Author: Katmah

Day 3-

First day of showing, went alright but not awesome. The boy was a bit strong and fresh and kinda dragged me around the courses. But we got over everything, and found things to work on so that always a plus!

My road hack went well too, it was a gigantic class with huge competition though, so couldn’t expect too much. I’m happy with they way he road through it though 🙂

Day 4-

Started out the day with a bath for the poneh and then rebraiding. Then we switched over to a different bit and hacked. He was much more relaxed today. My warm up was beautiful, good distances and everything. He was just floating over the ground.

My first class, open 2’9″ hunter went very very well, we had a beautiful round and to top it off we were placed 6th in a class of about 30 very nice horses. That was encouraging!

My second class (after another very nice warm up), Sr Low Hunter (3ft) brought another beautiful round, even better then the previous. Coming to the last line I asked him to take a pretty long distance, which he did. The big jump caused me to lose my stirrup, but I continued down the four stride towards the final oxer, where he jumped beautifully and landed nice. I thought I was good until he took the corner, and I was thrown off balance. I almost managed to stay on, but gravity got the best of me and I went tumbling.
I managed to twist in the air so I landed on my ass/back and rolled into a backwards somersault back onto my knees. Surprisingly my neck is okay.  My back injury/shoulder/hip is feeling the aftermath a bit right now, and I’m sure that I’ll feel everything tomorrow. Although I didn’t hit my head too hard, it’s been a little fuzzy too. Nothing sleep won’t help I’m sure.
It really sucks to fall off AFTER the last jump. Especially after a round like that.

Hopefully I can pull off some more rounds like I had today, cause those felt perfect! Minus the accidental dismount of course!

Day 2!

Today was full of riding, riding and more riding. I got there in the morning and hacked my boy for a bit and he was rather good. Soon after that I went and did schooling rounds with my coach- where Willard was good as well, but very fresh and strong. Which is regular for him at shows. Then I took a break and did some shopping with momma and came back to the barn a few hours later and hacked again. This time we apparently found another source of energy as Will had even more energy. So we galloped for about 40 minutes, trotted, galloped some more.. finally got him to a workable level and then the other horses in the ring left and he fretted again. Long story short, one of us has energy left over. I think you know which one it is.

I found these really cool adhesive ice patches at Zellers. They aren’t as good as pure ice.. but they do help take some of the initial pain out of my already aged joints. I swear, hip replacement at 20 sounds about right for me.

Tomorrow is the first day of competition for me! I’m super pumped! Completely different from last year, I was just batshit nervous about EVERYTHING. This year I feel much more confident and relaxed. Which I hope will have a positive effect on my riding, my horse, and everything in between!

And now, I think I’m done icing for now.

Goodnight all you non existent readers!

Day 1 of the Winter Fair has been successfully finished!

Although it the fair hasn’t officially begun yet, many of us keeners got there today to let our horses settle in and get prepared for the week of competition ahead. Willard was surprisingly calm and seemed quite at home; good thing. He even got to go into the grand prix ring tonight and hack around for a bit. That was SO COOL. I think I’m more excited about that 20 minutes then anybody else was 😛

The poneh is comfortably tucked in a almost-feather-duvet-level stall, layers upon layer of straw and shavings. He’ll probably sleep better than me on this plain ol bed.

I”m still trying to figure out how I’m going to manage to complete all of my major final assignments this week while simultaneously competing in the biggest show of the year. It might be possible. But it’s been one day, and I’m already beat. I just finished stretching and icing and I’m about ready to fall asleep.

More later!

With all this nonsense going on in Japan, it’s easy to see how luck we are to live in a place like Canada- where the ground is for the most part not quakey, and the radioactivity levels are normal. My heart goes out to all those in Japan, and those who have family living or working there right now.

I hope that everyone has a new appreciation for what we’ve got right now in our safe homes and solid ground. Sure our lives might be in turmoil for other reasons, or things might not be going our way. But at least we have a roof over our head, food, power, water, and our friends and family are safe.

How do you find that one thing you want to spend your life pursuing? I mean, it’s not something to take lightly. We go through high school being told that math, science, english, and every other class is important for our future. But, so far in University I’ve used next to no math, and the english I’ve used is completely different from what I was taught in HS.. How do you know what to chose? University offers so many classes and topics to study. Which one is best suited to you. I guess for some people it’s a clear choice. They know what they want, and how to get it. That’s their path in life, and it’s been laid out for them.

For the rest of us, it’s a gamble. You chose one thing, try it out, discover you don’t want to spend your life on that path, but then you’re back to square one.  That’s where I am right now. Being a gym teacher is still very high on my life list. It’s something I’ve know I wanted to do for a long time. But so is Athletic Therapy. It intrigues me. Maybe that’s jusst because I spend so much time in that department anyway.  But even this year, with the minimal kines classes I’ve had, I’ve become more intrigued in the topic. I haven’t ever been good with science, but this type I am alright at.. which is encouraging. Thankfully my major in Kines provides me with many of the same classes for both Ed, and AT.

And then there’s riding. I know that’s something I’ll be pursuing my whole life. There is no doubt there. All these other things are just getting in the way.  That’s why I’m really hoping to get the opportunity to work at a barn in NZ so I can get a feel for what a career in the industry is really like. It’s something I’ve dreamed about for years on end. It’s my biggest passion, riding.

NZ will also give me, hopefully, and opportunity to figure out what I really want. A year off will refocus me, I hope. Or it will completely derail me. Both are possible.

Fail, win? Debatable!

PS Happy Bday Daniel Craig! 🙂

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rbMHLDY1pA&feature=player_embedded

I basically spent the whole day driving, in athletic therapy, driving, and sitting on a bench at my basketball team’s first play off game. Which they won 116-13. Every spare minute was taken up by day dreaming about my up coming adventure to New Zealand.

I’ve been planning this for about 2 years now, and my best friend, Jenaya, recently decided to join me. The past 4 days have ben filled with planning and scheming for what is sure to be the best 6 months of our lives. Right now I’m working on finding work. I’ve been talking to the owners of a barn down there, seeing if I can get a working position riding with them. At the same time exploring different options for Jenaya to work and live at the same place or near by.

I’m so glad I will have someone to travel with while I’m there. Spending 6 months away from home alone is intimidating to say the least, so having a close friend there with me will certainly be amazing! 

Now to sort out this work situation. It’s about 2 hours away from where we were originally going to live (with cousins in Whangarei), but if we can find room and board there? Perfect.

The past year I’ve accomplished many things. I graduated high school, achieving my goal of receiving the “most dedicated athlete” and the “top female athlete” awards from my school. Then I spent the summer working full time and showing my two horses.  My mare, Flash, is a paint western show mare. She’s had her ups and downs, but has always been successful in the show ring. She’s a chestnut, and for anyone who knows anything about horses, chestnut mares are.. challenging, to say the least. I’d owned her for 4 years up to this summer, and it was decided that fall was the time to sell her to free up some time for University.

As it happened, she was traded back to her original breeders who were happy to take her back (she was apparently the first horse who did anything for them in the show ring). In return we got a foal, Felix, along with another foal in the future. Possibly one of Flash’s, if they breed her. At our last show of the season she decided to go out with a bang. Bang being bucking around the ring and then finally coming to a dead stop, rearing as high as she could without going over backwards, and leaving me with rotator cuff issues and lower back injuries.

She was always a drama queen. She taught me how to be tough. I fought for every little thing I earned with her, but once she knew I was going to fight just as hard as she was, she would show up every other horse in the ring. Of course almost every show I had to start over with this challenge. Sometimes you have to fight for greatness, right?

My hunter/jumper gelding, Willie, is possibly one of the best investments my mom ever made. From my perspective anyway. We bought him as a 6 yr old, thinking that he would be a good horse for me to get into the jumper scene with.  He soon proved to be twice the horse we thought he would ever be. Last summer, and this spring he has grown into a handsome boy and done very well in the show ring. I’m hoping that this summer will be our best season yet. He’s in peak condition, and we have a big show coming up next month.

This is Willie and I at Winter Fair last year. This was our first time at this level of show, so we went in not having high expectations. We came home with top 7 placings in almost every class we were in. Needless to say, I was VERY happy with my horse after that week of competition.

I just got back from hacking Will, and we’re finally getting to the point where I can tell he trusts me, and he’s willing to trust my decisions.  There is no other feeling in this world to compare with the feeling you get when you find that connection with your horse.  It takes such dedication and patience to get there, but every second of frustration is worth the result. I’m finally starting to feel like I’ll accomplish something I’ve been working towards for the past however many years. I’m working with some of the best coaches in Canada, and the changes I’ve seen in myself over the past season are incredible. Not only in my skill level, but in my attitude.

Now I just have to get over these lingering injuries. Thank god for my athletic therapists!

Ciao for now!

K.

Hello everybody,

I started this to basically write about my adventures. I’m not claiming they’re interesting, or even worth writing down, but everybody else does it right? Here’s some random facts about me:

• I’m in University currently, in the Faculty of Education.
• I’m proud of every single one of my accomplishments, big and small.
• I want to be a gym teacher.
• Yes, I’m insane.
• I want to go to the Olympics someday.
• I’ve been riding horses for almost 12 years now.
• Being on Team Canada/competing internationally is my ultimate goal in life.
• My bucket list probably would go on for days.
• I’m an athlete. I love every sport, and playing every sport.
• I push myself, and others to do their very best in every aspect of life.
• I love musicals.
• I want to live in one.
• I love working with people, and helping them realize their potential.
• Every once in a while I go crazy, well, extra crazy. My friends can vouch for that.
• I’m good at injuring myself.
• My heroes are my athletic therapists. Actually. Best people ever.
• I’m not entirely sure why I made this blog.
• I like taking pictures, and being in pictures.
• I adore meeting new people!
• My friends and mentors are what keep me going every single day.

This is a good place to stop with random facts.

I don’t care if anybody reads this. It’s basically just somewhere for me to rant and not have to take up hours of my best friends time ranting to them. Though I do love that they will put up with it. I’m a ranter. I’m kinda like a info-mercial. BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

I’m kidding, there isn’t right now. I’m done.

🙂

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