Lellie

This one. Nothing like riding a different horse to make you appreciate your girl.

Barn Besties Gettin Sh&t Done

Morgan said- "Let's meet at 10 to ride. Then I'll help you get your second ready."
Despite my best efforts to get out early and have one already done...I showed up at 10.

Both Tio and Teddy need long warm up walks so we rode them together. Then Morgan said, "Leave Teddy in the crossties, I'll take care of him, and you go get Ellie going."

The barn was pretty quiet on Sunday and I could see Ellie being a little fresh. Morgan said, "Don't worry, I'll clean my tack up by the arena so you have a buddy while you ride."

I got off Ellie and put her away- and when I came back, Morgan was sweeping my crossties and cleaning Ellie's boots.

She was a total godsend on Sunday! So glad to have wonderful friends at the barn!

Photo: The Three Amigos + Morgan

And Then There Were Three

No no no. I didn't BUY a third horse. But how do you turn down a free one?

The quick version....came home from Holiday and Ali said that there's a nice chestnut coming in from Texas that would be perfect for me. The owner was retiring and needed him off the books (know that feeling) and while he'll be on the market here, a great opportunity to build confidence over some bigger jumps in the meantime!

So just a little lease on a lovely 3'/ 3'3" hunter for this show season! Welcome Teddy!

Sweet Girl

Love these sweet moments! Ellie would probably prefer I stop interrupting her nap!

Jumpers at RMEC

So far my favorite part about Jumpers has been picking up the wrong lead.....then massively chipping to the first fence....and no one gives a hoot!

Murieta Equestrian Center Christmas Classic Day 2

We started our Saturday without any rain and two fun rounds in the Jumpers. Not quite as forward and floating as the day before so I opted to stick to the 2'3" courses for the Hunter rounds so we could focus on practicing our lines.

A move back up to the 2'6" group for the Derby, which was a pretty straightforward hunter course with a three fence bending line at the end. Both distances walked a forward 7 or a waiting 8. The last fence was an airy gate- somewhat spooky as it was added just for this class and blended pretty well into the shadows. The 2' group went first and I was fairly late in the 2'6" lineup so I had the opportunity to watch a bunch of folks struggle with the ride to the last fence- most were getting a pretty chippy 8.

Ellie was all set with her antlers and I was ready to roll in my Christmas sweater. Our round was lovely! A little chase into one of the lines but outside of that the distances came up nicely. We were really hoofing it coming into that bending line and galloped through the first 7 strides and over the second fence with no problem. So we went for the 7 again....except it wasn't there. I started leaning at stride 6, kicked at stride 7, and poor Ellie was like "NOPE....it's an 8, you ass." But we were both so committed that we climbed right over the top and even completed our courtesy circle! Commitment.

That put us out of the handy of course, but it wasn't a total loss! My barn friend, Morgan, won the Derby (and a COOLER) and it was just what she needed for her confidence! Whoop!

Murieta Equestrian Center Christmas Classic Day 1

Nothing like stepping into a crazy Holiday schedule by taking the weekend off to go and do a Horse Show!
The Christmas Classic was an absolute blast! So many cute ponies dressed up like Santas and Reindeer!

Saturday it rained all. day long. We struggled a little in our hunter rounds but stepped into the jumper ring and annihilated the courses (in a not scary way) with great pace! It was a huge confidence boost and a great way to get excited about the DERBY the next day!

The classes wrapped up in the early afternoon and we unwound with some wine and gossip!