Ain't Miss Behaving...

Well I am really bad at updating this blog!!! Last update was in Feb!! Geez!! I'm seriously going to try and update more often, I swear!!

So things have been really up and down and up and down and up and down with Amber these past few months. Back in April we had a nasty spill, we were cantering in the outdoor arena when Amber tripped and flipped over, throwing me chest first into the dirt. We both came out of it pretty much uninjured (a few bumps and scrapes but nothing serious, I definitely have a guardian angel looking over me and amber (Thanks Nana))

But I did come out of the fall with some severe damage to my confidence. And I have been battling with those confidence issues for the last few months.. I didn't do any shows this summer, and it feels like Amber and I are kind of back where we started last year when we first moved to Whisper Wind.

I've been super nervous about riding her in the outdoor, even though I've taken a lot of precautions to help decrease the chances of her falling again (New saddle, new pads, new sport medicine boots, rides with my trainer, ect.) I still picture her falling down, right out from underneath me, almost everytime I ride, especially if I'm riding her in the outdoor!

When I ride her in the indoor these days, we're mostly ok, I'm pretty confident in there and I don't freak out, tense, or forget to breathe, I was even cantering her in there bareback a few days ago... but when I get into the outdoor I tend to lose it.

Last week we had the worst lesson we've ever had, it was in the outdoor and I was a HOTT MESS. I was so tense and nervous, that it made Amber tense and spooky and we just kept feeding off of eachother, and could barely trot around the arena without out falling apart, forget doing any cantering or jumping! After that lesson I was convinced that I needed to sell her! That we would never work well together, and that I was just plain not a good enough rider for her!

Of course no one else agreed with me, I'm pretty sure no one would let me sell her even if I tried too....

So yesterday we had another lesson, in the outdoor again, and for some reason it went really well! I convinced myself to breathe and relax, breathe and relax, and we made it through the whole lesson (walk, trot, canter, jump) without any issues at all. It really made me feel good! Hopefully my positive mentality continues and I don't slip back into the "OMG my horse might fall down, so I'm just not gonna try" Mentality that I've been giving into so much lately...

Sometimes you just have to ride and not worry about the fall! At least that's what Tim Mcgraw says "We ride never worry bout the fall, I guess that's just the cowboy in us all"

Trotting and reminding myself to breath

Cantering

And a small jump!

Going back to the barn this afternoon to ride again!! Will update tonight! Hopefully, if I remember!! 

Though The Weather Outside Is Frightful...

Spring fever is really starting to set in! I am so tired of this snow, so tired of the cold, and I'm sure everyone who reads this feels the same!! At night I dream of giving Amber a bath and riding her in the outdoor arena and galloping through one of the empty fields, just the 2 of us! I love having an indoor to ride in, much better then not being able to ride at all through the entire winter! But I can feel that both Amber and I are getting tired of the repetitiveness of the whole thing. Walk, trot, canter... Circle, circle, circle, Big circle, little circle, whole ring, half ring, jump in a circle, jump a line... then circle!! And there's nothing that can be done about it, because the ring is... well... a circle... or really more of an oval, but still a type of circle!

So to try and not think about my extreme desire to ride, at a gallop, in a straight line, through a field, I have been working a lot on my own confidence while riding Amber. And by working on my confidence I mean forcing myself to do something that freaks me out, and trying not to think about it, trying to trust my horse to take care of me! And you know what? It's actually working!!

Now when I have a lesson and Nina says "Jump the diamonds (it's like 2'3 but jumping anything bigger then a freaking crossrail usually freaks me out)" I jump the diamonds without going "but, but, but... it's SCARY!" and when Nina says "Jump the pillars" I jump the pillars... Nina has yet to say "Jump the Narrow" or "Jump the wall" which are the 2 jumps that freak me out the most, but Im confident that when that day comes (probably soon, especially after she reads this) I will face my fears and jump the narrow and the wall, because I am learning to trust myself and trust my horse!

Speaking of scary jumps and trusting my horse, I have decided to take Amber in the beginner hunter division at our next show, which is set at 2'. There is no penalty for trotting in corners, but we need to canter between the fences, something we are still working on. But you know what? Even if we trot the whole dang course and place dead last, who the heck cares? Getting around a 2' course in a show will be a HUGE achievement for both me and Amber!!

Here is a video of me and Amber from our last lesson. You can see us jumping the scary diamonds that I mentioned above!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrBio7D3fBM

In other news, I started a new diet this week called Medifast! I've heard some good things about it, but I know it's going to be hard, especially for someone like me who loves food!! But I've been told that after the first couple weeks it gets a lot easier, so I'm hoping that's true!! My goal is to lost 40-50lbs by the time I go to Chincoteague the first week in August! I think thats totally doable as long as I force myself to have the willpower to follow this diet!

It shouldn't be too bad, I tend to eat the most when I'm bored... so if I just try and keep myself busy I should be fine, and that shouldn't be too hard between school, horses, homework, cleaning, and spending time with the boyfriend and friends. I know if I just keep myself busy I'll be fine! No more sitting around on a saturday and hanging out on the computer!! Gotta go the gym and the barn instead!!

Anyway... Im done rambling, have class in 20 minutes (Math... Oh Joy)

Amber: The Superstar!

How long has it been since I've update?? I have no idea! At lease a month, maybe more. I really need to start updating this regularly, I mean thats the whole reason I started writing it in the first place right? To keep people updated on the horses?

Anyway... Amber is doing FANTASTCI! We had our second show on Sunday, and got RESERVE CHAMPION!! I rode Amber in the Beginner Equitation division, which included a walk/trot class, a walk/trot/canter class, and 2 classes over crossrails! Well we got 3rd in walk/trot out of 6 people, very nice! We got 1st in walk/trot/canter out of 5 people! I was shocked about that one! It was Ambers first walk/trot/canter class ever!! And her canter still needs some work! I'm still in shock over how well she went!!! We got 1st in the first jumping class, she was a star, and 3rd in the second jumping class, and I think that was because she pretty much took off over the 3rd jump and I didnt get her slowed down till right before the 4th one, it was quite sloppy!

Unfortunately some people get mad at other peoples success, Apparently an old not so friend of mine was complaining when Amber and I placed first in the walk/trot/canter class, that we were "too close behind her rider" (obviously the judge didnt think so, hehe) and we "Had the wrong lead" (we picked up the wrong lead for about 2 strides and then fixed it) and we "Kept breaking stride" (once again, yes we did, once for about 3 or 4 strides because the horse in front of us cantered about 1/2 as fast as Amber and we had no where else to go)

It amuses me when people can't just be happy with how everyone did, they have to gripe and complain about every little thing! But a good friend of mine, who was sitting next to this person asked her to please be quiet and mentioned that obviously the judge hadn't noticed any of the "horrible" things I did because she placed us first!! That just made my day!!

But anyway! I couldn't be happier with how well Amber did, and with how the day turned out! It was amazing! She is Amazing!! Our next show will be on November 21, I am so excited! But I will update long before that! I promise! hehe!

Now for some pictures from the show!

The Chronicles of Amber

Amber has officially been at Whisper Wind for about a month now, and yes I know I really need to update this blog a little more ofter! Hehe. Things have been going really really well! We rode in our first show on September 12th, and did walk/trot (yes we rode against like 8 year olds, but it was a really good experience for my girl) The first class was a walk/trot equitation class, amber did fab and we placed 2nd out of 7, I think we would have placed 1st if Amber had stood still during the line up, but she was being very figity!

The second and third classes were pleasure and hunters, Amber is not what I would call a pleasure horse right now, and she is certainly not a hunter, she's going to be my equitation horse and eventer, so I was not a bit surprised when we only placed 4th in both the hunter and pleasure class, Especially since in the Hunter class Amber insisted on stopping and pooping right in front of the judge!!

And the 4th class was a groundpole class, we got 3rd, I thought we did better then that, but I have a feeling the judge was trying to be fair to the little kids who worked really hard to be in the show, knowing that I was mainly doing it to give Amber experience.

Since the show we have been working a lot on the canter and small jumps (crossrails) We even managed to canter her first just yesterday, and came out of it in one piece! Our next show is going to be on October 31st (yes Halloween) and we will be doing the next division up from the w/t, its called like beginner rider, its a walk/trot class, a walk/trot/canter class and 2 crossrail classes!! So all in all things are going really well! Will update again soon! Now I have to run to the other barn and move my mini to his new home!!

Ambers First Week Home

Amber has officially been at Whisper Wind farm for a week (and 1 day) now. So far we have had 2 lessons together, and gone on a couple relaxing bareback rides. All in all Amber seems to be settling down well at Whisper Wind and I believe she is enjoying herself there!! So far in lessons we've just been working on getting the both of us to relax. When she does something little and silly, I tense up and then she gets frustrated and we turn into a big mess! So that's something that I'm working on... breathing... breathing... breathing...

There is a show at the farm on September 12, I would really like to show Amber in it!! But our canter still needs a lot of work! I could also show walk/trot against people half my age, lol, after all it's just for the experience, nothing else! Well and to have fun of course!!

Anyway, its time for me to go to class, oh the joys of being a college student!! :-P

Video of Amber and me in our first lesson at Whisper Wind

My Show Horse Is Home!!

For a few months now I had been planning on selling my 6 year old mare, Amber. Riding her makes me nervous and I just didn't feel like she was the right horse for me. But last week that all changed... After I had to cancel my lesson on Liberty, because he was sore, I began realizing that at his age and with his minor arthritis issues, he probably wasn't going to hold up to what I wanted him to do.

So I started thinking about the idea of buying a new young horse, when my trainer pointed out to me that, well, I already have a perfectly sound, young horse in Amber, and she just needs some more consistent training. My trainer thinks that Amber is gorgeous, sweet and has a lot of potential!! So today Amber came to Whisper Wind, tomorrow we'll have our first real lesson together, and we'll see how things go! I'm really excited about how things are starting to turn out! I will update tomorrow with how our lesson went!!

The First Day of the Rest of my Life!

I have been riding horses for the past 17 years. I own a beautiful 20 year old percheron/thoroughbred gelding named Liberty. He is the love of my life and we have been together for the past 13 years.

When I was younger I took lessons every week, sometimes twice a week. I showed regularly and I was in great physical riding shape.But 5 years ago when I left for college all of that changed. I've been through 3 different barns in the last 5 years, I stopped taking regular lessons, or really any lessons at all, and I stopped showing except for maybe one or 2 shows every other year.

Then a year and a half ago I hurt my back. I got run down by a 2 year old warmblood colt and got thrown into a wooden tack trunk. I hit the corner of the trunk with the center of my lower back, I came out of it with 2 herniated discs in my lower back and a bone chip that was pinching a nerve and required surgery. I wasn't allowed to do any real kind of physical activity for over 5 months, and I gained a lot of weight! Weight that I am still having trouble getting off.

I am so sick of being out of shape and over weight and not able to ride like I used to be able to. Last week I made the decision to move Liberty to a new barn, a wonderful barn called Whisper Wind Farm. It's a very active lesson and show barn and I will finally once again begin taking lessons regularly and showing regularly.

I am creating this blog to begin documenting all the horsey news in my life. Now that I am at a new barn and have new goals, this will truly be the first day of the rest of my life, for both me and Liberty!

Me and Liberty