Settling In...

We made the trip to Florida in 18 or 19 hours. We left at 3:00 in the afternoon Monday and arrived at 10:00 in the morning Tuesday! Sophie travelled like a champ. We stopped every 3-4 hours for gas and I checked Sophie at every stop and she never sweated once. It was in the mid-30's until we got to Georgia, then the temperature started rising.

I drove from 2 am to 7 am and Craig did all of the other driving. I like driving in the middle of the night because there are hardly any cars on the road. Once we got in we unloaded Sophie and she looked around a bit before stretching her legs in the arena. She trotted a few laps and then started looking for grass so we put her in a paddock where she trotted over to make friends with her neighbors. She drank some water and ate some hay after greeting the other horses.

Craig and I went home to nap so that we would be awake for the Spacecoast Arabian Horse Club meeting that night, so we weren't there when Sophie was brought in for dinner. Apparently she got a little upset when they started taking the other horses in, but she calmed down and was fine by the time we stopped back at the barn before going to the meeting.

Yesterday I went out and turned her loose in the round pen, she trotted around a bit and I worked on just having her move a bit and turn in response to my body language. She was nervous about being out in the round pen while the other horses were inside. After a bit of work I just led her around the round pen, stopping and backing a couple of steps every now and then to get her focusing on me. I also worked on asking her to lower her head when I applied pressure to her poll with one hand while pulling gently downward on the halter.

Today we went for a walk in the big arena, doing lots of walking, stopping, and backing to get her focusing on me and ensure she was walking on a loose lead. We did a little jogging too, but I just can't handle much physical activity right now, which leads me to doubt what I'll be able to do as far as long lining until after the baby is born!

She does have some kind of issue with her neck, so I have a Bowen practitioner coming out next Friday to work on her. I'm really excited, I hadn't heard of the Bowen Technique before, but after doing more research on it I think it will help her a lot and can't wait to see the results! I may longe Sophie tomorrow, just using the cavesson and letting her stretch out, no side reins or anything.

Sophie's Last Ohio Ride...

Yesterday Craig and I drove down to Dayton to see Sophie and watch Kim ride her one last time. She did really well and is soooooo pretty!

First she was longed to get loosened up...


And then came the ride. I didn't take many pictures as we spent a lot of time talking about Sophie and her progress.



We're leaving today for Florida and will arrive Tuesday morning. Then Sophie will officially be a Florida horse. She does have some wither soreness that we haven't been able to "fix" so she'll get some time off and a chiro visit among other things to see if we can make things more comfortable for her. I hope she handles the trip well...I guess we'll see though!

Hopefully we have time for a nap Tuesday afternoon because there's a Spacecoast Arabian Horse Club meeting that night that we plan to attend too.

200 Posts!

I noticed today as I was signing in that I have 199 posts in this blog...so this will be post number 200! We are now in Ohio, with the truck and trailer. We made the drive in 18 or 19 hours, because we stopped for 20-30 minutes every 3 hours. We left around 4 Tuesday afternoon and arrived around 11 Wednesday morning. I drove the truck and the trailer for the first time ever, doing two 3 hour sessions starting around midnight. I don't mind driving on the highway since you really can't even tell the trailer is back there. I know it will be different when there is a horse on the trailer, but we'll probably do the same thing going back. Craig will drive until it's later and then I'll take over, when there are practically zero cars on the road to need to manuever around. As long as I don't have to drive through West Virginia...I *hated* driving through West Virginia! Too hilly and curvy.

We'll be picking Sophie up Monday around noon and pulling into the barn around 9 hopefully...the next day. Then Sophie will be a Florida horse and I'll be a Florida horse owner. I can't wait to see her. She was supposed to get body clipped yesterday, but we'll see if they had a chance to clip her yet. Jessie (my retired gelding) is a woolball...he would definitely need a body clip if he were going to Florida.

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I've been participating in a photography challenge and have been keeping my photography blog updated with pictures if you'd like to check them out, just click this link...Stephanie Mills Photography blog!

One week...

One week from today Sophie will be a Florida horse! The trailer is ready and we're heading up to Ohio today. We'll leave next Monday and hopefully arrive on Tuesday, settling Sophie into her stall in Florida!

Pretty in Purple...

To help her adjustment to being a Florida horse I bought a fly sheet, hood, mask, and boots for Sophie...in purple of course! She won't need them for a while, but, at least she's ready, and they were on sale! (Sophie's fly sheet doesn't have a belly band, but purple wasn't actually pictured so wouldn't due for this blog)

Weird, weird, dream...and one more week!

I'm starting to get really excited, we leave to get Sophie in just one week! Of course, she won't be in Florida until 2 weeks from now, but it's a start. Meanwhile I had a really weird dream about Sophie. She kind of just arrived at the barn and right after she got off the trailer I saddled her up and took her for a ride (even though I'm going to do my best not to ride until after the baby is born). Then there was a girl that I guess was supposed to be a working student from my barn in Ohio and she had Sophie hitched up to a red buckboard wagon like what my grandparents had for their pony and she drove her all around the arena.

I remember thinking, well, I guess it won't be hard to teach Sophie to long line!!! Then she got Sophie cantering and turning in a tight circle and she tucked herself in a ball and jumped off the wagon!!! Leaving Sophie cantering along, fortunately Sophie stopped right away but I was very angry with the girl and told her to get out of my site.

Then later in the dream she kind of morphed into a much older woman of 60 and I was trying to find out what I needed to do to get her back to Ohio. And I think Sophie came to Florida with a lot more "stuff" than she left with!!!

Anyway, that was my dream...though I do kind of wish the part where Sophie already knows how to drive wered true!

Went to a Tack Swap Today...

We had a garage sale yesterday and I had some random horse stuff leftover, which was convenient since there was a tack swap at our local park! I sold my too small breeches/schooling tights as well as some other stuff. It was a fun day and I got to meet some more people from the Spacecoast Arabian Horse Club. We took Jilly, it was her first horse show and she handled it pretty well. Some issues with barking at other dogs she saw, but by the end of the day she wasn't even reacting. I think she's *very* tired though because normally she sleeps quite a bit during the day and today she was awake due to the excitement.

In *love*!!!!

I soooooo want five pairs of these, all in patent leather. Too bad they're a bit more than the ones I get off of Tack of the Day!



If you're lucky enough to have the money for them because you're not moving a horse to Florida in two weeks, you can buy them here...People on Horses Sheepskin-Lined Horse Boots

How crazy is this?

I've been thinking a lot about Sophie and what I'm going to do with her once she's in Florida. Well, not what *I'm* going to do with her...what I'm going to have someone *else* do with her. I'd been thinking I would put her in some kind of partial training before starting to rider her myself. But I'm starting to think I may be better off just longeing her and doing in hand work while I can...then restarting her myself. It's what we did after I bought her and things turned out really well...maybe I should do it again. Decisions, decisions. Regardless, Sophie gets a month or two off from riding while we focus on longeing/in hand work and then I'll decide. It's going to be *really* hard to not ride when she gets here though! I've been watching lessons at the barn and it's making me want to ride...a lot!

Sophie's Early Christmas Present...

For Christmas this year Sophie's getting a body clip and teeth floating prior to leaving for Florida...yay!!!

Spacecoast Arabian Horse Club...

Tonight Craig and I went to our first Spacecoast Arabian Horse Club meeting. It was a fun meeting and great meeting everyone involved in the organization. They're having three dressage shows in the winter/spring and I hope to get Sophie to one, somehow, even if I have to find someone to ride her!

Sophie's New Digs...

Stephanie Mills Photography

I haven't really posted about it on here, but I have my own photography business now (Stephanie Mills photography website). I currently specialize in Equine Photography but hope to branch out into Canine Photography soon and eventually human portraits and weddings. So if any of you live in Florida and need some pictures taken of your animals give me a call!

I posted some pictures on my photography blog (click here). I'm doing a photo challenge this month so be sure to check the photography blog to see what I've been up to. Meanwhile I'll post a sneak preview picture here...



Today's pictures were taken at the stable where I'll be boarding Sophie. Tomorrow's theme is "environment" so I'll probably be posting quite a few pictures of the facilities themselves.

A New Adventure...

To prepare for Sophie and I's Florida adventure I have started stocking up on groundwork, longeing, and longe reining materials. I've started with four books on those topics, which I'm going to share with you in this post. Eventually I plan on buying or possibly renting some DVDs, once Sophie's here and I can apply what I see right away!

You may be asking how I picked books relating to something I know nothing about...easy! I just went to amazon.com and did a search for groundwork and long lining and long reining, opening every result that looked applicable. I looked at the content and then also at the reviews of other users and went with the ones that had the best reviews.

So...on to the books! I will do more in depth reviews after I receive them and begin to explore their contents.

Long Reining: The Saumur Method (Hardcover)
~ Philippe Karl http://www.amazon.com/reader/1570762384?_encoding=UTF8&ref_=sib%5Fdp%5Fpt#noop

Schooling Horses in Hand: A Means of Suppling and Collection (Hardcover)
~ Richard Hinrichs http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1570762058/ref=s9_simz_gw_s0_p14_t1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0QKSQ9AWA3VZG6PS94ST&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

Training the Horse in Hand: The Classical Iberian Principles (Hardcover)
~ Alfons J. Dietz http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592287069/ref=s9_simz_gw_s0_p14_t2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0QKSQ9AWA3VZG6PS94ST&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

Horse Training In-Hand: A Modern Guide to Working from the Ground: Long Lines, Long and Short Reins, Work on the Longe (Hardcover)
~ Ellen Schuthof-Lesmeister http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1570764093/ref=s9_simz_gw_s0_p14_t3?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0QKSQ9AWA3VZG6PS94ST&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

Resurrection...

This blog has been pretty dead...ok...really dead. Sophie's been in training in Ohio and doing pretty well. I was thinking I'd sell her, but instead...she's coming to Florida! Craig and I are going to pick her up Thanksgiving weekend. I found a great stable just 12 minutes away to board her at and have begun stocking up on groundwork/long lining resources to help keep us busy until the baby is born.

Speaking of the baby...everything is going great with him. I'm still due March 2nd (22.5 weeks pregnant now) and in case you didn't catch the "him"...it's a boy! Right now we're naming him Edward James, but that may be subject to change. Between the baby and Sophie coming to Florida I am on a severe adrenaline high!

If anyone has any suggestions for groundwork/long lining resources please let me know...I ordered four books to get me started that had decent reviews, but I'm always open to more ideas!

I'm Pregnant...

I realize it's been a while since I updated here...but I thought I'd let everyone that may still check this blog know that I'm pregnant. Almost 10.5 weeks. The baby is due March 2nd, so Sophie won't be coming to Florida this winter. I've decided to leave her in Ohio for the winter, where she'll have the winter off and then resume full training next spring. Then she'll be coming to Florida next December, hopefully schooling Third Level! I'm hoping to work on photography when it gets a little cooler though, and attend as many horse shows as possible this winter, both locally and in Wellington!

A Picture...

I have to get to bed, but wanted to share a picture of Rose first. Sorry about it being dark, this is straight out of the camera since the computer doctor messed up my Photoshop.



As you can see, she fits into my "ride only dark bays" trend nicely!

Fourth Ride on Rose...

Today was my fourth ride on Rose. When I arrived the barn owner was riding and since the arena is small I decided not to ride right away. I groomed Rose really good while she had the first part of her dinner. I then put her in the round pen so that I could get her stall cleaned while she hung out. Of course, she rolled while in the round pen so I had to groom her again and then we got started on our ride.

She was pretty good, testing me more like the first day, but more forward when she wasn't. She's doing *really* well with leg yielding though. I really wish I could carry a dressage whip to back up my leg but that's not ok yet. We'll keep working though and maybe I'll be able to start using one in a little while.

One good thing is that she's really cut back on snapping her teeth when I tighten the girth. She hardly did it at all for the initial girthing up, and then the two girth tightenings after that she didn't gnash her teeth at all!

I'm not going to ride tomorrow, or even make it out to the barn, since I have to pack up our hotel room so that we can move to a new hotel room for a couple of nights. We'll board the animals for those days since we have to stay in a non-pet room. I *really* can't wait to move into our new house. Really, really, really.

Third Ride Today...

Today Rose and I went on our third ride together. She was a very good girl, picking right up where we left off last time, staying forward around the rail and even maintaining her energy pretty well when crossing the arena to do figure eights and changes of direction. So we started some baby leg yields, she would do 2-3 nice strides of leg yielding at the end of the long side, though losing a lot of momentum when doing it.

We did a lot of walking between the trot work and only rode for about 15 minutes. It was 80 degrees but Rose still didn't break a sweat. I wasn't sweating as much today as last ride, but I wasn't having to work as hard to keep her going. My left leg is very weak, she leg yields much better to the left than the right because of that.

Next ride we'll work on more of the same I think. I hope to add spiral circles in a few more rides, though I know they probably won't resemble spiral circles. I just want to have control over her body in case she does get spooky or looky in the future, though she's shown no signs of it so far.

No Riding Today...

I did go visit Rose, groomed her, hand grazed her, and cleaned her stall. I'm really sore from riding the last two days and I thought it'd be good to bond with her a little without riding. Plus that way she doesn't associate me with only riding and work!

I forgot my camera, again, so no pictures yet, hopefully tomorrow.