2012 End of the Year Achievements

It is almost the end of the year and now it is time to document the goals we tried to accomplish. These are also updated goals to see how they improved as well. To see our Summer 2012 Achievements click [here]. Lets see how we did!

•Leads are not a problem (Although, nothing is perfect!).

•Ava can pony another horse.

•We roped a real cow (although, she did shy away from the flash of the rope. But we still did it!).

•Can almost fully neck rein at each gait (this was my favorite goal).

•Rollbacks are good but could still use some work.

•Desensitized to pulling items off the fence as well as putting them back on (this was a big one).

•If she has been on break it takes a much shorter time to get back to where we were (another big one!).

•We successfully rode out into the big fields, far out there as well.

•Handles other misbehaving horses much better. They don't influence her as much anymore.

•Speed of gaits have much improvement. She's learning that faster is not better, no matter how scared she may be.

Overall she mainly matured into a nicely well behaved horsey.

Third Saddle Tryout Take 2

Take two for the third saddle I'm trying out. It worked out wonderfully! I lunged her in it and then of course rode around in the arena, it felt like this was our saddle. Ava was also lowering her head and seemed quite soft even with all the weather changes still happening. Surprisingly she got a pretty good workout although it didn't seem like it at the time; but she did great. I also tried a different saddle pad and it seemed to have solved all the problems, so maybe it was just the pad. I am so glad this saddle has worked out so far, we will try it once or twice more before I make a decision. Although so far it is looking very likely that I may purchase it. Finally after all these years! I also forgot to mention that this saddle had actually been sitting at the tack shop for a really long time and for some reason I never tried it! So glad I did though. They are asking $600 for it, a pretty good price for a Billy Royal but hopefully they will accept something lower, possibly $400? That would be my goal. We'll have to see!

Third Saddle Tryout & Frosty Ponies

Alright so yesterday I picked up a western saddle to tryout. It is a Billy Royal with a 15" seat. I rode in it today and actually liked it a lot. It seemed to be fairly comfortable for Ava as well because she would lower her head and soften her neck and poll much more than usual. I know that it is a little small for her but it didn't seem to bother her at all. Ava yet again did very well on her ride. You can almost completely neck rein her. Also, her gaits are getting a lot better and she responds to my 'asks' quite well. After the ride I checked to see if the saddle left anything bad. It seemed to have left some kind of slight rub all along her left side but that may have been caused by me taking off the saddle and fluffing her hair up. I am also thinking that the saddle pad I have might not be terribly comfortable on her either; it is kind of a scratchy wool type. I'm going to try one of my BO's and see if it makes a difference. I would be so excited if this saddle worked.

The lighting gives it no justice! It is a really gorgeous saddle in the right light.

Besides saddle fitting and riding the weather frosted everything the other night and left everything with white crystals. It was beautiful, I took a picture of the pasture fence below to show y'all.

Frosted pasture fence

Sleepy snow ponies

Winter at the barn

After the Holidays!

The holidays are over and it is almost time to start our new year! Christmas was nice but of course a little stressful. A few weeks before Christmas my grandfather had a stroke. He lives a ways away from us in the winter time but when we got the news my mother and aunt drove down there to make sure he was doing okay. They ended up staying around a week until they came home. They also brought them back to their other home here so we can keep a close eye on them. He seems to be doing better. We had to rush to get things ready for Christmas but we managed and ended up having a nice holiday. Below are the gifts that I got (not including my homemade gifts)

Oster Grooming Kit!!!

Fuzzy slippers and adorable kitty face pajamas.

A CamelBak backpack!!! I have wanted one of these for a long time!

Exercise ball (which I am sitting on right now)

Stocking stuff!

Some amazing clothing, I love the scarf!

In other news I am back to riding! I rode last weekend and then finally got out there today. It was literally the best feeling to be back doing what I love. Ava had lots of energy in the beginning and even tried some new ways to be a little stinker but she is becoming a lot easier to handle in situations like that. When I started riding I warmed her up while talking to Cappy, he seemed to have a nice Christmas as well. Then we kind of parted ways and ended up giving Ava a really good workout; even though it didn't feel like it to me. She was huffing and puffing at the end. 

I also went by the tack shop and found a saddle I wanted to try out. It is a Billy Royal saddle and looks amazing. I would be ecstatic if it worked out. The other little western saddle I have been using is actually rubbing on Ava's back so I am trying to find something that doesn't do that.

Freedom and the Holidays!

Wednesday was my Spanish 101 final. It made my brain hurt. After class I was in a stupor for a while until I snapped back to reality. Then finally when I came around I felt freedom all around me! What an amazing feeling to not have to worry about studying, it is so nice. A few days later I found out what all my grades were and I was very pleased with them. I got an A in Pilates, an A in English, and a high B in Spanish, pretty happy! I also picked out the other classes I want to take for next semester. Two are going to be online and the other I will go into class for. Anyways now that I am school free for a little over a month there will be much more barn time.

I went to the barn today and worked my girl. I didn't work Poco because I needed to get back home and work on holiday stuff. After the holidays I will be full on horse girl again! Ava lunged beautifully and showed little signs of having lots of energy. After I lunged her for a while I did some groundwork, she is getting really good if I may add. Then after that I saddled her up in the little english saddle I had. I didn't ride I just wanted to lunge her in it so she can start getting used to it again. She did great, a little nervous but she handled her self really well. Especially with all the snow, ice, and wind that keeps getting worse!

All the boarders at the barn were so gracious about the little gifts I gave them. They also gave me some gifts as well, one of them being this awesome Indian painted horse tile ornament. I now officially have three ornaments for my own little Christmas tree!

I was also given a very sweet thank you card and my BO gave me a $25 dollar gift card to D&B Supply! Twenty-five dollars! I thought that was really nice of him. Overall it has been a decent day. I hope every one of you is enjoying your holiday season, Christmas is almost here!