Houseguests...

I gave up a beautiful riding day on Sunday to help out my new houseguest.  Check out the picture:

The little border collie on the left is Gyspy, my father-in-law's dog. My in-laws are in Florida for the winter and Gypsy spent all of January at dog trainer's house.  We just picked her up on Saturday afternoon and she will be with us until the end of March! Yikes! I hope we all make it that long.

She is about 16 months old and is a total handful.  We live in a small-ish house in the city, with a small back yard. I knew that I needed to take her out to the barn to run while the weather was nice, because she was going to be cooped up in the house all day.  She is ok in the house, but she paces.

And paces.

And paces some more.  She has a few things to chew on - her favourite being a piece of deer antler - which  is one of the few things she can't shred.  She tries to be good but she just has so much nervous energy that she can't help the pacing. We have worked out a schedule where she will be walked 3-4 times a day, so hopefully that is enough to keep her sane.

She is also terrorizing my poor cats. The big cat is NOT amused and has retreated to the basement where he has food, water and a nice bed - he ventures upstairs at night when the beast is in her crate.  The kittens are a bit more curious and I think in a few days they will get along ok.  Somehow Charlie and Gypsy have come to some sort of agreement. Charlie isn't afraid of her and Gypsy walks by and turns her head the other way and completely ignores Charlie. Roxie is having a harder time - she and Gypsy stalk each other through the house - Gypsy tries to herd her, but if she gets too close, Roxie hisses and smacks her nose.  Roxie also gets to a high point and gives Gypsy the stink eye, making the dog nervous.  It is kinda funny, but kinda annoying all at the same time!

I'm watching you!

 It was a bit of a hectic weekend trying to manage 5 pets with different needs!  Hopefully everyone adjusts to the routine and calms down a bit as the weeks progress. I think Max is the only one that is truly happy to have another dog in the house!

Funny txt msg shorthand

I'm sure most of us are familiar with your basic online shorthand of words, right?

LOL - lots of laughs, or laugh out loud
ROFL - roll on the floor laughing
OMG - oh my god (goodness)

...and the list goes on.  Today on FB I saw a list of horse related short forms - thought you guys might get a kick out of it:

OOH - out of hay


LAS - lost a shoe

BBM - bastard just bit me

FOMHL - Fell Off My Horse Laughing

FTC - Forgot the carrots

MIHA - Mare's in heat, again

IPTI - I'll pick up tennis instead

LWW - Lesson went well

MSMBO - mud sucked my boot off

HSIH - Horse Snot in Hair

HAO - Hay All Over

HIMB - Hay in My BRA

PIHH - Poop Induced Half Halt

UD - Unplanned Dismount

PTTDG - Prayed to the Dirt God

MMM - Master Manure Mucker

OOM - Out of money

MHTS - More horses than sense.

BAHHFDP - bought another horse husband filed divorce papers

GBBF - got board bill, fainted

GFBF - got farrier bill, fainted

HRHCF - husband realized horse costs, fainted

SLH - Smell like horse

DQFOY - Dressage Queen fell off - yippee

HTNHFH - Hiding the new horse from hubby

WWFNS - Will work for new saddle

AROGC - Arena rained out - going crazy

SSB - saddle sore butt

BTLGR - b###hy trainer left - good riddance

ALIGAR - At least I got a ribbon

NLT - No lesson today

HGR - Have a great ride!

Post-vacation wrap-up

Well, I'm not actually that upset about my vacation being over.  I love to travel, but I also love being at home with my pets and my routine...  :-)  I was feeling a bit burnt out before Christmas, as I hadn't had much time off during the year.  I took a bunch of days during the holidays to be with my family, which I really needed and this current 10 day trip was a great (WARM!!) break with my hubby, which we really needed - (even though part of the trip was with my in-laws...)

We spent a couple of days in Ft. Lauderdale before heading out on a 7 day Caribbean cruise. I love seeing the Caribbean islands, but as for cruising, I could take it or leave it, to be honest.  I found myself feeling a bit trapped on the days at sea.  The ship had approx 2800 passengers and at least 1000 crew members. It was a small floating city.  Every where you went, there were people.  Most people were friendly and there was lots of "where are you from?" going on.  Every time I sat down somewhere I seemed to attract little old retired couples from New York City!  I didn't mind talking to them at all, because I love a good NYC accent - until one lady started telling me her medical history! Yikes!  I  get people telling me their life stories alot when I am out - I guess I have a friendly face or something. I also have a hard time making excuses to get out of awkward conversations!

I'm glad to be home - travelling, while fun - always reminds me how lucky I am to have what I have at home.  I'm not rolling in money (saw lots of that) nor am I extremely poor (also saw lots of that).  Here are a few pictures - lots more on facebook if anyone is interested...

The dining room on the cruise ship...modern and huge!  The food was delicious, but I'm glad to be back to regular fare.

Our first sunset at sea - this might be Miami - can't quite remember...

Arriving in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The old fort  - Fort San Felipe del Morro - dominates the view.

I really liked San Juan - we only walked the old city, but it was really interesting.  I love history, so learning about the places I'm visiting is interesting for me.  Richard and I walked several miles that day, exploring the old city together.  In fact, I took more pictures in San Juan than I did anywhere else.

Inside the fort...

Interesting old crest

The view wasn't too bad...

Me standing in a little guard post - there wasn't much room inside.

Fun with the zoom

 The beach at Philipsburg, St Maarten (St Maarten/St Martin is co-owned by the Dutch and the French)

We then took a taxi to a beautiful beach on the French side of the island. The view was nice, the sand soft and the water warm.  It was a nice relaxing day.

Our next stop was St. Thomas, in the US Virgin Islands. Another beautiful spot - we quickly ditched the city and headed out to a nice beach. Richard was able to do some snorkeling here. He saw several sea turtles, as well as rays and lots of colourful fish.  He even saw a barracuda!

Waves hitting the shore on a rocky section of the beach

All in all, we had a relaxing trip.   I even ordered Rusty's breastplate from Jeffers Equine and they shipped it to my hotel in Florida. No tax and free shipping - gotta love that!!

Checking in

Hi everyone - I just thought that I would try and do a short post on my iPhone. So, please excuse any typos!

I'm sitting in the Ft. Lauderdale airport and my flight leaves in an hour. I think they are going to have to drag me kicking and screaming on to the plane!

We had a nice break though and in all seriousness, I'm looking forward to being back at home. All of my furry little friends have been carefully tended by my Mom and I'm looking forward to spending the day with her tomorrow before she heads home.

I bought Rusty a present on my trip - a nice Weaver leather breast collar - itmatches my bridle and I think he'll look pretty spiffy in it. I'll post some pics when I get out to the barn next. I'm sure the security people will find it interesting when they scan my luggage! It has lots of metal and rivets and will probably show up s a funny shape. Although, I'm sure they see all kinds of weird stuff packed in peoples suitcases!

I haven't had much of a chance to check in on eveyone's blogs, so I'll be getting caugt up this week. More later when I get home!

Do roan and plaid match???

I made it out for another ride yesterday. It had been snowing for two days straight, so I just decided I might as well go and see what happened.  Often, the day after it stops snowing is really cold and windy, so I didn't want to wait to try and ride... (and I was right - today is freezing cold and windy!).  

I didn't mind riding in the snow, since it would give me an opportunity to try out my new (used) wool quarter sheet that I found at the bottom of a pile of ratty old blankets at a tack shop.  I love second-hand tack and try to buy used stuff where I can. I had been meaning to pick up a quarter sheet for a while, because I think they look cool.  Of course, sometimes the problem with buying used is that you don't get a lot of colour selection.  I wouldn't really say that the red plaid matches his coat, but I don't really care. I won't be using it much and it is more to amuse me than anything.  

We trudged around the fields with Richard and Max happily following along.  I think my dog loves snow more than any creature I know. He rolls and runs and digs in it like a mad man. I'm glad we are able to take him out to this barn!

I tried to get Rusty to pose for a picture in the snow, but he didn't really want to stand still for long. So, I made him practice some turns on the forehand while we waited for Richard to take the picture.  I didn't get him to take too many, since it was cold and snowing heavily...

You can't really do too much "riding" in this weather - the footing was ok, but not great.  You could probably trot the edge of the hay fields, but I didn't really feel the need to bother. Rusty and I are on winter vacation until the snow melts, so this was just a fun ride (and probably my last for a couple of weeks, since we leave on Friday for our trip!!)

A New Year's Day ride

We have had some pretty unseasonal weather here over the past week, so I decided I had better get out to the barn for a ride while I could.

It was damp and foggy, but Saturday's temps were above 0C and I think it even made it up to 6C (43F) for a few hours!

The footing was mostly good, although there were a few spots that had a bit of ice. Rusty was happy to go around those and so was I.  Although, at one spot along the trail, he stepped around a chunk of ice and put me into some wet cedar branches - that wasn't the worst of it - one big branch hit me right in the arm and it took alot of strength to push past it - a smaller rider might have been knocked out of the saddle!

 We didn't do much but walk around the fields. It was nice to be out in January and not be freezing cold! Rusty was feeling a bit fresh, which probably makes him like a normal horse, since he is pretty laid back most of the time.  Today is my last day off work ( boo!) so I'm hoping to get out for another ride later this afternoon.

We even had some greenish grass out near the paddocks. It is such a novelty to see any grass in January that I gave Rusty a few minutes to have a little snack...  :-)

Merry Christmas!

Just popping in here for a quick post.  I finally have all of my holiday shopping and wrapping done.

We are getting ready to leave Friday morning to head down "south" (more south-west, really) to see my family. I'll be down there for a week, so no horse time over the holidays for me.

I think Rusty will be fine.  The BO's daughter just texted me a photo of Rusty wearing some reindeer antlers...  Something to make me smile while I'm stuck at my desk.

I hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas and gets to take a bit of a break from work to relax and spend time with pets, ponies, family and friends!

2010 is winding to a close

I can't believe how fast 2010 has blown by!  I can't say that I've been particularly busy, but time sure does fly...

As the snow, cold and darkness roll in, my riding season winds down. I went from riding 4-5 times a week, to 3, to 2 and now I am down to 1x a week.  Darn darkness and snow!  I have 2 more lessons before Christmas at the old barn and then I won't be riding there again until February, if the weather cooperates.  It is often just too cold to ride much here in January, even with an indoor arena.

I hope to be able to get in a couple of rides on Rusty here and there, weather permitting. I really want to try riding bareback in deep soft snow.  I haven't done that since I was a kid.  

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I have 2 weeks and 2 days of work left before a nice 10 day break over the Christmas holidays!  I can't wait - I haven't had much time off since May, so it will be time for a rest from the routine.  I'll be back at work for 2 weeks in January and then we are going on a cruise! I haven't had a warm vacation in a few years, so we are really looking forward to that.

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I just realized that this post is all over the place - I have lots of things floating around in my mind, but no one topic is really worthy of an entire post - so you'll have to bear with my disjointed ramblings for today!  :-)

I was playing around with Google Earth the other day - it is pretty darn cool.  I was zooming in on my house and my childhood home and then I realized that you could use it to map out distances. How cool! I decided to zoom in on the barn and see if I could map out some of my riding routes.  I mostly ride on our farm, as well as the occasional trip to the farm next door.  Next summer, I'm hoping Rusty's feet toughen up a bit and we can expand our travels up and down the gravel roads at the front and back of the property.

I was quite surprised to see that some of my longer rides were over 8km (just under 5 miles), with some heading closer towards 10km (6.2 miles) (when we did a few extra laps of the track).  Here is the google earth image - I just took a screen capture of our (approximate) route.  I feel pretty good about my riding this year - I had Rusty in pretty good shape by the end of the summer.  Next year, depending on how things go, I might look into seeing if we can get off the property for some sort of long charity trail ride, a hunter pace or something like that.

Have a look at our cool map!  Rusty's farm (100 acres) is the long narrow part and the neighbouring farm with the 1/2 mile track is on the top left corner. 

Although I've had a few minor hiccups with the care at this barn, the hacking is pretty darn good, compared to most barns. I have one barn in reserve if things go downhill with this place. It is a bit farther away from home, but they have more property and more access to outside trails.   I don't want to have to move again, so hopefully the little problems at this barn remain minor and nothing big happens.

What my horse does when I'm not around

I have had a fairly quiet week - which is kinda nice.  My Mom was here visiting last weekend, so that occupied most of my time. I did manage to drag her out to the barn to visit Rusty.  I have some pictures to share, but I'll save those for later in the week.

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Being a boarder is kinda hard sometimes - you often have to drive a good distance to see your horse and because of this, you are often just there to ride. Grab the horse, groom, ride and leave. That is my typical situation.

Every time I arrive at the barn, I see something similar to the scene below: horse butts at a round bale*.  Rusty is an older gentleman and is turned out with 3 old mares and a pony mare that is of an undetermined age and is also half blind. They are normally a pretty quiet group - munching on hay all day and strolling around a bit for a break.

Today, the barn owner's daughter was out doing chores and she caught these hijinks on her cell phone camera:



Rusty is in the middle of a rear in the center of the photo.  The old standardbred mare on the right looks on with disgust.  The pony has a look of "what? we weren't doing ANYTHING. I SWEAR!!!"  In reality, the pony had been galloping circles around Rusty and he was playing with her. 

Receiving this photo today, even though it is blurry, made me smile. 

*sorry for the poor photo quality today. Pics were taken with cell phones and no amount of photoshop work could really make them decent.

The best laid plans...

This is what we woke up to around here - well, minus the sun, of course!  I know it isn't much snow, but what you can't see from the picture is that there is a layer of ice underneath...  We had freezing rain overnight and it switched to a light snow around 5:00 this morning.

I have a couple of precious hours off work this afternoon and I was hoping to go riding.  The sun may melt the ice enough, but it is hard to say whether it will be safe to ride or not. Either way, I will be going out to the barn to check on Rusty.

I also had big plans to ride both weekend days right up until Christmas - now I'm wondering if that will be possible!  Ice is such a pain in the butt... Snow is quite manageable and even looks nice, but ice just about ruins outdoor plans (unless the ice is in your drink in the summer!)

Luckily I am still doing 2 lessons/week at my old barn, so I'm getting in some riding.  Rusty is just sitting around chowing down on a round bale and getting fat!  Lucky him - that is probably the way he prefers life these days. 

I hope all of my American friends had a nice Thanksgiving!  All the talk of Thanksgiving has me craving turkey...guess I'll just have to wait another month until Christmas...  :-)

PS - for all of you tack shopaholics out there, I've found a few Black Friday sales:

- horseloverz.com has 10% off everything and free shipping on orders over $75US or $150CAD
- equestriancollections.com has free shipping today only with the code BLACKEC on orders over $100.00
- rods.com - 20% off selected items
- statelinetack.com - $10 off $100 order, $20 off $150 order
- ecoliciousequestrian.com - free shipping on orders over $75

Wordless Wednesday

A nice weekend

So, after a few stressful weeks, I had a great weekend!  The weather was cooperative - which is a big deal this time of year - and I was able to get in three rides . I rode Rusty twice and had a lesson on Saturday afternoon.  We also came close to finishing some minor renovations in the basement too! Now that is my kind of weekend!

My ride on Saturday morning wasn't great - Rusty was a bit stiff or just not in the mood to work. So, we just had a nice quiet hack around the property, with a bit of cantering down the long hay field and called it a day.  Saturday afternoon was another lesson. I was only doing one lesson a week, but the barn owner offered me a second ride for free on Saturdays! I jumped at the chance, seeing as how she has a nice indoor arena.  It will be a great way to keep riding most of the winter. 

With daylight savings this past weekend, it is a bit brighter in the mornings, so I found myself wide awake at about 5am. I did some housework and by 7:30am I was ready to get out to the barn to ride.  (yes, I am an annoying morning person!)  We have a small 1/4 mile grass track at the farm, so I used that as my warm-up. (we don't have a fenced riding ring) On the way up to the front of the property, we worked on some trotting pace control - that type of exercise seems to help me work on my balance and rhythm and it keeps Rusty busy.  I had fun working on some of the stuff I have been practising in my lessons.  I also had some really nice canters, as well as turn on the fore/haunches.  I was even able to work on a canter transition from a turn on the haunches - which in my mind is kind of like a slow-mo rollback. It was pretty fun.   We then walked back up to the barn on a nice loose rein. 

Rusty's thrush is almost gone - there is still a bit hanging on in one hoof - anyone have any treatment ideas? I'm using Kopper Kare (the green smelly stuff) and I was wondering if there is anything that works better?

Friday, Finally.

I'm very happy to see Friday roll around this week.  As I mentioned before, things have been a little stressful around here.  By last night, things were looking better. *Phew*!  I had a lot of stuff going on this week that I am glad is now over.

Monday, Max went to the vet to have his teeth cleaned and they need to pull a couple of his little front teeth. He was a sad, sad boy when he got home. The kittens were obsessed with smelling him - I guess the smell of the vet clinic was interesting to them...  He is fine now - I really need to take a picture of his new "smile" without those front teeth - it is pretty cute! 

Tuesday was the farrier appointment - my "spy" at the barn reported that the teenage girl showed up on time and paid the farrier, but she didn't have her horses trimmed. She didn't tell the farrier in advance, so he showed up expecting to do 2-3 horses and only did one. Nice.  I then found out from my "spy" that this girl wanted to start using my farrier, since the barn owner and the old farrier were having problems getting money from her. They wouldn't hold her horse or book her in unless she was there to pay.  The pieces of the puzzle are slowly coming together.  So, I left a message for my farrier saying that he would only be trimming my horse from now on and this girl would have to make her own arrangements with him (if he was willing) or with another farrier. I don't want to be associated with someone that cancels appointments and doesn't pay people. My farrier is my horse's key service provider and I don't want to have to find someone new!!!

Wednesday, I had a written test for a job I applied for. It was 3 hours long and fairly easy. It was a lot of government communications "blah, blah, blah" stuff, which I'm fairly good at writing. So, we'll see if I get an interview out of this one.

Thursday - I had a riding lesson.  I usually take my saddle and my helmet with me.  With all of the other stuff going on, I didn't have a chance to get to Rusty's barn to pick that up. So, I had to borrow stuff from my instructor.  My lesson started out ok, but I was having a heck of a time getting that pony to bend to the right. She was trucking around the arena with her head  and neck all counter-flexed.  *sigh*  I'm hoping this riding stuff gets easier at some point!

That brings us to today.  Work is calm and quiet, my animals are all taken care of (so far, anyway!) and I don't have any plans for the weekend - except riding - which is just the way I like it!!

Serenity now!!!!

Things have been a little stressful lately here in Littlekeebler land.  It isn't all cookies and treeforts...  :-)  We have had a bit of a family crisis with my brother in law and that has been tough on everyone. The poor guy is having a huge breakdown and really needs our help. We have spent the last few weekends helping out and tomorrow we drive to Montreal to pack up and clean out his apartment. 

*phew*

I'm glad we are all close by to help him - give your friends and family a hug, an email or a phone call to tell them that you care - you just never know what might happen and when you will all need to jump in and lend a hand.

Add some barn drama to all of that and I'm just a little stressed.

*Serenity now!*  (Everyone remembers that from Seinfeld, I hope!)

Here's a clip:



The barn owners are not 100% up-front about things. I've come out to the barn a few times lately and found Rusty's stall a total pit. I mentioned in my last post that I cleaned it myself - I did and have no problems doing so, but when you are told that stalls are cleaned every day and you show up to find a mess, it's a bit discouraging. I have been fighting a bit of thrush in Rusty's feet and I'm sure standing in a messy stall (I'm talking 2-3 days worth of mess) doesn't help. I've talked to them about it, but just get a bit of a runaround.

I'm also relying on a teenager at the barn to hold Rusty for his next farrier appt.coming up on Tuesday. She is a good kid, but a bit flighty. Last time, she had one of her two horses trimmed by my farrier. She happened to forget to bring some money with her (!) so I paid for her trim. To pay me back, she has promised to be at the barn AND pay for Rusty's trim as well as her horse's. I'm going to leave some cash in my locker for the farrier in case she lets me down, but I have to try and trust her on this. I tend to like doing everything myself, but I can't leave work this time to make it to the barn. (Darn job!)

Sorry for the rant! I didn't realize that I had this much to say!!

On Wednesday night, I went to the barn for some time with Rusty. When I arrived, I got him out of the paddock and found that his stall was a mess. Since it was a nice day, I let him loose to eat some grass behind the barn while I cleaned up. When I was finished, I went out and sat with him for a bit. I was planning on riding, but I think I just needed to sit in the sun and enjoy listening to him munching on the last bits of grass. I sat there in the fading sunlight for an hour - turns out we both needed some quiet time.

Here is a short video - nothing exciting, just a horse munching on grass - which has to be one of the best sounds for us horse folks...

Max, the kittens and some other random blatherings... :-)

I had a great ride last night - it was a perfect fall night - the kind that keeps most people indoors.  Not me!!  It was hovering around 5C and windy, with some dark clouds threatening rain (but it never did rain, it seems).  It was the kind of evening that also kept all of the other boarders at home. I had the place to myself and had a nice ride - even if Rusty was a little reluctant at first!  I even got to play "barn" when I got back - I cleaned Rusty's stall and fed him his dinner.  The barn owner's daughter has a new baby and wasn't able to come out and do chores until someone got home to babysit, so I was able to take care of my horse myself! 

I was able to make sure he was all settled in to his stall - I realllly miss doing barn chores - sometimes I think I like to do chores and watch people ride more than riding myself sometimes!  That is one thing (of many) about boarding that bugs me (in my situation) - I rarely get to take care of my horse in the true sense.

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Not much else is going on, so I thought I would post a few kitten pictures. I haven't posted any in weeks!  Max (the dog) is adjusting to the kittens, but it is taking time. They like to torment him a bit - it is hard not to laugh at the dog - seeing as how he outweighs them by about 60lbs!

They climb on Max's dish when he is eating. I normally shoo them away, but I let it slide this time for the photo opp!

They attack him when he walks by the couch... They even try to steal his bed.

Sitting on my laptop - where it is nice and warm...

I don't mind when they play with Mr. P - he can handle them pretty well. I actually think he enjoys playing with them most of the time!

The dog's water must taste better or something...

And finally, I heard rattling in the kitchen and when I went to inspect, I found this! Both of them can now jump onto the counter.  Roxie was all curled up in a pot.

It is pretty funny to see all of the things that they get into!

Hope everyone is having a nice weekend!

A trail ride and some pictures

We've had some beautiful fall weather mixed with some rain and it has been pretty nice to be out riding most days. We had our first real frost (in the city) today, so I'm prepared for more cool weather from here on out. I dug Rusty's blankets out of the basement and need to take them out to the barn soon. I like to wait until November to start blanketing so that Rusty can get a bit of a coat in first.

Last weekend I went on a trail ride with a bunch of people from my barn, as well as the barn across the road. It was fun - there were about 16 riders in total. Unfortunately, the pace was a bit slow. I can't believe I'm writing that, but just walking now is kinda boring for me! Rusty was a total trooper though. He really is a "horse's horse". He is fine alone, but really is happiest out in a group. He marched along with a great swing to his walk. He is fine at the front or bringing up the rear. Towards the end of the ride, 3 of us got separated from the rest of the group. I was going to trot/canter to catch up with them, but the other 2 ladies were a bit nervous and only wanted to walk. So, having been in that position before, I decided to hang back with them. Rusty was good, but he was really walking fast - I love it when horses have that fast, back-swinging walk - I think it is a good workout for them...

Here are few pictures... (let me know if they are cut off in your browser window...)

Rusty in his new bridle

After the ride, we stopped by Rusty's paddock to say hi to his pasture mates. He is turned out with 4 old mares and a pony!!  The geldings are too wild for him - he always gets kicked and beat up if he is out with younger geldings!

A shameless attempt at getting comments... :-)

Sorry for the lack of posts around here, but I've been outside alot enjoying the nice fall weather!

I wanted to make sure to post today though, as a way to shake out a few extra comments. 

Wanna guess why???

It's my birthday! 

(gotta love lolcats!)

I'm not usually the type to announce my birthday and make a big deal out of it all, (especially now that I am officially over 35!) but I don't have much else to write about, so I figured you guys wouldn't mind.  :-)

I tried to scrounge up some old pictures of me, but the only one I have here is a scan of a picture from my 1st birthday.  I also found an old picture of me on the mare I had as a kid - "Tar" was an appy/welsh pony cross.  I would have been 12 in this picture, almost 13.  I think we were riding in a parade for the local fair or something.

Well, that is it for me.  No big goals for upcoming year or anything - just trying to keep my head above water...  I hope to have a new horse-related post in the coming days.

Happy trails!

Back to school for me (...well, sort of!)

Fall is here in full swing - the leaves are just starting to change; the temperature dips in the mornings and evenings;  kids are back at school and  parents rejoice.  lol.  I always loved school - I was a bit of a nerd that way. 

My foray back into learning doesn't actually invovle a real school, luckily.  I have started taking lessons at my old barn!  I took the summer off to have fun and canter around like a hooligan and now it is time to start working on polishing my riding skills.  I have a good amount of confidence back, so I think the time is right to move forward and see where that takes me.

I had my first lesson this past Saturday and it was fun.  Alot of stuff to work on, but man it was fun. I was riding an adorable APHA pony (about 14.1hh, solid buckskin for those keeping score at home) named Charm.  She has the cutest little western jog that I can actually sit to!  Imagine that!  (this is Charm with another student riding her last year...)

I was getting so frustrated riding Rusty in Western lessons - he just isn't built to do a slow jog or a lope. He is bouncy and kind of rough to ride in a ring setting, so I wasn't really making any progress.  I think I've found the perfect job for Rusty - he is a super trail horse and a great baby-sitter.  He has been a good companion this summer...more on that in a later post.

I'm really hoping to make enough progress over the fall and winter so that I can try some shows next year!  This pony has been shown a couple of times and my instructor would love to take her out more, but didn't have many students riding western this summer.  So, that is an exciting goal for me! 

There is a great series of local shows that are really beginner friendly.  We also have a bunch of nice fall fairs to try my hand at.  I think this situation will be a great way for me to try showing without the expense of buying a show appropriate horse AND show tack, on top of trailering... (which costs an arm and a leg!!!)  I'm feeling really positive about all of this, so the fall/winter should be interesting!

A fun ride (with photos, for a change!)

Edited to add:  I was wondering why someone thought a picture was cut off... Turns out I was using x-large pictures in blogger and not all browsers can do that!

I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend - I sure did!  We had a busy weekend with family and I managed to get two rides in as well.  I also convinced my hubby to come along and take some pictures. I think Rusty looks great, but I could use a bit of help. lol

I went out to this barn this morning as rain was forecasted for the afternoon (and it is raining right now!) so I'm glad I got my ride in before the weather changed.  We went down the long hay field (about 1km) and then over to the stable across the road to ride on the track.  I am not the most confident rider, but after riding on a track a few times, I can sort of get why people like to go fast.  It is really fun - and that is on a 20yr old Appy!  I'm sure riding a TB or something would be just incredible...if you had the nerves to do so.

Getting started - trying to pose for a photo. I don't like having my picture taken, but this one isn't bad, I guess...

The one shot of Rusty in this field where he didn't have his ears pinned. What a guy.

Nice Monarch butterfly shot - my photographer got distracted.  :-)

Cantering through the hay field - not sure why I brought the crop today - it just got in the way.

Trotting back to pick up the photographer.  

Having fun on the track...The track needs to be harrowed, but the footing is still decent.

Not bad for an old guy!  Not sure what I'm doing with my right arm here...trying to flap it and make us go faster???  lol

So there you have it - finally some pictures of me riding Rusty.