For starters I've been taking a few pictures for some beautiful girls and their families! Second, American Poet,Tena Bastian and I have been conspiring to work on a few projects together! And finally, I made a HUGE decision to sell 2 of my horses!
Last year at this time I had 5 horses boarded and only owned 3.I had a few lesson clients as well. This year,I only had 2 boarders and inherited a horse and with the rainy weather,lessons were WAY down. I had more expenses than income and I wasn't able to feed let alone care for the horses I had! I HATED that feeling! Not to mention the guilt that went along with it! Was I putting my family in danger? I knew I was adding more stress to myself for sure! And I hated the feeling of owing my feed store money! That's not how I roll!
So I made the HARDEST decision I have had to make and decided to sell both Winter and Bullseye. Both who I have started myself and raised here. Winter who was 9 had been here since he was 18 months old and was bought and boarded here by my OB/GYN.He was the horse we knew we could put anyone on! He was the one who my non horsey hubby would saddle up and go out and ride by himself on! I trusted him with my 4yr. old! He was just the best horse ever! Then Bullseye of course,I waited 3 yrs. for him to be born! He'd been here since he was a month old and when it came time to wean and halter break,it was the non horsey hubby who took it upon himself to bathe and clip for the first time and begin the leading process since I was on bed rest.He was my oldest son's horse and was fun to ride!Beautiful bay tobiano to boot! I decided to enter them both into my friend's registered horse sale in Meridian,Mississippi and I had 2 weeks to get them ready,i.e.,hair coat better,in shape and riding tuned up. Having 4 geldings to ride was hard for me to decide who to ride and I always would rather ride Hayden so these guys were put on the back burner.
Sale time came,April 3rd,2010.I have never cried so much as I did the 2 weeks leading up to the sale and then the day of the sale there were more water works. I hated being put into this situation but I know a lot of other people are worse off than I was so I kept trying to look at the positives! Bullseye went to Arkansas to work on a cattle ranch and winter went to someone in MS. to be a trail horse. Hopefully they will be enjoyed and loved as much as they were here. Hopefully they will be used to their potential and given opportunities I wouldn't be able to afford to give them here.Hopefully the love and training they received from me will keep them safe and loved for years for years to come...
The highlight of the sale was having Tom McBeath,my riding mentor and super trainer friend, ride Bully for the first time in over a year. When he had seen/ridden him last (Jan. 09) Bully was in a snaffle and not guiding real well and pulling through the bit. This year I had started riding him in the correction at the beginning of March and he was guiding super well and handling great! He would stop on a dime and lope off with his head down and was light and soft in the face. Tom seemed impressed with his progress and it made my day. Bitter sweet but sweet none the less.
Now that I am down to only 2 horses here,I am hoping to be able to not only continue to train Hayden with out the guilt of having to ride two others,but be able to afford to show and do clinics with him! I also am excited and relaxed in the thought that now I can give Jay the retirement he deserves! So far I have been able to ride Hayden quite a bit more and have been lunging Jay to slowly bring him back into riding shape.
Last week I found out I was going to be able to ride in a stock horse clinic with Mike Majors at the 2010 Quarterfest in Murfreesboro,TN in a few weeks! Also found out that there's going to be roping involved! HAYDEN HATES ROPES! So Tuesday night, I took Hayden to my new friend's Homer and Brenda Colman's place and Homer helped me get Hayden used to the Buford. I then had the job of using Hayden to de-rig all the steers that he and Kaston roped all night! By the end of the night, Hayden felt like he had a job and he was a lot more relaxed with the rope!
Today I lunged him for 20 minutes and then we just walked around throwing the rope in front of him and recoiling it.He finally was more relaxed about it all and I felt like we have accomplished quite a bit! Now for me to start roping the dummy!My goal at Quarterfest is to simply NOT make a fool out of myself!
Until next time-keep riding and blazing those trails!
