Looking back on 2011

2011 wasnt such a kind year... yes we did have some great moments but over all it wasnt the best. Lets start back in January shall we!
January:
This has been a hard month for our family the last few years and im not sure why! In 2011 a week after my birthday (always that week to) we lost 2 of our dogs Boomer (below) who was originally our foster dog that we had for about 6 months, he was going to be euthanized because he bit his owners boyfriend, who was my dog was attacked by my moms agility dog Magic. We believe that Magic (she was 11 years old) had been developing a possible brain tumor and possibly had a seizure and that Boomer went over to see what was going on and she thought that he was doing it, but we really have no idea for sure. Sadly Boomer was already gone when I got home and we had to have Magic put down because of it. It was a very hard day for both my mom and I. That same day ( just an hour after I found them) I had a basketball game against one of our biggest opponents and we lost...

Boomer, my 2 year old mini aussie

February:
This was the mark of my first "show" with Mystic and my last OHSET season ever.

Shelby/Hallie, Me/Mystic, Katie/Sugar, and Alanna

March:
I tried out for my high schools basketball team my senior year after not playing since 8th grade and made the varsity team! Against all odds we finished 2nd in our league (behind a team that ended up placing 2nd in state) and not only made it to the state tournament at Matt Knight Arena but finished 3rd place in the STATE! It was an amazing opportunity to be able to not only make the team after so much time off but being a starter, placing in state, and coming out of it with so many new friends. This is something I will never forget!

The team on Senior Night

Right after winning our game for 3rd place at state!

I also started working at my current job which is at a pre school/day care!

April:
I qualified for state with Mystic in dressage and placed bronze in the whole district with my green been pony!

Waiting for dressage at OHSET

May:
In may I headed over to my aunt and uncles house to compete at OHSET State Championships in dressage. Due to the out break earlier in the month Mystics barn was "shut down" to horses coming and/or leaving the property as a precaution. So Tolo, since he was the only horse at my house since leaving his bar, got put into work again after a little time off to head to state (yes we thought about the possible issues with him going but he wasnt staying on the property of the show and the chances of him contracting the disease was very low). We had a great time there and even with less than ideal warm up we placed 8th in state. Not a bad way to end my senior year!

He has deluxe accommodations with his own several acre pasture right next to some pretty Gypsys!

Tolo and I at our normal pit stop on the way to Bend!

June:
I graduated high school!!
And... decided that it was time to part ways with my partner in crime of 4 years, Tolo. One of the hardest decisions I have had to make but knew that it was best for both of us.

When I rescued him

Us at Inavale schooling the XC course

July:
July was full of events! It all started with Skies the Plan (or Sky) the first weekend of July. There were pictures posted of a group of TBs from the track headed to slaughter that were posted by some rescue friends of mine. Most of them had found homes except for two. A huge 7 year old bay mare with a possible hind end lameness from being cast in her stall (Sky), and a small 3 year old bay mare that was just too slow on the track (Pretty). Alanna and I being the suckers we are headed up just a few days after seeing their pictures and picked them up and boy has it been an adventure since then!

The picture that made me get her (I always seem to go for the skinny sad looking ones!)

Skies the Plan (my mare) and Pretty Line (Alannas mare)

I also found an amazing home for Tolo. He went to a lady looking to start getting into dressage and showing. She hadnt been riding too long but fell in love with him the day her trainer and her came to look. After hauling him up to Salem (where they live) to get him vetted we took him to their barn. I went and watched him at his first show with her and they won their first blue ribbon! I cant wait to see him this year at some shows, I sure do miss that guy!

Mystic and I also competed in our first dressage schooling show coming home with two blue ribbons! One from each class we entered, Training Level test 1 and test 2!

August:
Mystic and I continued improving and even went went cross country schooling and to the beach for the first time! We ended the month by attending the State Fair Gypsy Show where he was a fan favorite (not so much the judges favorite but she couldnt make up her mind on anyone!) and got many compliments after our classes.

His state fair ribbons!

XC schooling! Look at those knees!

The Beach!! (Left to right) Top: Alanna/Roz and Me/Mystic Bottom: Magnum, Rugby, and Keyno

My dog Max also got knee surgery. We adopted him from the shelter when he was just 10 weeks old (now he is 7 years old) and at just 6 months old we discovered that he has severe hip dysplasia (spelling?). When he was 9 months old he had a full hip replacement on his left hind leg. Although both of his hips were bad the left was worse and the specialist told us that most dogs will be much better even if you just do one. He was great after that surgery but this year tore his knee on the same leg he had his previous surgery on so he didnt have any great leg to stand on. He is now recovered from his knee surgery and running around again! Although he does miss agility SO much and loves it when he is allowed to go through some tunnels and such at my moms classes.

Max in the car right after I picked him up!

Since losing my "dream dog" (Boomer) earlier in the year I was set on getting a mini/toy aussie puppy. And that I did! I figured while I was having to baby one dog I might as well get a puppy and have to go through potty training and such at the same time! So I ended up getting a little toy (closer to size of a mini though) aussie that I named Harley! He is such a character and I cannot wait to do agility with him! He is such a little speed demon!

I own the cutest darn animals!

September:
Mystic and I competed in our first eventing derby at Lake Oswego Hunt.... and WON!! Yay Mystic pony!

Alanna/Roz/Erin and Mystic/Me!

I also began my first term of college!! I am happy to say that I have officially survived it also!

October/November/December:
I put them all together because it was just easier :) Somethings lasted into other months etc. The biggest in probably that Sky was diagnosed with a fractured hip and came home from the boarding stable to be in a small paddock with a stall so she could still move but not too much.
Mystic also attempted suicide again and almost lost his whole bottom set of teeth! Luckily the vet got him all fixed up and he should be able to return to is pasture in January! YAY for no more stall rest! He has continued his training and is going to debut at first level in March! I cannot wait to see what 2012 has in store for us!
Heres to happy healthy horses in 2012!

Planned events for 2012

Alanna and I are  planning our 2012 show season and have come up with our dressage shows until June (when Championships are)! Excited is an extreme understatement. Although we have known each other for 5 years we have yet to have a full show season together. Yes we have both been to practically all of eachothers shows but we have only both had horses competing in like 3 shows in the past 5 years. Now that Alanna has gotten the OK to show a horse she has been riding at our barn and I have Mystic going we get to show TOGETHER! So yes my mood in one word is extremelyhappyexcitedcantwaititwillbesuperfun :) Alright so here is our list so far:
-Dressage for the Ages: March 10th
-Adult Team Dressage Competition: April 28th
-OSU Dressage Team Show: May ??
-ODS League Championships: June 2nd
-Mid Summer Nights Dream: July 29th
Then from there we will see what we do. Mainly we just wanted to make sure we have enough opportunities to qualify for championships and since this will be Mystics second summer showing and first time at First Level (and we are still working on our leg yields) and Rhythms first time showing (and him being spooky in general) I think we have our work cut out for us, but it is totally do able! Especially since a qualifying score is like a 55 %! My goal, besides qualifying in the first place, is to be consistently scoring in the 65 % range by the end of the season which is another do able goal I believe.
I plan to mostly focus on dressage for the first part of the season and then towards the end do some derbys/one days with him. I have thought about possibly doing a recognized 3 day at Caber in August but I havent really decided yet. Obviously it would be contingent on how he is jumping and how much I can get him out before it but the other aspect is age. By Caber he will be 5, but just barely 5 as in like 5 and a couple weeks. Any thoughts on if it would be to much to soon as far as age and what is being asked of him? I mean clearly I know that there are tons of horses out there that are competing training or higher by 6 but I would like him to be sound at an old age and dont want to over do it with him. I personally dont think that BN is anything to worry about because the course is rather short and the fences are low. Our biggest thing would be conditioning. I would have to condition him for probably at least 2 months and pretty hard to make sure that he would be ok. Its not like he is super out of shape now but once you throw in galloping and jumping it will be much tougher on him. This would be a huge change from when I conditioned Tolo. We jumped 2X a week and went up on the trails 1X a week for hill work and longer distances but not much different then what we normally would do and when we finished XC he could have gone 10 more times and been just fine. Im just going to play it day by day at this point and focus on getting to ODS League Championships. I will take him to Inavales one day as long as the weather clears up and I can jump him before hand (we are not allowed to jump in our indoor, only outside after the hay is off the field, so by then he wont have jumped since November). Usually they have 2 days, 2 separate shows, so I could do intro on the first day and BN on the second if he is jumping well. I would REALLY love to compete in a 3 day, and actually get a score, but if we are not ready then I will just have to hold my horses another year! Its not like I havent waited long enough already!

A Christmas Miracle?

Do I have a (dare I say...) SOUND horse?!
I hauled her over to the arena today to see how she looked over there as she seemed sound yesterday but I dont have the best space to lunge her right now. So I loaded her up and took her on over, it takes a whole minute to get there and you can see horses in the arena from my kitchen window. Super nice! She was a little "up" when we got there but didnt do anything naughty and settled right down in 5 minutes of being there. I groomed her, threw some boots on her, took her to the arena, and thanked God when I saw her trotting sound (to me at least!)! It would be SO nice if I could start bringing her back to work slowly and find her a good home.
Ok... the moment of truth. Sound or not sound?
Tracking left
Tracking right

Merry Christmas!!

Well I am proud to say that Mystics stocking was about 200 times more full than mine was! He even has one of the jumbo stockings that almost covers the whole half of his stall that it is hanging on! He sure is a well loved pony. Lets just say hair ties and treats shouldn't be an issue anytime soon :) I didnt ride him today as we were busy with family activities such as going to see War Horse (which is a super sad and depressing yet very good movie). But off course I went and stopped by to give him way to many treats and lots of hugs and kisses!
Sky got a little more beauty treatment of her own today. I got a bucket heater from my mom so I heated up some water to wash her legs and tail. Her tail was SUPER gross and the warm water and shampoo/conditioner cleaned it right up. Sadly like 2 minutes into me getting her out to brush her, lunge her at the trot, and wash her it started pouring down rain... But I still did it all! Good news is: she seems SOUND! Now that would be a true Christmas miracle if she is actually sound! I came inside and my mom said so I saw you lunging her. I said yes and she looks sound to me and she said yeah I think she looked great too! So tomorrow im going to call the barn up and see if I can haul her over there to lunge her in the arena just at the trot to see how she looks. Fingers crossed!!!

Pretty girl!

These were off course before I brushed her. Not that the brushing will last long anyways!

Tomorrow morning Alanna and I are headed to look at a horse for her! We havent had horses at the same barn (that are both ride able) in over 2 years! So it would be an understatement to say that we are both super excited! After seeing the pony I am going to hopefully take Sky across the road then spend some time at Mystics barn riding him, cleaning my tack locker and cleaning buckets and such. Should be a nice horse filled day :)

Christmas Eve Tradition!

Alanna and I continued our Christmas Eve tradition today and took our boys out on a trail ride! She actually invited Rozzys kid (girl that is leasing him) so Erin rode him and I, of course, was on my mane man Mystic. Alanna.... well she got to walk :) We headed out at around 10 and it was gorgeous outside! Sunny and not that cold. The cold part did change throughout the ride though and by the time we got back I couldnt feel my fingers or my toes! We stayed out for almost 2 hours! The boys were super good. They even tolerated being all dressed up. Mystic sported his santa hat (that was said to resemble underwear), a red ribbon braided in his running braid, and a cute bow to tie off his forelock, he was quite adorable!

Our Mane Men! Rozzy and Mystic

Roz/Alanna and Mystic/Me

Out on the trail

Whoa... Mystic pony is ahead!

Mystic loves his Auntie Alanna!

The gangster hat look

He is so flippin cute!

Us minus Alanna

Rozzy with his two girls!

On another note... I was unable to take Sky over to the barn today but im really hoping to early next week! She is just enjoying her massive amounts of food and hanging out :)

Lessons and Beauty Palors

Kind of an odd combination but its with two different horses!!
I had a great lesson with Mystic on Wednesday. We havent had one in over a month before it due to injuries and such so it was nice to start again! We worked a lot of getting him to carry himself and in return getting off his forehand more. Also talked about my position and how I turn my toes out (I think its a jumping thing? anyways Alanna and I had talked about us both doing it just the day before my lesson!). I knew I did it but didnt realize how freaking hard it is to fix it! Old habits truly are hard to break! Especially while riding! We did get some good trot work in and worked a lot on our down transitions from trot to walk and getting him to not fall into them. Let me tell you it is actually hard to ride! Mostly because I am out of shape and have chicken arms anyways but still! The best moment is when we were working on our leg yields (which seemed to improve after our balancing work of course!). We did a leg yield from the center line to the wall and went straight of our leg yield into a shoulder in that Mary (our trainer) said she would have given a 7. I mean a 7?! We have only worked on shoulder in one lesson before this one. Im SO happy with him!
Even though I got another taste of how much we still have to work on I always feel like it is very do able after our lessons. As long as all keeps going well we are hoping to debut at 1st level in March at our first league show! I CANNOT WAIT!!

When I first got her out after all day with her blanket off

Sky on the other hand (who has been quite attention neglected recently) had a little spa day. I had taken her blanket off this morning because it was actually sunny and she took the opportunity to completely cover herself in mud. Thanks Sky... So I got her out and brushed her up real good, combed her mane and tail (which is beyond disgusting and needs a serious intervention before it turns brown permanently), and trimmed both her mane and tail. She hates having her mane pulled and the only time I have had it nice is when we had to sedate her for the farrier so I used it to my advantage and pulled it. Since then it has grown a solid 6 inches and tripled in thickness! Tomorrow I am thinking about hauling her across the road to a barn I work at and seeing how she looks on the lunge line in the arena. Then I will clean her up even more and maybe get some decent pictures of her while it is light outside.

All brushed out with her long mane

And all chopped off!! And her annoyed face because she wanted dinner!

Its Official!

 I have been sub-leasing a stall, where Mystic is at now (Which also happen to be the best barn ever and we never ever wanted to have to leave!), from my best friend knowing that she would be getting another horse once she found one and we would have to leave until a stall opened back up (which isnt very often because no one ever leaves because it is like I said the best barn ever!). Well one of the boarders just sold her house and is moving to Washington and gave her notice at the barn! So Mystic is now officially a PERMANENT resident of Never Done Farms :) YAY!

Real man status

I went out and rode the pony today and he was awesome! I cant wait to get back to our lesson schedule. It seems like something has interfered with it for the last couple months and we dont have much more time to nail down first level before show season starts! He really has been constantly improving and I can really feel it every time I ride him! He was pretty forward at first which was really nice. By the end of our hour ride he was a little more relaxed but very light in the bridle and super responsive. We worked on our leg yields a little and hope that Mary sees improvement in our lesson on Wednesday! Hopefully I can get our lesson taped. Even though we havent had a lesson in a couple weeks I still feel like we have improved a lot since our last lesson that we taped so I figure it will still be nice to see how much better we have gotten!

He looks handsome in purple if you ask me :)

Wearing Tolos hand me downs!

Stall rest = Equivilent to feeding him crack

Mystic has now been stuck in his stall for a month. That is a month with no grass, no room to run and be irritated by fellow pasture mates, and no muddy spots to roll in. I mean how is a guy supposed to stay sane when he is stuck in a stall all day with no toys to play with and limited amounts of hay to prevent him from becoming an umpalumpa (not sure of the spelling on that?!)! All of this because he tried to rip his bottom teeth out on his blanket bar. So because of all of that he is not allowed to graze or have any kind of toy that he could loosen up his teeth more. He also cant have regular buckets because we dont want him biting down on hard things so he also has rubber water and grain tubs. Oh what a high maintenance guy he is!
Ok so to the title of this post (all that was setting the scene for you). He is seriously losing his sanity! I feel so bad having to leave him inside but then again I am saving him from being toothless at age 5, so.... I dont feel bad for too long! While in his stall he finds every surface to rub his butt on, rubs his teeth on the wall, and bangs the door with his legs. Then when you halter him and tie him up to groom him/tack him up he moves his butt around everywhere, unties himself (its actually pretty funny because I taught him to stay in his stall even with the door open so he unties himself then pokes his head out the door, making sure everything else is inside the stall and looks at me all proud of himself!), and tries to rub his lips all over you asking for cookies. Although he is quite entertaining it does get annoying after a little bit! But you cant get mad because he is just so funny and has the best personality about it! Then of course you go to ride him and he is Mr. Lazy and acts like you have ridden him for 3 hours already! That may be an exaggeration but he isnt naughty at all like you would expect any horse to be after being stuck in a stall. He was being a goof tonight about my jacket that I tried to hang on a hook but missed and was laying in the corner of the arena. He was looking at it like it was a great white shark ready to swallow him whole! He definitely keeps us laughing all the time.

His beautiful and big stocking :)

He also got his stocking hung, finally. I got it made last week but I was gone over the weekend and it wasnt dry before I left so I didnt get to hang it until today. But it sure looks good and there is plenty of room for lots of goodies from Santa :)

Not so good picture but I was alone. It is proof though :)

How many 4 year olds...

Can you ride bareback and bridleless (just a rope around his neck) at the walk, trot, and canter going where you want to go?! Im sure it is very few considering a ton of people I know wont even ride their horses bareback! I wasnt planning hoping on tonight as I thought I was going to do it this afternoon but I didnt have time. So I hoped on him with just a halter to walk him around while Alanna rode Rhythm. As we walked around I decided (one of my brilliant spontaneous moments!) that we could try our hand at walking around with just a rope around his neck. He was SUPER good! And then Alanna of course had to make a comment about how she cant wait to see if I could still steer him at the canter and ya de da de da. Basically a challenge and we all know I cant let that go! So of course I said... GAME ON! We waited until she was done with Rhythm in case our steering did malfunction we wouldnt cause any issues. Then we trotted around a little bit testing our brakes, which are great, and our steering, for the most part we are pretty spot on, and picked up the canter! He quietly cantered on the circle I wanted and did down transitions to my voice and was SUPER good! I was so impressed as it was the first time I have ever done any bridleless work with him. It really shows me how much he can listen to my legs. Next weekend before our barn Christmas party I am going to get Alanna to video tape us doing it for proof! Im so proud of my pony :)

Ready to be back

I am SO ready to be back and riding my pony! Now that school is out for a month and he is healing nicely and can still be ridden while he is healing it is the perfect ending to the year! Its crazy to think how much I miss him even just not going to see him one day. Horses truely are apart of our major highs and major lows. I wouldnt trade them for anything, because even thought the major lows can really make me feel down in the dumps... if I didnt have to deal with them I wouldnt get all the good times either. I cannot wait to start showing again next year! I went and found some dressage shows (eventing ones are not up yet, the schooling shows at least) that I am  hoping to go to along with League Championships, I just dont know the date yet. Hopefully we can qualify at first level. Our leg yields have gotten better since his auntie Mary schooling day so hopefully we can keep it up! Now that we are back to normal we can get back to our much needed lessons also. He really is coming along nicely. Even after weeks off he comes back to work like normal, maybe just a little more forward but who am I to complain about that?!

He makes that look good :)

Having fun after being cooped up with no work for too long

Sadly his arena privileges got revoked after he kicked and broke a mirror..

 

On another note... I have found a stallion that I want a foal out of one day. Mystic will need a sibling someday :) He is GORGEOUS and actually does dressage (and well from what I have seen, not updated sadly..) which is hard to find in the Gypsy world, or seems to be hard at least. A bonus is he rare color, I wish they had video of him and more recent info on how he did this year but wow. He is gorgeous!

Austin- some mares future hubby for me :) 

Im a major slacker

Yup... thats me. The combination or school (finals are next week), work, the weather, me being sick, and my injury prone horses I havent been riding much. I did ride Mystic on Thursday and he was pretty good considering but I always feel like we lose a lot on our breaks, which we do, even though I know it will all come back! It hard to get motivated when it is freezing cold and you have no one to ride with! Now that school is almost out for the month, I have finals Monday-Wednesday then im done, I really need to kick it in gear and start riding again. Both for him and me! I am just as out of riding shape as he is! When I rode on Thursday I kept having major cough attacks (lucky me... im sick again) and it made it a not real enjoyable evening. So today I am just going to lunge him. But he also needs his hair done again and im sure he would love a roll in the arena also. I will try to get more pictures of the boy today :)

Just Another Day!

It just been a normal, well normal for him being injured, kind of last couple days. He has to stay in his stall because they dont want him grazing with his loose permanent teeth, he gets this toofies rinsed everyday, and he gets his hair did and of course some love from his momma! His mouth actually looks like it is healing really nicely! The right side of his jaw where his gum only split on one side is healing back together! YAY! I have a call into my vet for more info and cost of taking him into OSU to get his lower teeth wired together, hoping to get a call back today, but im thinking (more like praying!) that we actually might not need to go that far. I just need to make sure that his incisors are tightening up and are not as loose. I feel so bad that he has to stay in his stall but he has been so good for it. Yesterday I just let him loose in the arena to let him roll, which he did for about 5 minutes straight, and he turned into a Gypsy racehorse! That is the most I have ever seen him run and buck! It was adorable, he even made himself sweaty.
After the barn yesterday I went to Alannas house and made Mystics 2011 video! It has video starting in January when we started lightly riding him and goes all the way until our last video which was in October (really the last time he was ridden regularly). It is amazing to see how much he has progressed in the short amount of time! We also threw in some cute pictures and some fun music to go along with it. In total it is almost an hour long. Yes we love our pictures and videos! Im going to send one to my aunt and uncle who bred him so they can see what a perfect child they bred :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I always love Thanksgiving (for more reasons than one!) because it is right towards the end of the year when I get thinking that if anything else goes wrong in my life I think I will have to curl up in a ball, get in my bed, and never get up! But it comes just in time to save me and remind me all I am thankful for! So here is just a short list (including pictures of course) of what im thankful for

 

I am thankful for all the years spent, miles travels, tears shed, and fun had with Tolo. 

He is the reason I started rescuing and was the first horse I trained. I miss him daily

 

Im super thankful for  everyone in this picture. Alanna has been there for me 

for 5 years now. Roz has done his share of butt saving for me and I love him just

like he is my own! Erin is always there to keep us well entertained at shows!

 

Im thankful I chose to play basketball for my senior year. It was an amazing year

and one that I will never forget. I truly made life long memories and friends. Not to mention

3rd in state!

 

Im thankful for my puppy Harley who helped me heal from the loss 

of Boomer my last mini aussie. He never fails to make me laugh!

 

I am thankful that my dog Max recovered from his knee surgery this summer and

I hope that next year I will be thankful that he didnt need any more major surgeries!

 

I am also thankful for the opportunity to save Sky. Although im not so 

thankful for her fractured hip, that is a minor thing compared to her almost

losing her life just because of irresponsible horse owners.

 

And my mom of course who has been there for me throughout my whole life with my horses

and all. I wouldnt have been able to save these horses without her.

 

And finally I am SO thankful for the opportunity to own Mystic. He is my once in a life time

horse and am reminded every single day, by him of course, of how truly lucky I am!