Guess who this is!!!

Lucy!  She got shoes on last week, so I asked to ride her this weekend.  I was a little worried because she had been so 'wild' lately with the herd she is out with, but apparently she needed to come in and go to work.

She was really hot in the cross ties, but they were replacing the roof on the barn so I kind of understand that, I lunged her for a little bit, then climbed on.  It was seriously like she had been off for a week, not over a year.  Shes very out of shape, and needs to be in a routine, but we were right back to where we were last year.  I've missed loping her soooo much!

I don't know how much I'll get to ride her, I'm tossing around the idea of doing lessons with another coach closer to wear I live now, and I think that would help me grow as a rider, but I love Lucy and I love my barn family at the old place...  things to think about I guess.

Living the life, well sort of

Loving the new apartment and the 10 minute drive to work.  I'm seriously missing the pony time.  I've gotten to ride at least once each weekend since moving away but its not the same as going every night.

I love Oscar, its so much fun to be riding a broke solid horse again.  The last ride I had on him I was thinking those same thoughts, when he spooked at the sun shinning in on a pylon.  *sigh* Well I guess you cant have everything.

In more personal news, I'm dating again... its been a long time but with the new hair and location I thought I should give it another try.  I've met someone really nice but its still early in the relationship.  We'll see how it goes ;)

Post wedding photos

The wedding is done and was a huge success.  These pictures are from an Ipad and the quality is a little iffy on some of the photos but this should give you all a little bit of a view of how our weekend went.

The wedding was held on PEI in an area not normally frequented by tourists,  My parents had rested one big house for us and my dad's sisters and their husbands, and my mom's side of the family rented the house next door.  It had amazing views, and it meant that we could all party after the fact in a place that it didn't matter how much noise we made. 

More later

The bride's family

My dad's sisters and my brother

Me and my brother

Mom and Brother

My dad, grandfather and brother

The church

All moved in and ready to rock

So I finally got into the new place on Wednesday night.  You guys have no idea how nice Thursday and Friday were, instead of an hour drive into work and an hour drive home, my slowest drive home took all of 12 min.  And that was due to some delays from construction.  Fastest drive to work was just under 6 min (green lights all the way baby!)

Yesterday I spent the afternoon with my BF poking around the local tack shops then going to her place and playing with her ponies, puppies, and cats.  Today is 'finish organizing the spare bedroom to turn it into a tack room' and laundry day.  On Monday I'm going to try yoga for the first time (a special class for 'round' bodies new to yoga) and on Tuesday a bunch of us are going to the movies.  So lots of social life kicking into gear.

I really am starting to think that I'd like to have a critter of some sort at my apartment.  Is so quiet when I get home at night... Something to think about anyways... Leaning towards a cat, but will have to work out some details first (like making sure they are allowed in my apartment!)

I'm going home every weekend for the rest of October and I'll get to ride Oscar later this week.  But I also have a line on a potential lease horse up here and if that doesn't work out I might have lessons starting in November.  The horse thing has just slowed down it hasn't stopped.

Packing

Well my final month at home has flown by, I'm still in the process of packing and trying to figure out where to put everything but its starting to come together now.  I still have a pile of tack that I haven't quite figured what to do with yet.  I'm hoping to set up my spare bedroom as a tack room/libary but its going to take some figuring out.  And really until I get the necessary things in and settled I think the tack is going to live at my parents for a bit longer...

I've been having fun riding Oscar but late last week he got hurt so I'm not sure how much riding the two of us have left over the next 2 weeks.

Oscar lives most of his time outside but as the weather gets colder, C & D are bringing him in at night.  He lives in a tie stall when he is in the barn.  For some reason on Thursday night Oscar freaked out in his stall and got a leg over his tie.  It has a panic snap, and he wears a leather halter but nothing gave that night.  Thankfully D was only feet away, and he ended up climbing over Oscar and unhooking him even as Oscar struggled and panicked.  

Oscar rubbed off some hair from behind his knee and is still tender, but the swelling and is going down each day, and remarkably he's stayed sound the entire time.  However he's off work (and is spending some time totally sucking up for treats) for a week at the least.  I'm a bit sad that I can't ride him, and I don't know how much riding I'm going to get over the next couple of months... Thats the only bad part about moving.

Moving on

Well its official I spend my first night in my new apartment in exactly 3 weeks from today!

I'm excited and sad all at the same time.  Moving to the city means that the barn is no longer a 10 min drive from home.  And with my brothers wedding coming up next month my weekends at the barn with Oscar are looking few and far between.

Its a new chapter right?  Without a barn to spend ALL my time at I might actually meet new people and even find time for a boyfriend again.

And the new hair is great.  Its amazing, you think that no one but you cares about your appearance but the number of people at work who have told me that they love it, is amazing.  A couple even cried they were so happy for me.  Kind feels like a whole new me, its funny how something so small can change your perception of yourself.

I've ridden Oscar twice and hes sooooo different than Chilly and hes soooo excited to having me riding him again.  He's come to the gate both times at a trot when I've gone to get him which is fun.  Hes more up-hill, and higher headed, but oh so much more broke!

Final show with Chilly

Well today was a very bittersweet day, my last show with Chilly. We ended up High Point Senior Green Horse (won all of her green classes), and got 2nd in one of our AQHA NA showmanship classes. Our High Point award was a trophy chair, my first one ever!

This means that Chevy has now produced a point earner (well 1/2 a point) in his first foal crop!  I'm so happy of that, I belive in him and in his foals and its nice to show that to the rest of our showing community.

If you had told me a year ago that I would be helping to break out and ride a three year old all winter and spring and then showing her all summer and loving it I would have called you a liar. However the real risk takers were D and C, they gave me the opportunity to ride and show a great horse, when my health hasn't been the greatest (and there were a few people who questioned my decision to ride a green horse!). This summer we've shown what great minded and quality horses they are producing. Sure there were days when I had to take care of Chilly, but there were days that Chilly really took care of me. I did shed a tear or two on the way home, but the closing of one door just means another is opening up just around the next bend.

Our show was great, our final showmanship pattern for the AQHA class was one of our best, and she was fantastic in the ring to show in the pleasure classes.  In our first pleasure class we actually had to go against the assistant trainer of my former boss riding one of his horses.  Chilly was great and won the class.  Normally the old boss can be grumpy when his student get beat but he came over afterwords and congratulated me on my win.

Lucas was at the show, and totally bombed out the first day in showmanship.  So although I hate stepping on toes I asked 'I' if I could tune them up a little bit the next day.  I've forgotten how much fun showmanship was with him.  In under 30 seconds it was like we hadn't been apart for 3 years.  'I' then went in and got 2nd in a tough class filled with kids prepping for congress.

Although Chilly's showmanship is good, she'll never be the showmanship horse that Lucas was, but her slower mind (she needs a moment to process the command then preform that command) means that she'll never be the spooky hot horse that Lucas was either.

And in a month I will finally move out of my parents house and into my own place.  My parents took me back in when I got sick, then kept me while I went back to school and then while I paid off student loans from going back to school.  It will be my first time living on my own with RA.  I still have the lease on Oscar for two months, and his owners have told me that even when that is over if I'm home, to take him for a ride.  My brother is also getting married in October so the next couple of months will be busy!

Chilly had her head twisted to look at the horse being bathed next to the ring but I love this shot anyway.