11 Weeks In One Photo Dump

Break out the champagne! I wrote my last final for my degree last night. This semester has kicked my ass, hard, so blogging (and horses) took a back seat. I've been riding, but sporadically. Thankfully my creatures are all honest souls so there has been very little antics. And they live in the backyard so I still get my pony-fix.

This is exactly how I felt last night

Little asshole is enjoying living with my mom and is the first to the gate, every time.

We hacked out in January

And in February

My previous barn once again hosted two Sandra Donnelly clinics. I rode both horses in the first one. I was super impressed with William he hadn't done a grid or a course prior to this clinic but he took both in stride.  He also had never seen an oxer before this clinic and he just couldn't brain. Even when we disassembled it it took him quite a while to figure out that he had to jump/walk over both rails. The clinic was a great success though. Sandra told me I'd be crazy to sell him, but if I did decide to sell him I should sell him to her. It's always great when someone you truly respect thinks highly of your horse, even when he's being a sassy, green 5 year-old.

Jumper or reiner, you decide

Seriously, the cutest face ever.

And sometimes he forget that he has 4 legs.

Dee was her usual rockstar self and packed me around the 3'3" group. I missed her and I"m so glad she's back to her usual self. I've seen no back soreness at all since we started back jumping.

For my birthday we tormented the dogs

My kitchen window view never gets old

William was foot perfect for his first time in water, with a rider he'd never met
Also, she tried to steal him :)

When both the dogs and the pony need some exercise and there are only so many daylight hours

 It's been pretty low-key around here and I'm quite excited to get back into a regular schedule, with both the horses and the blog.

Living the Dream

I've officially reached a life-goal! I have my ponies in my backyard.

It was a bit of an insane weekend.  On Friday I was setting up temporary fencing because the back fences require quite a bit of work. We've got to mulch/chop down a bunch of trees that are right in the fence line before we can even begin to replace the fence.

Saturday we insulated the attic. Let me tell you, that is it's own circle in hell.  I now understand why people pay people to do it for them.  It's not a complicated process but it is miserable, thankless job.  But at least it is done and we won't see all our heat escaping out through the roof.

Sunday we actually moved all our belongings in. We've got some awesome friends so everything was moved in in under 2 hours, and now my entire house looks like it exploded boxes and furniture.

This trailer is completely full.  We have too much stuff!

The exciting part is that both my ponies made it safely home.  I picked Chase up on Saturday evening and he unloaded and settled in right away.  He seemed a little out-of-sorts being all by himself, which resulted in some minor pacing. The appeal of grass kept him from doing to much fence-walking.

He's looking pretty good for a mostly retired old man

Shimmer-E and Sarah hauled Sullivan over on Sunday afternoon.  He loaded reasonably well (for never having been in a small straight haul) and hauled really well. When he got off the trailer, the first thing he did was try and kick Jill's head in because she was running around like an idiot. I'm glad she can't get into the field because the #littleasshole really doesn't like dogs.

He's fat and fuzzy! Just the way I like my young guys.

Once I turned him out with Chase the two of them became fast friends. Sullivan tested the fence once, got shocked and squealed, farted and bolted.  I've yet to see him go anywhere near that side of the pasture since.

I keep standing at the window and watching them just graze.  The Boy thinks I'm a little strange, but he's learned to just roll with all the crazy horse nonsense.

So pretty.

I'm siting in class working on this post and I just received this photo with the comment that Chase has decided that all the cookies are his, and iPhones are a terrible tease because they don't taste good. I think he's liking having horses at home too.

WE BOUGHT AN ACREAGE!!!

The Boy and I have been casually looking for an acreage for the past 8 months.  We got serious back in June when we put an offer in on a place. Unfortunately there were multiple offers and we got screwed over by the seller's realtor (as in he didn't even present our offer). So we kept looking. There aren't very many acreages available in our chosen area that are within our price range. As oil prices continued to drop more places started to come available but it also has become harder to obtain mortgages in Alberta, especially if you're employed in Oil & Gas (as both The Boy and I are). Things were looking rather bleak on the acreage front and we even discussed buying a place in town.

And then on August 20th our realtor sent us a listing that hadn't even hit the MLS yet. I knew right away that we had to look at it. When we got out of the truck I already felt like I could live there (before even going inside). So after some back and forth (and another multiple offer situation) we finalized the deal. Today we took possession and are officially home-owners together! (The Boy already owned his home in town, we kept it and are renting it out).

I'm going to be able to look out the kitchen window and see my ponies.

It's 4.6 acres with a 4 bed, 2 bath bi-level, attached garage and a 30x40 barn! There are a few places where the fences need repairs but the ponies are coming home on Friday. Dee is staying at the winter facility so I will have an indoor to ride in. This meant I needed a buddy for Sullivan and the stars aligned perfectly.  I will be picking up Chase, a 17 yo Paint gelding, on Friday.

The barn is unfinished on the interior, but cute as possible

I originally got Chase as a 4 year old and owned him for 9 years. He packed me around beginner jumper courses, even though he was not designed to be a jumper. As I outgrew his abilities I found him home with a lovely family who needed a safe and sane mount. Their kids are out of the house and Chase is just sitting so they approached me to see if we would like him back, just as we were finalizing this house. Kismet, I tell ya.

Such a handsome ponykins

The love is mutual (as long as there is food involved)

This whole process has been a rollercoaster of emotions.  I'm brimming over with excitement but we did just spend a bloody fortune so there have been moments where I've had to sit down and put my head between my knees.

The best part will be looking out the kitchen windows to see my fat and sassy beasts :)