Valley water mill..

Practice today for the seasoned rider challenge.  The first challenge is loading a fresh JR on a chilly windy morning. Now JR has had some trailer loading issues that we are working on.. been doing good.. but today.. was a little worse.  But after two hrs got it done nicely without too much mess. 

We went to vwm and had a great day with friends. Rode and practiced in the new arena.  It was great.. even cantered some.  Practicing for the seasoned rider challenge....a lot of great fun.

Horses playing in the rain

If there was ever a question of whether or not JR enjoyed his job.. today answered it.  He and Skye played and played today.. jr played you can't get in the barn..with slides and roll backs galore.  Even threw in a few twists and bucks for good measure.  It was quite a site to see.

Home Today

Jenny brought J.R. home today... he was waiting when I got home.

He is a little sad at the change of venue.  But we will find him some fun friends tomorrow.  Right now he hangs out with Skye - neither of them are thrilled.

But he is here and I can ride him..whew

Where sendom is heard ...an encouraging word

We did our first cow clinic. I did not do well.  I did not understand what to do and I did not understand how to make my body do what was being asked.- I am a perfectionist on the inside with a lot of self doubt/  I dont like to do things that I cant win.  In fact rarley will I allow myself to be in a position be be humiliated.  But I did that this weekend.


JR is good at this they tell me - in the hands of someone who knows.. he is great.. in my hands he is not.  Now lets get it straight that he is GREAT a great soul of a horse.. so that is never in question..


But working cows is hard work and I had never in my mind had broken it down..we had learned to drive and hold -- but working out a cow is wholly different.

That simple saying- nothing worthwhile is ever easy.  I pick myself up - face my fear.  What am I afraid of? I am afraid of failing - I am not afraid of landing on the ground....I am afraid to fail.

But - I am reading the" Eighty Dollar Champion".  One of the lines in the book goes like this "When you have been given a second chance - you want to be worthy of it".  It made me cry.. so I knew I had named one of my fears

 I am afraid I am not worthy of this chance with JR.  Not worthy of a chance to make my own dreams with horses come true.  There - that is what I am afraid of .. named it.

Now - on to tomorrow.

When things go wrong

So you would never guess from this photo that things are getting ready to go sideways.  We look great together dont we??  foxtrotting along....

JR has been with me for a week and a half and it has been so much fun.  We have played and worked through things and practiced.  It has been his job and he does it well.

We went to our first show at  Longview Horse park near Grandview MO,  up by KC.  I was thrilled to have all of my FTH friends and Mike there.  As an added bonus - Lauren came ( photo above taken by her) Kelley , Jay , Logan Trent and associated GFs.  It was awesome to have them there.

A couple of things to note. Western chaps on a big girl are problematic.  They are made to rest on your hips.  Well my hips are quishy to it is hard to keep them up.  And they weigh a TON - and are sooooo long that you cant really walk - I learned how to fold them so you can walk -- at least until they fall again.  There has GOT to be a better way.  I will figure it out.  Anyway - they look cool when your underwear is not showing.

On to the event.  I can say it was a success - in that I was able to manage the issues and come out on the topside of the horse without a runaway.  But the freight train was ready to pull away from the station about 1/2 way through.  We left the arena with no mail.. but with our dignity in tact.

So here are the things that changed...in the week prior - see if you can figure out where we went wrong:
1. changed bridles to an over the ear bridle the week before
2. changed feed all at once
3. changed stirrup length
4. left our buddies and were very unhappy about that
5. short changed the warm up some
6. it was storming
7. It was our first show together.
8. We were unknowingly sore all over

ANSWER - All of the above

It is strange how things creep up on you.  Little things that don't seem to make a big difference on thier own - but come a BIG deal when added together,


We now know what to practice and where our holes are.  And I know how to be a better leader. 
 I miss him and have really enjoyed riding him and bonding.  I wish he were here with me ..:-) 

Trail course at home

Tonight I set up a trail course with what I had around.  I put a bucket on a barrel - made a big square out of PVC pipe - and then an "L" with my driving lines anchored by my bottle of endure and a brush.  Well a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do...

We did pretty good - for a first time I think.. although JR thought the bucket was for eating and not lifting - so I think I get 10 more points for  added difficulty.  We did pretty ok... need some refinement..breathing would be a plus as well.


After that - we went to the arena and darned it there wasnt a bear or MOMO in the southwest corner of the arena.  I didnt see it - but JR told me all about it. I had my first experience with really nervous JR.   Our neighbor has been parking a different car there every day and well - today was a bear shaped car and it made the wind come up.  That scares a horse.  Then everything moved - dogs were barking and chasing other horses and - well it was more that a horse could take. Feet started moving and tension started coming from the ground and infected me.

I got off. .... and led JR through the scarey areas on foot until I was sure there were not bears there in reality.  JR is very convincing!! Actually I was thinking rattelsnakes and big hairy spiders with a million babies.. JR agreed.  So we walked thru the scary parts and got back in the arena, I got on and worked in the non scary part. Doing point to point,  Until I was no longer nervous.  Then Jr calmed down and we got to work.  Lots of point to points and 1/2 clover leafs.  Then 3/4 clover leafs.  The we did point to point from the non scarey line to the scarey line.  At a walk - then a trot - then a walk.  Then we cantered up the safe side. Lots of interesting point to point - until we forgot where we were and were in the now NON scary - scary area.  We did sidepassing in the :safe area: and rested close to the now non scarey area.

Whew - what a thing... we ended up walking the whole arena x2 - trotting x1 and went the other way x1.  A quick canter to the gate with a FAST stop and we rubbed on each other.... All done today.  Oh and Did I mention our neighbors watched the whole thing.. I needed an audience to practice for Saturday - Right?  And PS - Mike, I wore my helmet..:-)

Home and playing

Got home from a long week of work and decided that we would play with more finesse things.  Hind and forequarter turns.  It was so awesome.  At the end of the ride - I leaned over and took off his halter.  We rode that way for a while.

This is what I think we looked like....I am pretty sure we did.....if we didn't - don't tell me.