It never slows down

It was hard to convince myself to study for today's exam.  After all, what could we possibly be tested on after 3.5 weeks of internship?  It was open note so I printed all the readings out before class and headed on in without much of a care.  Since it was open note it ended up being pretty easy, it was just a lot of writing. We had to relate some of the stuff we learned to our internships, but because I only met 4 different clients during my time at the Partnership I didn't have many instances to choose from, but I did what I could.  

After the exam I went out to brunch with Sarah, and we went to Mimi's.  I love getting brunch with Sarah because she and I can literally sit around forever just talking about anything and everything.  Afterwards though, we headed out to the barn to play with our ponies.  When I got there Aston was out in the field, but she came right over and I took her into the barn.  Once in the barn she was totally fine just hanging out, but then Dazzle started screaming and so Aston started to get worked up.

A day of play

I could barely contain myself towards the end of the day at work today, and I ended up taking off a bit early.  Other than that though my last day at the Partnership was great, and in reality it may not even be my last day.  They offered me the opportunity to come in and keep doing some of the same stuff I have been doing, but as a paid part time position.  I of course told them I'd absolutely be interested if its paid, and they all know about my horse so they weren't surprised I jumped at that.  They have to look at the budget to see if they can take me on, but hopefully I will continue working there, and using that to help pay for my Aston.  

On that note I decided to name the beautiful mare Aston.  I'm sure y'all know what an Aston Martin is, and I just somehow thought it was fitting.  She may be plain but she sure is athletic.  Grayson said this morning when she was moving around the pasture that she wasn't sure she'd seen a horse with as nice of a trot as she's got.  She just floats across the ground, as Grayson said, I can see exactly where the dressage is bred into her.

Safe and sound in North Carolina

After hours and hours of trying to pass the day surpressing my excitement about my mare coming down, around 9pm I finally headed out to the farm with a pizza and went down to the house to hang out with Grayson, David, and Bobby.  I bribed them with a pizza to wait up for me for the horse and it worked!  After hanging out and talking about names and other things, at 10:15 Grayson and I headed up to the barn thinking that he would be there right around then.  We finally met Steve the shipper on the corner of Shoe Road and our driveway, and it took some convincing but we convinced him to pull back to the barn and unload her there. 

As my mare stepped out of her stall onto the ramp she got a little nervous about going down such a steep ramp.  After a little bit of positive encouragement she just jumped right off and scrambled to regain her footing.  It was cute in a very endearing way.  Since she was a bit up we decided that we wouldn't turn her out but instead just walk her and then put her in her stall.  If we had put her out its entirely possible that she could have started running and not stopped until she collapsed in exhaustion or found a way to hurt herself or something else crazy.  Not interested in that. 

And the adventure begins

This morning I woke up to a phone call from my shipper, the wonderful Steve McRae of High Goal's Pony Express, expecting to hear the usual, "All set and on our way".  Instead I hear, "Well, there's never a dull moment in the horse world..."  

Steve was telling me about how he got to the farm bright and early, and about how Mike had called him and said his groom would be there to load the horse since Mike couldn't.  They load the horse up and Steve heads off down the road.  Steve was about 20 miles away when he received a phone call from Mike saying that his groom had given him the wrong horse.  I said WHAT? The WRONG horse??

A good support system is better than gold

"So is getting a new horse like getting a new car?  Is there, like, a new horse smell?"

All of my family and friends are very excited for me, and happy for me because they know how badly I have wanted a horse and how hard I have worked for it.  But no, there won't be a new horse smell, it will just be the same old smell.  

I remember begging for a horse growing up.  I remember how I would ask my parents to buy me something and how I'd scour the internet for free horses (hint: its not the purchase price that ever counts as expensive).  I even remember the days when my dear mother would look at me sweetly and say "Sure!".  My eyes would light up with glee until I would of course realize this was some sort of trick, and I'd narrow my eyes to get a good look at Mom.  Then, inevitably she would continue the rest of the sentence matter of fact-ly, "When you are 21 and are paying all of the bills yourself!".  I kid you not, that is exactly how it happened.  Mom, are you a psychic?  

Seizing opportunity

It was 60 degrees today, can you believe it?  Obviously it meant that I would have no excuse to not work the pony, not that I ever need an excuse, she's super!  We hung out in the barn a while, I met the girl who moved her horse to the barn in October, and also hung out with Grayson a while.  Even once the pony was tacked up she just got to stand around a be a good citizen.  Its definitely good for her to stand around, its something she wasn't ever able to do before.

When I finally got on I just focused on doing some trot work.  She started off in a really quick pace, trying to get those little legs moving, and once she had expended a bit of energy though I slowed her pace and got her moving nicely.  She was a little annoyed at the presence of water, and then even more annoyed when I made her stomp through it, but eventually she'll get over it.  She still remembers most of the things she has learned, so its more a matter of getting the muscle back that will allow her to be successful.  Hopefully this is the year I will be able to get a pony jock on her and get her sold.  

She's officially mine!

Today I finally received the bill of sale for my new mare, and this afternoon Dad went out to pay for her (with my money of course).  This means its real!  She's officially mine! She's supposed to ship down to me on Saturday, so as long as the weather stays decent I will go receive her Saturday night!  So I guess its time to talk a little bit about her.  She doesn't have a name, so that's one of the first things I will have to do when she gets here..  She's a 16h coming 5 year old Dutch Warmblood/Thoroughbred mare.  She's a dark bay with only a tiny bit of white on her back left heel.  She's very feminine but big bodied, and extremely sweet natured.  She was started last summer at a dressage barn (the same fancy dressage barn I found her in) and then was turned out for the fall to grow up a little bit after about 10 rides.  Since then she has been ridden once (the day I went to meet her) so she really is green as grass.  She's athletic though and fancy though, which all I wanted.  I'm super excited to get started with her on this journey.  I've never felt so broke, but I've never been so happy.