Sleeeeeepy Poneh

Karlin sent me this picture of Jasper today from her phone. I like how his back hooves are balanced on top of each other and that you can see his teeth. She said he didn't even raise his head until she actually touched him. Sooooooooooooooo sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepy...

Beautiful Blogger Award

Merri of The Equestrian Vagabond tagged me with this award. Apparently I have to list 7 things you don't know about me. Huh. The problem is not listing 7 things, but 7 things that might actually be interesting. Probably not that I'm eating rice noodle soup. Or that my birds are 'singing' to the TV and I can't hear it. Or that my car window decided it couldn't roll up yesterday, so off to the shop it goes. Or that I have a date with a pilot on Thursday. OK, maybe that one's interesting...

1. After about 4 years of riding lessons at the local hunter/jumper barn, my parents let me buy a horse for my 13th birthday. After months of searching, I ended up with a yearling Quarter Horse filly named Mindy. She turns 26 this year.

2. A couple of years later a friend and I decided Mindy could pull us across the snowy pasture in a round saucer sled. We tied it on with lunge ropes. I rode, and my friend sat in the saucer. The first few steps were fine. Then Mindy realized their was a predator behind her and started trotting, then cantering, then my friend fell off. And the sled began hitting her on her back legs and biting her. Full-out blinding panicked gallop towards a barbed wire fence, I bailed and got my first concussion. Mindy jumped the fence, the sled got caught in it, the ropes broke, and she was fine.

3. They Might Be Giants is one of my favorite bands. I feel an instant geeky bond with anyone who likes them.

4. I don't eat wheat, dairy, soy, eggs, chicken, peanuts, or almonds. Not because I am uber health conscious but because of food allergies. My lips are nicer looking when they're not all swollen up.

5. I am considering going back to school (again) to study Graphic Design.

6. I could eat Thai food everyday and live in a state of bliss.

7. I live in a studio house. It is 16x20, or 320 square feet total. It's on a regular sized lot, with regular sized houses on either side. It's super cute, warm, and cozy. Plus nothing is too far out of reach!

OK, everyone who reads this, consider yourself tagged! Copy the pic above, post it on your blog, and list 7 things about yourself we don't know!

Working Student

So... I am going to be a working student for Jessica Wisdom soon. Jessica is a dressage trainer that comes to Spokane and gives clinics, and every time I've watched her teach someone else I've learned something. I think she is a really amazing teacher and told her I'd like to work for her since I can't afford to ride with her. 6 months later I got a call, and committed two and a half months, starting mid-April and ending at the end of June. It's kind of a no-pay no-expense deal, I get room and board for me and my horse in exchange for working for her. There's no stall cleaning, just working with babies, lunging, riding... I'm taking Jasper with me and am really grateful to get him started the RIGHT way, so I don't have to go back and fix all the mistakes I made later. I have had a total of one lesson in the last 4 years and to have eyes on the ground is going to be amazing. Plus her assistant trainer wants to event, so loading 6 horses up in the 6-horse trailer and heading to the local cross country course will be part of the experience. The great thing is that she's near most of the big events for Area VII, so at least I'll be able to go watch!

Then she called me up a few days ago and said her current working student has a chance to go overseas sooner than expected. Could I come 2 weeks earlier and go to California with her? Um, yes. So today an awesome family that has another horse at the barn agreed to lease Alexandre for the next 3 months minimum (By "leasing" I mean paying his board). And Jackie, who is one of Mindy's (my first horse) other "moms" agreed to stay at my house and take care of the yard.

In local news we've been having unbelievably warm, sunny, dry weather for the past few weeks and Jasper and Alexandre have been spending a LOT of time on the trails. Jasper may not be in arena shape by the time we leave, but he'll have some trail muscles. He's also -finally- begun to gain some weight and his hip bones don't stick out so far. Some of the divots are starting to fill in. Everyone remarks on how tall he is, but with his baby head and... slenderness... he just looks like a tall gangly baby to me. He'll be 5 in June, aren't they supposed to know a lot of stuff by then? Maybe by June he will. :)

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PHOTO 101 (2)

Some more prints from my Photo 101 class...

Alexandre

Valley Chapel Farms II

Self portrait


Jeddidiah

Serena and Roxie dressagin' at a Jessica Wisdom clinic.

Roxie workin' it...


Rockin' Roxie.

Portrait: Low key. Serene (a classmate).

Statue

Poop and ferns

Liberty Lake loop hike. We didn't realize you had to do all 7.5 miles up to the top of a mountain and back down. 4 hours later we got back to the parking lot in the dark...