Trailer is almost loaded, Amanda is bringing Brooke over tomorrow, and we will leave out of here for the loooooong drive to Virginia. I have some DVDs, my Honda is loaded and full of gas (still gotta find out about the helmet laws!) and I am taking my Sugar dawg with me for company! Amanda's mom will drive her Prius up there and once we get settled, we are going to see about taking the kids on a ghost tour! Brooke will get all of Tuesday and Wednesday to relax as come Thursday, all the competition will be ON!
More later...gotta go get a few horses off the pasture!

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!
We are going to regionals in Lexington Virginia after all!!!




Just found out when Amanda called tonight to say they called her as an alternate...so now we are scrambling to get Brooke with a health certificate to get out of the state of Florida, make campsite reservations (Amanda will stay in a hotel with her mom and friend Carra) and get prepared for a very long drive!

Pictured is Amanda winning a hanger full of ribbons from showing my mare Cleo (Zippos Dream Maker) So see!? Everyone who ran down Amanda and her toughing out that incredibly weird English judge at the state show, well all I can say is LOOKOUT for Miss THANG and Miss Cleo next year!!
Anyhow the upcoming 4H year, Amanda will be using Cleo as her show horse...we are hoping they make it to Oklahoma regionals...and why not? They are TALENTED together!



I am so glad to help such a good kid out with such an awesome horse like Cleo...Amanda has a really nice Paint mare but she has issues at all the wrong moments. Cleo isnt like that...

Oh and I want to hear about what happened at Paint world that had everyone in sucha uproar!! Dirt, gimme dirt!!!!!

The state show was GOOD and BAD...Good because the kids we took (my daughter is their trainer) are terrific well grounded kids...no spoiled brats or drama queens...Bad because first Clyde got sick the moment he arrived...down he went...Collicked three times. He is 26 yrs old (you wouldnt know it to look at him) Then Truman got sick (22 yr old qh) so that Carra couldnt finish showing her classes with him. Then on the afternoon of the last day, Sugar collicked and was taken to Gainesville with a blockage...she is okay now but WTF!!!!!??? Bad because, once more, Florida weather puked all over us! RAINED and stopped, RAINED and stopped...ENOUGH already!!! Take your freakin' lightening bolts and jam 'em where the sun don't shine...
Anyhow Kaily did awesome (pictured above wearing the shirt I made her!!) as she and her 3 yr old "Elmo" cross the water box...she got incredible placings for her first even state show...she ended up 6th high point 13 & under. She got a 2nd in showmanship out of 61 kids, a 4th in trail out of 70+ exhibitors, and her whole weekend went on like that.
So on Monday we have had a crazy round dance to find all the kids new YOUNGER horses...Jessica, Clyde's mommy, is going to come out next weekend and try out my mare Foxy...She is a lovely rider and I think Foxy will like her a lot. Caitlin's adult client Priscilla may loan Carra her show mare "Zipproof" and Melanie, Sugar's mommy, is about to lease the little darling pony out to a child rider and move onto a big full-sized model herself.
I wish I could have had parents like me and these kids'...I would have enjoyed 4H so much more!
So now since Carra and Amanda didnt make the points needed to go to Virginia, we aren't...Amanda got ripped off...the english judge was so weird. She placed a bucking warmblood that loped his trot pattern SECOND in the HUS class...still scratching my head over that!
Oh well...by next summer, these kids will be spectacular and then regionals is held in Oklahoma!!!!!!!! Jeez...

I am getting freaking TWITCHY with no shows...we leave tomorrow morning for almost a week in Tampa watching everyone ELSE show their horses...I am bringing my shihtzu and some work, and just kick back but it makes me nuts when I see obvious mistakes and horses getting ridden wrong...This is Caitlin's chance to shine with her kids (did I mention it is the state 4H show?) If either Carra or Amanda make top numbers, we are going to Virginia, hauling Truman and Brooke up for them...Caitlin reminded me today that I will not be taking Cleo this year...for the last two years the big girl has accompanied us to the Southern Regionals and was a huge favorite. At least I got to ride. Not this year. Maybe I should stay home. It will be LATE September before I get to show again...Gotta get my butt to the world shows...I can do it!!!

I rode Crush this morning before this evil storm blew in...hadnt ridden him since last Thursday; I am always testing him...So today minus spurs and after his usual half hour of jogging in the round pen, I mounted up and he RETAINED what we had worked on last week...RETAINED...what a lovely word...He remembered that jogging is easier than balls-to-the-wall trotting and he JOGGED...I was ecstatic... I think the cutting horses over at Ham Browns' place must have heard me yelling "GOOOOOOOOD BOOOOY!!" I almost cried. His lope was soft and responsive. We loped around the cones and he held it well, no speeding up, no ducking out, no wobbles...Twenty minutes of happiness and I cut it short...he got a rinse and a hug, big nose kisses and turn out until the lightening started up...he was so relaxed he came loping right in when I called him. I see where this may take a while but I got nothin' but time for my big white Doof...

Ever wanted to try something new?

I spent all day watching the live feed on the internet from the Paint world show...at the end of the day they had a cattle class that looked like amazing fun. If I had married a cattle rancher instead of a plumber, I would be riding those classes...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-gFqmeK5GQ&feature=related

I could live on a horse...Caitlin and I agree there is no such thing as normal people unless they are attached to a horse...

I should give some updates...me and Cleo are truly making huge advances in the push towards competing in the bigger classes shamelessly at the fall shows...The gym has been a huge help with my balance, my over-all fitness and I just got my all my hair cut off and it doesn't look AWFUL at all! Confidence helps when all your competition at the world got their asses sacked...yeah yeah...it could be me but it wasn't...I hope to go out there and at least get mentioned...Me and Cleo.
As for me and Crush, he is really getting the idea...he is figuring out that when I ask for a slow jog, and I don't get a slow jog, we are gonna spin some circles out in the middle of the arena...I laid out some big traffic cones (they followed me home) and we started out first jogging them...well, I called it jogging and he called it jogging, but it was pretty ground-shaking...so he finds out what the word jogging means cuz it ain't fun to RUN cones at a hard trot. He actually is a better loper than he is a jogger. Amazing. Oh yeah, I also took off my spurs. That helped a LOT...I stayed in the cowboy snaffle...no harsh stuff on the Doofus as he doesn't think about learning when he is worried about his tender little body...
Feed is now $14 a 50 lb bag. Help us oh Lord. I can't bear to tell the old man.

The above is an outfit I would love to make!
Below is one I have for sale becxause it didnt fit me...I had a lady make it for me and she did a fabulous job but they werent MY measurements!! So I went down, bought more fabric and am making myself one that fits me. It is upholstery fabric!

Fashion Nazi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is so enlightening to find other people who create their own outfits...I got talked into sewing a purple top for one of my daughter's kids who had found chaps but couldnt match the color...so Caitlin found material and I sewed a top for Kailey...first off the material was a BITCH to sew...was like tissue paper...it wouldnt press for nothin' either...it would skew under the feed dogs of the machine and I must have torn out seams 4 times on every turn of the way...the pattern sucked so I came up with my own!
Now that it is done, I am never going to buy material like that again...I love working with Brocade so I have two outfits I am working on now; a gold brocade and a black one. I also am making pants for a Lisa Nelle top one of Caitlin's clients bought that had never worn!!! It is a size TWO!!!!!!!!!! I hate people that small!!!!!!!!!! And then she has me take it in!!!!!!
I pour over the Equine Chronicle out of Ocala and study what everyone is wearing in their pictures...I think I could do it full time but MY problem is that *I* want to wear and use everything I make! BAAAAD business!
Anyhow I would love to see what people wear to their shows!