Quick update.

My car is finally almost 100% fixed! My radiator and 2 gasket heads have been replaced, and now all I have to do is clean the carburetor. When I picked up my car yesterday I was like a little girl at Christmas. It felt great to drive away without any hesitation or any strange popping noises. I have to get a picture of my car up ASAP but for those who don't know, my car is a '79 Buick Regal I got as a coming home gift from MN!

Health wise I am doing much better. I went to a chiropracter this week and my shoulder feels so much better! Surprisingly the pain in my shoulder was resulting from my right hip hurting, which caused me to put my weight into different muscles in my legs, which then made the change in pressure go diagonally up my back to my left shoulder. Dr A is fantastic and he really listened to me, all the other docs thought I was insane when I said my right hip and left shoulder hurt. I go back on the 20th for another appointment to get adjusted again.

Now horse wise, riding has been great!! I have been riding numerous horses and it feels awesome!
My friend Maggie hit the concept right on the head. "Riding different horses is like having a boyfriend and your other friends. You have the other horses (your friends) that you put some energy and emotions into but then you have that ONE horse (your boyfriend) that you put the majority of your time/energy/emotions into. If you spend all your time on one horse, eventually your going to loose the ability to deal with different horses (e.g. if your boyfriend breaks up with you and you haven't spend time with friends during time of the relationship, your friends won't be there)." It was a great analogy.

I have been riding Mel, a 20 year old Morgan who is getting back into shape after being a trail horse for 5+ years, Tia has ridden Mel in one show this year and they took 1st in both their pleasure and equitation shows. Then there is Gigi, a standardbred who was raced but never won anything so she was retrained and became a trail horse also. Now she is getting back into working again, we would like to show her in dressage but we need to make sure she will trot instead of pace all the time (not sure if this possible?) but it's worth a shot! We are working on with her getting forward and less behind your leg. Then there is Sooner, a upper level dressage horse who was bought for a couple's daughter, said daughter got a boyfriend and said horse has been sitting in the pasture since. Sooner is a FANTASTIC horse, she loves to jump, has a ton of energy, and very athletic. She doesn't look in the  best of shape but this horse can go for hours and still want to go for more! She is ALSO getting use to working again, and she loves it. The last horse I have only ridden once and that is Lucy. A quarter horse who is finally able to be ridden after a very bad accident with barbed wire. I'm not sure if I will ride her, because she is very barn bound. We have to ride in the pasture since there is no other place to ride (don't worry the pasture is riding worthy! there are some nice flat areas that are free of pot holes and hazards). I have delt with Mr P in the past about wanting to go back to the barn, but the barn wasn't connected to the arena I rode in, and I trusted that he wouldn't buck too big, with Lucy I am unsure. I will ask my friend Maggie to hop on her (she is an amazing rider and very talanted). We aren't too concerned about working Lucy because she won't ever be able to do heavy riding, but it would be nice to just hop on her and work her lightly without worrying.

So folks that about sums it up. Very uneventful but I love it :)
Thank you for reading!!

Summer is almost over!

It's almost depressing that it is August already. I feel like my summer has just flown by. I am still working 40 hours a week, and for the most part I love my job.

The past two weeks I have been riding A LOT and I am loving every moment of it. At this point in time I am riding 5 different horses! Today I rode my friend's horse Star (a Morgan X Welsh Cob cross) who is adorable! I love Morgans to being with but this cross was fantastic, despite her short stature (small enough to be in the pony category). Star has a wonderful personality and it was great riding a smaller horse for once and a horse that tends to be in front of your leg instead of behind.

My lessons have been on hold the past two weeks due to car issues. My car ended up over heating on me on the interstate and I found out I had to have the radiator replaced. I have a guy that is the husband of a friend look at the car, whom I trust after my mechanic quoted me $400 for the whole radiator job (the radiator would cost $150, and take about an hour and a half to replace) I was NOT pleased when I heard this. I also asked said new mechanic to give the engine a great tune up and he found that I needed new gasketts for my engine..which would end up being costly even though the parts were $100, since it is a deep engine job the labor would be longer. So due to lack of car and expenses I have not had lessons for two weeks, but with all the riding I am doing I feel myself getting stronger and having more stamina (OH I have also lost a pound!)

On top of my car problems, I have been having body problems. I thought I had torn my rotator cuff in my shoulder and had arthritis developing in my wrists. But it came out to be just tendonitis in my wrists, and in my shoulder things are rubbing and pinching that shouldn't be rubbing and pinching. Eventually I might need to get cortisone shots for it (yuck!)

On Monday I popped over my first jump ever. Please keep the criticism to yourself haha, it was only a 4 inch cross rail in the center so not high at all, and I just wanted to see how I did. Well, I didn't fall off, and my feet stayed in my stirrups and my heels stayed down!! My two point wasn't the best but that will come with more training!

Well that is just a super quick update, my wrists are starting to hurt from all of the typing, I hope to post more often since the summer is winding down!!

Thank you for reading :)

How bad do you want it?

This is a question I ask myself before I ride, when I'm riding, and after I ride. How bad do I want to event? What am I willing to do to succeed?

Today I had a lesson on Griffon, an Irish Draught. It was also in the high 80s today with high humidity. Since the indoor was way to dusty to ride in I rode outside for my lesson.

During my lessons I have been working on strengthening my lower leg and making it solid in order to drive the horse forward. I have my good moments and bad moments, but it is certainly coming along.

Towards the end of my lesson I really started to feel tired, and Griffon felt my energy draining too because he became much harder to stay in the trot, let alone have him still be forward.

Eventually it got to the point where I had to take my feet out of the stirrups to get him into a trot (I know BAD Stasha) but I was so weak and my awesome trainer was shouting at me to get him into the trot "A few more rounds Stasha and we'll call it a day!" so I knew just walking wasn't going to get us anywhere.

I finally had to call it a day when I almost puked from the heat. Yeah, it almost got bad, and I really didn't want to stop but I knew Griffon wouldn't like it if I hurled while I was on top of him (I bet no one has desensitized a horse for THAT). Having to call it a day early made me feel like a quitter, because I know eventers show in this weather and probably in even hotter and more humid weather, and I couldn't even last an hour just trotting around.

Please don't pity me, it's my own fault, if I was riding more than once a week I'd be much farther along in my learning. My trainer, because she is so great, has always told me that I can work for an hour and then ride after, but with me working sometimes past 5, and my car only getting 19 miles to the gallon, the barn being 30-45 minutes away depending on how well my car wants to run, and having a TON of stuff to do at home, I never seem to find the time to make it out at least a second time. I have been looking for people nearby that may have a ridable horse that I can ride just so I can work on me, but no luck so far. I am hoping when school starts up I can still take lessons with my current trainer and ride multiple times a week at the barn on campus.

Until then I'm just going to be thankful for the times that I am able to ride, and I will continue asking myself how bad I want to do this!

Thanks for reading :)

Swithed Roles

My Grandmother would have a fit if she found out I blogged about her, but I'm going to do it anyways.
This week I have found that the roles have been switched. All through my six surgeries my Grandmother has been one of the people who took care of me, and did such a wonderful job. On Tuesday Mem had knee replacement surgery and she came home today.

She is doing great, but I have no idea how she was able to take such great care of me when I was going around on crutches, and even hoping around the house on one foot. I can't even watch her walk without picturing her falling down and I worry way to much. I am trying to hide it but I am not doing that good of a job. Instead of breaking down I am constantly asking her if she needs anything. Today she has had an up and down temp which I am pretty sure it is NOT due to an infection, but I don't know how to make her feel better. I know I know I can't make her feel better but I want to.

It is hard seeing one of the strongest people I know using a walker to get around and even just feeling sick. I do not know how parents do this for there kids.

Thanks for reading!

Lesson 2

No, it wasn't my 2nd lesson ever, but it certainly felt that way! Since I have been home, I have rode 3 times, and the 2nd time was only for a few minutes so not sure if I can count that. After work I scooted over to the barn and got there earlier than I had planned. Unfortuently the horse that I rode last week, Newman, was being leased out so I can't have my lessons on him, instead I rode River. Sandy warned me that even though River is a super nice boy, if you clank on his teeth he will buck, not a big buck but will buck. Great..so from the start I was paranoid, even though one of my bad habits is giving a horse too much rein. He warmed up and started trotting around and I knew that this was going to be a hard lesson. Unlike most horses, River didn't want to be near the wall at all. Not because of fear, but I think out of being lazy. He cut all the corners and tried cutting the arena in half.

My main things to work on during my lessons has been strength and balance and River required a LOT of inside leg to keep him on the wall and honestly I wasn't able to keep him there most of the time *le sigh*

Eventually Sandy had me ride with just one stirrup. After a few minutes I was super frustrated. I couldn't post without putting too much weight in the stirrup that I did have. I asked Sandy if I could drop both stirrups, and she said sure..well...that wasn't a good idea either.

Already being frustrated I was going around and realized I couldn't post with no stirrups either and my upper inner thighs were hurting from the saddle and I was so out of balance, which just furthered my frustration. We went around a corner and down the long wall, and I felt myself slipping to the side and on the verge of falling off. I feel that if I wasn't so frustrated I would have at least tried to save myself, but instead I just gave up and let myself fall. I certainly paid for that decision. I landed on my hip hard and I'm sure there will be a bruise tomorrow.

I took a few seconds to get up and Sandy was asking if I was okay..and then the tears came >.< they weren't out of pain, they were out of frustration and dignity. I know everyone falls off multiple times if you ride a lot, but it was more because I fell off because I was out of balance. Also I am the kind of person who cries when I'm mad. Some days I wish I could just get angry and swear like everyone else, but no instead I cry. The tears aren't a sign of weakness, they are just a different way of venting how I feel.

So back to the story, due to the tears Sand thought I was hurt, and I was trying to make her understand that I was fine I was just frustrated, I think she eventually believed me and I hoped back on. I had the option of either riding with no stirrups again or practice standing up in my stirrups, I chose to stand.

On a good note, I was able to stand more in balance and for a longer period of time than last lesson. Granted by the end my knee was killing me (not due to the fall) and I was exhausted.

Sandy offered me a proposal I will not refuse. She said that in exchange for doing the evening chores I can ride River or Blue! I am very excited about this, even though it will probably be only riding 1 extra time a week but that is riding 2 times a week instead of 1.

In the mean time, I'm going to be doing a TON of wall squats, calf raises, and crunches to get some of my muscles up to par. If you have any other at home exercises that might be able to help please feel free to share!

Thanks for reading :)