Destin II

I can't wait for his field to be grassy instead of muddy, it is already so picturesque but it will be so much more gorgeous with leaves on the trees and a green ground. I am sure Lauren is looking forward to it as well so that she doesn't have to clean off such a dirty horse every day!

Bravo Charlie

This horse, BC, aka Bravo Charlie, is one that we used to compete against back in the day when we were doing children's hunters. He is a really sweet guy and now he lives at the same barn with Patrick and Destin. I recognized him under all this mud and hair and couldn't believe it was the same horse, but I am so happy to know that he has a happy retirement home. They love him there! He actually lives with Destin and they are good friends. I love happy endings.

Proof That I'm Still Here

Man, I'm busy. This week is no exception, and it's shaping up to be one of those weeks from Hell where you can't even see yourself surviving through the end of it, so when I make it to the weekend I will be A) relieved, B) exhausted, and C) drunk. (Probably.)

Seriously, though, this past weekend was nice. Saturday I got to see Amy ride Sir Patrick and then I got on him, and the difference between where he was when he got to Nunnally Lane and now is amazing. He is a great, great horse and I adore him already - but he is super smart, and he learns quickly. It's already like riding a completely different horse because of the things he has learned and picked up already. He is really good with his leads now and his canter transitions, the last two weeks he had been kind of snarky about picking up the canter. He is also not dragging me around the huge outdoor ring and I expect he'll be more tolerant of other horses in the ring, too- not that he was bad before, but he thought every one of them was his new very best friend and he always wanted to stop for a chat when we passed another horse. I think this was mainly because he didn't have much experience with other horses in the ring, and he's a friendly guy.

Sunday night I had my first fantasy baseball draft and boy, that was FUN! I managed to get all of the players I wanted, too, so that was an added bonus. It stressed me out a lot though because I didn't know what to expect and then there was a clock that was counting down the time and it was very nerve wracking. I am really excited to see how this works and I think it is going to make baseball watching even more fun this summer, because when I can't watch a Cubs game I will have players on other teams that I want to see play, too! David is helping me work through learning it and I think it will be awesome :)

Hey look over here

My friend Tricia took some awesome pictures of Patrick so if you want to see a few of them you should go check out her blog: Spoke

St. Patrick's Day

I was going to stop posting pictures of my horse for a little while, but really, his name is Patrick and it is Saint Patrick's day, what did you expect?

This horse licks like a dog. It's not normal. It's endearing and sweet, I've never once met another horse that does it. He licks your hands, he licks your clothes, he licks his friends. Usually horses will nibble, but he doesn't use his teeth. He was standing next to Destin the other day and just kept licking him - all over his neck and shoulder, lick lick lick. Weirdest thing I've ever seen a horse do.

He's lucky he's super cute.

Ides of March

I realized this morning, after posting the picture of Destin, that of my 7 posts this month, 5 of them had been pictures and all of the pictures had been of horses. The quality of my blog has been going steadily downhill. Sorry, readers.

I was right, though. This week, and last week, have been a lot better and my attitude towards school has improved. I'm happier. Life is good right now. I have a ridiculous amount of work to do so it is probably a good thing that Patrick is living back home in Richmond, where Lauren can ride him - she is better with young horses than I am, anyway, and it keeps me more focused than I would be if he was here. Plus, I got to have a really awesome ride on Sly for my lesson today and that was fun. It was nice to ride a horse that jumps and has a good right turn. Lauren rode Patrick today and let me know he was quiet and a good boy - that is excellent news! It was the first time she had gotten on him and I am really glad she enjoyed riding him because she is going to be his main rider for the next 6 weeks.

Otherwise things are going alright. I did absolutely horribly on my last Latin quiz - like, I legit almost failed. This isn't one of my, "think I failed but got an A" things, I actually got a 60% on the quiz, which is the lowest possible passing grade. Yikes. But I didn't really study that much and so I am not surprised. And I'm not really that disappointed with it, to be honest - I mean, yeah, I am not having a great semester as far as my grades go but just getting through it in one piece has become my main priority. I think that's okay.

My sanity and happiness really need to start coming first - that's the real thing I've figured out this semester. And not always, I'm not saying I shirk off all responsibility, but some things just aren't as important.

Destin

This is my friend's new horse, Destin! Well, part of him, anyway. He's a baby <3

Patrick

Patrick and his little friend, Dragon.

A Horse By Any Other Name

A little over 48 hours ago I introduced the world to the new man in my life: a tall red head named... well, that's the problem, isn't it?

I started picking out names for my future children years ago. I wish that I was exaggerating, I really do, but I already have a short list for both genders and while my husband's input is important, he gets the final say when he pushes a seven pound baby out of HIS vagina. But choosing a name for this horse is different - I thought I had something picked out and then a friend asked if I didn't want to get to know him better before I decided.

This has been very frustrating! I know, I know - #whitegirlproblems. (Google it.) But I cannot pick a damn name for the horse. I have been thinking about it for over a week and he comes home in less than two days, and I just can't decide. Nothing seems to be absolutely perfect and suit him just right - and some people have told me just to leave his barn name as Bound, but I just don't like that very much!

Captain, Trusty, Woody, Doc, Buddy, Patrick, Weasley, Socket, Socks, the list just goes on. I'm leaning towards Patrick at this point for a handful of reasons, but I just don't know. I'd really like to have a name chosen by the time he arrives on Saturday so that I don't have to keep calling him "Horse" because that is an even worse name for them than "Bound!"

Sup?

Bound for Gold

03/08/11

<3

Touch Wood

This has quite possibly been the best spring break of my life; my calm before the storm has turned out to be exactly what I needed. I've spent the week hanging out with Lauren, Tricia and David as well as riding the most precious horse ever. Lots of sleep, entirely too many hours in the car, and a lot of fun.

I am incredibly thankful for this week! I can't believe it is over already.

Tomorrow I'm driving to and from Newport News, and then Tuesday I will be driving to and from Nova, and Wednesday morning I will go back to school. That's like 15 hours of driving in two days- insane! But worth it, and couldn't be for a better reason.

No- I'm not ready to talk about the reason! You'll have to trust me on this one ;)

Chrome

Don't you just love a chestnut with lots of chrome?