31DC: Day 7

Favorite Movies

I guess it would make sense to split this into two categories:  horsey and non horsey movies.  We'll start with the non horsey movies first.

One of my all time favorite movies would have to be Dirty Dancing.  Love, Love, LOVE IT!  The chemistry between the Johnny and Baby is so good.  The dancing is amazing.  And how can you not just love the final dance?  Of course it doesn't hurt that Patrick Swayze is so yummy to look at.

My other all time favorite is Romancing the Stone.  I could watch it an the follow up, Jewel of the Nile over and over again.  Romancing the Stone stars Kathleen Turner as a romance novelist who goes to South America to help her sister.  While there she hires Michael Douglas to help her find an expensive jewel over which her sister was kidnapped.  Great action, plenty of romance and some pretty funny scenes.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy.  I can remember when the first one came out in theaters I refused to go see it, can't really remember why though.  But I randomly decided to rent it one night.  I was hooked.  I forget how many times I went to see The Two Towers and Return of the King in theaters.  The movies follow the books fairly well all things considering.  The cinematography is amazing, the costumes are great, the cgi fits in seamlessly.  And there's Hottie Elf Boy, what more could you ask for?

And now on to the horsey movies. 

First up: National Velvet.  It is the story of young Velvet Brown who dreams of having a horse of her own.  through unusual circumstances she ends up with the Pie, who she trains to jump.  Eventually she takes him to the Grand National.

International Velvet is the sequel to National Velvet.  Velvet Brown's niece, Sarah,  from America has come to live with her after her parents are killed.  Velvet gives her the last foal of her champion the Pie.  Sarah raises the colt, whom she calls Arizona Pie and trains him to compete in 3 day eventing.  She garners the attention of the British team and earns a spot to compete at Ledyard.  The really cool part is the movie was filmed at the real Ledyard event and riders live Denny Emerson can be seen in the movie.

Another great eventing movie is Sylvester, staring a young Melissa Gilbert as Charlie.  She is working at an auction yard to support her two younger brothers when she sees the horse Sylvester.  Charlie sees the potential in Sylvester and plans to retrain him and sell him for profit.  After seeing him jump the pasture fence she dreams up the idea to show him at the Rolex Kentucky Preliminary Event in order to sell him for more money.  It very cool to watch the movie and recognize all the places at the Kentucky Horse Park.

And finally, Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken.  It's a Disney movie, so expect the fluff.  It the true story of Sonora Webster who ran away from her aunt during the Great Depression to get a job as a diving girl in a carnival act of high diving horses.  Well she's not diving girl material according to the owner but he does give her a job taking care of the horses.  With the help of the owner's son, Al, Sonora eventually learns to be a diving girl and gets her chance in the show.

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Happy Easter!

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 swedish oxer. 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.

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Holiday Wrap Up

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I know the ponies and I all did. I spend Christmas Eve up at my parents so I could wake up there Christmas morning. It was pretty low key that morning, just the three of us. Mom and Dad got me a new carry on suitcase which I desperately needed. I also got a set of these awesome fleece sheets and flamingo slippers. Plus the usual candy, Forge ornaments and lottery tickets in my stocking. Then we all got dressed and started getting ready for rest of the family to arrive. It's kinda funny, now that we're all getting older opening presents Christmas morning certainly takes a lot less time! Everyone cut back this year, and the girls didn't get as much as they used to. Some clothes, books for Lexy and some goofy doll for Kailee, and then gift cards for them both. I got my new pretty pink netbook! I love, love, love it! That was a big surprise. I really wasn't expecting that, but it was a joint gift from Aunt Sandy and Uncle Ralph and my parents. After we opened presents we had lunch and everyone just hung around for a while. That evening I did end up going to my grandparents with Dad. I figured it was better to get it out of the way with him than to have to go by myself later. Of course Aunt Karen and Uncle Randy were there with Matt. And my grandmother kept going on about Matt being deployed. She acted like he was in some war zone. He's deployed to Gulfport! Hotbed of terrorist activity down there I tell you. Luckily I didn't have to stay too long.

Saturday was a busy day. Got up early to go to the barn. Cleaned some stalls and worked with the younger kids. Then I rode Kaye in a lesson with Katie/Naughtie. Kaye was so good for me! We had a great lesson and even did a little bit of jumping. The best part was after my lesson though. Astrid was going to ride Kaye, so I was waiting for her to get her helmet and everything. Well I had to leave shortly to help Aunt Sandy get ready for her open house and I wanted to give Kaye a treat before I left. So I pulled off her bridle, gave her a couple treats. And then just to see if I could do it, I got on and rode her bridleless. We just walked at first. Then when she was good walking I asked for a trot. She just picked up a nice, easy trot. Bonnie came out then with Katie and Astrid. Then just to see if we could do it I asked her for a canter. We just cantered around the arena, she stayed right on the rail for me. Bonnie wanted me to try jumping her, and I will admit it took me a little bit to work up the nerve. But after a few minutes I popped her over a little crossbar. It was so much fun. Kaye was kind of unsure when I asked her to come off the rail, steering was a bit of an issue. To get her to the jump I was pulling on her mane with my right hand and pushing on her neck with my left. I think next time I will try putting an old stirrup leather or something around her neck to help steer.

After I left the barn I quickly headed home and got cleaned up so I could go help Aunt Sandy and Uncle Ralph get ready for their open house. So I helped get things ready down there, ran some errands for Aunt Sandy. And then it was a quick trip back home so I could get changed and pick Mom up to go back. Mom and I pretty much spent the entire party in the kitchen. We try to take care of getting the food ready so that Aunt Sandy can mingle and be hostess. Actually I only stayed for about 2 hours of the party before I had to go back to the barn. It was time to go pick up Buddy and little Cuddles. Like I said long, busy day.

Astrid was already at the barn when I got there. So we finished laying out extra hay for Kezia to feed in the morning, hooked up the trailer and we were on our way. Bonnie drove until we reached the first rest stop on the turnpike and then I got to drive the rest of the way. And such a nice drive it was. Especially we I realized that Bonnie, Astrid and the dog were all snoring away. Thanks guys for keeping me company! We drove till about 4 and then we pulled into the Sheetz in Fredrick and slept in the truck for a couple hours. Well Bonnie and Astrid slept, I listened to my iPod and dozed for a bit. Finally at about 6:30 we got up, got food and coffee and drove the last half hour to Sandy's. We got Buddy and Cuddles loaded on the trailer pretty easily and we headed back home. Luckily for me Bonnie drove home, and I did manage to fall asleep for about an hour before Mom called and woke me up. Once we got home, we got the ponies settled in their stalls, fed everyone and I got to go home. Only I didn't go to sleep like I wanted to. Blair called and we headed out to the Waterfront to see New Moon. So obviously by the time I did finally get home I crashed!

Monday I ended up sleeping in till like 1. It was so nice! Been forever since I've been able to do that. Afterwards I picked up Blair and we head out to Monaca for an afternoon of movie theater roulette. Ended up seeing It's Complicated. Oh my god it was hysterical. Everyone needs to go out and see it. So good, I was laughing so hard I was in tears at some points. We stopped on the way home and picked up some D&G pizza and then watched The Hangover at Blair's house. Again hysterically funny. Plus Bradley Cooper is just YUMMY!

Tuesday night I got to introduce Blair to Wooley Bully's. We met the family down there and shared some pizza. Blair got to try all the good ones, Italian Stallion, Spinach and Feta, and then we both got to try the Mexican. Have to say, I'm not really a fan of the Mexican pizza. Much too spicy for me. Then tonight, Jeff and Dana invited me to join them at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. After that I had to make it an early night as I still had to finish packing for my trip. And my flight is leaving at the asscrack of dawn. Already I miss my Blair. These trips are just much too short. But I'm leaving in the morning for Texas, so that will be a good time.

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