Pretty Baby and I had a training session this past Saturday so I took some pictures. Here’s the pretty girl…
I also found out that she’s a three year old. A very well behaved three year old. Saturday’s session took us to a trainer’s barn in Wellington and after the initial nostril flare and snort, she settled right down to work. Because she has such a good foundation already, my goals for her are just to help develop a soft, willing, responsive horse. The first portion of our session didn’t go amazingly. I primarily worked on getting her to loosen up, step under herself, and bend through the corners. Nothing earth shattering. The goal was to walk on loose rein along the long sides, turn, collect through the short sides and yield to contact. Random figure 8s every once in a while to keep her supple. However, that’s not exactly how it turned out. She was responsive enough, but her attention was largely outside the ring. She balked every once in a while, refusing to move forward. Her trot was rushed. Her back was hollow. She shook her head.
The trainer recommended we try one of her treeless saddles just for kicks.
First of all, it was the most comfortable saddle I’ve ever sat in.
Second of all, there was a 180* transformation in the horse. She lowered her head, stretched her topline, and went forward willingly and with good rhythm. I don’t know if this change was a product of just being warmed up and work ready or because of the saddle switch. I’m leaning towards saddle since it was such an immediate marked transformation.
I want a treeless saddle.
I also want (and this is really embarrassing for me to admit) to learn a little more about T Touch. In the horsey realm, T Touch is grouped with all that other over marketed natural horesmanship mumbo jumbo and I tend to avoid that area. But the trainer was a TTouch practitioner and I saw her do wonderful things with the horses. Will have to look into it.
All this horse business is making me miss my own beastie. I’m really motivated to work with him a lot more than I have during my ownership of him. He’s big, pretty, and athletic and I’d like to see him entered in a few local shows at the end of the summer. Too bad he’s not conditioned, herd bound, and doesn’t like trailers or new places. I really hope I stay motivated enough during the summer to work on those issues. He’s a great trail horse, but I’m ready for a new challenge. I hope he’s game.
Things on the grad school front are moving slowly. I’ve turned in everything I have the power to turn in and am just waiting on my GRE scores and letters of recommendation to come in. The deadline is fast approaching and I’m getting nervous that its all lost in transit somewhere.
I love FT. Collins.
It needs to be summer.
My first job training is today. I’m pretty sure its a sink or swim test that determines whether they hire you or not, so hopefully I swim.
As a general rule, I avoid Wal*Mart. My mom is a union rep and it’s been drilled into my head since a young age that Wal*Mart is the devil incarnate and I should never ever shop there. Furthermore, I like to try to support the local guys. I’m moving towards self sustainability, but in the meantime, shopping local is about as sustainable as I can get.
But I’m also a poor student. I live off beans, rice, and oatmeal. A talk with a friend the other day convinced me that Wal*Mart was the shangri-la for poor students needing cheap eats and that my budget of $20/week would go much further there than at the local store. So I abandoned my pride, became a traitor to my beliefs, and went to that ubiquitous super center.
Turns out I traded my soul and didn’t even get a good deal for it.
Wal*Mart is NOT cheaper than the local place. Grapefruit at Wal*Mart: $.50 each. At the local store? 5/$1. The produce showed the greatest price discrepancy, but most everything else was about $.30 to $.50 more expensive at Wal*Mart.
Now I’ll be guilty AND hungry.
Back to the mom and pop next week.
BOO
If you had told me a few years ago that after I graduated I would live in Colorado, be surrounded by cows and mountains, have a closet full of boots and plaid, ride horses every day, be getting my masters by studying horse culture, and cobbling a living by working as a wrangler, figure model, horse starter, and environmental non profit soldier…..I would have thought I was effing awesome in the future.
And it’s true.
I did it right.
Life is awesome.
I feel awesome.
I am as cool a person as I ever hoped to be. Since all the collective moments in my life have come together to bring me to this place…I know I’ve done life right. I gladly embrace all the mistakes, wrong turns, tears and frustrations of my past since they helped shape the path that has brought me to this point.
This point filled with health and horses and happiness. There are herbs in the window, half chaps next to the dresser, and dreams on the horizon.
As mentioned before, I’m currently free lancing as an exercise rider and horse starter in order to get some supplementary income and get my horse fix. Since the ponies are a pretty big chunk of my life right now,and since I want to be one of those people that keeps a training journal…I figured I might as well write them here.
The cast of characters currently includes five beasties, but only three of which will be talked about with any regularity. The other two horses aren’t very challenging, and quite frankly, aren’t very interesting. Maybe I just haven’t clicked with them, but anyways, the other three warrant introductions….
Name have been changed to protect the innocent
Baby Baby- BB is a little QH gelding that is a true two year old. He’s everything a QH baby should be- stout, fuzzy, curious, and completely unflappable. I was the first one to ride him with a saddle and have been on about three times. He didn’t flinch at the saddle. Didn’t twitch when I got on. Barely flicked an ear when I asked him to move forward. He’s wonderful. We’ve been working on the idea of pressure and moving off the leg. Here’s a picture of BB’s first ride…not sure of why my foot is at eye level…
Pretty Baby- PB is best friends with BB. Not sure of her age, but she’s young. And pretty. And a pocket pony. She was a rescue and has been started but not worked with extensively. Thanks to a funky turned in foot and varying degrees of lameness, her training has been sporadic at best. She sound now though, so the challenge is getting her to develop a working mindset under saddle, while strengthening her weak side and without causing her to go lame. No picture of Ms. Pretty Baby.
Big Baby- Big Baby is six year old QH who acts like a three year old. Which is to say he acts like a twelve year old Thoroughbred. Anyways, Big Baby has a solid foundation but is a little ADD. He goes through the motions, but you can tell that his energy is focused everywhere but forward. He only pays enough attention to the rider to know that the rider wants to go faster or slower, this way or that way. His forte is the downward transition. He can go from a lope to a halt in a second if you so much as quiet your seat or stop pumping with your legs. He’s big, pretty, and athletic, so I’d like to get him a little more sensitive and a lot more focused. And here’s Mr. Oaf:
I’m about a month into living in Ft. Collins and the moving dust is just now starting to settle.
I’m finally getting my life here in order. School is going well, I have the majority of my grad school application stuff in, and I’m starting to find productive job leads. I have seriously been on a job hunt of epic proportions. I figured that with my impeccable work history and college degree, I’d be guaranteed a job. Especially since I wasn’t even looking for a professional job, just a menial retail job to pay the rent. Well…Barnes & Noble wasn’t hiring, Chili’s wasn’t hiring, PetCo wasn’t hiring, Sports Authority wasn’t hiring, H&R Block wasn’t hiring, Panera Bread wasn’t hiring, Great Harvest Bread Company wasn’t hiring….NO ONE WAS HIRING. In a moment of desperation I even applied to be a waitress at a strip club…they weren’t hiring either. You know the economy is bad when if the local strip joint isn’t hiring.
Luckily, I came across an ad for community organizers for a non profit. The schedule is right, the pay is right, and I get karma points. The interview is tomorrow. I’ve worked in social advertising and have canvassing experience, so I should be a shoe-in. I don’t want to jinx myself though. I NEED this job. I need to remind myself to breathe before the interview…desperation isn’t sexy.
Thanks to my lack of job, I’ve been impecunious, indigent, and penurious (Thanks GRE!) as of late. In order to better cling to my rapidly dwindling funds, I’ve imposed a pretty strict $20/wk on groceries budget. I’ve managed to stick to it by delegating $5 each to produce, dairy, protein, and carbs. As a credit to my thrift, I even managed to stick to the budget at an organic grocery store. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the availability of inexpensive produce there. 5 grapefruits for $1? Yes please. Unfortunately, the cheap produce was offset by the pricey milk ($3/gallon). But hey, it’s local milk. A nice byproduct of shopping on the cheap is the amount of cooking I now have an excuse to do. There’s no budget for prepared food, so I get to break out the pots and pans. Recent eats from kitchen of Mountain Chicken have included made from scratch sloppy joes, homemade bread, gingersnap cookies, and tortilla soup. Mmmm…
Speaking of local, I’m trying to get myself situated in the sustainable community in Ft. Collins. There’s a lot of green initiatives out here, along with lots of farm friendly ranching folk, so I haven’t had to hunt too hard. There was a poster on campus for a winter Farmer’s Market, which is sponsored by a Grow Local, Eat Local group out here. The poster listed a few websites which I checked out. They make me want to be a big player in the sustainable culture out here. I’ll definitely make it to the farmer’s market (hard cider…mmmmm) and will try to get to some of the various film screenings, discussion panels, gardening FaQs etc.
My gardening urge is somewhat satiated by my little herb garden. Cilantro, basil, chives, oregano, and thyme are struggling toward the light. They’re adorable right now.
I’m also starting to count down the days til it’s ranchtime again. Now that its February, there are really only two more months before I’m back in Middle of Nowhere, Colorado riding in the mountains, sitting on fences, and sweating through my plaid. I can’t wait. But I really do think this will be the last summer. When all is said and done, I will have put in 24 months on the ranch. And what a fantastic 24 months….but still a 24 months where I’m achieving my dreams through someone else instead of on my own. I think it’s time I start my own little homestead with my own horses, goats, and veggies. I dream desperately of a little 2 acre place with a small arena, a dog run, a chicken coop, a garden, and a kitchen decked in gingham. There will be a breakfast nook. And a sleepy cat in the window. I’ve been dreaming this dream for a while now, and it’s bout time that it comes to fruition.
I am a huge breakfast fan. It’s easily my favorite meal of the day….yogurt, toast, cereal, bacon, sausage, hash browns, pancakes, waffles, muffins, fruit, oatmeal…it’s all decliciously fair game.
I love it all, but I have a favorite.
Egg over easy, toast with butter, and milk.
That’s what kicked off this morning. It’s going to be a good day.
I have no excuses. I’ve become a bum when it comes to maintaining this blog. Hopefully when all the craziness has settled, I’ll get back into a blog routine. Sadly it gets lost in the shuffle of applying to grad school, trying to find a job, and running around the city.
Life is stressful right now. I’m in the midst of getting this whole grad school application in and am pretty much completely preoccupied with finding a job to save my dwindling checking account.
By the end of the day, the prospect of uploading pictures and writing in this thing seems overwhelming and tiring. Once I get a paycheck and have all my admissions stuff in I’ll be able to breathe a little easier and will resurrect Girl on A Mountain.
Life isn’t all stress though. I’ve found time to bake bread, plant an herb garden, get some books at the library, ride some beasties, and learn some songs on the gee-tar.
Gotta take off….I’m sure there’s something I have to fax.
I miss the ranch. Fax isn’t even a word out there. *sigh*
I’ve totally forgotten the hassles of the real world. There’s so much emailing! And paperwork! Taking care of all the details that one must take care of when they move to a new place and are applying to a new school has been time consuming, tiring, and stressful. Not to mention expensive.
I’ve been slowly but surely trudging forward. I have a job to find, a school to apply to, letters of recommendation to get, taxes to file, horses to ride, the GRE to study for, and personal statements to write. Each of them present a whole different set of hurdles and it seems like I’m crashing through them instead of leaping over them. Oh well. It’s better to be busy than have nothing to do I guess.
Really though, I have no complaints. I’m excited to get back into the rhythm of the real world again. I’m going to be attending a college class for the first time in two years on Wednesday. I’m thrilled. The teacher is an environmental fiction writer, so her interests definitely align with my own. In fact, I’m finding that Ft. Collins is pretty available when it comes to my interests. I haven’t had to sacrifice my horses or Carhartts at all.
The horseback riding is going well. I’ve met four of my projects today and am meeting one more this afternoon. Two are babies that are ground broke but have only been backed a time or two. Three are broke horses owned by an unexperienced owner, and they know it. I basically just get to hack them and attend to any issues that might crop up….get them to remember that this is a PARTNERSHIP and not a horsey-runs-the-show-ship.
I’ve been avoiding the job hunt thus far. The GRE, figuring out classes, horses, and personal statement writing have taken up most of my time. But I’m hemorrhaging money from my savings account, and need to find some sort of employment quick. I’ll be heading to the temp agencies tomorrow.
I also had to make my final appeal for residency. It was denied. A big blow to my bank account, but I can’t do anything else at this juncture. It’s disappointing and hugely inconvenient, but I have no choice but to get over it. Still…knowing that I’m spending $3,000 instead of $900 is a painful realization.
Luckily, my schedule allows for some me time as well. I’ve been cooking a storm and have perfected a couple songs on the guitar.
Bleck….gotta get back to my personal statement and vocabulary flashcards before my horse appointments. Mmmm….I like that sentence.
Oh! And the cilantro in my herb garden has started to sprout!!!
I do miss my little mountain enclave, but right now I’m experiencing a honeymoon period with FT. Collins. I get real internet! And phone service! And there’s a target and a movie theater RIGHT DOWN THE STREET! There’s all the convenience of the suburbs but it all has a very rural feel. Once you get off the main street, the tract homes and dublexes are interspersed with old farm houses and mini ranchettes. I’m on the last street on the western perimeter, so I’m butted right up against the mountains. There are horses in front of me, behind me, and to the right of me. It’s wonderful.
And it’s WARM here ! I haven’t felt heat emanating from the sun in MONTHS. Light, sure, but any heat I felt was my own body head trapped by layers of heavy winterwear. For the past few days I’ve been venturing out in a tshirt! And warm weather means that I can ride outside.
Which I plan to be doing in spades.
The thought of a horseless winter was daunting, so I put up an ad on craigslist offering exercise riding to people who can’t get to their horses during daylight hours. I wasn’t hugely hopeful in getting any responses.
Well nine responses later I have a string of 8 horses 
. Everything from babies just getting started to older citizens who just need to be kept active during the winter.
Screw getting a gym membership. I’ll be able to get all the exercise I need.
I also took another huge step toward my goal of learning to rope. I actually bought the damn rope finally. I now have an untreated, 10-0 calf rope. It’s adorning my wall and I’m grinning like a fool.
Life is good here in the foothills.
This is Kinetic. He's my 14 yo TB and a constant teacher of humility. He trots like a dream and canters like a cow. He doesn't know it yet, but I'm going to try to rope of him this summer.
This is Cowboy the hamster. I bought him in Missouri on a road trip. He's a cheap friend and kept me company through twelve states. He's currently the extent of my fiber stock.
This is Uno Mas. Uno is the lone survivor of a bear attack. If she were a human she'd be a pissed off ninja that never slept and instead plotted revenge all night. I respect her more than I do some people.
