Hmm, wonder if I can beat last years record of three total posts for the year?
My show season has already gotten off to a good start.  Back in November I decided to set a goal of getting my filly ready for the big holiday showdown open show in the middle of December.  I took advantage of the month of free board my neighbor offered me in return for a favor i had done her, and finally put in a solid stretch of training time.  Molly is the last foal we raised, born the same year as my twins.  She is six now and until November had never had more than 3 or 4 days of consistent riding.  But she's just like her mother, extremely intelligent and relaxed, so she wasn't too big of a challenge.  Her biggest fault is also one of best attributes - shes extremely agile, and when she decides to rear and buck, she means it.  Thankfully, there was no acrobatics under saddle during training or the show.  We really didn't make much progress during the month of riding, but we made huge improvements by the end of the very chaotic three day show.  We only did walk-trot classes because her canter is still extremely unpolished, but i was still nervous, and sort of embarrassed, by our performance in the Friday night warm-up show.  She was flighty, looking around with her head in the air, stopping and trying to leave every time i went by the gate.  Definitely not a horse broke enough to show.  Saturday was a little better, a little more consistent, but i was still wondering why i was doing this.  I had fun, don't get me wrong, but I was questioning why I didn't ride my broke show horse instead (my blogger friend over at mx-paints did get a couple cute pictures though). But by Sunday, the whole showing concept clicked for Molly, and she was a totally different horse.  Head down, consistent and slow, relaxed, totally listening to me - and it resulted in a second place out of 22 horses!  I was pretty happy with how quickly she figured it out, and i have renewed hope that i just might have two broke show horses by the end of the summer.  Our next show will be the end of February, and the goal is to be loping well enough to compete in the 1st year loper division.  

Our pleasure class on Sunday, photo taken by Just Plain Crazy Ranch.

Obviously I still haven’t found much time to write here.  I’ve barely found enough time to breathe lately.  I don’t know how I get SO busy, but I supposed I would probably get bored with life if I wasn’t going all the time.  It’s almost 4-H Fair time, so every last bit of free time I have has been sucked up with preparations for that – my club is 3 times bigger this year than last, and I had no idea it would be this much more work. 

But all my blog reading has paid off some – 4th of July weekend I actually got to meet one of the lovely ladies who keep me entertained :)  Addy, Taylor and I all went to a Northern Michigan Paint show, and Michelle of Homeschooling, Horses, and Motocross was there with her family.   I recognized her and her daughter (and of course their horse) right away, and I felt a little awkward just walking up and introducing myself to them, but they felt like friends already.  They were just as nice in person as they seem on the web.  Michelle was even kind enough to take some very awesome pictures of me and Addy in leadline and email them to me.  They are posted on her page here.   Hopefully I can make it to some more paint shows this year and hang out some more.

My second pay-off is the book I won from the Great Summer Reading Giveaway on Equestrian Ink.  I won my choice of books by Alison Hart just for leaving a comment. 

Not enough time writing.  When I decided to switch my blog from digital scrapbooking to horses and family, I added a bunch of horsey blogs to my Google Reader to get ideas.  Now I spend tons of time keeping up with all those blogs, and never sit down to write my own.  It's not that I don't have things to write about, I just don't have opportunity at the same time as the ideas.  But I really would like to be a part of this great community of bloggers, instead of just an internet lurker, so I'm going to try to actually post more, and even leave comments elsewhere. 

Cale was sick that weekend, so he stayed home with Dad while Addy and I went to the show and had a girls day with Taylor, her mom, and another 4-H girl who volunteered to be our groom.  Addy absolutely LOVED spending the day at a show with Mommy - that made me so happy!  She showed in leadline showmanship and horsemanship, and was all grins.

I didn't do too shabby myself for as little as I've ridden since last summer - I showed in 3 Western Pleasure classes, and while I didn't place in the two Sweepstakes classes, I did place in the regular age division class - 3rd out of a split class (I can't remember how many were in it).  I was happy with that.  Taylor showed in walk-trot, since it was her first show with Alex, and she was happy with how he did.  He was much more calm and relaxed than either of us expected him to be at the first show. 

Taylor and I both went to the first 4-H training show- it was a little cold, but overall WAY better weather than the first one last year.  I took first in most of my classes, and Taylor got first in showmanship - she's really put a lot of time into practicing and it shows.  I didn't get to go to the 4-H open show due to a rodeo, but Taylor went and ended up High-Point in 9-13.  She has really come a long way in less than a year - Alex really wasn't broke at all when she started on him, and while he's still a long way from finished, he's making good progress.  Now if the rain would just let up so I can ride - I'm planning on another show in a week.

Early in January when I mentioned for the nth time how much I would like to get back to some paint shows and finish out my mare's superior, my husband actually didn't get upset and complain about how he wishes I would do something with the horses that he would enjoy. He actually said Go ahead, but i'm not coming. That's okay, I've got my minion (the 4-H kid using my horse). So with his okay, and the minion's encouragement, I actually went ahead and pre-ordered stalls for an open show this weekend. Its supposed to be a fuzzy show, and I hope they mean it, cuz my horse is FUZZY. That's what happens when they spend the winter in a snow-filled pasture. I've ridden 4 or 5 times in the last 2 months, and the only riding I've done in the last two weeks is 20 minutes today, bareback with just a halter. Am I crazy or what? But I've paid for the stall (2, minion is riding also), the farrier, and the coggins test, so I have to go. I know my horse will be exactly the same as she always is. I just hope there aren't too many slick-coated horses from heated barns. I'm just going for fun and practice, so by the time the paint shows get here, I wont be so rusty anymore.

Sorry I've been MIA so long, it been a busy summer and fall, with really no sign of slowing down anytime soon. But I just had to try to post something from my awesome new R2D2 droid phone. So far it has been able to completely replace my little netbook for fun (with the exception of my digital magazine subscriptions, damn you zinio.com!) I still need the netbook or desktop for real work, but I no longer need to tote the netbook and all its accessories everywhere I go.
As far as horse news, I wrapped up a pretty successful getting-back-into-it show season with an equestrian team alumni meet. That was tons of fun, even though it rained ALL day and I didn't place in a single class. It was worthwhile just to see old friends and reminisce. I've got next years date already on the calendar! The kids went to their first rodeo of the new season last weekend- I upped the number of events they compete in, and I'm glad I did, because they both ended up with all-around trophies! They were so proud!

Another rodeo season is over - this past weekend was the finals for the National Little Britches Rodeo Association of Michigan, held at Tyler's Arena in Ovid.  My kids competed, but I doubt they understood the concept of "finals".  They were just having fun like they always do.  They have really gotten into it in the last few months, and have asked to get more gear and to actually practice a little bit.  They love being just like the big kids more than anything. 

  

They really enjoyed getting to go out in the arena for the grand entry this time, and hearing their names called.

 

And of course, Cale thinks he's pretty hot stuff because he rides sheep

Addy is happy with any excuse to ride her "Baby Cookie"

 

Art and I both enjoy the fact that we get to participate with them and bond with them through a sport and a lifestyle we both love (it is how we met, after all.

Probably the biggest benefit of it all, though, is the sportsmanship that they're learning.  Rodeo is a pretty tight-knit family, and Little Britches is no different.  The kids all cheer each other on and help each other out.  A perfect example came when Cale was watching another little boy practice his roping - he kept missing, and Cale said "he doesn't have a glove, he needs a glove," and he took his off and handed it to the kid (who caught on the very next throw!)  That's a life lesson that will last.

A few months ago, one of the teen members of the County 4-H Horse Leaders Committee that I sit on made an offer to do some paintings - first one free and then charged for any additional, and the money would go back to the County 4-H Horse Program.  I sent her a couple pictures, some of my horses and a couple old ones of my mom's horse.  The one she chose was a picture of the first horse my mom raised, with her first foal (I think the artist was biased, her horse is a gray Arabian mare, just like my mom's :).  She gave me the resulting painting just in time for me to give it to my mom for Mother's Day.  My mom was very happy with it, and so am I - I think I'll be sending this young lady some more pictures. I look forward to seeing what she'll do with my Paints!

If you'd like to see more of this talented young lady's artwork, visit her blog here.