I am so blessed

I just had to take a moment to express my gratitude to my Heavenly Father, who has blessed me so greatly (and so unexpectedly). With a new DM who is a breath of fresh air for me, a Rapper who is improving and finally feeling confident and a summer of horse shows ahead, I'm feeling pretty great about life. I hope I can keep this good momentum going and make every day a great day!

first show report of the season

This season is off to a great start! Juliet and I tried our hands and hooves at this showing stuff and I must say, we're pretty good! On a schooling show level, that is. Triple Rise put on a schooling show at Northwest Equestrian and Event Center last weekend and I thought it would be a great way to see what Jules and I were made of. Sarah entered us in six classes:

• walk, trot, canter on the flat


• trot a course, 12"


• canter a course, 12"


• trot a course, 18"


• canter a course, 18"


• amateur hunter, 2'

We won blue ribbons in four of our classes and got second in the other two! My favorite part was that Juliet just got better and better as the day went on - our last class was one of the best rides that mare's ever given me. I think it must have been something about being in a show ring again, but the two of us together just felt so solid - we got our lead changes 100%, her pacing was almost perfect and even when I lost a stirrup in one of my classes, she was totally there for me and we ended up winning anyway! She's just so awesome and I can't wait for next weekend - Mother's Day Classic here in Eugene!!!

Juliet

I'll have a more detailed post later - complete with pictures - but I just wanted to mention real quick...
I'M LEASING MY DREAM HORSE!
I''ve been riding at Triple Rise for three months now and I've done most of my jumping on Bijou and some of my flat work on Juliet. Last week, Sarah told me she'd probably keep me on Juliet, since the poor mare was the only school horse not being leased. I asked if Juliet was even available for lease and I will never forget the look on Sarah's face. Long story short, I signed a lease agreement yesterday and Juliet is my girl for the show season!!

Life Lessons

I learned a lot today. Important things I'd never known before. Among them:

• There's a reason most hunters are bay - no frantic scrubbing with water and bluing, last ditch shaving of stained socks or wrapping lower legs in cornstarched polos.
• No matter how convenient debit cards are, concessions stands at out-of-season fairgrounds only take cash.
• On a related note, know where the closest ATM is.
• Don't even THINK about wearing white around horses when you're part of the help - even squeaky clean show hunters will slime you if they can get away with it.
• Chuck Taylors are never appropriate horsey footwear.
• Aspiring hunter riders repeat after me: LEARN. HOW. TO. BRAID. You will save money for things like rent.
• Burgers, fries and hot dogs are not diet violations at a horse show - they do not count.
• Additionally, it is a-okay to eat the aforementioned at any point in the day, even if it's 9:00 in the morning.
• As an aside, when you're awake and running before Starbucks employees, you are one dedicated individual.
• Just because YOU know that tractor is not a monster doesn't mean your horse does.
• Jack Russel Terriers don't know they're small and they believe they are invincible.
• And finally, don't say "Do you guys need help with anything?" if you don't really mean it - your trainer's face will light up like a Christmas tree and you will find yourself grooming Phoenix (and holding him at arm's length outside the ring as he tries to use you as a scratching post), holding Patches to be hosed off and running a chair around the entry gate so that everyone in the class can get on their enormous hunter jumpers. FORTUNATELY, I meant it.

Horse shows can teach you all kinds of things.

awesome day!

Yeah, the title says it all! Awesome WEEK really - lesson yesterday, Blake visit and another lesson today. It's all been golden! We didn't have a lesson last week because Sarah and the Triple Rise crew were down in Sacramento for a show so I was really afraid I would be super out of it come this week. But as it turns out, the little rest did me good! I guess I needed a little refresher or something because this week I have felt great. I've also been staying after to clean my tack next to the arena so I can watch the lesson after mine. Those girls ride jumpers and have been riding and competing for years, I figured watching them could only help me. Sarah and I joke that riding well is all about copying others and faking it when you ride - and eventually, you won't be faking it anymore. It's silly, but this week, I've really felt like it's true. Watching some of the amazing people I ride with has really inspired me and strengthened me as a rider. And I'm actually reconnecting with Bijou. I really like riding Paris but I'm not sure I'm strong ENOUGH for him yet. Today she was so supple and quiet - she did everything just right! Well...maybe I had a little to do with it :)

Season of Love

So Valentine's Day was Saturday, I know, but the way I see it, it's never the wrong time to talk about how much you love someone.
Everyone knows how much I love my husband - I say it often enough! - but I want everyone to know how much I love my in-laws. Yes that's right, IN-LAWS. I realized tonight, not for the first time, mind you, how blessed I am to have married into such a wonderful family. Doug and Sue are so patient and with such a tremendous sense of devotion to their children (not to mention a sense of humor). Tyler and Amanda are a fantastic couple - Tyler is hilarious and so much fun to joke with and Amanda is the perfect older sister-in-law (we compare notes on what it's like to be married to Shaw men). Mandy is so kind and strong, so reliant on her testimony...I find myself striving to be more like her. Jeremy is so funny and surprisingly profound for a 17 year-old...I feel like we clicked right away. Jenell is the sweetest thing, so tender and fiery at the same time...she reminds me of me at 14. Levi is the Animal Whisperer and the one who can never sit still...but he has these quiet moments when he wows you with how sweet he is. And of course Zachary, who can already beat me at chess and loves to read...he wants to be a farmer when he grows up and never wants to move away from mom and dad's house.
What an amazing family! I am so blessed!

making it happen

Well, I had my riding lesson this afternoon as usual and it was AWESOME! My instructor, Sarah, had had me riding a Thoroughbred mare named Bijou for the past three weeks and I had gotten used to her quirks and little "isms" - she's slow to warm up, needs a lot of leg to get her to move forward and loves to jump.
I got to the stable today and Sarah told me she wanted me on Paris, this huge dark bay Seattle Slew lookalike. I was excited, because I figured that meant Sarah thinks I'm improving because I've heard only good things about Paris around the barn. I had a good feeling walking into his stall. When I called Paris' name, he swung his head around with these bright and cheerful eyes that just melted my heart. Come to find out, he loves candy, attention and to zip and unzip things - he took my zipper pull between his teeth and just blissed himself out zipping and unzipping my fleece jacket. He's a much more forward-going horse and I felt more confident on him than on Bijou.
Long story short, our lesson was great; I jumped a greater series of jumps (4) and apparently I did it really well - in fact, Sarah wants me to go to a schooling show in April! She gave me a schedule of shows for the whole year and told me that I could probably do well at any of them. Yay me! The dream is coming true!