Where Would We Be Without Family?

I have all this stuff posted about my animals that I wanted to take a moment and just let everyone know what an amazing family I have and how blessed I am to have them in my life! In November I was blessed with the opportunity to go to Wisconsin and visit my brother (he's in medical school out there) and his family shortly after his wife had the new baby #3 little Gavin John Wooten. I wasn't blogging at the time so I wanted to post some of the pictures from the trip and just let everyone know how truly amazing they are! My neice who is my mini me is now 6 and in Kindergarten, my nephew Garret the musical prodigy will be 4 shortly and is in Pre-School and then the new baby Gavin now 4 months. My sister-in-law is beautiful and amazing I don't know how she does it I was fine when they had just the 2 but adding that 3rd kid takes it to a whole nother level! And of course I love my brother I mean I have to I'm stuck with him:) I had a blast though swimming, eating McDonalds for breakfast ok and maybe lunch, baking, playing super heros, shopping, beating my brother at Skip-Bo over and over and over again (when your good your good).

The Wooten Boys (notice the remote in Clint's hand that's usually where it stays)


The new little baby, I had forgotten how small they were; I was even nervous to hold him at first but oh so precious!


Me and Gracie Lou Who she's such a true angel!


Me and Garrett (I had to bribe him with candy to take this picture with me but it turned out adorable!)


Me and the kids at the pool man they love to swim! Grace is quite the fish!

I took the kids to swimming lessons and swam with them while Beck stayed home with the new baby. Well, I finally got Garrett to swim on his own for the first time ever so we had to video it for Mom and Dad to see. He was so proud of himself; you can tell by the smile on his face! (Although he's not actually swimming just running in the water atleast he wasn't holding on to me or the rail which was a big deal for him.)

Chiquita

Chiquita my little Chihuahua who has been the apple of my eye sense the day we got her my Junior year in HS. She turned 8 this year on my brothers birthday Dec. 27th and we have had her longer then any dog now so I just had to do a little tribute to her because she is so precious and has been such an inspiration to many (Ashley who now has Jez and the Sealy's who now have Batman both chihuahua). Quita is sure she was supposed to be my moms dog; she absolutely adores my mom and Margaret but still loves me from time to time! She is like no other Chihuahua she's a total barn dog and loves to jump the cross country jumps and thinks she owns any horse show we go to! She has tolerated plenty of children through out the years with only a bite here or there (sorry Grace). She was a companion to my Grandfather in his last year as well. She has lived in 4 different states (more then most people). She's quite the dog I must say; she is the best driving partner, my favorite cuddle partner and my very own space heater! Love you Quita!

This is when my Grandpa had her and she lived on cheeseburgers! She went from 6lbs to 11.5 lbs while he owned her she is now down to 8lbs:)


Quita at the horse show helping herself to the horses water bucket



Quita all packed up in Giles suitcase ready to go (she'll make a bed out of anything confy and warm)


I love this picture, on the ride home from a horse show exhausted, the spoiled little princess, with her pillow and a down comforter; life doesn't get much better then this. In my next life I'm coming back as a chihuahua!

SNOW!!!!

So we woke up this morning to get ready for our horse show and yes it was snowing in FLORIDA in March!!!! And when we got to the show there were still snow flurries! AHHH! Not to mention it was miserably cold; I do believe that is why we moved to Florida away from Utah in the first place; to get away from the snow and the cold. But for all you people who think it doesn't get cold in Florida it does and we had snow to prove it! Granted we did not have to shovel any driveways so sorry to those of you who are out with the shovels and snowblowers in the morning I guess we're not quite that cold.

UPDATE

So school is going great! I love learning and I'm glad I made the decision to go back. I think I am up for taking more then 2 classes next semester though. Getting read to study for Mid-Terms next weeks but so far things are going good! I got 107% on my first math test and a 102% on my 2nd math test; as well as a 98% on my English paper so all is going well!
As far as the horses we have 2 new additions here at the barn in for training a 3yr old mare Windemere and a 4yr old gelding Sollte both here to be broke and both lovely horses. I am very excited; although, it has definitely added to the work load around here. It is a little bit wearing on my mom and I but it is definitely worth it.
Pat Doyle's little Remington, that I train, did his first show at WBS on the 14th of February and was a SUPER STAR he got 2nd in his Training Level 4 test and 2nd in Beginner Novice combined test he also recieved a 1st in the show jumping course!!! I am so proud of him he has come such a long way! Here are a couple pics from his 1st show:) Did I mention he LOVES to jump! (So do I)

I Took a trip to GA last weekend and had a blast with the girls dinner and dancing and gossiping! Love you guys thanks for the good weekend. We decided that we are going to have to do a book club (give me an excuse to visit more often:) I also took 2 lessons with Mike Winter (Olympic Event Rider) while I was up there on Indy and Tainy; it was amazing! I learned a ton and I think my horses did too; although, they got their fannies worked!
(Don't know if anyone noticed but I'm practicing my punctuation on my blog; mid-term next week!)

Rocking Horse Winter 1 HT

So I'm not sure I even want to write about this disastrous weekend! I should have stayed home! I guess these are the weekends they call learning weekends I think all I learned though is that I really don't like losing! LOL! No in all honesty I guess I will admit it was a good training weekend for all my babies and I did learn a lot (I just wish knowledge wasn't so darn expensive!) So enough of my rambling let me tell you how the weekend went! And we did get some fun pictures and video so enjoy!
So the weekend started with a late departure on Friday of course! Only to arrive near dark with 4 horses and just my mom and I! I had entered 3 horses in the event Tainy, Fanny, Indy and also my mom was riding her pony Phillipe, I think I was nuts man oh man I had no idea what I was in for or how amazing my mother truly is! If we weren't on a horse we were getting another ready to ride or feeding or cleaning their stalls or wrapping their legs on Sat I don't think we ate until around 4, there was no time to eat! We needed a groom but unfortunately that's one of those luxuries we have yet to have! Thank god for my mom!

Fanny's did PT (Preliminary Dressage and Show Jumping with Training Cross Country) and she was quite a disappointment for the weekend stopping at the ditch on Cross Country! That little bugger! But i did realize that she needs a good solid year at Training before she is ready for Prelim, that Show Jump course proved to be a bit of a struggle for her, she's still young, only 5 coming 6, so she has time!

Tainy I was actually quite happy with she did the PT division as well and was in 4th after Dressage and Show Jumping, and had no problem with the Prelim Show Jumping, unfortunately though she did have a stop at the water a roll top into the water and so that moved us way down she went right in the 2nd time though, considering that is her 1st Training ever and I used to not be able to even get around a course at ALL last year I was very happy with her she was bold and brave and loved every minute of the rest of the course! She will move right up to Prelim this year I suspect!

Indy was a good girl considering this was her first event EVER! She behaved in the dressage ring and only tried to jump out of the ring once! :) Her show jumping was BEAUTIFUL except for the fact that i missed jump #8, I was so exhausted by that point i guess my mind just quit functioning lol:) They let us ride cross country and all was good but like her mother she was not so sure about the water, but was brilliant and loved the rest of the course!

My mom did not have the greatest weekend with a bit of a fussy pony, she had a beautiful show jump round double clear and came out of the start box on cross country a little hesitant and nervous and that naughty little pony stopped at the 1st jump! His first stop EVER on cross country (I think they were both a little nervous) cause the rest of their course was great!


So while usually coming home with at least a blue ribbon or two and a 4th or 5th we came home empty in the ribbons this time! UGH!!!! But we did not come home empty handed with gained knowledge for me, my mom and each of the horses as well as some sore muscles and aching joints:) All said and done I had fun, I love my babies and they are still learning I have to remind myself they're all still young and green and we'll get it together eventually I know it!
I am so blessed and so fortunate to have such nice horses and have the ability and the opportunity to compete and show them also to have such supportive and loving family and friends I couldn't do this without y'all! Thank You!
Enjoy the little video clip of my mom on her pony on cross country sorry it is a little shaky I was exhausted and a little nervous for her! :)

AWARDS

Finally got PICS!!! Some of them did not come out quite so well sorry Max so I didn't post them all but these were the better ones!
My mom and I went to the DSDCTA Awards Banquet and did very well in the year end awards here are each of my horses accomplishments through the DSDCTA I am very proud of each and every one of them!
Indy- Grand Champion of 3yr old Fillies In Hand Division
Fanny- Grand Champion of the 1st Level Dressage Division as well as Grand Champion of the Training CT Division
Tainy- Grand Champion of the Novice CT Division
Phillipe (Mom)- Grand Champion of the Beginner Novice CT Division and Reserve Champion of the Training Level Dressage Division
Samson- Grand Champion of the 2yr old Colts In Hand Division
I also received an award for exceptional service, still a little puzzled on this one as most help I do I'm paid for lol but I am taking on the NWFL Awards Chair Person this coming year and have/will be helping Willowbend South and Mary Jane with the shows! Also I have to mention my little Remington he received 3rd in the 3yr old Colts Division for DSDCTA!
Some other important awards from the 2008 year....
Indy- Our little champion was USDF(which is out of all the horses in the US) Horse of the Year for 3yr old Fillies Champion!!! She was also 3rd in the USDF HOY for Material Horses and was High Scoring Mare in her Mare Performance Test as well as her Inspection, she also is Reserve Champion for 2-3yr old Fillies in the American Hanoverian Society! What a horse and she's only 3!
Samson-Was Reserve Champion at the GAIG Breeders Series Finals and was 4th in the USDF HOY for 2yr old Colts/Geldings and also Reserve Champion in the AHS for 2-3yr old Colts/Geldings! What a stud that stud is he is on his way to great things I tell you and so loveable too!
Thank You Mom For Making All This Possible For Both Me And The Horses!!!!!!
She deserves an award of some sort for all that she does, she truly is an amazing women and if you know her I am sure you already know this!!!!

What A Day!

So yesterday was quite an interesting day for me.....we took my 3yr old Indy Cross Country Schooling and she absolutely LOVED it she did not blink an eye at a single jump and had her ears pricked forward looking for the next jump the whole time, I think she has found her calling in life! Although she does so well at everything else as well I think her calling in life is just to be the best! (Maybe my Olympic Horse:)! This is a pic of her free jumping and as you can see she is quite a jumper! No pics from schooling though my mom was too busy having fun on my other horse Fanny who was also a super star around the Training course! Then I had to go to the cardiologist for a ultrasound of my heart which all looked good a minor leak in one of my valves but nothing constructional that could be causing my Tachycardia so that is good I guess still have to figure out what's causing it though! Then comes the fun part I headed straight to my Writing and Grammar class ugh! The teacher is extremely extremely strict! But it will be a good review maybe my blog Grammar will get better as the class goes on as well lol! But it will be a interestingly boring class!

FUNNY PICTURES

So as most of you know Emily is like my adopted daughter and it is great to have her around she keeps me young! Needless to say studying for a rating can get quite boring so we did find time to play with the Photo Booth on my ICAM and thought you might appreciate these photos they are HILARIOUS and we had a BLAST doing them!!!!

My second Family and My New D3

So I started teaching Emily Sealy when she was 6 years old and after I left GA Ashley took over but I have still have had the privilege to work with her on occasion! I have become quite close to their family and I love them all dearly Margaret has become one of my closet friends through the years and she amazes me raising those 3 children and manages to be such an amazing friend! So it was with wide open doors when they asked to come down and visit over New Years and lets just say it will be a New Years we will never forget lol (you'd have to have been there:) Sorry these were all the pics I had from the trip us out on the beach and Margaret freezing buried in the freezing sand what a trooper!


But the main reason for the trip was to get Miss Em all ready to take her D-3 rating and I have to even admit that I had to do a little studying just to make sure I was teaching her "Pony Club Standards" and not my own way lol! They left Friday night and I waited with much anticipation as her rating was Saturday all day long but in the end it was all worth it! She passed with flying colors! I'm so proud of you Em! Here she is showing off her new rating! And we can't forget to thank Lanier for all his hard work at the farm when he could have been playing at the beach!

HORSES IN TRAINING

So while I already have 4 of my horses to ride and train 3 of which are competing and need to be ridden nearly everyday and 1 youngster who only gets 3 days a week. I now have 4 horses in training! 1 at my own place Moondance who after 1 day I was able to saddle him and sit on him and walk around on (he's such a joy already) and 4 more at Willowbend South. GiGi who is a stunning beautiful Trakhener mare, Kundalini who is there for conditioning, a cute little black pony who needs manners so his rider can show him and last but not least my wonderful little Conemara pony Remington who may not look like much but he really is something special! So now I have my hands full with 8 horses and I love every minute of it! So I hope that I can do my best with all them for both the horse and rider! Let's just hope between it all I can keep up with my algebra and english homework too lol! I want to post pictures of all the horses in training but for right now all I have is a picture of Remington free jumping so I will post it and when I get the others I will post them ASAP!!!!

SCHOOL

So after much thought and i mean much, between talking to my father and just looking at life a a little more realistically I've decided to go back to school!!! I took my placement exams and surprisingly and thankfully I passed them all and don't have to do any prep classes! So I registered for 2 classes don't want to overload myself cause i still have full intentions of continuing my horses but just in case I break a leg it's nice to have something to fall back on, and some of you will love this especially my dad and Becky I'm going to go into education not sure which elem or middle school yet and this may take me 8 years but at least it's in the making! So my first class starts tomorrow (College Algebra!) YAY!

First Christmas Alone!!

So while this is officially my first Christmas alone it is also my first without my mom and if you know me you all know how big of a deal that is cause I am a huge mama's girl not to mention how much I love my family and being without them sucked! I didn't think it would bother me when I told my mom I would stay home with the horses while she went to Wisconsin with my brother but I was wrong! Needless to say after pouting about it for most of the day I finally got up and rode my horses only to make it feel like another day in paradise! So to Fanny and Tainy for making my Christmas Merry Thank You! I love you mares!!