Double post!

Hi all,

I really wish I could have posted on St. Patrick's day, with it being Riley's birthday and everything, but well... the day got away from me. Instead, you get two posts in one!

Riley officially turned 5 on March 17th, so I made him a little cake and spelled out "5" in peppermints. Oh, and there was Guinness. 

I was helping out with stick removal around the barn and it was really cold and windy, so I thought I'd give him a day off from "work" and just bring him in and spoil him a little. When I was finished helping out around the barn I saw that he was right next to gate so I ran down and grabbed him (in a 20 acre field this was a blessing)! I stuffed him in a stall with a handful of grain and a flake of hay. I got his birthday treat ready and brought him out to investigate.

Om nom nom... he careful picked off all the peppermints first.

Don't look at his disgusting muddy legs, treats took priority.

Then I shared a Guinness with him, which he was unsure of:

Oooooh.

He slurped a little but was pretty suspicious.

We also got a new addition to the barn... a little calico named Petunia. She's a friend's cat who was having severe asthma issues with her so the owner of the farm graciously offered to let me bring her out to see if she'd make a good barn cat. Luckily, the owner is also very fond of white cats and despite being calico, she's mostly white with calico points. For now she's living in the tack room (which is heated, while she gets acclimated), soon we'll move her into a stall with the dog crate I've been using for her and her litter pan so the other cats can get to know her with any squabbles.

Petunia, relaxing in the sun under the window.

If you have any advice on transitioning a city cat to the country life please let me know!

Yesterday, I took the day off so I could hold Riley for the farrier. It's been a while since I've been there to hold him and I just wanted to see what he thought about his progress. Overall he said his feet look great, his soles are MUCH improved but his hooves grown painfully slow (at the least the fronts). We've been able to go 7 weeks between trims and we're going to reevaluate on April 24th to see if he'll need shoes once I want to start competing him. While is is very comfortable on asphalt, he still takes a ginger step here or there on gravel and I don't want to bruise him unnecessarily. We'll get road hacking to improve his tolerance in the meantime. Things have gone from super snowy to ridiculously muddy and there's no point in putting shoes on now if he's comfortable and the chances of him pulling a shoe are high.

After his trim, we did a little bit of pessoa work and again, only one major meltdown about tracking right. He's getting better and neither seems to lose our cool anymore (which helps). I can reset him rather easily now and get his brain back in order. Keep in mind, we don't have a "ring" yet, so our current riding area is hilly and makes lunging, interesting... though I think in the long run it will help him with balance on uneven terrain.

He definitely had his thinking cap on yesterday. Look at that booty! he's going to be so cute once he's fit.

Good boy. Not as forward as I would like, but moving freely and accepting the pessoa.

PS. Sorry that my photos of him lunging are always tracking left, it's much easier to take photos with the lunge line in my left hand! Not to mention we usually have discussions about tracking right and I have to keep my eye on him at all times.

*There's been some chatter about heading over to Boyd's place for a little schooling show at the end of April, they have an elementary level that would be perfect for us to get our feet wet!
**Also, Emily is going to hop on Riley Thursday to make him ride past the scary cows... yay!

You win some, you lose some.

my favorite tree at the farm

Saturday was one of those perfect days where I would have killed for a buddy to go for a 3 hour hack with. Sadly, my riding friends were busy so I blasted through my Saturday morning chores so I could get down to business. Riley made me walk the length of his field to get him and he was NOT happy about coming out of there. Now that he's back in a program, leaving the field = work and so he has been blatantly ignoring me when I call him. The spring grass is starting to come in and the boys are thrilled to be grazing in the sun instead of standing knee deep in snow. I had to bribe him down with peppermints, cheeky boy! I do make a habit of tossing him a flake of hay or some grain when he comes in so it's not always a terrible experience (ahem, sarcasm). I thought we take advantage of the finally stable (ish) footing and at least get a productive session in with the Pessoa. Sadly, I've only been able to use it on him three times (this time included). He still fights it a little, but at least I got him to track right consistently with only ONE debate. So, minor success there.

In the spirit of Sprinklerbandit, I did look this up today (this doesn't include anything recognized)

2014 Unrecognized Events/Cross Country Schooling

Unrecognized Events:

4/13   Sun   Olde Hope
4/18   Fri   Bucks County Horse Park
4/27   Sun  St. Augustine Pony Club at Unicorn Farm
5/04   Sun  Fair Hill
5/11   Sun  Plantation Field
5/25   Sun  Olde Hope
5/30   Fri  Bucks County Horse Park
6/01   Sun  Horse Park of NJ
6/08   Sun  Plantation Field
6/13   Fri  Olde Hope
6/20   Fri  Olde Hope
6/20   Fri  Bucks County Horse Park
6/22   Sun  DVCTA at Carousel Park (DE)
6/28   Sat  Fair Hill
7/06   Sun  Bucks County Starter
8/08   Fri  Olde Hope
8/10   Sun  Bucks County
8/24   Sun  DVCTA at Carousel Park (DE)
8/31   Sun  Olde Hope
9/01   Mon  Bucks County Horse Park Starter
9/13   Sat  Fair Hill
10/5   Sun  Olde Hope
10/5   Sun  Horse Park of NJ
11/1   Sat  Plantation Field
11/2   Sun  Bucks County Horse Park
11/22 Sat  Bucks County Horse Park Mix & Match

Cross Country Schoolings:  (Confirm times with venue)
March Madness at Unicorn Farm!  Check St. Augustine Pony Club every weekend in March to see if course is open due to weather!
3/30  Sun  Olde Hope (also listed in events, set courses, times given)
4/22  Tues  Fair Hill
4/26  Sat   Fair Hill
5/06  Tues  Fair Hill
5/20  Tues  Fair Hill
5/24  Sat    Fair Hill
5/26  Mon  Horse Park of NJ
6/09  Mon  Plantation Field
6/17  Tues  Fair Hill
6/30  Mon  Horse Park of NJ
7/01  Tues  Fair Hill
7/06  Sun   Fair Hill
7/29  Tues  Fair Hill
7/29  Tues  Horse Park of NJ
8/12  Tues  Fair Hill
8/23  Sat    Fair Hill
9/02  Tues  Fair Hill
9/16  Tues  Fair Hill
9/27  Sat   Fair Hill
10/12 Sun  Horse Park of NJ

There's more not listed on here (including places that always have XC schooling time available, but this is exciting!

horse-shaped kites

I don't usually use stock images since I take one million photos at the farm all the time but, this is basically what yesterday was like for me:

Seriously.

My new schedule at the barn has me feeding and bringing the barn horses in on Wednesday evenings (thank you daylight savings time). An easy task usually as 7 of the 11 horses live outside. All I have to do is bring the mares in and one gelding (which can be a slight challenge sorting him from the other boys). But there was a crazy weather system coming through our area promising a 45 degree drop in temps over night and wind gusts over 50 mph (they were already gusting at 45 mph when I arrived and it was raining sideways). We all agreed it would be best to bring in the other 4 geldings in Riley's field so that they were protected from the elements. Normally, we'd just stick a medium rug on all of them and let them hang out in their shed, but it was wayyyy too hot at 6pm to do that. Certainly none of us were going to head out in the middle of the night to do a blanket change, so inside it was.

Except... the boys have become quite feral living outside. We've bell trained them to come to the gate for dinner and stupidly, I decided I would feed them inside and bring them up to the barn in pairs. I really should have fed them as usual because they lost their minds when I tried to catch them (because I wasn't feeding them). They were all completely wild, the wind was howling which got them even more worked up and things were escalating quickly. I decided to take the biggest trouble-maker out of the field first, thank goodness he let me catch him because he had been bucking, galloping and squealing like mad just prior. He's also the biggest of all of them and I figured if I could get him up to the barn (it's about a 100 yards to the barn) the rest would be easy. Ha! He was a fire-breathing dragon and was spooking at everything. I know him well enough to not tolerate his shenanigans, so we had a discussion about manners. Then I went back for trouble-maker #2. He was actually worse than the first and literally dragged me up to the barn. He has a way of completely tuning you out, to the point that it seems as though he has no idea there's someone on the end of the lead rope (which makes him more dangerous in a way). He spooked all over the damn place while I held on and dug my elbow into his shoulder so he at least knew I was there. Next up was Riley and he was also a hot mess. Every time a gust of wind came along he'd break into a trot, neck craning around to see where the danger was coming from. With him, I just gave him more slack on the lead as he is very respectful of my space and I didn't want him to feel confined. Lots of pats and talking. When we got to the top of the driveway, he saw the cows (again) and did the biggest spook I've EVER seen him do (it was hilarious). Then he spooked at the mounting block, which had been moved to a new spot (horses???) and I finally got him in to the barn. Last of all is Emily's new gelding and despite one rather large spook when we first started up the hill, the more I talked to him and patted his neck, the more he relaxed, he too, spooked at the mounting block, but I finally got everyone in, safe and sound.

To be clear, hot horses on the ground don't worry me, I know these guys really well, but it was a perfect storm for something bad to happen yesterday. I am rarely fearful handling a single horse and we can generally bring them up in pairs, but it wasn't worth the risk at all. For the first time in a really long time I was actually worried one might get away from me.

I am a true believer in the theory that it's better to be safe than sorry and even though I didn't want to make a million trips up and down to their field, I knew that bringing them in (selectively -- as some handle being alone better than others) one at a time was the best course of action. I was at the barn alone and safety always comes before anything else. I feel bad for my friend who has to turn them out today in 19 degrees (with the same wind)!! Hold on tight!

How do you guys handle situations like this? Do you take risks, or err on the side of safety?

Spring is around the corner... I think.

Danger Will Robinson! Alert!

We've had some new additions to the farm over the last week or so... 50 head of beef cattle. Now, Riley and i have ridden through fields with Belted Galloways, one of our favorite places to ride (The Laurels) is directly next to an enormous dairy farm and our barn is across the street from a cow farm, but apparently he was very alarmed when I walked him up the driveway on Saturday and he saw the cows for the first time. *Keep in mind they were at least 100 yards away from the fence line. This was his face when we got to the top of the driveway. He must have made himself 18 hands tall and was just snorting and carrying on. Pretty funny. My general rule with scary things is that you are allowed to look and face the fear but not run away or act ridiculous. I brought him inside the barn and let him hang out in his stall where he could peek out his dutch door and check out the cows for awhile. I have never heard Riley snort at anything and he was so silly about the cows. We have so many animals there and we used to board at a place that was like Noah's Arc, complete with peacocks that would stand on the arena fence while you were riding, so he really has no excuse. But sometimes it's simply the fact that in their brains this thing was not here before, so naturally I should fear it.

Anyway, I was at the barn all day alone so I thought it was best not to take the risk of getting on him without someone else there and after he settled in I took him to our "ring" for a free-lunge session. He was pretty good, though lazy, and took advantage of the fact that I could hardly chase after him in the deep snow (cheeky). He even hopped over the jump a few times.

Prancy pants. Also, don't look at my miserable clip job.

Showing off. Little carousel pony.

I gave him a thorough grooming. I'm so glad I clipped him (even though it's been more annoying to deal with blankets etc since our weather won't figure itself out) because his rain rot is nearly all gone. I'm hoping this year that his new coat comes in a little nicer than last year when he had all these fuzzy baby hairs and then a bunch of longer guard hairs that never went away.

Oh in case you were wondering what it looked like at the top of the driveway when Riley stood at attention:

The sheep and lambs he is used to... but the cattle were on the move and that was a major problem:)

Sunday the weather was chillier and windy, but still above freezing so we decided to go for a hack. I have to say that the one nice thing about Riley being "up" because of the cows is that I got some really nice work out of him on the hack. We did a few trot sets and he found a contact that he was happy with and we just plugged along on the bit with a nice sweeping trot. Everything is so much easier when he's not stuck behind my leg! For those of you keeping track, he's still not shod... that's right, we've been trotting distances on asphalt and he feels great! I need to get new pictures for comparison of his feet. He may still need shoes once we get into more work, but for now he is happy as a clam.

Airplane ears, engaged. I hope those get us extra points in dressage. He gets very relaxed and happy!

We've had two solid days of temps in the high 60's and today's forecast is for rain tonight so I am really hoping that all the snow goes away. Sadly, the temps are supposed to drop overnight and tomorrow is going to be mid-20's and windy! Grrrrr. I really want to get him back in the Pessoa this weekend to see if we can work on some balance. I hope the footing dries up a little to make that happen. Sunday will be another hacking day for sure.

Sorry my posts have been wickedly boring... but at least there are photos!

Riley at the top of the hill in his field waiting for his entourage.

The snow sure is pretty, but I have had enough it, for at least another 10 months!

Storm Prep part IV OR How I spent a 40 degree Saturday.

Riley says, get away from my hay pile!

When did 40 degrees become balmy? What hell winter? At least it was mild and sunny and after three days of temps in the single digits, I'll take it. We have a predicted snow storm coming overnight Sunday and Emily and I planned to make a run to the hay guy so we could stock up the sheds with hay for the boys. There are 3 of them on a round bale which as you can see from the photo to the left, didn't last much more than a week. We don't have a good way to move round bales right now and we figured they'd be hanging out by the shed during the storm so it worked out. Just in case we can't reach them for a half a day they'll have plenty of hay to keep them warm and happy.

I decided that I should probably finish clipping Riley today after chores and our hay run so that I didn't have to start from scratch if I let it go another few weeks. We have him a little ace again and he really well behaved. He still wouldn't let me near his "business" on his belly (I need to get someone to hold a leg up while I finish that bit), but otherwise he was great! Even standing with the halter around his neck letting me clip his face! I have to say (for the millionth time) I love this horse.

LOVE.

Hopefully tomorrow will be nice enough to saddle up and go for a ride. I want to do some trot sets in our big field and I might work him in the pessoa before I hop on. I'd love to make a post with some goals but it's nearly impossible to do so with the unpredictable weather and the wheels coming off my personal life. Hopefully things will level out on all fronts soon and I'll be able to set some real goals for Spring! At least he looks the part and we can actually work now without him sweating to death. The only real downside is that he's super-dooper bundled up now.

Such a cutie.

So sleepy from the ace. Also, he's not cow-hocked, I don't know why he's standing like this!

All bundled up and ready to go back out. There was a face under all the hair!

I got his bridle back from Bartville today, I can't wait to see how it looks on his nice clean-shaven face tomorrow!

Oh yea, in case you forgot how cute he is in the last 5 seconds.

Riley making friends with my friend's little pup!

Wise words, sent to me by my mentor.

(*apologies, I am in a dark place, again)

“If others examined themselves attentively, as I do, they would find themselves, as I do, full of inanity and nonsense. Get rid of it I cannot without getting rid of myself. We are all steeped in it, one as much as another, but those who are aware of it are a little better off — though I don’t know.”

Montaigne

50 degrees and sunny

Lambies sunbathing, seriously too much.

Saturday promised to be sunny and mild so I raced out quickly to the barn to get started on my chores for the day so I would have time for everything else. Emily and I and another boarder decided we wanted to ride ALL THE HORSES, so I hustled the morning away so we could make that happen. I wanted to give Riley a much needed bath after our ride so I could clip him Sunday. We didn't end up getting on until 12:30 or maybe even later because our friend was having the worst luck with her horses. The plan was to get on at the barn and hack up to her field (remember our property is huge). One had pulled a shoe, one was ouchy from just having his shoes pulled and the other had blown an abscess! So we while she fooled around with them Emily and I rode through Riley's field (20 acres) to check on their round bale in the shed (they had eaten every scrap) and when I turned him around to head back up the hill, he planted his feet and refused to leave his "home"! Ha! He hasn't been living outside that long, jeepers. So we had a little discussion about whether or not he could stay in his shed, which involved a tiny spanking (he gets sooo offended at the whip), I insisted that we lead the way because I don't want him needing a buddy to get past mental issues like that! We helped our friend pony her abscessed horse back down to the barn and I opted to get off and go give Riley a bath so he'd have time to dry in the sun. The plan was for me to ride Emily's new horse Brody, but by the time they got back from the first set it was getting late and I still had to finish my barn chores. Slight fail, but at least I got my horse ridden and bathed.

New Irish knit! Looking crazy butt high, I swear he's not this downhill!

I also brought my dog Lucy with me on Saturday and while she was incredibly well behaved she was very, very whiny when we came back from the first round of rides and I needed to let her blow of some steam. I took her up to Riley's field (with no horses in it) and let her go crazy in the snow. Nothin better than deep snow to wear out a pup.

Weeeeee! Crazy dog.

Surveying the landscape.

Sunday I left Lucy at home and decided I would go on a nice long hack to try to wear Riley out and then clip him. We had a wonderful hack that included some really fun hill work in Riley's field. There's really good footing around the inside perimeter and the snow had melted enough that the horses could actually move so it was really perfect. I was riding with Emily and her chestnut mare Kiwi who is extremely forward and has an enormous stride. Riley was excellent at keeping up with her and his trot felt amazing in the snow. I was posting so much higher and longer because he was forced to take these lofty steps! That field is going to be terrific in the spring for fitness work (it's at least a full mile all the way around and the hill part that we used is about a half a mile total. We met up again with our fellow friend at the top of the field and headed along the beautiful path that leads through the property. I made a rudimentary map of our trip.

The star is the barn and we headed left from there. The first red loop was our fun trot set through Riley's field, where it ends is where we met our friend at her field, then headed through the woods from there. Her other horse lost his mind when we left because he was alone, but our guys didn't seem to mind. There was a huge tree that had fallen in the woods that too dangerous to jump and we had to scale a crazy embankment around it! Thankfully, all of our hunter paces have paid off and Riley is remarkably sure-footed and doesn't leap off of banks etc. Right after that was a water crossing that was filled with branches and he didn't bat an eye! Hooray! I think living in a field where his water source is a stream has quell his issue with water. When we got to the T intersection we made a right and headed up the road and went exploring a bit on a quieter road which you can sorta tell was a bit of a failure... we actually ended up in someone's driveway (oops) and came back down to the main road (which is also very quiet). Sadly I didn't bring my phone on this hack (because I took my vest off just before I got on) but we had to pass a couple of scary things along the way including a big mushroom facility that had lots of heavy machinery working out front just out of our sight line. I have to say that all three handled everything in stride and Riley only had a few baby moments of getting a little jiggy (like when a herd of horses came galloping up suddenly). We turned bac around after awhile and our friend went one way (back through the woods) and we went back up the road the direct route to the barn. Riley threw another little fit about having to leave his friend, but I pony kicked him out of it. We had another nice trot up the road* to avoid cars from not seeing us and all told we out for about 5 miles. Not a bad little hack for our first real ride back!

*Notice I said "trot up the road" -- yes, Riley can now trot beautifully on asphalt!

He was a bit sweaty when I got back so I toweled his girth area, let him chill for a bit and Emily gave him a tiny dose of ace. Her only experience of clipping him she recalled him acting like a brute so it was just a little bit of a security blanket. He was terrific for most of it, sadly I wasn't able to finish (I got about 85% done)... only his hind end was left and a little around his face but being that the temps are dropping AGAIN and more snow is on the way it's not the worst thing in the world. I gave him a hunter clip and left a saddle pad. I was so happy to shave off the areas where his rain rot has been awful. I'm sure it felt really good for him. Oh, also, he's a lightweight.

SOOOO relaxed.

He was pretty much over it by this stage.

The clippers started to dull, so I'll clean up all the details and finish his behind soon. But to be fair, I haven't clipped a horse since I was a teenager and he doesn't look that bad! I'm sure he'll be so much happier when we're working now, especially since he was sweaty after a mostly walking 5 mile hack.

That's all for now, I have come down with some horrible cold or something and spent the night coughing and sweating out a fever, so I'll check back later for spelling and grammar when I'm not loopy on dayquil.

The little girl inside. (This is a horribly written post, my brain is not working)

It's official, I HATE winter. I'm not one to usually complain about the cold, but I am OVER the snow and the ice. We've had over 50" of snow this winter making it something like the 3rd snowiest in history! There's nowhere for the new snow to go so it's getting a little crazy around the farm. There are just walls and walls of it everywhere and we've had to carve out paths to get to paddocks, totally insane! Though, to be fair, it's better than losing power and water like we did with the freak ice storm a few weeks ago.

A beautiful capture in Riley's paddock.

The farm looks completely majestic despite the what an enormous pain in the ass it is to do anything in the snow. Seriously, turning out horses in a foot and a half of snow is exhausting! *I should take some photos this weekend of our crazy paths we've made to get to and from the pastures, it's pretty funny.

Riley emerges over the hill to the sound of the bell

Luckily, Riley and Henry have the luxury of living outside. They have a 20 acre paddock, a stream, a shed the size of a barn and a round bale. They're both really acclimated to the weather so they are happy as can be in their field. It's actually really cute to see them both hanging out in their fort looking out at the horses in their tiny turnout paddocks (we can only reach the small ones right now for the horses in the barn). The only downside to them being out is trying to feed them in all the snow. They basically get the same amount of feed but Riley gets supplements and Henry is on SMZs for a few days. Plus we like to put eyes on the horses at least twice a day to check for cuts and missing shoes etc so it's important that they come down to the fence line for feed. So rather than truck all the way up the hill to the shed, we've been bell training them with a cow bell. It's been going on for a few weeks now and they are getting really good! They can't see you at all when you're down at the gate so you have to call them, shake the bucket of grain and ring the bell. One by one they'll come over the hill and saunter down for breakfast or dinner. They've carved out a little path in the snow so they have to use the least amount of energy to get down to the gate.

Saturday was a gorgeous day at the farm despite all the snow and with my saddle back in my grubby mitts all I wanted to do was ride! There were flurries and everything looked kind of magical so I convinced Emily to tack up her new boy so we could get some fun photos of us out in the big field that hadn't been touched yet! I forgot that her new horse hadn't met the sheep/lambs yet and he was quite surprised when we led the boys through one of the stalls to get to the field! The horses truly thought we had lost our minds when we hopped on and pointed them at the snow (the sheep have a shedrow kind of of overhang so there was a wall of snow to convince them to walk into. Brody wasn't so sure, but Riley showed him that it would be just fine:) It was super deep snow so all we could was walk and it felt crazy, like we were on the moon!

But all you guys care about are photos, so...

Heading out into the giant field, you can't tell but there are a bunch of hills in here.

Ha! Look at his back leg!

This looks like we are both laughing -- I assure you, Riley was NOT amused.

Caught, mid-buck! Cheeky!

Aw, snow pony. SO happy to be back in MY saddle.

The cutest.

We only stayed our for a few minutes because it was impossible to move around, but Riley and Brody were good sports about it all. We walked over near the small paddocks and the other horses gave us a look like we had lost our minds. The truth is, the little girl in me is always crafting up goofy ideas like this. Most people wouldn't want to go for a ride while it's actively snowing in 14" of it, but I was dying to. If I hadn't wanted to ride in my saddle so badly I would have hopped on him bareback! Once a horse crazy girl, always one!

The sweetest horse a girl could ever want.

We're in love.

Of course we got another couple of inches of snow today, but this weekend is supposed to be in the 50's and sunny. Some rain at the end of the week should hopefully get ride of some of the snow. I'm eager to at least go for some road hacks to build fitness on Riley. There's endless amounts of hacking around us so away we go!


I've been bartering with Emily for training rides and I've racked up 3 so far by doing blanket repairs and waterproofing! Woo hoo! Boot camp time Riley!

Oh life... you fickle beast OR The Story with a Happy Ending

To say the last two and half months of my life have been a whirlwind of emotions would be a complete understatement. Moving to a new barn, getting settled in, the burglary, the hellish winter we've been having, financially trying to rebound from losing everything, the holidays. For my anxious, neurotic brain it's been, at times, nearly more than I can bear. I am lucky to be surrounded by such amazing friends and family, and of course you guys. What would I do without my horse blog friends!?!

PS. A giveaway!

Go visit: She Moved to Texas for her fantastic giveaway of a free pair of Horze jean breeches! I've always wanted a pair of jean breeches, so go over and enter, or don't so I have a better chance of winning:)

Happy Chinese new Year -- Year of the Horse!

Hooray! Also, this would make an amazing paper cut!

So, it appears as though the blogosphere has been filled with some really upbeat, inspirational messages lately. Maybe it's the Year of the Horse moving all of us to look around and take stock at what we have rather than what we have not. Maybe it's just the start of a new year that allows everyone to proverbially turn over a new leaf, leave the negatives behind and move forward with gusto. Whatever it is, I'm liking it, and in the spirit of that feeling I thought I'd write a post shouting out to some of my favorite blog writers explaining what you mean to me as a fellow writer and rider in this little world on the internet. *And maybe to introduce you to blogs you've haven't heard about yet (I'll try to limit it to 10, but I read SO many).

My Mojito -- Redheadlins is such an inspiration! She's done more in her life with horses than I may ever do and she loves working with troubled horses. She has a really positive outlook on life and horses and I'm a new reader to her blog, but I've been loving it so far. Also, I want her position over fences, the end.

The Reeling -- I've been reading Andrea's blog for years and one of the things I love about her is her way of breaking down goals into bite-size little pieces. She's really good at being realistic with what she expects from her horses, has intense standards for herself, and strives to make the right decision ALWAYS for her girls. Better than that, she's hysterical, doesn't take herself too seriously and HAS FUN. I hope to one day meet her in real life (maybe at Rolex) and go for one of her great wine-infused trail rides!

The Young Event Horse -- My friend Emily (and now trainer) once rode advanced when she was 19! We met a few years ago and she single-handedly got me back into horses seriously. Without her, I would have never found Riley and we rent the most amazing barn together. I have so much to learn from her and watching her work with OTTBs is an honor. If you're on the east coast looking for a great horse she's got something for everyone.

All In -- I'm completely fascinated with Hunterland (and all things west coast riding) and I love Karley's blog and her big redheaded boy Henry. She writes frequently, always has great photos and diagrams and manages to balance life with a husband, baby (another on the way) and TWO horses. Talk about inspirational.

Poor Woman Showing -- Carly's blog is always one of the first that I read. If you're not following it, add it to your list NOW! She's the only blog friend I've met in real life and she's hysterical, Bobby is a great example of everything an OTTB can be and exactly what they can be when they don't play along. She always has funny stories, scathing criticism of her horse and her own riding, and she's close by... so I'm looking forward to seeing her at some shows this year! Also, she is willing to put Bobby through all sorts of shenanigans, like barrel racing and driving!

Sprinklerbandits -- Aimee, Cuna and Courage had me at hello. I've been following Aimee since she had her lovely mare Izzy and watched her blossom over the years. I hope that my little red horse can stand up to the bar she set with Cuna. She's great at setting goals, tack reviews and talking about the heavy topics. As someone who tends to lean this way, I appreciate her honesty and frankness.

Eventing In Color -- Sarah and Hemie are two of my favorites. She's really open about all of her struggles with her big horse (who is a a classic anxious/worrier) including posting videos of their most unsavory moments along with their successes. I think it takes a certain kind of person to put all that out there unabashedly and I appreciate it because I'm sure I'll be doing my share of flailing around this year. Now she's literally moving forward in leaps and bounds (read her post about her clinic with Hawley Bennett) and has come a long way in such a short time.I can only hope to get their with Riley.

Riding With Scissors -- Ahhh, the adventures of Ollie and his weanie rider (her words, not mine). This blog is right up there with Carly's in terms of hilarity. She's really open about her nerves, which I can relate to, and makes a real effort to put on her big girl pants and to get it done. She's new to the eventing world, so go over and say hi!

CANTER Mid Atlantic in Delaware -- This was one of the first blogs I ever read. Jessica rides and retrains horses for CANTER and watching her work with them straight off the track (or from their lay up farm) is incredibly useful. She has a slow, firm and fair approach to each horse and changes her plan according to each horses need. I think I've learned more about OTTBs, conformation, let down and how a horse can change over a few months of proper training from her blog. She's had a rough go of things over the last few months, but she's back in the saddle doing great things again!

Viva Carlos -- Another great west coast blog in Hunterland. One of the few blogs I've read from the start, I'm wowed by L's tenaciousness and critical assessment of her riding. I have to admit, one of the reasons I wanted that bracelet made (that says, "Don't Hesitate") was because of L's commitment to being "fearless in the irons". There was a point in my life that I was, and I want to get that feeling back. Following along with her and Ramone has been really insightful and she makes no excuses for his shortcomings or problems, but is sensitive to his baby brain all at once. She's one of the hardest working riders I follow.

I just want to say thank you to all of the writers above and all of the others I read. This is going to be a great year for Riley and I and we look forward to having you all following along with us. I can't thank you all enough for being there throughout all the ups and downs, all your advice and insight, and for creating a community of people that I can turn to when I am surrounded by non-horse people all day!

xo, Niamh & Riley.