Me a Hunter Again?

Hey Yall,
So on Saturday my friend Susan came out to give me a few pointers with my riding. It was really good to see her because she hasn't been out to work with me in two weeks and I had some questions for her. She started by working with me on my transitions and my free walk. She said that the free walk is o important because it lets Amador stretch his whole body out. Also with the transitions I learned that even the way we breathe when we ride effects our horse. Then we worked over some itty bitty verticals. It was so cool Amador was just taking them in stride! He didn't race or anything! We even have him in a snaffle now! So our new goal is to show hunters. Once we have the hunters we will try jumpers again, but I am very excited to go back and proove to all those who said we weren't able to do hunters that we can! I have a video from our lesson I just have to get it loaded I'm trying. Also yesterday I had a cleaning day and I completely organized all my stuff I'll try to post a pic of that to!
-Paula

First Jump?

Hey Yall,
So today I got to sleep until almost 10 o'clock because Tania feed for me and it was amazing!!! The only thing I don't like about having my horses at my own farm is that I have to wake up early to go feed in the mornings. After my sleepy butt woke up and got going I went to the feed store to see Amelia and to get beet pulp. Then I went out to the farm and picked up Stephanie from Tanias. For those of you who don't know Stephanie is Tanias daughter. She is six years old and has been learning to ride on Danny. She is really a natural. Today she walked around with a little help from Tania and practiced her steering, posting at the walk, and two-point while I rode Amador. She did very well until Danny stopped walking about five feet away from one of the jumps. She gave him a kick and told him to walk on, but I guess he misses jumping because hi gave her a smooth trot to canter transition and proceeded over the jump! luckily the pole had fallen so it was just a ground pole and Stephanie shocked us all because she stayed perfectly centered and two pointed over the pole. She was a little nervous afterwards but she really liked it! I jumped Amador and he was really good and got all of his hunter strides. I'm very excited because Susan is coming to help me on Saturday. Tomorrow I'm going to ride again so I'll let yall know how that goes.
-Paula

Jumps!!!

Hey Yall,
So yesterday I brought all of the jumps I've built so far up to the front of my farm where my ring will be. Tania and I set them all up into a little jump course. Then later Tania on Danny, Kenzie on bridget, and me on Amador all went trailriding over at Hampton Road Stables. It was alot of fun and I got to see my friend Annie and her Pony Remi! It was very muddy and wet on the trail but Amador was such a troopeer I was actually suprised at how well behaved he was. Tania took Danny because her horse, Loretta, has very sensative feet and no shoes. It was so much fun thanks Debbie for letting us join yall!
-Paula
P.S. I'm going to try to post pis soon I promise!

Ribbons and Muck!!!

Hey Yall,
Things have been so crazy! Last weekent my god mother, Tania, and I along with a friend went to a dressage schooling show over at Hampton Rd. Stables. For those of you who don't remember I used to board there. It was great to see our old friends and the show was lots of fun despite the rain. We showed training level one and placed 3rd out of about seven or eight! I was so proud of Amador he was so good! A big thanks to Debbie Hankison it was a great show we hope you put on another one soon! Also thank you to Susan for all of your help. Shout out to Tania who won first place in her division, which made for a great first horseshow! So that explains the ribbons part so I'm sure your wondering what the muck part means...? Well since Amador and Danny have been at my land they have been very happy and Amador has gained lots of weight and is looking alot better. However, this also means tons of work for me! It has rained for the past two days and so when I went out to work today I was expecting it to be wet, but it was muddy and icky and gross! I couldn't get any work done out in the pasture, so I decided to work on my jumps. For those of you who know me you might be like, Paula, building??? Well lots of good has come from the move to Huger including my learning how to use power tools without killing myself! YAY Well I've been working on building up my jump collection and today I build a brush box! It's really cool and I actually suprised myself at how good they look. I'm very excited to start putting my ring together with all the pretty jumps I've made! It's so much fun and I think that all the measuring and stuff is really relaxing. We have been working so hard to get the land to be a nice little farm. In addition to the jumps I've been working on building a round pen, putting together a small dressage ring and eventually a nice little three stall shedrow. I'll put pics up as soon as I can! Well I'm off to get some sleep after a long day of work!
-Paula

Crazy Crazy

Hey Yall
Things have been super crazy the last couple weeks trying to get our land "horse ready". We spent all day out there yesterday finishing the fence and making space in our storage shed for all my stuff. After everything was done my mom and I went out to Mills and loaded everything up including the horses. My mom was very nervous about loading them in the rain but I promised her that both of them were super good loaders and I was right. Both horses walked right on the trailer without any hesitation what so ever! When we got there it was raining still and I felt terrible putting them out in the rain, but we had to so I put both their blankets on and turned them out. Both Danny and Amador were so happy they were running around like crazy exploring their new home. After they were done they chilled out and dug into the grass. They both looked really happy despite the rain. While they were settling in one of our friends Tania and her daughter Stephanie, who are our neighbors and also have horses, came over to check everything out and to help me unload. My dad made me some space in his equipment shed for the hay, feed, and all of my stuff until we get our barn built. We put up hooks and a shelf for all of my supplements and stuff like that above where the feed goes. I stayed the night at Tania's house so that I could go check on them throughout the night since I was so nervous about the weather. At about 5 o'clock it thundered really bad and I just got this feeling like somthing was wrong so I grabbed my truck keys and drove over to check on the horses. I got there and they were okay but Amador's blanket was soaked and was starting to get him wet so I went ahead and changed it to a different one. Then, soaking wet I went back to Tania's, changed, and crawled back in bed. Tania and I woke up at about 7 or 8 and feed both her horses and mine. Amador and Danny are getting along so well Amador even let Danny share his breakfast this morning, which is bad but irresistably cute!:)
Paula

So Much to Tell

Hey Yall,
There has been so much goin on, everything has been so chaotic and crazy lately! I have been wrking with my mom and dad to finish building the fence at our property in Huger in two weeks. It's really, really hard work! We are building the fence because on the first of the month Amador and Danny are moving there. I'm sure you have bunches of questions, yes, I know I have lots of catching up to do. I now have my old pony Danny. He is owned by Rockbrook Camp in Brevard, NC but he is under the charge of Cara Thompson, one of my favorite people in the whole world! I only have him until the end of the winter, but he is so much fun to ride. I am helping Cara to make sure that he is ready to be used in the camp riding program. I am moving the horses to my famalies land on the first of the month because I am hoping to save some money on board and gas so that I have more money to show. Cescil and Dawn have been so amazing and I couldn't be more grateful, but since the horses will be so much closer I will be able to ride almost everyday! Also my godmom Tania lives right next door so I'm super excited to be able to ride with her all the time.

Amador has been doing super great we've only been jumping about 2'9"-3' lately because we have lost some of our confidence since we haven't had a trainer. I'm trying super hard to get jumps up at the property so we have adequate facilaties to train. I'm still looking for a trainer that will come to me, but hopefully we will find one soon so we can get really serious again.

Cross your fingers for me and that all our plans will work out!
Love,
Paula

Times Are A'Changein

Hey Yall,
I know yall haven't heard from me in a while and I'm really sorry. Things have been so busy what with riding, and the going ons at the barn, plus school, I can barely keep up lately.
As many of you know I have been riding with Holly Waller for almost two years now. She has been very good to me and is an awesome trainer. She found me Amador and for that, I will always owe her he is the best horse I could ask for and truly a gift from god! As most of yall know I moved to Mills to continue my training with Holly, but she was only there until her farm in Huger was done. Unfortunately the farm in Huger was a no go and Holly has been looking for another place to go. I would like to congragulate her on her purchase of, from what I hear a very pretty farm on Johns Island.
However Johns Island is a very far drive from where I live with alot of traffic, and although I moved to Mills Farm to be with Holly I have fallen in love with the farm owners Cesil and Dawn and their family.
So, I will no longer be training with Holly and so starts the search for a new trainer to follow in Holly's steps. We have very big plans for the "new" Mills and are working very hard to make them all come true. Tomorrow there are two trainers coming to meet with Cesil and Dawn who I am very excited to talk to in regards to training.
You are probably wondering how Amador is, and the answer is very well. We are gearing up for some big jumper shows. He just got clipped about a week ago and just forewarning, if I ever offer to clip your horse or anything for that matter, say no. It was my first time doing a body clip myself and although I've seen much worse it's far from perfect. lol He also just got seen by the chiropractor so we are all ready to go. I'm going out to the barn tomorrow so I will get some pics. I also just got some pictures from Hallowen of us as a bathtub so I'll try to post those as well!
We will miss Holly but we are ready to begin a new chapter in both our careers.
If any of you know of a good traveling trainer who attends shows please send me a post with their info we are very interested in looking at all our options and finding the trainer who will best fit our needs, as well as shares some of our goals.
Paula Anne