A Little Help

Today was Bacardi's inaugural ride on the flag.  With butterflies in my stomach I hauled her over to Jason's where I watched him finish giving his wife a lesson.  (This is a special treat for her as she's normally working and not riding.)  I led Bacardi into the arena, knowing it has been at least a week since I've last rode I wasn't 100% sure what I to expect.  Now, the lady who traded me Bacardi has assured me that she has no buck, spook, etc.  But I've learned the hard way - via trip to the hospital - to be wary of what sellers say.  I've also learned she does indeed have some spook - via the plastic chair.  Which of course puts into question everything else.

However, Bacardi, indeed did not buck me off.  She was her normal hot self.  She did eye ball the doors and needed to be refocused a few times and had a pretty good spook when Jason adjusted the Velcro on the flag control, but nothing that wasn't manageable.  Jason was awesome.  He gave some really helpful tricks and tools to use when doing things like warm up and "dry" (no cows) work.  I could see improvement almost immediately after implementing them which is promising.  Next, we moved onto the flag.  This was nerve wracking for me because it's not something I've done much of and I had no idea how the horse would react.  You could see she is used to a different type of rider than myself, and once she adjusts, she'll be a different horse.  We worked on quieting her mind and teaching her patience. While all the work we did was slow, it was effective for myself to learn about cutting particulars and how to best ride this horse.

I have another lesson booked for next week and I can't wait.  The current plan is to take as many lesson's as Jason's and my schedule allow throughout the summer.  Next week, I'll get his wife to take some pics while we ride.

Brainstorming Names

Yippeee!!!!  It's the Name Game time!  I've been brainstorming registered names for Guinness and now you can join in the fun.  His mom's registered name is Miss Soft Shoe (bleck) and his dad's name is Two T General Hooker.  I really don't care if there are any name references in his name.  He's going to be gelded and used as a (hopefully) rope and barrel horse.  So fun, witty and unique all fly with me!

Here's my list so far:
Single Malt Whiskey (first choice)
Luv a Rainy Night (second choice)
Just Call Me Mr
Bar U Legacy (his mom was one of the last horses the Historic Bar U bred - she was purchased in the dispersal sale.)
Wild Card King
Northern Cow King
Hez Got Legs
Rye N Coke
Northern Night Lights
Atta Loss For Words
Wing and Prayer
Riding Fences
Jus Riding Fences (this one's kinda cool too)
Fun Bet
Prairie Grasses
So Close
No Cigar
Mammas Boy

The AQHA rules are no longer than 21 characters including spaces and no punctuation.  Can you add to my list??

Letting Go

Sometimes it's really hard to let go.  To let go of wants and needs.  To let go of dreams and hopes.  To let go of plans and goals.  To just be.  To just live in the moment.  I've come to the conclusion that my goals and dreams were getting in the way of my reality.  And really messing up my mojo.  Is it really necessary to be a superstar to be happy?  Because working towards being an (attempted) superstar was making me pretty unhappy.  I felt dragged down and caged.

I've made a very conscious decision to let go.  To work very, very hard at being happy and living in the moment.  To not worry about what will happen in the future.  Because I want to enjoy my dogs and animals again.  I want to have fun.  Does it really matter if Reba's ready to run ProNovice by the end of summer?  Nope, not really.  And by not setting deadlines or goals I'm able to enjoy her for who and what she is.  Does it really matter if Diva and Ryder make a good showing in Nursery next year?  Or are ready to compete by Northlands in the fall?  Nope, not really.  I had been feeling so much pressure to decide which dogs I would keep.  If I should spay/neuter or leave intact.  When to start training.  And the list went on...

I've given myself permission to just hang out with my dogs this summer.  To take them places and work with them.  But not care if they're ready for "public" on any set timeline.  Who cares?  I don't.  And I feel GREAT about this.  I had FUN again with them.  They were HAPPIER around me.  Hmmmm..... something to think about..

Thief!!

There is a thief in my house.  A low down, dirty, sneaky thief.  The thief strikes when you least expect it.  When you are at your most complacent and relaxed.  I first discovered the thief weeks ago - caught in the act!  It seems Ryder has developed a passion.  A passion for... underwear!

Yep, I said it.  Underwear.  Ryder will steal my underpants from the laundry basket, or even the garbage (which is where his past "loves" end up).  His obsession started with socks.  I thought I had taken care of it when I moved him onto pigs ears and bull sticks.  Instead he found something better.  He doesn't care if they're clean, or dirty.  He seems to enjoy chewing on them. 

He's been on lock up and supervised visits since...

I thought he had been cured.  There had been a peaceful lull where underwear co-existed peacefully with us.  And then the thief struck again!  He had progressed to bras.  And this had my full undivided attention.  Unsuspectingly, I turned the corner into my bedroom.  And there HE was.  Caught red mouthed!  My favorite red bra dangling from his mouth.  He had pulled it off it's shelf!  Sad ashamed eyes stared back at me, pleading for help.  They said he had a problem.  An addiction to women's lingerie.  Poor guy.  Wouldn't be the first...   In shame, he crawled under the bed.

Moving my bra to safety I stared at him  What on earth could I do to stop this??  I love my little Ryder dog, but the buck stops here.  I am not the kind of girl who enjoys the Walmart 10 pack of panties.  I'm the kinda girl who likes to go downtown to the shop that supplies the European lingerie.  European equates to not cheap.  On Saturday I had to guard my sorted laundry like gold!  I caught him trying to sneak a piece of lace out of my sight!  The little rotter...

Ryder has a problem.  He's back in lock down.  Banished to laundry and clothing free zones of the house.  Poor fellow. 

Someone please tell me this is just a stage.

Guinness

Tomorrow Guinness turns 1 week old!  He's quite the spunky little fellow.  He'll bunt his head into mom's udder and kick her if she's not producing enough milk for his tastes.  He loves to run.  You're more likely to see him loping and racing than trotting around.

He thinks Bella is cool but scary all at the same time.

And he's cute as a button!

Wordless Thursday

Ooops - forgot to get his posted yesterday!!

MoJo

Hello, have you seen my MoJo?  I seem to have misplaced it...  I've noticed that I seem to be strung a little tight.  Quite frankly I wouldn't care except it's messing up my world.  It makes both the kids I work with and my animals a little, well, squirrelly.  I knew I was off, but yesterday it became clear just how off. 

My students were wild, so I tried to do a relaxation exercise with them.  It was a progressive activity where you lie down and clench and release muscles.  Once the whole body is "relaxed" we then move on to blowing out our biggest worry and replacing it with a picture of the best place in the world.  The entire time we did this as I coached the kids through, my body radiated tension.  I was once the Queen of Zen.  And I want it back!  I'm not sure how I've progressed to being so wound up but it's imperative I loosen up.  I find myself filled with worry.  Worry about random things, (What if it rains while I'm at work and the dog pens get muddy - then the dogs are sitting in mud all day!!!), to things that matter (How much is that vet bill going to be??). 

It's really messing up my animal MoJo.  Once upon a time I was able to "whisper" animals in.  I was the person they gravitated towards - always.  The wildest horse would settle by me.  The abused dog would relax and lean into my hand.  But my babies - my treasured little dogs are orbiting around me like I'm the wrong end of a magnet.  This tells me something. 

I have around 2 weeks of work left.  I have about 5 more high stress days before the world once again gets fun.  Once this passes (let's be realistic here, I know I'm not going to be able to chillax in the pressure cooker I'm currently in), I plan to have some Zen time.  I want the old me back.  The carefree, relaxed and intuitive person.  One thing I want to do is to just "hang" with the dogs.  Just have them with me while I smell the roses.  With summer looming, I'm looking forward to once again picking up some Yoga classes, to consistently run, ride and enjoy my horse.  Things that help me achieve that sense of peace and inner balance.