Goodbye or see you later?

On December 16, 2009, I was given the absolute gift to ride a pasture ornament horse. A horse named Harley. After moving to a new barn at the beginning of that year I had been in love with this horse. I had always wanted to ride him. He was the sweetest horse I had ever met. He let me cuddle with him as he laid down and slept out in his pasture- something any other horse had never let me do before. He was an absolutely incredible horse. Sure, he moved poorly, but he had a great mindset and what more do you want? No matter how out of shape he was, I felt like I could keep riding him forever and ever because he would never stop trying for me.

Both photos from our first ride together

Time passed and I began working with Harley more and more. The bond formed. We were inseparable. He meant the world to me. I got to start jumping him once we started to get him more muscled. He was such a neat horse. I had never had the pleasure of working with an animal so willing to try. He was lazy and moved like crap, but had the heart of a champion.

More and more he began to "grow up" and really get back in to the swing of things. It became apparent he was ready for his first show. We took him to a small local schooling show at Santa Paula Stables here in Tucson. We showed in the 2'-2'3 pre children's hunters. It was a disaster. He was jumping over everything by at least two feet, he was amped up, bucking around the arena in the corners (but hey, I stayed on!), and moving like a giant egg beater. BUT, he was jumping square with his knees, and we even managed to pull off two thirds and a second place. Though he wasn't the perfect hunter, he proved to me that my time was well spent with him, and definitely worth perusing more. I wasn't going to let this wonderful horse and opportunity pass me by.

His first show!

weeeee!

The fences began to grow and he began to prove to me how talented he really was. He let me give pony rides to a little boy, and the fences began to raise. We improved his jumping technique and then slowly it all began to fall together. The pace, the distances to the fences. He had proved to us he was ready for something more. 

first oxer!

first 2'6 fence

2'6 oxer; end of a gymnastic

working on getting him to jump round

pushing up to 2'9

pony rides with tate :)

Later I decided, "hey, what the hell. Lets go to an A show." So we went to the SWHJA Fall Classic 'A' Show on the weekend on September 5th, 2010. Boy had he changed in that one year. It was CRAZY how great he was. He jumped bettter and acted better than he had at any other show. But on the first day in the hunters I actually ended up falling off in the first round (hehe! how embarrassing!) At this show, Harley won his first blue ribbon. The first thing I felt I had finally done right. Our first A show together. Our first time showing at 2'6 and I won. How was that even POSSIBLE? How was it that all this work I had done, was actually impressive to someone other than me? With Hillary as my witness, when they announced us in first place I cried. I straight up cried. I was so proud of him. I had never felt so good in my life. I had trained a horse to win on the A circuit. We ended up reserve champion that weekend. I don't think I have ever been glowing that much after a horse show.

Such a proud mama :')

Showing off his bling :)

my most favorite photo of him and I ever.
©H.Whitt Photography

he was still oddly impressed by the fences.

lol falling off in the warm up

I was so grateful and thankful of my trainer at the time, Rosemary Gordon, for giving me this opportunity. She gave me a horse to basically own and be the only one to work with this horse for nearly two years. We ended up year end reserve champions in our hunter division; a fate I absolutely never thought possible. However, things began to change and it was time for me to move on, which unfortunately meant leaving Harley behind. It was time for me to really start taking care of myself. I was battling with a shoulder injury initially caused by him and I had to take my health in to account. It was time for me to say goodbye. The last time I hacked him I left the barn an absolute wreck. I couldn't control myself. I left bawling my eyes out and sat in my car crying to myself for 40 minutes before I could gain my self composure. I hated myself for leaving him like that. I didn't think I could ever forgive myself. However, my dear friend Hillary had come out with me that day. She photographed my last ride with him and took my senior pictures for me with him. It meant more than the world to me to have that memory saved forever.

I was able to end my last ride on him riding in to the sunset

 I moved to Doubletake Equestrian and then found Joe. Months passed and I had my surgery. But one day when I was sitting at the barn, Jenny sat me down and told me that Harley would be moving to Doubletake. I had heard rumor that Harley was for sale but I never knew that fate would bring us back together. The day finally came that he moved to my new barn. I was absolutely elated. How was I so lucky that I got the chance to be reunited with "my" old horse.

Welcome to Doubletake Harley!

Harley was then bought by a young girl who loved him so much. I knew she would take care of him. How much she loved him was apparent in how she looked at him. I knew they would do great things together, and they certainly did. Many things changed though and Harley had to be sent to a rescue. I don't know the story, and nor do I need to. None of it is my business and I know the people who took care of him always acted in his best interest. And still continued to do so. They are very knowledgable and I believe they did everything right and cared for him in the best capacity they could.

Fast forward a little more and now we are here today. Harley was approved to be adopted after the quarter crack in his hoof had heeled enough for him to be placed in his forever home. I decided I needed to write this blog in his honor. This is the most caring horse I have ever met. He was my shoulder to cry on when I was having stupid high school boy troubles, problems at home, or when for some reason my womanly hormones just felt I needed to cry. He was my best friend that I could share funny stories from the day I had had before going out to the barn for him. He was the enabler that made me make some of the best memories with my other human best friend, Sarah. And most importantly, he taught me how to enjoy myself while riding. I have never laughed and smiled as much while riding as I had while riding him. He was the first horse I felt I had really accomplished anything with. I am so SO thankful for everything he has ever done for me. Now one of the best rescues in Tucson has placed him in his forever home, and while part of me is heartbroken that that forever home is not with me, I am so grateful that he will live out the rest of his life fat and happy trail riding and having fun. I know he will provide his new people with the same joy which he provided for me. 

So with that, I say not goodbye to you Harley, but merely see you later. I don't know what my future holds, but strangers things have happened. I know that our paths will cross again somehow.

Long Time No See!

Ahhh! Finally a moment to sit down and BLOG!! And I am going to start it off with a picture of Josephine looking absolutely ADORABLE.

Well, I haven't been riding much lately because i just went on vacation! It was so much fun to get away from Tucson. The weather was absolutely GORGEOUS. But of course, thanks to my dear friends, I got updates on the horse world back in Tucson :D Hillary, Renee, and Camille always seem to keep Sarah and I posted so well. And of course, Emily spammed me with pictures of sweet Josephine while I was away, too :) But I also went on a weekend getaway to Megan's graduation and to visit Sarah and got to ride Koders! It was awesome. He is such a good boy!! But he totally helped me realize some stuff I need to work on! Here are a couple pictures of master Kodi and I!

Now on to the good stuff: JOSEPH!!
When I got back, I had to wait a week (boo) before I could ride Joe! But when I finally did, holy CROW he was absolutely INCREDIBLE!!!!! I know I said in my last blog that he was awesome, but this topped it!! We schooled the BIGGEST BY FAR I have schooled since my accident in October. I feel my confidence rising every time I get on that sweet little pony. We were schooling 3'-3'3" which is a huuuge deal for me. He just makes me so happy. I was going around the course smiling. I don't know any other time I had done that except for with Ebro maybe a few times. It feels so wonderful to be HAPPY while riding. Which it makes me so MAD that other people don't like it that it makes me happy! Josephine is a wonderful pony and I know how lucky I am to have been given the opportunity to work with him! WHO CARES IF I'M 5'5, ALMOST 19 AND STILL RIDING A PONY!? If it's not your decision, then don't bother me about it!! It makes me feel so happy that I have such a strong bond with an animal. I love when I even start walking down the barn isle and I call out "Joooooseph!" and he sticks his head up and walks to the stall door. I love when I walk to get him from the turn out and he whinnies to me. He has absolutely changed my life. We have been, as Renee so fittingly phrased it, to hell and back and I wouldn't have it any other way. Even though there are some days that I can go ride him and he can absolutely destroy my confidence, I go back to his stall after getting off and being mad at myself and he makes me smile and laugh. Even when that confidence is gone, it builds back up 100 times stronger. Each and every time I have gone out to the barn the last couple months, I have felt myself becoming more and more like the old Alana. The Alana who wasn't afraid to jump a solid 3' fence. I am so happy to say that because of my trainers, and "my" pony, I didn't come back from an accident too fast. I prevented another one from happening. I slowly went back to the basics. I started from dressage work; get my seat more balanced, and my pony more balanced, and the rest will fall in to place. We started at crossrails and now are building back up to where we were. I am so happy that we handled the situation as we should have. I love my trainers, without them, I don't know what I would do without them. I probably never would have gotten back on a horse. And I will make it my one life goal, that I can actually call him MY pony one day. Even if he is old and retired and all he can do is stand in a pasture, I will own him.
Since I have officially gotten all my mushy/ranty stuff out of my system (lol) I am going to post some pictures of sweet little Joseph! His little pony butt was SO well behaved!! I will also put a little hyper link to a video of our courses. He is such a special guy. I cannot say it enough, but I am so blessed to have him in my life.

not the best pic of me, but he jumped so well!

LOVE how well he is moving behind here!!

this fence bordered from 3'3-3'6. it was the bigger option in a mock jumper course :)

Link to the video of Josephine and I!!

Well, I suppose that's all for now! I am going to visit GERTIE! and watch Renee's lesson on her on Friday and then I have a lesson on Joe on Saturday which Renee and Sarah and (hopefully) Camille will all be coming to watch and hang out during so hopefully I'll have some pictures and awesome stories from those two trips too. :) Until then, au revoir mes amis!!

Everything Fires

"The passion for riding is really something hard to describe. It's something that's a part of your life. It's something that you need, almost like air or water. There's those special moments. You'll have a ride one day on a horse that's just magical. It's just you and the horse and you feel the motion and the power of that gallop. All of your senses attack; everything fires. You feel like you just conquer the world." -Beezie Madden

The above quote, describes exactly my ride on Saturday this week. I went to the barn scared. I received a text saying that Erin had left "a surprise" for me there. Turns out it was a new course. New jumps in new places. My first thought?: "Great, can't wait to fall today."I begrudgingly tacked up for my lesson awaiting my fate. And let me tell you, I don't know why I even had those thoughts. He was spot on the WHOLE time. I was/am still SO happy!! Everything has just been so "on" lately. I don't know what has changed over the last couple months, but something has. And I am LOVING it. He was so good. Now I don't usually do this, but I'm going to put a link of one of my courses from the lesson. Everything was just spot on and perfect. I adore him SO much!! <3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjYP1owG4g8 He stopped only a couple times, and it was in the middle of the lesson! Even in the one stride, he didnt hardly bat an eyelash! Boy, do I love that little pony. Here are some pictures of him being awesome and adorable!

I also got the opportunity to ride Abby's horse, James, which was also a blast because he is TOTALLY different from Josephine!! It was fun to ride a horse with really fluid movements and who knows a ton of dressage.

But now for something completely different! I have kind of felt myself falling back in to one of those slumps that I know every rider gets in to, where I am really unhappy with the way I am riding. I am LOVING the way my pony is going, but, I hate the way I look while making him go that way. I am hunching my shoulders WAY more than I ever have. I have even been concentrating on sitting straighter and, as my mother says, "practicing perfect posture" but I cannot get it right on a horse. I have lost what I considered my "good" equitation which has really been weighing on my psyche. I have been throwing a pity party about it too, which I know has been making the vicious cycle worse!! BAH! I must stop this self destructive behavior!!

In other news, I am about to go out of town for a while, and I hate to say it, but I probably will not get to ride Joe again until June 2nd when my awesome best friend, Megan!, will be coming out with me and hopefully riding him! Believe me, there will be OODLES of pictures then. But still, very sad I won't get to see my pony ): I did however, get him a new halter :D (seen below!) 

Photo Credit Darla Sanders

I guess that's all I have for now. Sorry this wasn't a particularly "good" post. I lack motivation to write today. I'll try to post later in the week to make up for it :)

Haters gonna hate; but do they have to?

Well, as many of you already know, there was a horse show this weekend. Though I didn't compete I went out to watch and cheer on my friends and trainer!! The whole barn did amazing and I am very proud to be riding with them! However, something I noticed while just hanging around, was how much hostility there was between barns! There were points in the day where I felt uncomfortable literally just standing at the courses studying them so I could later help my trainer navigate them. Just simply being in the same area!! Though I don't have very much age behind me, as I have grown older I have noticed how SMALL Tucson really is. It is SUCH a tiny town. I see people I know everywhere. Now if Tucson wasn't tiny as is, the hunter/jumper equestrian community is even smaller! It's truly just miniature. And it drives me absolutely INSANE how much hate, mean words, rumors, and dirty looks are thrown around. I don't care what your opinion is on a person. If you are watching them compete, you clap after every round. You congratulate your team mates if they beat you. You accept that somebody put in a better round than you. Equestrian sports are a team sport just like anything else. If so much cruelty continues to be spread around, the minute hunter jumper association we have all  established will fall apart. People will stop going to shows at certain places just because they don't like a certain person who rides at that barn, and so on. It's so stupid. We all love showing and the sport itself right? So we have to ensure that it will continue. All of this anger and rage is catastrophic. I am sick and tired of it. I hate the way it makes me feel. It's just beyond unnecessary. I hate seeing friends cry or being insanely upset because of rude and/or hurtful things which have been said about them. It breaks my heart. So next time at you are at a horse show, compliment someone you don't know. Be the bigger person. Say something nice to a person you don't necessarily love. Celebrate things like Gratituesday!! Gratituesday is something I learned about through my orchestra teacher. All you have to do is on Tuesday's, post about something you love. Share something kind with a person you usually don't. Smile at people as you are driving around.

As she put it, "What are you thankful for? (Today is Gratituesday - post it as your status and encourage your friends to as well. Let's break through the typical negative environment of FB and be a positive influence today!)"

Apply it to the horse world too. We don't have to win solely on our abilities to insult people.

Mellow in Yellow

FIRST BLOG IN MAY! YAY!!
I am FINALLY finding a scrap of time in my busy schedule this week to blog about the little man. It's the last week of classes here at the University of Arizona, so you know what that means: I am glued to my computer and homework. I was lucky enough to find some time last weekend as well to go out and ride Dr. Josephine (he has a Ph.D. in cute). He was amazing, but I was leaving something to be desired for. I felt kind of poorly about my riding this day. I was hunching VERY badly over fences. I was/am so EMBARRASSED! Other than that, it was a decent ride over fences. He was listening very well, but surprisingly lazy! I don't think I have felt him that lazy in a long time, which was kind of nice for a change! He really challenged me to begin riding off of my leg more instead of off of my hand to slow him down! (which made me sore, that punk!!) Here are some pictures of our over fences work, he is just too darn cute! :))

See what I mean about the hunching?!

This was probably our best fence in the lesson.

He was jumping quite well!

We did have but one dorky moment though. The first time we went over the roll top, he looked pretty much straight down at it which going over it. It was absolutely hysterical. I can't help but include those pictures too :D (as a disclaimer, please excuse my position...hehe)

"MOM WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?"

now...LAUNCH!!

We worked a BUNCH on the flat too, and let me just say, the work Sarah did with him in dressage makes him just SO much fun to play with on the flat. He is (sometimes) really willing to work, and since he has those bouncy pony gaits to him, it's easy to ride him without stirrups at the flat. ;) I took that opportunity to do some without stirrups work, but I also figured "hell why not, lets try some harder stuff than working on being collected and not behind the vertical!" I was asking him to move laterally and even tried for some shoulder in! (that one needs a TON of work...but there is always this weekend!) He was moving laterally pretty well, though!! He was a little bit resistant to my aids though, but I absolutely love how much he makes me work, and every ride makes me a test a different skill set. I think that's something that really helps me improve as a rider :) Here are a couple photos of little Josephine showing off his moves :) 

LOVE this one!! Look how well he is crossing over behind!

lol@my equitation, but he was soo good!!

We have REALLY been working to keep him in front of the bit,
and i think it's paying off!

We also got to have our lesson with Abby and James, and Brenda and Pepper!! I absolutely adore riding with those two. Its so much F-U-N!! Abby and James are just absolutely incredible to watch. They simply FLY. And I love being able to see Brenda take charge of her pony. It's so sweet, she always comes off her fences smiling. It really shows how much she actually loves the sport, and (no matter how disrespectful her is) her pony.

I think that's all I can say about this last ride for now...at least that I can think of!! There is a horse show this weekend (May 5th and 6th). Tons of people from my barn are showing (not Josephine or I though!) so I will definitely blog about how awesome they are when the time comes. I can't say anything else except this one last thing: I LOVE MY BARN!!