January 14

Today. Today was long. And to be honest, I'm really over being here I think. I just want to be back at school with my friends in my bed making my own schedule again. Nevertheless, I'm still chugging away up here and it was my 3rd morning doing all the stalls myself. Thank god there's only one more morning of that... more horses went out today normal normal normal. Just cleaned some tack and took care of Willies, Elsey, Chablis, and Bristol's legs. Ugh they all just need normal clean stalls and the problem might very well fix itself, but whatever.

Something I'm Reading: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. SO GOOD. I started it yesterday morning and I'm already about halfway through even though I've been working all day. Its very good so far, and defiantly living up to all the reviews and hype. I really want to see the movie now too.

January 13

FRIDAY THE 13th!

Eerie!

Everyone was still stuck inside today for the most part due to the snow. We got some freezing rain as well which put a crunchy ice layer on top of the fresh snow ):

I also managed to get kicked for the first time in 11 years of being around horses! Baby Sounder was all riled up coming in from turnout and she somehow managed to get my leg (right below the hip) with her hind legs. I was stunned for a second (as she continued to run circles around me bucking) but we got all three babies in and it was fine. My leg isn't actually hurt, though it is QUITE swollen and warm where she got me. damn baby.

Turnout in general was tough today, as the last 3 of the day were also jerks and managed to get away from us. Everyone made it back safe, but some lessons were taught and it won't happen again.

In My Bag:

SO MUCH STUFF.

3 wallets

pink hat I'm knitting which I don't like.

EOS lipbalm

Jergen's hand creme

Trader Joe's moisturizing hand sanitizer

Checkbook

Glasses

Eye prescription

Poptart

...I'm sure there's lots of other things but I don't feel like getting out of bed to find out!

January 12

Today it snowed! we got about 6 or 8 inches I believe? Ponies spent the day tucked inside, and I actually took a break in the morning and finished Ishmael which was a great read. I went out in the afternoon and groomed and powdered Chablis, Bristol, Elsy, and the Babies (Sounder, Raptor, and Bailey) and then called it a day. Everyone was very well behaved, and MAN do the grown ups like it when you powder their scratches, their little lips go crazy as if they are grooming back, it must be horrible have itchy legs and no being able to do anything about it, so I can understand why, but its still so funny! The babies were much improved over their first time on cross times and all of them stood like rocks for the most part. Bailey still needs some work, but he seems to be the least mature when separated from the other two. He also jumped into the stall STRAIGHT onto my foot with incredible accuracy, but it feels fine now so no harm done. I should work on that with him soon. I've lost some motivation and it was nice to have an easy day.

Close up?

No thanks, all appearances have been let go working up here!

January 11th

Today I rode Grace and Chablis again, both of them out in the field this time. Chablis was a hard ride just because she is a bit of a brat and didn't want to go where I wanted and got mad when I made her do it! We had a trying trip around the field in both directions and then settled into the circle area and managed to end with a nice realized trot in a mostly round circle, so I called it a success. Grace was better then Chablis, but I didn't ask as much since this was just my first time in the field with her. We headed straight to the circle (which has a fence on one side, and the treeline on the other, giving you a corner) and worked on an easy walk and trot where I wanted her to be on the circle. She was also not a fan of going where I wanted her to, but she got over it and again, we ended with nice easy trotting in a figure 8 within the circle so I called it a day. I hope the weather cooperates and I'm able to work both of them out there again because I know they'll only get better as time goes on!

Where I sleep:

Currently, in this weird house with no doors! I have 3 rooms and live in 3 places at the moment, so this is an interestined question. I love both my real rooms, with my one at school probably being my favorite. Currently though, this bed is not bad by any means and I sleep ALOT (usually from 7:30-9 until 6:50 in the morning. I don't know that I've ever gotten that much sleep for an extended period of time, but man, I defiantly need it up here!

January 10th

Today I can tell you at the very least I rode Bristol since I have this picture from Facebook:

She was very good! I also have these pictures that my boss took:

She was a good girl even though I wasn't asking for too much. She's the first horse I've ridden here who feels "drafty" when you ride, so it was a surprise in that sense, but she was probably the easiest ride so far. Good girl!

I also logged with a pony this day! I got to harness and drive Dice all by myself to bring two trees up to the wood stove. Photographic proof! Pretty cool! Also, note Turbo, the dog, making sure the tree didn't get away :) I was more surprised by his barking and growling then Dice was!

This was a cool day for sure!

Childhood:

This is vague and I don't feel like writing too too much. My childhood was good! No complaints. I don't like to dwell on the past since everything that happened (good or bad) has contributed to the person you are and the place you are in, and for that alone you should be thankful. I'm very proud of who I am and what I've done and what I've yet to do so my childhood must have been good!

January 9th

I know for a fact that on this day I rode both Chablis and Grace because I took these wonderful pictures:

with the tag line "Better than a JTerm class? Oh Yea!"

I also took a picture of "shire kitty" the house cat who occasionally goes out side. Its funny here, almost every animal is black and white! (Except Chablis, she came out red for some reason) but Shire kitty is no different!

Daily Routine: Well, currently daily routine is as follows:

6:50: Wakeup, brush teeth, get dressed

7:00 Start chores (water/feed/turnout/stalls)

9:00 Finish chores, head in for breakfast

~10:00 Head back out to the barn to do things. Usually finishing chores, changing turnout at some point, feeding and watering again, grooming horses, and riding or driving if its the right day.

12:30 Lunch

1:00 Do more stuff!

3:00 Bring in horses and water/feed

4:00 Head in for a break

6:30 Eat dinner

7:00/7:30 Night check! water and feed and close up the barn for the night. Repeat tomorrow!

January 8th

Guess what? I have a record of something that happened today! I must have groomed Truffles because I uploaded a picture to Facebook of her :) Pretty girl, huh? Apprently she's harder to sell because hard-core shire owners don't like that her blaze isn't perfect. I think its cute :) she's ready to be broken in so I was fitting tack to her and leaving it on for a while to see how she reacted. She seems ready to go, but I don't know that I want to be the first.

Also, we must have driven Bristol because I have this picture of her all tacked and ready to drive. We used her to bring in hay from the hay barn to the real barn so it would be ready for the night. V drove, but it was my first time working with chore driving so I just watched and learned what was going on. At the end I drove her to take the sled off, and it was good :)

______

Your Sky:

Well, look at that, I took this awesome picture of the sunset on the 8th. Talk about convenient. Also, this is from Tuesday, but still, HOW PRETTY. This is part of why being up here is so awesome :)

January 7th

Still no idea.

Favorite:

Favorite what? Too many options. I'll go with "favorite water bottle" since its sitting right next to me.

The Bobble. This is such a great invention, I'm annoyingly picky about water since I can taste the difference between gross tap water and filtered/bottled water. I like to drink A LOT of water each day and buying bottled water is seriously unnecessary, so the bobble wins! I use it the most at school because the water from the bathrooms tastes disgusting, but with the bobble I don't notice the difference! Win all around.

January 6th

Still have no idea what I did this day. I'll catch up to things I remember soon! Or at least have mobil uploads to Facebook to guess off of..

Something that makes you smile:

EVERYTHING. If you know me, you know I'm pretty much always happy and smiling. Its my default face. I can't help it! In specific, my friends, dog, parents, current situation, boyfriend, school.. yea I was going to sum it up but it really is just everything that makes me smile!

January 5th

The Day? Honestly don't remember. I fail at posting every day. My guess would be that we rode Crosby and Onyx this day? but I'm really not sure!

Somethings I wore:

my new LLBean "Maine Hunting Boots"

best things ever! Except I can't wear them now since my Achilles is acting up so much ):

January 4th

Today was generally great. Work up early, did barn chores (faster then normal apparently), ate breakfast, groomed a bunch of horses, did more chores, sat around for 1/2 hour, groomed more horses, rode one mare and then sat around for 2 hours, ate dinner, did more chores. We do chores often, but honestly, the work is not bad and is very logical and I'm enjoying just hanging around working with a bunch of horses grooming and riding and whatnot.

My ride was super easy, on the chestnut shire mare "Chablis". We just walked and did some trotting outside around one of the barns where the footing was good. She was sweet and willing, wanted to be crooked and lookey but was simple enough to bring back. She had one moment where she bucked? or just launched foreword when they pushed a bucket off a sled that Willie was pulling and the babies started to run, but she came back in maybe one canter stride and it was totally not a big deal. I knew it was coming since she had been getting riled up at the machinery outside just a little before, so the loud noise and babies running was the straw the broke the camels back, so to speak.

I also got to groom the 3 babies today, which was fun! It was their first time on cross ties and they all did fairly well. The first filly (Sounder) stood like a rock the whole time and was spectacular. Bailey, the colt, was less fine and moved around a bunch pushing the limits of the ties to see what happened but didn't act poorly and was easy enough to deal with. The last filly (name starts with an r) was built with a super ewe neck and I understand why after having her on the ties, she kept herself as far foreword as she could with her head up in the ties. She was the most nervous but was fine if I kept a hand up near her front end. I'll keep pulling them out and grooming them on the ties each day and I'm sure they'll all be perfect by next week this time!

Tomorrow my boss will be in town at her real job so it'll be me and the 2 guys doing everything. I'm writing this for my benefit too:

feed/water/turnout/clean

groom everyone (esp. babies)

super groom Onyx's tail(& tail head)

walk Jenna

walk Lady G

ride Chablis

ride Elsy

ride Crosby & Onyx if we want

Clean tack if I want

Letterbox:

I have no idea what this means? I guess I'll quickly talk about how great writing letters really is! I never, ever wrote letters until I went to school and some of my friends started writing letters, honestly, its really great getting mail so its worth it just for that! Its nice to have that extra line of communication to look foreword to that isn't instant and distracted as much communication is today. I enjoy knowing that what I write will bring a smile to someones face, and I love getting that same smile when I get mail!

I was responding really consistently to the two people who actually correspond but I started to slack at the end of the semester, I plan on starting/keeping that up again when I'm back to school the end of January.

Janurary 3rd

I'm a day late for this one, but I was WAY to tired last night to think about posting. Its been a whirlwind driving up here, settling in, and starting to work. Everything seems really great, the work isn't that bad and I'll get a lot of riding, driving and general training time which I'm excited for. The living situation is somewhat weird just because I'm living in the main house which has very few doors and instead has curtains, call me weird but I'm used to having doors you can close! over all, everything is great though and I'm sure in a few more days all of this will become old news and normal. I

Something I Adore:

Something I adore? I'm really not sure. I kind of had to rack my brain to come up with something but I would say, lately, its learning to make a real connection with people. To let them in to my life quite completely and have that sort of relationship. I started that early in the semester after meeting Nate and Robin and learning that there are people who actually think like me. Well, that and Nate basically yelling at me to realize that although its scary to grow close to someone its completely necessary. This is important because it led me to open up to Chaz, and that has resulted in the happiest times of my recent life and our current relationship. Having that trust and constant line of communication is such a wonderful feeling, and although it's never going to be easy for us its completely worth it.

The year ending this year was strange for me because it ended SO WELL, with me being honestly satisfied with everything in my life. I didn't have something I wanted to change or wanted to put behind me. Everything is just really great, and I'm happy that all my bad luck is finally coming back to me in the form of good luck.

January 2nd

BREAKFAST:

hmm... god, breakfast was a long time ago. I'm currently preparing to leave to Maine so I've been running around crazy all day, and my crazy day started with me waking up late and having a large mug of green tea for breakfast. I'll try to remember to take a picture of my mug tomorrow morning, its really a nice mug with a decent story. Its also coming to Maine with me (assuming I don't forget) so it'll be seen at some point! But I managed to drink down the tea and show my mom how to care for my fish before I had to run to have lunch with my friends from home. It was my last chance to see them all until Spring break which isn't until March. Seems awful far away.

So, Maine. I'm excited for this, I really am. My whole life I've wanted to leave and live on a farm and work hard all day and just have nature and animals to consider, not time or traffic or technology. I am excited. I've got a stack of books to read, my ER: Emergency Room DVD's from seasons 1-3 to watch, and I started a new scarf which is to be knitted until its around 60". Hopefully it won't go too quick, since I managed about 4 inches today in an hour or so. I'm both hoping and not hoping that I'll have easy internet access. Obviously, I'm doing this blog and not having internet will be a bit of a problem, but at the same time it'd be really nice to "break the addiction" so to speak and just get REAL stuff done. I love reading and knitting because it feels like you've accomplished something rather then just spent a few hours aimlessly on the inter webs.

At the moment, my greatest fear is regarding cell service, which is pathetic, but I will be distraught if I can't contact parents, boyfriend, school friends, and home friends. That will just be too hard while also living away from home. But, honestly, I'm not going THAT far into the boonies and I'm sure it'll be fine. I'll probably be laughing at this post tomorrow while I sit in bed there, as I am now, on the internet after just talking to people for a few hours.

I am really excited to be around horses 24/7 and be working hard again. There's not much else like the endorphin rush after getting some real work done and having a nice finished product. Hopefully this will be everything I've ever dreamed of! Wish me luck!

January Challege

January Challenge:

1) You.

Me? Well. Hmm. I used to consider myself first and foremost a horseback rider. It defined me. I spent all my excess time (and time that wasn't previously excess) in order to peruse it. I committed fully and failed, losing two horses in 14 months to things I had no control over. I lost myself for a time, loosing all my confidence in my abilities but I've been building it back up this semester on the equestrian team at school. I'm even about to place up into the next level! I'm getting it back, though the entire industry bothers me I cannot escape it, so instead I'm choosing to fix it.

Now, I am most importantly a student. At a crazy hippy school with no grades. Pursuing a very normal pre-vet degree hoping to continue on to be a large animal/equine vet. My big goal is to fix the racing industry and make sure that soundness can be maintained through young stock on the track to the 4 year old retirees that just don't run fast enough any more. But in reality, I'll be happy with the sleepless nights helping horses and owners with little injuries to major problems, making sure that in the end everything is fixed. I like to fix things.

I'm also interested in everything else, which is what drew me to my crazy hippy school. Most importantly, I care about the food industry and the way we live today. The fact that what we are doing is destroying the world and no one cares to fix it bothers me. I feel like I know how to fix everything and just can't convey that well enough, so I toil away researching and filing away information in my brain. I love sustainable living, and someday I hope to live on my own farm using only personally or locally grown products. I like hard work and doing things on my own without help. I like working hard to earn my own money and working even harder to prove to myself and everyone else that I am good at what I care about.

I have a lot I want to do with my life and haven't quite figured out how I'm going to do it all, but this year especially I'm throwing (some) caution in the wind and just doing life. Following my gut and the opportunities available and doing it.

And now for the actual pictures!

Why you ask?

I'm starting this for a number of reasons. The first would have to be that I've been an avid blog reader for 3 or 4 years now, following 40 blogs at this moment ranging from horses to beauty to health to medical. You could say I have varied taste.

Secondly, I have a close friend who started a blog during her first semester in college in order to keep us all updated and to muse about college life and reading her posts both keeps me close to her and provides me with considerable entertainment because, well, she's entertaining!

Thirdly, as cliche as it is, I decided that for this New Years I wanted to hold myself to a legitimate resolution, to do SOMETHING once every day for an entire year. Plenty of people do it, bloggers, volggers, tweet-ers...they've all succeeded, so I can too!

So, here-in lies the purpose. To post EVERYDAY for an entire year, or at least post about every day for an entire year since it is already the 2nd of January where I am, though in my defense, I haven't slept yet so it seems like its still January 1, 2012.

To start out, I found a month long photo challenge that I thought would be a good introduction to every day posting, so we begin!