A North Carolina Update!

Well, I promised this some time ago but alas, I was again negligent on my blogging duties :( Anyways, I have some updates on life in general!

First, the Ponies:
With this new change in lifestyle (i.e. constant love, care and seeing my shining face around the clock!) and a much smaller herd, some have blossomed and others are still working on it. Buddy is by far my biggest surprise! I swear this is not the horse I have been riding for the past 4 years. He is happy, confident, loving and overall a pleasure to be around. His work ethic has changed to being positive and willing to learn while excepting change. After a long hard decision, I have decided to keep Buddy and pursue the last third of my USDF Bronze Medal. This brings me to DJ. My poor creature of habit! This alpha gelding has had a very difficult time being happy at ASF (Albemarle Springs Farm). His herd has diminished from 40 to 3 (including himself) and now seems to take his frustration out on his paddock mates as well as his mother! He is getting better and finally starting to understand that although there is plenty of grass on the farm, he only gets to be on it for about 3 hours! I will say though that he has dropped quite a bit of weight and is starting to resemble the lean and athletic horse I was very competitive with in the early 2000's :) But, much to my disappointment, he is getting older and the demands of third level work are proving to be very strenuous on his tight little joints. So, because of this, we are going to pass the torch to his (seemingly) capable brother, Buddy! I will start searching for a place to take lessons this month and will hopefully have my first lesson since May in October! Trust me, there will definitely be an update when that happens ;)

Second, the family and home:
Mom and Dad are doing well in the new house. We have come to realize and finally accept that this is a MUCH BIGGER home than the one we left in Arlington!! Two of the rooms are still missing furniture but hopefully, one of the rooms should be filled by the end of next month (the formal dining room set is on order). Dad is much more relaxed with his commute to work. It takes a grand total of 45 seconds to walk from the master bedroom to the upstairs office. He has even become a member of a local pool hall and has competed in a few tournaments (and winning some too!). Mom is beginning to get her bearings around the area but is most enjoying picking out all of the new stuff for this new big house! Merlin is like DJ and has taken a little longer than expected on becoming comfortable in our new home. For the first month, he would only leave my room on the second floor to come eat and then it was right back to the room! Poor guy! But I will say he has made a new friend in the neighborhood, a 1 yr old beagle/hound appropriately named "Buddy". More than once, we have found Buddy bounding down the driveway to come greet Merlin, wondering in the house or sneaking into one of the cars for a quick ride!

And lastly, Me!
I have really been enjoying my time with my family and ponies since I have finished school. Time at home with my parents and pup has been relaxing and entertaining (moving furniture, buying furniture, recieving deliveries while controlling the dog, etc.). Time at the barn has helped me become reacquainted with my horses and remembering everything that I love about them :) I have a new job, well PT job and am currently looking for another that might allow me to successfully complete my master's degree later on in order to one day financially support my ponies appropriately!

Well, I guess that's it for now. Next time I update, I will have news on the ponies and hopefully some pictures to go with! Ta ta for now :)

New Beginnings...

It's been some time since my last blog, and I guess that's because so much has happened during that time. Blizzards resulting in 54 inches of snow (for Washington D.C., that is absolutely ridiculous), the last semester of school (well, almost...darn you summer session!) and change...LOTS of change! My change was not always good change. Around March, my family made the final decision to move to North Carolina after my last summer class was complete in June. Both my parents work from home and I would be a college graduate. Because of my horses and lack of employment, I also made the decision to move to NC with them, so that I could have a slightly easier (well, financially that is) way of life as well and removing myself from other toxic personal situations and trying to further my riding career with a higher education.

Unfortunately, this meant saying goodbye to some people that I loved. To make this story shorter and less tearful, I was forced to say goodbye to an equine friend and partner of 5 yrs. that I never thought would have to end. The other person was a close friend and mother figure to me that took my new exciting news rather poorly and since then we have not spoken for reasons that do not need to be explained but at the moment cannot be forgiven. This was a very upsetting and dark time (specifically the month of May). Depression set in which affected my school work, riding, social life and family life. With the help of my family and those closest to me, they helped me pull myself out of my stuper and get back on the track to moving forward.

Now, with one more week of classes until I'm an official college graduate and two weeks until I take my two handsome boys to their new beautiful home in NC, I look back on the events of the year so far and marvel at how I've grown and the lessons I have learned through these sometimes brutally painful experiences. Hopefully, I can take these lessons and use them to better my new everyday life!

I have a couple promises to make myself with these changes...1) I will continue to learn and absorb everything about dressage and becoming a better rider and horsewoman overall, 2) I will go into my new business profession with an open mind willing to learn and listen to others with the thought of "communication" always in the back of my mind, 3) to try and forgive those who wrong me a little quicker in order to make my life less stressful and 4) write in this darn blog a little bit more!

Until next time! (when I will hopefully be writing more about my horses than my moral lessons ;-))

Good-bye Jono. You'll always be my "Big Jo"