Tomorrow, tomorrow...

Hopefully I will still love P-man tomorrow....

The time has come, finally, for our spring season to kick off. The last week P-manhas been very good and very interesting. On Tuesday we did a cross-country schooling at a great place in Clayton, NC called Falcon Park - brand new schooling cross country course that was beautiful! THe P-man was good, not super terrrific, but good enough for his first time out.

We then spent the whole ride yesterday convincing him that cross country schooling was over and that he didn't need to travel everywhere going 450mpm...

We will be riding in the Continuing Education Clinic for Dressage Judges tomorrow morning, so hopefully P will get a chance to get over his species-racism before it counts on Saturday. The species-racism runs strong in Prophet, which may prove to be interesting seeing as the call it THE ARK for a very good reason - bring on all those animal smells, I've got Saddle-tight!

We begin our journey tomorrow morning at 6 am with John and myself heading south on good ol' highway 1. I'm sure there will be fun times to be had by all!

One week from now....

P-man's first event in over 2 years is one week from today! I'm starting to get so excited - especially since I'll be busy with alot of stuff this week, so hopefully it will hurry up and get here (sounds like Christmas doesn't it?).

Prophet has been so good lately. Unfortunately my new saddle does not (emphasis on NOT) fit him... re: he tried to buck me off and run away several times -- very non-Prophet-like... so it looks like I will be stuck with my old Hunter/Jumper Passoa. Sure it's not ideal, but it fits his back and will last us a bit longer. Other than that saga, he has proven that he's trying to be a big boy and may be up to my challenge yet! In my oh-so-brave mind, I figured that even though he's only run 3 trainings in his whole life, that we might as well start off with it after a two year break, right? We will see -- ask me a week from today.

On Tuesday I'll be able to get in a cross-country school which will tell me a lot more about where we are at. He's been so good here at home - very confident, maybe a little too confident, but that's how he rolls.

Oh, and exciting news!! We actually have an extended trot! Or at least the beginnings of one, which is something I wasn't sure this horse would EVER have, so we are super excited about that!

Ciao for now... will be updating on the progress throughout the week...

Updates Galore!

So things have been a bit crazy this last week, but I'm back with all sorts of updates! First off all, I am semi-not-unemployed any more as I was offered and promptly accepted a position with ThinLine! I've always like the product and have been doing some design work for them over the last year or so, and now I will be a honest-to-goodness employee. So yes, I encourage everyone to visit http://www.thinlineinc.com/ and see all the products available - it's not just pads! Seriously - check 'em out - do I sound like a salesman yet?

And on to the next update.....

About six months ago, when I moved my horses into my back yard, I was concerned about the lack of barn and shelter, but have since learned that my horses are actually HORSES and survive just fine out in the 'wild', and that I am resourceful enough to use my trailer tackroom as a storage/crosstie area (and P-man has learned to tie!). When I was in a boarding barn, one of my biggest fears was a barn fire where my horses had no way to get out. Well, Tuesday night, I realized just how happy I am that my horses are never 'locked' in a barn, as the building behind our house went up in flames. The horses are now desensitized to firefighters and lots of loud cussing, and they were actually bored with the situation as I took them to the far side of the pasture (because in my mind, fires blow things up, so we got as far away as possible). Luckily no one was injured, the barn was insured and we didn't miss American Idol thanks to the DVR!

And NOW.... P-man news!

First of all, my saddle came today! I am so excited to jump in it, but can't until Saturday since Proph got adjusted yesterday. I thought it might be a bit narrow on him, but after further examination, I realized that it's probably that every other saddle that I've had for him as been too wide, and to finally have a saddle that has 3 fingers space without shimming seems oddly strange! Yes, it is black with brown leathers in the picture, but really - I was excited and didn't have black ones handy.

Before being adjusted, he was doing great! He absolutly jumped out of his skin for me on Saturday, which felt so good as we hadn't really pushed it that far since his break began 2 years ago. It is truly amazing what a difference it makes to have a horse that it moving correctly into the bit and in front of your leg and then facing them to a large fence. He never hit a bad spot, even though we were lacking for poles so were jumping with no fillers nor ground lines. So. Freaking. Cool.

So the count down to The Ark begins... we'll be leaving 2 weeks from tomorrow and the trailer and truck got a washing and waxing today so we'll be riding in style...

Cows may be the scariest!

John gets the award for being the best non-horsey boyfriend this week.

Today he took the initiative to call the farmer about 1/4 mile down the road to see if I could do trot sets around the cow fields since I was whining about going around and around our field. He then decided I may need an escort since P-man can be a bit crazy leaving the farm, so he rode the quad along with us. Prophet was quite good down the road, barely flinching as cars zoomed by, however once we got around the farm - there was very scary machinery that of course we've never seen the likes of before. He got over it, trotted briskly over the hill behind the John on the quad when he saw the scariest thing in the whole world --- COWS.

The field of cows saw him at about the same time, which meant a mass migration towards us. Once I began to feel my brave event horse's heartbeat through my saddle, I figured it was time for me to bail and be a groundsman. We led around the farm for a while before adventuring back to our farm.

Now, there are times when, as a rider, I'm pretty sure I can see the horses brain leave its head, and the 'walk' back was definitely one of those moments. Luckily we had John and the quad as a blocker, but that meant we alternated between a blood pumping extended trot, and doing the "Ted" which is a nice canter-in-place out-of-control movement.

Eventually we had some nice flat work once we got back -- that is until he almost dumped me on the 'victory gallop' we always finish the ride with. I always let him have a nice loose canter around the field to finish off the rides and he decided to spook at John walking up the driveway. After a swift reaction, he went back to doing some great flat work (but I didn't let him have another victory gallop after the first one failed).

Ever the comedian he is....

Turning Points

So, it's been awhile only because my life has been a bit crazy!

First things first - Prophet's leg is fine... so all is right in the world. He just bruised himself a bit when he pulled the shoe and the inflamation was resolved thanks to a bit of bute and some serious icing and poultice.

Other than that - I lost my job that I hated! It's an interesting to be happy about being unemployed, but I think that these things happen for a reason, and by looking hard - I've found some great opportunities, that will hopefully all find their places in the next couple of weeks... more updates to come!

BUT the unemployed status has allowed me to be on a bit of vacations. Last week, I hauled over to the state park in Raleigh for a quick trail ride with my fellow unemployed friend, Amy. I say quick trail ride because we were trying to outrun an approaching storm, which we managed to successfully do - even with taking the 'long trail' and being out for 2+hours! The two horses were very comical and it's always nice to spend an afternoon with a horse person who also understands the "broke" status of being unemployed.

The weekend was spent in Baltimore around the horse industry of a different nature - details of which will be discussed later, but meant no riding - which also meant bratty pony today! He's so funny!