News, notes, "goals"

Sadly I did not get my New Year's Day ride in. 1) Because I was hungover and 2) It was snowing horizonally. Hampton didn't seem too disappointed.

We have otherwise been rather "unplugged" the last couple of weeks.

I did ride when Sampson's owner come up from Missouri to ride him. Sampson was very well behaved and she seemed to really enjoy him. She comes from a saddleseat background so I think I may have totally confused her when I was giving her pointers. Also, she was amazed that Sampson would stop when she merely tightened her core. :) I love teaching people dressage and watching their faces light up.

I rode Hampton, who was fine but the arena footing was crap so I never really got the push I wanted.

Sampson hopped on the trailer this morning to head back home.

Hampton and Sampton

I'm debating whether or not to take in another training horse. Probably not.

Hampton is losing weight again and it makes me furious. I could board him at a place with an indoor for the amount of extra money I am spending on feed and alfalfa cubes. The roundbales they munch on all day have very little nutritional value. It works fine for the air ferns, but not for horses like Hamps or the TBs. It is so frustrating. I am going to up his cubes first, then the grain. It hasn't even been that cold, and he's been wearing a blanket. Going to start him back on UGuard just in case, too.

As for 2012 goals ... I'm not really making any. I HOPE to attend the adult dressage camp at FHF in the spring. From there, I really want to attend a USDF show at Lamplight, a couple of CAF shows (and do starter and BN combined tests) ... and perhaps a clinic or 2. I decided not to attend event camp at CAF. I just can't see how that can happen money wise. But hopefully I can make it down to CAF for lessons a few times this year. :)

No idea what will happen with my job. For the time being I plan to stick around here and see what happens. I think I am going to go back to school so I need to get the ball rolling on that.

Also, my best friend is moving away and that makes me sad. I will be hauling her horse (to friggin KANSAS) for her, so major roadtrip in the works. The last major roadtrip I went on was to California. We drove 30 hours straight through.

I lost my mind and sang Miley Cirus for 2 hours straight.

New Year's Eve Prayer

... the Rest of 2011

2011

(The rest of the best ... or just plain weird/funny/random)

San Francisco

SubMan NOT to be confused with SubDude.

Me no like the rain!

Us in the future

Are there gators in here?

Sleepy Hampton

More sleepy Hampton

My god my horse always look exhausted!

Saw this beauty at Octoberfest. (!!!!)

Me and Steph discuss how cute JJ is.

San Fran ... look closely ...

Because this is hilarious

Not Hampton's halter

Halloween

Some truth to this

Chris Cornell acoustic concert (yes, he was amazing)

One of my favorite photos of JJ

The best of 2011

2011

What an amazing, fun year with my horse and my friends.

First show. No disasters!

Baxter comes to live with me for a while.

Good-bye green horse canter.

Hoosier Horse Fair

NEW TRAILER.

My rig.

Hampton approves.

CAF show

When your horse acts like a squirrel, laugh it off.

... how can you not forgive this face?

Love.

I take a trip to San Fran

Trail rides with my favorite people (and horses).

Hampton: 17.1 hands, Janis: 5 hands?

Our first combined test. And first course.

Good poneh.

Hampton gave it his best shot.

Out in the hay field.

Major success at Octoberfest

Hampton, Me, Steady, Amy after a SWEET weekend.

JJs cute face

Hampton passes out in a hay bale.

On Christmas. :)

A Day in the Life

A day in the life of Karen and Hampton: December 18, 2011.

8:00 a.m.: Wake up. Smile because it's time to head out to CAF for a lesson!

8:10 a.m.: Start a load of laundry. Find beer money a $10 bill. Sweet!

8:20 a.m.: Leave the house

8:25 a.m.: Squirrel runs under my truck. I hear a thump. Fatality.

8:30 a.m.: Stop to get gas.

8:35 a.m.: Stop to get a McDonald's frappe.
(Is anyone else addicted to these things? OMG they are SO. GOOD.)

8:50 a.m.: Arrive at farm. Go catch Hampton.

9 a.m.: Feed Hampton breakfast. Go hook up trailer.

9:15 a.m.: Finish hooking up trailer.

9:20 a.m.: Pack up all of my tack and other supplies. 

9:45 a.m.: Everything is packed and we are ready to hit the road. ON TIME!

9:50 a.m.: Hampton won't get on the trailer. WTF.

9:55 a.m. Proceed to make Hampton's life a living hell. Cussing. Growling. Yelling. I hope that the BO doesn't look out her window to see me beating lovingly scolding my horse. A shipping boot flies off in this process.

10:05ish a.m.: Hampton decides life is better if he gets on the %*^&* trailer.

Hi I'm Hampton and I WAS A WANKER TODAY!

10:07 a.m.: I hop in my truck, sweaty and out of breath. I suck down the rest of my frappe.

10:10 a.m.: We are on the road.

11:20 a.m.: Arrive at CAF. Unload, unpack. Get the horse settled. He clearly was in no mood for a road trip today. He was a bit warm and sweaty - not really like him. But he settles in nice.

11:30 a.m.: Go watch Amy's lesson on Steady.

(You'll have to read her blog on how they did but I thought they looked great!)

Noonish: Go tack up Hampton.

Note: I believe this is the first time I have ridden Hampton off the farm and NOT lunged him first. He was great!!

12:15 p.m.: Lesson with LAZ begins. We worked on a simple grid: bounce to a one stride. We also worked on adjusting strides down a line. Way fun! Hampton was super. 

... I will post an analysis on my lesson next post so that this one does not turn into a novel.

1 p.m.: Untack tired, sweaty pony. Throw cooler on him and give him hay. Watch a bit of another lesson going on.

2 p.m.: Off to lunch with Amy, her adorable daughter and new friend Susan. Yummy Mexican food.

3 p.m.: 4 horse crazy girls at one table = lots of chatting and giggling.

4 p.m.: Waitress probably wondering why these weirdos are still at her table, eatin' her chips.

5:30ish: Head back to CAF with full bellies. Get our tack and ponies ready to go home.

6 p.m.: Hampton makes half-ass attempt to be a mule about the trailer again. Amy and her daughter witness a mild beat down. Hamps gets on the trailer fairly quickly.

6:15 p.m.: Steady also decides to be a PITA about the trailer. But he gives in after I annoy him by tapping him on his blanket with my whacking stick.

6:20 p.m.: Back on the road!

7:30 ish: Arrive back home. Throw horse's blanket back on and put him back out in the pasture. Clean up trailer. Head home.

11 p.m.: zzzzzzzzzzzz

* Times are approximate.

Now you see why I ride dressage

About to puke? Or overthinking a Training Level test?

My last post was a prime example of why I ride dressage and enjoy it so much!

I overanalyze EVERYTHING.

I think way too damn much.

It actually is so bad that I self-sabotage some situations.

I want a plan and goals. I like directions. I don't like feeling "lost" or "uncertain." Change stresses me out.

I went to the chiro yesterday (yay! Finally got an appointment for myself, not just Hampton) and she felt my neck and said, "So, um, you have really tense muscles. Let me guess. You hold it together. You hold everything that stresses you out - inside."

Gosh lady it took a medical degree to figure that out?

Anyway my neck was significantly out of whack. So was my back. And ears. I've been getting really dizzy recently and simply by yanking the hell outta my ears, she seems to have fixed it. Did you know that there is a saddle joint in your ear? Well, there is. There's a stirrup in there, too.

Does anyone else have this problem? Not the ear problem, but the overanalyzing everything issue?

How does one fix it?!?!

'Same boy, different name'

It's story time.

Way back in the day when a certain girl was super naive and optimistic about human nature, she found a boy. His name was Aaron. This Aaron fellow was super nice, dangerously good looking and a certain girl liked him right away. He was attentive, funny and showed this girl off to his friends. They talked or hung out a couple times a week. Things were going well.

For 2 months.

Then one night, Aaron called up Girl and said he wasn't feeling well and that he wouldn't be able to see her that night as planned. "Ok I hope you feel better," said Girl. And they hung up.

They never spoke again (Well, until about 4 years later when Aaron apologized profusely ... in a bar. Classy!).

So, having not experienced this "sham" before, Girl was worried. Did his phone break? Did he die? Did he get in a car accident? She left a message for him and he never returned it.

It did not take long for Girl to figure out what had happened. He simply dropped her. She was never that important in the first place.

This is fine. It is the coward's way out and Girl felt stupid for worrying and then felt like a fool for not seeing the signs sooner. She moves on .. blah blah.

Over the next 6-7 years - this same situation happens THREE more times. (Not with Aaron, but with 3 different boys).

Which bring me to the point of this post.

"Same boy, different name."

Or, "Same job, different place."

It would be foolish to continue doing what I'm doing and just keep switching locations. The red flags have been waving in my face for a while now.

So - this means I need to plan some sort of overhaul for my career. (My relationship situation, or lack thereof, is a whole 'nother story and won't be blogged about thanks!)

Great. So I've made that decision. What now?