Smokey Being Naughty!!

HELLLO!!  I know what you are thinking-2 entries in 2 days?!?!  You have never been so lucky!!

As I mentioned previously, my Smokey has been extremely accident prone lately.  Ok, let's try irritating to other horses so much so that they decide to let him know how they feel about him and his antics.  Due to his soreness, I decided to pull him from the little schooling show I was so looking forward to today.  But, I decided to give him a bath regardless yesterday and took the following photos for proof.

Exhibit A:  On his face, who knows about this one?

Exhibit B:  Bite mark on right flank area

Exhibit C:  Another bite mark

Exhibit D:  Bite on left shoulder

Exhibit E and F (a little one):  Right hip

Exhibit G:  Right front leg

All of those things will heal within days, but it's his back that is still very sensitive.  It looks like he will be having a visit from his friend, Michele, for some massage work.  He's been on muscle relaxers all weekend and doesn't seem to be improving.  Then, it's back to work and back on track!

He is so pretty when he's clean....he GLOWS!!!  Haha!

Have a great week everyone.  The Olympics start Friday, so get super excited!!!

The good, the bad and the ugly!

Hi readers!
I know I have been silent for quite a while, but I'm back to blogging here now (more on that later).  Lots has happened so I have decided to divide it up into 3 sections:  the good, the bad and the ugly. 

The Good

• You may or may not know of the infamous Eventing Nation blog.  Us eventers swear by it for all of the most up to date information, gossip, and insanity in our world.  They have a blogger contest each year, and this year, I decided to enter.  I wrote a little silly entry and sent it on to EN, not expecting to hear anything back from them.  Little did I know that they would like it and I became one out of eight finalists!!  Our next assignment was to write on a given topic, and unfortunately I didn't make the final finalists.  But I was thrilled to just be a part of the finalists!!  Thank you to all my friends and family who voted for me, I really appreciate every one's help.  And especially thanks to my friend, Bryan, who helped to inspire the entry topic, and Erica, for helping with editing.  You guys rock!
• I entered a SHOW!!  My first show in 2012 and since the broken arm.  YAY!!  It's a little tiny schooling combined test this Sunday, and we are only doing the ground poles division.  Hey, you gotta start somewhere, right?  Well...hold that thought until The Bad. 
• I got a promotion!!  YAY again!!  Starting in August, I will be a Research Nutritionist for Buckeye.  Basically, I will get to do more science and work with the R & D Team.  But don't worry, I will still be doing sales as well and won't be moving to Ohio.  I'm excited about this new opportunity and being able to work with my good friend, Amber, more closely.

The Bad

• I know that several of you have been watching all the coverage on who will make our Olympic Equestrian Team.  I was especially intrigued this year because Buckeye sponsors Allison Springer, and she made the short list.  After an eventful trip to England, she competed at Barbury, the final test for the Olympic team hopefuls.  She did great, ended up 12th and 2nd highest American horse and rider combination.  Unfortunately, she was not chosen for the team, and will stay in England to serve as an alternate.  My heart broke for her because I know how hard she worked to get a chance to be on the team, and it seemed like the right time for her to be considered.  Regardless, I wish the team the best of luck.  The Olympics are only a week away and I really thing the Canadian team looks supreme...and the British team with William Fox Pit of course is sure to be at the top (plus he has home field advantage :)

William F-P:  It can't hurt to have legs that long!

Allison & Arthur at Rolex this year

• My horse.  He has a tendency to get himself in a lot of trouble.  Lately he has been coming in to the barn with several bite marks, and I am certain that they are instigated by him.  Today, he came in with several more of the usual and even some scrapes on his face caused by who knows what.  On top of that, he is very sore on his right side around the loin area.  The left side is fine, just that right side.  So....the aforementioned show plans may be on hold until Mr. I-need-to-wear-body-armor-24/7 decides to stop messing around in the pasture. 

The Ugly

• Poison Ivy!!!!  Yes, apparently I have it around my house.  I first noticed my itchy-ness a couple days after pulling weeds in my yard.  Apparently I was pulling poison ivy, and I'm lucky it was only on a few selected areas of my body.  I had another mild case last week that I think was related to my cat hiding in the weeds pretending to be a "wild jungle cat".  That was the final straw for me.  It was time to bring out the heavy artillery:  WEED SPRAY!! 

I think that about covers everything.  Now that my big national blogging dreams have been squashed, I will be sure to come back to reality and just keep doing my little blog here.  Until then, please send Smokey some good "pasture" vibes to keep him out of trouble!!  Either that or I'm starting a bubble wrap fund.  

The Slightest Glimmer of Hope

Hello world!!  Hopefully you are surviving this heat wave we are having here in Kentucky.  It was a steamy 103 degrees today, and it will just get hotter this weekend.  So...since you are sitting at home with nothing to do, I'm finally going to give you an update of my personal progress with Smokey.

Since I have been back to riding, I have felt a complete disconnect with the little grey pony, and everything seemed to be working against us.  First it was my lack of strength after my injury.  Then, he developed this HUGE bug bit/thing that we have not determined on his left stifle.  After that, he had a visit with his favorite massage therapist, Michele.  Even then, Smokey still felt completely wrong. 

Enter my barn friend, Erica.  Erica is a great person to bounce ideas off of, and has a ton of experience as she has spent quality time with eventer Corrine Ashton (competed her chestnut TB Dobbin through the 4* level).  I figured that a completely impartial person might have some insight to something I have been missing.  And, she did!  Erica felt that he was very stiff and lacked the strength to hold himself in a fram.  So, we refocused our training on working to strengthen Smokey's frame with the help of draw reins.  Draw reins are a tool that I like to use to encourage a horse into the desired frame.  Of course, in the wrong hands, they can cause a horse to over-flex and be behind the bit.  But, with Erica's assistance, we can acheive the desired frame by keeping him slightly in front of the vertical and moving forward. 

The first few rides with the draw reins were very positive, although all we did was walk and trot work.  We added some work on the lunge line to change things up at bit.  And then the bottom dropped out, and we had a disasterous ride.  Smokey refused to move on the bit, was tense and over-sensitive to my leg.  Heck, the draw reins weren't even helping as he was so offended by every aid I had on him, I stopped using them.  Disasterous.  Horrendous.  Thoughts of doubt were entering my mind-was I really ever going to be able to ride this horse?  Am I skilled enough to help him work through this?  Heck, am I too old to be doing this and should just sell him?

And then, all of the sudden, everything changed.  Our next ride was so wonderful, a glimmer of hope in the darkness.  Smokey worked wonderfully at the trot and we attempted to canter both leads.  Although his first left lead canter departure had some "unnecessary energy", he settled right in after I asked him to (and picked it up on the first try!...I say this because Lacy says that "the lead is not an issue anymore" but I still get excited when he does it correctly).  A couple days later, I left the draw reins in the barn and rode again and he was brilliant!!  No "excessively exuberant" lead departures, lovely trot work, and even attempted to stretch forward and downward during his canter work...although I don't completely trust him yet that he is going to work and not launch me off!  What a good boy!!  Finally!!! 

I feels so good to ride Smokey when he is working together with me.  He is so much fun to ride when we communicate, and I cannot wait to ride him again to see if we can keep this up!  But, don't let him fool you, he is still goofy. 

Smokey being naughty!!  Can you see what he's trying to do??

My good friend, Krista, has been helping us since the very first day I brought him to Bittersweet Acres.  She said something to me the other day, and I keep that in the front of my mind all the time.  She said "Smokey has such potential and you can see it when he is being really good for those 2 strides".  He is a really nice horse, a lovely mover, with a ton of potential.  But it means nothing if I choose to quit on him.  So, I choose to work through the hard times...even if it is for just 2 strides of excellence! 

Dads are the Best!

First of all, I want to wish all the fathers a Happy Father's Day!!  Of course, you may say that your Dad is the best Dad in the entire world, but I truly believe that my Dad tops them all.  Here is proof:  during our trip to Hawaii last year, my Dad joined me on a horseback riding excursion.  This was a 2 or 3 hour ride, and despite the fact that Dad's horse, Big Mac, really wanted to just head back to the stable the entire time, and the fact that Dad hadn't been on a horse in a very long time, it was worth it to see the island on horseback.  And mom was armed with the Advil for Dad when we got back to the hotel. 

Here is a clip of one of our favorite comedians, Bill Cosby, doing the best Dad song ever!! 

My Dad also instilled in me a love for all things Monty Python.  How do I know this?  Because my Mom rolls her eyes every time she catches us watching any of his movies.  Although, secretly I think she enjoys it just as much as we do because you will catch her giggling every now and then.  There are so many favorite scenes, but this is probably one of my favorites.

Happy Fathers Day!!  Love ya, Dad!

PS-More updates on Smokey this week!  Lots to catch you up on, but until then, give you Dads a big hug!

My Greatest Olympic Memory #2

Before we get to this week's video, let me redefine the word "Greatest" as I use it to describe the following videos.

Greatest can be defined as "remarkable or outstanding in magnitude, degree, or extent."  OR "of outstanding significance or importance."  This one is certainly remarkable in one way or another!!  Enjoy!!

Now this wasn't the first time that all eyes were on Tanya.  Nope, she had to make sure her ticket to Lillehammer was punched, and I don't mean that she decided to train harder.  How do you do that, you ask?  Well...ask Nancy Kerrigan....



Well, guess what Tanya??  They still let her skate in the Olympics!!  And, your little boyfriend, Jeff Gillooly, squealed like a pig!  Due to some threatened legal action by Tanya's lawyers, she was allowed to embarrass herself skate in the Olympics, the scene of the "shoe lace" drama, and ended up placing 8th.  Karma is a bitch, right Tanya?

My Favorite Olympic Memory-Part 1

Since the Summer Olympics are being held in London this year, I thought I would do a few blogs about my favorite Olympic memories. Here's a shocker: most of them are not horse-related!! Most of them are inspiring, some of them are funny, and some of them are just plain unforgettable! So, without further adu, let's check out my first video:

It's funny to think about where you were in the summer of 1996. There was no such thing as youtube or facebook, so this must have been someone's VCR recording of the TV footage. Where was I? Well, I was still an undergrad at U of Illinois....getting ready to start my junior year....probably still working at Party's Galore, blowing up balloons or helping people choose napkins to go with their cake plates or something else life changing like that. But could you just imagine what it would feel like to have all that pressure on your shoulders...an Olympic Gymnastics Team Gold Medal....and the only event that is left in the vault, your best event? And you are just 19 years old?? AND after a disastrous first vault that surly shook her confidence and was later found to cause a third-degree lateral sprain and tendon damage, you had to pull off another top vault? ON ONE FOOT? There is no other word for it other than AMAZING!! If you don't feel THAT in your soul, you might want to check your pulse.

In a related story, Kerri's fame opened many doors for her in other ways, including this little video:
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/kerri-and-kippy-strug/274196/


A quick update on being back in the saddle: I'm trying to get back in shape, both overall and riding-wise, so lots of trotting, changes of direction, over poles, etc. Boring, but necessary until my strength returns in my legs. I've also joined a local rec center and have been doing Pilates to help with my core strength and balance. I might try some Zumba as well so I can pick up some new dance moves!! Oh, and Smokey showed me his left lead yesterday while we did a little canter work. Good pony!!

Let me know your favorite Olympic memory! I would love to share more this summer leading up to London!

She's baaack!

Let's get right to the main part of this blog post-I have officially been released by my doctor to ride!!!  Actually, I have been released to do everything again, but most importantly RIDE!!!  So, what did I do today?  I RODE!!  How did it go, you ask?  Let me tell you.  The thing that I thought would be the most difficult (my arm) was fine....the thing that I forgot about (my legs) were not.  It only takes 3 weeks to "de-condition" your muscles, so technically I have "de-conditioned" 4 times over.  Not that I was in peak riding shape when I originally broke my arm being it was February...but I digress.  Everything below my knees felt like a foreign object, flapping like they were not attached to the rest of my body, and quickly turning into jello.  Fabulous.  My poor horse tolerated it pretty well considering he was basically doing most of the work with no support or guidance from his rider.  Lots of work to do to get back my strength, but it felt great to actually be back in the saddle!

Now, we need to backtrack a week.  Last Saturday we took Smokey and his good buddy Dorado to Masterson for some cross country playtime.  Both were really good and had a great time!  Adam and I were in charge of capturing all of the moments on film, so here are a couple of cool shots.

Super Dorado, he's so cool!

Good Smokey!  He said "I kinda like the cross country thing"

Smokey says "Hm...I'm not sure how to get down from this thing so here we goooo!"



Lastly, I had the opportunity to do an article for Horse Illustrated (http://www.horsechannel.com/horse-magazines/horse-illustrated/horse-table-of-contents/horse-illustrated-2012-june.aspx) in a section called "Horse Tales".  My good friend, Holly, is the Senior Associate Editor of the magazine, and the article took portions of this blog and put it into a little story.  Check it out!  I have had friends from all over the place contacting me because they saw the article, so that was pretty special. 

So, to sum everything up....I'm back to riding, my legs are going to be really sore all week, and I see a lot of trotting in our near future.  Boy, have I missed this!!

PS-I want to thank everyone at Bittersweet Acres for being super suportive of me, Krista for keeping me laughing when I wanted to cry, and of course, Miss Lacy, who is just awesome.  Love you all bunches!!