Nov. 20th .... a year ago today

It's exactly a year ago today, Kizz and I do our very first Trail ride.. a tiny short ride, but the first one and we got it done.. and it turned out to be a GREAT year for Kizz and I .. so amazing!!

What a bumpy ride it has been! But truth be told, it has been a treasure!! When I think back on how far we have come it is amazing to me!! My goal for this year was to just ride Kizz out on trails with another horse and survive!!  Not only did we do that , but we became confident enough to do trails alone!! We even got 53 ACTRA (Competitive ride miles )miles in the Club this year!! HOW exciting is that! I'm so super proud! : D

I can only imagine what we will accomplish next year!!! So here is to another year of the roller coaster ride of  our "Trail to Happiness " !!!!

Kizz and I Dec 2012 (our second ride out)

Nov 2, 2013 (happily riding bareback out in a field -Just riding him-walking through a field was a fear of mine!)

Nov 17, back to tough with Kizz lol

I finally get some warm winter riding boots, so excited to try them out.. Its busy around here getting prepared for winter and It's hard to get time to ride.. I'm sick on Saturday, but I plan to ride out as soon as my husband gets home on Sunday as I'm feeling better.. I wear my new boots around the house to break them in, they're awesome!!

I'm also super excited later, when I see these pics of me.. I can really tell I'm getting down in weight!! yahoooo!!! 

Robyn comes early and heads out, I tack up Kizz while waiting for my husband to get home... He waits in the wash rack all tacked up while Robyn & Bambi ride out, He IS NOT happy!! He whinnies and  yells for them. A bit later Chris arrives so I go mount up and head out. He is pretty hyper to go and we catch up to Robyn & Bambi fairly quick. We ride along together a bit, but it's apparent that both horses need to ride alone!! Kizz keeps bucking on me when I hold him back from rushing to catch up to Bambi if they get ahead of us any little bit!! Her mare keeps whinnying for Kizz too :(

We  decide to split up.. I head down to the mowed trail while she rides up on the ant hill road a bit. Both horses whinny back and forth and Kizz is at his worst!! The same as he was back on my "worst" ride where I walked home along the pave :(  He has himself in such a tizzy he is foamy with sweat :(

He whinnies and spins on me (luckily no bucking though) but we push on and get down to the logging road.. We trot all the way down the logging road to the clone road. Then we walk all along that to cool down a bit. We turn after a while (he is being good) and he picks up the pace coming back towards home. But I make him walk until we get to the logging road where we pick up a nice canter. I don't have to hold him back as he isn't rushing to bad and is a good boy. We slow down and trot a bit, then walk the rest of the way home. Coming down the access road he whinnies (getting replies from Bambi) and unlike usual lately when I get grumpy about it, he still keeps it up :( 

We make it home safe and sound though and I realize that as bad as he was, I wasn't nervous or scared. So in all it's a good ride I figure! We got through something I not long ago would have been scared of!!

we end up doing almost 7 miles :)

I decide from now on, I can't ride out with Robyn.. which is sad, we both have horses here.. both want to ride and usually end up going on the same day and cant' even ride together.. ugh how stupid!!

but it's for the best since when she takes her mare home  in the spring we can't ride out together anyway, and will just have more problems with our horses.. we will have great fun this summer meeting up on the trails though!! can't wait for warmer weather, late summer nights and lots of riding YEAH!

For now it's riding by myself in the cold to keep Kizz going a bit, and enjoying riding with my daughter over at the indoor.. it's looking to be a good winter! I've started back to winter boot camps and am feeling great!!!

My Daughter starts riding full time!

A little post about my Daughter Ava lee & her gelding Coby! We boarded Coby out at an indoor for the winter so that my daughter could spend the winter riding him. She really hopes to do trails next year on him!

Here he is settling in over at Dena's .. he's the horse on the left.. although it's hard to tell he looks so much like the appaloosa gelding (his new buddy) Wander!!

She's been riding some since she was 2 and more when she was 3, than she did this year, as I've been so busy with Kizz!! So I'm excited for her to get lots of riding in now! She's riding a few times a week, and her and Coby make such a good team! they're doing great!

first ride in the indoor

I had to buy her some new winter riding clothes.. me as well!! we never usually ride in the winter!!

here she is giving Coby a well deserved pat! 

She works on staying out along the rail, and whoa. So far. ! So excited to see how well they do over winter :) The lady that owns the barn is going to coach her some as well! should help, it's hard learning from "mom" I think!

Nov , 11 Holiday Ride... brrrr

   Robyn is excited to get out riding her mare so we plan to go out again on the holiday. It's freezing cold and snow on the ground now! But we tack up and head out. We ride down the driveway together and on the pave she does up the access road and I head straight. I go in the field and along the tree line. I get to the little rock wall that cross the tree line and wait for Robyn. Isn't long and I see her. We then both ride together through the mowed trail and take a right up to the ant hill road. We go down the pave (605) and then go in to the fields down to the RR. Her mare slips a bit as she's walking where Robyn doesn't want her to and she has a little moment of acting up but she's fine and continues on. We trot a little on the camp road and then again on the RR a bit. It's getting dark and cold so we just go up past the big ditch on the RR, up to the hydro line and then turn and head back. We are cold when we hit the pave again so we ride the rest of the way on the pave.

The horses were good! We probably did around 6-7 miles?

Kizz was completely dry when I un tack which is good because it's so cold out! (And with his winter coat In he sweats bad now!)

Happy with how things are going. I plan to ride out completely alone next time and do some work solo on the clone road then come back and meet Robyn and ride a bit with her. Hopefully Kaaren can meet up with us too!

Hope Kizz is good going out alone this next ride!

Nov 9, Sat., big changes for the winter!!

It's freezing cold out and dark early so no riding for me since last ride!

My friend brings her new horse Friday! She bought an off the track TB mare. She's a sweety! We plan to go for a ride the next day!

Saturday rolls around and a trailer picks up my gelding Coby to take to the boarding stables not far from me - that we are keeping him at for the winter so my daughter can get some coaching and use the indoor.

So Kizz isn't very happy with his buddy gone! He's yelling most of the day. And just when he's starting to settle a bit. A family comes and buys our mini mare's filly. So then the mare is yelling and Kizz is replying. What a day to choose to ride. It's also windy and cold! But Robyn is excited to ride her mare and I want to go too!

So I tack up and we head out! We don't get far (just started up the mowed trail when we meet Kaaren. We continue on down the mowed trail and hit the logging road.

When we get there I am sick of Kizz jigging so Kaaren suggests I trot on ahead. I trot all the way to the clone road with no hesitations !  We turn and head back and canter a bit.

When I first ask for the canter he rushes so I pull him back and he gives a buck but settles in to a nice canter and we go along all the way up to Kaaren and Robyn.  We slow nicely when we meet them and turn and walk along with them. He's not jiggy anymore thank goodness.

We ride to the Clone road and go right and out where it's hilly. Robyn's horse is super quiet and sweet! She rushed the mud a bit but other wise she's A1! She trots a bit to catch up to us and does great! We ride a ways and chat.

When we come to a hill (the exact place I cantered kizz for the first time!) She goes ahead and canters for the first time. They do great!! Kaaren and I trot side by side. Kizz is good! No racing.

We continue riding.

We each take a turn cantering (kizz and I trotted most of it) a big hill and I got a video of Kaaren & Robyn

Then we  head home walking.

Kaaren leaves us at the clone/logging road fork. Kizz acts a little strange he wants to go with Odin! Lol but we ride on home.

 It's a great ride. I'm so proud of Kizz and Robyn's new horse is wonderful!!

Nov 2nd unexpected!

It is raining and Kizz is muddy, but a friend comes to take pictures of Ava lee and her mini, so we get some of Kizz and I... and we go out back into the fields for it!! I RODE Kizz out there bareback!!!!

what an accomplishment for me! I wouldn't have did this even just a couple weeks ago!!! Sat on him bareback in an open field!! wow!!!

here's some of the great pics she got!!

sitting on Kizz debating riding him out to the back pasture for pics :P

this is us going up the Access road by my place..

annndd we made it!!

then it really started raining!!! lol

and a couple of my precious Ava lee with her Mini mare Dream

Thank you kendra hawkes for the beautiful pictures!!!

Halloween ride- out alone!

today's the day, I see how Kizz is able to handle the riding out alone after a few weeks of only going out with other horses!!  I tack up , head out...
He's great!!No yelling not even looking back. We head up the access road.. but the fields will tell me how he's going to be.. that is where he always acts up.

We get to the fields and trot on through them, Cross the rock wall, and walk through the next field. HE is A1!!! Doesn't make a sound or fuss!!!! AH!! SO happy!!!

We trot a bit through the wooded trail but walk very slowly down at the bottom of the mowed trail as its frozen mud and slippery a bit. We get through it fine without him rushing or upset at all!

We trot some on clone road, canter a bit but mostly walk , he's very settled! I find that when I post on his right lead, it's short striding bad like he does sometimes..

We meet a four wheeler and side by side.. He is perfect :)

When we meet Kaaren & Magic he steps it up a notch, and he no longer seems to be short striding on that front right. We continue on to pave... go down pave and cut in road that goes to RR
go along that and check out a little traiil off to the side to the hydro line while we chat.. The puddles are big and frozen along there and him crunching down through the ice doesn't bother him like I thought it would!

We turn and head back, hit pave..

She takes me up as far as the horse at blaneys , as I'm worried it will see us and starting crashing through the woods and yelling and have Kizz upset! I don't know how he'd react and on the pave isn't good!

Kizz seems happy to go on home, so I trot off... We even pick up a canter for a ways :)

A ways off we hear a whinny but he doesn't care, we keep going!!

trot some , wak some eat grass he''s excellent!
Almost home he see's Coby and when Coby whinnies, he does one, but other wise A1!!

I tie in wash rack to cool with his blanket and give him supper and snacks ...good boy!!!

I'm super super happy and  Sooooo gosh darn proud!!!

9 Miles

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