Thursday, April 12, 2012

Walk away

{Music interlude. Horse and Lville stuff to return tomorrow!}


Dear Ben Harper,

Thank you for writing this song. :)




Oh no
Here comes that sun again
That means another day
Without you my friend

And it hurts me
To look into the mirror at myself
And it hurts even more
To have to be with somebody else
And it's so hard to do
And so easy to say
But sometimes
Sometimes you just have to walk away
Walk away

With so many people
To love in my life
Why do I worry
About one

But you put the happy
In my ness
You put the good times
Into my fun
And it's so hard to do
And so easy to say
But sometimes
Sometimes you just have to walk away
Walk away
And head for the door

We've tried the goodbye
So many days
We walk in the same direction
So that we could never stray
They say if you love somebody
Then you have got to set them free
But I would rather be locked to you
Than live in this pain and misery

They say time will
Make all this go away
But it's time that has taken my tomorrows
And turned them into yesterdays
And once again that rising sun
Is droppin' on down
And once again you my friend
Are nowhere to be found
And it's so hard to do
And so easy to say
But sometimes
Sometimes you just have to walk away
Walk away
And head for the door
You just walk away
Walk away





And as a special treat, Ben and (a young, yuppie-looking) Eddie Vedder. Oh yum yum yum.


Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Keep on truckin'

Naturally, when moving 3 hours away and across state lines, the first thing you should do is:

a) find a place to live
b) find a place for your horse to live
c) locate all the good bars
d) sleep

If you guessed B, you are correct!
If you guessed C, you are also correct!

(Answers A and D are incorrect, bad student!)

So, uh, that means the good news is that Hampton does have a new place to live. The woman who owns Hampton's sire recommended this place to me, as she is friends with the gal who runs it.

The place looks heavenly and the BO was nice enough to let me stay for a few weeks to make sure I like it before signing a contract. Hampton will be moving next week, just as soon as I can get a health certificate.

The bad news is that I don't have a &%*^ place to live yet and I start my new job on April 23.

*#&$*% !!!!!!!

It seems like I have 3 jobs now as I do barn chores in the morning, ride Hamp, then apartment hunt online until I go into newspaper land. It is mentally exhausting!

I bet you all are wondering about our new farm.

I hope to have photos soon, but here is a short description. It is in Prospect, KY, a VERY lovely area. Thankfully, Hampton is looking fabulous right now so I don't think we'll be laughed at when we arrive.

• Rich and spacious pastures (Hamps will be living outside again! Woohoo!)
• Situated on a 170-acre nature preserve
• Miles and miles of trails amongst waterfalls, woods and total beauty!
• Two outdoor arenas - dressage and show jumping.
• You can hack 4 minutes down the road to one of the area's biggest eventing facilities.
• So many other facilities within 10-15 miles to trailer to. (Such as Flying Cross)

I'm pretty excited and never in a million years thought I would be able to board at a farm as gorgeous as those in KY. But board is reasonable and they seem to take good care of the horses.

PLUS!
• Lexington is only an hour away. AN HOUR?!? WHAT?! Sweeeeeeet!
• Hoosier Horse Park is also, just about an hour away. So I can still compete with and see my Indiana friends at shows there.

(Many thanks to Kelly over at Dressage Pony who helped me with farm recommendations and other tidbits ...)


I should go back to apartment hunting now ... ugh. It will work out, it is just stressful not knowing where you will sleep in 2 weeks. :)

Monday, April 9, 2012

A gypsy soul to blame



Weelllllllllllllllllll .....

I was going to try to come up with some fun, clever way to announce this awesome news but ... I'm too tired to be clever. Bummer.

I am moving to ...






wait for it ....






any guesses?










here's a hint:





still waiting for it ....








ok here's one more hint:





Yup.


LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY!!



More posts to come on:
• Why Lville is a BOMBDIGGITY town. Holy crap it is awesome!!!
• The barn hunt begins

and more. Great blog fodder my friends. :)






Friday, April 6, 2012

For the word geeks

If you are a word nerd like I am, you'll probably enjoy these. :)




























Wednesday, April 4, 2012

From feisty to f'ing crazy



So I was out of town on Monday for bizzz-nasss and so I had my instructor, J, ride Hampton since he does not deserve need too many days off at the moment.

On my way home, I texted her to ask how he was. She reported back that he was feisty, but a pleasure to ride. Sounds about right - he's been a pistol lately thanks to the spring grass. Not naughty, or wild, but he does have a bit of a bug up his ass. This has been showing up by way of some spooking, scooting, bucking and sassy head tossing.

So anyway, yesterday a fellow boarder came up to me and says, "Your horse had quite a workout on Monday!"

Me: "Good! He needs the work."

Boarder: "Yeah, he was dripping with sweat and his eyes were bugging out of his head."

I took that as J must have really had an intense session with him. He sweats pretty easily still as he isn't 100% shed out. I didn't think anything of her comment.

So today I am doing morning chores and the barn manager comes up to me and says, "Oh, did anyone tell you that Hampton broke my side reins (on Monday)?"

Uhhh, waaa whaaaaat?

The barn manager reports that while J was lunging Hamps, he was a WILD MANIAC - bucking, leaping, snorting.

I guess J could not find my side reins so she used the manager's. WHY did he have to break her side reins and not my own? Also, what has gotten into him?!?!

Funny how three different people gave 3 different descriptions. Fiesty. Worked Hard. CRAZY!! I wasn't there, so I just asked Hamps what happened and he said he was a perfect angel, as always. Hmph.

I rode him today (and you bet I lunged first, having no idea what sort of animal I would have this morning); And he was just as pleasant and polite as can be. *shrug*

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

A quickie

I have told my closest friends about "THE NEWS" but I still need to hold off on announcing it to the world until some papers are signed. blah blah.

Also, I am trying to think of a really fun way to announce it on the blog. :)

I just want to say that even just the handful of people that know what's going on have been so supportive and wonderful to me. Sometimes I feel really unimportant and unloved, but frankly those thoughts are a bunch of BS because I have some incredible friends who are sending emails and texts with such wonderful thoughts and well-wishes, and some offering to help me move or help with Hampton.

Well I guess I can say this much: I will be moving OUT OF INDIANA.

More Hampton stuffs soon!

(He has been a PISTOL lately! Thank you spring grass with loads of sugar ...)


Friday, March 30, 2012

Jump around!

One of the other boarders had left a little course of jumps up in the outdoor. So I took advantage, threw on our jumping tack and decided to see what would happen. We have not jumped since our lesson with LAZ ... which was, uh, December?

Hampton was ... amazing.

Energetic, forward, happy. I pointed him at the jumps, he took me there. I kept leg on at the base, put my hands forward and rode forward after the jump. It was so effortless and FUN!!

I even raised the jumps to a whopping 2'3" or so. I had zero nerves, and thus Hampton popped over like he's been doing this for years.

Yes - we jumped this!! 

I wanted to keep jumping but rewarded him by cutting the session to about 30 minutes since he was being so wonderfully perfect.

I'm seriously considering going Beginner Novice this summer. (!!!)

Back to dressage land tomorrow. We have a lesson so that means hard work for the both of us.

Meanwhile, Hamps is starting to look like a sporthorse again and not a malnourished yak. I don't know if it's just me, but I think he is going through a growth spurt. His butt is MASSIVE. Like, it's not in proportion to the rest of his body. Yeah, obviously we work to strengthen the hind end but come on people, I'm not THAT good. I think he's growing.

He has gained at least 50 pounds since moving. (And lost a lot of fur) He still has more to go (his hip bones still stick out a little), but he's out on grass now and I have no doubt he will plump up very quickly.

Look at this booty!!

March 30, 2012.