Missy, My Mighty Mare!

     It's that time of year again where pollen and allergens flow....My poor Missy suffers from heaves (horse allergies/asthma).  We have found supplements to help her out alot, but this lingering cough is always the toughest to get rid of which can make working her difficult.  Oh but she loves working!!!  I've been taking it easy on her and she was very mad at me for doing that because I got her out to trim her hooves and she looked at me as if to say, "That's it?"  I give into my horses cute faces pretty easily so I up and got her saddled.  I told her I would be easy on her and work her in the yard....HA! Missy said no we are going on a ride and made her way undirected to the road!  So we went for a ride much to her delight or rather persuasion!  She was so happy!  Then yesterday, I took her to Jubilee to trail ride and she did awesome even her coughing was limited!  And boy did she want to RUN!!!!  It's always so much fun to ride a horse so full of life and have such JOY even inspite of her condition!!  She really inspires me to keep on going and living even though I have health problems too.  She teaches me that it shouldn't be an excuse to hold Joy back!  My dear Mighty Missy, I have you to thank for this lesson and I truly enjoy your JOY!!!  

Silly Sandy, Smart Horse

And now it's time for silly stories with Sandy!  The part of the blog where Sandy sits down and writes you a silly story.....;)  However, this story is true.  Just one of many...

I'm always surprised at my lack of coordination brought on by my lack of not thinking things all the way through or was it both?  You decide.  It all starts innocently enough.  The setup:  I was at a full house, rather full-horse show--meaning that there was a good number of riders, horses and spectators. I am most confident and comfortable in western gear, but I also find English riding fun too mostly because I have extremely talented horses.  We had this extremely hard pattern to do in the class...like professional type not small, fun show type....so I'm using that as my excuse for my lack of concentration.  Kitty and I were all warmed up and ready to go give it our best shot despite it's difficulty....Well at least Kitty was.  They were calling our class to head to the gate and my sister was heading that way....I grabbed my crop and lifted my reins to keep Kitty from eating that long yummy spring grass (notice both hands were busy).....I guess I was thinking I had a horn to lean and grab but instead grabbed air (because English saddles have no horn) and landed face first onto Kitty's neck.....it was a classic face plant and I was so embarrassed because I was just sure my neighbor's heard me grunt as my face hit Kitty's neck and they were probably thinking that was my first time mounting a horse......after all it looked pretty BAD!

Kitty took it quite well as she is use to my clumsiness, but I hadn't realized how much I had embarrassed her.  She wanted me to look good, bless her heart, so she decided to do the class amazingly, even doing a perfect 180 front end turn which we very rarely if ever practice!  She ended up making me look like a great rider and we came out with a second place!!

They say a good rider will take care of their horse and a good horse will take care of their rider....I really think this is such a true saying for Kitty and me.

Below are some pictures of my Kitty girl jumping bridle-less over some of my "fancy" jumps in the yard.  She LOVES jumping!!!  Alot!