Turning thirty

I'm not going to lie, the thought of my first thirtieth birthday (there will be more) initially freaked me out a little. It's amazing how fast time flies by!

This whole week leading up to my birthday has been amazing! Not that all of these wonderful happenings were to celebrate my last few days in my twenties, the timing of everything just turned out to be perfect.

It started last Thursday with a couple of our owners coming down. Between hanging out at the races/tiki bar and an awesome dinner at Pappadeaux's, it was so much fun to have them here! I can't even begin to express how wonderful these two are! I would still want to hang out with them even if they fired us ;)

Sunshine and drinks with friends=awesomeness

On Monday, my friend A flew down to see me. It was a fun and relaxing three days!

Bright colored tees and shades. Welcome to spring in Phoenix!

We spent time at the races, ate some pretty awesome food, and drooled over tack and riding gear at a super tack shop!

It will be mine! Eventually....

On Wednesday A and I went to a silent and live auction to benefit Anne Von Rosen, a jockey that was paralyzed here a couple of months ago. The amount of people that showed up to support her was amazing! It really showed how much of a family the racing world can be! There was so much faith that she will be able to walk again and everyone wants to do what they can to help her.

Bracelets for Anne

A and I did a little shopping before I dropped her off at the airport yesterday. Her coming to see me for my birthday was so wonderful! Ty let me slack off as far as the barn work went. I could actually hang out with her instead of her getting stuck watching me clean stalls and tacking horses all morning. I got to feel like I live a normal life for a few days :)

A watching hell-horse and Ty

Last night I came home to flowers and a couple of gorgeous scarves from Ty (he had already gotten me the Ogilvy half pad, One K helmet, and Prestige bridle as gifts too).

Me trying to get artistic with the scarves and flowers

My mom sent me a package that included some scrumptious cookies among other things. 'A' gave me this incredible lotion bar (I'm absolutely in love with it) from Lush Cosmetics on top of coming to visit.

Best lotion ever!

Yep, I TOTALLY got spoiled!

For the grand finale, I found out Ty and I get to go to the Kentucky Derby!

Hello Darling! I'll be seeing you soon!

This wasn't meant as a birthday present, but it sure as hell pushed my birthday from amazing to absolutely unbelievable!!! The owners that came to visit, got an awesomely located box for the Derby and they invited us! I booked our flight already (thanks A for finding affordable flights for me) and now just need to reserve the car and book the hotel. Oh, and shop for the dresses and hats. Pink for the Oaks and I still haven't decided what I want for the Derby. It's going to be spectacular and I still can't quite believe it!

Turning thirty went from being a little scary to the best birthday of my life. It's not the gifts I got, but the realization that the years of my life have led me to so many wonderful people. I seriously have the most amazing family and friends! Every year I meet more extraordinary people that make life all that much better.

So who cares about a number? Happiness preserves youth more than anything. It's the time we're given that really matters. I'm just grateful for the amount of it I've already had and the people I love that time has led me to.

Way too lazy to write Wednesday

Princess, my new racehorse. Her name actually has the word "Princess" in it, so Ty can't roll his eyes when I call her that.

Zorro agrees that it is way too hot to be in the sun.

Our saddle towels

Two year old filly

Aggie and Remey

Miss wild eyes

Princess galloping

Harley- the cutest

Aggs after her race. She ran third. Tried hard.

Woody- such a sweet horse

Remey is grumpy in the heat too.

The best horse

I took Beefs out to ride yesterday. Indy needed to go too, but we got done late at the track and I was hot, tired, and extremely grumpy. I just wanted to be able to relax and enjoy my ride so Beefs got hauled out there by himself. He was such good boy. My back is still really out and I can't sit straight. Beefimeus was all like "No worries, I got this. Just stay the hell out of my way and let me do my job."

My good boy!

So I rode in a slightly more forward seat to stay off of his back and he babysat my crooked ass.

He's finally figuring out how to reach for the bit in long and low.

Love his uphill canter!

He so knows he's cute :)

So thankful for him

Where's the jump? (fixed video)

Hell-horse on a good day. I really want to see this horse jump one day.

*Fiancé brag- he is really focusing on riding the hind end and getting the horse to reach for the connection, staying in front of his leg better. I think he's doing a really good job. Hell-horse is not easy to ride at all and is even tougher to relax on because he's not very trustworthy. He really could be a very nice horse one day....

Self awareness and a new bridle

Ty took some video of me riding Beefs today. It was a pretty good ride and I was happy with it, but there is definitely a lot to work on. Mostly me, partially him.

*Sorry for the headless and/or blurry pics. Ty was trying to film me while he was holding Indy. The video came out too choppy to post (serious motion sickness). I just grabbed frames from it and so they're blurry.

A few things we need to work on:

Myself

1. I was sitting off to the right. I actually usually sit a little to the left, but I pulled a muscle in my left thigh. Maybe it'll balance everything out once the muscle heals up....

2. My left leg is still spastic, my knee and toe turning out. I can't blame this on my thigh, I always do it.

3. I need to work on my timing with my driving leg, focusing on the moment right before the hind leg leaves the ground. I do well with this on lateral work, not so much when I'm just going straight and am using it just a split second too late. I am especially struggling with this in the downwards transitions.

4. Stop dropping my outside hand, specifically when we're going to the right.

Like this. Apparently my entire left side was just not functioning today.

5.  I am collapsing through my left side a little when I go to the left, though this may have been a little worse due to my thigh. Stretching up was a pretty painful.

6. Stop looking down.


Beefs

A. I need to remember to bring his shoulders in, he's getting slightly lateral. I always ride in a slight shoulder fore, but today we were struggling with this.

B. Keeping him through to the connection more consistently in the downwards transitions. Fixing #3 above should help fix this.

Starting to transition down. This one wasn't too bad. (I posted into it because sitting trot wasn't an option today)

C. Be more insistent that he stays focused on me, I tend to be too tolerant of this. The distractions are short lived, but they need to be almost non-existant. He's not young, time to grow up.


I really believe in fixing yourself to fix your horse. If I'm correct, my horses will be also (for the most part). To ride more balanced I probably need to get back to the chiropractor and get a massage. I'm typing this while sitting here with a Back on Track no-bow wrapped around my thigh and it really is helping. Hopefully that heals up soon. Then I will be able to tell which mistakes are actually coming from habit, not just from hurting.

Good boy

I am also going to try to lose a little weight (I guess I should say that I want to lose some fat because I don't care how much I weigh as long as it's muscle instead of flab) and am going to look into yoga classes to help with my strength and flexibility. I'm not in as good of shape as I need to be. My riding shows it.

There were still really good moments! Beefimeus really wants to please and has an incredible work ethic. He always tries to do what I ask. It's never a fight when I'm trying to get him to understand what I want. He just goes through his list of answers to what I ask him for and when I reward him for the right one, he understands.  He doesn't forget what the right answer was. I'm very conscientious to never punish him for a mistake. Correct yes, but no punishment unless he is misbehaving (rarely happens). He likes his job and I'd like to keep it fun for both of us. Seriously LOVE this horse!

To top my day off, I got a new show bridle. My friend, who rides western, told me she had a dressage bridle for sale for $75. I figured if it was decent for the price, another schooling bridle would be great. It's a Prestige! Brand spanking new!!!

It came with wrapped leather, rubber grip reins too!

I asked her if she knew that it was worth WAY WAY more than that and she said that she knew, someone had told her what it was worth. I was all like "Are you sure that's all you want for it?" She said that it was just sitting in her trailer and she'd rather someone have it to use. I seriously wanted to hug her! A new show bridle was definitely in need, but after buying the new helmet and my Oglivy half pad, I wasn't going to be able to afford one for a while. I still feel like I should give her more money for it though.

I love the wrapped leather! The quality and detail are awesome!

 Ty looked at it and said "I could use that as a race bridle!" I told him no, that it had a crank. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that it wasn't a single crown piece and that the crank could easily be replaced with a regular noseband. Of course, he had spotted that fact immediately. Let me think about it...yeah, NO!!!!