The BIg Red One

What a whirlwind this has been. I'm still in awe of how everything worked out so quickly and wonderfully and I can't believe I went from such a shitty outlook to such a positive one.

Gotta love rockstar parental units who take in their loser college grad spawn -__-

As most of you know I have been obessively counting down to the day I could go get Bacardi and it finally arrived on Thursday morning! I had to take my brother back to Cincinnati and then turned right around and drove all the way to Akron. A little over 4 hours..

My body had not yet recovered from the previous 10 hour drive so my day was powered by RedBull.

I was finally going to meet my boy in person! SO EXCITED.

When I arrived his old owner introduced me and we took some awkward pics together ( I am the LEAST photogenic person alive) before I  hopped on and rode him.

WHICH BY THE WAY HE IS A DREAM COME TRUE.

For a baby, he sure is a gem.

B was a little hyped up about all the commotion but still gave me some relaxing work at the trot and canter.

ThickSolidTight

All smiles

I was very impressed with what he previous owner has accomplished with him and was so excited to have the chance to work with this dime. I just kept saying over and over I love him I love him. Hahaha, NERD.

He's very inconsistent in the contact but is always forward and his natural gaits are on point. Can't beat that!!

Then we posed some more awkwardly

And then I wrapped him, and posed some more

By the way this beast needs SOME WORK on trailering. HOOBOY.

Lol those humans. I'm not gettin on that thing.

He settled right in with Yankee and they are now lovers. And I am the happiest girl on the PLANET.

The second he got home I chopped a solid 5 inches of straggles off that tail and now its WONDERFUL AND THICK. You know me and tails. It will be long and beautiful. IT WILL. He also needs some major groceries.

YEAH HORSE EAT ALL THE FOOD

The next day I took him out and lunged him because you just have to play with new toys and he seemed very relaxed and settled already.

I was blown away again by this big boy. L did such a great job starting him. Red man will go places in the dressage ring. That REACH DOH.

SWOON.

And then today my friend Chris came over to hack with me and the greatest picture to ever be taken ever was caputured...

My boys! I could die I'm so happy!

Stahted From Missourah Now We He'yah

For title reference please see rap genre.

That was a very wild 5 days full of driving and partying. 31 (YES THIRTY FUCKING ONE) hours driving, 1800+ miles, $900 in gas, about 4 hours sleep a night, one wild Memorial Day weekend float trip and many many beer cans later, Yankee and I made it to Ohio.

 Disclaimer: I do not drink and drive. Or drive while drinking.

I brought my personal belongings up the day before MemDWknd because I knew I had too much shit to transport at once.

Then I hung out with my bro and friends because he is deploying soon. Seemed appropriate.

Rowdy goons. I'm the one in the middle with the lions mane

My brother, bloggsphere. I love him.

Then I dragged my poor brother ALL THE WAY BACK TO MISSOURI to get Yankee and all his shit, which by the way, is A LOT more than you think when you're trying to cram it into a one truck and trailer PLUS 10 bales of hay. But we got it. Thank you Pony Club.

We were only there one full day but managed to squeeze in a dinner with my whole barn crew...

They were SO generous and got me a massive gift card to Dover! How sweet! I will miss them so.

Barn Brats

 We left the next morning (today) at 6 am sharp. Running on mostly no sleep.

Human, why you dress me in weird clothes

Halfway

Bro kept his friends entertained on SnapChat with "horse travels" as he called it. Pretty funny! Yankee was very chill the whole time and we stopped every hour and a half to let him rest. Went very smoothly.

He was very very very happy to get off the trailer and get out. He didn't run around, just rolled and ate lots of grass. Didn't seem too worried he is alone, but I know he will be happy to have Bacardi here.

Who, by the way, I pick up tomorrow!

Oh Hey Summer Heat Didn''t See Ya There

As I prepare for the first round of travels to Ohio, I do believe I might die of  water loss due to sweat.

I packed all my life into boxes, taped them up and loaded them into my horse trailer...all in like 90* heat. It. Was. Terrible.

Also, for a college grad, I sure have a lot of shit. The boxes take up both stalls, top to bottom...YEESH.

 Really though, Missouri is ridiculous. Just a week ago I was riding Miss Isis for Jackie and thought I was going to catch pneumonia from the chills.

I really am going to miss my Missouri family! Not only my college & work friends, but my horse friends. Back home I have ZERO. They've all moved on or are hours away.

No one to ride with. No one to take daily pics of my OTTBs. No one to share barn drama gossip. No one to hit the trails with...it makes me a bit sad.

I rode Isis for the last time and OF COURSE we fully clicked like magic. OF COURSE.

GAH MISS MARE BUTT SO CUTE

 Almost 2 years later and the horse and I finally get each other. That would happen.

She was such a good mare. Normally we fight the whole time because she gets displeased with certain contact and I never fully understood. No horse I've ridden was so touchy and it was so frustrating to me. She's very...picky.

I  can't really say what changed in our ride last week but she was amazeballs. Soft, round, forward and she jumped like a boss for me!

I was elated. LIKE MY FEELS WHAT EVEN

KNEES

Such a good mare

Mad hops right? She gonna go places someday in the jumper ring, I tell ye what.

Really gonna miss dat supahstah marsie. Especially now that we figured each other out.

Now I am just ready to have these two adorable dollfaces in my backyard. MAY 29TH HURRY UP DAMN.

Here's to a long ass drive tomorrow!

MOAR BABY FACE PLZ

SUCH HORSE VERY WOW

HOW MINE WHAT DO

Almost, Maybe. OK Its Me.

A few days ago I dragged Jessie to the barn to ride Yankee and see if she could figure out if his issues were real or not.

My conclusion,

Its me.

While we didn't do much besides a grid a small 2'9 oxer, he was perfect for her. Absolutely fine.

Much concentration. So try.

I got on and after the first round through the grid, this almost disaster happened because I can't ride...

SUCH FAIL

Yes. That would be us eating shit. Semi-rotational fall that I CAUSED because I can't stay out of Yankee's perfect brain. Causing him to trip over the fucking foot and a half crossrail, flail, take out three jumps and almost die.

I really don't know how we avoided even a scratch, but he was THE BEST HORSE IN THE WHOLE WORLD and stood up, shook off, checked on me, and we ran through it again NO HESITATION.

WHO DOES THAT. SUCH HORSE VERY WOW.

Horses are too trusting. I CAUSED that and even as we were falling to our almost death he tried SO DAMN HARD to fix the situation. Horses man. They are the best.

So I am going to take break from jumping Yankee until I get home to Ohio and can take a few lessons to fix whatever it is that is causing me to ride him like shit. Its obviously me causing him to refuse and jump badly because he was great for Jessie. Something in my position or brain.

I can jump other horses....just not my own apparently.

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IN OTHER NEWS.

I wanted to do a separate post on this BUT I AM TOO EXCITED.

Say hello to Bacardi.

uhhhh, HELLO tall, red and handsome.

And he is *almost* mine. 

A few more things to sign and a 6 hour round trip once we relocate to Ohio (MAY TWENTY EIGHTTTH) and all 17.1 hands of him will be in MY barn.

I have been obsessed with this horse since his current owner got him off the track and was DYING to have him.

I cannot EVEN begin to describe how pumped I am to begin my time with this horse. I truly believe he is something special. I saw something in him the INSTANT I saw him last September and was LIKE MUST HAVE VERY WANT..

2009 model, 17.1, 12 starts, $11k earnings. Northern Dancer and Secretariat on both sides, AND Bold Ruler. #OBSESSSED

BABY FACE BE MINE

F*** YOU HOCKS I HATE YOU?

Yankee has been a dream lately.

...on the flat.

He's turned into a monster over fences.

Yankee...such  asshole. WHAT  HAPPENING.

He's starting to buck when I ask for the canter, chips at every fence, stops, or bunny hops. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Its like he is doing it on purpose and its INFURIATING. He refuses to even jump 2'6 oxers and I'm like

The last time we jumped I was so annoyed I threw my hands up in frustration and just let him walk for 10 minutes so I could cool off and then flatted him. Whats worse is every time I jump it seems like there are a hundred people watching and I'm always embarrassed my dumb horse won't even jump two feet.

The only moderately decent jump/picture all day.

 I wasn't sure last time if it was because of the heatwave or what, but he's like me, in that we melt in heat. Then I was like, well maybe he is hurting. Is it the saddle? I stopped using a half pad with the jump saddle and only use my thinline pad now. Thought maybe that was it. Or am I riding badly? Probably. BUT he always takes me over anyways-whether it be 2 ft or 4ft. Was he distracted by the amount of people hanging around? Maybe.

Then I remembered its been almost a year since he got his hocks done.

So there's that.

But it doesn't make sense to me. The vet thinks he should be good for three years. Definitely more than one. AND he's fab on the flat. Like, amazing.

HELLO FORWARD

DAT TROT DOH

And thats in a hackamore! He's engaged, through, and forward. His flying  changes are getting better too. And that requires a lot of hock action.

For now, since I can't afford to guess and get a vet out to test his hocks again when he is NOT showing lameness like last time,  I will use the half pad again with my saddle and see if that fixes things.