The beast

Guess who's got 4 hooves, red hair, and is a complete beast............ REILY IS!!!!!

That's right, you heard me, Reily is a total baller.  This is probably only his 3rd or 4th XC schooling and this horse just upstaged about every other greeny I know.  Hell he upstaged my own horse who I've been riding for 8 years and can't seem to get past Novice.  You guys heard me praising his very first XC schooling where he trotted right over the ditch but this is absolutely amazing.

The weather was unseasonally nice, close to 70, so even though he was super fuzzy we took him over to Green Hill to have some fun.  We warmed up on top of the hill then started with a few simple logs and coops which he cleared in fine fashion.  Then I figured it was nice out and we hadn't brought Boo cause Ben wanted to walk with Oscar, the new puppy, so I didn't have any reason to cut the fun short.  We went on to jump bike racks, tiger traps, trakners, a hogs back, roll tops and boxes, the ditch, the ditch and brush (!!!!!!!), the cabins (both the Beg. Novice and Novice one!!!!!), and an up and down bank.  Talk about excited and proud!  That doesn't even begin to explain how I felt.  I never got the chance to compete Scotty in eventing before I retired him, so this is the first horse I've ever ridden who is just completely fearless XC.  It's the most amazing feeling ever.  This horse is going to go places, I just hope I can keep up with his talent!!

Oscar the Wylde man

Just a little guy

We got a puppy!!!!!!!!  This was completely unplanned and honestly it wasn't even my fault.  Some friends had a Halloween bonfire on the 27th and when we got there we walked into a crowd of canines because almost everyone had brought their dog/s.  But the very first thing I saw was the cutest little puppy ever.  I was sort of confused because I didn't recognize him as any of our friends' dog but I quickly learned that the friends who were hosting the party were fostering him for the Roanoke Valley SPCA and he was available for adoption after the foster term was over.  RVSPCA won't adopt them out until they're 10 weeks and he was only 9.  As much as we all know I love puppies I really wasn't even thinking about getting him.  I was DD for the night though and by the time 12:45 rolled around and Ben was still having a good time I knew I needed a nap or I was never going to make the 45 min drive home.  So the puppy and I took the warmest, cuddliest nap together for an hour or 2 until everything was winding down.



Puppy ball



Let me be clear about it now.  The boyfriend had already started warming up to the puppy himself and he's not much of a dog guy, infact he's pretty predominantly a cat guy.  By the time we were ready to go home he'd decided "It can't hurt anything to take him for a week and see if he and Maddie [my dog] get along and he's not scared of the horses and stuff".  We were having a bonfire at our house the following weekend and our friends would be coming down for that anyways.  So we drove home with an exhausted and confused little pup, a drunk and happy boy, and a weary but happy me.  I knew if we got another animal I would be blamed for the acquisition.  That's why I want it to be known I made the boyfriend make the final decision and he's the one you want to point the finger at.

But I can't complain, we already love him.  He had to go back with our friends to the SPCA to get his booster shots and get neutered then we got to pick him up today :)  We named him Oscar, we're guessing he's a pit bull/rhodesian ridgeback mix, but there's really no telling.  All I know is he's the cutest, he's going to be a big boy (yay!) and he LOVES to cuddle!

Happy Anniversary to us



First ride on Nov. 12, 2011



Reily came home one year ago today, and what a year it's been!  This horse is just spoiled rotten.  He get's oil on his food, tons of cookie stretches, and all the loving he can stand.  Even when he's a turd it's impossible to stay mad at him for long.  He gives you those big sad eyes and a gap-toothed grin and you just have to give in.

Reily has turned out to be the coolest horse I could have asked for!  Scotty was the best first horse I could ever have because he already knew his job, took care of me, let me do anything I wanted, and jumped everything I pointed him at.  He's never been a fancy horse, he's got sort of awkard confirmation, a great big head and it's impossible for him to produce a collected canter.  But when you're a kid, none of that matters to you because all you want to do is run like the wind and jump everything in your path and that was Scotty's forte.  I was so incredibly lucky to have him as my first horse and that's why he's got a home with me until the end of his days.  He more than earned his happy retirement.  But Reily is going to give him a real run for his money.  Not only is Reily fearless and forward, but he's got that extra bit of athleticism and poise that makes him quite a fancy horse.  And with that big, bold blaze and puppy-dog personality he's already attracting fans (like he did at the BCHA show).  Sometimes I feel like "geez, it's been a year, why haven't I gotten him further in his training?!" then I get sort of discouraged about it.  But considering that:

1) I have a full-time job that involves a desk 8+ hours a day (well, not this second, but for a majority of the last year).

2) That job required extensive overtime for 4 months, add on daylight savings time and you get a poor neglected horse who only gets ridden twice a week and a really grumpy rider who wants more saddle time.

3) I'm an amature, this is my first horse straight off the track, and I've had less than a handful of lessons with him.

4) Trips, weddings, pony health scares and generally life can really mess up your riding plans.

So keeping all of that in mind I'm not quite as sad about our progress.  He's still come leaps and bounds from where he was last November!  And in a way I'm glad it's been slow progress, seeing as how he's only 4 I don't want to rush into doing the big stuff so it means we can take our merry time getting there so that when he turns 5 for real (April 4th!) I'll feel more confident about asking more of him.  He has definietly grown more but I expect he's just about done now.  Hopefully next year we can do a lot more lessons and showing :)  Here's to many more wonderful years together