So I want to take time to revisit any major (or minor!) happenings from this past year. The review will be a little picture heavy - so I'm splitting it more or less into quarters. Plus, the blog was officially launched in August, so parts 1 and 2 of this recap will predate that.
January
-Limited trail riding - including one arguably misguided ride during a snow storm. Twas fun :)
-We worked on baby X's and tried to get moderately comfortable with them. Still could not find any distance at all without placing poles, and started every jumping session by cantering ground poles.
February
-Indulged in retail therapy to make up for limited riding. Got new boots and riding pants!
-And really, not a lot else happened... (boo weather)
March
-Visited friends in Chicago and Izzy's owner reported that she was being a royal tease with the boys.
-Decided that in order for training to happen in earnest, we'd need to travel for it. So I started truck and trailer shopping.
-Settled on OF as our training venue of choice, and started lessons with Jasper. He was big and strong and not at all like Isabel. And while Jasper had never really been 'finished' he had a good sense of what he needed to do to be successful. He did positive things for my confidence and trucked me around my first ever xc schooling - which included BN obstacles!!!!
-Continued working on grids & jumping with Isabel - and tried to bring my lessons home.
-Adopted Martini <3
April
-Found my trucky-truck and trailer!! (more here)
-Started working with a pro to get Isabel loading. We were very slow and deliberate here. It was critical for me that the 'load' button be firmly installed since, ya know, she's not my horse and I didn't want any issues off property. (more here)
Stay posted for the rest of 2014!
Hahaha! That photo of Isabel with the herd of extremely interested horses looking on... can't stop laughing.
ReplyDeletelol she sure knows how to get her point across :)
DeleteThis is such a good idea! I'm looking forward to reading the rest AND if you don't mind- I might pick your brain about your truck and trailer shopping experience sometime! I told myself that once Quest and I exhaust every single trail we can possibly get to on foot/horseback that I was going start shopping so we can condition and get to rides off-property.
ReplyDeletethanks! i got the idea of a year end review from a few other blog - and was excited to give it a whirl.
Deletere: truck/trailer shopping - it was wayyy harder than i expected. the linked post has more detail, but essentially a savvy friend helped find used trucks to look at, and my family mechanic looked 'em over for approval. i bought the trailer new from the dealership linked in that post (dealership is owned by a boarder at our lesson barn).
in any case - definitely feel free to reach out with any specific questions!!
I love these year end reviews! I might have to do one. I also love that you're sharing the stuff that happened before you started the blog. :D
ReplyDeleteooh definitely do one too!! and i'm excited to get the older stuff written down too bc otherwise i forget... but it's also pretty neat to remember where we started
DeleteSince I only recently (last quarter) started reading your blog this is a great way to catch up on what has happened thusfar! :)
ReplyDeletethanks! it's good for me to get it all recorded too
DeleteLMAO. Love the photo of her "teasing" the boys.
ReplyDeletelol it's especially funny bc i have sooo many pics of her doing that exact same thing... the boys love her and she is cold and indifferent ;)
DeleteLove the wrap up since I'm newer to your blog!
ReplyDeletethanks! it's definitely an easy way to get all caught up :)
DeleteI love reading all these seasonal wrap ups! Also, very jealous of your trailer.
ReplyDeletethat trailer is the world to me... sure it's a bottom of the line stock trailer - but it completely revolutionized my ability to participate in horsey activities and i loooooove it :)
DeleteSounds like a successful year so far! ^.^ and I know it's just going to get better - looking forward to reading all the recaps in part 2!!
ReplyDeletethanks! the year definitely started a tad slow - but with lots of big stuff on the horizon :)
DeleteSounds like a great year! That kitty is cute I want! :)
ReplyDeletehaha don't let his cuteness deceive you - he only knows how to love with his teeth lol. i had to get him another kitty friend to use as a chew toy instead of my ankles :)
DeleteLoved learning more about the pre-blogger days ☺
ReplyDeletei was a little surprised at how difficult it was to peg down what happened in which month... and mostly only could do so bc of the time stamp on the photos!! crazy how quickly we forget stuff....
DeleteThese are my favorite type of year end reviews!
ReplyDeleteyay! me too - i love reading up on everyone's year end thoughts and summaries :)
DeleteEnjoying this as I just started following you!
ReplyDeletethanks!
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