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: