Attention any would-be suitor:

Here you go:

Phil Harris Designs First Ever Engagement Saddle

http://www.gohorseshow.com/article/Our_Community_News/Our_Community_News/Phil_Harris_Designs_First_Ever_Engagement_SaddleYou_Tube_Video/38864

Read More

My Little Ponies

As promised, the horses were bathed this weekend and photos were taken!

First up, Chica the Magnificent:

Da hoss.

Followed by Chica the Unimpressed:

And Rude

Not to be outdone by Chica with the Luxurious Tail:

I trim it off the ground probably every 6 months- why can't my hair grow like that?

And finally, Chica the Gorgeous:

Keeping herself in shape since '00

Next, it was Sienna's turn. Since Chica is (generally) voice controlled, I ditched the lead with her immediately to keep it out of the way. With Sienna, I wasn't sure how well that would go over- but she surprised me and kept still, in spite of the grass tempting her underfoot.

Who, me?

Sienna the Well-Fed:

The camera adds 100 pounds

Sienna the Undistracted by the Neighbor's Annoying Dog in the Bacground:

Also Sienna the Arabian/Warmblood Stallion because of background- anyone else get it?

And finally, Sienna the Giraffe:

By Zippos Giraffe Dude

I'm not sure if poor Sienna suffers from Second Child Syndrome, in that I took almost 2x as many pictures of Chica as I did Sienna, or if it was just that the heat/humidity/bugs were starting to drive me insane.

I had a fun afternoon with my girls- especially after a couple weeks of being unable to ride. Unfortunately I seem to have overdone it, and until my surgery next Monday, my horse excursions are going to have to be kept to feeding. But at least I got a little fun in the sun this Sunday!

Read More

My Impromtu "Vacation"

I went home Friday night, August 2nd, not expecting to spend 2 days of the next week in the ER and the rest of the time recuperating at various places- some at my house, some at my grandparents' house, and some at my parents' house.

Without my horses and cat to keep me busy (my roommate stepped up and took care of them for me), and with half of my family at work all day, what was I to do to entertain myself in the moments I wasn't asleep?

Oh, yeah- maybe hang out with this motley crew?

All Burlingame dogs: Pose now!

If you read my blog, you know that the two on the right- Romeo, the lab, and Fiona, the corgi- are my two babies that basically go with me everywhere. The other three belong to my parents. There's Rio the Great Pyrenees mix, and Dixie and Daphnee the Bichon Frises.

Five dogs is a lot spatially to have in a room- and even more so when the corgi, lab, and Pyrenees mix want to run around and play like a bunch of banshees. Of course, the Bichons don't partake in such rough-housing- they prefer to sleep on top of the couches and turn their noses up at any interaction from the blue-collar crew, especially Fiona. Sometimes Romeo will walk over and sniff at them, eliciting a growl from them as they daintily turn and face the other way. But Fiona is the bane of their collective existence. Their growling and snapping does little to deter her happy-go-lucky corgi mind; she merely jumps back and barks at them before tearing around the room, herding them to wherever she wants them to go. One day she successfully kept Dixie penned in the kitchen, in spite of there being two entrances on opposite sides of the kitchen, for a good several minutes before Dixie ran under a couch to get away from her. They are fortunate that she has about 10 pounds on them, so they can still get to places that she can't!

The only time they think she is ok is at times like this:

Dixie waits patiently while Fiona snoozes

The Bichons are all about quiet time

Dixie and Dapnee may be dainty little powder puffs like those that a past king of France (Henry III) wore around his neck in a tray-like basket (no joke), but Fiona expects to be treated in no lesser fashion. After all, she is British royalty herself (maybe that's why they don't get along)!

During one period of laying on the couch, being bored by what was on tv, I set a laundry basket upright and told Fiona to jump in, which, after some pacing and complicated mathematics I'm sure, she was able to oblige me with:

"And how else may I please you?"

She sat like that for probably 10 minutes, until I told her to get back out. Mostly because I got distracted by something on tv and forgot she was in there.

Later, like a good hour later, Fiona did something bad- possibly grabbed onto Romeo's jowls so that he would drag her across the room, what fun!- and I muttered to her that I was going to put her in her kennel if she did that again. She looked at me, turned around, trotted over to the forgotten laundry basket, which was now laying on its side, and crawled in and laid down. I haven't laughed that hard in I don't know how long. In her defense, it looks like a crate, with its slats- such a smart girl!

I returned from my parents' home this Monday so that I could go back to work the rest of the week, at least until my doctor's appointment tomorrow morning. And another member of my Royal family (how did I get to be so lucky?), His Highness King Ramses the Lionhearted, was so excited to see me, it made returning to work a little more bearable.

So happy, I'll even pose for you!

I love my little family! Depending on how the doctor goes tomorrow, maybe I'll get new pictures of everyone, ponies included, this weekend. It would be a good incentive to give them baths. Sienna has been caked with mud all this week and I haven't had the energy to do anything about it... perhaps the recent rain will help wash it off.

Read More

The month wherein all my horse plans fall through.

I've been working towards showing Sienna at an APHA show coming up at the end of the month. In addition to working her pretty hard, I've been locking her up at night and only letting her out into a small paddock during the day. She's actually looking less pregnant and more like a fit horse!

However, after a trip to the emergency room Saturday, where it was discovered that I have a kidney stone in my right kidney and some sort of growth on my left kidney, it would appear that my efforts were all for naught.

At first it was thought that the growth on my kidney was a hemorrhagic cyst, basically a cyst that has started bleeding into the kidney. However, the urologist I visited today isn't so sure. I don't remember a lot of the visit, due to him throwing around "rare kidney cancer" and "really rare bladder cancer". I barely made it out of the room before I burst into tears.

My mom assures me that he just wants to rule them out, that he isn't necessarily saying I have one of those. Apparently I could have any number of things.

I can't tell you how surreal it is to sit in a room and have a doctor discuss the possibility that you have cancer. I even thought something along the lines of "how in the world is this happening right now?".

I'd say I'm not panicking yet, but that's not true. What I am trying to do is trust God that His plan will work through this and that somehow He will be glorified in the process. I will be undergoing another cat scan on Monday with iodine so he can get a better picture of my kidneys. I'm praying for a good result.

And meanwhile, I'm really missing riding. I'm sad my show isn't going to work out, and I'm even sadder we won't be ready for the jumping show. I hope that I'll be riding again soon enough; in the meantime, just have to get through the days ahead.

Read More

Thought for the day

Many things in life are hard; I'm not sure any of them compare to riding in a regular cab truck with a Corgi in your lap while trying to eat lunch.

Read More

Fun in the Sun!

...could be the name of someone's blog in California, perhaps. In Texas, it might be more appropriate to name this "I Rode at 6:00 PM and Lived to Tell About It" or "90% Humidity Almost Got the Best of Me"

I usually wait until at least 7 PM to ride, thanks to the awful humidity and heat that Central "Oven" Texas is known for. Saturday, however, a friend came up to ride, so for the sake of his time, and because it was only a balmy 88 degrees vs the usual 108 degrees, I decided to go ahead and start a little earlier.

This friend has not ridden a horse recently- as in, he hadn't ridden since he was a child on a packer trail ride in the Smokies- so the ride promised to be fun. I saddled up Miss Chica Chica, jumped on, and warmed her up (jusssst in case she wanted to be sassy at first) so that he could see how to steer her, voice control her, etc. She was a rock star, in spite of not being ridden regularly. Also, it was the first time I'd ridden her in a saddle in I don't know how long.

Once he got onto Chica, I had him do something "simple" to start off with. I pointed at a tree, and said, "Walk her over to that tree." They proceeded to do the most drunken amble to the tree- she'd start to go slightly off course, he would over-correct, and suddenly they would be headed in the complete opposite direction. "Think of your reins like a steering wheel" I told him. "You don't want to over-correct a car, so apply that thought process to riding". After pointing at different objects for a while so he could figure out the steering process, I left him to ride around and get used to the feel of Chica while I hopped on Sienna.

After giving her (and myself) a good workout, we headed out into the pasture to trail ride. It was fun and made me appreciate having a second horse that a friend could ride (although I think I scared him when I casually (and sarcastically and possibly maniacally) said "I need more horses so that [my roommate] and [my sister, who was also present] can ride with us!"). He handled the "canyon" that we have to cross to get to the other pasture- the one that Sienna likes to take the road less traveled on and leap to the little catwalk along the top of it, surprisingly. The only "ahhhh!" moment we had was when he dropped one of his reins, and Chica stepped on it and popped herself. I maneuvered Sienna in and grabbed it before anything more exciting could happen.

I was very proud of my girls when we got back- they both behaved so well. While my sister jumped on Chica for a few minutes, he tried out the English saddle on Sienna- I asked him later if he preferred the western or English saddle, and he said he felt more masculine in the western, lol- and Sienna was awesome with him as well.

After the others were done riding, we set up a jump for me and Sienna that involved two buckets with a longe whip across them as the jump. I think, after encountering such ingenuity, she will one day be broke to anything and everything. At first, she kind of just trotted through it without any inclination to jump it, but when I cantered her over it, she jumped. We raised it higher, and she cantered over it without hesitation. It was SO MUCH FUN and I think, if I still have her in a few months, I'm going to take her to a HJ show and try it out!!! (I'm excited) Video below!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxMhp5BgxhA

The quality is horrible because for some reason, transferring anything from an iPhone to another medium makes it suck, but you get the gist. Also, I have no pictures from this day, other than the video, so I could have made the whole thing up. You'll never know.

Unrelated to horses, KITTENS! They are getting so big. We've found a home for a grand total of ONE of them, leaving us with six. I have a friend who says that she wants one as soon as she moves to her new apartment, so hopefully everything will work out and we will have "only" five. Eight outside cats total. Oui vey. I can't afford to get all of those guys spayed and neutered, so I don't know what we're going to do.

At least they're cute!

This one's my fav-nooooo I can't say that!

I suppose I could take them to the shelter, but black cats have a rough time of it there. It sucks when you have so many people tell you they're interested in taking a kitten, then not follow through. It has become one of my biggest pet peeves.

Finally (this is getting to be long because it has been quite a while since my last post), I had the pleasure of being a bridesmaid in my friend Kaitlin's wedding. It was SO beautiful, held at a gorgeous facility.

Pre-wedding make up and hair

The lovely bride

Bridesmaids

You know I'm going to need a picture on this chaise lounge.

We had a lot of fun getting ready the morning before, and I only stepped on my dress once during the ceremony (fortunately my attendant kept me from making a scene by supporting me!). I can't wait to see the pictures, or to welcome Mrs. Vincent back from her honeymoon!

Read More

The Ups and Downs of Horse Selling

It all happened so quickly- I casually mentioned to a trainer friend that I wanted to sell Sienna, she told me to send her some info on her, and 3 days later I was on the road, hauling Sienna 2 hours away to let her client try her out.

Here I might interject that Sienna had a grand total of 3 days of riding on her before I loaded her up and took her down, after several months off thanks to school. I might also add that two of those days were days that I worked until 8:30 PM and 8 PM, respectively, so the riding took place in the dark.

Sienna was a superstar for these people (a mom, a dad, and a nine- year old girl, all beginners) from the moment I unloaded her. She calmly looked around at the barn,  and then we walked back to the trailer and tacked up. I jumped on her first, and she walked, trotted, and cantered immediately on cue, backed, pivoted, and whoaed exceptionally. Then the mom got on Sienna in the round pen, and in spite of the fact that she had a hard time getting her to canter, Sienna was patient and forgiving the entire ride. The little girl got on next, all smiles, and (once she had practiced kicking hard enough that Sienna could actually feel her little legs) had Sienna walking and trotting everywhere in no time. After the ride, the people hosed her off, the little girl braided her tail, using her own hair band to hold the braid in, and then walked off with her, letting her graze. Sienna was polite and respectful- she could not have shown herself off better. The people tried out another older, more bombproof horse, but they liked Sienna better, thought she was prettier, and she suited their future needs more than the other horse (ie, she is a potential English show horse, whereas he was not).

The mom told me that they really liked her, the dad inquired with the barn owner about which stall they would keep her in, and, although the mom told me they would think it over and get back to me the next day, everything seemed so sure that I ended up leaving Sienna at the barn instead of driving her all the way back. I mean, the dad told the barn owner it was a done deal.

The next day rolls around, and I hear nothing. Then the next- nothing. Finally the third day comes, and I get the news: the people don't think their budget can afford the monthly care and lessons they would want to take to own a horse.

I was understandably upset- I mean, what kind of person doesn't figure that out before a) putting a bunch of people out and b) telling their young daughter they are horse shopping for her? But it comes with the territory. Horse selling (and buying) can be a really frustrating deal, especially if you are in a hurry. Fortunately I can wait for the right owner to come along, but it would have been really nice if these people had bought her because they got along so well and I would have gotten to see her often where she was boarded.

This experience made me realize four things:

1) I have trained Sienna much better than I give myself (or her) credit for

2) In spite of being sad to leave her behind, I really am ready to sell her and move on

3) In the interim of waiting for interested parties to find her, I'd like to seriously start jumping her

4) Don't start looking at other horses and getting excited about the next one until the sale is a done deal!

Too cool for the faint of heart

Read More