The good kind of crazy

So it is a big hurry up and wait game until the 15th of this month to find out if I got accepted for the 2016 RRP Thoroughbred Makeover.  Gah!  I just want to know.

He says he can't wait either!

What do you do to whittle away the time?  Have totally outlandish conversations with your friends about strategy for winning.  Just a few minutes ago I was suggesting I learn to shoot a bow from horseback and enter the freestyle portion.  I decided that since we all need laughs I would share our strategy conversation.

 Then they asked if I had the hand/eye coordination for polo.

 Then we looked at a random competitive trail riding video.

 In case you are wondering I was cleaning stalls during much of this,  hence the radio silence.

 Grunch is the coolest OTTB ever, my dad has him now and they do trail rides like once a week.

 Feel free to laugh at the autocorrect fails

 And here we digress.

And that my friends is just a quick glimpse into the insanity we think is totally #situationnormal.

That one time

I rode in Ireland.  So I took a huge trip last April and then promptly took an unplanned break from blogging and then never shared it with you guys.  Soooooo many adventures happened, not the least of which was riding a couple horses.  My jump trainer here spent some time in Ireland years back (circa 2000ish) and when she heard I was going gave me the name of the brothers she rode with.

So much fun

*fast forward to driving to Phoenix with her a few weeks ago.  She didn't realize that I would actually go find said brothers who have a farm in Northern Ireland.  She hadn't actually talked to them in years and had to find their e-mails via google.  She was a little worried considering they are quintessential Irish guys who throw you up on anything and say, 'go jump!'  I told her no worries, they were just like eventing racetrackers.  She laughed, agreed, and I think finally stopped feeling guilty for possibly throwing me to the wolves.

Back to my point.  I conversed with them via e-mail and then text and finally a phone call the morning we headed over.  We had spent the night near the Giant's Causeway and their farm was about a 2 hour drive south.  Backing up though check out these pictures from the northern coast.

Just us surprising local folk with our matching red hair and American accents

Can I just look at this all day?

Hellz yeah I walked over that (rope) bridge (Carrick a rede)

Giant's Causeway

I took so many pictures.  Anyways back to riding.  We arrived at the farm, I just had on jeans as I didn't want to be presumptuous, but yeah I had helmet, breeches, and half chaps waiting in the car.  This was the one place I somehow failed at taking pictures, don't hate me.  One of them was riding in the outdoor ring and promptly hopped off to show us around.  The barn was huge, full of stalls and tack rooms and indoor arena and an upstairs office/kitchen/lounge.  There were a bunch of working student type girls tacking horses and grooming and cleaning.  After some introductions and chit chat he asked if I wanted to ride.  I resisted the urge to jump up and down and clap my hands, but did dash to car to change in the back seat.  When I walked back into the barn all suited up Trevor's eyes about fell out of his head, he said something about how I could have used the bathroom to change, my husband just shook his head.  I was legged up onto a cute bay gelding, he was a good boy albeit dead to the leg.

Smiles for days

 I jumped him around a bit while he coached one of the girls.  I felt rather uncoordinated as he was a kick ride,which I hadn't done in a while.  Eugene (my husband, I always call him hubby here, but his name is Eugene) mentioned that I was used to something a little hotter, aka she gallops at the track.  Once I had sufficiently proven myself I got to get on another horse.  She was so cute!  Her name Juniper and I wanted to take her home.

Hay and bedding storage at one end of the ring

Neat perforated metal walls, blocked rain/wind but let in light

 He told me to ride around and get a feel.  I had to promptly put her to work as she was a spook, but she was light on my aids and willing to listen.  He had me go over some little things and I fell in love a bit more.

Mini brick wall

I think these jumps are 3' or 3'3"

 Then he said I could do the bigger jumps.  They felt small, but then when I was back on my own two feet I realized they were actually decent sized.  Well she jumped around like a champ and I couldn't stop smiling.  When I got off he informed me that he was very pleased to see her go around so well as he was the only one who rode her since she liked to stand on her hind legs no less than two weeks ago.  Alrighty.  She had just done well at a show the weekend before and guess I was her first ride back.  Thank goodness Eugene is used to me riding assorted horses.

Juniper's adorable face

 Then we went upstairs for tea and called Steph on video chat at 7am Idaho time.  She was flabbergasted and we all had a good laugh.

Inside one of their two lorries

And outside

 We settled into the worn leather sofas and traded stories for over an hour.  They really hit it off with the hubby wanting to hear all about American racehorse training.  We could have just stayed the whole day!

Arena is on the backside of these stalls

Not too bad

Happily munching away on hay

Bridle wall

Saddle wall

 Sadly the hubby kindof failed at getting very many pictures of me riding, no worries though it was still amazing.

Check me out waiting for the jump

 We talked about several celebrity status eventers.  They have supplied horses to many people in the US and even rode on the Irish olympic eventing team at one point.  Here is a link to their facebook page: Smith Brother's Eventing

Gallop track around the cross country course

Bank complex

Water jump

Overall it was so worth the drive and time.  Eugene and I both had a blast.

Training elves

Last week Sprinklerbandit came and had lunch with my mom and I and then came to the barn with me, yay friends, food, and pictures!

That stretch though

I was soooooo thrilled with my horse!  I kept it easy since he is rather soft after a couple slow months, but he answered every question I asked.  His walk was forward and swinging, his trot was ground covering and loose, and his canter was worthy of a dressage test.

Stupid hands

Ok ok, so maybe not dressage test worthy yet (as in what the heck are my hands doing), but overall a great ride.  I swear that the snow elves were training my horse while the arena was unusable.  Also, can we just notice how great he looks in this bridle?

Pink, purple, and snuggles

I was working hard to stretch my leg down as it has a tendency to creep up in the winter months, also I obviously need to get my hands out in front of me.  I am excited to be planning on some dressage lessons with my old dressage trainer.  I grew up in his barn and over the years have taken some of my client horses in for occasional regular lessons, but I haven't ridden a horse of my own with him in something like 7 (?) years.  I am really pumped to have one nice enough to be worth the cost!  He is someone who I can communicate with nearly no words.  He gives you excersices that you can do on your own time, and quiet moments during the lessons where you can think and absorb the information.  Often during walk breaks we discuss theory and ideas before picking up the reins again.  He is unapologetic, but never berating.  If the word 'good' actually escapes from his lips you know that you have truly earned it.

Life advice at the wedding

Yeah, you know I wore a princess dress.  Even when I don't see him all that often he is still there for me, he is my second dad.  Anyways, can't wait to get his help guiding Prisoner in his training.

Also he can yell at me to sit up

Snuggly pony dressage

Holy hind end

You see him reaching with his hind end in the canter?  We have worked very hard to get there.  I have to give time off its due credit though.  Nothing like a nice winter break for muscles to heal and the mind to be revived.  Now to get rid of my winter break flab!

Time flies

When you are having fun, and that I have.  My mom came and visited for a few weeks and I even took her on a trip to Phoenix to see the hubby and racehorses.

Dancer dancing

You really can't go wrong with racehorses and palm trees.

Dancer showing off his muscles and reach

Yes, the rider is sticking his tongue out at me.  Winter seems to me loosening it's grip here in Idaho which thrills me to no end.  I was in serious need of some saddle time.

Bits of pink to brighten a grey day 

The first few rides were in an arena sloppy to two inches down and then frozen, it seemed divine after weeks of being under snow and or frozen solid all day.  Prisoner was a good boy albeit tentative about the footing.  We walk trot cantered about and enjoyed ourselves though.  He was just slightly dragging his hind toes and not quite stepping all the way through with his left hind.  I wonder if he will have some stiffness in that leg from when he sliced it to bits this summer, either way now that the footing is truly good he is perfectly marvelous.  

Tiptoeing through the slop

 I can't remember if I shared with you guys about that leg slicing incident.  It was the day after I returned from our week in Montana (Rebecca Farm) and Prisoner promptly lost his mind in turnout.  I just missed seeing it happen (which I think I am grateful for), but I could see where it happened.  He had gone careening around the pasture and misjudged a turn.  He slipped into/over the fence line.  It was a t-stake so it bent over which probably prevented more damage and thank God it had a cap.  With out the cap there is a high probability that my horse would have been put down.  He had one shallow slice across his belly and with out that cap it might have just stuck right in and gutted him, but it didn't for which I am forever grateful.  The main injury was slice down the front of his left hock.

Day after it happened

The top T shaped part almost needed stitches but not quite.  I doctored it up, assured my barn owner I wasn't upset with her (horses will be horses) and he promptly got over a week off.  He was lame for a couple days and then we haven't looked back until the other day in the cold and bad footing.  Something I will be keeping in the back of my mind.  It took a while to heal.

A few weeks later

He still has a white scar running down his leg, but compared to a dead gutted horse I am thankful.

He says no worries

 Total rabbit trail there, sorry guys.  The beautiful grey boy has also been lovely to start legging back up.

Hugs for Tudor

More plans

Somehow December came and went and I only posted twice.  I was busy though making this:



Totally a joint effort with Aimee and Alyssa, thank goodness for good friends willing to play in a snow storm!
I still haven't gotten a response from Practical Horseman, but fingers and toes are crossed.  I mean seriously, how cool would it be to get the Martins way out here in the wild wild west.  Joking...but not really.

yep, not totally joking

Anyways, I mentioned 'more plans.'  How does Kentucky in October sound???  Hopefully some of you are guessing correctly.  I just submitted my application to be one of the 500 trainers for the 2016 Thoroughbred Makeover!  

Double thumbs up

So yeah, more fingers and more toes crossed that I get accepted, then the search is on for a suitable horse (with plans to sell him (or her) at the Makeover).  AANNDDD then, I'm thinking a totally epic meetup with east coast bloggers!

Hopefully the new horse will also be amazing at selfies

What is life without plans, dreams, goals, and friends?