Once again my confidence issues are number one on my goals list. This is one area where I know I have made huge progress, but I still have that mental block at times.
Work on First and Second Level dressage with Bugsy.
Ride a variety of horses-Naughtie, Airy, Twinkie, Mystic, Buddy, etc.
Qualify for the AECs. Even if I can't afford to go, I at least want to be qualified.
Use every opportunity I can to improve my riding and knowledge.
2011 Show Results
May 28, 2011: South Farm Combined Test, A Kind of Magic Very Green, 2nd Place, 36.5, 1 rail in stadium Baby Beginner Novice, 4th Place, 35.5, double clear stadium
August 19, 2011: Erie Hunt and Saddle Club Horse Trials, Bugsy Beginner Novice, 1st out of 19, 33.8, double clear stadium and cross country
September 17, 2011: NWPAHA Summer Classic, Bugsy Training Level Test 1, 1st out of 5, 75.000% Training Level Test 2, 1st out of 8, 73.214% Training Level Test 3, 2nd out of 3, 62.400%
I have one brother, Tood, who is 7 years my senior. Growing up Todd and I never got along, we fought like cats and dogs. It wasn't until after he moved out that we finally started to get along. It's really nice now, we can talk about things and not fight anymore. And actually we're pretty good friends now. When I was a freshman in high school, Todd got married to Kristen Gordon. The two of them have two beautiful daughter, Alexis and Kailee. Lexy is in 7th grade this year and way too grown up! It makes me feel very old when I see her dressed up in her clothes and with all the make up she wears. Kailee is in 5th grade, and luckily not too interested in any of the make up and stuff yet. Unfortunately I don't get to see all of them as often as I would like, but I enjoy the time I do have. The girls are always busy with school activities and their friends. And Todd is not only working at Sewickley Hospital but also going to school a couple times a week. So he's very busy as well.
Technically she's not my sister, but really I consider her one, and since this is my blog, I'm going to talk about her here! Blair and I met the spring before we started at Pitt (May of 2000 to be correct. Man do I feel old!) We were both there for ATR, where you stay overnight in the dorms so you can register for classes and get a feel for the school. We had the same advisor and on the first day we all got together in a group and had the typical introduce yourself, name, hometown, major stuff. Well after Blair and I realized we were from Beaver Falls and New Brighton respectively, we buddied up for the ATR session. Unfortunately by the time we met, roommates had already been assigned for the fall semester, but even so we were pretty much inseparable freshman year. Then beginning with our sophomore year we roomed together for the remainder of our time at Pitt. Of course this created the co-dependency we have on each other to this day. But oh well. Unfortunately Blair lives in Georgia right now, so I don't get to see her nearly as much as I would like. We do manage to talk on the phone several times a week though, and text often.
First of all, I have to say, I love my parents. I truly couldn't have asked for a better family. My Mom, Kathy, is a Special Ed teacher for one of our local school districts. I give my Mom so much credit for doing what she does. Teachers are very much under appreciated and especially to work with the types of kids that she does. No an easy job. In any given year she can have a mix of kids from K-4th at the same time. That's a lot of lessons to plan, a lot of different curriculums to be familiar with. And really just a lot of work in general. I know I couldn't do it. My Dad, Gary, is a clin tech at Sewickley Hospital. Really it's the perfect job for him. Lots of people to meet and talk to. And most of the time they are a captive audience.
While I haven't always seen eye to eye on everything, they have always supported me in everything I have wanted to do. From dance lessons, to softball and finally horses. My Mom especially is not a fan of the horses. She thinks they smell, have flies and shit all over the place. But she does come see me ride at shows and she always listens to what we're up to. Although I know she'd rather I not tell her when the fence heights start going up! Dad on the other hand has always been a fan of me riding. I think he realized early on the potential of me being more interested in horses than boys. And he liked that idea!
And there's no way I can talk about my parents without also mentioning my aunt and uncle. Aunt Sandy is my Mom's sister and her husband is my Uncle Ralph. Really Aunt Sandy and Uncle Ralph have been like second parents to me. Some of my favorite childhood memories are of going to the Children's Symphonies in Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoons with them. It is because of them that I have a love of the theatre. And my Aunt can be credited with my love of shoes, especially the high, pointy ones. But more than that, they have always supported me, just like my parents.
Hope everyone out there had a great holiday weekend. I know I certainly did. My only complaint is that the weekend wasn't longer! Friday afternoon Ron was kind enough to let us out early, so I got to head home at 3:00. And traffic was pretty much not existent so it took me hardly any time to get out of the city. Quick stop at Tractor Supply to get Miss some more of the peppermint treats she likes and I was at the barn. Rob Moro was coming out in the morning to do coggins and shots so Bonnie and I just worked to get stalls cleaned, besides Rachel had already taken a lesson on Kaye that afternoon. We worked to get Bugs, Mickey, Twinkie and X's stalls all stripped and cleaned. And then it was time for the impossible task: getting X-tra cleaned up. He was disgustingly filthy. Brought Twinkie in and then hauled all my bathing goodies out to the arena to give dirtball a bath. Hosed down the first side and then tried to get some Orvis worked into his coat, but he was shedding so much that the bath mitt was caked with hair after one pass. So I just spent about 10 minutes grooming him with the bath mitt to get the hair off. Finally I got him to the point where I could actually use some soap and I at least managed to get the first layer of dirt off. He wasn't really clean yet, but at least I wouldn't be embarrassed to have the vet see him.
Saturday I had promised my mom that I would go look at new computers with her. I was up early and to the barn by 7. Fed the ponies and turned out the horses in the front pasture and then started on stalls. Bonnie came down and we turned Cuddles out in the arena and got his stall cleaned. And then I started to tack up Kaye so I could ride before the kids got there. Of course just as I was finishing Jim showed up to put hay up in the loft. So Bonnie and I headed up to move bales. Jim loaded us up with a dozen round bales so that should last us for a couple of weeks. Finally I was able to go down and get on Kaye. In the meantime the two Tammy's pulled in with Repo and Sugar, so they joined me out in the arena. After a good warm up, Bonnie got me started jumping and she recorded our lesson.
It was an ok jump school. I was letting Kaye get too strung out as the lesson progressed, forgetting to dressage between the fences. So I'm not real happy with myself for that. But on a good note, we didn't have any stops. Which for me is really good. Overall fairly pleased with how we did. Unfortunately I had to leave soon after I finished riding so I could get cleaned up and meet up with my mom for our Costco trip.
Sunday morning I was back to the barn early. Fed the ponies and then spent a little time with X after he had his little visit with the vet. He was a good boy for Dr. Moro and he now has his coggins and got his tetanus, flu and rhino shots. All for only $77 including part of the farm call. Not bad at all, I was honestly expecting closer to 100. The vet took at look a Tru's leg since his cellulitis has been really bad again lately. That hind leg is huge and again and the swelling has gone all the way up into his belly and sheath as well. He looks pretty miserable and he hasn't been wanting to put any weight at all on that leg. Dr. Moro did some acupuncture on the leg, he seems to think it has something to do with him lymph glands. Said to give it a week and then give him a call, if there's no improvement he'll give Katie some meds for it. So we'll see what happens. Miss got another adjustment and her coggins done. Dr. Moro was very impressed with how well she's doing. And then Kaye, Bugsy, Airy, Cuddles, Pele, Mystic, and Mickey all got their coggins and shots. So we are ready for show season!
Anyway, Bonnie and I picked a few stalls and then I tacked up Kaye for a lesson. Had a pretty decent warm up again. Really getting her listening to me and in the bridle. And then we started jumping. Started out of the in and out, did that a few times and then Bonnie raised it, first fence was 2'10", second fence was 3'. And the best part, I never even thought about the fences getting bigger. I mean the last few weeks I've been really good about not asking Bonnie to put the fences down, or saying that I can't jump them, but I still have that thought in my head. That 'oh no the fence is bigger, I'm a little scared.' It never even crossed my mind. I just rode down to that fence and thought 'Ok, hold her, keep contact and drive her forward into the bridle.' It was pretty awesome. Then we did the tarp and the liverpool, the helicopter and the swedishoxer. Really good jump school, so much better than Saturday. And Bonnie recorded the whole thing.
After I put Kaye away, I tacked up Naughtie for a lunge lesson. I really need to do more lunge lessons, but I actually made some big improvements on my seat just from that one. I have been starting to sit too far back, so Bonnie and I really worked on getting me to sit up straight and relax. And it was working because Naughtie was moving so much better. She was putting her head down and relaxing into a nice frame. Lately she has been carrying her head and neck pretty high and that's causing her to hollow her back. Not a pretty picture. Obviously I was sitting on her properly otherwise she wouldn't have been going so well. Bonnie left me after that so she could get ready to go to dinner with Lee. I stayed behind a while longer to lunge Bugs and Cuddles. Gotta get their energy levels worked down a bit so Bonnie can ride them this week. Hopefully we can get Cuddles going in time to take him to the South Farm CTs.
Of course later in the day it was time for dinner at Aunt Sandy's. The food was delicious as usual. And it was great to be together with all the family.
Thanksgiving weekend was nice, very relaxing which is something that I don’t get all that often. Tom and Maryann had gone to New York so I was feeding his ponies Wednesday evening through Friday evening. They are super easy to care for of course. Thanksgiving itself really ended up being a lazy day. I got up and fed at Tom’s in the morning and then I came home, put the PJ’s back on and crawled in bed with Squalor. It was great. Squalie-cat loved it as well. As soon as a laid down again he was immediately on my shoulder, almost like he was trying to keep me in bed. Anyway I ended up not getting up again until it was time to get ready to go to Aunt Sandy’s.
Dinner was small this year. Todd, Kris and the girls were at her family’s for dinner and Daddy had to work. But the food was delicious as always. And then Sheri and Joe stopped by after dinner. I did have to get up and leave to go feed at Tom’s. But I had filled water and laid out hay in the morning so I only had to dump grain in the stalls and bring the ponies inside. Didn’t take very long at all. Then when I got back to Aunt Sandy’s Todd and crew had arrived. And Todd had found a job for me to apply for. It’s at Heritage Valley, it’s an HR Consultant job. The primary location is at the HR Offices in Moon Twp, but some travel would be required to the two hospitals. And the best part is that it would be a pretty significant pay increase. Even just the starting rate is about $7 an hour more than I make now. And hopefully with my experience I would start somewhere in the middle. The mid point of the salary range is about double what I make now. Plus it would almost be like even more of a raise since I wouldn’t be spending $92 a month to park, and I wouldn’t be spending as much in gas. Moon Twp is a lot closer than Oakland, plus not nearly as much of a hassle to get there. Aunt Sandy of course is helping me out and got Dr. Yakish to give me a reference. And she talked to the COO of the hospital to put in a good word for me. And Aunt Sandy knows the CEO of the hospital. So fingers crossed. I’m hoping Aunt Sandy’s help will at least get me the interview and then I just need to dazzle them and get the job.
Friday morning I had to feed both at Tom’s and Bonnie’s. Got all the ponies fed and then started cleaning some stalls while I waited for Bonnie, Astrid and Ethan. We got a lot done that day. I picked horsechild’s stall and then the kids and I cleaned the four stallions. Buster and Mystic weren’t too bad. And Ethan and Astrid had cleaned M-N-M on Wednesday, so he only needed picked out. Spot of course, was the worst. It took all afternoon to dig it out and clean it. But it was nice to get that side cleaned. Now we just need to get some of the empty stalls over there cleaned out so the outside horses can come in. Before we left Astrid and I took turns lunging on X. He’s such a good boy on the lunge line. Astrid though, I couldn’t believe that she shortened the stirrups on my saddle to ride. She’s taller than me, if anything she should have to lengthen them! Feed Tom’s horses on my way home and then I quickly got cleaned up and over to Aunt Sandy’s for leftovers. Watched the Pitt-WVU game, which was enough to drive me to drink. Don’t really want to talk about it.
Saturday I slept in a bit and didn’t make it to the barn until later. Rode on the lunge first with Astrid on Naughtie. Astrid’s trying, I know she is, but she has that horse so dead sided. And not bending at all. I would end up pounding my inside leg on her just to get her to move over, only she would just speed up. She has no concept now of independent leg. So that means she’s going to be getting lots of lessons with spurs and draw reins. I did have to laugh because once I put Astrid on her, she didn’t dare cut her circle short. Not because Astrid was keeping her out, but because she knew she wasn’t allowed to do that with me. Then I rode X with the group. Rachel rode Airy, Astrid on Kaye and Katie on Naughtie. We did the cavaletti’s with them, but bowed out of the jumping. Now quite ready to jump my own beastie yet, he tends to get a little too exuberant over fences, especially when he hasn’t jumped in a while. After the kids finished jumping I did some canter work with him. He started out being a jerk. But we did the exercise where we canter a circle, stop at the wall, turn on the haunches and canter the other direction. Rinse and repeat. After we did that a few times he was cantering very nicely.
Sunday of course I was back out at the barn. Bonnie and I got a lot done. Twinkie, X, Bugs, Cuddles, Miss and Kaye’s stalls all got cleaned. Heather brought Ari and Elaina out, along with their friends, another Elaina and Jenna. The kids all rode Fanny and then Ari and Jenna went to go interview Lisa Culver for their Girl Scout project. After they finished there, Heather dropped the two of them off to help clean stalls. It was nice to have their help with things like getting sawdust and whatnot. Anyway Bonnie and I were just starting to feed when Taryn and her Mom showed up. So Bonnie finished feeding and Taryn and I rode. Taryn got Bugs, who was not all that happy to have been ignored for a few days. And I rode Naughtie. I wanted to spend some time with her in draw reins and with spurs. She really needed the work on bending and lightening her sides. After we worked on the flat for a while I popped her over a few jumps. First cross-bar she just tried to stop at it. After that I really got after her going down to the fence. Of course though I ended up having to turn the fence intoa small oxer before she's even bother to jump it. Silly TBs have to make everything so difficult.
