Checking in

Well hellooo!

I'm dropping in to say a quick hello and dump some photos and videos here. I have been horrible about keeping up with blogger. I used to be addicted to Facebook, Blogger, CNN, etc etc, but I simply do not have enough hours in the day to keep up with it all. Maddy keeps me up to date with the most important stories, though.

Hannah is almost 21 months old and is really taking to the horses. She leads Brantley all by herself, rides a 26 yo chestnut TB mare named Zoe, and goes ballistic every time she sees a photo of a horse or pony. I am very happy about all of this and even Kenny is pleased. He said recently, "I know this is all going to cost me a lot of money eventually, but I am still happy about it." Thatta boy *pat pat pat*.

 

  

  

loving Brantley

  

Hannah and I riding Zoe

I adore all three of these beauties

Look at her. She's all "this is MY horse".

Maddy surprised Hannah (but mostly me) with a new tiny saddle just for her. This thing is ADORABLE. I just about fell over when I saw it. I had been looking for a little kid saddle for Hannah for a while but I refused to pay a ton of money for it. Maddy surprised me with this little pink and black saddle. We had to wrap the stirrups 5 or 6 times (haha!) but Hannah loved it. She even had her first semi solo trot that day.

 

Lucy is still doing well in her not-so-new home. She colicked badly about a month or so ago and had to spend four days at Tuft's, narrowly avoiding colic surgery. She's back home and doing fine now but that was pretty tough to find out about. The last time I saw her was in July during a quick visit where I thought it would be a good idea to ride her bareback after she hadn't done anything for a long time and I was vastly out of shape, and promptly almost got bucked off. I should probably schedule a time to visit soon.

My business completely took off and I have been so busy. I was mostly doing photography over the summer, but now that the winter is around the corner, my design work is stacking up. I love it. I designed a whole host of print work for a local software company who turned out to be great clients. I also did some corporate photography work for them. Now I am working on a new website for a big name cosmetology school, and I have three other websites in the pipeline. I've done a few logos this fall and am working on a new one now for a dressage trainer, and on top of it all I am still doing the occasional painted saddle pad and I had six ornament orders this season. Plus, you know, a toddler.

I recently had t-shirts printed with a design I did about 12 years ago. Someone stole the design and was marketing them on teespring.com. To my horror, I discovered the campaign just before it finished and was able to get teespring to pull the whole thing down. I decided to market them myself since they had been so popular, so I got a whole bunch of adult and kids sizes printed. They are for sale on my Etsy page and would make great Christmas gifts :) wink wink!

Kenny and I also started a house flipping company and just finished our first house, a large 4 bed/2 bath home about 20 minutes from where we live. We sold it after just 48 hours on the market (we are currently under contract), which is pretty spectacular if you ask me. I can't wait to do the next one. Here's the Zillow page for it. It was a total renovation and I am thrilled with how it came out. There are tons of progress photos on our Facebook page, Taylor Real Estate Investing.

Cairo is doing fine, though she was recently diagnosed with anaplasmosis and Lyme disease :( poor girl. She just finished the doxy regiment for that and is feeling much much better.

 

I have been able to ride here and there, mostly because of Maddy's encouragement. I went on a hunter pace with Maddy and another friend in the fall and had such a kick ass time. It was awesome. I have gotten braver about riding Brantley now that he is becoming such a nice dude with all of Maddy's hard work. I also ride Zoe, the same chestnut mare that Hannah has fallen in love with. She is just the coolest horse and I am very grateful for being able to ride her.

Me looking halfway decent on B

One of the highlights of this whole season was spending four entire days at Equine Affaire with my best horsie friends (but truly, my best friends). Maddy rode with Dan James and it was just an awesome baby-free weekend. I took 900 photos in four days and it was totally nuts but great at the same time.

Maddy impressing the hell out of Dan James

I got to ride Brantley in the coliseum! And didn't fall off! haha

So that is what's new with me. Maybe as things slow down for the winter, I will have more time to keep up with everyone blogs!

A little visit

Thanks for your sweet comments on my last post. They really did help, and made me smile. :)

Maddy and I drove to MA last weekend to see Lucy and Kayla and pick up my tack and blankets. When I sold Lucy, Kayla didn't yet have a bridle or saddle to ride in that fit her, so I gave her mine to use, and I also left Lucy's Baker stable sheet and her rain sheet for Kayla to use until she could buy her own blankets. Lucy now has a fully-stocked brand new wardrobe and Kayla gets mega bonus points because she washed my blankets before giving them back :D

Lucy looked pretty good. Kayla reported that she's been a bit fresh, but Kayla was fully prepared to deal with Winter Lucy and said she's just taking it easy with her until they find their cold weather groove. Unfortunately at the barn she's at, the horses only get 1/2 day of turnout during the winter, so I'm not surprised Lucy has some extra energy. I encouraged her to go out on some hacks beyond the walls of the indoor to keep Lu from getting bored, and not get stuck doing patterns of the same old stuff in the ring. Kayla's also eager to learn some of Lucy's groundwork tricks, so Maddy gave her a crash course before we headed back to RI.

 

Hello, Blogland

Hi Peeps.

I've been writing this entry in my head, and occasionally actually IN Blogger, for a month or so now, but it always seems so boring and unworthy off the "Publish" button.

Why? Because I have no horse, and this is a horse blog.

I've been going through a horse crisis of sorts. Horses make me depressed, and yet I miss them fiercely. I've ridden a handful of times but a few weeks ago when I rode Maddy's horse Brantley, I ate dirt because he casually refused the Smallest Crossrail on the Planet (after basically giving me a clear memo that he wasn't going to jump it approximately five strides out) in textbook form at the TROT, and like a total jerk I casually looked at the ground and fell right over his shoulder. So really, the whole thing was a FAIL and it hurt my soul more than it hurt my body, because what the hell happened to this?

 

Lucy is flourishing in her new home, which I am so grateful for. With a horse as unique and potentially difficult as she is, I am so relieved she is secure in a great situation with a girl who loves her even when she's nutty, and a trainer who is prepared to deal with her on good days and bad.

 

I've seen photos of her sleeping in a stall full of fluffy white shavings, being cuddled by everyone at the barn, and looking calm and happy. I've heard stories of her being fed lots of treats and munching on hay that's up to her knees in her stall. She gets lots of turnout and I can tell she's in the right place. If our story together had to end, I am grateful hers continues as it is.

 

I am sad and embarrassed that I failed and became another statistic. Girl gets pregnant. Girl has baby. Girl tries to keep horse, but just cannot handle it. Girl sells horse. Girl loses that whole part of herself.

 

Classic.

 

Not that I don't love being a mom, because Hannah is my greatest joy. I just wish I could have figured out a way to do it all.



I went to Equine Affaire with Maddy, Natalie and Lauren, who was up visiting for the weekend. They all bought things for their horses. I bought chocolate and ate my feelings. I just suck so much at being horseless.

So that this entry is not totally depressing, here are some recent photos. Hannah is now 8.5 months old. She says "dada", walks with a walker and also along couches or tables, crawls, high-fives, claps, and plays peek-a-boo. She's also realllly adorable:

Lucy & Life

I sure fell off the face of the planet, huh? Life is crazy, but for a good reason: I got a new job and I am now working full time again. I love my job and I am treated very well there. I am a graphic designer for a local marketing agency. The work is fast-paced and never-ending, just the way I like it! The day flies by. My coworkers are all incredibly smart people and I am learning a lot from them.

With the addition of a 40-hr work week, my trips to visit Lucy have been limited, but I did go see her last weekend at King Oak's horse trial. I drove 250 miles round trip in one day by myself with a dog and a baby in 93 degree weather. It was a LONG day. Lucy decided to pick a fight with the water complex in XC and was sadly eliminated, but other than that the event was a great experience. She put in her best dressage test to date and looked tense as usual, but very workmanlike, and had some really lovely moments at the canter. I was a proud mom.

Here are some photos:

It was extremely hot and humid that day. We were all sweating!

going through the water....finally

We are down to crunch time with getting her sold, unfortunately. If she doesn't sell by Oct 1, she's coming home to me. I feel both elated and terrified that this may happen. I have been functioning well without the responsibility of a horse, and telling myself it's for the best, but you all know that I adore her and miss her terribly. It was hard enough to send her away the first time; I don't know how I would do it a second time.

Several people are going to see her in the next two weeks, so maybe the perfect home will present itself.

Here is her equine.com ad. Please share it if you know of someone looking for a horse like Lucy. She is priced extremely reasonably.

I have had the opportunity to go riding with Maddy a few times. There is a Haflinger mare at her barn who is hanging around getting fat (as Haffies tend to do) so her owner has allowed Maddy to ride her, and was kind enough to extend the offer to me. We have been out on the trails twice; yesterday was the second time. This mare is a TANK. She can't be more than 14hh and I'll admit it's really weird to be able to see over a horse's back when I'm standing next to it! I had the most fun yesterday. I actually laughed for half the ride. She was a blast to ride.

Hannah is doing so well. She continues to be the best part of my day, every day. I look forward to getting out of bed to see her smiling up at me in the morning, and I rock her to sleep every night. She is almost six months old and is still tiny, but is getting bigger!

Here are a few photos:

With Mini Lucy, made by Alicia from The Redheaded Mare

With my sister-in-law...I love this photo