Guess Who

After very impatient waiting Karma is finally here and settling into her new home. I love the barn I picked. It is very low key and basic but the people are fantastic and the care is excellent. It is a nice, clean, and safe place. It has made a huge difference having her here. I was going through equine withdrawals.

Living the fancy life. She was totally over the truck by the time she arrived

She was pretty nervous at first and is now out of these temporary digs

She is out 24/7 and the pasture extends back beyond what can be seen in the picture

Small but nice sand ring

The temporary quarantine barn

I took her for a walk in the corn field and wanted her to pose, but the ground was much more interesting

Morrr carrots plz

Changes

I guess I should stop hinting and share the big news. I will be starting a new job in a couple weeks and I’m moving to the Midwest. Unfortunately, I’m not going to be moving the horses. I’m hoping in the late spring/early summer I will be able to move Karma out. Cowboy and Stinker will be staying here permanently with my mom.

I’ve been struggling with this a bit because I was really hoping I was done moving every few years. Since I’ve turned 18 I’ve essentially averaged a new state every two years. Don’t get me wrong I’m really excited for the new job, but I’m definitely going to be missing the horses and moving sucks. Hopefully I can find a place that has lesson horses or some endurance horses to catch ride or something. The blog may be quiet for awhile but I don’t have any plans to let it die out.

One Decade(ish)

I have lived in 3 states (just missed being 5 by a few months on either side).

Gained two (three if you count Cowboy who isn't technically mine but I picked him) horses

Lost one dog and one father

Graduated from grad school and kind of sort of got big kid jobs

Started blogging (I am a few months away from 5 years which is totally insane)

Kind of sort of quit blogging because life

Met the most amazing people ever

Joined a cult (best decision ever, but choose your cults wisely tack ho cults are the best)

Learned many lessons

Probably forgot some shit

PS If the picture is good it probably is courtesy of Aimee

Happy Holidays

I hope everyone enjoys a lovely day. Happy holidays from the reluctant selfie takers.

I participated in Tracy's Secret Santa once again and got a lovely gift from OneBudWiser of course I didn't take any pictures. Hopefully once the new year rolls around I will get around to posting about the big changes that are in store for the new year. I am quite happy to leave this one behind.

Giraffe Much?

I always swear that Stinker is actually a giraffe and I had every intention of doing a giraffe clip for halloween if he ever needed a full body clip. Sadly that never happened, but here is all the proof you need that he is a secret giraffe.

When In Doubt Smile

I honestly don't know what to do with this little quirk Karma has. If she is corrected/nervous/bored/whatever she does her smile.

I have been working with her halting on the lunge line. Her idea of a halt is come to me for a treat. My idea of a halt is stopping wherever she is. I have been making her back away from me. Her solution to this is smile at me.

I took her for a short pony around the park. She was starting to get tired at the end and her solution was to drag on the lead rope and smile.

If she is standing and gets bored she will start smiling. I have this fear that is growing deeper and deeper that I am going to be doing a free walk and she is going to poke her nose out, twist the neck and smile for judge.

Learning to Post

I keep talking about lessons on Cowboy, but now I finally have actual proof of them. I drug my mom to my last lesson so she could video. Which was kind of a risk because she likes to take pictures with her finger in them, but she was successful in getting several decent videos.

Right before the canter starts you can see me tip forward and dump my hips out behind

Of course having video is a double edged sword. On one side I am always happy to be able to see things, but on the flip side I can see how skewed my perception of myself is. I always think I have my shoulders back and my hips under me. Nope my shoulders lean forward and I dump my hips out behind. It is especially bad at the trot.

Trying to rise up instead of swinging under

Additionally this time I got to discover I really don't know how to post. Theoretically I understand, but putting that theory into reality isn't happening. There is some sort of disconnect, which I texted my trainer "I don't understand how to post without tipping forward. Help." And being the amazing trainer she is, she didn't bat an eye and said "Of course!"

Don't let that face fool you, he broke a lead rope and took 45 minutes to load

The next time I rode with her, trainer tossed me up on her very nice upper level horse to teach me how to post. He is super steady in the bridle but also very sensitive so I could very easily feel the difference in his trot when my hips were under me and when I was letting them trail out behind. It really helped me get the feel for swinging my seat forward instead of up.