Baby Ponies

I would like to have them all, please.

About to Break

I haven't updated this post in awhile because things have been so busy at school and there hasn't been enough to say; just more of the same. I'd like to point out that I am currently failing the trifecta of New Year's Resolutions I made for myself: lose the rest of the weight, stress less, and make the Dean's List. My grades and my sanity are both slipping through my fingers (although my weight is holding steady and not moving in either direction.)

Thankfully though I am writing this on the eve of spring break, the glorious halfway point of the semester. Except, that it isn't. While it is week 7 of the 14 weeks of class, I am not nearly halfway through with the workload. I have written 3 of 9 papers, I've taken midterms in only 3 of my 5 classes. In Latin and Hist358, I actually have another test before the final as well.

I'm not trying to complain, my point is this: Spring break is only the calm before the storm.

I intend to spend the next 9 days sleeping, relaxing, hanging out with my boyfriend and my dogs, and doing absolutely no schoolwork. This is probably the least productive decision, but I need a break. I don't really get a vacation, exactly, since I'm just going to be here in Powhatan, but this week had better be glorious. If I'm lucky I might even get to ride a horse or two :)

Soul Punk

I have loved
I have lost
I have made my way but also paid the cost
Though I wouldn't trade the lesson
The impression I wish to leave is
Never never never trust big hype

Patrick Stump has always sung the soundtrack to my life; you need to check out his new EP, Truant Wave, which is available on iTunes and my new favorite thing to listen to.

Kivey Shades

Lauren and I have been good friends since we were 8 years old and we rode Carter the pony at the Level Green Schooling Show. She is the one person who I have remained close to, from childhood through present. We went to different schools and to colleges on opposite ends of the state, but I spoke to her every single day and she has seen me through every boyfriend, every horse, and everything else. She's the one person who knows absolutely everything there is to know about me and loves me anyway - she's my Kivey and there's nothing better than that.

We have been talking a lot lately about how our tastes differ in horses, and when she showed me a picture of some sunglasses she wanted to buy I had a funny thought. Lauren and I usually agree about most things - the important things, I mean, we get into arguments like we are practicing for the debate team, but we solve them in the same way, with logic and facts - but on the really important things we always agree. Horses and men and food. That's the trifecta.

We have different tastes. We've never fallen for the same guy, ever, because we are attracted to guys on different ends of the spectrum. But I know what kind of guy is right for her and she knows what kind of guy is right for me, so that whenever I start dating someone new, meeting my Kivey is more stressful than meeting my parents. We love the same restaurants but order different things. But we can always agree on where to eat because we have the same standards. And with the horses, again, we expect the same level of quality but appreciate different aspects of a horse's actual personality. Lauren prefers something that is going to be faster on his feet and I'd rather have a slow horse that you really have to push to get moving.


When Lauren sent me the link to the sunglasses she prefaced it with - "for me, not you" - because she knew I wouldn't wear them. But for her I thought they were really cute, she likes the Oakley brand (and so do I!) but the shape of them was flattering for her and the colors were a good choice for her as well. They're attractive and practical and sporty, just like Lauren.
This morning I drove back to campus with my Coach sunglasses - that were not actually the pair I wanted - because the pair I wanted was SO big that they literally could not put my lens Rx in them due to how bad my eyesight is. So my Coach glasses are actually the understudy to the huge, movie star glasses I love. They're cute, loud and completely impractical - a lot like me.

You are what you wear.

So basically what I'm saying is that you should put a lot of thought into the sunglasses you buy because you never know who might be over-analyzing it on her blog.

Horse Hunters

One of my favorite shows right now is House Hunters, where they follow people around as they look at 3 different houses and then they buy one. David and I turn it into a game and whoever correctly guesses which house they buy, wins.

When you're in the market for a new horse you look at way more than three horses. I'm sure it is the same with houses, too, but I don't have any experience in that area. But being in the market for a new horse is exciting, frustrating, and exhausting.

This weekend I was supposed to go see a gorgeous gray mare in northern Virginia but their riding ring was frozen - for non-horsey people, it's really just what it sounds like, the ground was too hard to ride on because of the weather. But the plan had been to go with a friend to see horses for her as well, anyway, and that still worked out. The one pictured above is the one we really liked for her. He's a two year old and really fancy.

Anyway I'm ready to pitch my pilot to animal planet. "Horse Hunters." They can follow me around on the weekends with cameras (because the camera loves me. Well really, I love attention.) as I look at horses for sale and finally find one - who knows how long that'll take!

Although over spring break I am going to see a horse that I am really excited about, who lives in Florida. I got to meet his "family" this weekend, coincidentally - he has pretty famous lines in the show hunter ring, and the stallions happen to live in VA, and we just happened to go ride at that barn on our trip. It was really cool. I met his grandsire, Art Deco, and his sire, State of the Art, as well as his uncle Hall of Fame who is also pretty famous! They are all gorgeous pinto warmbloods who are awesome movers and have excellent jumping form.

It was 100 times cooler than meeting people celebrities, because when most pre-teens were reading fashion magazines I was reading Practical Horseman and looking at pictures of these stallions and wishing I could have one of their babies. It was so awesome to see them in person.

Here is SOTA, the sire of the horse that I am most excited to meet in two weeks:

So cool. It was a really awesome weekend - and just what I needed after an incredibly obnoxious week on campus.

Fact.

My life is college is a lot like Danny Glover's life in Lethal Weapon:

"I'm too old for this shit."

History Repeating

When I was 13 we sold my chestnut gelding, Charger, and when it was time to buy a new horse I narrowed my search down to two candidates: a more experienced gray gelding, who was a ton of fun to ride, and a young bay gelding who was bigger, much less experienced, but a sweetheart. They both had their good and bad points and eventually, we ended up buying the bay. I had a lot of fun with Stevie - he was a great horse - but he was the wrong choice.

He was too young, too strong, and too difficult. I have wished a hundred times over that I chose the older gray that I had more fun riding, because I think it really would have changed my riding. I would have ridden more in high school and been better - instead I spent all of my time focusing on trying to make a big jumper horse be a hunter, which is not where he was meant to be. It was a lot of hard work and a lot of tears - and in the end, not really worth it at all.

I only mention this now because it occurred to me this morning that I could soon be facing a similar decision. This weekend I am going to visit a well-trained gray mare who has a lot of show experience, and in two weeks I am going to Florida to visit a young bay gelding. It's far from the same situation - both horses are bred to be in the hunter world, and there's a good chance that I'll end up with neither of them. Still, the similarities were striking - I had been up a lot of last night debating whether I wanted something green or something made, something that would be a project or something that would be fun. It's a tough decision - and I'm not sure which way I'd go this time, even with my last experience.

By the way - this is Stevie. :)

Friendship

Friendship is sort of a funny thing, the relationship you have with people who you like enough to spend most of your time with and allow to influence your life - I've learned that friends have a really profound impact on every aspect of my life.

I have a lot of stress in my life right now and sadly some of that comes from certain friendships, although I won't get into that - but when I feel that a friend is making bad choices or on a downward spiral, I feel like it is my duty to be there for them. Not that I can change anything, or sometimes I can't even make a difference because I get pushed away, but I feel like a horrible friend if I don't at least try to be there. Sometimes that's good enough - and sometimes that isn't.

But what I really appreciate in a friend is that same quality, that reliability that I know when I really need someone to be there for me, is what really distinguishes a best friend from just a friend. I have a lot of people that I consider friends or good friends but finding someone that is really going to be there for you, and someone you can really open up to without fear of being judged, is a really rare gift.

I have two best friends at school and it became really apparent today that there is no way I could get through college without them - Brittany and Dan. They have had completely different life experiences than I have but I feel like I have a lot in common with both of them, and seriously, I feel like I can go to them with a lot of things that I couldn't necessarily talk to with most people in my life. Brit has this ability to just make me laugh about anything at anytime, she really helps me relax and not take life too seriously. And Dan is full of odd but really useful wisdom - in between the ranting, his advice is invaluable. I wouldn't trade either one of them for the world and today I am just so thankful that I have them in my life.

There are a handful of other people in my life that I just be the same without. David is my rock, Tricia is my soul mate, and Sophie is like the sister I never had. Lauren knows me better than anyone else in the world and every one of these people helped me become the woman that I am today. That is, of course, along with all of the assholes and horrible friends that I've encountered too - but you can learn something from everyone that you let into your life, they all have something to teach you. They can show you how to be, they can show you how not to be, or they can give you cryptic, weird advice that somehow makes everything else make sense.

Anyway I think my point is that there are a lot of really amazing people in my life and I am especially grateful for them after a day like today and looking forward to the week ahead of me. Love you guys!!

Tuesday vs. Thursday, Ultimate Showdown

Today was the best best day that I've had in awhile.

It didn't start off very well - I overslept by two hours and the whole point of waking up early was to write a paper that was due today. However, I was able to write an essay that I think was really solid.

Then I had my riding lesson for the week and it was really fun. I rode a sweet little horse named Piper who looked a lot like Monty. He was a lot of fun - very adjustable, and we did some fun exercises that dealt with adding and subtracting strides from a broken line. Piper and I did really well together and were able to complete all of the exercises without any trouble! He really took me on for my distances and was such a blast to ride. I hope I get to ride him some more in the coming weeks because I think we make a good team.

After that I went to class and as it turns out, my paper was due on Thursday instead of today! We had a peer review and personal work day, except that everyone else in the class was still working on their papers and there wasn't anyone to read over mine with me. My professor asked if mine was done and I said it was - after all, I had it prepared to turn it in today, anyway! But she let me hand it and then sent me home so I got out of class today and that was a really nice surprise.

I spent the rest of my afternoon catching up on Bones and Fringe, two of my favorite TV shows, and at some point tonight I will get the reading done for class tomorrow. My Latin homework is already done and at some point I have to write an article review for History 358, but there is time for that and I really want to relax tonight since I haven't slept well in days.

I'm starting to think that Tuesdays will be just as awesome as Thursdays, maybe even better. Sure I can't sleep in as long but I do get the chance to go and ride every week and so far that has been so much fun. I absolutely love riding at Amazing Grace and I think that it is just what I needed to get through the semester from hell.