Hello out there! Hello? Hello?

Sooo It's been almost exactly one year since I've posted anything on here. To be honest with you, I didn't really feel like I had anything to say. However it was a big year for me. TONS of things happened. I got a new job. we FINALLY moved into our house. AND the most exciting part was that I actually started riding the big grey thoroughbred.I will try not to put TOO much into this first blog post. Maybe try and spread it out. But lets see what happens here. If you are friends with me on Facebook, most of this will be boring old news, but whateves...

Last March a job opportunity came up that I just had to jump on. I loved my previous job, I mean I'd been there for almost 8 years. But when a job opening at my vet clinic opened up, I applied and got it! I love working at the clinic. It's a relatively busy clinic so it keeps me running around all day long. I'm a receptionist there, so basically I get yelled at, cussed out, peed on, barked at, scratched up, and dragged around and I love it. Each day is filled with highs and lows but I love that every day is different than the last. My coworkers are awesome which I think really helps out with making the days better. I love being at work. I also love being able to bounce questions about my animals off my vets and not have to wait for them to call me back.

Lets see.... earlier this year, I almost got rid of my big, beautiful, grey thoroughbred. I had come to the realization that I was terrified of riding him. I was so fearful that I didn't want to ride any horse. My horsie bestie that lives down the road was awesome and put me on her big red confidence builder a few times and I think that helped me get over my fear a little bit. I still struggled with the thought of getting on Georgous though. I'd always cop out and ride Cash, our palomino, even though I'm really, really not 100% sold on that horse. I mean he's a good horse, but he's got my number. He's naughty, and he costs us money, lots of money, but we don't want to pawn him off on someone else knowing that he has a list of problems. We shoveled a crap ton of money into him this year trying to make sure he stayed sound and finally got the diagnosis of navicular for him. So he still gets his special Epona Shoes, but now he's getting regular chiropractic adjustments as well as shockwave therapy, and now we get him injected. Like I said it would be an easy decision for most people to just dump him at an auction, but we can't do that.
As far as George though, I was battling the decision to let him go. I loved him dearly, but why keep him and feed him only for him to not have a job? My husband and I fought over him quite a bit. I wanted to keep him, but I wasn't riding him. I was too scared to ride him. So this summer, one of my coworkers and I were talking about him. She asked what I did with him and said 'not a whole lot'. So she took him for 2 weeks to put rides on him. It was the best thing for him and for me. She fell in love with him too, so we joke that we share custody on him. She put him through his paces and he did everything wonderfully. She rode him over tarps, she rode him with tarps on him, over things, under things, she trail rode him and even took him to a barrel race. He got last place, but he went, and did fantastic with all the commotion. She was impressed as was I.

What's under there? Oh it's just a thoroughbred..

This ain't no thing for Georgous.

So when I got him back we were getting ready to head out west for our annual trail riding trip in the badlands. My husband wasn't sold on the idea of him coming along. He just really isn't a George fan for whatever reason. I mean I get it, he isn't everyones cup of tea. But he agreed to me taking him out on a trial ride out at the sandhills to see how he did. I gotta admit, it probably tasted pretty bad coming out of my husbands mouth when he said "George did really well today". It was my first real ride on him in years. We did about 5 miles and he was like an old seasoned trail horse. It was amazing, being on a nice loose rein the whole time. The only thing was he was SUPER ouchy on gravel...F-WORD!!! His farrier must have trimmed him a bit short earlier that week, so  I texted her and asked if there was any way that we could throw a set of shoes on him, like yesterday, so that I could bring him out to the badlands...She said she would try...my heart kept sinking every day when we couldn't get shoes on. BUT I got some connections through work, and we had a farrier come out to our campground in the Badlands and tack some shoes on!! HOORAY!

We actually ended up brining all three of the big horses to the badlands. Princess Rainbow Sparkles said at a friend of mine that lives a few miles away. We brought along a spare horse incase one got a flat tire. It's would be so crappy to get all the way out there and have something you cant ride.
We had some amazing rides out in the badlands. George was good. I can't say he was perfect because he wasn't. On our 20 mile ride day, he had a few temper tantrums. He was good though, I'm almost 99% certain that his temper tantrums were a direct result of my opinions of the day. I don't enjoy riding in huge groups. I also don't like blazing trails. I also don't like when people don't listen when they tell me to not ride up behind my horse or you will more than likely get kicked. But he did well.
Oh...OH OH! Guess what we did when we were in the badlands?? Went on a cattle drive!!! Cross that right off the bucket list! George, bless his heart, is terrified of cows. He is super brave about EVERYTHING else, but cattle..Nope. Hates them. Especially calves...The ranch we camped at needed help moving some cattle to a higher pasture and guests were invited to come along. So George and I got to go along. He was so scared the whole time, but he never bolted, or spun and ran home. He just walked at a snails pace and snorted the whole time. Such a good boy! But I don't see him or his city slicker mamma riding the open range rounding up cattle in the future...


"ummm..NOPE! Lets go home"

I could really get into more intricate details of our trip... and I might still do so. But I'm glad that I stuck it out with George.
I've got big plans for him this summer. Here is to hoping that things work out, and that I actually keep ya'll posted on what we get done!

So in the meantime enjoy a few pictures from our adventures!


He looks so freaking derpy in most pictures.
 

Ex-racehorse is not impressed knowing he's looking down the barrel of a 20 mile day.



We rode into town for dinner one night. He loved it.



First time out in the badlands!



Nearing the end of the roundup...

Who would have imagined George working cattle??

You could see for miles and miles in the Turtle Mountians (Upper Northeast corner of North Dakota)

LOVE this picture! We galloped you guys...GALLOPED! I was on a high until we got to the trailer and he refused to load...