Why I Love Ecogold

I know I said I was getting back to regular posting today.  And I am working on a post about Naughtie's first show.  But I just had to put this up.

You've heard me talk about Ecogold on here before.  I was lucky enough to blog for them at Rolex in April and I'm continuing to do so on their new site Horse Junkies United.  I am honored to be connected to them even very loosely through that site.

When word first came out about the fire at True Prospect Farm, my first thought (after I could form coherent thought that is) was how can I help?  But I am also a cautious person.  I didn't want to just donate money to something unless I know that it was going to help Boyd.  As much as I like to believe people are honest, I know there are some who would take advantage.  And I wasn't the only one who felt this way.  When no word had come out by the afternoon of a way to help Boyd and the others, Patricia (marketing VP for Ecogold and our commander in chief for HJU) decided to donate 6 of Ecogold's Secure XC pads, one for each horse.  100% of each of those pads would go directly to Boyd.

As soon as I saw this I jumped on it.  I wanted to help Boyd, and it didn't hurt that I'd been drooling over the Ecogold pads for a while now.  I just couldn't justify spending the money.  But spending the money to help a truly great horseman through such a difficult time, and get a great saddle pad?  That I can justify.

The 6 pads sold out in record time.  So Ecogold is continuing to donate 50% of their sales to Boyd.  Already they have almost $3000 to donate.  This is continuing through this weekend.  So go buy a pad and help Boyd.  As an Ecogold sponsored rider you know he will be getting the money.

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  I am so proud to be a part of this community.  They way we all band together to help each other is amazing and inspiring.  And to see that not only from individuals, but also from companies like Ecogold and Five Star Tack, who is donating 10% of their sales for the month of June, is just incredible.  Go buy tack, support Boyd. 

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Horse Junkies United

I'm excited to announce the new adventure I've become involved with.  After the success of our ammie blogging at Rolex, the amazing Patricia from Ecogold started Horse Junkies United.  A new blog written by ammies, for ammies, united all aspects of english riding (eventing, hunter/jumper, dressage)  It's a great place for all of us ammie riders out there to connect.  We have a team of contributors, some of us contributing regularly, others on a more casual basis.  But we also want to hear from you!  That's what makes this site so great.  Talk to us, tell us about the show you went to this weekend.  Or the new horse you're training.  Share your stories!  And check back daily, we've got lots of cool stuff going up all the time.

horsejunkiesunited.com

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T minus 9 days!

In ten days I'll be in Kentucky.  Cannot wait!  With the Ecogold gig, I'm even more excited than usual for Rolex.

Anyways, I had a good day at the barn Saturday.  We had some manual labor to start off the day.  The gate between Twinkie and Naughtie's stalls needed to be rehung, which ended up being much more of a process than we first imagined.  And then we had to rehang Buster's door.  Anyone up for Buster burgers at Rolex?  Finally I got to hop on Fanny for a bit and get her ready for the kids to ride.  Changed things up a bit with her this weekend.  I put a flash on her bridle, she has a tendency to gag on the bit when you try to take any contact with her mouth, so we thought that would help.  Lunged her in it a bit first, just to make sure she wouldn't flip out.  Of course, being Fanny she could have cared less about it.  So I hopped on and started to warm up on the flat.  After about 15 minutes or so Bonnie came out and we started jumping.  We started with a 21ft in and out, which normally would be a one stride, but for Fanny was a short two stride.  Jumped that several times and then Bonnie had a third fence to the exercise.  Little Fanny was having a blast.  And finally I got pictures of me riding Fanny like I promised.

After I finished with Fanny and handed her off to Victoria, I headed inside to start getting Nuaghtie ready to ride.  We started with only a low crossbar and then slowly raised the height and eventually added a second crossbar as a one stride in and out.  Naughtie was such a good girl, jumped through everything perfectly.  Then Bonnie finally set the second fence as a 2'9" vertical.  And I had my usual issues and stopped the first time through.  Damn it!  Deep breath, turn around, and go again.  This time Bonnie tagged Naughtie with the whip before the first fence.  Man did she fly!  Scared the crap out of me since I wasn't expecting it.  The kids measured after we finished.  Apparently Naughtie landed about 10 feet after the fence, that's how big she jumped it.  We went through the combination a couple more times.  And while Naughtie didn't jump quite as big again she still made a big effort, she was not about to risk getting hit by Bonnie again!

Unfortunately this meant that I didn't have time to get on Miss at all before I had to leave for work.  :(  She's not happy with me I know, I'm seriously going to have to make up for that this weekend.  Which will be the last one at home before we go to Rolex!  WooHoo!!!  Cannot Wait!

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Rolex News

Time to share my exciting Rolex news.  I'm going to be blogging for Ecogold at Rolex!  The amazing Patricia from Ecogold has come up with the idea of an ammie takeover at Rolex.  There are several of us ammie riders that will be blogging and various other things for Ecogold.  Patricia has some great things planned, but shh! I'm sworn to secrecy on what those are just yet.  But keep checking here and on Ecogold's blog during Rolex and you can keep up with all the action in Kentucky.

See you all there!

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Baby Bounces

First off in case you missed it, Ecogold pulled a hilarious park on Friday.  Go check it out

Breaking News!  US Team selects new coach

More Breaking News!  Reactions to US coach announcement

Shocking turn of events!  New US coach resigns

So Saturday I had two great rides.  First I got on Fanny before the kids rode, get her listening and paying attention.  She was being a bit of a snot to start with but she settled down once we got to work.  I warmed her up on the flat at the walk and trot, and even threw in a couple of leg yields, something she hasn't done in a long time.  And then I shortened my stirrups and we popped over some fences.  Started off over just a single fence and then after a few times, Bonnie added a second fence as a bounce.  Fanny was so cute!  She was really getting into it.  She'll be the only walk/trot horse at South Farm who does combinations.  lol

The kids all rode then.  And I gave both Astrid and Ari lunge lessons on his poniness.  It was pretty funny actually.  Astrid went first and then Ari.  Well when I went to hook him up for the second direction with Ari, he started backing away from me.  I just had to laugh at him.  Silly pony, too lazy to do a little work.

After all the kids rode and things quieted down, Katie and I got ready to ride Mystic and Miss.  Bonnie had set up some random fences in the arena for the kids to jump some mini courses.  Nothing was really planned, it was just kinda turn here, jump that, turn there kinda thing.  Miss had a blast!  It's been two years since she's jumped any kind of a course and she was having so much fun.  They were just small crossbars, nothing big, but to Miss it was fantastic.  She was cantering between fences, and the couple of related lines we had, I just let her jump from the canter.  She was very pleased with herself.  Miss is looking so good, honestly I never thought I would see her in this good of shape again.

In other news, after riding Fanny, Bonnie and I got to talking.  And I'm thinking about taking Fanny back to her western roots and showing her western pleasure this summer.  How cute would she be?  plus if Fanny was going to the open shows, then Payton and I could go in the leadline class.  Payton and Fanny together would just be cuteness overload.  lol

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