A leg up..Winter Ride Video Clip

Two posts in less than a week. Must be some sort of record..

On Saturday I headed out with a friend for a some snowshoeing in Whitefish , a nearby town, ie tourist hot spot.. There is a new trail system that has been created that I just learned about and wanted to check it out. We spent about 2 hours hiking around in the about 8 inches of fluffy white stuff. It was a fabulous way to spend a wintry day.

When I got home the sun was shining and  I had a horrible urge to get on a horse, even if only for a few wonderful moments .  I did a cursory brushing off of the snow and ice on Maggie's back and was going to just tie up the halter lead to make into reins but I thought better of that. Bareback is one thing after not being ridden for nearly two months on a hot horse but no bridle? That's just being crazy !   (alteast that was my logic at the time) . I grabbed Maggie's bridle  and talked my husband into coming out and giving me a leg up.
In my rush to take advantage of the limited sunshine, I had not even changed out of my snowshoe clothes which is a pair of lined pants made from a rayon , polyester blend.

Yes,  the slippery kind. Add that to a long coated Morgan.

As I got my leg up all was going relatively well Tom was careful not to toss me too hard considering the slippery pants. I was laying there across Maggie's back but I was sliding in a downwards direction (again the pants)so I made haste and went to swing my leg over. At about the same time she took a step in the opposite direction I was going and I guess the physics of momentum all came together or maybe they fell apare because it felt like I got an extra shove and off I went into the snow on the other side..

Damn pants.

I landed in a face plant into the snow. It was one of my less graceful moments on record but atleeast I was unhurt (exept for pride). Maggie, bless her heart was stock still. I know she was laughing at me.. By now I was laughing at me and so was the hubby. I was in tears in fact..

Attempt number two at getting a leg up was successful and we manged to have a lovely little ride, in spite of the hump in Maggie's back. Hubby even managed to take some video footage and I have posted it to You Tube here

Don't laugh, she is quite fat and sassy and I was barely manageing to keep her from doing airs above ground! Had I added ANY leg pressure we would have hit the moon!Nevermind the layer of ice below the fresh snow. I must be crazy!



 

Hey Everyone! Happy New Year

I hope the holidays and New Year have treated you all well. I can't complain. 2012 was really a great year for us here and I am looking forward to 2013 and whatever it brings.  I am sure everyone is dreaming of their future ride season and making plans and goals. The horses are quite fuzzy and round.. plenty ready to ‘weather” any storms we might have to face here in NW Montana. A fuzzy horse is a healthy horse and we have several months of opportunity for cold stormy weather ahead.

Maggie is officially the neglected child in my world. Sadly, I spent 5 weeks traveling for my newest newjob beginning in November . With that kind of schedule, It was all I could do to come home , washclothes and get back on a plane again. For now I am home and I hope that the intense travel schedule does not return. As the story goes, I had changed jobs back in August but then changed jobs again at the end of October for a better opportunity to work remotely.. with some travel.. However, I might be rethinking that now with the travel I had to do. We will have to see how much “some travel ends up actually being.

2012 was defininitely the year of accomplishments and new experiences for me on many levels. I think I met or exceeded most of the horse related goals I set for myself and Maggie. I even ran that 5K I always wanted to do. I feel very blessed and thankful for such a great year.


2013 has already had a great start. I have already accomplished some personal financial goals and working on a few more for future plans. I am also focusing on my health a bit more than I have , especially after the travel.. It really took a toll on me. I turned into a major zombie. I realized I wasn't going to pussy foot around it.  I am doing the Whole 30 with Dallas and Melissa Hartwig of Whole9. They are in their fourth year of a successful endeavor to change people's lives. It's been a goal of mine for a couple of years since switching to the Primal way of eating but never took the dive. Now I have. I am in Day 2 of my 30 days. So far so good, other than a mess up on drinking protein smoothies for breakfast . Apparently that's a no no because drinking your meals doesn't give the proper leptin release. Who knew?? So , I learn and move on.. no big deal.

JB update- remember him??? The little red Barb that started this whole thing...Well he's the not the same horse as he had been but he's the same horse that he once was. Clear as mud, right?  The hubby's young horse was lame after being a butthead so was on rest and his other main riding horse, Maggie's half bother Cassidy,  had been getting the tar   ridden out of him all summer and needed a little break so JB was the chosen mount. We took him on several fall rides. Nothing hard or fast but long 3-4 hour rides.Long for him.  After these few rides, it must have kicked something loose in his little pea brain because he started rip snorting around the pasture at regular intervals, the likes of which I had not seen since prior to the big wreck. He runs and plays, and bucks and does airs above ground that would impress the high school masters in Portugal. .It was like he found himself again buried deep down somewhere . It's been so nice to see him act full of P&V again and I am looking forward to our first few rides out this spring(er.. maybe not??) It makes my heart sing to see my JB is back..It took two years...

 

On other horizons..I have also agreed to join a Spartan Race Team in May.. it's the easy one.. The Spartan Sprint.. relatively speaking. Looks Intense , right? The team I am on is a  mix of Amazonian like characters who eat bar bells for breakfast and other normal people like myself who are realtively fit and just want to finish in one piece. Have I been training you ask ? Well.. I guess.. running 3-4 times a week, hills, a few sprints, snowshoeing and generally just staying active although with the zombi mode it's been a challenge. An old hip flexor injury and sciatic issue flared up on me that hindered my progress but  I think I amgaining traction on that. I doubt you will find me  carrying sandbags up a steep hill just to train for this thing..

Beyond that... well.. I am not sure. It seems like enough to worry about for now. The hubby appears to have a pretty aggressive Horseback Archery competition schedule this year beginning in May so I am not sure what that will do to any endurance plans I might have. Spring is a long ways off and alot of things can and will likely change between now and then.  I am just taking it one stride at a time..