Failure to Launch

Literally.

Chatt Hills didn't turn out very well. Started out well (for Romeo) with a 39.5 in the dressage and we had a double clear stadium yesterday. He was wild today and had 4 stops in a row (jumps 5,7,8,9) and we were eliminated. I didn't even GET to the water. I know it was a combination of things, but it still shook me. New game plan, and I think we will be back on track. A real update coming soon.

After Stadium at Chatt Hills

Prepping for Chatt Hills

And I have so many things to do between now and then!

His new sheets and blankets came in yesterday :) They look very cute on him! I didn't realize how deep the Amigo T/O sheet is, but I think it will be good in the wind and rain. I promise we will do a fashion show, it was just really dark when I tried them on so the pictures look bad. I still need to pick up his Rambo stable sheet from the post office. Since I live at an apartment, the post office people think it is VERY unsafe to drop off my packages at my door. They probably know me by name now when I drive to the post office to get my large horsey packages.

Yesterday, Romeo was sound, sound, sound. Not one bit of creaky! Maybe the Polyglycan is really kicking in? While he was really sound...he wasn't particularly good dressage schooling. He was running through his downwards transitions which we worked so hard on this summer. Hopefully he will get to school 2 or 3 more times before dressage.

Romeo found this lovely part of the fence when I came to get him out of the pasture yesterday. He was probably thinking "Great! A pony sized fence!" and while I was thinking "OHH MY GOSHHH, GET YOUR HEAD AWAY! YOU ARE GOING TO SLICE OFF YOUR HEAD!" Needless to say he didn't, but that is just my luck before a horse show.

I really want to buy a small Stanley trunk! I might do that on the way to the post office today. Wheels just sound really nice right about now.

Fly Bonnet Contest

Secretly, I've always wanted Romeo have a fancy fly bonnet. First of all, I can get it made in his eventing colors. Second of all, I even sort of have a reason for it. When his mane or his forlock touches his ear, he shakes his head. It not very fun when you are cantering along in SJ and then all of a sudden it feels like your pony is having a seizure.

So, I found this contest! It seems pretty easy to enter, just follow directions here.

I am drooling a little. Wish I was kidding.

How cute would that look on a blue roan pony in navy and baby blue!

This is making me think that it would be fun to run a contest. If I did, would anyone want to participate? I love getting everyone involved in things!

One week until Chatt Hills

And Romeo is being a bum.

You see this??

Rufus, one of our barn dogs, is sun bathing and doesn't seem to mind getting covered in hay.

This is what happens with his hay when it's not in his Freedom Feeder. He borrowed Kipling's stall for the weekend because Romeo makes a huge hole in his because, let's just say, he has great aim. He's probably happy because Kipling's stall has fancy dancy mats in it.

I'm already so nervous about the event!!! We leave Friday morning and it's about a 5 hour drive from here. I'm going to try to ride him every day until then, because he really does need the work. He is still pretty tubby. Saturday is Dressage and Show Jumping, and Sunday is Cross Country. Weeee!

Life

 Enjoy.

 

Beezer would say that today, what makes her happy is killing squirrels. That was fun to dispose of. Off to volunteer at the Les Passees Stock Exchange and then ride Johnny.

Uh oh...I went overboard.

After SprinklerBandit and Filly's Best Friend told me about Amigos, I finally decided to give up on Rhinos and Rambos and go for the Amigo line, except it had to be in 1200 denier, because Romeo is kind of rough on his blankets (see the post below).

I ended up buying this turnout sheet from here . I got it in our eventing colors. Adam's Horse Supply had a $20 off coupon code too.

On top of that, if you bought that sheet you could get 1/2 off a neck cover. $25 neck cover? How do I say no to that?!!

And on top of THAT, I got a free Amigo Halter and Lead rope set in our eventing colors.

Then, I just happened to *stumble* on an Amigo Med Weight Stable blanket in our colors and in his size (I hope) for only $39.95 + $10 shipping from here.

I mean, really? Necessary? Probably not. Cute? Definitely. Plus, I can put it UNDER the sheet and neck cover to make it into a "med weight" turnout because he doesn't have one.


And I bought him a Navy Rhino Stable Sheet last week...I'm going to sit in time out now. I'm done. I promise.

Hi, my name is Reagan, and I have a problem.

Blanket Woes

I have been putzing around, trying to find Romeo a new turnout sheet. His old turnout sheet somehow got lost during his lease in 2007, and when I got him back, he had a "Splash's" turnout sheet that was a 74''. He's not exactly a 74'', he has always worn a 72'', but it was better than nothing!

It got pretty beat up last winter, and because it was too big it rubbed on his withers and cut into his shoulder.

and his 10 year old turnout sheet looks basically like this...

So it's offically time for a new turnout sheet.

He has a 69'' older HW Rambo that I found at a local tack shop in Germantown, TN for something ridiculous like $75 in perfect, used condition. It went through lots of blanket "wars" last winter and not a single snag. So I was more leaning towards a 69'' Rambo or a 72'' Rhino.

Yesterday, I just thought I'd take a little look see at the weather. Bad idea, Reagan. Very bad idea. Low of 37 Wednesday night. Naked pony?! I don't want to clip!!!

So I'm trying to find a Rhino on sale for a REALLY good price or find a used Rambo or Rhino, which is surprisingly hard to find in a 69'' or 72''. Lots of 69'' Rhinos and 72'' Rambos. Very annoying. Of course it has to look cute on him too.

I did find him a 69'' Rambo stable sheet that is in our colors for $25 and it is on our way to Starkville. Probably won't get here in time, but it is better than nothing :(

If anyone has a used Rambo or Rhino laying around in the fat man's size, let me know!!

Weekend in MS

I spent the whole weekend in MS instead of going home. And today, what did I do? I watched all 3 hours of Forrest Gump instead of riding. In my defense, I had never seen it before! T minus 12 days to Chattahoochee Hills and I was very unproductive. Fatty needs to shape up! I guess I will either do trot/gallop sets tomorrow or some dressage schooling. I did hack him Friday and he was much more supple and willing to the left than the had been a couple of weeks ago before the Polyglycan.

"Wait...YOU are gonna ride ME??? I thought I was still on vacation!"

*Nom nom* empty bucket that smells like beet pulp

"I heard there were cookies in here...is this where they come from?"

 Don't worry he didn't come inside. He at least knows better than that. I spoil him and I let him get away with too much! But he is fun-sized and cute :/ It's so hard!!! I don't like being the "mean" mom.

Meet Beezie

I totally forgot about the other woman in my life, besides my mother.

I came out to the barn on a rainy morning in July of 2009. All the dogs at our barn were playing, and I noticed a new dog in the group. I told the barn manager what the new dog's name was, and he didn't understand what I was saying. We both then figured out that she was a stray, and after the dogs quit playing, it took about 20 minutes to get her to come up to us.

She had recently had puppies it appeared and had missed a few meals. Knowing her so well now, I can assume that he had been by herself for a while because she is a very skilled hunter and can catch birds and can take down rather large animals. Her food choices are not for the faint of heart. She was covered in ticks, taking me 3 days to get them all off. Of course I called mom, and told her about the dog. First of...I didn't tell her she was at least part pittbull. She kind of brushed it off and said that if the dog was still at the barn the next day I could bring her home. (She now pretends that she never said such a thing...but I promise she did.)

Anyways, meet the Beez:

kind of creepy??

The next day, I came back out to the barn, holding my breath. I was pleased to see that she was sleeping on the driveway. She followed me around the barn and I fed her again After I rode and took care of John, I hopped in my car and opened the back door. She immediately jumped in and sat in the passenger seat like a human. She was ready to go and I'm pretty sure she knew she was going home.

After a few days, she still had no name. We went to the store, and the only collar I could find that looked really adorable on her had bumble bees on it. Therefore, she was named Beezie...after Beezie Madden of course.

Fast forward 2 years, and for the most part, she is the best barn dog and snuggle buddy. I have decided that she is Pitt x Hound because she brays a little and talks instead of bark (thank goodness).

Horse show dog in training :) Summer 2011

 I am sure you will hear a lot more about her. Unfortunately she lives with my parents right now because I can't have dogs at my apartment, but the plan is for her to live in Starkville next fall with me! She is a great traveling companion and the trip home almost every weekend shouldn't be an issue.

she hadn't quite grown into her ears yet :) Fall 2009

And to wrap this up in cuteness, I found this picture and I just love it and it makes me warm and fuzzy inside :) Not Beez but it reminds me of her.

Abandoned Horse...

My friend texted me about an abandoned horse...an OBESE abandoned horse. I do NOT need another horse. No sir. Maybe when the right horse comes along, but not anytime soon. I have two horses in two different states and I think that is plenty enough for one person to already be doing two disciplines.

So, what do I do? I play the "free pony" card to Betsy. We need a new school horse. Anyways, we went out to the girl's barn where the horse lives. He's not necessarily the most beautiful...a little fugly in my opinion. Somewhere between a Quarter Horse and a Morgan, something went horribly wrong. But he is so ugly, he is cute. He hasn't had his feet done in a year and probably needs his teeth done as well. He just wants to be loved, and learns VERY quickly. He hasn't been in human contact for over a year until this week, and all he wants is to be rubbed on and attention. He is a total ham.

We are thinking about calling him Walter. A homely name for a homely horse with a new beginning :) He needs some TLC and a major diet. Dirt lot and grass hay anyone?

Without further ado, meet Walter:

He is getting his coggins pulled tomorrow and if all goes well, he is coming home early next week.

Cheerios

Rode Romes for the first time today since he has had 2 of his shots of the loading dose. Well, one shot Polyglycan, and one shot Legend while we wait for his other Polyglycan to come in. RedBud Farm (where Romeo lives during the school year) put on a little open house and schooling show. It was a lot of fun! I got on and rode the Romes around and, while I hate to say it too early, I think he is feeling back to his old self. He was defintely feeling his cheerios today! He stuck his head between his knees a few times and halfheartedly tried to get me off. Time will tell if this is working, but so far, so good! I will be curious to see how he feels when we do some dressage schooling. Well...I like to think it's dressage schooling. We try.

So Johnny lives back in Memphis, where my other trainer is. So every weekend, I drive 6 hours round trip to school him a few times before I come back to school for the week. When you have a previously suicidal horse (kidding...kind of) it's a little nerve racking to leave them "unattended" (aka without me staring at him to make sure he's still breathing) for days at a time. He's been doing just wonderful lately.*knock on wood* The last 4 or 5 times I came out he hasn't been bleeding or anything odd so I'm very happy with him :)

And fortunately, I have the best mom in the whole world. She has an extensive horse background, which has always been very, very nice to have around, I will say. She goes out a couple times a week and makes sure he has hay in his nets and checks on him. She sometimes does supplements too! Today she even picked his stall and let him eat "buffet style" for a while. He is SO spoiled. Both of my kids are.

Have you ever looked into the eyes of a rich white child who just lost a jumping competition?

Okay. This made me laugh. Enjoy!!!

I had embedded the video, but it slowed down my page a lot! What a bummer. I will post a link for you all :) seriously a good laugh.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-september-29-2005/fema-trouble

Bummer Dude

So after starting Romeo on some remaining Polyglycan at our barn, I went to purchase some more. Well guess what? It hasn't been on shelves since this summer! Just my luck. I can't fathom using Adequan and Legend together ($$$$$)! I did a good 2 days of freaking out and calling different vets and
companies to see if anyone had any stock left, and finally bit the bullet and called Arthrodynamic.

 

They said it was back in the warehouses! Yay!!! And Lovely Lisa from Farmvet was so sweet to call me back today and leave me the happiest message they they had just that minute gotten word in that they would be receiving a shipment soon.

Hallelujah! Romes and I are saved.

Be prepared you fierce Beginner Novice competitors. Be prepared.

Kidding! I do hope this well help. If this doesn't, I'm thinking about trying Pentosan as well. We will find some combination that works...it might just take a while, and fortunately he only has one more event before the winter, when we will have time to sort things out. This is the first year in his 18 years of life that he ever gotten any joint supplements or meds, so I definitely think he deserves it :)

The Biggest Differences I've Noticed Between Hunters and Eventing

So there a few things I noticed the first time I went to an event...and the next one...and the next one. It seems that every time I go to a new venue or an event, I see more and more things that either gave me light bulb moments, confused me, or both.

1) No set ups at events.
You must understand, where I come from we spend HOURS setting up a beautiful seating area and staple drapes to the front of our barn and hang a big sign. When I got to Pine Top, I was completely unprepared. At first, everything looked so chaotic. Different color chairs here or there, no tack stalls, no grooming stalls. Saddles hanging outside the stalls, no beautiful tack trunks. My biggest issue was that I didn't bring seating. Oops.

My seating for the entire weekend...

2) The hairnets! Or lack thereof. I have just recently gotten more comfortable no wearing my hair over my ears. That one was odd. I still think everyone looks like a boy. Just a little.

3) Dubarry boots. What's up with those?? Not that I don't like them, I just don't understand why everyone has a pair.

4) Tack. We don't do breastplates, in fact, they are frowned upon. But let's just say I understand now why eventers use them :) I love my Antares breastplate! Nobody said I couldn't look fashionable...

Also is bits. Not a lot of hunters go in snaffles! Some do, and mine does, but when Betsy told me I needed to get Romeo a snaffle, I just laughed. My horse is going to go in a WHAT? Also, it took me a while to get used to eggbutts. Ehh I still think those look wonky. Romeo goes in a loose ring KK ultra now, and I do like that bit a lot :)

5) Horse medicine and practices. I will say one of the largest differences I have seen is in this category. First, we (in the hunters) use bute/equioxx a lot more freely than eventers do. I understand the whole debate on that, but everything that we use is under the legal limits. Maybe we read the med rules more closely, or maybe eventers choose not to use drugs. I can appreciate that. Another big thing is that, man...

eventers walk their horses like crazy! I feel like all y'all do is walk, walk, ice, and walk (whoa a little south came out). We don't ice much either. Then again, our horses are not doing as intense activities as yours. I really love this. I think keeping your horse moving is super important and I agree wholeheartedly.

6) No braiders. The first event I had to braid for was Chatt Hills in May. We asked who to contact or call to braid. Oh...we braid? ourselves? It went better than I thought, but still :) How do you think Johnny's braids looks so good? Shout out to his "Aunt" Mary who braids/dotes on him!

Hmm...those are all the big things I've noticed so far. If anyone else can think of anything, comment away!

I have learned a lot on this journey so far, and I hope I will learn a whole lot more on the way :)

Pudgy Ponies

Let's face it. I have fat horses. There were a couple of winters where we struggled with Johnny's weight, but besides that, I've always had tubby horses.

I do like John's weight...but Romeo needs some help. He has an extended day Freedom Feeder, but he ate a 6''x6'' hole through it. I'm not quite sure how in the world he did it, but I patched it and flipped it over. The company is wonderful about replacing them, but I am hoping this is all the damage he will do and he won't need another one.

Johnny has had his since April of this year, and isn't exactly easy on them, but they are still in fabulous shape:

"Nom nom nom"

*Insert caption of your own choice*

Granted, they are supposed to be able to move them around like this to get the hay out. Romeo is just a little unhappy about the "diet" situation. I would like him to be about 50-100lbs lighter. I definitely think it would be beneficial to his joints to be a few pounds lighter.

Speaking of joints, I rode Romes twice last week. Both times, he was pretty stiff in the back end, especially the hocks. So, I don't think the MSM and Cosequin are doing enough. Betsy and I decided that this was probably a good time to start him on Polyglycan, and I will let you all know the results. He got his first IV shot on Friday. He gets it once a week for 3 weeks in a row, and then maintenance is 1x a month. He also probably needs chiro/accupuncture, but we live in the middle of no where, and there are none around. I'm trying to hold off on injections until next summer :/

Fuzzy Wuzzy

I just had the realization this morning that I'm probably going to have to do something that I absolutely despise doing.

CLIPPING.

The word burns in my mind. When I was about 14, my mom bought me my own set of Andis clippers to clip my pony. Romeo was never bad about clipping (except ears) so I never thought it was so bad. Then I met Johnny. Unlike Romeo, who secretly loves the vibrating clippers, Johnny does not like them. Now for the most part, he is great. Until I get to his legs and head, which are super fun for both of us. NOT. I don't really like to sedate him because he is a really bad drunk. He is such a light weight even a pony sized dose will knock him out.

Now, usually I manage. I think to myself: "Okay, Reagan, it's only one horse. You can do this. You are only going to hairy for a couple days." But now that I am showing BOTH horses towards the end of October and beginning of November...am I going to have to clip Romeo AND Johnny? I might just die. I have nightmares after clipping about looking like this afterwards:

Well...except in black and white hair (minus the horns and tail too...)

Ughh, *shudder*. It makes me itchy just thinking about it. So, I'm wondering, what about a partial clip for Romeo? Are eventers allowed to do this and compete like that? Like a trace clip or something. Johnny has to have the full monty, unfortunately.

I will say it looks nice when it's done, but I hate the slow grueling process of making everything look nice and leaving no lines. We will see. Maybe I won't have to...but my horses sure are fuzzy.

Life is Rough

Sleepy Ponies. 

Enjoy the cuteness :)

 

Romes after dressage at Poplar Place HT

Johnny after the A/Os at Brownland Farms

Riding a Dragon

Riding a dragon in the hunter ring, and making this so-called dragon look good, is much harder than it appears.


This is how it usually goes:

Dragon is groggy and sleepy and cuddly when you arrive at 7 am.

Dragon must have a bath because he is grey and therefore green.

Then you tack Dragon up and take him for a brisk hack to try to "drain" any excess energy.

There was no excess energy. Shucks.

So you untack, re-tack (yes, I'm serious), and go back to the ring to school.

While schooling, Dragon is calm. In fact, you must beat him to make him go faster. You beat and beat and beat, and nothing happens.

You lower your spurs to go into the ring, because you never know what is going to happen.

Happy Dragon? Scared Dragon? Manic Dragon? You have a mild panic attack wondering which version will emerge.

Enter ring.

First jump goes well. (Could it be happy Dragon??!)

Then you turn the corner, Dragon sees a sign 10 feet from the ring, and this happens:

Look at the beautiful hunter! So calm and majestic.

What is the beautiful hunter looking at?

Could it be...a WHITE SIGN?!!??

And then you get Dragon. *insert scary music*

 So basically, that happened every time I went in the ring that day. Which was at least 3 times.

I love my horse...I love my horse...I love my horse. I just need to keep reminding myself that, right?

Self-preservation

All I ask from Romeo and Johnny is that they try not to get sick or hurt when I leave town. It's all I ask. If I had a dollar for every time one of my horses walked up to me bleeding, three-legged, or swollen, I would be a millionaire. I feel like it is a horse's life dream to get as many nicks and scrapes as possible. (Does everyone else feel this way too? Very frustrating!) Usually it's just Johnny I have to worry about. He has limited braking capacities and has no idea where his feet go when he is not being ridden. He now gets bubble-wrapped for turnout, and that has helped the situation a lot.

Example A: Muddy footing, galloping, and sliding into the fence, attempting to jump over, getting stuck, and retreating backwards through the broken fence. That's my boy. I buy real winners.

"Oh...did I do this?"
GUILTY!

You would think that wild horses would have some sort of self-preservation thing in their head to keep them from getting beaten up so often...and therefore our domesticated horses would as well.

It seems that this beautiful weekend Romeo thought it would be a good idea to be the wild stallion of his herd and not only assist in breaking a mare out of her pasture, but then not let anyone else get near her. Apparently, there was some brawling involved. Fortunately, it was all superficial.

As close as a black(ish) horse can get to a "black eye"

I am just glad his eye was closed whenever that happened...Just a few other scrapes on the inside of his LF and a 4in scrape on the underside of his head. Lovely! Gave him the day off because well a) he just looked kind of pitiful and b) I am supposed to be writing a paper on Contagious Equine Metritis.

Now about that paper...

Poplar Place HT

So Poplar Place was technically my 3rd ever event, if you count Pine Top which I only completed half of the course before I had an unexpected sudden halt at the first water.

Let's start off with dressage. Well, that was interesting. It was the first time we were fully decked out in dressage gear. I may or may not have decided to do eventing just so I could buy a set of black tack. Kidding...kind of. Literally as soon as I walked into the main arena, the bell rang, and I had very little time to warm up, which was a bummer because he can get very tense.

We are focusing on him working on the bit without being too heavy. Which is kind of hard when you have a downhill quarter horse...but we try. We had a canter step each 20m trot circle, which is a bummer, but our canter transitions both ways (up and down) were much better. He was in 8th after dressage, which was good.

Then Showjumping. Well. That was fun. He got extremely upset schooling with so many other horses, but that's not new. What was new though was him running around like a chicken with his head cut off during our actual round. Let's just say inside turns were not necessary for the most part...he was double clear there. He is a rock star generally, as that is what he is used to, and moved up to 5th.

Last, but definitely not least, was cross country. I was so nervous I felt sick all morning, which is so not totally me. I was having almost anxiety attacks thinking about the water, as well as remembering my course, which if you go back a post, has been an issue. I think I walked the course 5 times in 2 days, which is over 5 miles in total. I was kind of sore on Sunday...

He warmed up great, and was great out of the start box. Jumps 1 and 2 rode great and off of his stride. Jump 3...not so much.

I could feel him back off and ball up, and he started to stop. I pressed him onwards at the very, very base of the jump, and he propped on the left side, and *BAM* smacked his face on the left pole. I didn't even know what to do...he fell off of the jump to the left and I think we just stood there for a second flabbergasted. What just happened?!! Did you seriously just hit your face on that?? Were your front legs ON the jump (thank God for boots!)?!! I quickly regrouped and spun around to it again. And I let him stop. I think we were both still frazzled. I circled around to it a third time and he finally went. I don't even know how penalties really go, so I was trying to ride and convince him to go and do third grade math at the same time.

And off we went. Whoa. I think I said whoa to a varying degree about 40 times over about 6 minutes worth of time. So that's about 3.something whoas per fence. It's not that I couldn't control him...it's that I couldn't stop him. Betsy (my eventing coach) and I had plans to trot at several places...and that never happened. Not before the ditch, not anything.

So about 10 jumps later we are at the water. He locked on to the edge, but our plan (which worked but was unnecessary) was to go around the unmarked backside, to make sure he was going to go in. He had never gone in on his own before (at Chatt Hills there was another rider going through a different section at the same time I was so he splashed in eventually). Holy moly. He went through the water so quickly I almost forgot to turn him around so we didn't enter through the back side of the markers. I was so happy, and mom and Betsy, Jess, Steph, and Theo were screaming, and it was one of the happiest moments I've had in a long time.

back side of the water

We finished almost 30 seconds under the time. Which...I'm not sure if I should take that as a good thing or bad thing. Any tips to slow him down? I was pulley-reining and other last resort antics and no such luck for the most part.

So we ended up in 7th with 60 jump penalties, but I couldn't have cared less. I was ecstatic!!! We actually cantered THROUGH water and I didn't end up in it!

Steph, who rode Betsy's international horse, West Point, was 5th in the CIC* and we were all very proud of her! We miss you Steph :)

Eventing 101

Don't forget your XC course.

As I walked my first cross country course ever, my trainer told me the first fence would be "inviting." HAHAHA. Yeah...any other XC course but this one. I swear that the first fence was 3'. (Also side note: how is BN beginner?!! It is by no means tiny!) A rolled coop lifted off the ground with flowers and decaying pumpkins underneath. All I could think was "Oh my God I'm not even going to make it past the first fence."

Now, you see the big grey horse in my previous post. He is not my eventer. No, no. He is my hunter and I keep him with my hunter trainer whom I love dearly. I am eventing Romeo, my 14'3 Blue Roan QH that is probably somewhere around 18 years old. And all I can think of is the fact that the first jump is going to look as big as my pony.

Well he jumped it. And I was so excited that I went off course. Kidding..kind of. I was however so overwhelmed that I forgot a jump. I was going like REALLY fast (to me) and jumping BIG solid XC fences and therefore I was so scared/happy/freaked out/joyous, I just forgot.

I forgot the jump after this one...

But it didn't matter...because by the time the jump judge stopped me a few jumps later, I had already stopped so hard at the first water that I nearly went off the front of my horse.

Enter problem 2: Romeo was PETRIFIED of water.

The venue was kind enough to let me school after my "technical," as I was the second to last horse on course for the day. It took 30 minutes to put him in the water.

Now...everyone says they learn new stuff about their animals every day.

Well. I thought I knew just about everything about my horse. I've had him for over 10 years for goodness sakes. But I learned something new. When my horse shuts down mentally because he is afraid, he flies backwards at about 15 mph. Which is a LOT faster than you'd think.

Our best flying backwards moves are, or used to be, in front of water and ditches. My horse is entirely too smart to think that water or ditches are a good idea...and I have a hard time disagreeing with him because I DON'T disagree. I think his feelings are perfectly sound! But with lots of work, and lots of help, he went into the water on the first try with no hesitiation just a short 8 months later :)

Most imporant of all...

I hate wearing my hair behind my ears. There, I said it. I think it looks horrible...but I do it anyways during the dressage portion. A lot of people at events ask me why I wear my hair over my ears (well during SJ and XC). I never have much of a good explanation besides the fact that I am a hunter barbie. I think it feels nice, looks nice, and most importantly, looks nice.

My name is Reagan. I'm 21 and am a student at Mississippi State University, where I am majoring in Animal and Dairy Science (aka pre-vet). The only english barn near MSU is an eventing barn.

Let's back up about 10 years. I was 11, and desperately wanted a pony. The only sale horse in our entire barn (that we could afford) was a feedlot horse who had "jumped" out of his feedlot and therefore they thought would like to jump. I use the term "jump" lightly because he didn't even make it out in one piece. He got a nail stuck in his side and came to the barn on antibiotics.

I leased him for that summer, and we definitely had a love/hate relationship. I loved him when he wasn't bucking me off every other time I rode him. He also had some food anger issues because he was a) in a feedlot and b) starved at some time...which I consider a feat for anyone to do because he gets fat just looking at food.

Meet Romeo (Bulletproof):

Okay...how cute is that. I was little...and I was little for a long time. I showed him on the A circuit...kind of successfully (not entirely) in short stirrup, eq, and pre-children's until 2005. I put changes on him, took him fox hunting, did jumpers, and a bunch of other stuff. He always tried hard for me...but then I grew. I'm 5'7'' and he is 14.3 on a good day. I eventually leased him out in 2007, and in 2008 I "retired him."

In 2006, I got a "speshul" thoroughbred named Johnny. Note: I did not want a grey horse or a thoroughbred. I got a grey thoroughbred. He needs his hand held frequently, but he is incredibly athletic. He has a great dressage background, but I had to completely erase all his knowledge of jumping and start from scratch. So basically...his brain is a little short-circuited. He will go in the ring and be perfect (I do the A/Os for anyone who knows what that is), or he will go in and have a nervous meltdown...which must judges don't appreciate.

as a 3 y/o

as an 11 y/o