Jean broke her collar bone a few days ago. We had Peggy Flemming, a chiropractor and accupuncturist working on some of our horses. Many people were watching, and she had much equipment laying around. Beth came by with one of her horses who spooked at the equipment on the ground and slammed into Jean who fell against the wall and hit her head. Both Beth and the horse were shaken up, and I know Beth feels really bad, even though it wasn't her fault. Jean is 70 years old, and according to one doctor she has a 50% chance of it healing on it's own. She is considering flying out to the west coast to have surgery with a brilliant doctor she has worked with in the past.

Beth's mom is here for a visit. It is cray how much they are alike! Today they rode together all day, and each rode like 8 horses. I joked that I don't even know if my Mom has ever been on a horse =) This weekend they are taking an equine massage course. I am learning that massage and chiropractic work on horses makes a huge difference. Arella was adjusted a few days ago, and I cannot believe the difference in her.

I rode Adeline in Jean's saddle the other day. That is a horse that I have just had trouble with. She never seems happy in her work. However, when I rode her in that saddle, it made all the difference, and I felt like I was riding a different horse. Andrew was visiting at the time and saw the ride and commented on how far she is coming along. I have decided to not ride her in any other saddle! I have also learned how important it is for the rider to have a saddle that helps their position. My saddle doesn't do anything - it doesn't help, and it doesn't hurt. I always thought that it was better to learn "the hard way" and not get any help from the saddle, but I am beginning to realize that I will actually be able to ride better by getting some support from a knee roll, because I will be able to relax more. Long story short (too late) I have been putting the word out that I am looking to buy a saddle. I can't spend a lot though, because I don't have a lot.

We took some video of Raniero yesterday. I really didn't think it was all that good, and even said so in the video, but I was pleasantly surprised when I watched it. I am beginning to look like the riders that I admire whose positions are correct, and who look like they are just sitting up there while the horse is going beautifully. Now I know how much work it is to make it look effortless!

When it goes too long between updates to my blog, I never know where to start. Jake went home, so it is back down to me and Beth. We had Sam helping us out for a few days, but that didn't work out. Jean is talking about taking Tracy off doing morning feed, so that will increase our workload yet some more. It will be manageable, but means that either our days will be longer, or we will work fewer horses. With the sunset becoming later, my guess is that it will be the former.

The pictures are up on the website, and seeing professional pics of me up on a sale page has really helped me to feel professional. Erin has recently complimented my riding as well, saying that it has come along a lot farther that she has even realized. Gilda just came for the weekend to visit and ride Luc. She is very pleased with his progress, and I am very happy to see that he is growing up and taking his job more seriously. She is going to let me start showing him in February! I also have a 3rd client horse, Luna, in training with me. She is an older mare, 12, has had a few babies and has not been ridden in two years. She is quite the project. She is very out of shape and crooked. She seems to like working, but is a bit of a bully on the ground. I think it will just take some time for her attitude to come around. Jean seems to really like her - she is BIG, and is by her favorite stallion, Martini.

Word about John is that he had been telling us that his dog got in to some poison and died while living on the streets. This turned out to be false. However, Jean was still talking to him and trying to work out a way for him to come back. John called me, presumably to talk about the situation. So, when I called him back, I told him that I had been thinking about it, and I did not want him to come back. I explained that on top of the fact that I do not feel I could trust him again, I think it would be better for him to find a place to work where he can have a fresh start. He then said that he was never even considering coming back, and that he just said that because he thought if he did, everyone would forgive him. I told him flat out that his lying and manipulating like that was the number one reason why I did not want him to come back. After saying that, he twisted it and twisted it until he was pointing back at me. At one point in the conversation he said "this is not the worst thing that has ever happened to me, nor is it the worst thing I have ever done." I ended the conversation by telling him that I forgive him, yet I don't want him back in my life, and that I hope that he gets things straightened out for himself. The next day I told Jean what happened, and told her that I think he needs professional help.

I am into week 3 of Business Law - the final class needed before graduation. I am keeping up with the reading and the majority of the discussion. It is tough, but it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Wish me luck!

Whoops, it has been awhile again since I last updated my blog. So much has happened. Let's see, I got to go home for a few days for Christmas, which was very nice. It was awesome to see my family and friends back home. It was a nice break from work too, and I was able to come back refreshed and refocused.

We have Jake helping us out for a few weeks. He has been a very nice addition to our group. Beth and I have had a lot more fun at the barn and after work with Jake being around. In the week since I have been back though, Erin has been sick, so I have been largely working on my own and not getting too many lessons. However, I have had a few good lessons and I have been able to get some good work on my own as well. We have also had Shannon, Jean's daughter, come out to get some professional pictures of us riding some of the sale horses. Seeing my photos up on the website has really helped me to feel like I am really doing this professionally! They aren't bad pics, either!

John called me the other day. Said that he got kicked out of the house, lived on the street for a week and is now at a homeless shelter. He is really sorry for what he did and wants to make it up to everybody. He has been talking to Jean, and says that he wants to come back. I know that Jean wants him back and that what I think probably doesn't matter in the decision, though I did tell her that I would not live with him. Beth is not even willing to work with him. After thinking about it a bit more, I don't think I even want to work with him either.

My roommates and I have been doing a lot of things together lately. This morning we all went out to breakfast, and tonight we cooked and ate together. Now we are watching the Princess Bride, as Jake has never seen it. Gotta run, the best part is coming up!

Last week when John came to get his stuff, he left in the afternoon on Tuesday for a chiropractic appointment and said he would be back but never did come back. That day I found my debit card missing even though Beth and I both hid our purses when John came back. I reported it to my bank and found out that someone tried to use my card at the B&B gas station in Wellborn, which is right down the road from here. I immediately knew it had to be John and filed a report with the Sheriffs department. A few days later when John came back, I called them again and the deputy sheriff came out to the farm and talked to him about the card. He got very upset and said he didn't take it or know who did. The sheriff left for the B&B to get more info, and John packed up all his stuff and was gone in 20 minutes. An admission of guilt if I ever saw one. He went by Erin's house and stopped to talk to her on his way out, and told her that it wasn't him that stole it, but his brother. Now he is a thief and a liar, because his brother was never on the property, I was here all day and it was only John. The guy has some serious issues.

I did not get a day off last week, so this week I have two days off! Just in time too, since I had two papers to write for my class. Now that those are done I am done for the semester, and I still have half the day off and don't know what to do with myself. Just one more semester to complete before I earn my Bachelor's degree. Hey - it only took about 10 years to get my 4 year degree! But honestly, I think having some life and work experience to lend to my studies caused me to get much more out of it than if I had completed it all right after high school. Not only that, but working this job and keeping up with classes has been hard, and I don't think a lot of people would even attempt it, but now I know that I can do it and I have much more confidence in myself. "Do hard things," right? ;)

My training horses are really coming along. Luc, especially, has been a pro. He is like a different horse on the ground, he's not in your face all the time, and he takes his job under saddle much more seriously now that we are doing more advanced work. He is coming along in the lateral work, and his canter is quite nice. Sometimes I get on that horse and I can't believe how well he is coming along, and how quickly too, with just me riding him.

I am really making a lot of progress with Raniero, too. I have been doing a lot of ground work with him to establish trust, and it's been really neat to see how that transfers over to under saddle work. The other day I rode him in the outdoor with Jean and Beth watching, and they both remarked at how good he looked. Now that I have his trust and I can start pushing him a little, I am going to start on lateral work with him as well.

Arella is a superstar! She is so talented and tries really hard - sometimes too hard and she gets tense. I always try to ride her with a smile. We are working on haunches in and counter canter, and they are both coming along. Pretty soon we are going to be doing half pass and flying changes. I love riding that horse because she is so sensitive. She is starting to trust me more too though, so I have been able to get in there and really ride her a bit more, rather than being so careful, as Iris puts it.

It is starting to get a little bit cold. Even though it gets into the 60s or 70s during the day, it is rather cold when we go out in the morning to do chores, and gets cold quickly when the sun goes down. My hands have been getting really dry, chapped, and cracked. I have had to put band aids on over the cracks and moisturize as often as I can. I think I need to get a really good pair of work gloves that are waterproof. Even though I have gloves, I will take them off when they get wet, and I think that is when I start to have problems with my hands. It is pretty apparent to me that I have not done much work with my hands prior to getting down here, since I often wake up with my hands feeling numb, sore, or with swollen joints. There have been mornings that I have woken up and thought "That's it, I can't use my hands today," but it usually goes away once I get going. Beth has made the same observation, though I have noticed that it gets better after awhile.

Beth and I do everything together! It is quite a change for me, as I am used to doing things mostly by myself. We have breakfast together, go to work together, do chores and ride together, take lunch breaks together and relax or socialize together at the end of the day. Last night we even woke up in the middle of the night at the same time to use the bathroom =) I feel very lucky to be living and working with someone that I get along with so well, though I am sure we are in the "honeymoon" period, and that we will have squabbles at some point. Her horse is on his way from Canada right now, and she is going to pick him up from the truck driver this Friday. I am going to try to go with her. She is very excited to have her horse here for training, and I am excited to ride him! I get excited every time I ride a new horse, since they all teach you something different. I was talking with some horsey people online, and I could not name all the horses I have ridden in my life, but I know it has to be well over 100 horses, maybe getting close to 200.

John actually came back last night to pick up some stuff. He needs to borrow a trailer to pick up his horses. Though he has tried a couple of times, he has not spoken to Jean yet. Now that he is back, he says that he misses it, and Iris is trying to talk him into staying. I don't know how I feel about it. In some ways I love having him around, and of course we need the extra help, but he also brings a lot of drama to the place, and it's kind of been nice to not have that.

I had a nice Thanksgiving, though it was the first Thanksgiving I had without my family. We had a fun day just me, Beth, and Luke, and played games on horseback. We also went out and played follow the leader in the field. Towards the end of the day some of the riding mares got into the field next door with a stallion, so we all had to go down there to catch them. Jean also made a Thanksgiving dinner, so I went and had dinner with Jean and Roy. I have been approved to take some time off to go home for Christmas, so I am looking at plane tickets right now. I am sort of excited to have a week of cold and snow - it doesn't feel like the holidays at all here! Though, I am glad that I don't have to put up with it for more than a week =)

John has still not come back to work. He went to his mom's house to have her help take care of him while he was sick, and as soon as he was about ready to come back to work, he got into a really bad car accident. Someone hit him, he went airborn and then smashed into someone else. He said that he really thought he was going to die. He got banged up pretty bad and is having some medical problems. The person he hit is not doing well at all either, and it sounds like they are having insurance issues. I hope that he gets everything straightened up, but I honestly don't know if he is going to come back to work or not. Even if he does, he is not going to be able to ride for awhile.

About a week ago we got a new girl in here - thank goodness! Her name is Beth, and she is from Canada. She used to work here 10 years ago. We instantly became friends, and I have really enjoyed having her here. She is a hard, efficient worker, and is very engaging and funny. She has traveled a lot and has lots of good stories to tell. She is really good with ground work and her mom is a professional equestrian. We balance each other out well and have a lot to learn from each other. In January she is taking a class to become a certified equine masseuse, and I am thinking of joining her. Jean might even pay for it, since her horses are going to benefit from the practice. I just need to make sure it doesn't interfere with my school work, which has been hard to keep up with. But, I only have two weeks left this semester, and then one more class to go before getting my degree - woo hoo!

Andrew came back with three of his stallions this past week. He was working with Immy to take him through the final phase of his approval with the ATA. Andrew is inspirational to me. He is such an amazing rider and trainer, and I know he got his start exactly as I did and progressed to where he is by sticking with it and working hard, which is what I plan to do. Erin said today that it takes 6 months of work to make even a small change in your position. I have been here for 4 months, and have been working on so many things that I know that one day everything is just going to click, even though I can see big improvements in my riding already.

I am going to talk to Jean about taking some time off to go home for Christmas to see my family and friends back home. I hope it works out, I am looking forward to seeing everyone again - but I am not looking forward to the cold! The weather has been perfect here lately, and I have really enjoyed it!

Just a quick update - John has been sick with the swine flu for several days, so there has been a lot of work to do! However, Tracy has been doing more and more with feeding the barn, and Hakim and Elana have been helping me bring horses in and out. The first couple of days were really rough, because Erin was also out and I had to work all of her horses, so I did not get to ride much. However, today I got to ride quite a bit. Erin, Iris, and Jean are all leaving to go to the ATA tomorrow and will be gone until Sunday, so we will have to keep things running. Hopefully John will get better and come back to work. Actually, I hope he comes back, because we don't actually know where he is right now. Regardless of all the work I have been doing, I am staying positive. I know that Jean is seeing how dedicated I am and has been grateful, and I am making it clear that I am working so hard because I really want to ride. She says that I have come so far, and she really wants to make sure that I can continue to ride and improve, which really means a lot. She is also giving me a raise which is nearly unheard of!

We just had a pony come in for training, and guess who gets to ride him - me! He is so gosh darn cute, I just want to eat him up! I will have to get pictures, he is really something. He is a German Riding pony, so he is really fancy. I also have a new training horse, Raniero. He is a black Hanoverian, really big, beautiful, and athletic. I am doing some ground work with him right now until we are confident that he is not going to over react under saddle. I can't wait to get on him though!

Luc has been steadily improving. He is really smart and seems to think the work is fun. We started doing lateral work, and now all he wants to do is go sideways! I practiced riding a quadrille on him today, and he really did well.