Sunshine in the Fall

Thank you to the bloggers who nominated me for the Sunshine award! I've seen them from Eventing in Color, Polka Dot Periodical, My Mojito, A Collection of Madcap Escapes, Pony Express, and Keeping it Loki. All fun blogs, check them out! I know I'm late to the party, but I thought we'd all rather have a fun contest first and do this later.

The sunshine award is for people who 'positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere'. The nominee of this award must do the following, thank the person who nominated them, nominate 10 bloggers of their own, answer the 10 questions given to you, post them, and add the Sunshine Award Button to the blog.

All that and he can pose

1. Mares or Geldings?
Geldings. Geldings geldings geldings. I had mares. I did that. I am done. I know there are nice mares out there. I know that a mare will give you everything she's got when she's in the mood for it. You know who else will give you everything they've got, no matter what mood they're in? OTTB GELDINGS. Yeah. All about that.

2. English or Western?
Western is super fun to an extent. It lacks the extensive history and body of work that make the english sport horse world so interesting to me. I have no doubt that they'll eventually catch up, but it will take like 500 years minimum. In the mean time, give me my English saddle and my Xenophon.

Diva and Courage

3. Do you prefer younger or older horses?
I don't like four year olds. All other ages are fine. (Ms Diva is doing her best to convince me that 4 year olds can be nice. She's a black mare though, so you know she's tricksy.)

4. Have you trained a horse from ground zero?
Yes. If I did it again, I would start with a gelding.

5. Do you prefer riding or groundwork?
Hahaha! I hate lunging so much. That said, I absolutely can not stand horses that are rude on the ground, so mine do plenty of groundwork. I'm probably more confident on the ground with a horse, but 99% of the time, I'd rather be in the saddle.

I want to see this face every morning.

6. Do you board your horse or keep him at home?
For now, I board. Eventually, I will have my own place.

7. Do you use all natural things or just commercial stuff (the products you use)?
I'm pretty sure "natural" is code for "doesn't work but costs twice as much".

8. All tacked up or bareback?
See question 1. I ride OTTB geldings with their attendant withers. Saddle please!

9. Equestrian role model?
Meg Kep, Sinead Halpin's groom. She's smart, she's funny, she works her butt off. I'd love to meet her, but then I'd do my awkward "famous person" routine and just make an ass of myself, so it's best we live on separate coasts.



10. What's your one main goal while being in the horse world?
I want to be capable of competently jumping around 3'3" to 3'6" course in the arena and able to run training level eventing. I'm not sure I actually want to go training level, but I want to know that I could, if I was so inclined.

My 10 nominees:

Just a Girl and Her Horse Ruffles keeps a rotating cast of horses and does a variety of awesome things in incredibly scenic places. She's currently dominating the pony club games scene and training a super cool jumper in New Zealand.

Wyvern Oaks Jenj has had a year of ups and downs and then more downs, but she's hard working, a great problem solver, and OMG PADDYBEAR!!! Check him out.

Hopeful Jumpers Jessica is a real vet, fresh out of school. Not only does she take gorgeous pictures of Florida where she lives, but she also has an older, retired TB jumper who reminds me way too much of Cuna.

We Are Flying Solo A perennial favorite of mine. The home of the Original Solo (tm) and a fun blog with lots of down to earth ideas and videos.

A Work in Progress Shannon lives on a farm while raising her kids and training her horses, oh, and battling through a crazy injury that would make most people just sit down and cry. She inspires me.

Poor Woman Showing How do you even introduce Carly and Bobby? She's the most classy profane person I know and I genuinely laugh out loud pretty much every time I read her blog. RIP Red.

Braymere Custom Saddlery A little off the beaten track for me, but Braymere makes custom show tack for model horses. I know we all did that as kids, her her stuff is legit. You have to see it to believe it.

Beast Eventer A newer blog that I picked up, but the story of an adult ammy and her draftie cross making it as eventer. Lots of fun, great attitudes.

A Mile High on Horseback Emily has a lot on her plate and she never slows down. Single mom? OTTB? Work? School? She does it all.