Week 1

I'm going to start logging all of my time on this blog, and writing weekly updates every Saturday with what I've been up to the past 7 days. To clear things up, where Cliff is boarded and where I help with lessons and work with the ponies (Sassy, Ginger, and Shadow) and the horses (Magic and Lady) is called Laughing Buck Farm, and the place where I intern working with reiners for Sabrina (you'll likely hear the names Denzel, Hollywood, Chanel, Kit Kat, Buster, Latte, Godiva, and Gator-her stallion Tejon Please, facebook link to his page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tejon-Please/209582562430924 -mentioned) is Sunnyluck Farms. Here's this week's:

Tuesday: Worked at Sunnyluck Farms for almost three hours in the morning. Sat on Hollywood in the round pen while Sabrina rode her filly, Chanel, to make Chanel feel more comfortable. She did really well, walk, trot, and lope. Got assigned one of my 'project ponies' for the summer, Sabrina's 4 year old gelding out of her stud, Denzel. I'm super excited about that part, he's one of my favorites. Then worked at Laughing Buck for about 2 and a half hours, giving a lesson, working with the ponies, and working with Lady in the round pen.

Thursday: Was at Sunnyluck Farms for almost 4 hours. Had my lesson on Cliff, he was very focused for pretty much having almost two weeks off (I did ride him several times, but only briefly bareback) though he seems to be getting a bit fat again. He's an extremely easy keeper for being 19 years old, as in, will get fat off of minimal grass hay if you let him sit. I'm going to start getting him into a regular working schedule, riding him at least 3 times a week. Also rode Denzel, he felt tense the minute I got on him and after walking around and flexing for a few minutes, from what I can tell, he spooked at something in one of the barns on one side of the arena and took off bucking on me, I'm a little ashamed to admit that I didn't stick it though :/. Oh well, as the saying goes, "You aint rode til you been throwed". On the plus side, it was a very good fall and as close to the opposite of traumatic as you can get, and I hopped back on after lunging him for a minute and he was a very good boy for the rest of our ride. Wasn't the first time and won't be the last.

Lesson on Cliff (I must have thought that I was riding hunt seat, I swear I don't lean forward like that on a regular basis)

He says, "It's so hard to be good when there are scary things blowing around that want to eat me!"

Friday: Rode Hollywood for Sabrina in the morning, about an hour. We're working on getting controlled and soft transitions, particularly walk to canter, and trying to move his hindquarters to take the lead nicely. Struggled a bit, but I think that was mostly me being confused and we got a couple of nice transitions towards the end.

***Photos taken and owned by Sabrina at Sunnyluck Farms www.sunnyluckfarms.com***

In the Works

Right now I have a few major things going.

#1: I am an intern at Sunnyluck Farms here in Fort Collins where they specialize in reining. I help Sabrina exercise the horses, and start colts mostly. I'm there as much as I can be, and I am learning so much and thoroughly enjoying every bit of it! I also take lessons on my horse Clifford from her once a week. Their website is http://sunnyluckfarms.com/

Working Kit Kat in the round pen

#2: I work off as much of my board as I can at Laughing Buck Farm (they can be found on facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/LaughingBuckFarm ) filling in for lessons or barn duties when need be, and working with the horses and ponies.

Working with B (horse crazy girl that I give lessons to, and who acts as my legs to ride the little feisty ponies that I'm too big for) and Lady

#3: I am in 4-H with Clifford and am currently planning a show schedule for this summer, including the Larimer County Fair.

#4: This is the biggie. My main project for this school year will be starting a program with my friend Natalie where all kids can go to learn about horses in a safe and supervised environment without having to pay. We are planning on having a focus on at risk and abused kids as we believe that animals or all sorts, but especially horses, are extremely healing and therapeutic for a lot of people. It's looking like it's going to be a facility in Loveland, but the exact location is yet to be determined. Our progress with the program will be documented on this blog.


***First picture was taken by Sabrina of Sunnyluck Farms, and last two were taken by Rosemary of Laughing Buck Farm***

Humble Beginnings

It all started before I was one. My grandparents had always had horses and when I was a baby, they had an older quarter horse mare named Bugs that gave me my first ride.

On Bugs

 I think a lot of horse people try to speculate when and where it all started, I honestly have no idea. I think in a way, it has to be in your blood, to want to spend hours upon hours doing filthy and exhausting work for a dangerous yet exhilarating sport that you can't possibly turn your back on once you're in. For some people, the circumstances are ideal enough that this passion can flourish, and luckily, I am one of those people. 

When I was 6 years old, my neighbor had 3 horses just next door, and I would spend hours picking grass for them in the summers. I would occasionally get rides on their paint mare, Beauty, and I would casually stroll by the trailer that she would tie the horses to before a ride just to help groom or visit with them without a fence separating us. One day, the neighbor came over and asked my mom and I if we would like me to start getting little informal lessons, so most every week, she would trailer us down to a near by arena and I would get some of my first real hours on horseback. Sometimes my rides were good, sometimes terrifying and frustrating. The lesson that stands out most was when Beauty rolled with me on her, but though I don't remember the specifics of every lesson, I do remember always looking forward to them and being very disappointed the weeks that we had to cancel because of fading daylight or bad weather. 

On Beauty when I was 3 or 4

Well, eventually my neighbors decided that they didn't have the time or resources to give regular lessons to anyone so they referred us to a stable where I started taking English lessons when I was 7 for about a year.

 After a sour experience there, I stopped riding for a couple of months but horses never left my thoughts, and when I was 9, my grandparents with good intentions but little actual experience buying horses (especially for kids--they were used to primarily dealing with BLM mustangs) decided to start looking for one for me. Well, we happened upon what I now know as a really shady horse dealer. I've since met more than a few people who bought horses from her, all being advertised as 'kid broke' who have turned out to be much older than advertised, dangerous, unpredictable, drugged, and lame. Anyway, the horse that we came home with was named Stormy, and she was listed as a kid broke, bombproof, trustworthy horse, and then went on to prove herself as extremely unpredictable and bronc-y, and bucked me off twice, the second time landing me in the ICU overnight with a severe concussion. My family knew little about horses, and neither did I for that matter, and add to that a really shaken confidence, and you get a craigslist add offering her for less than half of what we paid. 

Stormy waiting for us to look at her (notice that she's already caught and saddled- a red flag that I would immediately notice and be wary of today)

After I sold Stormy, I spent the next year or so riding whenever I could, though my confidence was extremely shaken. I also did an informal lease on an Arabian broodmare from a farm just around the corner from me for a few months. They had a beautiful property and countless fat, healthy, and sweet, friendly mares for me to play with. Then I started becoming interested in 4-H, and I found a local club that had primarily horse members, most of which were around my age. I went to my first day long 'horse camp' with the leader the summer that I was 11 and learned showmanship with the POA that I would soon come to lease and show. He had more personality than any horse I had ever met, and though he was frustrating as can be sometimes (he was the pony that would teach you to expect the unexpected after he threw you over his head several times by cantering off and then coming to a dead stop before you asked), he also taught me a lot and gave me one of the best weeks of my childhood taking me to the county fair. 

After my first year in 4-H with Apache, I started to want my own pony again, so I saved my money working once a week for a friend of my moms as a mother's helper until I had $500 to buy a little gypsy vanner from a dude string in the mountains. Her name was South because she liked to bring up the rear on the trails. I had her for a few months, but though she was very sweet and calm, we really just didn't click riding wise.

She was great for giving the little sisters pony rides, in fact, I sold her to a city run petting zoo/farm type operation where she now lives a happy life giving pony rides 3 months out of the year and relaxing in a pasture less than 2 miles from me the other 9.

Now my parents have always been the most supportive and helpful where they can be, but they've also made it clear that I also have two little sisters and they can't afford to devote the time and money to my horses that some parents can, so I've always been responsible for paying for most of my horse's expenses, and my horses themselves. At this point in my story, by chance, I meet a friend of my mom's named Rosemary who I find out has just moved out to Colorado and bought two horses. I offer to babysit her two little boys in exchange for riding sometime and she takes me up on it. I go and meet her horses at the time, Lonestar and Magic (coincidentally she bought them from the same lady who sold me Stormy), and we get to talking about how she loves to barter and how she would be open to letting me work off board if I found a horse. That of course gets my gears turning and I start casually 'window shopping' for the perfect horse. Just because I don't want to leave anything out, I should probably mention that there was also a horse around this point in the story that she was going to be getting for free from a friend and was going to let me pretty much full-free lease her in exchange for chores, but sadly, she died in her stall on the first night home from what we assume was stress induced colic because of the 8 hour drive. Here's a picture of her that I'll throw in for the heck of it:

Nobel

Anyway, I had been excited about her arrival for what seemed like months, and I was pretty devastated when I found out that she had passed away, however whatever madness that keeps me so obsessed with horses, made me post a wanted ad on a horse classified website and I got a call several weeks later from a college student in Wyoming who had a friend that was looking to get rid of a gelding that she had that she didn't have time or use for. They offered to drive him down for me, let me try him out for as long as I wanted, then pick him back up, take him back up to Wyoming for the brand inspection, and bring him back to me all for just the price of gas. It was a godsend, because this horse was perfect for me. His name is Clifford and he was about 14 then, and a quarter horse standardbred cross. I did 4-H with him for almost a year, though we never got the chance to show.

Up until this point, I had been home schooled which made for a very flexible schedule, but when I turned 13 and was about to go into 8th grade, I had to start going to public school because my mom couldn't stay home with us any more. My schedule became more demanding, and I also didn't have enough time to work, feeding Cliff was becoming quite expensive and at the end of 8th grade after owning Cliff for two years, I had to sell him. Luckily, I sold him to a absolutely fantastic family.

After I sold Cliff, I went as long as I'd ever gone without riding, almost a whole year. Then my grandma decided to take me to the livestock auction (dangerous place if you're a horse person) where we found a little appaloosa/Arabian cross and brought him home for $142. He was my winter project and though I never got on him, I did get the saddle on him several times and we did a lot of ground work throughout the winter before we decided that I didn't have the experience yet to start him on my own, and sold him. His name was Marley and he was as cute as a button.

Then I started working at Rosemary's farm again the summer after 9th grade (I was 14, about to turn 15), mucking stalls, and working with her horse Magic (Lonestar had passed since I had Clifford) and the two ponies that she had acquired to start to use for little kid's lessons, named Shadow and Ginger. The summer after 10th grade, I started getting more involved and even taught the lessons for the summer to kids ranging from about 5 years old to 13, and I also spent most of my weekends riding my neighbors horses with her all over the mountains in northern Colorado. Yes, this is the same neighbor that gave me some of my first lessons on horses.

Riding Magic

Giving a lesson on Shadow
This all leads up to the most recent thing that I'll write about in this post, because it's one of the most important that got me to where I am today. About 6 months ago I got in touch with Clifford's new owners on facebook to ask for an update, and I find out that they are actually looking for a new home for Clifford and their other horse, Lady. I got so excited, and though I wasn't looking for a horse, I tried to see if there was any way that I could afford to work something out and we settled on a payment plan and set a date for him to be delivered to Rosemary's farm- October 28th, 2011. That day came around and it was completely muddy out, but I rushed out to the barn where he was already waiting for me, and his owners tell me that they've decided to give him to me as a gift. I thought they were joking at first, but they were not. At this point, I know that this horse is meant to be with me, and I can tell you 100% that he was the best present anyone has ever given to me, and that they are the most generous people that I've ever met. They had also brought their other horse, Lady, up to the barn for Rosemary to meet, and she took her on a trial but unfortunately could not buy her as hay was getting too expensive, but since they wanted her and Clifford to get to stay together and they wanted a good home for both of them, they called up a bit later and also offered to give Lady to Rosemary.

Cliff's second day home


Our first ride together


Trying Lady out
--Previous 4 photos were taken by Rosemary, visit the farm's facebook page at  https://www.facebook.com/LaughingBuckFarm --

So since I just pretty much wrote a book about my past, I suppose I'll leave it at that and attempt to get a post written about where I'm at now and what my projects and goals are for the next year in the next day or so. I'm excited to get started on all of it, and glad that the first steps, such as this blog, are underway!