April Rides

April 9th
.62 miles (not logged)
Horsemanship Clinic
Had a good time learning new things at the clinic. Joker got some schooling in lunging as he doesn't do well once you ask him to go above a trot. Larry did a lot of work with him and he was starting to calm down but it would take a lot more time then we had. Joker was one tired boy! He couldn't get rid of me fast enough once we got back to the barn too. Still a great day of learning!

April 17th
.55 miles (not logged)
Trailer Loading/Obstacle Training
Took the trailer out and worked on trailer loading. My wonderful friend and barn owner Toni helped me out. She showed me that the problem wasn't Joker it was me and I had to be a better leader. It's a work in progress but it was an eye opener! We did some riding and walked over some poles in the arena. It was a hot day and he was already a sweaty boy from our trailer loading so I didn't work him to hard.

April 24th
8.00 miles (logged)
Ionia State Rec with Wendy and Colby. We had tons of fun at our first trip to Ionia with our new riding partners. Joker and Colby get along great! We got a little lost but just enjoyed the adventure and the time with our horses. Joker was very trotty at the beginning and we even loped for our first time! After 8 miles my boy was super tired though. Can't wait for more adventures with Wendy and Colby!

March Goals and Rides

March Madness! We were challenged in the DD to make a goal for each month for the rest of the year. Here are my goals:

March
Ride 5 miles for the month

April
Practice for Judged trail ride
Teach or figure out Joker's side pass

May
No injuries at judged trail ride :)
Ride in Memorial Day Parade

June
Take Joker to Western Week (town function)
Ride at 1 new trail system

July
Go swimming with Joker

August
Ride 1 new trail system

September
Teach Joker a trick

October
Try Horse Camping if not done before

November
Ride 5 miles

December
Finish out year with 100 miles hopefully on the board and celebrate Christmas with my best bud!

Our rides for March:

 March 6th
1.12 miles (logged)
Still working on listening skills and willingness. I'm thinking I'm going to start taking a few lessons as I feel like I might be missing something when it comes to my own cues with Joker. (Just a general observation) I have noticed that I am becoming more aware of my own body position while riding and what is happening with it which is a big bonus. Now to just work on my muscle strength so I can get better control of my body. It was a good ride with my buddy and I'm learning new things all the time!

March 20th
Birthday Ride
1.11 miles (logged)
My birthday is the 19th but it wasn't the best of days for riding and my family wanted to take me out to celebrate so I held off till Sunday. Joker was a toddler to start out with! Knocked over my grooming tote, knocked everything off the fence rail that I put up there and then proceeded to untie himself and chew on his lead rope! This horse may just drive me crazy! I decided lunging was in order before a ride to knock off some of the energy. He lunged beautifully and our ride was pretty good too. I'm happy to report that I'm getting better at trotting and feeling more confident with it that I actually will do it out of the arena!

March 26th
1.25 miles (logged)
Beautiful day! Rode in short sleeves for the first time! Joker had to stop at every fresh blade of grass that he saw which made for a choppy ride but I was sure thankful for my new workout regimen and stronger thighs. I had him trotting along and suddenly he would stop and put his head down. I could have easily gone over his head if I wouldn't have been hanging on! It feels good to know that my working out in the gym is paying off in my riding :D Happy riding everyone!

Back on track... Hopefully

Had a ride on January 30th putting .93 miles on the books however it slipped my mind to log it on the DD board so this one is not really on the books... OOPS! 

Had an ok ride on February 14th. We worked on getting away from the barn and out into the world which took some hard work. Lots of circles!  We made it down and back 3 times and I was happy with that.  Small steps! .68 miles actually on the books... YAY!

Today was an awesome day!  It was a beautiful warm sunny day for February unfortunately it was super windy but luckily it didn't affect my boy!  We got in .77 miles and made it all the way down the driveway and across the street through the field.  I think Joker has spring fever as much as I do! He had his blood pulled for Coggins today as well and did great so he got his favorite treat of powdered donuts.  He was in seventh heaven.  Its suppose to be another great day tomorrow so I'm hoping to get out there for another ride and keep the good mojo moving forward!

Trials and Tribulations

Went out the barn yesterday because today was forcasted to be bitterly cold (it is). It was a typical winter day so I thought Joker would be fine.  He lunged fine before tacking up and then while trying to ride down the driveway he started acting up again. Nothing like last weekend, Thank God!! I didn't want to push my luck so we went back to the arena for lunging with tack on and he did find.  I had a scary dismount before the tacked up lunge so I didn't get back on but chose to untack and go for a walk down the driveway with him.  He was fine.  Not sure if something is off in his back or his hooves hurt because of the ice.  I'm at a loss but I felt good where we left things.  Needless to say I'm still frustrated because I really want to go for a nice ride but I'll do what it takes to help my friend at this point. Another .37 miles on the books.

My ride calendar is already starting to take off too. I'm getting super excited for spring! So far my first planned ride is April 16th at Kensington Park with the DD crew.  I really hope everything works out and I can make it the ride and to our celebratory dinner.  I worry about my "kid" spending time at a foreign place but you never know until you try it. I'll really just have to pay attention to the weather and see what happens once April gets here.  One of my best friends is getting married that month too so I gotta make sure I have all of that planned in there. The next ride after that is May 21st for the WHAM Judged Trail Ride at Silver Creek!  I can't wait for this one! I had so much fun last year even if it is where I hurt my knee. I'm looking forward to doing some work with Joker on obstacles again and even see if we can teach him some new tricks.  It's looking like a very HORSEY YEAR already!! Joker and I have a lot of dates to go on :D 

First Miles

Woo-hoo! Got some miles on the board for 2016 already! I'm super excited for this year if you can't tell :D

January 3rd
1.53 miles (logged)
Rode around the snowy and ice covered arena for a bit with Kalei and Corrine. We had to get the arena churned up a bit for Matt who has on special shoes with plates. He was practically ice skating out there. Joker was a  plow with no problems walking through the ice and snow. It was a rather enjoyable day for a January ride with lots of sun. Joker and I went over to the cornfield across the street for a little bit and we ended up working on Joker's barn sourness. It only comes out once in awhile but every time it does we work through it.

January 9th
.22 miles (logged)
I decided to take advantage of the warmer weather and go see my horse. Little did I know that he had been replaced with a crazy horse and we only got in a .2 mile ride before he thought bucking and rearing were a good option. I did not fall off but rather got him calmed down and then got off myself. I'm not sure if this spookiness came from the fog or just it being warmer out. We took a short walk on foot up the road before turning for home. We did some lounging when we got back and I'm pretty sure my 19 year old quarter horse was now a 4 year old with his antics. I made sure we ended with a calmer horse that was listening to me but it sure was an interesting day at the barn I tell ya :D

Happy Riding!

2015 Year in Review

2015 Year Mileage- 70.75 miles

Wow! 2015 has come to a close and I can’t believe how fast it went. It was a year of lots of ups and one huge down.  I rode every weekend in January, only 2 in February due to a blizzard and below freezing temps, March I was back to every weekend. April brought my first trail ride of the year at Yankee Springs. Joker was great as always. I was really excited for May and our judged trail ride at Silver Creek. I didn’t practice anything with Joker and just wanted to see what he would do.  He was great! He did every obstacle accept 2. That day I fell off my mounting block and tore my ACL, LCL and meniscus in my left knee. It took me out for 2 months.  I had surgery on June 24^th and exactly six weeks after surgery I was cleared to ride again. I will never forget that ride.  It was short but so wonderful! It took away all the frustration and pain. It helped my depression and was the best therapy a girl could ask for.  I never knew how much I needed my horse or how much he needed me until my two months off.  I board my horse and while on crutches it was so much work to get out the barn but hearing that whinny and seeing Joker’s excitement to see me swelled my heart and solidified our partnership. After some time of easy riding, I hit the trail again in October and never looked back. Joker and I logged 38.42 miles from August 12^th till the end of the year. My favorite ride had to be going to Kensington Park and meeting up with lots of other DD teams.  We rode over 7 miles that day which was the longest trail ride we had ever done. I think the river was Joker’s favorite part because he got to splash around! I can truly say that after 2015 I know that Joker is my best friend and we have a solid partnership that is going to carry us into 2016.