BADMINTON!!!!

HOLY CRAP!!! Just found out I have tickets to 3 days of BADMINTON!!!!! This is probably one of the most exciting moments of my life so I thought I should share:)

2014 Goals & January Goals

Last year I found myself sort of floundering from one poorly-made plan to the next so I thought that this year I should get back to goal making. I'd like to do annual and monthly but you will have to bear with me as I see how that goes.

2014 Goals

Gatsby

• Recover well from tendon injury and get back to full work.
• Compete in 1-2 horse trials, combined tests, etc.
• Compete in a couple local dressage shows.
• Stay happy, healthy, sound and fit.

Depending on how the remainder of his rehab goes, I'd like to shoot for a HT in April, probably at Novice since he's coming back from the injury. If that goes well I'd like to do a Training event or two sometime over the course of the season, all depends on travel, work and finances. Mostly I want him to stay healthy this year but I would love to be able to look back at this time next year and see some concrete progress being made, especially in our dressage work.

Kanye

• Be confident on the lunge line, working freely and with lunge tack.
• Develop a solid basic under saddle skills. Be able to WTC and possibly jump small courses.
• Do as many new things as possible, trail rides, new places, etc.
• Possibly compete at a very low-level at a local schooling show.

January Goals

Gatsby

• Successfully move up to 20 minutes of trot-work by the end of the month.
• Start to re-develop muscles and fitness.
• Lots of lateral work at the walk. I'd really like to improve our technique here and get everything going correctly before we start asking for it at the trot again.
• Be able to do our trot-work on the track with NO explosions.

Kanye

• Learn to ground-drive.
• Start work on the lunge line with the faux-ssoa system.
• Make progress on pony rides, NO BITING!

That's actually quite a bit for both of them so we'll have to see what actually gets done with my work schedule and all. Right now I'm looking at getting to the barn around 6:30 for my morning rides just so I can fit them in! Daylight Savings, get here faster!!!

Holidays & 2013 Recap

I hope everyone had some really nice holidays, wherever you may have been. Hubs and I had a wonderful surprise visit in England with his family. They are such warm, fun, friendly people and I always feel totally at home there. It was a very much needed relaxing week and I even got to ride a couple of times! I rode with one of George's friends from high school who show jumps. She has an adorable 16.1 ISH mare who I got to ride, she is VERY feisty, would definitely get along with Gatsby!

Back home now and getting back into the groove of things. Gatsby had his first trotwork since October yesterday and I ponied Kanye for the first time. Both went well but neither was without some hiccups...Gatsby had some explosions and Kanye kept biting the pony horse...

Now time for a year in review so I can get down to making some goals for 2014! First half of the year may be difficult as I wasn't back to blogging yet...

January

From what I recall this was a pretty cold and boring month. Wasn't yet motivated enough to do real work with Gatsby and wasn't too thrilled with my job. 

February

Went up to NorCal for Nicku's engagement party, tried on wedding dresses. Riding got put on the back burner as I rushed to prep for the big day.

Didn't go with this one.

March

Gave notice at my job, continuing crazy wedding prep, drove up to SF again to show George's brother and his girlfriend around, started my current job, enjoyed showing George's family around SB. Riding got pushed aside some more:( Did LOTS of wedding crafting.

Sister-in-law and sister-in-law-to-be

April

The big day arrived and was AMAZING! Missed out on a Debbie McDonald clinic at my barn which was probably for the best considering Gatsby had quite a few days off leading up to it. Drove up to Twin Rivers to spectate on XC day and decided I needed to get back out there. Went to one of my best friend's weddings in Carmel Valley. Couldn't afford any lessons but did TONS of dressage and started to get Gatsby and myself back in shape.

One of the best days ever.

May

Continuing working on our dressage, had a couple jumping lessons thrown in, really enjoying having some sort of goal again. George left to travel with the kids he teaches. I missed him a lot but tried to focus all of my energy on riding to keep busy. Loving my new job also which helped.

Worked on getting back to this.

June

Starting jumping more regularly. Went to Vegas for the first time since turning 21, decided it's not really my scene. Booked my flight to Europe to see George. Gatsby continued to be amazing and I loved him more and more every ride.

Vegas with my UCSB besties

July

Went to Croatia, Venice and Paris with George. My lovely friend Kim rode Gatsby for the first time in a dressage clinic and he was wonderful. Still toying with Galway in November. Decided to start blogging again!

Gatsby loves Kim!

August

Started to think about hock injections for Gatsby. Blogged a little. Went to England for my brother-in-law's wedding and an amazing Harry Potter Studio Tour. Decided against injections for Gatsby but to try Adequan instead. Drove up to NorCal for Nicku's BEAUTIFUL wedding and had a fantastic time!

How I feel at the HP Studio Tour

September

Turned 24. Got the cutest puppy ever. Sent in my entry for Fresno Horse Trials. But a ton of new crap for the show. Jumped 4'1 for the first time in a long while. Went to another wedding.

We want to do this again.

October

Prepped like crazy for the Fresno HT. Found a really cute 2 y/o at the track and considered buying him. Gatsby got injured:( I bought Baby Yeezy! Got my first blogger award. Realized I have no idea how to train a baby horse...wished myself luck. Best blogging month of the year.

New puppy. New pony.

November

Visited NYC. Started walking Gatsby under tack. Started a 5 day blogging challenge (still haven't finished it...). Celebrated Thanksgiving with my family and George's parents.

NYC is beautiful in the fall

December

Had freezing temps. Participated in an awesome blogger gift exchange. Got the go ahead to start trotting Gatsby. Celebrated Christmas on the other side of the pond with George's family.

Riding in England!

I hope 2014 is just as amazing as 2013! Can't wait to see what it has in store for us!!

Love Sick Pony

I think I mentioned this before but about a year ago I decided to move Gatsby to 24/7 turnout. Partly to save money but also partly because I thought it would be good for him. He had been on night turnout before (usually from 3-4pm till 5am) and it did wonders for him. So when a spot opened up with my BO's semi-retired mare I jumped at the chance to try it out. The mare is known to be picky about pasture-mates but she and Gatsby hit it off right away.

This is them sharing their first meal together. Love.

This has turned in to a wonderful situation for me because not only does Gatsby get 24/7 turnout but he also has a great buddy that he has grown super attached to. Until he becomes too attached.Gatsby and Jass (the mare) appararntly have a pretty strange relationship...Gatsby is totally fine and well-behaved if he is taken out and Jass stays, the separation doesn't bother him at all. In fact, he often seems relieved to be rid of her for a bit. But, if you take Jass out and leave Gatsby...major no no. He will call to her, buck, run like crazy, pace, etc. until you bring her back.

Here they are catching some rays over the summer.

Unfortunately we had a little case of this on our walk this morning. The farrier was already at the barn working on Jass. I brought Gatsby down to the cross-ties no problem. Everything was going fine until Jass was done with her shoeing and got put away. Gatsby was not pleased to say the least. I got him mostly calmed down (I thought), finished tacking up and got on. Bad decision. He was so anxious about her leaving him that he would not stop tossing his head on our whole walk around the track and actually did it so much that his curb chain unhooked from one side which just aggravated him even more. At this point I was pretty sure he was either going to re-injure himself or I was going to get thrown so I hopped off and walked him back to the barn.Our ride was much shorter than it should have been but at least no one got hurt.

Silly lovesick pony. Grrr...so annoying lol!

Blogger Gift Exchange

HUGE thank you to Tracy at Fly On Over for hosting the Blogger Gift Exchange. I had so much fun participating and cannot wait to do it again next year!

I picked Amanda over at An Eventful Life, who apparently lives in the coldest climate ever. I ordered her a wonderful "Heat-Tech" fleece turtleneck that I am hoping lives up to it's description and keeps her warm enough to do some riding this Winter. It was super fun to get the email with her info and pick out something I thought she would like. Also super stoked that it fit her (I went with a medium size to be safe haha).

Last Friday I received the sweetest email from Carly at Poor Woman Showing saying that she had ordered my present and had wanted to ship it to me herself to pack it with peppermints but didn't have enough time. So nice. And then, on Monday I checked the mail to find this...

Just the top one...still AMAZING!

I know everyone else grew out of these bracelets when they were about 13 but I kind of still love them. Super stoked to have one for Kanye (Chi-Town) now! Thank you Carly!!!!

Temps have been rising over here on the left coast. We had about 2 weeks of crazy freezing (literally) cold but now we are getting back to normal. It's kind of nice to be warm again but the cold was kind of fun and different also. Sorry to those of you who have that every winter though!

Kanye eating breakfast, frost on the ground.

This is my last week at work before my much-needed VACATION!!! I am so excited. Can you tell? Haha. Work has just been insanely busy lately and I feel like I am stressed and exhausted all the time which is no fun. And to top it off I have had hardly any time to go riding which just adds to the stress. Gatsby gets ultrasounded on Friday and then will have a week off before *hopefully* starting back towards full work!

Brrrrr....

It has been FREEZING in SoCal this past week or so. I know this is no big deal for those of you on the opposite cost but here in sunny SB, this is VERY strange weather. All the more strange because it is mostly beautiful and sunny out, but still freezing. We have had temps down in the 30s during the days and in the 20s(!!!) at nights!!!

Both ponies have been doing very well. I was finally able to put Kanye in with our other three horses at home last weekend but unfortunately that did not last long. He was getting seriously bullied by our rescue gelding, Bodie, and was not being allowed to eat or even come say hi to me! That really pissed me off to be honest. Anyway, our older QH mare was also starting to get bullied away from her food (she is normally the alpha but her heath has been slipping) so we decided it would be best to put her and Kanye in one pen together and leave Storm and Bodie together. So far that has been working really well which I am very relieved about.

Kanye is turning into such a sweetheart, so glad I bought that boy! Even when he is in with other horses he prefers to be with me. I feel so lucky that we have been able to bond so quickly. I can only imagine how close we will be when he is all grown up and we are out there tearing up the XC!

All is good on the Gatsby front as well. We are taking his rehab a little slower than expected mainly because I have been so stinking busy at work lately and haven't always been able to get all my rides in. But, my job is what pays the bills so it is always going to have to come first to riding. I feel so lucky to have him at such a wonderful barn where I know he is well cared for when I am not there and also to have him out 24/7 with his girlfriend so I don't have to feel too guilty on the days I can't make it out. He will be ultrasounded at some point within the next couple weeks and then hopefully when I get back from vacation on the 29th we can start ramping him up to full work again! I can't wait until we are able to gallop again!!!

I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season! This year it seems to be going by even more quickly than usual!!

xoxo, Elena

5 Day Challenge - Day 2

6. Favorite equestrian book and movie

Definitely the Thoroughbred series for book(s). I was absolutely OBSESSED with these books when I was a kid/young teen. I recently discovered that these books are no longer on the shelves at the few bookstores we have left:( So, I did what any logical person would do and starting ordering them on Amazon! 1-10 just arrived, I'll go for 11-20 next month. Can't wait to enjoy these again and share them with future horse lovers!!

Favorite movie has to be Black Beauty. That one still gets me ever time. I even tried to name my first horse Black Beauty...

7. Most common riding misconception

Ugh...that it's easy. And the horse does all the work. And "don't you just sit there?" Sometimes I daydream about putting non-riders on Gatsby and seeing how long they last...

8. 2 riding strengths and 1 riding weaknesses

Hmmm...this one is tough! For strengths, I would have to say persistence/stubbornness. When I first got Gatsby a million trainers told me he was not the right horse for me, he was too crazy, I was too green, etc. But, I happen to be a very stubborn person and was determined to prove them wrong. Granted, I could have bought a more solid horse and could have been competing at a higher level right now but I probably wouldn't be half as good of a rider as I am now. I wouldn't trade Gatsby for anything. He is my once in a lifetime horse and so much our bond is due to all the hours we spent learning from each other.

Another strength I guess would just be my attitude. I think much of that also comes from Gatsby. When I first got him he was a bit nutso and I learned to just roll with it. These days when he takes off bucking I'm usually just laughing and pushing him on. 

Weakness is definitely fear. After our big fall back in 2009 I've been pretty chicken when the jumps get big. I sort of pretty much got over it during our 2011 show season but when that ended with the Great Steeplechase Escape I kind of lost it again. It basically comes and goes but I know that confidence would make me a better rider.

9. Least favorite thing about horses and/or riding

Definitely

Definitely the expense. It always depresses me a little when I think about how much disposable income I would have if I didn't have horses. But, then again, I wouldn't be as happy. It's definitely worth it:)

10. What do you feed your horse?

• Morning - Alfalfa (Gatsby + Kanye)
• Bucket - Beet Pulp + Rice Bran + Cosequin ASU + SmartDigest + SmartMSM (Gatsby)                         - Purina Senior + SmartThrive (Kanye)
• Night - Orchard (Gatsby)                                                                                                                       - Alfalfa (Kanye)

Side note: Gatsby goes through beet pulp and rice bran like a madman...and I still can barely keep weight on him:( Any input here would be welcome!

SmartPak is my best friend. Duh.

In other news, work is still crazy, Kanye is still a baby and Gatsby is still walking. The vet came out to see Kanye this morning and commented that he is one of the sweetest horses. Always nice to hear considering I'm sure Gatsby is one of his most difficult clients.

Rode bareback with Gats today for 20 minutes. He was such on good boy. Did some basic lateral work (leg yield, shoulder in, haunches in). Trying to get his mind back on working. I do mix it up though and do some work days and some hack days so we don't get bored. Leg gets ultrasounded again in about a week...fingers crossed!