… with my horse and my blog!

It’s been a crazy month here. Family emergency and several days out of town with a grandparent in the hospital, Thanksgiving travels, planning and attending a surprise [50th] birthday party for my mom (she reads this and all of my comments, so feel free to leave your best wishes ), work stuff, and other life stuff, I’ve been out of the loop. Also, with losing Classic last week and Ace having that abscess, I’ve been all out of sorts. He’s finally on the mend, and I’ve got some of my free time back, so I’m off for a good horsey session tonight. We haven’t gotten to do any real training work in 3-4 weeks. I wasn’t able to get to the barn for the last three days, so I really miss my horse and am ready to get back in a groove. Can’t wait for some barn time.

Besides being behind in our training, I’ve been behind on a few tags and awards here. Here they are finally …

6 Things About Me Tag

From my good blogger buddy On The Bit, who you definitely should be reading if you aren’t already. (By the way, On The Bit, I left you several comments this week and none of them are showing up on your blog. I don’t know what’s up with that.)

The rules are as follows:

• Link to the person who tagged you.
• Post the rules on your blog.
• Write six random things about yourself. (I’m making mine all horse related!)
• Tag six people at the end of your post.
• Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
• Let the tagger know your entry is up.

So here goes:

1. I’m married! I discovered a lot of my regular readers didn’t know that. To make it horse-related, my hubby Ben isn’t much of a horse person. Meaning he’s not that interested, although he does have a fair amount of natural riding talent. I’ve put him up on Marahute and with just a little instruction he was getting her to listen, and even bend in the turns (which she doesn’t do unless you make her). Of course, he knows how to clean stalls, stack hay, feed, and fill up water buckets. Like my dad (also a horse husband), he knows about diagonal, leads, and heels down. He’s also super supportive of my horse habit. I reward that by making sure I don’t completely ignore him for the horse.
2. I used to HATE trail riding. We didn’t have a lot of trails around my barn, and it’s not something we did often. As a result, the horses weren’t all that good about it. I was a royal wimp when I was just starting out, so I couldn’t mentally handle it when my horse refused to cross the creek or spooked or got nervous. I’m learning to lose my old ways, though, thanks to Dave and Tracie. They love trail riding, and make it look and sound so fun. I’ve been out a bit with them, but I can’t yet handle a ride over an hour and half long. I get bored and my butt hurts. If I could trot and canter the whole thing (think Man From Snowy River) it would be a lot more fun.
3. My favorite place to be during a bad storm is in the barn. We’ve had a few doozies, and I was always at the barn for it. We’d run around like crazy trying to get all the horses in out of the elements and closing and blocking all of the doors so the wind wouldn’t blow them in. Then we’d put helmets on and hide out in the tack room underneath the saddles. Weirdos.
4. I’ve discovered that it’s a whole new world when I actually own the horse I’m working with. I’ve always had projects and worked hard and enjoyed them, but it’s a whole new level of investment when he’s mine. I’ve discovered I’m more patient, more attentive, more motivated, and more concerned. Hopefully I don’t become too neurotic and can learn to balance a healthy concern with not being over the top.
5. I hope my horse lives forever (wishful thinking doesn’t hurt, right?) but if he doesn’t, I want to be with him when he goes. Planned or not, I want to be by his side so that he has a familiar face and someone who cares. Also, it’s better closure for me to be present. I couldn’t do what Tracie did. I will never forget that final moment, as she turned at the door to look at Classic one last time, and Classic looked back at her with ears pricked. It was incredibly poignant and beautiful and sad all at the same time, and something that is burned into my memory. It’s also something I couldn’t do.
6. I think it would be hilarious to take my cat to the barn and let Ace chase him around. Ace likes to follow the cats and check them out. My cat Rooney (who I love to death) is kinda dumb and clumsy, but very friendly. I just think it would be really really funny. I think the two of them would make a great pair. Rotten, I know.

I like reading everybody’s six things, so I’m definitely going to tag my six people. Do specifically horsey things if you can. Here goes …

• Smells Horsey – one of the first horse blogs I read and one of my favorites. But she hasn’t been writing lately, and I’m hoping this encourages her to do so. I miss her!
• A Horse Crazy American In Germany – I just started reading her blog, but am really enjoying it. It’s so interesting to learn about the differences between American and German horse cultures and practices.
• Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch – who is incredibly knowledgable and whom I’m encouraging to keep blogging about horses even though she doesn’t have one any more.
• Grey Horse Matters – just because I like her and she always leaves such encouraging and thoughtful comments.
• The Horsey Set Net – who I “met” virtually recently and whose blog posts and comments I really enjoy.
• Holy Racehorse – who is also new to the scene and brings an insider view to training racehorses, with a more a natural philosophy to boot.

The Butterfly Award

GreyHorseMatters was right when she said I could use this award last week. It did help to cheer me up a little during a hard horse week. I have a lot of respect for GreyHorseMatters and always appreciate her encouragement and well wishes.

The Butterfly Award is for some of the “coolest horse blogs you know.” The idea is that you pass it on to several other blogs and say something nice about why you like them. So here goes …

• To Behind The Bit – who does a ton of research and is very informative without pretending like she knows everything. I love that she covers all kinds of horsey topics; ones she subscribes to as well as ones she doesn’t. I’ve learned tons from her blog posts and hope this encourages her to keep it up. Hers is one of my most favorite horse blogs.
• To On The Bit – even though I know she’s already gotten this, I would be remiss if I didn’t give it to what I would consider my best horse blogging buddy. We and our horses have so much in common. It’s been great getting to know you, even if I don’t know your first name! She’s a great girl I never would have met without blogging.
• To Pony Girl Rides Again – whose pictures of her boy are always gorgeous and always make me laugh. I wish I could get such good pictures of my boy to illustrate my posts. It’s been fun to connect with other new-ish horse owners.