OH MY... OPENING DAY? YOU DON'T SAY!

What? Oh no you didn't!  Shut up, no way... you just stop!  Do not...  not gonna listen!  Shut up!  NO Way!  JUST STOP!  Slow it down... You're killin' me...  didja know?  You're killin' me!  STOP!

Scary stuff...

So that little soliloquy is the rap that roars into my head when the Bestest Eventing Buddy tells me that she...  let's see...  has already printed out her entries for the first two Area 1 Events.  And when I gasp my surprise, she mentions that Opening Day is two weeks away and that the first Event is just eight weeks away.

Eight weeks...  Just eight weeks to put my big girl panties on and get the 2013 season started.  Sigh....  just eight weeks.  That's kind of like working out the timing for getting a boy friend, falling in love and having a child and then children...  you know, just completing a life's cycle.  



2012 Season... not too shabby

What do I need to do now to be able to start my season in just eight weeks?  {{{I think getting a boyfriend, marrying and having a child might be easier.}}}

Progress is slow but steadily climbing upward.  We're jumping better, with less hysterics from the two of us...  And, I swear that I actually had fun this last jumping lesson.  Trust...  that's what the Eventing Trainer said...  Sugar and I are beginning to develop trust again.  So the very scary jump won't kill her and when I say, "Sug, you must jump the scary jump because I say so..."  Her reply has been...  "Oh?  Oh, OK!"  And that IS good!

Eight weeks...  so little time... so much to do!  Breathe in...  Breathe out!  Eight weeks... gonna be a good year!  Just you wait and see...

A WHOLE LOTTA LOVE

Best Facebook status of the day...  "Some call it Valentine's Day, I call it Thursday!"

Nothing like the love of a good biscuit!

For the record, I am not one of those  "I hate Valentine's Day" types, nor am I a lonely spinster (although I believe my mom thinks I am) or the inevitable single-never-been-married-animal hoarder.   Occasionally, I sometimes look like a "Cat Lady" even though I do not have cats. (No, I will not enter "What Not to Wear"!)

It's just that Valentine's Day forces people to acknowledge love as if it had to be forced.  I say...  Love always, acknowledge often...  whenever, wherever to whomever.



Loving the City Barn view



Once, way back when, I believed that love was finite, as if there was this one bucket filled with love for all to have and use.  If someone used it to give to another, the bucket had less love for the rest.  It was a tough world to live in when you hoarded love and only dolled it out when absolutely necessary.  And god forbid if you gave some away and it was not returned in kind....

Today, that bucket is sitting on a geyser... not only overflowing but on a slightly regular and often basis it erupts into gushers of love, happiness and good will.  Today, I find this is the bucket I want in my life... 

So on this Valentines Day...  I send a bucket out to all my peeps and hope that I follow my own words and work to make this a frequent appreciation of love:

• The  Villagers who keep me sane...
• My Family who love me despite their confusion
• My Sistah Friend whom I adore



Photo used with permission
www.yokinaphotos.com

• Dressage Trainer, Eventing Trainer and Bestest Eventing Buddy who make my world fun
• New Barn Girl and the Berlin Gang for making it bright
• Hunt Club Peeps for kicking it up a bit
• And of course...  Da Boys and Sugar for the buckets they give me every day
• (Note, I would have to reread my posts to remember the other names I've given to memorable Peeps...  I haven't forgotten you....)

Give a whole lotta love...  you would be surprised at how much it expands...  Wooooo hoooo!

Confessional Note - I can be a grumpy, pissy girl too...  that just makes me human and gives the Villagers and a Professional Friend or Two some great topics to work on and improve!!!

ODE TO THE WINTER BARN WORKER



"Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire inside is delightful. And, since we've got no place to go... Let it snow, let it snow... LET IT SNOW!"

Nemo was a beautiful blizzard with it's light fluffy snow flakes and howling winds whipping through bare trees.  I was nestled comfortably between a sleeping hound and napping lab.  It was the perfect night to catch up on things...  personal things, like cooking and cleaning projects, doing taxes and maybe a nap or two. 

The state wide driving ban prevented a visit to the barn to be sure Ms Sug was warm and comfortable.  I knew she was in good hands but I still wondered and worried just a bit...

 Of course we appreciate them... sometimes with a holiday gift or two.  Yet, while I was cuddled up on the couch snugglying Mr Floppy...  The City Barn woke to drifts over 20 feet high, blocking barn doors.  And, with the blizzard still roaring, they used the school ponies to get to the barns to feed our lil princesses and princes.

If it were me, I might have cried myself back to sleep.   Instead, they worked and dug and worked and dug...  little by little what was once a mound of white was transformed into the barn we trust will keep our ponies safe... 

I dream of owning this barn... my plans are quite amazing if I do say so myself.  (I can really go on and on about what I'll do when I win the big, big lottery.) 

When I saw the Barn Owner tacking up his horse just 48 hours after the blizzard hit, I thanked him.  And then asked him to send me these pics on the day I win that big lottery... 

It is a real reminder that Barn Work and Ownership is a huge under taking and not as easy as the vision of my dreams...

 

Yes, City Barn Boarders and Friends, I saw your Facebook posts and I know we're grateful for the efforts this past weekend.  I wonder, sometimes, if an appropriate token of our gratitude could be one less text reminding the Barn Worker to put on the green sheet after taking off the blue blanket or perhaps, maybe... one less suggestion (complaint) about how to better do the stalls or manage the indoor. 

You see, I'm not sure I would have wanted to be the first person to walk down from the warm house or barn apartment and be greeted with the beautiful white fluffy snow "gently" blowing around the hill.  So, my penance for being tucked away, cozy and warm, is a ban on any thoughts, comments or suggestions on anything that looks like "improvements"...  cause after Finding Nemo, I am not worthy to "improve" upon anything!

City Barn Workers and Owners...  I humbly bow in your general direction and say...  YOU ROCK!  And THANKS!!!!

And for all of you who do this work so well...  Boarders and Friends thank you too... 

Note - All photos are courtesy of the Orchard Hill Equestrian Center Staff and Friends  (www.orchardhillequestriancenter.com)

A SIGN! A SIGN! I SEE A SIGN!

Used with permission
www.dexterpic.com

So some people read their horoscopes every day, others go to psychics, animal communicators...  looking for and wanting to hear that special something that says...  Hmmm, you'll make more money? Or, find a little sumthin, sumthin to keep that smile going?  Or, that your princess has been a damsel in distress and just a tweak of a saddle fit will make the spook go away?  Yup, looking for and reading the signs that predict an outcome...

So fair warning to all my Area 1 competitors, my ship is about to sail, the polyester will be bright blue, the rainbow's end is filled with gold and Saccharine is being laid to rest!  All signs are pointing forward and we are about to rock and roll!  {{{Note to self - Appears to be a common theme at this time of year.}}}

I luf me USEA Area 1's Silent Auction!  Mix shopping, savings and a wiff of prizes and I can feel my competitive spirit rise up and take over.  And gosh, I have been a good competitor and once, even took home $2,400 in prizes "winning" an entire season's entries to some of the finest Horse Trials in Area 1.  {{{ Note to self - Must look up the definition of prizes.}}}}

Yet in 2010, Sugar fractured her splint bone the week before the coveted Groton House entry - scratched.  That season was a big year of donating a $25 administration fee for every event entered.  While disappointed at having to scratch, I was proud of my philanthropic endeavors. 

Favorite Grrrrr pic from 2009
Used with permission
www.connecticutphotos.com

And in 2011, I parted ways into a tree at the prestigious Groton House Farm Horse Trial thus being eliminated at the first of several of my "winning" entries and thus forfeiting the entire 2011 season.  Well, you can't call me a quitter because 2012's Silent Auction was the banner year for winning entries but not so much in completing them

The 2013 Silent Auction was a complete and total loss...  I was beat thoroughly by my fellow Area 1 eventers.  I aggressively bid on my favorite events and came out of the Annual Meeting with nothing - nada - empty - nothing.  Well, I can count a Stuart Horse Trial water bottle and an Adult Rider fleece as winnings but this year, I pay full price! 

The Bestest Eventing Buddy, Eventing and Dressage Trainer almost said, in unison, "2013 is gonna be a good year!"

Now, if you can just point me in the direction of where I put my GRRRRRRRRRRRR!  Looks like I'm gonna need it!

"IT'S A MARATHON"

I hate running.   Despite nine varsity letters, being captain or co-captain of each sport and, being voted Most Athletic in high school, I would be the first to tell you that I am the laziest workaholic around.  There are a million ways to avoid running laps...  just ask me how!

At today's sales conference, I got inspired.  Sure, it was directed at my profession but as each gem was revealed, I could see how it applies to my passion.  The facilitator was not vague...

• Success, you see, is not a sprint.  It's a marathon!  
• If you want to be a part of this success, you have to commit time and energy to it.
• There are a many ways to fail, forget them!  Find the yes and stick to it!

Um... WOW!  This is just a little wake up call.  I love the rush of the sprint!  It's fun, exciting and quickly completed.  {{{Kind of the way I dated, just sayin!}}}  A marathon is so hard... finding a rhythm and sticking with it - changing and improving based on the conditions before you.  It can also be tedious and maybe just a bit boring.

I get discouraged at my lack of progress.  Our dressage is becoming amazing and I'm pretty sure Sugar and I will beat everyone out in the warm up.  It's the jumping.  I been should've-ing all over myself again.  ("I should be better by now.  I should be faster.  I should be jumping bigger." Um, and if I am to confess, "I should be winning.")

Ah, the heart and mind of a sprinter.  Tonight begins the transformation into a marathoner.  And, its about time...  Yes it can be done!  Forgetting about failure is done by practice... one thought at a time.  Yes, it will be done!

You know, I think its going to be a banner year... at work!  And at play! 

THE KISSABLE NOSE

Babies... be they little kids or puppies... you just wanna kiss them.  Their world is untainted from complications... most everything they see or touch is new and the very joy of experiences draw you in...  They are most kissable...

Tonight, after carefully cleaning her hooves and painting them with hoof harder in preparation for this week's onslaught of mud and slush, I stopped, cupped her muzzle and kissed her.  It was a loud smooching kiss - first on the right, then on the left... pausing just for a moment to breathe in that clean earthy scent and then finished with a kiss dead center on a muzzle smudged with this evening's dinner.  It was a most kissable nose!

Underneath Sugar's quirkiness lies a schoolmarm.  It is a persona complete with a grey shapeless dress, a high collar and a string of small white pearls... prim, proper and respectful. She is there to teach and please, no shenanigans...  just work!

The horse I rode in my lesson was powerful.  It was a mare with a strong body, lightening quick feet and a spook that jolted very core of your being.  We asked her to lift her wither up, to bring her hind end under and to move forward with rhythm and grace.  Although Sug was "with me" (or me with her), the pressure to give and then to release would sometimes erupt into a sideways leap or two.

My 14 year old niece patiently waited for her turn on my lil' pinto pony.  As one lesson finished, two more groups of even younger kids came into the indoor for their weekly ride.  Nervously, I asked the Dressage Trainer...  "Do you think I should let her get on?  Do you think Sugar might be too much horse?"   As expected the answer was. "Depends on if the schoolmarm shows up."

That nose...  that beautiful multicolored nose... was the most Kissable Nose.  You see, from the second my Niece mounted, Sugar gave her a lesson...  She was kind, obedient and did what she was asked in a manner that said, "I'll give you the ride of a lifetime 'cause you deserve only the best."   A radiant smile was my reward.

And for you Miss Sugar...  Thanks for taking care of a lil' girl with a dream!

My Niece taking on Ms Sug and lovin life!

MAKING THINGS HAPPEN...

So I'm a big believer in destiny!  I'm not talking about the kind of destiny that happens to you but the kind of destiny that you make happen for yourself.  You know...  not being the kind of person that is a victim of circumstances but that person who has a goal and then, makes it happen.

Two happy mares

Ok, here's another little confession for you...  I am a Facebook junkie!  {{{Right now, somewhere a friend - the real kind or a family member are collectively and loudly saying DUHHHHH!}}}  I like to post, I read your posts and I even look at pictures.  "Why bring this up now Suzanne?  Who really cares about your little Facebook obsession."

When I wish you a Happy Birthday, I most likely add a comment or a wish to the greeting.  "Happy Birthday... make it a great start to your new year!"  You see, I believe you are the master of your destiny...  Things don't happen to you...  you make it happen.

And today is our start to the New Year...  the collective New Year!  How are we going to "make it great!"?  I do not believe in resolutions for they are meant to be broken.  Goals are set to guide us to our dreams come true.  I choose to have goals instead!

One snuggly hound

2012 was a year of negativity, anger and even hate...  the level of animosity that grew out of this year's election was unprecedented.  A happy medium did not exist on the national stage.  Towards the end of the cycle, I could see how this energy affected me and how and when I acted on it.  It does not serve me well, at all!  So...

Today, this first day of 2013, I will embrace love and tolerance and work hard at eliminating negativity, fear and distrust.  Be it at the barn, in the office or even a cranky barista who thinks my order is a royal pain in the butt.  I will smile, say thank you and wish them well.

And the trusty lab...

Today I begin to treat Sugar like my long term partner in a healthy, happy relationship instead of the nagging, pissy fish wife I've become.  I honor her, not for her beauty (per my Bestest Eventing Buddy, that is the reason she is still alive), but for her work ethic, athleticism and her entertaining spooks that can clear the indoor in a hurry.

And most importantly, today I recognize all that I have is a gift to be cherished.   It is a life filled with good people, fun adventures and too many stories to tell.  The gift is in the joy, the love and the challenges to overcome.  I am, indeed, a very lucky girl!  For that I must be grateful...

And today, I'll wish you well in this, our collective New Year!  Make it happen!