A Glimpse: 1

a little glimpse into my life lately...

Little Miss Quiz in an XL cooler after a sweaty ride today... isn't she the cutest?!

A piece of an email I received yesterday, very bittersweet.

Today, much like every other day...

... I am thankful for growing up in summertime heat, amongst trees that touch the stars at night, horses that are always accepting of hugs, cuddles and kisses, and people that have shaped the person I am today.

A very little me, riding a very big (and at times, very scary) Minnie.

Here's to good 'ol boys, who still jump logs & crow hop at rivers, just to make little girls laugh.

A favourite quote that Lisa Mallory wrote and taped up in one of the dorms,

"for all that has been and all that soon will be, I saltue the people that continue to enhance the vibe and dream that encompasses this place. Heaven is hard to find, and even harder to keep."

Here's to fires that threaten to burn down buildings, and nearby trees

generally, here's to the insanity of summer

& of course, as always, the boy that stole my heart and his goddamn crazy eyes.

To lifelong friendships.

To a sky that has captured my imagination, and all my dreams.

& to so many miles in the saddle

... and here's hoping, and praying, and dreaming, and wishing for many, many more.

Today, I am trying to remember to always cherish the people dearest to you, and the time you have at the places you love.

The Season of Spending: Belts!

So, I got a job (non-horse related) because the other day after going on what seemed like a year-long spending-spree I realized that my bank account was getting closer and closer to the red, and although I have two small, one day a week type jobs, that just aint cutting it - so, I got a third! (but this one is 3 days a week, so a little more on the serious side)

I'm going to make such a wonderful wife one day. :) Now taking applications for a man who will allow me to spend all our money on horses, and things that have to do with them. And clothes... and definitely cowboy boots, (and all other types of shoes that exist) Appealing? I know!

So, I thought I should probably document all the spending i've done in the last couple of months here... *disclaimer* this spending wasn't all in one day - i'm not that insane!

So, first up is belts..

Belts:

So, there is this random little liquidation store by my house and the other day I went in just to check it out. Uhm.. they have Wrangler and Rock 47 by Wrangler belts there... for 9 dollars

They also have (cheap) belt buckles for... 5

and plain leather belts in black and brown for... 3

... my mouth was on the floor.

(My mom got this for me, because as I have mentioned she is the best! But I bought the black belt to go with it. I had it on the brown belt two pictures up but it looks way better with black)

I'm obsessed with this one, blingy bling bling.

This belt buckle is ridiculous, but I think it's too perfect not to have, it's MASSIVE. Plus I bought two for two friends of mine so we can be matchy-matchy with our redneckness.

So this is one is a little over the top for me, but I tried it on with a plain black tank top and dark jeans and actually really liked it, so we'll see if I ever end up wearing it.

Now that I know I have the mecca of cheap belts beside my house I'm thinking of trying my hand at blinging out some stuff. I know you can buy pretty cheap swarovski crystals and conchos wholesale online, it might be fun to play around with some stuff and bling it out.

... I sound like a barrel racer.

Stay tuned for more stupid spending habits! 

92 days

I was grabbing coffee with two friends yesterday and the subject of boys came up. We were talking about how often when distance occurs for a long period of time it can be hard to keep the spark. Even more than the spark, often, we all found, you begin to see flaws you didn't see in that person, you begin to remember moments differently - you begin, to almost, dislike them. Which is ironic and awful and terrible because in the beginning, you had true feelings for them. Such is life.

Then, today, I was being nostalgic and thinking about you, my boy. As always. If my plan goes through I would like to "lease" you once you are home from winter pasture. You are home in 92 days. Distance has not made me think any less of you. In fact, it makes me miss all your quirks and issues even more. Distance has caused me to spend endless hours on forums, and reading articles, and looking up training tools and techniques that may aid in you becoming the horse I dream of you being. Distance has caused me to buy you things, things you don't really need, and plan to buy you more things, again - items that are probably much too expensive, and realistically very silly, and the fact is I don't even own you.

But I love you. So, I rationalize.

If anything, distance has made me entirely crazy, but it has also made me love you more.

& with all this distance, and planning, and thinking of you, I come to really worry about my plans. I worry in an almost obsessive manner, and it has made me tired. Distance has been very hard indeed, but I don't love you any less than I did the last day I saw you.

Riding Diary: 8

Horse: Quiz

Time: 1 hr.

Ride: Oh, the lovely Quiz. This horse amazes me, we get into the arena which is full of jumps and flower boxes and a managery of general craziness and you can tell she's not always 100% comfortable. (Coloured cut-out squares and flowers are here nemesis) Then you add like 4 other riders, sometimes more, most of them jumping, and she's basically like, "meh, whatever, we can handle this." & she's just coming up 4!! I love it. It really helps me because while she's being Miss cool-as-a-cucumber, I'm like... christ, this is hectic, I might die.
Anyways, started with a posting trot warm up... why do I have such a hard time picking up the right diagonal?! (as in the correct diagonal, not the right diagonal.. hardeeharhar) I really need to work on this, it annoys me greatly that I can't immediately pick it up. Then we moved onto the jog, Quiz & I have the jog down, I feel so much more comfortable at the jog than I did in my first lesson. I guess all my life people told me, "if you want to post, post, or you can sit the trot, it doesn't matter", I was also told that sitting a trot is "very advanced", something you need to work on and basically not to do it... it is times like these where I'd like to go back in the past and whack certain people upside the head. So, all my life i've been posting the trot... incorrectly... ugh... and the first time my trainer told me to sit the trot I felt like a big 'ol sack of potatoes/a mexican jumping bean because it just felt so.. foreign to me I suppose. Now I pretend I'm a western pleasure riding in a jacket so sparkly I blind you whilst I jog on by. :) (I hope that image is as wonderful for all of you as it is for me)

On to some loping and the beginning of some rollbacks! I definitely need to work on my rollbacks, but they are new to my lesson regime so I will forgive myself. My trainer has me stopping completely, and then moving my rein over before adding my leg. I add my leg too fast, with not enough rein to begin with, so it always ends up a little sloppier than I'd like. We worked rollbacks at a trot first, then at a lope, overall I was comfortable but would like them to grow more and more precise.. practice practice practice. I also have a tendency when picking up speed from a stop to lean forward and lose my heel, I need to focus on sitting back and tall while asking for speed from a stop or walk.

Finally we worked on loping the rail, Quiz has a tendancy to jump the gun and then when I attempt to check her back she'll fall into a trot. I'm not pulling on the reins very sharply, but I think she just doesn't really care to slow lope. So that's something that I definitely need to work on with her. I just need to reinforce my leg if she goes down to the trot and try and try again until we get this slow lope thing down. (Again, i'm picturing myself as a WP queen)

Next Time: I kind of addressed all of these things above, but, perfect diagonals every single time, more precise rollbacks and a calmer slower lope.

Chaps!

 I don't think my mommy dearest reads this blog, so these next lines should not be seen as me sucking 

up.

I have the best mother....

in the entire world....

ever.

Mama is not a horse person, I think she rode a couple times as a kid/teenager, but nothing more than a trail ride or two. I really want to get my shit together and take her out on a ride in the spring/summer. She thinks a horse named Wizard at our barn is very pretty, and his other name is "Red" (fitting, because my mom is a big 'ol ginger), so I think it'd be super cute to pair those two together. Also, I'd like my mom to officially meet Jingle (she's met him once before briefly), so that she can fully appreciate her grand-horse-baby.

Anyways, I'm rambling about nothing, the point of this blog post is how rad my mom is. I don't think she completely gets the horse thing - but she totally gets clothes. My mom and I share a mutual appreciation for pretty things (read-expensive), and shoes, and apparel in general. So this Christmas she wanted to get me something horse related and of course she gravitated toward the big ticket items. Her first thought was a saddle, but she contacted a family friend who steered her away from the saddle idea (... she was pretty shocked a "cheap" saddle in my books is $900) and steered her towards chaps.

My current chaps are stolen borrowed from a friend, they are a good 4 sizes too big, drag on the ground, and water seeps in through the crotch... but they are damn warm. So, my mom decided to get me chaps... and on Christmas morning I opened up an... email... from a lady who makes CUSTOM chaps.

So I got to design my own!!!

This is why my mom is the best mom.

Here they are, created by Joan Girletz of Girletz Gear Custom Saddlery out of Airdrie Alberta, her husband makes saddles, bridles, etc. and she makes chaps - specializing in some damn beautiful show chaps. Check them out if you are in the area and want to work with some really honest, stand-up kinda people, who make absolutely beautiful products.

I, however, was looking for work chaps, nothing with rhinestones (but there's nothing wrong with some sparkly silver or stainless..)

A friend of mine had shotguns made with full buckle legs, and I liked that idea, but Joan did not. She steered me towards traditional chinks, so happy with that decision.

Here they are...

I really wanted a darker leg with a lighter fringe, I LOVE how they came out.

Here's me standing a little awkwardly in them, haha. They should be a titch higher on my hips.

Saddle leather with yuma berry conchos <3

My initials are lazered into the backs of both hips.

So, mom if you ever read this, you are honestly the best. Thank you for supporting something you don't completely understand and often think I'm crazy for. I love ya.

How many cows would a cutter cut if a cutter could cut cows?

Buster Welch on Bet Hesa Cat... hot damn I love this horse.

One day Buster, i'm going to be just like you!

I was awoken to a phone call from a cutting horse trainer I had emailed a month ago. Same story, they didn't have "lesson horses" around and lessons on my own horse would be pricey too. However, we did have a nice talk (... isn't that nice? someone calls you out of the blue you've never met and you can just have a nice chat with them). He told me that with the drought years, and the fact the states are in a major cattle slump, cutting horse lessons are going to continue to become more and more expensive as barns fight to keep stock cattle to practice on. Makes sense, just sucks.

A lot of the trainers I've contacted have said the same story but offered up "finished cutting horses" that I could purchase and take lessons with. I'm a student, around here a finished, proven cutter can range anywhere from $10,000 (usually more around $15,000) - $30,000, and that's for me, a complete beginner to cutting. (what kind of freakin' beginner has $20,000 for a horse?! Show me your ways if you do!) It's pretty disheartening, this man however (a very respected trainer in these parts), told me that for a beginner I could easily get a ranch type horse that would be able to work a cow decently but may need to be helped along, pay between $5-7,000 for something pretty good, and from there would be able to learn. He said that a lot of people try to push finished cutters on beginners but it's not always necessary, especially if your taking lessons under someone. From there, once you get the hang of things, you can move up into the more "finished" world of quarter horses. He also said that he'd keep me in mind if anything comes along... which was really nice.

So, I'm a bit stuck, I talked to another trainer whose willing to put me on a couple cutters he has, but they don't start up until spring.. and then I'm gone for the summer. I'm really hoping that works out, I'm really interested in this damn sport, but I've never actually worked live cattle! It's time, no ifs ands or buts.

So, maybe the new plan is to continue with normal western lessons until I'm done University next year than in two years work my absolute ass off and buy myself a horse that can get my foot in the door, and move up from there.. that seems to be the easiest way to go about this goddamn dream. Life is so expensive ya'll!