Liebster Award! x4!!

Wow! In three days I've been nominated FOUR times for the Liebster Blog Award!! A big thank you to Katherine at Grey Brook Eventing for the first award and to AmberRose at The Way To Heaven Is On Horseback for the second nod, and Dragon at I Trot On for the third, then lastly from Syd at From Racehorse to Princess.  I'm flattered and incredibly honored that not one, but three people felt that my blog was worthy of an award! So, thank you, thank you, thank you!! So, now this means I get to come up with some fun reading material for y'all. Let's start with what the award is about: The Liebster Blog Award is a way to recognize blogs who have less than 200 followers. Liebster is a German word that means beloved and valued. Here are the rules for accepting the award: Thank...

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A note about lunging

A commenter on my previous entry "Bucked Off" made a very valid point cautioning against using lunging as a crutch.  I absolutely 100% agree with her.  I have since been thinking about the merits of lunging and thought I'd jot some of them down. Often times, yes, people lean on it as a crutch, not willing to take a little step of faith and trust their horse to behave.  Especially if it's a solid, quiet horse who has been there done that... Granted, there are people who do have confidence struggles, and I'm not trying to downplay that, but... sometimes, to get to that next level of competitence and confidence, sometimes you have to step blindly. That said (and yes, that was a bit of a soapbox rant), there are many reasons to lunge a horse, of which my top three reasons are: Before...

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Bucked Off

Yep, it was bound to happen.  Sooner or later, Cash would get me off with one of his temper tantrums. It's probably partly my fault.  I didn't get to the barn until nearly 8pm, and with only an hour at most of ride-able daylight left I thought "I'll just hop on him for a short little walk-only ride, no need to lunge...." Famous last words. Well, I got on, thinking I'd work on some going right stuff, just keep it nice and easy and relaxing and be done in a jiffy.... except the problem was that he was being a bit of a pill and not wanting to go near the gate for some reason.  Turd.  He would balk, so I'd put leg on, he'd balk...

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Fire Season

Once again, Colorado marches into summertime parched from lack of rain.  Once again, Colorado burns. It is no fun. Since Tuesday, when temps skyrocketed to record highs and a hot and gusty wind picked up, the sky has been a murky brown color and the air smells of smoke. There are three major fires burning, with several more smaller ones burning around the state.  The biggest and most devastating is the Black Forest Wildfire burning north of Colorado Springs.  As of this morning, 360+ homes have burned to the ground, this makes it the most destructive in Colorado history.  And here we thought last year, with the Waldo Canyon fire that burned about 340 homes, was bad enough.  It just makes me feel sick to my stomach thinking about it--yes, a lot of these homes were...

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Product Review: Effax Leather-Cream-Soap

When I was in the local tack store (Happy Horse) recently to exchange a halter I had ordered that was too big, I was browsing around the front room and while overlooking the tack cleaning section (and they have a good selection!) I noticed the Effax Leather-Cream-Soap in it's nifty bottle with hook lid. "Hey, that looks cool." I thought. I've always been wary of two-in-one type products, probably because I've had bad experiences with other products, but I already have the Effax LeatherCombi and looooove it, so I figured I'd give it a try. So I got home and set to disassembling, oiling, and cleaning my new tack items. I opened it up...

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Lengthy catchup post!

Wow has it been a busy week!  My professor in my Farm Animal Anatomy and Physiology class just flew through the information this week, I have the whole of the cardiovasular system, respiratory system, and digestive system to review for an exam tomorrow morning, and then the final will be Friday. Oy. I'll be glad to be done with it!  Though, as intensive and demanding this 4 week summer class is, I love the fact that I am knocking out a solid 3 credit class in one month's time.  This is really going to help my class planning for the next several semesters. So, that said, trying to find time to work Cash is precious, when I do...

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Weekend update

First on the docket... I jumped Cash!!! Granted it was only a 12" cavaletti, but he jumped it so therefore it counts.  Turning is still a bit iffy, especially when asking him to do an inside turn at the canter on the quarter line, haha yeah that reeaaaally felt like trying to turn a boat! Our jump! He's such a natural jumper, he felt awesome, just smooth and fluid with his body in the air.  I can't wait to feel what he's like over a solid 3' oxer.  He's going to be a beast.  Though, it was so funny, on the other side of the arena I had three trot poles out, which I then moved all together to make one big trot/canter...

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