Hi, I’m Jessica and I’m from Griffin, Georgia. I finally realized by dream of owning a horse seven years ago. I don’t know what I ever did before I became a “horse mom.” I am fortunate enough to own two wonderful geldings, Anakin and Glock. Anakin is an approximately 18 year old grade Quarter horse and is my go-to guy. He’ll do anything you need him to do. He’s currently staying at the Calvin Center where he is being used as a lesson/trail horse and at times a therapy horse. Glock is a 10 year old SE Arabian with a ton of personality! I don’t do any fancy riding so most of my ride time is out on the trails but I do enjoy taking dressage lessons to further my horsemanship knowledge and my horse’s fitness. I’m currently finishing up a master’s degree right now so I don’t get to ride nearly as much as I’d like. I’m excited to start logging hours!
26 comments:
Jan. 2-2.43 miles
woo hoo!!! :) (.3 more than me because your GPS didn't need to be updated at the start. :) )
What an awesome day! I logged 4.52 miles with the Calvin Center gang (all on bays!) on my trusty QH Anakin. We led the way through an adventurous trail which required lots of rerouting due to a large section blocked by downed trees. My Anakin chugged thru like a champ though! Then I went to play with my silly Arab Glock and logged 1.96 more miles! We even cantered for a nice half mile. This is huge for us! I am quite proud of my boys today! Total miles logged were 6.48!
What a fun afternoon! Rode 5.63 miles with Gretchen (Team OTTB). I overcame a chronic fear of cantering in an open field on my QH Anakin. Well, it was a fear of cantering open fields on ANY horse to be honest. But we did it! Several times! It was amazing to sit back and trust my horse to keep his brain and not kill me/us. Garmin Fit reports our top spead as 31.4 mph. I'm a little shocked at that simply because that means that I was on a horse moving that quickly. We even jumped a few logs on accident when Chess and Gretchen went before us through the logs we have spaced out on the sensory trail. Anakin was thoroughly upset at being left behind and demonstrated this by jumping most of the 14 logs rather than nicely trot over them. Not the most comfortable thing to do in a western saddle with a horn in the way! Whew! What a ride! : )
Logged two tracks this weekend. 1.27 miles at calvin center...and 2.16 miles at home. Was supposed to haul to local trails but my friend woke up sick Sunday morning so I just worked my grey Arab at the house. I continue to be impressed with his willlingness. I'd never thought I be more comfortable cantering on Glock than my trusty. Total miles to be added are 3.43
:( aniken was awesome with susan.
Logged 5.04 miles during a much needed lesson last night. I feel like I'm back at square one with my cantering after watching a friend come off and break her arm a few weeks ago. At least I realized that I was causing the problem and it wasn't just a resistant/confused horse. We'll get there again though. : )
5.04 miles = 23.01 miles to date
we WILL get there. I cantered spud in the field today and had my heart in my throat the whole time too. but we WILL Get there!!!!
Somehow managed to squeeze in a short 2 mile ride Saturday. Gretchen be proud-it included cantering!
2.02 miles=25.03 miles to date
Interesting ride on my little Arab at dusk Saturday. He was a little spooky but we took the opportunity to build our confidence in each other and worked through all the scary spots. Such a willing guy he is!
2.05 miles=27.08 miles to date. (one day, when I'm not both a full-time graduate student and full-time employee, I will ride more!)
WE NEED TO LOG SOME MILES TO MORROW!!!! IN THE FIELD!!!!
I WILL ride a horse, any horse, this week! I don't care if it is only for .0000001 miles, I NEED horse time! There, rant complete. : )
Rode my bay hippo Anakin at the Calvin Center Friday evening despite feeling like poo from sinus infection and what turned into an upper respiratory infection. :( Couldn't resist the fact that he was already tacked and warmed up. Just did a little trot work in arena. Better than nothing though. :)
1.08 miles=28.16 miles to date
4/10: 1.21 miles=29.37 miles to date. Pitiful.
4/28/: 4.52 miles with friends from grad school. It was wonderful to just be out on a the trails with my horse and friends on a beautiful Saturday!
4.52=33.89 miles to date
5/5/12: After a depressing day of counseling families of loved ones on life support in the surgical ICU, I needed a ride. Some people need a drink, I just needed a ride. So I went to saddle up my pretty grey Arab with his new short, turquoise barrel pad. I'm having trouble with saddle and saddle pad fit. All the pads I find are too long for his back. The saddle I'd like to be able to ride him in is too wide and obviously pinches on either side of his spine. After cinching him up, it was obviously painful so he bows away from it to the point where I thought he was trying to lay down. Saddle off ASAP! I swapped saddles with my oldest saddle that isn't a round skirt and is actually a tad to long for him but fits well elsewhere. No problems after that. Except now his saddle pad is too short. I decided it'll do for the 20 minutes I'd probably be riding and ride out.
It was slightly before dusk so it was cooling off and quiet. Glock was in the mood to trot so we did. Then to my surprise he picked up the canter the first time I asked. It's amazing what a nice, slow canter will do for one's soul. Who am I kidding, it's amazing what a horse will do for one's soul! It was a nice ride and by the time we unsaddled and cleaned up, the "Super Moon" was rising. : )
1.6 miles=35.49 miles to date.
Good thing I checked! I tried posting from my iPad for the first time and it didn't come through. I'll have to try again next time to see if I can figure out what I did wrong. Anywho, logged 5.81 With Gretchen and Andrea at the Calvin Center on 5/12. It was a much needed ride on Anakin. He was super wonderful, which I kind of didn't expect since I hadn't really asked much out of him in several weeks. Our last ride was just a nice trail ride during which I didn't ask him to do anything other than follow the trail. It's nice to know that no matter what I'm asking him to do, he's willing to try it and usually succeed at it. : )
5.81 miles=41.3 miles to date
At this point, I'm just logging miles just to see how much saddle time I end up with at the end of the year. I think that's the neatest point of this game.
6/1/12 rode 1.6 miles
1.6=42.9 miles to date
After a wonderful birthday dinner for Gretchen, everyone convinced me to come super early Saturday morning to ride before heading to the hospital where I'm currently interning. This was probably one of my better decisions lately as I needed to be around my horses and of course my friends. After a couple hours in the saddle on BOTH my horses, I headed off to hopefully provide useful counseling for chronically ill and palliative hospice patients feeling refreshed. : )
7/7/12 rode 6.8 miles
49.7 miles to date
Rode 3.4 miles last night. Haven't really had time to ride too much this summer and when I did it was for a few lessons on my Arab that I didn't log. Oh well at least I finally hit the 50 mile marker. : )
9/11/12 3.4 miles
53.1 miles to date
9/22/12 6.1 miles
59.2 miles to date
9/28/12 2.8 miles on a trail ride
62 miles to date
5.1 mile ride through the Great Smokey Mountains! Beautiful day for a quick trail ride. My husband, who never rides, even enjoyed it! The trails were great. I just wish I could ride trails like that more often and on my own horses!
10/14/12 5.1 miles
67.1 miles to date
10/29/12 3.95 miles
71.05 miles to date
4.89 mile Mental health ride with Gretchen, Andrea and Lori (?). Gretchen rode Dixie in honor of Sandy, who recently passed away. : ( It was a much needed, quiet ride. For me it was a nice time for personal reflection as so much has happened and currently happening. Losing a friend, finishing graduate school, starting a "real" career...
11/25/12 4.89 miles
75.94 miles to date
12/30/12 4.8 miles in my new dressage saddle!
4.8=80.74 miles to date.
Goal for this coming year=200 miles
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