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- Snow face
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- Leopard feet in show
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- Hay vending machine
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- Snowy mounting block
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- Haze was visiting
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- Me and my shadow
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- CIrce chillin’
I met up with Tina early. The plan was to get out on the trail before the snow hit. It was cold. I was wearing all the cold weather stuff.. i mean all the stuff
My jacket is lined with fur from this Muppet. Really!
SmartPak’s SmartShape Base Layer Tights. I got them on sale a while back and had yet to try them out. Over those i had on the Kerrits Power Stretch Winter Tights. For socks I had on sock liners and Smart Wool crew socks from REI. I hate spending that kind of money on socks but my feet were toasty at least for a while. My boots were my Ariat paddock boots. No half chaps, i own several pairs i never wear them, i just collect them i suppose. Moving on up to the top of me i had on the SmartPak SmartShape Base Layer Crew Neck, which I also got on sale and is now out of sock, a regular Tee-shirt and my jacket from REI with the bright blue Muppet fur on the inside. I scored this on the clearance rack for about half off, so it was only one arm and not a leg. (freaking REI). I wore my ear muff head band thingy under my helmet. For gloves i ride in the Roeckl Winter Chester Riding Gloves. It hurt because i didn’t buy them on sale and they ain’t cheap, but my fingers are always warm and with the hand injury, my left hand can get pretty painful in cold weather.
Tina and Sabs, No really!
Tina also dressed like a snowman and I tacked up our girls and headed out. Jez was up and hot the whole trip. Not unmanageable, happy to be out on the trail but really very up. We rode along the fence lines of neighbors until we got into the woods. It was a fun ride, both girls were behaving for the most part. We got all the way though the woods and out to the first street crossing, i considered just going for it even though the street is a busy one. But then the trucks came and Jez had a little baby spook. Cantering in a circle. Ugh. I brought her right back but i decided not to attempt the crossing. I want to take her across when i can sandwich her between two solid calm horses. I don’t know if that plan will work out since Tina is the only one i go out with so i’m devising another plan for street crossings that involve a different street thats closer and some hand walking etc.. its still in the works but i’ll get her traffic safe soon enough.
Jezebel and me.. riding. For reals!
We decided to head back and took a different loop around though the woods and ended up at the big hill. Its really kinda a big hill. Tina asked me if i was up for it and what the fuck id give it a go even though it looked super steep from where i was sitting. Tina went up first and half way though Sabs needed momentum to get up and started to canter. Jez and i were behind and then Jez needed the momentum so i let her do what she needed to get up the steep hill. The footing was dicey in a couple of places and we slipped some but hot dam if she didn’t get my ass up that hill and not freak out. She was happy and i was safe, thats a win/win. I looked behind me and that angle is freaking steep as shit. So we continued on and went back out the woods and then on to the farm. Jez crossed some deep puddles that were covered with a thin sheet of ice, and happily walked though mud holes. (whose horse is this?!) back at the farm we decided to ride in the ring some since our trail ride was mostly at a walk. My feet were pretty frozen at this point but the rest of me was warm and not feeling the cold. It was a good ride and both Jez and i had fun. I was having so much fun that i forgot to take pictures of anything. Doh!
Good thing we got the ride in early because as i was getting ready to leave the barn it was flurrying and my farm owner was pulling out the heavy weights because the next days high was predicted at 10 degrees or something and thats with out the wind-chill factor. And snow it did, all evening and into the night theres about 6 inches sticking out there right now and the wind is blowing bringing it down to feel like a toasty ZERO degrees and who knows when i will be able to ride, its going to be this cold all week and everything i’m sure is frozen solid at the barn… so I’m not even moving from this spot… nope ..nope …nope.
The Circe Effect
She was lame when i pulled her from the field. Mary (Willa) was helping me catch my ponies because my trainer was going to work with them both and i was running late. (Go figure) i could see her stepping short on the right hind. Nooooo! Not the right hind! Okay this wasn’t Jez but Circe, but the right hind freaks me out because i just spent be better part of 2013 re-habing Jez on the right hind. I brought her into the barn and checked out the leg. No heat, no swelling, not cuts, no scrapes, no reactions to any palpating, no nothing. When Michelle showed up she rode Jez then we turned out attention to Circe. We tacked her up and Michelle walked her on a lose rein. She looked short to me still in the right hind and Michelle could feel it. Decisions, decision, should we try to work her a little and see if she works out of it or put the mare away. I decided to put her away, give her some bute and see how she was the next day. Day two, still lame. Not as lame as the day before but it didn’t get worse. I gave her bute, soaked the hoof and kept her in with instructions to keep her in the next day. I called my farrier who was going to come out the next day (A Sunday her day off, have i mentioned i have the best farrier in all of Maryland? cuz i do) and put the hoof testers on her.
Soaking her foot and having some mash
The hoof testers reveled nothing and my farrier said it was unlikely she was blowing an abscess. There was no localized spot that was bothering her on the hoof but she was kind of all over sole sore. She was turning well and my farrier said she was just barely lame on the right hind. So more improvement. I showed up to the barn end of day and gave her bute again with instructions to keep her in another day. Mary who owns Willa said she saw some horses in the mare field running around like idiots the day Circe came in lame and and one when down in the slippery mud and she thought it was mine. Of course it was mine.
Yesterday when i got to the barn in the AM Circe was in the field, i brought her in and she looked fine. Not short on the right hind, walking sound. Hazar! I didn’t bute her but i kept her in for the rest of the day just for good measure. The field is a muddy slippery mess and id like to set her up for success. Im going to chalk this all up to a strain, or a sore foot from the frozen ground. She’ll get regular turn out but a few days off for bad weather and then back to work for Miss Circe! Oh and this while thing made me rethink not getting her insured until the spring. I was going to do that to save on a little cash (Xmas hurt this year) but fuck that. Im getting her insured ASAP of course as soon as i do she’ll never take a lame step.. cuz thats how that shit works most of the time. Eh…Its only money….
Super pony!
Its the last day of 2013 and I went down to the barn to ride Jez. I went early because in the afternoon i was going to watch an evaluation of my friends OTTB Wasabi. Tina is thinking about selling Sabs and she had to work today so I was to groom her and get her ready. That meant i needed to get my riding out of the way early. Jez greeted me in the field and was happy to be lead out and up to the barn. Both her and Circe had been in all day the day before. Circe is on stall rest and Jez stayed in to keep her company. I brushed them both and tacked up Jez and took her to the arena. I love the barn early when no one is there. Its very quiet and serene with no distractions. I mounted up, no fight at the mounting block today and started to put Jez through her paces. We walked trotted and Jez was happy to be working. The peacocks were making their terrible peacock honking noise and Bossy Pants didn’t even bat an eyelash just kept working. I then made the decision to try to canter Jez.
I know that seems like no big deal, but i haven’t cantered her since i got injured. My trainer has been working with her and shes has her canter balance back and shes got her cues down pretty good. Shes been taking both leads well. (better to the left) shes also been bucking a lot into the transition and that kinda worried me so i’ve been holding off. That was until today, today i said what the fuck and asked my horse to canter. If she bucked then she bucked i was determined to ride though it. We trotted, i shortened my reins and asked for the canter and Jez complied, she didn’t buck but she did put her ears back like she was going to, ha!. Im sure my balance wasn’t the best, but she hauled me around the ring on the correct lead. Yay Jezebel! We sustained it for a whole circle then i asked her to come back down to the trot then to the walk. I figured id stop a winner. Jez took good care of me and we got that first canter since the accident out of the way. In theory my insurance should come though tomorrow (though thats been a nightmare of its own and i have yet to see a bill) I’ve been waiting until i was insured to give this a go but its the last day of 2013 and i had no more excuses it was time to suck it up and canter the damn horse.
I was pretty happy with the whole thing and i’m looking forward to regaining my balance at the canter, learning to ride though any bucking and Jezebel learning to jump. Oh yes, jump school is coming. I bought the blocks this morning, they are being shipped and should be here in a week or so. I have the poles picked out and my farm owner knows its all coming and i’ll need a place to store it all. My trainer thinks Jez is ready both mentally and physically to learn to jump. Woot. Bring it on in 2014!
Water water everywhere…
Jezebel is not a fan of water. At our last barn on one of our very first trail rides she jumped over a water crossing (seriously like a inch of less of water in it) so she didn’t have to get her pony tootsies wet. She also hates mud or more specifically mud holes. So it was raining and I trucked on down to the barn to check on the girls who I knew were in because of weather. I put on Jezebels rope halter and we went for a little walk down the drive way. She was a very good girl, especially for being couped up all day inside. We grazed and walked until I was too cold and wanted to go back to the barn. On the way back i noticed these huge standing water puddles, I mean giant like little ponds. It rained really hard over a short period of time, water puddles happened. I wanted to see what Jez would do, if I kinda guided her to walk in the puddles. To my amazement she walked right into them, they were a few inched deep covered her whole hoof in some places and it was muddy and gross in there. My brave girl waltzed right in and stood, then she put her nose to the water and played with it with her lips! By George i think shes got it! Then to my surprise and delight she started pawing and playing with the water. Well thats not exactly water scared now is it. Gold star for bossy pants.
I got pictures.. kinda sorta, I was a little late pulling out my iPhone. I wish i had video of her playing in the water. Warmed my cold bitter heart. When i got home i relayed this story to my better half, i was giddy with delight he was all “whatever” i cant blame him poor guy gets the horse report every day and hardly ever bats an eye about it. I marveled at what a different horse Jezebel has become. Oh shes still opinionated and bossy, shes still curious and into everything, she still thinks shes the sun and the rest of us revolve around her but shes also brave as shit and has a cool “Yeah, I’ll give that a go” attitude. Going from a horse that would jump a ravine to avoid water to playing in it? Well hot damn, what a great rainy day surprise.
I couldn’t sleep the other night and i was flipping TV channels and i came across the Millionaire Mustang. They were playing a bunch of episodes in a row so i got sucked in to watch it. The premise is this, a handful of “cowboy” trainers buy wild mustangs from BLM and have 120 days to train them. Then they go to the big show where they have a few days of prelims. They do basic horsemanship, reining, trail trials and the top 20 go on to do a 3 and a half minute “freestyle” where they show off the horses skills. Last year this was won by a guy who did stunts with his mustang.
So I’m watching and they are buying their mustangs at auction. So far so good, though why you would pay 3k for a un-broke, unpredictable wild mustang is beyond me but I digress. Then the show gets dicey. I should have known it was coming because they are all “cowboy trainers” but its still shocking to me when i see someone take down a horse with ropes .. yanno to tame him. Or tie them by the neck from a lariat rope so when the wild horse gets upset for being neck tied for the first time he cant throw his head to the ground, he can only choke and hang himself yanno until he complies. I hate that shit, i hate that bullshit cowboy crap with a passion and seeing it on my TV didn’t make it any more palatable. Getting to know the trainers and their personal stories, like the one chick who kept taking about how the holy spirit was in the wild horse and Jesus this and Jesus that and had a half built house on her property from last years second place win. Or the divorced dad with the two twin boys (who could barely complete a coherent sentence) who were training yearling’s for the under 18 slot, didn’t make their techniques any more reasonable in my eyes. One guy (who didn’t make the top 20) actually said his style was to “force the horse to softness” i fucking shit you not. More like torture the horse into compliance and break his will and possibly his neck into softness.
I’m not a fan of cowboy trainers. Which is not the same as natural horsemanship trainers though i don’t always jive with their hocus-pocus stuff. Some natural horsemanship trainers have some good ideas, i wouldn’t want throw the baby out with the bath water. You take what you can use and toss the rest. I love Buck Brannaman. I think hes got a gift. Hes the original horse whisper. I’d take a clinic with him if it wasn’t 1500 bucks. Some people have those kinds of gifts like Cesar Milan does with dogs, i swear dogs actually talk to him. But for every legit trainer with a gift theres some yokel trying to make a name for themselves by being cruel to horses. So back to the show… they don’t show a ton of the training techniques my guess is because the public would come down on Nat Geo’s advertisers if they really knew what was going on. They showed just enough to make my stomach turn though and eventually they go to the big show and some get eliminated and others make it to the top 20. Its called the Mustang Millionaire but theres no million dollar prize, top dollar is 200,00 and the winner wasn’t one of our cowboy trainers (spoiler!) but an old time ranch hand who’s freestyle was demonstrating cutting on his once wild mustang with a live cow. Second place was last years winner who again did a stunt, the horse climbed a freaking tower while he carried the lone star state flag. It remind me of the diving horses that was popular at amusement parks at the turn of the century. I half wanted the horse to just dump him from the top of that tower. The anger i was feeling over this show wasn’t helping me sleep in fact i stayed up into the wee hours of the night hate watching it.
The worst thing about a show like this is that there will now be naive people who will seek out these horse tortures and the popularity of “cowboy trainers” will rise. If you love horses don’t watch this show it will only burn images into your brain you would wish you could forget later. Two giant hooves down.
Im ready, lets go!
It was a beautiful day out today and my trainer was able to come out to work with the girls. The barn was quiet and i pulled both girls out of the field and got them ready. Jezebel was up first and did much better today. She always does better when she’s busier working and I was able to ride yesterday and the weather was good so we got in a good ride together. She still takes a long time to warm up but not as long as when she had too many bad weather days off. She was looking good at the trot and didn’t give Michelle to hard of a time. When it was time to canter, her upward transition was better but she still wants to either throw her butt out or her shoulder out at certain spots in the arena. Ask her to canter in a place that she thinks isn’t the “canter spot” and get rewarded with a buck. Though her bucking was to a minimum this time out its still there. I have resigned myself to learn how to ride them. I’m a little scared but as soon as i get conformation that my insurance has come though im gonna start bronc riding and by that i mean making Jez work at the canter.. bucks and all. Time to channel my inner fearless-ness. She did better to the left then to the right which is funny because it used to be the other way around. Shes getting it though, shes bending when asked (most of the time) holding her body straight when asked (some of the time) and shes got a steady forward pace. Good girl. She also seems really happy to be working which delights me to no end, my little baby Besos
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- Trotting
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- Beautiful day at the farm
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- More trotting…
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- Trot on by!
Circe I don’t wanna talk about right now. She didn’t get ridden today. Nothing too serious, I hope. Now that I think about it I better go make a payment on my credit card…ugh horses. More to come on her later…
It’s been a hard year in so many ways but also exciting and as always I did learn a little something. The beginning of the year started out great, Jez was learning to canter and not turn like a motorcycle and in mid March we started going out on the trails. It was going smashingly (even if she wouldn’t cross water) and then on April 1st disaster, my worst fall to date. One ambulance ride later and I was to be laid up for months. Jezebel didn’t fair any better seems I was bucked into the fence not because she was a bad girl but because she was herself injured. Right hind suspensory Poor pony! Seven long months of rehab were in order. It was a real tough 7 months. Jez going insane on stall rest, me feeling helpless to fix her. The ordeal was not made any easier by switching barns half way though Jez’s rehab. That was a nasty, ugly hot mess. Horse drama to the extreme but I learned that:
A. I don’t have to nor will I deal with crazy people and put up with peoples bullshit
B. I have more, a lot more support then I thought I did!
Jezebel was so resilient moving farms first to a temporary place at a friends house, then to her new permanent home that it taught me a little resilience too. I was awestruck by her ability to adapt and take it all in stride. She’s much happier at her new farm and so am I. I like that I get to be more involved in care of my horse. At crazy farm, everything was dictated to us on how everything was to be done. God help ya if you were to disagree with the management on anything. From the smallest thing like how you swept up after yourself, to which supplements you wanted to give your horse, to what vet you wanted to use. I didn’t know how stressful that place was until I left and experienced something else, something different, something better. Sure theres no indoor but theres also no bi-fucking-polar.
We finished our rehab at the new farm and I hired a new awesome trainer to restart Jezebel. Its been working out great and Jezebel looks amazing. I did everything I could during her rehab to set her up for success. Stall rest, shockwave, all why trying to keep her mind engaged. Id sit out in front of her stall and talk to her for hours and play with her. Hoping and wishing that she would in the end be all right and id get my happy horse back. I feel as if its paid off, as expensive and as hard as it was. She’s coming along great, her mind is settled, her body is getting into shape, shes learning new things, shes happy and healthy. I finally had a horse to ride, though I took it very slow with her at first as she wasn’t the only one who coming back from an injury and lets face it my confidence was a little shaken after that ER visit. The only thing i know to cure a confidence shake is is to get on the damn horse. So thats what I did (7 months later).
I might have taken the “get on the damn horse” theory a little too far when I decided in September out of the blue that I needed a second pony. The stars were aligned and Circe came into my life and it will be forever changed. Where Jezebel is hard, Circe is easy and vice versa. They both have so much to teach me. I went from being mount-less to having not one but two amazing, wonderful, challenging, adorable, very green, OTTBs to ride every… single…. day. Its been a year of challenges both emotionally and physically. A year of big ups and very low downs. A year of new people, new places and new horses… I come home from the barn exhausted, beat, tired out, drained but i’m happy. I’m very happy indeed.
