Are you all into horses, Christi?

That question was in my comments. I was going to answer it there, but my answer was so long that I decided it deserved a post.

I've been riding horses since I was a baby. All of my earliest memories are on horseback or somehow surrounding horses. When I was growing up I used to joke that we kids would starve before the horses would. That's how it was, the horses came first and we did nothing else. All of my friends had horses. It kept us out of trouble.

I was away from the horse world for about 5 years. The five most miserable years of my life. Not just because there were no horses, but also because there was no horse-therapy. It sucked.

The kids are about as into horses as I was as a child. They like them, but not the work. They do the work because they have to, like any chore. They take the horses for granted because they have never been without. They seem to understand that no matter how tired we (humans) are, the horses depend on us. The husband, he hates them! I tried to find a nice guy who liked horses, but all the boys I've dated that liked horses don't like girls ;)

As for me, there is absolutely no place I'd rather be than at the barn. Except for maybe at a horse show.

All Quiet on the Homefront

Not a whole lot has been going on. We're gearing up to start the new show season. The fun: new clothes, hours in the barn again, the successes. The not-so-funs: sore butts from riding, empty bank accounts, hours lot to the barn. I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be. We have a show scheduled for every weekend from the last weekend in April through September. Let's see how many we make it to.

Digging Around

I've spent some time digging around for info on my horses' families. Maybe it's because spent so much time no know my own dad, but I feel like I should know a little something about their parents.

Bluberi Moon, whose father (was) Zion Son King and mother StrawberiShortcake, is the mother to my SuchaFancy Bailey (I didn't name!) and her father is Short of Socks, son of Socks of Doc. Te Party Time, a non-relative is the daughter of Te Two Eyed and Storeys Delight. She is also the mother to a yet-unnamed baby, fathered by In Good Taste.

So there! Now if there are any other curious horse-googlers out there, maybe they'll find me and we can swap pictures.

Where Have you Been all my Life?

It's been a little hectic here the last week. Updates have been a long time coming, but I promise I haven't run out of life, just time. Here's the short list, more details on them later.. I hope.

1 . We had our end of year award banquet for the horses. We came home with trophies, plaques, and best of all.... my boy won his first belt buckle. That's a big deal! Hopefully I'll get a pic up soon.

2. My mom and I are not speaking. She blew us on off award night so she could watch my sister ride her horse... as if she couldn't do that any other time. I'm extremely disappointed in her. I'm used to her blowing me off, but these are her only grandkids. It'll be a while before I get over it. She doesn't think she did anything wrong. Both of my biological parents are a disappointment and I don't even expect much from them.

3. Went to Chicago on Tuesday for the SES Conference. In a word - awesome! We got Wednesday off to recover. I slept most of the day.

4. That brings us to today. Here is what you come for. Hick Christmas tales... I saw a yard today that was smaller than my porch. It had three giant Christmas inflatables in it. Two of them were laying over into the street because the people were too lazy to anchor them right - or perhaps they ran out of grass. Classic.

Good-bye 2006

Finally -- A picture of our official year-end, our last horse show. The off-season is long and cold.