I never saw the merit in a blog. I mostly figured these things were useful only for self-righteous idiots who didn't have the intelligence to be capable of face-to-face interaction with those of us who exist in the real world, but I guess even those of us who monopolize our time with real world endeavours must at some point bow down to the relevance of the internet and utilize all it has to offer. Not that this is common practice for someone like me who is literally up to her ears hectic mayhem on a regular basis. but since this will continue on for now, I guess a small background session would be appropriate.
I wish my life's story were interesting and fanastical but it's not. I grew up in a city in Ontario, Canada and have lived in the province most of my life. I was definitely not a normal kid, but I don't think I was anything special either. I passed high school by the skin of my ass and due to a determination to not be labellled a useless fuck before I hit 20 (yes, I do swear a lot so for those of you who are offended, please discontinue reading.) Once graduated from the hell hole I was forced to survive for 4 intermineable years, I joined the Canadian Air Force and started my life as an enlisted member. Of course, the large part of this blog is not to blither on about my job as an aircraft mechanic (that's right boys, I turn a wrench with the best of them) but to talk more about my life involved with horses and the rest of my fanatical pursuits. The entire reason I am capable of even owning such an animal is completely due to my fabulous job, and when I say fabulous I'm not kidding! Most people aren't into the restrictive conformity the military offers but I find that it gives me purpose and focus in my life. So really, my job deserves significantly more than ann honourary mention and will probably receive much attention in the future.
On to the main goal... horses. I have been in the saddle on and off ever since I was 4 yrs old. My love for these massive four-legged creatures was fostered primarily by my mother whose family had at one time, though not in my life-time, bred palamino Quarter Horses. Palamino is the colouring, a golden coat with a white mane and tail, and QH is the breed. I myself own a Thoroughbred and an Appaloosa. My TB is a black mare, and when I say black, she does fade during the summer if I let her out during the day but in the winter when her true colour shows she is jet black from head to toe with not one marking on her. She was foaled Feb. 20, 2006 and she was my first horse. My Appy is a beautiful chestnut gelding with only a white arrowhead onn his forehead and a white smudge on his nose, and because he is technically half QH, he has no blanket to speak of. He was foaled March 15, 2000 and has become my competition animal seeing as my mare is not old enough nor trained enough to be capable of what I like to compete in.
Now for my experience, though the only official lessons I can speak of are two weeks of pony camp while I was 12 and a handful of lessons I have taken to prep myself for competition, given by my stable manager Stacey, I am actually far more knowledgeable than most people expect. There are holes in my education, but I only ever have to be told something once, especially about a subject matter I enjoy, and it's stuck in my brain forever. That being said, last summer was my first foray into the world of horse competition. I will admit that next summer it will take all my force of will not to kill someone if I coninue into english competition, seeing as I rather enjoy doing hunter and jumper, and I do equitation and pleasure to round it out. But my one calling I will not give up because it's just too much fun is barrel racing. Yes, i just said barrel racing. Quite the conundrum for those people who might have the prim and proper image of a classic english rider in their heads. Sadly, it's the only way to keep my horse's head occupied aswell. Forest, my appy, is a peculiar horse, especially for a gelding. His bloodlines, for those of you reading who know a bit about QHs, include Impressive. And he's only 4th generation away. So he's a little wonky in the head (and yes he did come up negative.) But he also has a very short attention span. So to diffuse his frustration, we run around barrels. Admittedly he has trained in Western Pleasure and Reining, so he really is a western horse, but he seems to have the oddest philosophy when it comes to jumps; if he's not going over it, he's going through it! An excellent attitude for jumper and even for hunter when he slows down! So that's my gelding in a nutshell.
Now my mare is another story all together. She is the sweetest, cuddliest, most trusting animal I ever had the opportunity to meet, but i swear on my life she is bi-polar or something! Sadie, my TB, is a horse I saved from the track at Woodbine, but her training was significantly more lacking than the original owner inferred. Of course, I had gotten her for free so really I couldn't have cared. but it does mean that I have put a lot of work into her, but at only four years old she is very calm not only for her age, but also for her breed. I could never give her up, but every animal has a price, sad as it is to say. Though I do have big plans for her. I'm hoping that she stands at pony height, and I'll train her to be a hunter pony and if I have the money down the road when she's 7, I'll breed her to my stable manager's stud, SS Windallore, a pure hanovarian, and have the baby registered as a sport horse and train it myself to compete hunter/jumper also. The beauty is that the stud is a black aswell, so the baby could turn out just stunning! But I also hope that Sadie will achieve the goals I have set for her. She's smart and she learns incredibly quickly for a TB.Even Stacey was shocked when she started to use my mare as a lesson horse for more advanced students who needed a challenge from the regular school horses.
I addition to my horses though, I do own a small menagerie at home. I have three cats; Marvin, Shadow, and CowBelle, and a small corn snake, Ollie. I find it totally necessary to have animals at home to keep me company, because even if they don't talk, they are the best kind of company!
TTFN,
Lady Sadie
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