Lucy is in foal

I forgot to mention that I ran into the VT Sporthorse Breeding team at Lexington, and Lucy is in foal to Highlife's Diamond Stud (see pic above). He's super fancy, and she's such the gorgeous diva - it should be a great cross. Her foal was a little too young to make the trip down for the breed show, so I'm still waiting to see him in person! With Lucy and Weltmeyer genetics, I bet he's a fireball!

Here's a link to Highlife's Diamond Stud's information:

http://www.highlifesporthorsebreeding.com/walnut/highlifes_diamond_stud.aspx

Our first real horseshow picture

Just received my first horseshow picture with Barney! All smiles!

Horseshow Success

Dressage at Lexington was super fun. It is so nice to have such a solid horse who is so comfortable in the show atmosphere. This was our first bigger show, and we improved consistently thru the weekend. We ended our rides with a qualifying score for the regional championships at second level, even with a pilot error during one of our simple changes. The judges' comments were helpful and reaffirmed our immediate training priorities. It was also the first time Bruce and the kids went with me for the entire show and went thru the whole horseshow experience, which made it fun for me (hard for Bruce, I'm sure). There were a ton of people in the second level tests - many more than in training and first - which surprised me, but it is a great sign for the sport that people are sticking with it and moving up. I had lots of pros in my classes, so while we were out of the ribbons, I was happy with our first outings and thrilled to have such a cool guy in Barney to carry me thru!

P.S. The hot water heater showed up after we pulled out of the driveway for the show, but it was so hot, I couldn't have stood a hot shower anyway!

Am I really going to get to show this fun horse?

We wrapped up boot camp this morning with Kim, and it was a super 24 hours! We worked on a ton of stuff and established our warm up plan and short list of critical moments in the tests. For having to take 8 days off less than two weeks ago, I feel like we're as prepared as we could hope to be. Now if that hot water heater will show up for the trailer, I will be a very, very happy girl!

We've had several days of rain, so the farm is looking much better - the grass is definitely less crunchy, and the alfalfa and sorghum are ready to be cut. The chicks have also finally moved out of the trough in the garage and into their cute coop. They are much happier, and hopefully now my car will stop smelling like chickens!

So, I'm off to pack the trailer and finish horse laundry - then I should probably tackle the human laundry! I can't believe we might actually make it to the show!

Boot Camp

So, Kim Huffman is here for two days of dressage boot camp to get our butts in gear before the horseshow. We had our first ride this morning, and we'll hit it again this afternoon - with video - always scary to have to watch yourself! But I LOVE the work - she pushes us and offers real solutions to our issues (mostly my issues - Barney's are fewer). The kids are super excited about camping in the trailer - I don't think I even need to bring the horse for them to have fun, but they love cheering for us, too, so it should be a big time for all!

it's a Monday

Good news - more rain. Bad news - fridge and hot water heater not working in the trailer. We can maybe get the fridge running, but it's looking like cold showers at the horseshow! It's supposed to be around 90, though, so it may not feel too bad! I can always bathe the kids in the barn! We'll pack swimsuits!

Barn building tip of the day: if you are finishing your tackroom with wood (ie: pine t&g), put the cleanest pieces of wood on the ceiling over your saddle area. Even years after staining, the knots still ooze some, so just keep that in mind and keep saddles on top covered!

Rain and a Sunday Surprise!

it finally rained on Friday night - yeah! had a cute surprise this morning - when i let the dogs out, they took off running and barking. as the dogs ran after the mom, four baby raccoons were crawling onto the porch. they turned and ran down the side of the house, but we got a few cute pics, and the kids were squealing at how adorable they were. a little concerned their mama brought them out in the daylight, so we won't get too close, but still fun to watch! fyi- the dogs didn't come close to catching mom, so all was good. also, as i was getting the snaps to put on here, i found some pics bruce took of barney and me a month or so ago - so i finally have a picture of me ON the new horse!! still hoping to get to lexington this week - we'll see!! it's a gorgeous day and only supposed to get in the mid-80s!!! hallelujah! have a great one!

Summer Update

so, lots happening this summer. it is hot and dry on the farm - hoping for rain on friday, especially since we haven't square baled any hay yet!! had some excitement with the Bethards' pony, Midnight - choked on his feed - that was a first for me. luckily for us, Dr. Denton never seems to take a day off, even on a crazy holiday weekend! leave it to a morgan/quarter horse pony to have his only emergency vet visit ever be a result of inhaling his feed! caruso finally upped barney in the sanity department - barney was definitely more flipped out over the fireworks - a bit of a shocker, but then again, who knows if barney has ever been exposed to bruce's level of pyromania! caruso has at least had a few years to get used to it. barney and i are entered at dress. at lexington for next week, but with my step-dad's situation, i'm not sure we'll make it. he's supposed to be getting his heart balloon pump removed today and then they'll start waking him up and hopefully get him off the ventilator asap, so keep the prayers coming. we'll soon find out if that heart of his can do the work - he'll never believe he's been asleep for a week - a very long week! hope everyone is having a great summer - it's going by way too fast as usual!

p.s. send your prayers toward our little neighbor, josh - 6 year old in the hospital with rocky mountain spotted fever - unfortunately he's in the hospital in new york, as they were on the road for their summer vacation when the rash appeared - so prayers for the whole family as they get thru this so far from home!