Holiday Travel

This past weekend, BF and I went up to Spokane to visit his family for a late Thanksgiving. Now that I am on a farm, I had to hire a house sitter for the first time. One of my trainer's students also house sits from her when I can't so I decided to call her up. Shes only 17, but she rides horses and I know her personally so I could really make amends if she screwed me over.

And unfortunately, that is what I am having to do. She thought it would be fun to throw a party at my little farm house in the middle of nowhere. Because she is stupid. I came home to find all my alcohol bottles emptied, dog piss and poop in the living room, an uncleaned litter box, and a shitty cover up 

job on the damages. 

I mean it wasn't that bad, but when I am paying someone top dollar because I care that things get done well, and see that they haven't been done and my house is fucked up, I'm pretty pissed. She did not supervise Belle very well which explains the dog pee aroma and dried dog poop by the couch. My couch had stains and wet spots covering 2/3rds of it. All of my paper towels, hand towels, and half the TP was missing. A lot of personal items had been put away incorrectly. It just makes my skin crawl knowing my stuff was messed with and they couldn't even put it back in the general vicinity. 

At that point, I was tearing through everything to use as evidence. I went through my trash and found a ridiculous amount of empty alcohol bottles that weren't even mine. It appeared something red must have spilled somewhere (or everywhere) and that's why all the absorbent materials were missing. 

I've spoke with both my horse trainer, her, and her mom. I'm glad I didn't leave her any money and now I'm going to be sending her mother a bill for the cleaning and missing alcohol. Stupid bitch.

Seriously?! You can't even bother to make sure you don't leave any HUGE red flags???

Gambler's Route

Inspired by Emma's Post I decided to dig up Riesling's pedigree again. I tried to do research on his sire in the past, and reached out to the current owner but never heard anything back. I looked a little closer and was actually surprised at something I never realized before.

Riesling's is pretty foreign! I never noticed that on his sire's side that most of the horses are not from the US. Regular pedigree followers probably find this super boring, 

Also a cool note, it looks like Fabulous Champ was originally from Idaho! I suck at digging anything up though, so I'll definitely need some tips! 

Vogue

Next Wednesday I scheduled a photo shoot with Riesling! I've been wanting a picture of him with the black background for awhile now and a local photographer was having a discount to build her equine portfolio. 

I've started saving some pins on pinterest of shots I want to mimic, but tell me, what are your favorite looks? Yes I will be going against drs orders and be riding and out of my boot. But realistically I'll just be bareback and probably only without my boot for like 15 minutes. #diditforthegram

P.S. Enjoy these ~magical~ pictures from when I first got Riesling and thought I was a photography master

Woody & Buzz

These guys are bffs. Sherwin the kitten and Belle the pupper. So cute I can't handle it. Time for the weekend! 

November 10 Questions

Thanks again to L for sharing!

How old is the youngest/greenest horse you’ve ridden?  I was thrown on a BUNCH of fresh off the track thoroughbreds when I was like ten. I was in a round pen and have NO idea how anyone thought this was ok. This was when my mom and I were looking to buy a horse.

How old is the oldest horse you’ve ridden? I'd probably say Czoey (because I have terrible memory) and she is 23.

Were you scared of horses when you first started riding? Not initially, but basically when I started getting more serious (wtv, weekly lessons). I cried 24/7 and I have NO idea why I was still so obsessed with wanting to ride and being around horses.

Would you say you’re a more nervous rider or a confident rider? Recently I've turned into a confident rider, but BY FAR most of my life I've been the nervous rider. Probably within the last few years and riding some problem horses I've gained confidence.

Biggest pet peeve about non-horse people around horses? The fact that they just don't get it. They don't see how hard it is and what makes it so worth it. A lot of people I know compare it to golf because it appears easy and is super expensive. Or explaining to people why you still take lessons. Sigh.

A time you’ve been scared for your life? (horse related) I'm thankful I've mostly forgotten all of them but the one that sticks out in my mind is the accident I had with Blondie. I was so terrified constantly. Other than that, I'm sure there was some but I don't remember what they were.

Have you ever fallen off at show? What happened? At first I didn't think I had, but one I remember distinctly was at a schooling show. I was riding my mom and I's new mare, Scarlette. She was a HUGE, GORGEOUS thoroughbred mare. Unfortunately she just was too much horse for me, and absolutely terrified of shows. Couldn't figure out why. We had constant schooling shows at the barn growing up so I was getting ready to enter a class and was standing outside of the arena. We had borrowed an old girth from someone because ours were all too small. Out of nowhere one of the elastics snapped and she LAUNCHED into the air. I fell HARD on the nicely compacted dirt outside of the arena. It hurt like hell. She bolted and ever since that incident I REFUSE to use old girths. I just don't trust the elastic. I had a friend get on her and try and take her into the next class and she at least made it a few strides into the arena before the mare reared and crowhopped her off. We sold her after that.

What’s a breed of horse you’ve never ridden but would like to ride? I really want to ride like a cob or Fjord or something. I've also never ridden an Arabian.

Describe the worst behaved horse you’ve ridden?  Well that would be the mule-headed-thighmaster. It isn't that he is super hot or flighty, he is just SO DIFFICULT. The first few rides were absolute torture. He has so many aids and is so lazy and dead-sided. I was trying to pick up a canter the first time I rode him and ended up doing tempi changes for a few strides. He always requires a whip and the rowel spurs. But now that I am more schooled, he respects me and is fairly easier.

The most frustrating ride you’ve ever had? This whole year I had a lot of really frustrating rides on Riesling. He was super flighty and wanted to buck. He was nearly always pissy about something. The other half of the rides he would be lame. They were by far the hardest times for me. But the most frustrating ride I had was my first USDF show two summers ago. We were really well schooled and I was PSYCHED to be showing off my guy. We even hauled to the arena a week prior to school and he was fantastic! The Friday before the show he was super hot and I couldn't lead him or ride him. We switched up his tack and tried checking for body soreness. He just could not horse. I gave him bute and had body work done the morning of the show and he seemed calm as a cucumber when I walked him to the warm up arena. However, as soon as I got on he went straight up with me. This horse had NEVER reared before this show. I instantly dismounted and cried. I was so devastated that we couldn't show after all that hard work. He spent the weekend just hanging out at the show (we already had paid for the stall) and relaxing. I did manage to get a quick catch ride so I only lost one test entry! Overall the weekend redeemed itself but that definitely was the most frustrating ride for me.

Nose sniffs

Ries says shes alright. Happy Tuesday y'all! 

Belle

I'm so obsessed.

Mini Me

My ohone died when I started taking pics so expect more on the horizon!! 

Coping

I had a post written 100% about being whiny and having feelings but that is super lame. So instead I want to share what makes me happy and helping me get through not being able to do jack shit.

1) Knowing Riesling is sound and that I put so much effort into his happiness has paid off. It'll be a little while before we are back into work unfortunately, but at least I know he is happy and sound. 

2) Reading. I'm always trying so hard to do things that when I can't I have so much beautiful time to read on theories and applications. I am so eager to apply this in the saddle.

3) Online shopping. I love good deals and I'm relatively poor right now so saving money and getting things are a double whammy win for me. 

4) PUPPER. It is seriously killing me waiting to go pick her up. Plus, I should be able to get a leg up and get to hack around bareback on Merlot! Also I can sit in the baby horse pasture and force them to love me. Animals really are my entire life. Tomorrow is going to be epic (either fail or win..regardless entertaining). 

Sad

Riesling was cleared to go back to work today and he was a happy dragon! Unfortunately I just got my MRI results back and I am out for atleast another month. It looks like I bruised 4 bones in my ankle pretty badly and have to go back to non-weight bearing. Literally sobbing. And screaming. And chugging wine.

Elevator Music

I feel like my blog is so boring and on such a standstill. So just try and get through the boring elevator music for just a few weeks more, I promise fun is on the horizon!

Here is a little life update:

Riesling: Riesling is cleared to go back into work 100%. I threw him on the lunge for my vet and homeboy was rocking and rolling. Normally I have to chase him so this was really exciting to see how good he was feeling!

Baby Z: He was a turd yesterday for getting caught for his fall vaccines. I can't wait to put more baby training on him when I get this dumb boot off. He is huge and in another awkward stage. Much baby fat. I showed my vet his right fetlock deviation and he seemed 100% unconcerned for his future. Yay pony!

Rosewood Farms: We officially have a ranch truck! Her name is Donna. I'll show pictures within the next few days. The ranch is getting even more cleaned up and we are about 95% done with the facelift. Again, pictures are coming I just always wear yoga pants without pockets for my phone forget. Sammie will also be getting a baby sister! I should be going to pick up the little munchin this weekend. YAY PUPPERS. 

La Vie Est Belle

Thank you to all the wonderful bloggers for sharing some great books (and places to get them!). I have been so eager to read since I can't ride. I'm hoping to sink my nose into some books I've already purchased over the weekend and share my thoughts about them on the blog.

This picture comes from the book Stephanie recommended, Training the Young Horse: The First Two Years. It is one of the very first pictures in the book, and I immediately was intrigued by the lack of throat latch. I think it is safe to say we are now familiar with the brand PS of Sweden and their ground breaking innovation of not using a throat latch on their bridles. I thought this was a rather fascinating find from the past! 

I've only gotten through the first few pages of the book but so far I'm definitely intrigued. My immediate expectation after reading the title was that this is the training for a horse from birth to two years. However, this book is actually the first two years of full on training and recommends this for horses who have not been started around the 3 to 4 age bracket. I'll share more interesting information as I come across it, but the intro to this book gave me a great first impression. 

What other books do you swear by? I have the hunter manual from George Morris (that needs to be read) and a few basic books from when I was a kid, but just because I can't ride doesn't mean I can't learn!  

The beginning

Alright y'all. Here we go! I survived turning 21 last night. I'm at work today and luckily not hungover! My sister threw a little party for me last night and I had a great time. There was a jello shot brain and a birthday cake with nice man butts on it. I guess this means it's time for me to be a real adult now! 

Oh and I forgot to take a picture in my costume but I dressed up as Regina George. It was great.