Brrrrr....

It's cold... and there's snow on the ground... and I know I say I hate heat and "the cold never bothered me anyway" but this year it's bothering me! I just want to ride!!! I am so ready for spring. I am so ready for long trail rides, and late evenings at the barn, and pony bathes (god knows they need them!) and maybe even some shows!!! I feel like I'm finally on the right path with Rayna. I'm still not positive what I want my end goal to be with her, maybe dressage, maybe I can teach her to jump and we could do starter events (that would be my ideal goal), maybe we'll just do fun classes at shows and trail ride for the rest of her riding career. But I'm at the point right now where I'm not as worried about future goals as I am about what I'm doing with her right now. I've been watching a lot of videos and reading up on ground pole work and that's going to be our next en-devour, Later this week I'm going to head to the barn and set up some pole patterns in the indoor to work on. I can do them with Penny too, and eventually maybe with Sabrina.

I finally got on Sabrina, I've only ridden her once but it was awesome! She doesn't stop or steer, haha, but she's sweet and she's safe and that's what is important to me, once it warms up I'll start riding her more. She learned how to flip her tongue over the bit so she can't feel the pressure, which is something that Gus used to do too, so I'm going to dig up the flash strap thats in my tack trunk somewhere and try that on her to see if it will keep her from opening her mouth enough to flip her tongue over the bit. I'm hoping she'll end up being a nice trail mule, that's all I've ever wanted her to be, a safe, happy trail mount that I can ride and put friends on. Sabrina and Penny are starting their new joint supplement at the end of this month. It's call Pentosan and it's an injectable supplement that they will each get once a month. I've heard some amazing things about it and I'm hoping that with this new supplement, plus her new shoes and the Previcox she's on, that I will be able to get penny light jumping sound again. Like crossrails, I would be so so happy with just jumping crossrails.

I'm really hoping that by this spring/summer I will be able to finally get a horse trailer so I can start doing some serious off farm riding with all of my girls. I really want to do some shows, and go on trail rides and hunter paces with heather! Rayna and Heidi would be a great (slow) hunter pace team and I really miss hunter pacing!!

Go Confidently in the Direction of Your Dreams. Live the Life You've Imagined

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” 
― H. Jackson Brown Jr., P.S. I Love You

 I have decided in this new year that nothing is going to keep me from achieving all of my dreams. I have been doing better with the horses this past month then I have in a long time! I have been riding consistently, both Rayna and Penny. They are both doing fabulously!! Penny still isn't 100% sound, I'm hoping she'll get there once she's consistently on joint supplements, she's in shape and she gets front shoes on. If after all of that she's still just a little bit off I will have the vet come out to make sure there's nothing underlying going on. But out in the fields she's sound, she's getting stronger, I can definitely tell that she's starting to get into shape, there's definitely a difference between how she looks now and how she looked when I first got her a month ago. I still have hopes and dreams of showing her a little later in the year, but if she just ends up being a trail pony I'm totally fine with that. She has helped me with my confidence and love of horses so much, I don't know how I could ever repay her, and she will stay with me until the end of her days.

As for Rayna I really couldn't be happier with her right now! She's getting in shape (thank you hot walker) she's much more willing to work and move forward, and listen, The new bit I got for her has made a world of difference, unfortunately it's not legal for dressage so I will eventually have have to either switch back to her old one or find a legal alternative that's somewhat close to what I have on her now. For now, though, I will continue schooling her in this bit because she's going so well in it, We've been working a lot on collection, extension, and bending. I haven't cantered her since she tried to buck me off at the canter a couple of weeks ago, I need to get myself into better shape before cantering her again. She's never going to learn to canter properly if I am too out of shape to ride the canter effectively. It's a big, difficult canter and if I'm too unbalanced to ride it, it's going to unbalance her and we'll never get anywhere. So it's walk/trot work for us, in the arena, in the fields, over poles and over small jumps. There are a few dressage shows coming up in the next few months and I really think we'll be ready to do into A and /or into B, I just need to figure out a way to get to the shows! And I really hope Rayna will be good in a show situation, she has never been in one before! 

Sabrina is starting her professional training this coming week, I am really excited and curious to see how it goes. We agreed that we will do 2 months of training max with her and see where she is after that. Hopefully she works out and ends up being a good, solid trail animal. I would hate to sell her but I can't afford an animal that is just a pasture pet right now.