A Big 'Ol Update from your Long Lost Blogger Friend.

Where have I been? WHAT have I been doing? Remember that one time I used to blog...

Well, I finally have a moment in my schedule and I just wanted to update a bit about life.

Being a loper has been a wonderful, lovely experience. Here I am, "at the office" riding and ponying two of our show horses. Sometimes, my office is galloping a two year old in a field with the mountains just off in the distance. Other times, it's sipping a coffee, watching my boss work cows. Life, is good.

However, in my other horse-life, aka Jingle, I was having a bit more of an issue this summer. After our Spring saddle-related soreness, come summer Jingle continued to have a mystery lameness, that a vet called an "unusual movement, but not lame". He was still stagnating between bad and good, and had almost 6 weeks off, and so I started to slowly work him again. For two weeks we slowly worked on getting him back in the swing of things, we trotted up and down a fence line and starting to build him back up. Straight lines seemed to help, and so for awhile, this big field was my arena.

Finally, I circled him for the first time in what seemed like months, and lo and behold... my horse seemed sound.

An exceptionally rare video of me riding...

how do I look, but better yet, how does my big man look?! 

Sarah's kids, Ben and Abby, even got to spend a time with their favourite painted pony...

Jingle is such a champ. I love him.

We visited the old ranch... as you can probably tell from my last post, not being out there this summer was something that I have been struggling with.

Here's my poor Cash... looking all mangey and disheveled.

It's funny, I was having a discussion with someone about the treatment of horses. They were talking about PETA and all the issues that these organizations have with rodeo, chuckwagon racing etc. To me, having seen many sides of horse ownership, the worst horse owners are the ones that stick their horses in fields and never check on them, never do anything with them... However, horses roaming in big barbed-wired fields is what seems to be a "good" image for non-horse people. Sigh.

The horse-crew was happy to see us, a kid-free summer must seem quite foreign and strange for many of them.

Of course.. just as soon as Jingle seemed "good" again, my crazy-busy lifestyle caught up with me, and I could barely steal away to even see him, let alone ride him. Once I did, I discovered a bit of a gash that poor princess-face was really not happy about. His fly sheet had been rubbing it and I think it was really irritating him. So, he got a couple days off for that to heal over, and for him to get over himself.

Jingle has been spending A LOT of time in his back on track products lately...

(Which, I am now a firm believer in, he loves his BOT time, I swear, totally mellows him out)

Jingle, in working with his "let's never ride again" theme, has decided that he's now going to be a liberty horse - no bridle, no halter, nothing. He thinks this means he's "at liberty to not be ridden ever again". He is very happy with this new adventure in his life.

Jingle's mane is seriously growing, we're almost at that mythic gunner-style reining mane (WITHOUT the extensions - what whaaaat). Atleast something is going right this summer.

A snapshot of that aforementioned "loper life"

Mac and Jingle, enjoying their lazy summer.

Finally, a word about my horse.

It's been a year since I purchased him, and three since he sunk so deep down into my heart that all of a sudden he encompassed me totally, and fully. It's hard for me to put in words quite what this horse means to me, but he means everything. There is something about the way the two of us can just "be" together, and there's also something in the way I am when I'm around him. He has taught me strength and compassion, learning and patience. He may not be, or may never be, a performance horse, or some champion with earnings... but he's mine, and he has blessed me, and continues to bless me whenever I am around him. I can't wait for another 20 years with this big brute - hopefully more!

So, that's a bit of a recap - can you believe there's more?!

Big announcement coming next ;)