2014 - What a crazy year

Let's see if I can keep this short and sweet.

The day after she arrived.

January - I agreed to take a green 6-year-old Araloosa mare on a 90 day trial.  I really didn't think it would lead to anything permanent but I figured I could give her enough one-on-one time that she would be more likely to get adopted.  And I was tired of driving all over the state to see horses that didn't pan out for one reason or another.  Little did I know that Ruby (Ginger back then) would become my best friend, sappy but still true.  I restarted her under saddle.  By the end of January, I had figured out that she was something special.

First trail ride!

February - more under saddle time including our very first trail ride.  Lofty visions of Sheriff's Posse and a mid-March intro ride danced in my head.  Oh, and it was about this time that I figured out for sure that my 6 yo mare was actually 13-14 years old. And I decided that it didn't matter.  When I started this journey, my ultimate goal was to earn an AERC Decade Team award - we might get there but it's highly doubtful and that's okay.

Leading the way.

March - more trail rides, including our first ride with Jennie, who hadn't seen Ruby since she'd brought her to me in January.  No actual conditioning rides as I'm beginning to understand that if I let Ruby move out this early in her training, that was all she was going to want to do.  And there was no way in hell that she was ready to do an intro ride.  At the end of the month, Ruby fell in the trailer.  We pulled over but she was already up (at that point we weren't sure if one of the horses fell or they were just scrambling in the trailer).  When we unloaded at our destination, it was obvious that she'd fallen (manure on her right hind quarter and knees) but she was moving fine and feeling good so we rode.  The next morning, she was head-bobbing lame.  I had two vets take a look at her and they couldn't pinpoint from where the lameness was originating. No more adventures for us for quite a while.

April - Ruby showed intermittent though decreasing lameness.  

May - by the second week of May, Ruby had been consistently sound for at least two weeks so we started riding again, slowly.  We started walking down the road by ourselves and did a little desensitizing, as well.  I also started asking her to take a bit - which she hated and I eventually decided was unnecessary, since she goes so well bitless.

Poker ride

June - not much trail riding because Heather was out of town and Ruby and I weren't quite ready to go solo on the trails, however at the end of the month I loaded Ruby and we drove to Ocala and went on our first poker ride.  There were at least 100 horses there - it was a mad house.  And Ruby was a rock star but by that time, being a rock star was a regular thing for her.

Riding solo - woot, woot!

July - the month of our first solo trail ride!  I felt like this was a huge milestone, though many would roll their eyes at that.  It was also the month of our longest trail ride to date, 13.6 miles.  And it was the month that I figured out that with every single ride, I was hurting my horse who was being pinched by a too-long girth.  I still feel guilty about this...During this month, I also had my first lesson with a new riding instructor.

August - a lot of short rides, and one or two longer ones, nearly all in intense heat.  Towards the end of the month, I had a final ride with the new instructor from the previous month.  It was a disaster, with the instructor looking at me like I shouldn't be allowed near a horse, much less on top of one.  The entire ride, I felt like I was falling off the side of the lesson horse.  FWIW, when I was finally able to get a lesson scheduled with Marie, she had me straightened up and riding correctly within the first few minutes of the lesson.

September - first attempt to canter on Ruby, also Ruby's first ever buck with me...all in the same ride, of course.  Then something absolutely tragic happened in my personal life so I took a very short blogging and riding hiatus.  Towards the end of the month, Ruby bolted for the first time - and I failed miserably as a rider but still managed to stay aboard.  This is also the month that I found out who sired Ruby.

October - Ruby and I had a close call with us stuck between a loose dog and a speeding van.  Ruby handled the situation far better than I did!  We did more work with scary obstacles and Ruby started kicking out when asked to do something that she didn't want to do.  I got to dress Ruby up for the Pink Your Pony ride, and had a blast.  I was finally able to schedule a riding lesson with Marie during the middle of the month, and she convinced me that I actually could fix my riding.  We finally had our first, very short, conditioning ride and went on a fun trail ride with Jennie and two of the girls from her barn. 

 November - at the beginning of the month we went to our first obstacle challenge.  It was cold, and windy, and Ruby was a fruitloop but it was a good experience.  The photographer got some really great pictures of us - I just have to get around to ordering them.  A few days later, I posted that I would like to take Ruby to the intro ride at the Greenway Getaway (this coming weekend, btw); then she came up lame during an easy trail ride.  Vet told me that I won't know until May or so if endurance will still be possible for us.

December - the month of Vegas, a rescued mustang mare.  Easily the most bull-headed horse I've ever known, and yet there is something very special about her as well.  If I can just stay consistent and hang in there, I know that she and I will have that breakthrough moment where she realizes that she can trust me all of the time, not just when things are relatively easy.  

End of year pic.  I hope that you all have a fantastic 2015!