The story so far: little Lauren and Lydia get a 3rd in Mare halter because they copied showmanship skills from another girl in the class. Little Lauren and Lydia then get called back in the hunter hack class, but Lauren makes an ass of herself by riding poorly… a trend that will continue. Now let me tell you a little bit about myself: I was probably at least 20-21 years old before I made it through a horse show without…
When we last left 14 y/o me, I was high on horse show success from copying a girl from a lesson factory barn and thus winning a yellow ribbon in mare halter – rock on me! This taught me a valuable terrible lesson early on in my show career – you should change your tactic at the horse show right before or in the middle of your class. New skills and horse training can be done in the middle of…
It’s been a rather stressful week month career at work lately. In January I was thrilled to receive a promotion, which has greatly improved my quality of life salary wise but now I am realizing that when people give you more money they expect you to do more work, and we still haven’t been able to find the right employee for me to manage and help out with my task list. Don’t get me wrong, I still love my job…
I started taking riding lessons in someone’s back yard when I was 10 years old. For a backyard barn, it was a great one with a grass ring and good horses. My trainer’s main focus was fox hunting, and while I learned so much about good horsemanship in general – equitation and the finer points of showing hunter/jumpers were not on the radar for my early equine education. I don’t remember anything about my first horse show except that it…
It was another weekend of highs and lows around here, but hey – at least it wasn’t all lows! My trainer had an unfortunate fall two weeks ago and broke her leg in several places. While she’s been resting and getting the swelling down for surgery this week, I’ve helped step up and teach some lessons at the barn. Our boarding situation is unique (and awesome) in that group lessons are included with the price of board. This usually equates…
When I’m faced with a setback of a situation (like my horse getting hurt) or what seems like an impossible goal (losing 50+ lbs), I try to remind myself of my ultimate goals. Whether you call it a bucket list or dreams or dear lord please let me accomplish at least one of these age forces me to start showing halter horses or minis, I think it’s really good motivation to remind yourself to reach for what seems like the…
One of the best things about my trainer is her enthusiasm for teaching and making us better equestrians. Lately, a way she has been giving us an opportunity to go the extra mile is hosting a two hour group lesson/fun workshop on some Saturdays. It’s free, and I showed up early to the barn on Saturday morning to walk Simon in hopes that I would be able to catch a ride on one of the school horses and participate in…
No doubt I’m an equestrian. No doubt you’re an equestrian reading this blog and my continuing patronage to ponies. Proof of my unfettered equestrianism? Why, see below! You know you’re an equestrian when… Your favorite accessories are equestrian inspired. You have more breeches and barn jeans than nice pants. You have an addiction to cheap, colorful satin. You get high tech devices to watch free USEF network streaming instead of cable. You can’t see this commerical without tearing up. How…