GAH

I haven't jumped my horse since July 3...

Horse trials this weekend...

Leaving Thursday now, not friday...

2 papers and 2 assignments, 2 shifts of work yet...

oil change needed in the truck...

115 heat index....

I  might esplodsies.

Due Dates and Horse Shows

WOW. I am absurdly horrid at due dates apparently.

In the past week I have missed the due date for 1 paper, 1 exam and completely F'ed up this weekends event...

...yeah I assumed the show would just be Saturday and Sunday like EVERY SINGLE EVENT I HAVE EVER attended in the past 7 years. Nope. It is a 3 day event. Dressage Friday, XC Saturday and Stadium Sunday. Meaning I need to leave Thursday. Meaning I need to convince my boss to give me that day off too...meaning she will be pissed because I've RO'ed like...12 days this month already...ooops. and then I bitch about not getting hours on the days I CAN be at work. hmms.

I need to actually WRITE dates down and actually READ what I write in my planner...gah!

So, the Hunter show(s).

Hotness. Sweatiness. Tropers. Late nights. Wild children. Caramel Apples. Half gallon mugs. Horse sweat. Motorcross. More sweat.

For those who want to read further...enter...

Since my mind is SO scrabbled..I can't remember the days I showed so it'll be days 1-3.

Day 1 was hot and muggy. per usual in Missouri. But extra hot since I had to be outside in my breeches and tall boots. The shows start at 7 though, which is nice for the heat, but bad for pictures.

Yankee remembered the show grounds from the hunter/speed show last weekend, so he was pretty chill...even if he did look (gasp) kinda coat ugly and not shiny at all. Thanks sun.

Whatever mom.

Tracy and her mom had most of the rides that day on their mares (L-R) Billy and Grace. They showed quite a bit and did quite well! Tracy is your typical hunter/western rider. She enters everything and wins or places well in pretty much everything!

Tracy and her Momma

Yanks and I only had 2 classes so we chilled a TON. He was MUCH better on the show grounds and it was HELLA busy. It was fair week so motorcross was going on (LOUD) and tons of bratty kids were running about and lotso peeps were watching. He really could care less about them, he only gets hyper when other horses passs by him in the ring.

Strategy: stay in the middle of the ring to avoid idiots who cut you off and to keep the horse paying attention to moi.

It worked! His transitions were beautiful and he listened SO well! we came away with grand champ in the hunter division. Crazy since tropers (trantering lopers. you know, the head dragging, dead looking, lame looking QHs) usually kick ass...why, I don't know.

I've always had a tiff with hunter judges and people (thus why I quit) since usually the most lame looking, typey ones get placed high. BUT the judge liked Yanks and he was perfect, so obviously..we kicked ass at that show :) Won some Cha-Ching too...something EVENTING doesn't do....hardly.

Nice one Yanks. He was tricky and waited till we posed. Bad pony.

Day 2 i didn't show, but Tracy went to the fairgrounds, so my fridn Lindz and I went to STL and then I played with my pony :)

She was SO good! originally, I was just gonna ground drive her a bit, then drag the cart next to her since she's never been hooked up. However, she was so chill, I hooked her up. Then, I chanced it and sat in it as well! She was still like WTF ever mom. I'm bored now. I was proud!

My shiny baby pony!

Later that night tracy took me to the fair. and DAMN was it a fair! Nothing like the Greene Co. fair where I've shown. Its AWESOME. We stayed till 1am watching motorcross, tractor pulls and chatting. It was SO FUN!

Day 3 was actually not too bad heat wise and I was excited...it was the big $$ show and I was counting on winning some. Yankee was SO CHILL (which was my MAJOR goal in doing these-besides hangin' with the BFF) and I was happy :)

The first class was the water glass class and it was SO fun. All the others had gaited horses and Iw as the only one with a reg. horse, but he trotted so slow for me, I came in 3rd! Won like $15 outta that, ha! Pictures on FB if you're friends with me.

The other 2 classes were hunt seat or english mixed and there were so many arabs! The judge was an arab judge so even though Yankee was on the money and was PERFECT (amid the demo derby right next door and the Travis Tritt concert goin' on), we had no chance. Sucks huh? highest we placed yesterday was 5th, still outta about 14 horses, but the arabs ruled it. Silly arabs.

I was still amazingly happy with Yankee and how well he behaved compared to last Saturday, and couldn't be happier with him!

However, no more hunter shows for a while..they are tiring and not really my thing. Mostly I did it for Tracy...but I did get a nice trophy and some $$ out of it.

For now, Ponyface is getting sun/mon off, light jumping school tues, dressage run through wed then we leave thurs for Illinois for the LAST event on our ticket this year. I am super sad and mopy about it...but I am realy poor...hopefully I can do a few in sept/oct but we will cross that bridge when we get there.

My awesome half gallon mug I bought! I drank 3 of these yesterday (water of course, I don't like soda much).

More pictures of the show on FB!

Where To Go?

So, procrastinating writing this paper...

I've been thinking deeply about where to live after I graduate. I want to live in the (deep) south, but I HATE heat. But I LOVE the southern hospitality. The boyfriend is from the deep south, and his family is just so amazing. Nicest people, rib-stickin' food, scrumptious sweet tea, hospitality...

But I REALLY despise the heat. Like, really. There is AC for that, but the WHOLE reason I want to move to the south is for the horses. 

So, places to live

• Aiken, SC (or around Aiken)
• Louisiana
• Kentucky 
• Maryland
• Tennessee
• Pennsylvania
• West Virginia
• Ocala, Florida (or around)

Top 3 being,

• South Carolina
• Pennsylvania
• West Virginia

I've done some pretty extensive research on these 3 states, but I am sure as most of you know, moving is EXPENSIVE. And the BF and I don't want to risk moving willy nilly and not being able to get a job.

TONS of things are going into this decision. Community, crime, COL, weather (big one for me), horse community (Horse Trials, instructors, prospective clientel, etc)  the ground (for barns, arenas, etc), travel (from home, OH, airports, etc), schools (for future childrens)...etc etc 

I am ancy to move away from MO and OH (since Ohio is the asscrack of the midwest) but I want to choose the right place for us. I LOVE cool weather, but I also LOVE the horse world. I am willing to give up my love for cool weather for the best horse community.

I am looking for an area that is rich with eventing, or dressage/jumping for that matter. A place where I can call home. A place where I could start up a business, wether it be with horses, art, etc. 

Any suggestions, readers?

Where do you live?

Whats it like, horse community wise?

I'm Melting.

Its SO hot.

Currently, 102 degrees.

110 with the heat index.

It was 103 yesterday, 112 with heat index.

I. am. melting.

And missing my horse.

I think I might die in the next 24- hours so if you don't hear from me, send out the search party. I have work from 10am-2pm, barn duty from 3pm-430pm (in the raging heat) back to work to cover a shift from 5pm to 9pm. Also, a 10pg. paper due by 11pm tomorrow, a 7pg. one due Tues, a 2pg. one ALSO due tomorrow and 4 sets of questions due by 5pm tomorrow. UGH. 

Thanks a heap prof for NOT telling us we had the 10 pager due tomorrow.  THEN from there, I am heading out to STL again to show my wonderous beautiful (hopefully calm) pony and that show will go till about 3 am....Friday we are hittin' the town GONNA SEE HARRY POTTER!! WOOP! The BACK to showin on saturday, that will go till 2am or so, then BACK to Columbia, with horse is tow, and I work SUnday night 4-midnight. OH mah GAH.

I might die. Or melt. Whichever comes first.

Hunter/Speed Show

Yesterday I got off work at 1PM and blitzed to the barn to hook up and head out. I made it to Tracys house by 3:30 and we headed up to the showgrounds after that. It was super crowded, there had to be at least 100 horses there. 

I signed up for the flat classes hoping he would behave and we could rock out like we used to, even though hunters aren't my thing. However, the hunters in my class were all jumpers or dressage horses, lol besides Tracy's mare, Billy, who won the hunter classes.

The tiny pony stallion! OMG!

Tracy tacking up BIlly for warm up

tacking Yanks up

small, small, small, XL

Both of the flat classes actually really sucked. Yankee thought he was on the track again and everytime a horse passed him he tried to bite them, or kick out or buck, so it was a beautiful trainwreck of 2 classes, ha. However, he had his moments....

...where he looked good. Tracy and I laughing at something.

When he loked good he looked great, but the judge told me in line-up she caught him all 4 times he bucked in one class, and the class where she was going to pin me 1st, she caught him the ONLY time he bucked. Brat!!! I was kinda mad just because I came to this in hopes he would get some show experience. Oh well, still had fun with Tracy.

My very red looking registered black bay TB, wtf.!

Kim, Tracy's mom, showing her mare, Billy.

So yankee got a huge break (like 4 hours) while the western pleasure was going on when I decided if he wanted to be a retard and run like crazy. Fine then! Remember when I said I wanted to try barrel racing in the spring? WELL. WE did!

HE LOVED IT! Too much...he started off great, fast, sitting on his booty, turning with the lighest cue, coming back from the dead gallop to a halt...almost like a QH, in ALL ENGLISH tack, ha!! All the Westerners couldn't believe I STAYED in the tack. Um, not hard when you KNOW how to ride! It cracked me up how terrible they were, balance wise. If they didn't have western saddles, or a horn, I am certain half of them would have fallen off.

There were about 40 runners in each class, 2 poles and 2 barrel classes. He was so quick, he was only about 5 seconds off the pro QH leaders. I was impressed that my big TB could almost keep up with the quick, nimble, tiny, QHs trained for this. He even switched his leads through the poles!! Crazy.

After a while though, he started getting kinda hyped up. for the 1st 2 runs he was fine afterwards, standing calm and cool like a gentleman. I was so happy! It was getting really late though by the barrels class (1:30AM), and he started to get bored, ancy and tired. I ran the first barrels and he was pretty bad, pulling on me, on the forehand, etc. His gallops were great, but since we were only doing this for fun, I didn't want him to stop using himself properly and running through my aids, so I scratched the last class.

Tracy and her mom

Overall, it was really fun and I hope next time he behaves a bit calmer...I want him to get better at enhancing his calm, but also, some cash payback would be cool :) Tracy finished and all I wanted was sleep and food. i hadn't eaten in 16 hours or slept for 21...I was pooped. We konked out at 4AM and today I got up at 10:30AM. Kinda tired.

Yankee is staying at Tracy's for 3 days, and he is getting the days off. Its supposed to be 105 with heat index of 112 till Wednesday...ZOMG!

The (real) Ponyface and Cows

Thanks AGAIN for the encouragement! I LOVE  my readers...might be doing a contest soon...heh. Stay updated!

For the 4th, Brandon (the ever amazing BF) and I went to see my BFF her her BF at her farm in Saint Louis. What better than eating and having fun with the best of friends right?

Seeing your pony!! DUH! Well, it was really great to see Tracy, but I hadn't seen my pony, Zephyr, since December. Tracy's mom graciously lets me board her there for free since I cannot afford board here in columbia for her too.

My fat pony is no longer fat either! Tracy's mom has her on a diet and a dry lot. She eats only hay, and always has fresh water available. I'm pretty sure she has lost AT LEAST a 100 lbs. No joke.

The very slim after pictures!

The very fattie before pictures....with my moms cow in the BG

She CAN be ridden :P

Z with my brother about a year ago

Z is 3 years old now, born in March of 2008. I bred her myself with the intent of her being a companion animal for Yankee. Also, she is trained to the cart and eventually I want to saddle break her. I've sat on her, but I'm too big to canter or trot or jump her.

The cows!!

After I played with Z and made sure she knew I loved her still, we went out to the cow pasture to feed them treats! Who knew cows like horse treats? Apparently it makes them friendly, and easier to handle come sale/breeding/calving/moving pastures time.

Haha, they were like enveloping our whole hands with their tongues! It felt funnnny! Disregard my fattie boomblattie midsection. Someone hasn't been working out.

Brandon is some sort of cow whisperer or something...they loved him!

Tomorrow, Yanks and I will be making the short trip to STL for the hunter show with Tracy. He will stay there till I come back the 14th for the other 3 day hunter show, I will miss him :/

Until nextime :)

How Would We Clothe Our Horses Without Ebay? And Other Things.

I am such a spoiled brat. Sort of.

Sometimes I wish I Didn't WANT things as much as I do. Because really, I have more than I need...most little girls don't ever get horses and I have two!

....But still there are things I would like. Is that a crime? And some things my horses need. Even though I don't technically NEED horses to live. I beg to differ, but by societies definition, all I need is food water and shelter. Whatever.

Not ebaying has been ...really hard.

But since my bank account is DANGEROUSLY low (like below $1000 total, omfg!) and I realize I was pretty frugal with my spending at horse shows and maybe 3 USEA shows (at about $700/weekend) in a month and a half just isn't a smart idea when you make minimum wage, HA. I only have 4 more shows planned until October...and they are ALL in July. More on that later.

So ebay. I caved. I bought the waterford. It has not been 30 days since I self-banned myself...for shame.

And I am still LUSTING after new duds. I reaaaalllly want a Charles Owen skull cap, silver please. A newer bridle for the hackamore I bought since I hate switching the reins from my XC jump one to the crappy 10 year old bridle the hackamore lives on. It is merely a convienance factor, but finding a legit bridle for $30 isn't difficult (I honestly just can't spare the $). I also really sorta need new tall boots but I have huge calves and freakish long legs and no retail boot would fit me...so custom is all that seems will work. great. I would like to get a better fitting fly sheet for Yanks, his is always hanging around his neck when I find him because the belly band is too large. I need  new laptop...school starts in a month, and that means new books...

I hate surprise bills too btw...I got my EPM vet bill from the vet. They said it would be $87....yeah $247 later...Also our windows are HORRID in my appt. and the AC bill was $193! For a 600sq. ft appt! WTF! I know a girl who lives in over 2000sq. ft and her bill was $100 less than mine. Wish the management would give us new windows...heres the horrible thing, they replaced all the windows of the appts. whose windows face the streets. yeah, mine doesn't.

Ok backing away from $$ problems. 

Did you guys keep up on the test event in Greenwhich? I sort of did. It blew my mind!! Look at these pics. CRAZY! I've never seen horses that close in the middle of the city.

Also, 2 of the shows we are doing are hunter shows. I know right, Crazy huh? Well, I don't think so; as much as I loathe the hunter world (no offense hunters) I think this will be fun. Let me say why I hate the hunters...they are usually quite mean. And not very good riders. Usually, I've seen great ones though but most are cruel to their horses, their people and other competitors. I rocked in hunters and therefore people tried to sabatoge me all time. How F****** rude!! And dangerous! Eventers are SERIOUSLY theeee nicest people and I will never go back to the A circuit. Luckily these cute hunter shows aren't A rated and I am doing them for fun with my best friend. They are $$ back and not much competition, so I am hoping to win some $. Class fees are only $5/class, which is crazy awesome. Also, this will give Yankee more show time. He is always nutso at shows, even after 6 years of it. Maybe a few more will help. Maybe?

The other two are Hunter Oaks in Illinois and the USDF Area 4 championships, both at the end of the month.

Excitement.

I am still pretty depressed about the whole $/still being at training level a 20 deal but your comments REALLY honestly DID help! I'm a natural sadsack and I tend to spiral into self pity parties quite often about some (seemingly) trivial things. Thank you to all 47 of my readers!