As fellow equestrians I'm sure you will understand my excitement in this.  I got to go shopping... for my HORSE today!  It wasn't a big deal, I purchased a pair of black SSG gloves (very nice by the way, I rode with them this afternoon), a nice leather halter (I thought Buck would like to look handsome when he goes for trips off the farm), and a new set of stirrup leathers for my jumping saddle (let's just say the others were not jumping safe anymore).

The one purchase which REALLY excited me was this:

A Charles Owen JR8 helmet!!!!  Ok, maybe not a big deal to anyone else, but to me, after using the same helmet I've had since I was I dunno... 10 years old, it's a HUGE deal!  I've always had this paranoia in the back of my mind about my current helmet not being able to hold up to a fall anymore, because of it's age.  I'm not really sure what the life expectance is for a riding helmet, it's never been dropped or anything, but it is 17 years old.  I'm thinking if nothing else, this new helmet will have the "modern" technology my current helmet lacks and, hopefully, will put my mind at ease.  Plus, it was specifically fitted to me (I have a huge head, 7 1/4!!!).  My current helmet was fitted to my 10 year old head and therefore, is a little bit TOO small and feels like it's squeezing my brain!

Rode my pony boy tonight, he was perfect.  I can't wait until we get our arena finished so I have a flat place to work.  I've decided currently there is not a single flat stop on my property for us to work.  It's awesome for hill work (Buck has a weak right stifle) but makes flatwork or anything else virtually impossible.  My husband got a phone number for a guy who does work with a bulldozer so I'm hoping he gets ahold of the guy and he can help us out, for a reasonable price of course!

I've pretty much decided I'm terrible at blogging.  It's fun, I like writing... when I remember (or have the time for that matter)!  I'm sorry for those who were actually nice enough to follow my blog, and also for those who occasionally take the time to actually look at it, I'm a slacker!

It's been over a month since my last post and since then I've gotten a job, started training with a different trainer (still at Cheryl's facility but with her assistant trainer Emily), and oh there was that big deal... the Olympics!

Photo from NBCOlympics.com

If you have been paying attention at all you already know the results and a big Congratulation goes out to all who medaled in the 2012 Olympics.  Obviously eventing was what I watched the most of and really, I'm proud of our US team, even though they didn't place they still came in 7th which isn't bad at all considering some of the things that happened to them (poor Boyd and Otis having to scratch due to injury in their first Olympic Games).

For those of you who haven't been able to watch any of the equestrian portion you can go on NBCOlympics.com and watch entire event replays (so long as you have a television subscription which shows their channels) and I won't spoil the rest since those who watch know what happened and those who haven't should DEFINITELY watch!

Back to me (ha I'm sure you'd rather hear more Olympic talk!), I FINALLY got a full time job (after a couple of months of panic because I wasn't sure we'd be able to pay our bills at the end of the month!).  Hopefully now my husband and I can pay all our bills AND we'll have some money left for fun stuff (which for me is always horse stuff).  It's with the Missouri Department of Social Services and I'm not really sure what else I can say about it since there's some confidentiality paperwork I had to sign but I'll just tell you I'm pretty excited.  It's in the evenings from 4PM to midnight which gives me plenty of time to still work with my horse and hopefully go to some different events!  The unfortunate side, however, is my husband does not get off work until 4:30 in the afternoon which means he doesn't get home until around 5:30.  I'll already be at work every day before he gets home except for the one day a week I work 9AM to 5PM and the two days I have off :-(

Also, started riding with Emily, Cheryl's assistant trainer.  It's been fun, she's very talented and makes everything so easy for me to understand and Buck is doing pretty great already.  We're still in the process of building an arena at home so there is not a whole lot of great places to ride.  We're doing a lot of hill work though which is great because Buck has got pretty weak stifles, more specifically the right one.  I'm hoping we get to go to Queeny Park in St. Louis at the beginning of September for their one day mini event (all three phases wrapped up in one day) and test the waters a bit...

Rode Buck this afternoon and he was great, a little distracted since I do not have a structured place to work him, but we walked and trotted some hills and that really helped him to focus a little more.. or maybe it just made him tired and he didn't care what else was going on anymore haha!  He's so dull to my leg I really think I need to start doing some sort of exercises to build up the strength in my leg.  He doesn't hardly pay any attention to me until I get my leg out of position and goose him with my heel... bad for me because I already have a poor leg position as it is!  I was playing with fate after a bit, a friend of my husband's showed up, started up a chainsaw and proceeded to cut down the huge trees in behind my house (the area we've designated for the new arena)... I decided he had been good for the 30 minutes I was on him and it would probably be best if we quit while we were ahead and before I ended up on my head!

From now on I promise to TRY and keep up with this blog!  What's the point in having it if you don't write!!  Oh and I'll try and remember to get some pictures at the horse show to post, since any other time I'm riding Buck there's no one around with a camera (or my husband is too busy doing other things haha!).

Oh and I almost forgot, I was looking at a pair of tall dress boots and I was wondering if anyone who reads this has used TuffRider Ladies Baroque Dress Boots?  They're not too expensive and they look pretty decent but I am having a difficult time finding any consumer reviews about them.  If you've had them please, let me know what you thought!