2012 Wrap up

Looking back over 2012 it seems to me that it flew by.  It was full of ups and downs, good times and bad.  I am ending 2012 with hope and a determination that 2013 will be so much better.

I know everyone makes resolutions to lose weight, quit smoking --- which I need to do both... but I want to work on my health and hopefully be able to make myself feel better and push through the pain of the Fibro.  I want to be able to ride my horse again without it wiping me out for a couple of days afterward.  I want to be able to show some next year and possibly next fall be out fox hunting. 

I am also letting go of my past and getting rid of the things that blocked my heart on the advice a shamanic healer.  I know it sounds crazy but I met with her last night and I never known anyone who saw me like she did... the good and the bad.  She knew things about me that only were in my head and never spoken to anyone else...  She also said I did have 3 horses in my lifetime that were my favorites.  Its true, over the 20 horses I have owned my three are Squeaky, Hailie and my all time favorite - Baylady.  But Kelli's horse Charlie was saying hi too... that was funny.

I am hoping I can be better off financially this year.  Taking my job with the government has been rough on me cause I took a massive pay cut to come here but I have the job security and benefits.  I wasn't guaranteed a job in the civil engineering world... Developers can't afford to build houses so I was running out of work.  I want to be able to build on the Etsy shop and really be able to market my hair bows.

The things I am thankful for is the 2 people who have came into my life and have become like sisters to me.  I don't have any family besides my mom and these two have made my life better with having someone to be able to talk to about life.  Thank you Kelli and Jess.

So with that I want to say goodbye to 2012 and ring in a happy and health 2013 and I hope everyone else does the same.  Please be safe tonight if you go out...

Etsy!!! I did it!

Well I just took the plunge last night and went into the retail world of Etsy...

I figured I have some things to sell and hopefully I can promote my business of making handmade hair bows for the pony riders in your life.  I also have some vintage equestrian things on there since it is all the fashion rage!

Anyway for the people who read this blog please stop by and check my store out!

Aside Pride Store

Hopefully I will be able to find some neat sidesaddle items to list on there as well and I am going to be selling some of the photos I have taken of the local fox hunt.

Here are the bows

Merry Christmas from the Barn

Well I ended up not being such a Grinch this year.  Our Christmas was very low key spending it with great friends.  Also we were blessed with a white Christmas eve and the snow lasted till morning.

Christmas morning started with breakfast of chip beef gravy, biscuits and sausage.  A Connors' tradition.

The goose is in memory of my Dad.  It was one of his decoy's.

Then down to feed the horses and we had a little fun decorating some of them.

Squeaky

Snip was not thrilled. 

And finally the barn mascot was ready to give out doggie gifts of kisses.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and is looking forward to the New Year!

'Tis the season to be.....

a Grinch... 

Well I figured I would write one last blog post because you do know that the world is going to end tomorrow, right?   I am not holding my breath on that one...

Its been forever since I have posted so lots to update on. 

Life in the horse world has been pretty non-existent.  I leave for work in the dark and I basically get home in the dark.  I only see her basically on weekends when I am trying to catch her.  My mare is the most stubborn horse alive.  The only way to catch her is when she wants attention.  Or my friend K goes out into the field.  She can walk right up to her.  That makes me mad to no end.  Its not like I make the old girl do anything horrible.  She will gets some hot beet pulp with her grain and usually we just walk around the ring while a young girl I help rides one of the ponies.  I'm not asking much.  Oh well, I guess.

Next thing on my list is my health.  It sucks...  I was just diagnosed with Fibromyalgia (not cool).  I have been having steady neck pain, headaches, joint pain, and no muscle strength since October.  It seemed like a fast onset.  But now looking at a lot of the symptoms together it all makes sense.  All my blood work and tests all came back normal.  I am perfectly healthy in that aspect.  Add together that I pretty much feel like shit everyday of my life, I have IBS, HS, psuedo tumor celebri and now Fibro.  Two things are listed on the disability list.  I am 30.  No one should have all this stupid shit wrong with them.

So that's why I am a Grinch!  The only thing I like about Christmas is getting and giving gifts.  I don't have any family to spend it with, so my mother and I become Jewish for the day and go watch a movie and then hit up the Chinese restaurant for Christmas dinner.

So what movie should I see???

2,000 views!

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has read my blog.  Your awesome. 

Update about Sandy.  We made it thru OK.  Just no electric and all horses are fine.  Just lost some tin and siding and a tree thru the fence.  Hope everyone else is doing OK.

Update on Sandy

I'm sitting here in the dark writing this post on my phone so please forgive me if auto correct does something wonky...

Hurricane Sandy has just made landfall off the shore of New Jersey.  I'm located in northern Harford county about five miles from the Conowingo dam.  Its been raining steady since early this morning.  The wind has picked up pretty bad.  We haven't had any trees come down yet but we also haven't gotten the most severe wind yet either. 

So we have decided its better for the horses to be turned out for the storm.  The barn is an old bank dairy barn and I'm not sure how well it will withstand the wind.  Plus a lot of the stalls have flooded.  One stall even had a piece of plywood blow into the stall.  Its good that that horse was not in cause he would of probably ended up getting a nail in his hoof.  All the fields except for two have run in sheds and the mares have been making use of them.  The geldings would rather graze.

So I will try to update in the morning to see what effects of the storm have done to the farm.  Everyone on the east coast stay safe. 

Also saw a link on Eventing nation that had a bunch of listings for if you need to evacuate your horses. 

From Furlongs to Fences

On Saturday October 27th, my mother, a friend and I loaded into the car for a quick drive up to Fair Hill, Maryland.  A group of dedicated people arranged a packed full day of education for FREE for people who wanted to see what our OTTB's learned at the track before they came into our lives.  It was presented in cooperation with the Retired Racehorse Training Project that was made popular by Steuart Pittman's Trainer Challenge that was done at the MD and PA Horse World Expo's.

At 8:30 we met at the Clocker's Tower at the Fair Hill Training Center with Training Center Manager Sally Goswell and Alex Brown who wrote the book Greatness and Goodness: Barbaro and his Legacy.  They gave us an inside view on the track that they train on and the facilities.  They explained the different between galloping and breezing.  We got to watch Mike Trombetta's horse Next Question breeze.  His horse should be flying out of New York on Monday to head to the Breeder's Cup.  I wish him luck as he tries to out run the Hurricane Sandy!  I was excited to see Michael Matz' group come out on the track to train.  Also got to see him ponying a horse that morning.  I grew up when he was at the top of his show jumping career and I loved him. 

I was dumb and forgot to take my camera so all I have is some cell phone pics. Grrr.

Michael Matz set

Michael Matz

Next our group went to tour Bruce Jackson's Therapy Center which is located at the Training Center.  He has a beautiful facility with a variety of ways to get the horses back healthy and to also keep them at the top of their game.  He has a AquaPacer that is a treadmill that you can fill with any level of water depending on the horse.  We next saw the Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber where Next Question was receiving his treatment after his breeze.  Then is was on to the Cold Saltwater Spa.  He also has a stall set up with the vibration plates and an area set up with infrared heat.  If you go to Planet Fitness gym, they have the same thing on a much smaller scale for people.  I think he also has about 50 stalls at his barn also. 

AquaPacer

 

Hyperbaric Chamber

Vibration Plate Stall

Then it was on to tour Mike Trombetta's brand new barn.  He did a wonderful job and everything is well thought out and practical.  He was informative and didn't seem to mind answering questions which I found very nice and down to earth. 

Next we walked through the Herringswell Stables that Graham Motion trains out of.  He is also headed to the Breeders Cup with the horse Animal Kingdom.  Office Manager Sue Kenny was very nice and told us a little about all the horses.

At the same time of the barn tours, if you had planned on it, you could take your OTTB on a trail ride of the park led by Alex Brown and exercise rider Jennifer Paxson.  I do believe they even took them to the training track to have a go around. 

We then congregated back at the Fairgrounds where they presented OTTB's for adoption or sale by different organizations.  They did have a little clinic that Steuart Pittman did on some of the training of OTTB's.  Exercise rider and author Alex Brown, trainer Tim Woolley and Jennifer Paxson showed what tack is used on them in training and why things are done the way they are.  They rode two of the horses that were in their second career and it was amazing to see them remember what they were taught to do.  Some of the clinic riders also tried to ride like a jockey too.  Its much harder than it looks! 

After what was a very long day, the group met at the Fair Hill Vet Clinic where three vets from New Bolton went over the common injuries and problems that a lot of OTTB's face when leaving their career as a race horse. 

I was more than impressed with all the things that were done for people that wanted to see behind the scenes.  Now granted it wasn't the track life but at the Training Center all you saw was happy horses!  All were healthy, shining and relaxed.  It helps to keep their minds fresh that all barns had turnout for their horses and plus their is plenty of trails to keep them always doing something different.  I almost guarantee that if you compared the number of horses with ulcers at the track compared to the number at the Training Center, it would be a huge decrease. 

Today they held an All Thoroughbred Show at the Fairgrounds.  Luckily it sounds like the weather held out and I do know that they had filled the maximum number of entries in every hunter class.  They had some amazing sponsors that stepped up to the plate to donate prize money and any donations left over where going to support various TB charities.

I hope that they will hold this again next year and I am very thankful for the dedicated individuals that donated their time and knowledge and connections to share all their years of racehorse experience.