“Someone once told me that human beings have three dimensions: how you see yourself, how others see you, and how you want others to see you. The closer the distance between the three dimensions, the more at peace you are and the more stable you become.” - Marwa Rakha On Wednesday, Dante and I had a special visitor at the barn, Megan! With all the rain the Bay Area has experienced she's not done much riding, and with her increasing interest in jumping I thought it would be a great opportunity to meet my friend Adrienne. Adrienne has a ton of quality lesson horses, I've always felt super confi ..read more

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“By being yourself, you put something in the world that was not there before.” January The new year started off dark for me - literally as our power failed us and we relied on a subpar system for several days. The upside was during my holiday break DY gave me the opportunity to school other horses, which was something I missed a lot from my days of riding in NorCal. We got some rain which put jumping on the back burner, which put jumping completely out of Dante's mind. We had remedial work to do by mid month, reminding Dante that his only job is to do what I ask, and it's not that hard of a j ..read more

“There is some kind of a sweet innocence in being human - in not having to be just happy or just sad - in the nature of being able to be both broken and whole, at the same time.” - C. Joybell C. My friend took Friday-Monday off around Christmas (which she should) so I was on my own hacking. It was pretty freaking cold, so cold that it snowed in the hills around the town I grew up in. It rarely snows here in the hills or in town. I can actually count the times on one hand in my lifetime the amount of times it snowed, and the snow stuck around for several days too. Dante's current lodgings we ..read more

“Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.” — Anne Morrow Lindbergh On Wednesday, Adrienne was taking a horse up to UC Davis for a muscle biopsy, so I decided I would just hack my monster. I got there in the late afternoon as the sun was beginning to set. He was really good despite the literal freezing temperature. It was really refreshing to be in a covered ring, using arena lights and it being ok and within the rules. It was also refreshing being on a sane young horse who despite his lack of riding the week before was fine sharing the arena with ..read more

 "Better to have a big goal and achieve half of it than to have no goal and achieve all of it." - Joyce Meyer Me (Riding/Horses): Visit baby pony 1x a month Get 'r' license for hunter/jumper judging Ride in 1 clinic Audit 1 clinic Qualify for Adult HQC Finals Place in top 10 Go fox hunting! Dante: Stay Happy, Healthy, and Sound Fix Our Issue Move back up to 3'3" and stay there Babeh Poneh: Get born Name it Register it Microchip it Stay Happy, Healthy and Sound Depending on when it is born, wean it Show Goals: GSDHJA Champ Show Top 5 Year End Award GSDHJA M ..read more

“Begin to think of yourself as a Divine limitless being rather than a person who doesn’t have choice when it comes to your thoughts. Think of yourself as an observer, contemplating and selecting thoughts that you choose from that never-ending stream of thoughts on your inner screen, 24/7/365. I’m encouraging you to initiate a habit of choosing thoughts and ideas that support feeling good and powerful, and that elevate you to a higher level of consciousness where your self-concept welcomes your higher self.” - Wayne Dyer I came out to the barn a bit earlier the next day. While tacking up I l ..read more

“Maybe sometimes we don’t do the right thing because the wrong thing looks more dangerous, and we don’t want to look scared, so we go and do the wrong thing just because it’s dangerous. We’re more concerned with not looking scared than with judging right.” — Philip Pullman After Dante's arrival on Sunday, Adrienne and I made plans for me to hack him in front of her, and then build a plan for the next four weeks from there. I had given her a rough outline of what happened this year from our crash and the stopping problem, and how I've been going back and trying to address it. I also let he k ..read more

 "I desire therefore I exist." - Angela Carter Me (Riding/Horses): Find more riding opportunities: Clinics - Bernie Traurig (Day 1, Day 2) Other Horses - Norman, Murphy, Zeus, Blu, Roo, Abe, Ella, Icelandic Horse Trail ride, Toot, Leo, Gabe, Etana Horse adventures on other people's properties - while I didn't haul Dante out nearly as much as I had intended. Hauling to NorCal is the grandest of off property adventures of them all. IF 'r' judging program goes virtual sign up for it -  money was pulled in lots of different directions this year, so I was not able t ..read more

“Be still. Feel the beating of your heart. The rise and falling of your chest. The subtle heat that radiates from your skin. You are alive. And everything that you; your skin, your eyes, as well as your talents and traits, is something to cherish. So take this life that you have, and live it.” — Nicole Addison This is my only childhood lego I have left, I keep it on my desk  My final week before my winter shutdown was absolutely Moving out of and cleaning the old house, and then moving into (as best we could) and the repacking for our trip north - all while working full time, i ..read more