Life, Change and Happiness!

Last weekend in Glen Rose, I won around $1100 on Gabe! YAHOO! He was a rock star and I did not fall off despite my light headedness and nausea. I had a feeling that the "illness" was something better..but had to wait till this week to find out for sure. In the mean time, I told Jeff that he was my good luck charm! Seriously, we had an awesome weekend of barrel racing!!!
Now for this week....I finally got a home test, well 3 of them, and confirmed that I am in deed pregnant! Yup, today I am 4 weeks and 5 days pregnant! Jeff and I are totally thrilled! I ponder on the idea that my race last weekend was the good Lord showing me that even though I am gonna have to take a break from the horses, I will be blessed again when I return. So for now, the horses are turned out. All 6 of them. Gabe will be used for lessons but as for me riding, well I am not risking the life of my child to ride. I might get on and just ride around, but no barrels. No riding to "work out" a horse. NO Joe, Lynx, Trip......Just Gabe.
With that said, I have to add that last time I rode Gabe I felt like I was on a carnival ride. I was so dizzy and light headed. That is the other reason why I decided that riding is not really an option during pregnancy for me. Anyhow, this is gonna be a wild ride! I am sure that God is watching me as he has blessed me with so much!

WOW......

Here is my day so far. Woke at 4am...realized it was toooooooo early.....tried to fall back asleep. Could not. So I laid there till 6am. Got up and went to get the free breakfast. Spilled an entire cup of coffee before I got a sip. My waffle got cold while i was cleaning it up. Came back to the room, looked at my email to find that I was over drawn and fee'ed to death. Went to the arena to look around. It was 7:40am so no one was stirring yet. Left to go to ATM and got some cash. PUT MY SEAT BELT BACK ON after leaning out the window to get my cash. Pulled out onto the freakin highway and got PULLED OVER for NO SEAT BELT.....OMG Folks, I NEVER drive without my seat belt! Even on dirt roads!!!!!!!!! HOLY COW! Of course the BUTT HOLE trooper was NOT polite in any way and was very rude resulting in my blood pressure sky rocketing...next thing I know I am PISSED. Would it hurt for him to call me Ma'am? And at what point did I not have my seat belt on???? Why did the 2 troopers before you not pull me over then??????? So I am MAD. I had pulled off on a little side street for BUTT HOLE so he would not get hit by a passing car....wont do that again. He then follows me and pops me 4 seconds later for "irate driving" and "failure to use signal"....WOW.........Then he tells me to step out of the vehicle......step away from your vehicle....OMG I wanted to slap him! Finally he leaves. I went into the store to scream. A nice man bought me a soda and the poor lady listened to me and told me that he is one of those looking for out of towners to pull over....great.

I go to the court house at 8am this morning since I live 5 hours away.....and find out its a $175 ticket!! FOR SOMETHING I DID NOT DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am gonna have to do defensive driving....sigh.

I went back to the arena and saw Bill and crew. Got my stalls and my exhibitions. The day must get better!!!!!!!!

I guess I should mention that I am in Glen Rose at a barrel race. I am truly happy to be here! That is why I could not sleep! I was excited! The day will get better....

Been Riding

Well a while ago I traded Hick, our butt head red dun gelding, for a little mare named Sandy Triple Bar aka Trip. I have a really good feeling about this mare....she is smart, quick and broke...Anyhow, I have been riding her a lot. I really enjoy riding her. She is a smaller mare. Actually the size of my first horse, TJ. She is only 14.2hh. But she is wide and gonna get really wide here pretty quick! You can roll an egg down her back! Anyhow, she has picked up on the pattern so fast I am still in awe....We are now loping the pattern and I really want to take her to some place and make a run on her to see what she clocks. She might even be ready to enter up....Keep in mind, she was a rope horse and has never seen the cans till I got her and has only been worked on the cans for a month......she is smart!
Yesterday I rode Joe and Lynx. Booth of which are growing like weeds with all this fresh grass we have right now. Joe did lope a nice pattern yesterday after I worked the snot out of him in the round pen to get the buck out...lol Lynx was being confused, but that is OK. He is a baby.
I plan to ride Trip and Gabe today. It seems I ride the two sorrels (Joe and Lynx) one day then the two bays (trip and gabe) the next. Problem is this......I am down to one saddle that fits 3 ponies really well then another saddle that kinda fits Lynx.....so I guess I better find another saddle like the one I have that fits 3 ponies....lol

It Was Nice Today

I am home! I stayed after to talk with the teacher one class over. I really enjoyed talking to her! I guess teaching is my field because her and I talked about theories and learning strategies for about an hour. We also talked about the different stages of the learner and the social groups that form at different ages. I was really enjoying the level of intellect that was at play during the conversation....I guess I am getting into my classes and really drawing on my past knowledge today! Maybe I need to go do some more home work while I am still in the mood to talk about learner needs. It was nice to remember that I am smart and do have a future in teaching. I think I shocked the hell out of the other teacher! When I was working on my Master's degree I did a lot of work on learning how to engage the students in the classroom and in online classrooms. I studied a lot on social structures and how to reach different types of learners at different levels of learning. I was also required to reflect on myself as a learner and I guess if I was ever tested I would have ADD or something because I learn more by having multiple tasks at hand to complete. I am really better learning online because I can do 5 assignments at the same time. There is nothing to hold me back. Anyhow, when observing the classes today and having to write a reflection paper on my observations I got a little carried away talking about how the teachers really need to focus on engaging the students. A science class should be interactive! OK, now I am boring you...lol Here is some of my normal banter.
On a lighter note, I got my WBR video today!!!! Its awesome!!! They even added me and Booger in the match race on there for me! It kinda brought some tears to my eyes while i was laughing at him bouncing around on that mule! I also got to see my video on Gabe in slow motion and at first I thought that his left hind leg looked kinda "off" going into the first barrel. It does but it looks more like he might have put it down wrong just that one stride and was testing it for the next couple strides. I say this because once we got around that barrel, he was really reaching with that left hind leg!!!!!! In fact, he was really reaching for the entire run. However, I sat too soon on the second and the third......about a half a stride. If i had stayed up he would have slid around it instead of slinging me around it. But boy howdy does he set up when my butt hits the back of that saddle!!!!

A happy post :)

OK, here is a happy post :) Lynx seems to want to exhibition now...lol We worked poles yesterday and WOW....he really loves poles and is really good at them! He also worked a nice set of cans! I think I might have to haul 3 boys to my next race :) Joe is doing good too. Lynx will be 3 in April and Joe will be 4 in April...WOW....Gabe will be 9 in April! Anyhow, I am totally excited about my boys! I have only ever really had one horse to haul and run. So the possibility of having 3 just thrills me to no end! I did join TX 30 which makes me an NBHA member. I will have to try and go to some of the close 26's races. I think that maybe by next year I might actually have 3 horses to run! How weird would that be?

Random Thoughts.

I am sitting here watching Numbers. They are talking about suicide. Well that is the story line tonight anyhow. My thoughts keep drifting back to my best friend's boyfriend who just killed himself. I cant help but wonder what the hell was going through his mind and wonder why he kept telling her he would hold her and love her forever. Why do that when you intend on leaving? The last text message he sent was just that. His last phone call was about how much he loved her and missed her already. I dont get it. I dont understand why they do that. Why people who commit suicide profess their love right before they off themselves? Ugh. I know, kinda a grim thought. But damn it, why did he do that to her? More than anything, it totally pisses me off that he left her like that. She will never fully recover. She was totally in love and totally involved. Now she is wandering around lost searching for reason. All I can do is be here for her and keep her moving. Make her get up and get out of the house. Make her go ride. But it just seems that I have a right to be MAD as HELL at him for leaving her this way. I want to kick his ass! Sorry about the cussing. But Damn it, why did he leave her like that? Not just her either. Her daughter. Her teenage daughter. Who thought so highly of him.......I just had to vent. Now I will go post something happy so you guys dont worry about me!

Ah. Barrel Racing is good for the Soul.

So, yesterday aka Jan. 16th and Jeff's 33rd birthday, We went to a Barrel race. We hauled Joe and Gabe...of course my dog got to come too. :) It was a little muddy but overall we had a blast! We got there early and saddled up for exhibitions on Joe. Jeff actually went with me and that is rare! Joe and I managed to actually lope the pattern for the first time!!! We loped a 25 second pattern. Gabe, well......lets just say that I pulled a check for 2nd in the 4D so I should be happy.....but he was all about the blue barrel (garbage can) on the other side of the fence!!!! So, we came in hauling butt then went right past the first barrel like he did not even see it! I think I need to talk them into hanging some banners! lol After he got around the first, his second and third were nice and we had a good time. We ran a 17.1 Not sure how the heck we ran that FAST!!! I mean really, we went about 30 foot from the barrel!!!! WOW! He must have been rockin' and rollin! He felt really good too!
Well Jeff got me the pic of Joe loping his first pattern :) and everyone wanted to go out to eat. I was a little surprised when Jeff agreed and waited for everyone!~ OH and Brooke and Sarah were there too! Almost all of my favorite folks! Well we went out to eat at a mexican place with about 15 of us. It was a blast!
I joined NBHA TX 30 too. I have points there, so why not? I will post a video soon.