Top Ten Books of All Time

1.      Running With Scissors

2.      The Art Of Racing In The Rain

3.      Chinese Cinderella

4.      The Eragon Series

5.      The Host

6.      God Hates Us All

7.      Push

8.      1984

9.      The Lovely Bones

10.  The Glass Castle

Books I Need To Read:

The Harry Potter Series
Alice I Have Been
The Perks Of Being A Wallflower
The White Oleander
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Fallen Angels
A Child Called “it”: One Child’s Courage To Survive
Dry
Prozac Nation

Life Happens

Things happen.

And by things, I mean getting kicked out of barns.

And by getting kicked out of barns, I mean having your own horse make your trainer so mad that she goes on to exclaim that she is “Tired of his crap!” and that “He needs to get out of here”.

Okay, so I guess we all learn lessons.

Needless to say, we pulled his happy butt up out of there the day after these words were said. Bear is at home now, here in Owensboro, whereas he was in 45 minutes away in Henderson before.

Regardless, I learned a lesson; no one can handle your own crack head horse better than yourself. Bear is now at home and we’re trying to get weight on him, he is now up to 10 pounds of grain a day with tons of hay and alfalfa. So he’s extremely happy now that he gets to stuff his face with tons and tons of grain a day.

But hey, life happens.

New Saddles and Better Weather- Heck Yes.

I absolutely love the weather we’ve been having lately. It’s amazing. Period.

I brought Bear home from the trainer’s in Henderson last week, and I love having him right here in Owensboro for me to ride. We’ve been going on trail rides and jumping over logs. I also just got two new saddles, and they’re amazing. I love them, they are so insanely comfy, and they beat the saddles I have been using, which were like riding on a block of wood.

Swimming Outside..... In Winter?

That's right, I did it.
And by it, I mean the Polar Plunge. No- I'm not crazy, at least not completely. But I had an absolute BLAST. It was so amazing. The Polar Plunge is something I have always wanted to do, and it was for charity- I raised $100 for the Special Olympics, which made me feel awesome! Surprisingly, I wasn't scared at all to jump in 26 degree water, I didn't even hesitate or anything, I just did it. Though I will admit, it was a huge shock to my system as soon as I hit the water, the first thing I thought as soon as I was in the lake was "SWIM, SWIM" and so I swam for my life. My friend who I was jumping with swam in front of me and cut me off as I was trying to swim to one of the ladders, so I had to swim an extra couple feet in the freezing water. I had an amazing time though, and I'm totally taking the plunge again next year!

I took the plunge for Apollo and they only had a XXL to give me, so that's why it looks like I'm wearing a dress.

Why Being too Legit to Quit is A Challenge

Lately I have been extremely excited but extremely exhausted at the same time. Let me explain my upcoming schedule- I have the polar plunge coming up this Saturday, and yes, I am insane enough to jump into a freezing cold lake during the middle of winter. I also have horse show season coming up in March, which I am extremely excited about, however, I am not so excited about having to start conditioning- which for me means finding time to go run and getting up off my lazy butt.

If the Horse is Smarter Than You- Don't Do it.

There's hay in my pockets.
This always happens to me when I wear a hoody or some other article of clothing that had pockets to the barn. Hay gets everywhere. Why can't horses eat bread or something that won’t find its way into my pockets? I suppose finding hay in your pockets is just a normal part of living with horses, just as getting kicked, bitten, and stepped on is, and unfortunately, I have experienced more than my fair share of accidents with the equine species. After all, you're talking to the girl who went to freshman orientation on crutches because she got stepped on by 1,200 pound Tennessee walker. And yes- that did suck.

Frozen Horse Dookies and Mud

It’s January in Kentucky, needless to say it is freezing outside, but hey, don’t get me wrong- I know it could be much worse if I lived in Alaska or Maine or somewhere like that- but anyway, it’s freaking cold outside! The temperature may not be a big deal to some people- people who just get up in the morning, go to their school or their job, or wherever, get groceries and go home to a nice warm house. The weather is a big deal to me, and it always has been, it has to be when you’re dealing with livestock because it can mean the difference between a frozen cold horse and a happy warm furry bundle of joy.

             For most people it is a common thought that owning a horse means having a big happy animal in their backyard that can be ridden at anytime for any length of time and then put back in the pasture to carry out its’ happy life amongst the green grass and smiling flowers. But the reality is that horses need so much more care than that- especially in the wintertime- just ask me, I currently own three horses and I will tell you this, owning a horse is no walk in the park, nor does it involve smiling flowers.

                I love my horses; I do not however: love cleaning frozen horse turds, falling on ice, going outside in a blizzard to blanket my horses, etc. But, the love I do have for my stinky horse family is the reason why I put myself through these things, it is easy to say that you love something, yet it is another thing to prove it, especially while you’re ankle deep in frozen mud and horse dookeys.