Oh My Gracious...

..............................................

Testing, testing -- 1,2....3?

Is there anybody still out there in blogland...somewhere? lol

Many MANY apologies that I haven't blogged since -- JANUARY?!???! 

Gracious me...

Um, let's see, what has happened? 

(Hah. You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you.)

Well, I finished my freshman year of college. Sophomore year starts on Monday. Geez how time flies. I feel like I should be inside doing school with the kids at the kitchen table instead of enjoying the sunshine in this hammock and...being a terrible steward of this blog...buuuh.

My plans for the summer were few but still plans: Work a few horses for some people I knew around town. Attend Breyerfest with my cousin. Show Joey Joey in the local horse shows this summer. I got a job, so there's that to keep me busy. And enjoy the swimming pool -- aahhhhh.

What ACTUALLY happened this summer: 

I, er, I.....kind of went to Alaska for 3 months instead?

Working horses?

Cliff diving?

Beach racing?

Bear hunting?

Halibut fishing?

Crabbing?

Canoeing (with killer whales)?

Climbing?

Counseling?

But I'll stop making excuses now.  

We also obtained a tenant this summer just before I left (which was, like, two days after school ended):

Joey's first horse interaction in 5 years. ^.^ 

Name's Cody. And we all know age doesn't matter in this world, regardless of who you are. He's my pastor's reliable mount who hasn't had serious work in a long time. Pastor wanted me to come over and train him. I was always busy. So Pastor brought him to me -- two weeks before I left for 3 months. Woops. And now I understand perfectly why he wanted me to come give him some serious rides. -.- 

Pastor or Pastor's Wifey -- I'm sorry if what I'm about to say offends you or worries you in any way. But this is my blog and I'll say what I want.

*ahem*

After those two weeks of consistent riding on my part, Cody was deemed unridable for the rest of my family (and honestly I was a little afraid to keep climbing on him. There was just no end to his bad attitude). 

I come home (last week) after 3 months of gaining new confidence in risky ventures on wild young horses in Alaska and find my barn much worse than when I left, both unhealthy horses, and Cody pushing and threatening all the humans around him. The old fart. -.-

First day back I rode both of them -- just out to the field, a few circles and a little trotting and then back again. (They were honestly that malnourished and left to themselves that I didn't feel safe or comfortable doing anything more.) But boy did I miss my Joey. He was an angel, just as always. ^.^ <3 A day or two later, I saddle up Joey and we go on a long walk with Cody following freely behind us. (They have developed quite the friendship.

...oh dear.)

And yesterday morning I was rudely awakened from my slumber by the exclamations of "Sam! Come quick! Cody's out [again]!" -.- I take my sweet time getting ready...for war. I go out, tie him up, feed Joey. And then Cody and I saddle up and ride away. 

First I took him to the field to figure out how the heck to lunge this horse. I've been told he can do it. But the last time I tried, he was the local idiot. This time, I made him figure it out. Made him.

Yay! That was [finally] a success! Now let's go on a trail ride and see what you can really do undersaddle when you're not distracted by Joey Joey. 

Man can this horse run.

And man can this horse pitch a fit.

And I haven't been this afeared for my life on horseback in.....at least a while if ever. 

But we don't let him know that. Hah.

He tried every trick in the book to scare me off. But I've just come back from riding The Big Cheese at Echo Ranch in Alaska -- I bet I'm tougher than you. lol

Anyway, to make a long and scary ride short: I didn't die. And Pastor or Pastor's Wifey -- I'm not giving him back. At least not right now. 

But yeah. So that was pretty much my summer. I a teeny tiny nutshell. I'll try and write more about Alaska later (some pictures? would you like that?) :)

Thanks if you're still around. lol You're hilarious.

~Sam + Joey 

.....and now Cody....

Snow Day!

So today we had a snow day. :D

Morning feed time:

 Snow is falling -- but not sticking...

Evening feed time:

*Note: Not real horse.

Up to Joey's chest! :o (haha Stablemate-sized Joey braves the cold. xD ) (Custom-made by my cousin, Erin Long) But then I thought: O.O BREYER PHOTOSHOOT! O.O

Traditional-sized Joey Joey

Loki, hock-deep. 

Thor -- my sister's new handsome devil.

Upon Maggie knocking Loki over in the snow during one of her mad dashes to catch my own dog, I got yet ANOTHER genius idea:

Loki

Horsey snow angels!! ^.^

Traditional-sized Joey Joey

Thor

Slick looks like an Appy in this one. x)

These next two are actually different sides to the one horse: Slick N Shiney, my Rocky Mountain Horse model. It's kinda cool how different they look. :)

O.O

Meanwhile,  Lexi's enjoying herself...

ATTACK!!

 This is usually where Maggie is -->
...always waiting in stealth mode...

And then suddenly (!!!) ---- A VISITOR.

The day we moved back in and saw a Hispanic man coming out of our woods with a machete and his massive Chow dog by his side, claiming that his lambs had gotten loose and were roaming through his neighbors' yards, we knew that we would have an interesting time with P. as our neighbor... I can't help but wonder if Titus (as we've dubbed the intrusive billy goat) was one of those lambs that got out that day. hmm.

Aaaaand of course Joey's just as cute as ever. <3

*snuffle*snuffle* snow

I mustache you a question; but I'll shave it for later. ;D

Goober horse...

Hope you're having a vonderful day! Thanks for stopping by. ^.^

Hello? Anyone There?

Not that there's anybody still reading this blog, but....

I thought I'd post a (very overdue) update. Joey and I aren't doing so hot. :/ As of this minute I am confined to the couch on what is my first week of winter break from school. What a way to kick it off, after all I had planned -- with a terrible chest-cold. -.-
As a result of my busy schedule of the last few months (I have a real job now! and school. bleh.) Joey isn't feeling the love. He's been listless lately and not eating all of his food. He nickers when I come out to feed when I get the long-awaited chance; but that's all I have time for now, and I can tell it's taking its toll on him. It's really sad and makes me want to cry when I think about it.
Thus, I cannot bear to keep up with the blogs I used to love to read. At the same time that they give me my quick horse fix for when I can't hang with my boy, they only make the longing worse.
For some reason the other day, I threw an old Horse Illustrated magazine into my purse to skim through during my break at work a few days ago. It was when I was doing just that on my break when I realized why I had shoved all my horse books and such to the side: I long to jump again. I want to fly. I want again to work on training myself and horses to move fluidly around the ring together, striving to make it look effortless. I want it so badly to the point where it scares me sometimes. So I bury it, telling myself it was just a phase when I was 12...
So here I lie on the couch -- while my heart frolics in the front paddock with Joey, lifting his spirits as well as mine.
I thought I would watch my only horse training video -- the one with the trick riders and the barrel prospects. But I have torn my room apart looking for it. *sigh* So I blog, and whine to my fellow horse obssessors who may stumble across this pathetic post.
I bought two new Breyers today and they're gorgeous. I thought having a new horse to play with inside and drool over would help. Seems to only make things worse.
Houston, we have a problem. And after waiting with my parents for over 10 years for it to subside...I think it's time to accept it as more of a chronic condition.

Anybody wanna add their two-cents or advice for how to soothe the horse fever? I don't mind the chest-cold...but it's doubly hard when I have such an insatiable horse craving at the same time that I can't get off the couch.

-Sam

What I've Been Up To and Gorgeous Horsey Photographs

Bad blogger! Baaaad blogger! >.<

Hello, once again, friends! So sorry for the delay. I've been. . .

. . .away at music camp. Man, what a blessing! I REALLY didn't want to go (went kicking and screaming, as it were); but God never fails to use those situations in my life to teach me some big stuff. I made some of the best friends ever and learned more than I expected there was to learn about being a vocalist (I now know the difference between sopranos and altos, and basses and tenors. :P ).

 My solo recital piece. :)

 

 

. . .finishing up preparations for college -- which starts next Monday (August 19). O.O In prep, I have received my very own laptop (touchscreen, too :P <--funny story. . .) as a graduation gift from Mom and Dad. Her name is Stella, and her favorite color is purple. ^.^

 

Me, Stella, LuLa, and demon-puppy-Lexi. :P

 

 

. . .playing a whole lota guitar. It's been way too hot this July/August to ride. *sad face* :( (of course, what summer isn't?) Poor Joey is sweating buckets of black sludge from 7:00 AM to 9 o'clock at night. I feel so terrible for him; especially because I'm such a weakling that I can't bear to go out and visit him very often.

 

That black log kinda off to the side is my other dog, Maggie. :P

Ok, one more quick thing before I sign off for now (and she did not ask me to do this ;) ):

My cousin, Erin Long, is just about as horse crazy as you can get. Which makes us the best of cousins (sometimes we wonder why we weren't born sisters?? o.0 ) Horses have been her hobby since we were leetle kids. (We kinda host a webpage together of anything and everything having to do with horses; still kinda new, but check it out: http://herdnerds.weebly.com/ ) She rides all the time; and we've both always been HUGE fans of Breyer horse models. But within recent years, she has been trying to make a name for herself in the artsy world of horses: she customizes Breyer models, sketches amazing equine artwork, and takes simply stunning photographs of everything and anything horsey (will give you a view into horse heaven down below)! In short: You NEED to check out her website. At least check it out, if not help her spread the word about her amazing talent. The best part is that all of the proceeds (outside of shipping and materials) go toward JustWorld International, a charity that aids children in third world countries through the equestrian world!
Here's the link to her studio site:  http://modestmarestudios.weebly.com/

And here's the link to her studio's facebook page; give her a like and stay that much more up-to-date on what she offers: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Modest-Mare-Studios/184302188413841?ref=hl

A lot of her photos are of her own horse Sid and his pasturemates.

I call it "Contentedness". :)

A photo she took of my Joey during our own personal photo shoot.
I've used it as a possible book cover idea. :D

One of her sketches.

Another sketch.

 

Her latest project (and my personal favorite so far): somewhat before. . .



. . .and somewhat after :P

You should really go check out her website. She has some really neat-o in-barn pictures that I simply adore (she's currently loading them onto her site, I do believe; if they're not there, I know they are already posted on Modest Mare Studio's facebook page).

 

I hope you have a wonderful day!

 

~Sam

 



 

Just Some Pictures of Joey and I Out Doing the Impossible

Did I mention my horse is blind and that people told me that I would never be able to ride him?
‎#inyourface ‎#thepowerofGod ‎#nevergiveup ‎#dreambig