Pictures!!

So per ImaBronsonBear's request, this will all of my pictures that you haven't seen! And I'm holding you to that sugar and spice!

And yeah I agree with you too, slow cantering can be really nice just going down the trail. It's very relaxing :)


Dixie sporting the very fashionable winter hat...





And now we have Dixie sporting my brand "new" saddle...



A cute picture of two best friends :)


And for the finale, we have what Dixie does best; eating...

It's been a long time!

This is a horrible habit of mine, I tend to start diaries and/or journals and then lose interest. I am determined to not lose interest in this blog! I love typing and talking about Dixie, what reason do I have to not update it?!

Life has been kind of busy lately though. School obviously comes first and I'm trying my hardest to actually successfully pass this year, I'm so sick of being in high school. Granted I only went a semester over my original graduation year, it's still too much. And then to add on the stress and to take away more of time, I have to work to support Dixie. So whenever I'm not at school, I've got 16 hours of working to do. Finally, when I'm not at school or working, I go to the barn. You can see why I've been neglecting my internet commitments, right?

So yesterday Sherri and I took Whoopdi and Dixie out into the corn field. I had told her earlier that I would love to run in the corn field one day but I didn't want to go alone. I was pretty worried about Dixie not stopping once we got running. Having a horse run-off with me is kind of a fear of mine, I've just ridden a few horses within the last years who have run off with me. This was one of Dixie's big problems in the beginning. You could definitely say that this was her ultimate test. So we head into the corn field, we start trotting down the rows, everything is going great. Then we spot a huge buck, the horses didn't seem to be horribly bothered by it. Sherri asked Whoopdi if he wanted to go get it and he went off at a trot after it! Dixie of course had to follow! Dixie was trying so hard to keep up with Whoopdi without cantering, I don't think her little legs could go any faster! So that was fun in itself but then we go to the end and started cantering...oh my gosh! It was sooooo much fun. Dixie was so good too! She was actually controlled the entire time, she stopped when I asked her too and went when I did the same. I am just so proud of her!

This is just a quick post but I did update the things that I want to accomplish with Dixie and I took away the horsey items that I've obtained section.

I'll be back with pictures, don't worry!

It's been a few weeks....lots of updates!!

Ok, so since there is so much to tell. I'll categorize everything...I do love to categorize :D It will be color-coded too! How exciting!

Dixie

Things with Dixie have been going very well! I just read up on my last post to this blog and I'll start by updating everybody (if there are a lot of you...I seriously doubt that :) ) with what was going on then.

After my dentist appointment, I went and just hung out with her. I wanted to show her that we won't always work everytime I bring her in. I braided her mane that day, did a little groundwork (not even enough to count as work) and then went outside to sit with her in the field while she grazed. That was my plan anyways, she refused to eat any of the grass and preceded to bug me about giving her treats. I gave in. I couldn't help it, she's too cute. It was a good day, I'm glad I did it.

I did ended up doing the passenger lessons on our next ride. It went ok. I was a little nervous about giving up all of the reins and she was pretty confused about what we were doing. I'll try it again at some point, I really think it will help us.

I have, since my last post, started my lessons with Dixie. I am so happy I did too! I love having somebody there who can see what I'm doing and help me to improve. I have done about three lessons and Dixie has already improved her backing up, spirals, and we have just started side-passing. We side-passed ten feet on our last lesson!! I was so happy. Of course it was towards the gate but it's definite start!

That's about it for me and Dixie. I have been thinking a lot about buying her lately and my only concern is her and college financially...I worry a lot about that. After getting some advice and talks from the forum and talking with my mother, I have settled a bit about this. If and when I do buy her, it will be next year so for now I'm just enjoying riding her and not worrying a whole lot about it. It is of course still in the back of my head.

We also have a trail ride next wednesday that we'll be going on. I'll actually try to get pictures this time!!


My Walkabout

Well, my walkabout has kind of collapsed or at least it feels that way.

I had planned on going to California for a month in November or December. It's a wild horse sanctuary and they have a work study program. They just e-mailed me today informing me that my dates are out of their season. I had talked to them earlier about my dates and they gave me no reason to doubt this so I'm quite fustrated. I sent them a very professional e-mail expressing my fustration with this so I feel a lot better right now.

I am now on the search for an internship.

So far, these are all the prospects for my walkabout starting in September and ending in December. I graduate at the end of December.

• Local Therapeutic Riding Stable - The lady that I've been talking to sounds wonderful and it seems to be a full-go for me volunteering. I should be able to start this in mid-September and keep with that for at least a 6-8 weeks until I find my second one. I would even love to continue volunteering afterwards.
• Trail Riding Place in Indiana - I went trail riding at this place for my 17th birthday. He basically offered me a paid internship. I, of course, could not get paid during my internship for my school but I am curious if I could bring Dixie with me and it could be a work for board type thing. That would be wonderful although I'm not even sure if I could bring her or if I could do this in the dates that I need to do it. I mean, how busy in November and December really for trail riding? Not too busy, I'm guessing.
• Numerous Ranches that I have not yet contacted - I have found quite a few of ranches located in the west. I need to contact them with my details and hope for the best. Most of the places are dude/guest ranches so they have rates and everything for the lodges and "experience". I am hoping that it could be like a job thing without the pay and more learning on my side as I have never been on a ranch with cows. I am very willing to learn though!

Sorry for the lack of updates recently...

Nothing has been going on much lately. I've only ridden Dixie a few times since the trail riding trip. I've said this before but I really need to bump up her training. I've been doing spirals, figure 8s, and serpetines regulary now and I'm sure that's helping. That's about all I've been doing though now, it's been so hot and humid, we just don't feel like doing much and I feel bad working her in that kind of humidity, she's got to miserable some days.

I've got a dentist appointment tomorrow(today, haven't slept yet) and then hopefully I'll be heading out to the barn and I'm going to try to start her passenger riding lessons tomorrow, hopefully that will go well. It will be good for me too cause I've gotten so used to almost always steering her. I hope it won't be busy because obviously I can't do anything like that if there's another horse, it usually isn't during the day. I'm also going to the tack store tomorrow to get some first aid items and a crop...I have a feeling I might need a crop for tomorrow if I don't use Sherri's bridle with the splint reins and I use mine with the roper reins.

That's all for right now, I better get to bed, I've got that dentist appointment early tomorrow!

She transformed into a trail horse!

Well, I went on my birthday trail ride today with about 6 or so other people and their horses. I brought Dixie along, this was our first off-property trail ride together. I came out Monday and Tuesday so I could get her on the back property trails before we went on our big trail ride. I worked her in the arena first and then we headed out, she did pretty good. She didn't always want to go in the same direction but she overall just fine and her trail walk was very fast! On Tuesday, I went into the gelding turnout pasture (the geldings were inside at the moment) with another girl from the stable. The gelding turnout has a lot of logs and trail obstacles to go over. I took Dixie over the bridge, huge logs, lots of logs in a row, etc. She did very well. I also trotted her around a bit and she did fine at that too. I was so proud of her!

I have to admit, I was a bit worried about today.


Italic is what I thought would happen. Bold is what actually happened.

Not going/coming out of the trailer smoothly.
She loaded like a champ, didn't think anything of it.

Not slowing down when I wanted her to.
She listened to all of my cues on the trail, especially my voice. She listened extremely well to my voice. For example, when we would go down a hill and she would start to trot. I would tell her to walk, slow down, ease up, take it slow, etc. and she would listen.

A nutcase before we go on the trail because of her freshness.
She was completely calm when she got off the trailer. She didn't seem fresh at all, didn't want to go any faster than I wanted her to go, I only had to one-rein her to get on but that's always how it is. She has a problem with walking off, we're still working on it.

Rushiness on the trail.
She was not rushy at all. She had a nice consistent pace and if I clucked to her once or twice she would walk slightly faster.

Possible run-off with me.
We trotted as a group and she slowed right down when I asked her to and never even tried to go faster or gave me any reason to think she would run off. I often had her trotting up the hills and again, she never went any faster than of what I asked of her. Last time, I went to the same place but I rode Harvey, their lesson horse. He ran off with me while going up a hill. He is considered very bombproof.

Constantly one-reining her.
I barely ever one-reined her...actually, I don't think I ever did. I did slightly when she decided that maybe she shouldn't be going that way but she quickly straightened herself out and listened to me.

Becoming pissy and flipping her head around.
She only flipped her head a few times when I had some consistent contact but other than that, she really responded very well to the contact and even rounded slightly when I asked her to slow down. I haven't really worked on that with her so I was truely amazed.

Over-reacting to the water and doing something that could be dangerous or just being afraid of it and therefore causing problems whenever we would come up on mud or water.
Again, she handled this like a champ. She actually went hock-deep! We also had a lot of mud on the last mile or so and she went through it with some hesitation and needed a bit of encouragement but overall, she was great. Infact, she lead another horse through it that was having problems, two of them actually.


Riding up on other horse's butts.
She did this a bit but I could easily pull her back, I would just have to keep on doing it since her trail walk is a bit faster than most of the slow-pokes that were in our group. She also had no problem with Captain, a friend's horse, riding up her butt. He was most comfortable with his nose up her butt so we just rode like that the entire time. I think the two of them kind of bonded over the trailer ride.

Not being comfortable in a position in the herd.
She was comfortable in any position that we were in. Half of the time we were in the middle, she never had a problem with this. The other half of the time, we were leading since we were the faster ones. She did this very well, she even lead the whole group through all of the bad mud. I think she likes to lead but I'm grateful that she's content in any position. Harvey really loves to lead and he's gets so anxious if he's not and then he gets mad whenever a horse is on his butt, kind of made it not enjoyable at times.

Bucking.
Nope, no bucking whatsoever. She didn't want to at all either.

Possible herd-bound problems as well.
Again, nope, she would walk alone and away from the group. I had to go quite a ways back to help Erika and Captain and she was perfectly fine trotting away from the group that she was just neighing to earlier.


All in all, I am absolutely amazed by how she did today. I love that fact that I have this very trust-worthy and dependable trail horse now. It's like she transformed on the trailer ride over there. I really think we bonded on this ride as well. When we were all taking a break. I sat up on a hill with her right next to me. I ate my beef jerky and fed her carrots at the same time. She was so sweet, she just put her head gently in my lap, ate the carrots, made sure to not walk on top of me and then soon rested for a bit with her nose on my shoulder. She also paid close attention to me while we were sitting there. If I moved, she would look over and make sure everything was ok and then if I went back to my horn bag to get something, she would turn her nose around to see what I was doing. She was just so attentive and I felt like she was taking care of me and that if we were in a situation where I needed her help for our safetly, I am sure she would come through with flying colors.

I'm so proud of my girl.

This trip also closed more, if all, of my doubts about buying her/a horse in general right now.

There's Hope

I went out early this morning to try and beat the heat. My plan didn't work as just as I was ready to ride, it became humid and extremely hot.

I didn't really do much in the arena, just the normal warm-up and then some transitions between the trot and canter. She did well with that. I then went outside to the trails. She handled this amazingly well compared to the other time. She was bit rushy and didn't always want to go where I wanted her to go but overall she was ok. She is quite the muncher!

After I was done with my trail ride, I went to her pasture to ride in a bit and see how she does. All of her pasturemates were in another pasture because some of the land was being worked on for drainage issues. We rode half way through and she was still fine. I felt so bad because she kept on neighing for her friends but nobody answered, she looked as though she had been abandoned! I gave her bath when I brought her in and snuck fly spray on her, she behaved very well with that! I was so proud of her. Then, when she was finally ready to go back outside, I took her to the pasture where her friends were and she was so happy to see them! It was cute, she neighing with joy and they all came running to see her.

Been A While

Well, it's been a while since I last posted. I have been mainly posting things on the forum so I feel talked out by the time that I usually post on here.

Things have been going ok with Dixie. I'm having a lot of problems with her within the last two days though. She has been shouldering out pretty bad and then she threw a fit when I took her in the pasture the other day. I won't go into details as it would a be a very long post but it included her have two bucking episodes, a little hop type rear thing, and just being a brat in general. Then yesterday I almost fell off twice and she shouldered out really really bad. It's just a little bit upsetting right now but I'm sure we'll get it figured out. I made sure to leave every ride on a good note and with her acting right but still.

I posted a bulletin on myspace the other night that will give you insight on what else is currently going on:

Front Shoes and Trimming = $75 approx.

Teeth Floating = $100 approx.

West Nile and Rabies Vaccination = $30 approx.

New Fly Sheet and Mask = $80 approx.

Having a sweet mare come up to the gate when I call her name and then put her soft velvetly nose on my cheek after I've been gone for two weeks because of my wisdom teeth surgery and dry socket experience = Priceless



Also, it looks like I'll probably be going on a trail ride with Dixie next week. It's my birthday on Wednesday and Sherri said that we'll definitely have to go then, unless of course something comes up. I'm so excited!

TV Shows

I'm going to combine today's ride with my post for tomorrow's. I posted a thread on the horse forum and I feel all talked out about our ride and training. Never thought that would happen!

So, instead, I'm doing a little review post TV Shows and why I love them. I do have that list of TV shows that I like off to the side, why not explain why I like them??


TV Shows
America's Next Top Model - Honestly, I don't watch this show for the realitiness of it. I love seeing the end results of the photos and commercials. I have a certain appreciation for photos.

Bones - I love this show so much! I love the relationship between Bones and Booth, I think it's very dependable, always there for you friendship and I love that. The cases are also usually interesting and different, there has often been times where they go along with Bones's or Booth's past life experience which is always cool to see them connecting to the case like that. I also love the relationship between Angela and Hoggins, I think they're adorable. I really can't believe that season finale, can't wait for next season.

Chuck - I was hooked on this show from day one. I love how Chuck is just any other ordinary guy, he's goofy, nerdy, and usually awkward and he's a very lovable character. And you gotta love the herd dynamics of the Nerd Herd, I think all of them are absolutely hilarious.

Desperate Housewives - Yes I know that most people look down on this show but I have to tell you, it is well written. I love the friendship of the 5, sometimes 6, women. They will always be there for each other, if nothing else proved this, this year's season finale did. Bree and Lynette are my absolute favorites. I like Susan and all but I really wish the show wasn't centered so much around her.

Eli Stone - I love all of his visions and the singing, that really adds an awesome element to the show. It's not one of my favorites but I really like this show and will continue to watch it. I also really like Eli and Maggie together.

Friday Night Lights - I never thought that I would like this show. I hate football, always have but I love this show. The characters are all wonderful and Tim is just plain out hot so it's always nice to watch him. And as much as I can stand Landry, I love the relationship between him and Tyra. Although I hate the way that they got them together, I think that was stupid even if they did handle the outcome well.

Gilmore Girls - Being an only daughter to a single mom, it was just natural for me to love this show. The dialogue is amazing. I also love Luke and Jess, they were my favorite characters. Even over Rory and Lorelai. I really didn't like Rory as much in the later seasons, she was ten times better before she met Logan. He's alright and all but she and Jess were just so much better together.

I will finish this tomorrow or sometime soon! Promise!

Went Out Yesterday and Going Out Later Tonight

I have to go to work in an hour a half so this will be somewhat short compared to normal.

My dad took me out yesterday to ride Dixie. The ride went pretty well despite the heat and her not 100% cooperating, but when do they ever cooperate 100%? She's getting better and better each day though. It wasn't a very long ride and we didn't do a whole bunch, mostly because of the heat, but we got the basics down. She did have a slight bucking spirt but it wasn't that bad at all, she was just mad at my heel being put into her. She was shouldering out and I was trying to move over shoulder back over, she's done this before. She never wants to get you off, she just gets mad and pissy. Typical mare attitude, eh?

So tonight after I get off of work, I'll be going out there to either ride if the weather feels alright or do some much needed fly spray training. She is afraid of the fly spray hitting her skin, she's fine with the bottle itself and if it's spray around her. I think once it hits her skin it turns into a horse-eating fly spray bottle!! Oh no!! So I've got a spray bottle filled with water all ready to go, it's going to take a little bit for her to get used to it completely but at least we'll get there eventually. I also haven't done any groundwork with her whatsoever so if I go ahead and do some fly spray training, I'm going to go ahead and do the goundwork that I haven't as well.

Well, I've got to go, my dog is hanging over my screen. I wouldn't want to get doggie drool all over it!

Today Was So Wonderful!!

Today was completely amazing in almost every way possible.

A person that I know from the stable just got what I think is her first horse. He's an adorable 2 year old smokey black gelding. He is so mellow! I really like him, he is the perfect horse for her. The only thing about him is that he is somewhat dead-sided, she had to kick a few times to really get him going. He was a lot better outside though. Me and Dixie were they're buddies for today. Me and her talked while the horses made each other feel more comfortable. You know how horses love their buddy system. Whenever Vegas wouldn't go, I would come up with Dixie and walk or trot right by him to encourage him to go on his own. After we felt like we had a pretty good ride in the arena, we went to some of the big pastures and just walked around. Vegas did amazing! He actually led Dixie through the puddle! I was cracking up laughing at the fact that a 2 year old colt led my 10 year old supposedly ex-trail horse through a puddle of water!

I also realized something new about Dixie today. I think I've always kind of known this but I never put the two together. She is 100% better in the outdoor arena. She's a mess in the indoor while cantering, in the outdoor, she just runs right into it and can balance herself very easily an several different speeds of cantering. I'm not sure what it's about exactly. My theory is the size of the arena but I'm not sure. It could just be that she likes the atmosphere better.

I also rode her in the twisted snaffle today rather than the argentine snaffle and she was wonderful, I'm not going back to the argentine, she has grown so sour to that bit. I still hate having a twisted one but I stay out of her mouth and I'm going to be ordering the waterford and french link sometime soon anyways, probably this week.

I also get my first paycheck tomorrow! Yay!

I work tomorrow for 4 hours, 8 hours on Friday, and 4 hours on Saturday. I'm dreading that 8 hour day.

Today Was Just Nice and Relaxing

I went out to the stable in the afternoon, took a while to groom her and hopped on bareback. We just walked around, a little trotting but she was being a butt about her bit. I really want to get her out of that, she hates it. Luckily, I'm ordering the new bit this week so hopefully that wil make a difference and I'll start lunging her with side reins.

After I rode her bareback for a while, I went ahead and set up ground poles in the round pen and lunged her over them. She did really well! I, then, set up a small jump. I got her to jump it a few times but I don't see a jumper in her future :D. That's just fine by me, she tries her heart out, that's all I need.

I'm going out again to see her tomorrow, maybe I'll have something more interesting to say. I'm going to try to get her in a different bit.

It's official!!

Well, Sherri (I'm going to be using her name now, I'm getting sick of saying my mentor and I know not many people read this so it's not a big deal) asked me to go ahead and pay for Dixie's board for July and this will be the starting of my official lease.

I'm so excited...and a little scared. Everything financial has come to surface. I think I'll be fine. I'm in for a check next week so that should cover Dixie's board after my dad pays the first month. I think I'm going to have a little bit of trouble for a few months but after I get going and get move savings then I think I'll be just fine.

My mom came out last week and saw her, she really liked her so that's a plus. We got some good clips too of me riding. We also managed to capture some funny pictures of Dixie yawning. She was sooo tired after our very short ride.

Dixie's Back is Like a Couch!!

I rode her bareback today for the first time and she is soo comfortable!! She did very well too, especially considering that I was having some balance issues and depeneded on her sometimes to help keep me on. She also did very well with me getting on, I was expecting her to not standstill or buck, something. Nope, nothing, she did absolutely nothing and gave me time to get positioned and everything.

We had a rough morning though. I went out to go get her and she gave me a really hard time and then when I was latching the gate, I let the lead slip out of my hand and I figured she would just graze. Nope she went running down the aisleway in between the two pastures!! Brat! It took me more than 20 minutes to catch her! I then took her in and put her straight in the round pen and worked her. She did well and I then gave her a good bathing. She looked great and her mane felt wonderful. After that was all done and she was mostly dry, I took her out with me to the chairs in front of the outdoor arena, ate my poptart, and let her graze for a while around me while I watched the riding in the arena.

All in all, it was a good day.

I also got all of my supplies from horse.com today!! Yay!!

First Day Being Indpendent...

It was so nice!!

My mentor and her husband are going away for the week and when I asked her about me coming out and riding Dixie during their leave, she said to feel free to come out whenever. I have been having to let her know what time and what-not. This was seriously a release of freedom for me as weird as that sounds. I've never had that freedom to come out whenever I can and ride however I want to. I mean I have to an extent but I don't really feel like I do. Don't get me wrong, my mentor gives me an excessive amount of freedom with the horses and I truely appreciate that, always will. But, there is still that feeling hanging over me that I can't mess the horse up, I can't do this, I can't do that.

I got up this morning with the intent on going out to the stable early. I did not have a set time and I made it there around 12pm. I talked to the barn manager for a while, I haven't seen her in more than week, I needed to catch up on my gossip ;) I then went out and got Dixie.

After I had her tacked up and ready to go, I set up two ground poles. We trotted over those a few times and then I decided to set up cones to weave through. She did pretty good on that, better than I thought she would have. We also did figure 8s with cantering and trotting. I was amazed with this!! She did beautifully with her leads!! Especially since we've had problems with the left lead. My prediction is that she will be seamingly easy to teach flying lead changes to. Yay!! We then set up a small calvetti...she knocked it a few times but then started to really pick up her feet.

It was so sweet, the entire time I set up everything. I had to get off numerous times and she followed me around, it was so sweet. I could have just died, she's the first horse who has done this with me, other than join up, and I felt so loved.

I'm going out tomorrow as well and maybe even Wednesday. I'm off tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday from work so it makes it a lot easier to go out to the stable and not have to worry about still having energy for the rest of the day. My mom will be coming out on Thursday or Friday so I'm hoping she can take many photos and probably videos. I also would love to ride Dixie bareback sometime this week, I'll have to see what the BM thinks.

My Day with Dixie and Dad

My dad and mom still haven't met Dixie and since she's a pretty big part of my life right now, I think that it's best that they do. So my dad came out with to the stable on Saturday as both a camera man and as a dad meeting "my" horse.

We started out by getting her out of the pasture of course. They were all up by the gate, thank god, since they were just fed. That pasture is so big and everytime I go out there, it seems that Dixie is as far as she could be from the gate. I need to figure out their watering schedule. Anyways, so I walked into the pasture and called out her name. She was hilarious. She was on the other side of Missy, this big paint broodmare, and as soon as she heard her name, she moved her head just below Missy's big 'ole head just enough so that she could see me. When she realized that I was coming to get her, she walked lazily away. She's playing a game, it's not because she doesn't want to caught, she's teasing me. So as she walked away, Cookie and Patches came up to say hello. I gave them attention and ignored her for a bit. I then went to go get her and yet again, she walked slowly away just far enough so I couldn't get her. She finally let me walk right up to her.

About 10 minutes after we were inside, a severe thunderstorm started. She did ok in the crossties while I was tacking her up until something hard started hitting the roof, then she got nervous so I unhooked the crossties and just had her with her lead rope for a while. Finally everything calmed down and I finished tacking. I was debating whether or not to actually ride but she seemed to be doing fine. We didn't have a very long ride, we both were feeling pretty lazy and we had numerous problems (not me or her, in the arena) during our ride so that made it harder to ride longer. I just decided to go ahead and hop off but I didn't want to untack her and just take her back outside, especially since it was still storming so I waited for the roundpen to be free and then I did a join up with her. She did pretty good, only a few wrong turns but she came in very nicely.

It was really nice tonight because we just had some very relaxing no expectations bonding time together while me, my dad, and another very talkative boarder talked. She was so sweet, she kept on laying her head in my arm and falling asleep.

I really love spending time with her and she is absolute joy to ride.

My dad took some pictures and videos for me. I was amazed at how good she looked and how wonderful we looked together. This was the first time that I've seen me riding her on video, I never knew what we looked like. In my head, we looked like a train wreck....now, I know we don't.

Dixie was amazing today!

I've been slowly realizing over the past week or so that maybe I'm in their mouths too much. I blame this completely on ARF, they had me ride their horses with a very tight hold to "lift" them up and there was really never a time in my lessons where they had me rely totally on my legs and seat, we were always doing something with the reins.

So today I tried my hardest to teach myself to have very loose reins and to be sure to not over-cue Dixie for turning and other maneveurs. I let the reins loose and held the middle with one hand while Dixie went around the arena. If she went off of the rail, I would slowly and easily guide her back. I made sure to not make a big deal about it and to simply suggest a better option. Saying that makes me think of the saying, "You tell a gelding, you ask a mare, and you discuss it with a stallion." I also made sure to be very light if I did have to make contact and use my legs and seat to guide her more. I never realized how well she worked off of my legs. I always knew that she was fairly sensitive as in she didn't need much to get her going but I never thought she would work off my legs so well...she has the ability to completely ignore my leg if I'm trying to move her over. She never showed me that she could work well from my legs. I also realized that she somewhat neck reins or at least enough for me to guide her fairly easily in the arena. That's enough for me right now!

I was so proud of her today! I was amazed by my Dixie girl, she was a different horse. She cantered nicely when we were...well, it was fast and she did shoulder out slightly but it was so much better than the other times! She felt actually controlled, balanced, and consistent!

The only bad thing about today was that she was a bitch on the trail, she didn't want to slow down at all and became very prissy whenever she had contact on her mouth no matter how light it was. She would flip her head and swish her tail. I'm thinking that she just needs time to become more confident just with me and not be so dependent on the other horses and staying with them. She just needs to relax. I'm not faulting her for this at all, she only needs some time. Luckily, I can give her that.

I am going to bring my camera on Wednesday for my lesson and I plan to ride Dixie afterwards so maybe I can get some pictures or videos.

I feel like I'm a horse owner!

It's a wonderful feeling!!

I've been preparing for a trail ride that my mentor invited me to go on with Dixie. I am super excited. I have never actually went on a trail ride in where I'm responsible for the horse that I'm riding.

Within the last year, I have been on two trail rides with WTS. The first was to a local AEP bridle trail and camp area. I rode Harey and WTS took care of everything. He's their horse after all. I also went to a Best of America by Horseback trail ride. That was crazy! I also rode Harvey then. There were well over 200 horses and people. Harvey did wonderful. Unfortunely when we were there, a horse flipped over while going down a muddy hill and was put to sleep. That was a horrible situation to even hear about, yet alone be there to witness the perchies dragging the barely alive horse into the barn with the owner in tears.

Anyways, so I have had to get a few things for the trail ride. Mom went ahead and ordered all of the grooming supplies that I need and a 3-piece saddle bag set, it includes a horn bag, cantle bag, and a saddle bag. I ordered it in black, yes I know, I play it safe. I can't for the life of me deicde on a color for Dixie! And they didn't have purple anyways which seems to be the color that I'm leaning towards for her. I keep on going back to purple.

Dad also took me out today and we bought a black breast collar but hey it has purple, blue, and pink accents!! We also went to TSC (Tractor Supply Company) and bought a blue lead rope with a sweet bull snap that I love. I've never been a fan of bull snaps because I could never get the hang of it, this one has a groove in where you would put your thumb to push it out and it's sooo easy! We also got some Pyranha fly spray for the trail ride. Thanks Dad!

Just to help me organize myself, here is my list of what to bring to the trail ride:

• Saddle bags - maybe the horn bag and then the saddle bag that goes on the back if I really need it.
• Water bottles - we bought some aquapods, they're super small water bottles that could easily slip into my horn bag and better yet my sucky caps fit on the smaller bottles!
• Beef Jerky, Sunflower seeds (thanks to dad, I'm addicted), some sort of energy bar...I think that's about all I need food-wise.
• Poncho or Rain Jacket if I bring the larger saddle bag.
• I figured that I'll go ahead and bring my grooming supplies since I'll have them anyways and I'll want to use them.
• Breast Collar of course, I need to just make sure that it fits her correctly. She's a stocky, short, fat pony.
• Money
• Everything else I believe is coming from WTS such as the saddle, bridle/bit, splint boots if needed, and saddle pad.

Rode Dixie Yesterday

It was an ok ride. She did great in the last half of our ride but she was a pill in the first. There was another rider about my age in the arena with me so that made it hard and plus I'm always intimidated by other riders my age, I have no idea why. It would have been so much easier if she just stayed on one side but she basically rode a circle around me which became fustrating because I wasn't totally sure where Dixie would go, she had a couple of bucking spirts. I've realized that I really need the whole arena. I had the whole arena in the last half and my mentor was helping me, Dixie did so much better. She's just not controlled/balanced at the canter yet.

I also rode in an old treed barrel saddle...my bum hurts like crazy! That treeless has spoiled me. Trees are so hard after you've been riding in a treeless for almost two years.

I still haven't technically started the lease on Dixie but it will start soon and I'll be trying her out in different bits and doing different things so she can learn to accept contact and the bit. My mentor also suggested that I lunge Dixie before hand with side reins so I don't have to work so hard to get her calmed down in the bit. I'm excited to see how she reacts to everything.

On a really good note. I went out to see her and just say hi and she walked right up to me and put her soft horsey nose on my cheek, I melted. She's never done this, if anything, she gives you a hard time catching her. It was so sweet and then when I actually really brought her in to ride, she nickered at me when I left the aisle way.

I feel so loved.

Yay!

I went out the stable yesterday. It was so nice just to be there. This is something that I need, I need to smell the horses and hear their neighs to stay sane. Me and my friends started talking about this the other day that this is what keeps me sane, and calm. It really is. I didn't even ride yesterday, which sucks, but I got to catch up on all the juicy gossip and just watering the horses was enough.

So on to the good news. My dad said that he would pay for the first month's fee for Dixie so I can start the lease, I'm so excited!! I cannot wait for the day when I come out and I can decide what I want to do! Yes!!!

I miss the stable...

I haven't been out to the stable in about two weeks!

Last Tuesday, I had surgey to get my wisdom teeth taken out. I had a lot of trouble with my teeth being sore and then when I took the pain medicine, it made me sick. It was awful. I missed a week and a half of school. The most annoying part was that we had called the dentist and told him about my pain because we were concerned that it could be dry socket. He said it was normal. So I took almost two weeks of severe pain in my jaw and feeling horrible from the pain medications and then I refused to take any more medicine, I was sick of feeling awful and not being able to eat, we called back and now he says it's not normal! Geesh! It's easy, I went in and he put this dressing on the two that had dry socket and then two days later, he took it off. I still have some pain but it's not nearly as bad, at least it's bearable.

I am also completely stressed out about school. This is my senior year, except for that fact that I'm not graduating until December of this year, but it's still my senior year and this is my last semester of classes for high school. All I'll be doing next semester is my walkabout and I'll probably be taking a couple of online courses but that's all.

It has actually been really hard recently, all of the seniors are coming back from walkabout and I have to sit there and hear about their adventures and the know the fact that they're graduating in a week while I'm still stuck at school. Don't get me wrong, I'm plenty excited for them, most of them are my friends, it just makes me sad. I'm ok as long as I have somebody with me that's going through the same thing but when I'm the only one, it's pretty awful. Luckily, I do have a really good friend who is going through the exact same thing. He was actually really sweet today, he said, "So, you want to mope around with me tomorrow? We can mope together." This made me feel so good. I have a shoulder if I need one and so does he. Tomorrow is the awards ceremony and the seniors will be honored and everything, it is definitely more than a bit upsetting.

Anyways, so that's why I haven't been able to go out to the stable and I miss it terribly. I haven't been riding in two weeks either! I miss Dixie and all the other horses!!

Luckily, I go back on Thursday for a few hours and I should start leasing Dixie this month.

Here she is:

My History and Future With Horses

The Past

I have loved horses since the day that I was born. My mom got me riding lessons when I was 7 years old. I started out riding english in half an hour lessons on a spunky pony named Honey Buns and a big 'ole grey horse named Parker. I then started riding a morgan cross named Brandy. She was the all-around babysitter type of horse, my mom trusted her from the beginning to take care of me. I rode her for a number of years along with a little white pony named Frosty and then moved independently with my instructor to other barns and then started riding Brownie, a little bay pony. When I was around 13 years old, I quit riding lessons with her because I didn't feel that she ever took me seriously since I didn't have an interest in showing. It fustrated me that I was barely cantering at that time. I had probably only cantered a couple of strides on Brownie. I took a year off after that because my mom at the time couldn't afford lessons. That was one of the worst years of my life.

Then when I turned 15, I made my way into my second year of high school. The high school that I chose to go to has a wonderful internship program on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I started interning at a local horseback riding stable(ARF). After I had been at ARF for a while, I began taking western lessons. I wanted a change. They put me on Skittles first and had me canter in my first lesson. I cannot describe the feeling that I got. It was taking me years to canter with my other instructor and this one just told me canter and the horse went right into one...I was so relieved. It seemed like nothing after that. It's amazing how something that seemed so big at one point can after 10 minutes feel like nothing.

I then joined their high school equestrian team. The team ran with the IEA(Interscholasic Equestrian Association) which is an association that gears towards middle school and high school students without horses. The stables provide the horses and you randomly draw the horse that you will ride in the class. I showed in Western Horsemanship. I stayed with the team for almost two years. I then quit because I was sick of the attitudes and the way that they did things at the ARF. I also quit my lessons with them. I had asked my instuctor if I could learn Reining, that was the ARF's specialty. She said that I needed two more years of horsemanship with them. Well, I got news for ya! Horsemanship is booooring! Especially when I had already started my second internship with another stable and I was riding every Tuesday and Thursday unlike the first internship, I only rode once the whole year. I had also by that time about about 8 years of riding time under my belt. By this time, I had gained much better riding skills and more confidence about my riding thanks to my current internship. All I'm saying is that I think I had the riding skills and ability to do reining or at least I definitely didn't have to do two years to gain the riding skills...maybe a year, maybe.

After I decided to quit showing with the high school team and lessons all together at ARF, I took up new lessons at my current internship(WTS). These were not just Horsemanship lessons either, these were Barrel Racing lessons! I have a need for speed and this was satisfying it and best yet, I am not half bad at it. My instructor/mentor even mentioned taking me to some barrel races this summer.

This now meets where I am presently. I am currently still taking lessons at WTS and just finishing up my second year interning for them. They are truely wonderful people and I am thankful that they gave me everything that I need to succeed. I also met Dixie(along with many other horses that have helped me), the horse that I will be leasing this summer. Her story is off to the right, it explains it all.


The Future

I am very excited about my future with horses. This summer, as said many times before, I will be leasing Dixie and learning irreplacable training and horse ownership experience. My riding and training skills will be able to work independently without having somebody look over my shoulder 24/7 (WTS did not do this by the way, they trusted me and often left me to figure out things on my own...they taught me to be independent.)

After this summer is over, my walkabout starts. Walkabout is yet another program at my school in which you don't take any classes for a whole semester and you go on two different internships for a two-month period full-time. I am not sure what else I will be doing but I am hoping to go to a wild horse preservation in California for about a month. This is my passion, mustangs are what fascinate me, always have. I hope to in the future train a mustang from BLM from the very beginning.

Then, after Walkabout is over, I graduate. Yay! I will have a whole 8 months to just go to my job and work with Dixie assuming I still have her by this time. After the 8 months have passed I will be heading off to ATI(Agricultural Technical Institute) which is a satelite campus to OSU and they offer two different horse degrees there. I am not quite sure about which one I will be taking but I will be taking on. I then hope to transfer to OSU and major is something totally not horsey.

This is as far as my plans go for now.

Just Me...and the Animals

Hello...my name is Annie. I am 17 years old, I'll be turning 18 however in July. I am a Senior in high school, due to credit reasons I will not be graduating until December 2008. I am perfectly fine with this, well, I was upset at first and it can be hard some days but overall, it is ok and I actually find it quite relieving. Personality-wise, I am very laid-back and easy to get along with. I'd rather have a small group of close friends over a big bunch of popular "friends" anyday. I like the small things in life and I hate big gestures from guys. I am also a picky eater. I think that about sums me up.

I am a definite animal lover and I will always remain one. Currently I have one dog, two guinea pigs, two gerbils, and one rabbit. These animals are a huge part of my life.

Snooky, my dog, is 14 years old. He is by all means my baby, I would do anything to protect him. We adopted him from the local humane society when I was 4 years old and we've been together ever since. He is a poodle/shepherd/terrier mix...his hair is a fuzzy mess and it never really looks just right but we love him anyways.

The two piggies are Tank and Party. They are both going on 5 years old. Party is a tri-color Aby and Tank is just a plain old brown english. He makes up for his lack of color in personality though. I have always had a guinea pig...I got my first one when I was around 4 or 5 years old from my uncle. I named him Mo and I was devastated when he died a few years later. We then got Rosa, she was awesome. She never ran away or peed on me, which is quite unusual for guinea pigs. Oh well, you learn to deal with it, at least it's not horse poop, your lap would be convered!

The gerbils are Maud-Dib and Duncan Idaho. I have no idea which one is which, they are identical and I mean completely and utterly identical. I got them when they were 2 1/2 years old from a forum friend who needed to get rid of her furry animals. We drove half the way (2 1/2 hours) to meet her at a McDonalds and pick up the gerbils. I have been taking care of them ever since and I can honestly say that I am shocked that they are still alive today, they are also pushing 5 years old. I have never met a gerbil that lived this long. Oh yes, that's another thing, I have had two gerbils before this, Golden and Speedy...not that that was important, I just felt the need to add that in.

Allister is my rabbit. He is the most outgoing and lovable rabbit that I have ever met. We had one rabbit before him, she was our first. Her name was Smokey and she was a Netherland Dwarft. She died at 5 years old due to a stroke, she was a sweetheart and I miss her very much. Allister is a full-size Rex and he is around 3 years old. His coloring is called Black Otter I believe. There is never a dull moment with Allister, he is always up to something and if he's not, that's when you need to worry. He has a strange fetish for phonebooks, he's had one ever since he came to us. First thing he found was the phonebook and he went to town.

Besides the animals being a huge part of my life. I do have another more exciting social life. I am part of a group of friends. The group consists of 7 girls (two of them are in and out) and four guys (one is a older "member" but has been moving forward with graduating and such and then two others only hang out with us during lunch and occasionally outside of school...we only have one guy that is usually always with us). I make this sound all formal, it's really not, we're just a big bunch of friends who love going to the park and swinging singing "Build Me Up, Buttercup!" at the top of our lungs! I love all of my friends no matter how ridiculous they can be.