I love my horse

I have learned to appreciate my horses' size and lack of finesse. Here are just a very few of the reasons I love my Dixie:

1. She may have an attitude but she doesn't do anything violent
2. She secretly loves being ridden
3. She wiggles her nose every time I put sunscreen on it
4. She has the best dapples ever
5. When being ridden she eventually realizes that she is not the boss and gets into the swing of things
6. She is awesome down trail and in the arena (the majority of the time)
7. She is just plain adorable!

So Mare(my best friend) and I got to take a lesson from Nettie(my sister) today after work. We rode English which in my 15yrs of riding have only ridden twice(well three times now). We worked on walking,trotting, and cantering our circles, half-halts, and some "small" jumps. On the way up to the outdoor arena Dixie was being a total jerk, playing with the bit, rushing, and not stopping when I asked her to; very frustrating. Finally I got off and made her stand nicely, which she did of course, then got back on and had Mare and Missy go in front of us(didn't help, Dix nearly plowed Miss over). So in my head I thought "oh, great this ride is going to suck", but once we got into the arena and started walking a bit she calmed down. 

Then Net came up and our lesson began.

Lets just say it was awesome and we all had a great time.  Once Dixie realized that we were indeed working not playing she started to get into it. We posting trotted A LOT on our circle and worked on our leg position. Then, we did some cantering and asking for it correctly and balancing ourselves and our horses. We talked about half-halts and practiced them a ton!! Then we started working on small jumps which at first Dixie just trotted over and gave me the "really mom why jump when I can still trot over them". Then Net started putting them up a little,then a little more,and then some more and Dixie ACTUALLY jumped!!! I was so proud of her! I may have done a terrible job but Dix was amazing, I wish I had pictures to post but Mare and I were both riding so next time we work on that we'll take pictures of each other so we can show you guys our amazing horses!!! 

Sorry i haven't written

Sorry i haven't written, i am really bad at keeping up with things... i write very sporadically and disjointedly. My best friend writes beautifully and smoothly so her stories are always better but i have accepted that i have no artistic talent.

So this past week was my spring break and i went to West Virginia to work for my sister, see my best friend and to see my horse, Dixie,(it still sounds funny saying my horse). I had an amazing week! We rode almost every day and got to feed our little lamb at Garrets farm(sister Nets BF)... that thing is so adorable you can't put words to it. If you follow Simply Horse-Crazy(a.k.a. Mary) you probably already know what happened to DK (Dream Killer NOT Donkey Kong)'s eye and have seen some pretty nasty pictures of it, but so far it's looking better than it did a week ago!

When we rode Mary and her persuasiveness(pure stubbornness) convinced me to canter Dixie bareback(not my first time but still). Let me tell you Dixie was none to pleased with the notion and decided to bring her attitude along for the ride, but after some serious trotting and a few sassy bucks (you can hardly call them that, she made it like 5 inches off the ground) she cantered for three fourths the arena (very pleasing) and i stayed on always a plus. It may not have been pretty but it was successful so gracefulness is the least thing i'm worried about.

I have more to tell but i'm tired (Mare is rubbing off on me) so i will try super hard to get on tomorrow and if i don't then i will for sure finish on Wednesday! hope you enjoy!

I love my Bestie

So today was my first day back t school... NOT FUN.. not only because it's school but also because it was the first day i had to go back to school and not have anything to look forward to but getting home. Fun things such as seeing my best friend early when i wake up and then seeing my horse and horsie niece later. I would rather go to the barn any day rather than go to school but unfortunately it's kind of a necessity. Even when going to the barn isn't completely for fun but to work almost all the time i can look forward to spending time with my best friend.

She is always there when i need to talk or need somebody to pick on... when i have a really bad day she will just sit and let me ramble and complain. Have you ever had a day that is just plain crappy? I bet... and it's so bad that you just want to sit down in the middle of what your doing and cry and scream and curse the world. Yeah we've all had days like that and they suck. Then people pass you and ask if you are ok and you just want to yell something like DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M OK!! and they just keep staring at you. You just feel the need to pour out your troubles and frustrations.. well thats kinda what best friends are for. And if their really fantastic Best Friends they know just what to say and how to make things just a little bit better.
              So I have this amazing and fantastic Best Friend and she doesn't put up with peoples crap. Underneath it all she's a very soft hearted person and soft hearted people tend to get bruised very easily by other peoples carelessness and nonresponsibility. Just like good people get underappriciated and only picked on when they do something wrong. Anyway we all kindof come up with a get away place, someplace where the hurts don't hurt so bad like the barn or sometimes a special place you found in the woods or in a park. You treasure it and only share it with the people you know will respect it and love it as you do. You also have something special like a horse... or dog or some other thing, that you can talk to and it will listen and not criticize you or give you unwanted advice. Then theres a person you can always talk to and say what you think, you may not always agree but agreeing all the time on everything would be no fun. So compromises need to be made but in the end you wouldn't give them up for anything. You can always call them and explain your troubles and rant and in the end you know that if you really wanted them to they would kill the person that upset you and hide the evidence... one of my favorite quotes is..

"Good friends will ask you why you are crying,

but Best Friends will already have the shovel

to bury the loser that made you cry. <3"

My best friend is the best anybody could ever have! Always there for me, always knowing just the right thing to say, like today when school was crappy and when i got out and checked my txts i smiled immediately when i saw i had gotten one from her. And once i opened it, life didn't suck

so bad. There was a picture of my horse with her ears pricked and under it it said "I miss you mom!" Just the thing to cheer me up! haha I won't get to see either of them until Saturday and it seems forever away but once i get there time will fly... Oh well for the next week i won't really have to much to say because i can't visit my horse or best friend but have no fear i will post about past adventures.

The fun first week with MY Dixie

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Getting Dixie was the best Christmas presant ever!! And as Mare said "nice going Net you set the new highest standard for gift giving!" haha It's going to be a great year... hopefully! Mare and i rode 8 times in the 7 days i was there to visit: we had some official lessons from Net and just some fun play around days, hopefully those are signs of the good year to come. Yesterday was awesome because we rode twice once in the morning and once in the evening.
              Our ride in the morning wasn't so great... Missy was sassy (must be taking lessons from Dix) and was giving Mary a hard time which all us horse people know is SO frustrating. Our 2nd closest friend Jasse was also there so i let her ride Dixie for a bit. She isn't a bad rider just a little strong in the hands. Missy finally stopped being sassy for a period of time so we decided to in.

Jasse riding my Dixie mare

              During our second ride we decided just to have fun and ride our girls in their halters and and clip-on reins. It was very fun to just ride around for the fun of it, we went up the path to the outdoor arena then circled around the little ring and rode around some more. When we were up at the outdoor we let the girls play in puddles that were made from the overnight rain... They loved it!! Missy kept standing in the deep sections and wiggling her lips and tossing her head to splash in the water; and Dixie liked the little puddles that she could put her head down and walk from one puddle to the next the best.

Me riding my Dix in the outdoor

the barn and farm

Sorry i couldn't get on yesterday i couldn't get onto my sisters wireless internet... oops... Anyway yesterday we had fun at the barn since winter camp didn't work out some of the kids came for private lessons instead then stayed afterward to "volunteer"... we let them help us clean stalls and feed all 25 horses. Then when all the work was done we got to ride for a little bit. since none of us felt like tacking up we all went into the indoor and rode bareback... I got some funny pictures of Mare (my bff0 riding Missy (her horse).

They always look so good together without even trying, so, being envious of that would just be a waste of good brain cells I pretend that Dix and i look just as good together. Though i've been riding longer and have a very horsey family we haven't worked at a barn closer than three hours away in years. So i think it's safe to say we're at about the same level of riding experience, we've both taken falls some hard others not too bad and yet we stick together like glue. Our girls Missy and Dixie are both at the bottom of the herds' "pecking order", Dixie tries to explain to Missy that she is higher up than she by continuously pretending to be big and bad but Missy just ignores her attempts and walks away. Dixie's attitude sometimes (more often than not) pushes her right back where she started...then she decides she doesn't feel like standing alone anymore and wanders over to talk to Missy only she doesn't know we mere humans catch her in her soft moments.

Dixie has a large attitude but i love her for it, she isn't afraid to do what she wants or to get it anyway possible... which is slightly annoying sometimes but she is one smart cookie. When she knows what she wants she finds a way to get it.. she is very soft at heart even though she puts on a good "i'm a queen" front. She is very cute when she thinks people aren't looking she will have her ears pricked and stretch her neck out to talk to Missy i have yet to catch it on my camera but i will one day.

Yesterday we also went to see and feed the minis, horses, donkeys, pig, and longhorns at my sister Nets beau's farm where some of our horses and ponies are staying for the winter and possibly permanently. We  tied the horses and ponies to give them their grain and to make such they each got the right amount. once we got them eating and such we noticed little Flash (my favorite little pony) wasn't up with the rest of them eating so we assumed he'd gotten out and was with the minis but when we looked down the hill there flash was standing all alone which concerned us because Flash or any of the ponies for that matter have ever been known to stand alone let alone when everybody else is getting their grain. So my sister and her boy Garret went down to check on him and it's a good thing they did. he had some how gotten tangled in some barbed wire and had it all rapped around one of his hind legs. It's a good thing our little Flash pony is too smart for some silly barbed wire because he stood like a good boy and let Net untangle him. He was such a good boy and while everybody else was eating he just stood still and waited for Net to come. he didn't struggle or freak out and get it embedded in his leg so they got it off and he was ok all but for a few scratches and a little pulled hair.

Today we rode again and got an actual lesson... Dixie showed her not so nice colors and decided that leg meant faster and where-ever she decided... not cool but towards the end she was beginning to give in to the idea that i was boss and i picked the direction and speed. She is very unbalanced and really on her forehand but we're working on overcoming those obstacles.

A bit of honey... I'm new to this

I'm new to blogging and my Best Friend, who helped me set this up, is now sleeping. So a bit about me: I have a huge family and love every single one of them, I am a horse crazy nut and just this Christmas my oldest sister sold me my favorite horse, Dixie, she's a Haflinger/ Belgian cross. She is a light sorrel with a flaxen mane and tail and is 11years old. I love her to death and her best friend just happens to be my best friend's horse, Missy. Dixie has quite an attitude... She likes trying to tell me she is the boss when she knows that really I am, no matter how much she denies it. She and Missy stick together like glue just like Mary and I. We are both horse crazy and work for my sister at her barn in West Virginia on all our school vacations. I live three hours away but I have an amazing family who takes me down to see them about once or twice a month for a few days at a time. I'm only 15 and can't get my temps till March but when I do they will be sick of seeing me... I'm tired so i'll babble more tomorrow and post some pictures...