Happy News

Several bits of happy news, actually. And a bit of sad. But hey, that's how it goes. Of course, the happy news is that I have my laptop back, so I am CONNECTED again! Yay! More happy news, although not wonderful for the blog, is that I now have a Facebook (how space age!) so I can put all my pictures on there, rather than hiding them here in this obscure corner of the world wide web. : ) The bad news is that I have now started field hockey, and school is starting soon, therefore I will have no time/energy to write for another while. I'm sure it will torture you guys, not hearing my words of wisdom... or at least you can pretend. : ) See you!

Unfortunate news...

Well, I think that my precious followers might be a little disappointed with me for the remainder of the summer, as my laptop has been taken away. This will greatly hinder my blogging potential, since the PC is sooooo slow that it pains me to use it. Anyhow, maybe there will be a few posts occasionally, but don't expect too much. I will see you guys at the barn, though! Love ya! Stacy

Show Pictures!!!

Most are from warmup, and most of the good ones I took are on Elisabeth's camera, so SHE has to put them up! : ) First, Kate and Doodle:

Ak and Jaxon

Lizz and Chey (good job in the flat, lady! I'm so proud! You probably should have won, actually, since Breezy wasn't stopping, like, ever. )

And... pre show.

sorry sorry sorry!

Oh my gosh, I know that I am a terrible blogger. I will try to do better for the two of you : ) But anyway, our first Lucky Clover show of the year was held yesterday! Wheee! Breezy and I did the 2'3" for the third time ever and ended up with a first in our flat, a second in hunter O/F, and a first in the Medal class, so now I am totally qualified! yay! I really don't think that I deserved either of the two first places, though, because in the flat it took us about 25 seconds to come down from the canter, in both directions, and in the Medal class we were cutting our corners. My theory is, though, that the judge always looks down after she tells us to walk, so that she can write down who was on the wrong leads and who broke, etc. Therefore she always misses the extremely noticeable fact that Breezy and I continue to bomb around the ring well after everyone else has gone to walk. Oh well. The blue ones are prettiest, so I'm sure not gonna send them back. I am a little sad that no one really got any pictures of me, because my mother took four of them, and you can't see me in any. I took some really good ones earlier in the day, though, mostly on elisabeth's camera. I'll put the good ones from mine up in a second.

Yayyyyy!!!!!

Haha! I just finished my last final (math... ew) and I am now on VACATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hooray! However, work starts tomorrow, which makes everything slightly less fun. Oh well. Come visit me!

T- Minus 12

Well, officially 12 days left of school... I think. We get out the 19th. However, I am super stressed because of Lacrosse and finals. Plus, we have to read Great Expectations, which, btw, is almost 500 pages. And the actual plot of the book could be chronicled in 50. Sigh. And we only have until the end of school to finish it. I still have 200 pages to go. And I have a game this week, possibly more than one if we win. I just want the school year to be OVER!!!

Fallout from the show

Honestly, I think I'm still recovering from the show last weekend. And we didn't even get up that early! I think that I am just out of practice. Anyway, when all was said and done, Lucky Clover did very well, and I think everyone came home with at least one ribbon. I personally got a first, second, and a sixth. I totally did not deserve the first. That was in my flat class, which I almost missed because I wasn't even dressed, because I thought that I would have time after warmup, but I didn't. So I was stressed, so Breezy was fast, and didn't want ot stop. Which meant we pretty much charged around the ring with our ears pinned back, resisting all cues to slow or stop. And yet we won. The judge must have fallen asleep at strategic moments. At least I got all my leads, though. Then in my next class I had a pretty good round, but Phil made me do this tight turn, because it was an EQ class, and I could totally do it, because I had done it in warmup, but I was just focusing on not crashing into either of the jump standards, so I missed the jump and had to turn around. So I got sixth in that one, but there were no hard feelings because it was just a schooling show, so practice makes perfect. My other class was the downeast medal qualifier, and I got second in that one, mainly due to the continuance of the anti-stopping coalition. And also the lack of any quantifyable ability to sitting trot. But for my first time out over the 2-3", I am pretty happy. There should be pictures up soon.

A very long week

Sigh. This has been such a long week. First of all, I did not have LAX games at all until Friday, because this was our bye week. So we had practices everyday until Friday, when we had our game. Lost. Crap. But I scored a goal! But then they called it back because they forgot to stop the clock, so time had run out. But everyone said it should have counted. On Saturday, I had a lesson. That was fun. Then we took my Grandmother out for mother's day. And I literally spent the ENTIRE day today (it is now 3:53) doing homework. Bleh. At least I have a show next weekend. YAYYYYYY!!! Gonna be such a busy weekend, though, plus all of my projects are due. That makes me stressed. I don't even remember anything I put into this post. That is how fried my brain is right now. Guzzzzzzz.....

The 12 mini posts of vacation

Well, it has been a long week, but definitely not long enough. Vacations never last as long as you want them to. But, sigh, back to the old grindstone tomorrow. Last weekend I had a lesson, then barn clean-up day Sunday. Worked quite hard. Raking. Ick. Then was forced to go home and do yet more yard work. Then went back to the barn to sleepover, but realized that I was sick and had to go home. Monday I went shopping with my sister and helped her pick out her clothing for the next three years. (Seriously. The girl would wear her clothes down to shapeless brown masses if she was allowed.)

My Tuesday was pretty much killed by having to go to practice at 8 in the morning, but we did go bowling in the afternoon. I don't know why I subject myself to that, ever. I must be the worst bowler in the country. Small children that wear light up sneakers can bowl better than me. Sigh. We were supposed to have a scrimmage on Wednesday, but it was raining, so they couldn't line the field Tuesday, so the scrimmage was pushed to Thursday, which was the day I was supposed to have my lesson. So that was all up in the air.

Wednesday, because efforts to reschedule the lesson had not worked out, my mom and I had lunch and went shopping with my friend Natalie and her mother, who is a friend of my mom's. That was fun. Then we were told that the scrimmage was cancelled totally, so that left Thursday free for my lesson.

On Thursday, I had my private lesson. Yay! I now ride completely differently, but that's okay. I had fun. Thursday at practice, again at 8 in the morning, we were stuck running laps around the field for HALF AN HOUR. We were supposed to only be running for 2o minutes, because the plan was for us to do 10 minutes of Indian Sprints, then 10 of running at our own speed. After our sprints, our coach left to sort out our warmups, then proceeded to forget about us for an additional at least 20 minutes. Gah.

On Friday, we had practice again, then went to a local scrimmage, supposedly as a team, but hardly anyone else showed up. After that, my family went to play mini golf and eat an ice cream, a family tradition for April vacation.

Saturday, it was 92 degrees. We had our lesson anyway, and it was quite fun, just grievously hot. It had been about mid sixties all week, and then just, out of the blue, ninety. My sister got heat stroke. But we had our Saturday night outing anyway, because my parents were gone out with my aunt and uncle. I felt bad for missing Jess's birthday party, but my parents needed me to stay home so that Jenn wasn't all alone. We ordered a pizza and scoured the entire town to find season 1 of Chuck (best show ever) and couldn't find it anywhere. We were even forced to enter the sketchiest establishment ever, Bull Moose Music, but we were rewarded, because, to our surprise, they actually had it. Hooray!

Now, today, I did more lawn work. Most of the day. And watched Slumdog Millionaire, which was an incredibly good movie. You should watch it. Now, I am going to go to bed, and sadly, be forced to go to school tomorrow and confront the fact that I have not finished my math test from Friday, and have forgotten everything.

Almost Vacation!!!

There is only one more day before vacation!!!! Wheee! I am so ready, too. On Monday, we ran over three miles, mostly uphill. Ooof. And I fell down, scraping my knee rather nastily (is there such a thing as sidewalk burn?) and then re-scraped it on Wednesday on the grass. So I have now gone through about four layers of skin. Also, I was awoken this early morning to the delightful sounds of my darling kitty cat vomiting especially nastily on my very bed. At 2:45 in the morning. Then, once I kicked him off, he proceeded to yark all over my floor. The smell, as well as the fear of waking up with it on my face kept me from ignoring it and waiting until morning, which I desperately wanted to do. So, at the lovely hour of 3, I got up and spent the next fifteen minutes searching for individual chunks of cat vomit, as well as stepping in it. Once finished de-pet-staining and febreezing the daylights out of my room, I promptly climbed back into bed. Then my mother showed up. What superb timing she has.

I also had a lacrosse scrimmage today. It went pretty well, even though it was surprisingly cold over in jolly old Wells on the seacoast. At least it should be flip-flop weather tomorrow. Fingers crossed. I miss the Beastie. I did not get to ride her Wednesday. : ( But I should have an interesting ride Saturday. I might also get to do my private sometime over vacation! Yay!

Horseshows are around the corner! Happy thoughts.

Ugh. Soreness

I am currently lying spread-eagle on my bed and nearing a sugar coma from all of the cookies I ate in a desperate quest for comfort food. I am grievously sore from the past week and a half of running. I have never run so much in my life!!!! And, I am pretty sure that I am going to experience significant hand and finger trauma from all of the luke warm to dead frozen to toasty warm to dead frozen transitions that I make playing lacrosse. I bought special gloves today in order to prevent further damage/eventual removal of the damaged appendages. I mean, they turn white, and when I warm them back up they swell up like sausages and itch like mad. That cannot be good for them, especially in a repeated cycle... right? Anyway, we ran about 2.5 miles today, on the road, at the beginning of practice, then my fingers got cold and I started droppping everything, and then I absolutely butchered (in a bad way) a scrimmage. It was not a great practice. But now, here I sit, convinced that I will never have to rise from my bed again unless it is to pee or eat. : ) Or maybe ride the beast. I feel bad for having neglected her for 2 weeks already. I think that she got her feet done yesterday, but I don't even know if she is still sound from her escapade Saturday. She was a WILDWOMAN! I wouldn't be surprised if she went out into the nice, muddy field and broke all four of her little legs galloping up an down and up and down. But goodness I love her. I am slightly (maybe more) afraid out of my mind to ride her Saturday, though, if that is the plan, because she has not been ridden in so long, and she has been inside for eons. We shall see. I think that it is funny that I asked you last time to be there with a camera and ambulance, because this time I think I'll really need them. Possibly with a medical team, stretcher, and helicopter in attendance to air-lift me to the nearest hospital, where there will be a blood transfusion and a donor organ of my choice standing by. : )

Random lesson Pictures

These are just some pictures from the past couple of lessons.

Super action shot! Beth getting on. : )

I rode around bareback while Beth lunged doodle. I hadn't done that since Breezy hurt her eye.

Cutest picture ever. Ak and Jaxson.

Just hanging out with Breezy

I got to the barn a few weeks ago and there was no one there, and I really try not to ride when No One is there, just in case I fall off and die or something, so I had some time to kill. SO, I spent an hour or so in Breezy's stall, just bugging her and taking pictures. I think she was pretty annoyed by the end. She was like, "Why are you still here? You know I don't do kisses" but she got some treats out of it, and I brushed her really good, so she shouldn't complain. She is sweet but evil. : )

You can see her eylashes. They are all droopy. : )

I'm not sure why I like this one. Maybe because her forelock is covering my eyebrows. Stupid eyebrows.

It took a few tries before she would let me do this. I have a few pictures of me being thrown through the air when she moved her head. : )

This one is the background on my computer. I love it. This was before she decided she hated me. (Aka, when I ran out of treats.)

A good post! Finally!

Well, people, we may just have a visually appealing post on the way. It is picture time! Just wait one more... I have to categorize them all. Enjoy.

Just a classic update...

Well, as it turns out, the lesson with Phil did not go at all. I got to the barn Friday, all excited, only to find the darling beastie with a gigundous bump on her shin. That meant that I couldn't ride her, obviously, and I didn't want to just ride on someone else, because I really don't get t have that many privates, and I wanted to work with Breezy. At least I found it, though. Anyway, I rode little Doodle on Saturday, then slept over. It was pretty uneventful. The horses all took a huge group gallop up and down the field several times during the afternoon, and I got some amazing pictures/video of it. Lizz should have them up soon, (maybe she already does) because I took them on her camera. Now a bunch of them are lame. : ( But Breezy was inside, so she couldn't hurt herself more. We also went on a really cool trail ride, all the way to Mr. Edgerly's. It was quite muddy, but we made it through, me on trusty Gossip, who is SUCH a trail horse. She is so good. On monday I started Lacrosse. We ran the mile (7:33) and a 40 yard sprint (5.9 sec). But it was sooo cold. The next day, we went for a 2.5 mile run at the end of practice, which was interesting, since I have never done a road run before, except for the 2 mile this fall for field hockey. But I did okay. I was, like, maybe 6th back. Out of 45 or so. Then, on April Fool's day, my coach said that we were going to have to do a 6 mile, and even made us start it. We got all the way to the stop light, and then they told us it was a joke. I was so happy. It was SOOOO cold. about 10 degrees colder then the first day. My hands got all frozen and purple, and I couldn't feel them anymore. (Metal lacrosse stick shafts get fiercely cold, for all of you who don't know!! ) On Saturday there is a scrimmage that goes until midnight (isn't that RIDICULOUS?) but unless I make varsity (which I do not in any way expect) I will not have to go. So I should see all of you lovely people at the barn, where I will get to ride the super hyper pony who hasn't been ridden in a week and a half. Glory. Be there with cameras and an ambulance. : )

Wish me luck...

Well, tomorrow, Friday, I have my first Private lesson with Phil! (Except for the time that I was the only one who showed up, which really doesn't count...) But yeah... I am excited! And he has managed to talk me into doing the group lesson on Saturday, too, so I don't even have to miss that! Yay! Apparently we are working on conditioning (mine as well as hers), so we have to work her as much as we can , especially before I start lacrosse next week. Gah. I will update you as to how all of this went later, promise. (probably on a Sunday, like always. :) )

Just another happy weekend!

Well, the week has flown by, and I once again find myself blogging on a Sunday. But whatever, Sundays are good. This Friday, I went to Mr. SHS, which is a competition to find the funniest guy at our school. It was pretty good. Then on Saturday I went to my lesson, which I will pretty much skip since I know that I am the only one who reads my novels about the previous lessons. : ) But Kelly did fall off, and we got it on video, so that may show up on here later, as well as some other footage of my courses and such. After I went home, I had to go buy my friend a birthday present, and after that I wanted to go back to the barn, and I practically begged my mom, but she said NO! : ( So I went back today, and we all (me, Brooke, AK, Beth, Lizz, Maddy, and Sandi) all went to Double G. Yay! Now I am home, freshly showered, and once again eating junk food and relaying my escapades to you fine people. (Probably just Lizz and Liz, but that's okay!) I like to put it out there. Later!

I love the Barn!

Today made me really excited for this show season. I guess it has just been so long since I have had to get up at 4:00 in the morning, stand out in the rain for hours, spook in the flat class, go off course, or be the seventh out of seven, that I only remember the good things, like that feeling - the I'm-on-top-of-the-world feeling that you have when you win a class, or how happy you are when you just get in a great round, or even the excited rush you get when you are cleaning your tack down at the barn at 10:00 at night and you finally realize that tomorrow you will be at a show. I miss all of that stuff. And we were looking at the big eight horse trailer today, and I can just imagine all of the mornings this summer, yawning, and loading Breezy into the back, or even taking her out of the trailer and walking her around while she explores the "strange new place where we have landed". It just makes me want to yank out all of my show clothes and wear them around the house. : )

My weekend...

Well, first off, Saturday:
Ok, I've gotta tell you, I nearly had a heart attack at the barn saturday morning when PHIL WAS EARLY!!! Not even "on time" but early... as in, before 11:00! Isn't that impressive? Anyway, we had a good lesson. We did some bounces and gymnastics, and they got up pretty high towards the end, about 2'9". Breezy loved it. She is just starting to get back into shape now after her brief (about three weeks) rest time from getting a splinter in her eye in the fall. It is a shame though, because I am going to start lacrosse in two weeks, and then I am not going to be able to come to the barn after school, because I am going to have practice every day until 5 or so. But anyway, we had just finished our last run through the gymnastic (which went very well) and we were watching lizz go. She was riding Corona, who she highly dislikes, because he is a jerk. Not to mention, he dumped her into the concrete supports in the indoor a few weeks ago. But anyway, they finally got a good distance into the bounce, and Lizz even made him stretch and get the two stride after it, which Corona had been having trouble with before, but he took a big jump, and it unsettled her just a little, and she lost her stirrup. Then, as they went around the corner she just got bounced off, because Corona has nothing to hold onto, or grip with your legs, or anything. But it didn't really look like she was even going to hit that hard, because she almost had one of her feet under her, but I don't know how, but she managed to fall flat on her back and crack her head on the ground. You could even hear her helmet crack as she fell. It was awful. Plus, she had already broken the top of her helmet on the beam in the loft. But now, the thing is cracked all the way through. She is definitely going to need another one. And she broke her glasses right in half along the bridge, which is quite a feat, since she fell on the back of her head. She is going to look like Harry Potter. : ) I hope she gets better soon, and doesn't have a concussion.Love you Lizzie!
After the lesson we all (me, brooke, jess, beth, and AK) did chores, and then we all decided to ride some of the horses that never get ridden, because, I mean, it was a nice day out, I was feeling brave, I haven't fallen off in a while, (knock on wood) and I needed to break in my new helmet. : ) So I rode Leroy, Ak rode Lego, Beth rode Cheyenne for Lizz, Brooke rode Slick, and Jess, who was feeling particularly brave, took little Jazz for a spin. It went very well. I ended up on Lego and Slick, as well, and actually did not fall off of any of them. We didn't really even have any incidents. : ) But I guess they really aren't bad guys, they're just misunderstood. : ) After that, Beth had to go home. (Do your Spanish, Beth!), but the rest of us went over to Jess's house, which is actually really close to my house. We ate pizza and breadsticks, and watched bullriding for a while, then watched Wedding Crashers, for lack of anything better to do. This morning I went back to the barn, cleaned a stall, then went home. Now I am blogging, drinking iced tea, and putting away laundry. This is my life. I go from high energy, fun barn world, to home world, in which I flop out and enjoy not doing anything. Sorry for this being so long. I don't understand how I can be so happy in both of them....

Great Day!!!!

Today was a very good day. First of all, we had mac and cheese for supper, which always makes me happy, but you probably don't care. Also, I got a 100 on my Algebra II test, which not only counts as a 100 test, but also replaces my lowest test grade, so it is the equivalent of TWO hundreds. Yay! And finally, I am writing this on MY NEW LAPTOP!!! That's right! I got a laptop!!!! It is a really cool black Toshiba, and I named it Sampson. I LOVE IT!!!!! That's about it for now, but I just wanted to tell the world about my BRILLIANT day! Hooray!