Revising the Resume(s)

Howdy Blogland! I'm back to share with you an interesting week.

Sadly, last week was lacking in horse time! Monday and Tuesday evenings rained. Its ok though because I got to spend Monday night getting excited about the MNF Redskins game. Sadly, it was a beat down and I had to turn it off before 1/2 time as to not loose my sanity. I had gotten tickets but had to turn them down for work and budgetary reasons, it was a blessing in disguise! Tuesday, TK's band had a 'gig' but things were crazy and we showed up completely underdressed! I pitched a fit and ended up wandering around in the middle of small town NC waiting for him to finish playing!

Wednesday was a blast:
I heard that Granite's brother was for sale and I was nosey, so I found him on DreamHorse. His ad described Granite to a T. Being the nosey kid I am, I emailed his owner explaining who I was and that I would love to hear about Guiness and maybe see pictures. He is 2 years older than Granite and has started over fences and began showing. Kristen sent me some photos and the similarity is striking. Check it out.

The similarity is incredible. Same eyes and nose!

BIG jump! Lets hope Granite takes to jumping too!

Before leaving work for the day I got some more good news. I was called for an interview for a great job about 40 minutes out of town. This is actually a position that I wouldn't mind retiring from. I interview on Tuesday (23rd) before heading home for the holidays. Everyone keep your fingers crossed. This would be an amazing professional opportunity and would come with a raise just big enough to ease some financial worries! I'm not getting my hopes  up too high, but its exciting. Time to dust off that resume!

Wednesday evening, I forfeited time with Granite, but for good cause. Blogger, Marissa, of Tucker the Wunderkid blog was in NC on business! She was about 1.5 hours from my house but happened to be staying in the same city where my bff Eva lives! So, I skipped out of work early and drove down to meet the ladies for dinner. Dinner turned in to 3.5 hours of horsey talk! This was the first time that we had met Marissa and it felt like we had all been friends for years! It was worth the drive and the 5:15am wake up call to get back to work on Thursday :)

Thursday brought good news to me! The folks at my apartment complex were bestowed with some sense (or realized that I was not paying for entire carpet replacement with out fight) and called to tell me that they "May have Found" some carpet that would match in order to allow them to only replace MY room! The carpet they may have found and associated installation will cost me $250.52. I like how exact that is considering the term "may" was used. Verbiage aside, this was an incredible relief and brightened my ENTIRE outlook on this moving experience! Quitting my part-time job a month before I am actually moving and realizing associated savings has been extremely difficult and scary, but knowing that I can afford the carpet replacement and it wont be some 4 digit amount is wonderful!

Friday was FABULOUS! It was my first friday night off in months! I think I counted 3 friday nights that I had previously had off since May! I rode Granite with my free time-- obviously! I was tacking him up and taking with Becky and Kansas and Becky mentioned how surprised she was that I hadn't tried him out over some cross-rails yet. In my mind, I want to have transitions smooth and quick and many more on-the-flat issues corrected before I even contemplated jumping. But, I have been going over trotting poles for some time now and I've noticed a drastic improvement in him not clipping them and being able to adjust his stride to clear them. I had a great evening ride alone in the arena and I thought "what the heck, lets set up an itty bitty cross-rail". So I put up two trotting poles and a very tiny crossrail. I steered Granite over it and he did the trotting poles then hesitated then walked over the "jump". The next go round he hesitated briefly then trotted over the "jump". The third time he wasn't very straight in our approach but he picked both front feet up and JUMPED the little crossrail! No hesitation, like he had been doing it his whole life! I was sooooo proud! I fist pumped the air! It was a great moment. If I could bottle that feeling for any time in the future when I thought it would be easier to sell him, it may not be worth it, or he wouldn't become the horse I hoped he would. Granite will be upgrading his resume to include "started over fences"!!!

Saturday was a blast as well. I got up early and went to ride. I brought TK and he took some photos for you. I felt like the ride was great, despite the photographic evidence displaying otherwise. Granite jumped 3 more times on Saturday. I was really proud. After the barn we got cleaned up and headed to the Wake Forest football game. My friend JB joined us! A great time was had by all (except for the Wake Football players who went home after quite a defeat).

Sunday was non-horsey but nice. It was TK's mom's birthday. So we spent all day eating and celebrating with a slight break to watch the Redskins pull out a close victory over the TN Titans. Go skins!

I'm heading home for the holidays tomorrow (after my interview). Tonight will be my last ride/Granite time until next Monday! Thank god for great barn owners who I can trust with my man while I'm away. I hope you all have a great holiday filled with family, food, fun and football. Until next week, enjoy some photos from last week and this week's rides :)

 Daphne and her brother

 Baby Cross-Rail

 Trot Poles!

 TK's first time on Granite... They both look confused!

Pretty boy!

A mixed bag.

Well.... This past week has been interesting. Good and bad.

TK and I went to our new apt. complex on Monday only to be treated poorly and to discover that the unit we wanted had been previously leased but it wasn't properly noted. We left disappointed and upset but after reevaluating decided that we would give them another shot (only meeting with the woman who originally showed us around).

I gave up a second day of riding on Tuesday to go back to the apt complex. It was a much more favorable experience and we applied and were accepted for a 768sq foot 3rd floor 1 bedroom apartment. We move in the day after Christmas (and the day before TK's birthday). We are thrilled!

I had Veteran's Day off. I slept in a bit before heading over to the barn for a farrier appointment. His "special fin" is looking good and the farrier seemed pleased. I rode him and he was great. He was very forward and responsive. I spent 4 hours at the farm cleaning tack, grazing my boy, riding and whatnot. We also have FOUR new horses at the barn. Reno left on Thursday :( and was replaced by 2 QHs, 1 Cremello Paint and an Appendix. Unfortunately with new horses come people and their children. I am not a fan. The barn is my quiet place. My happy quiet place where I want to be left alone to be with Granite, not make small talk and try to ignore children. Oh well, I guess 1.5 years of quiet was enough. Hopefully it won't be too much of an adjustment.

I worked at the Restaurant on Friday. I was supposed to be the last server off (of 5) and at 7PM on a Friday night the manager told me that the owner changed me to first off and that I could go home. At 7PM on a FRIDAY NIGHT! I made $30 and was pissed. I was scheduled to work this Wednesday as well, but they can forget about it. I gave a two weeks notice and tried to be the bigger person here, but clearly they had to have the last laugh. I'll gladly drop off my apron this week and tell them to forget Wednesday! Then on the way home Friday night, I ran over a bunny! I had wine as a result and TK brought home a dozen roses to make me feel better. He is such a knight.

Saturday was fantastic! My roommate was out of Town and so was TK. This left me with a whole day in my apartment to myself to do a big cleaning. I did a billion loads of laundry and cleaned and dusted and organized. It was great! I feel so peaceful when everything is tidy and I know my chores are caught up. I got in a run on Saturday then went out with two of my favorite girlfriends that night. It was a really productive and nice day all around.

Sunday morning was a lazy coffee morning with my friend Jordan who stayed the night. We chatted and relaxed until TK got home. Then TK and I headed to the barn and to run some errands. We spent the evening with his family and had another super-relaxing day! I was feeling so peaceful.

And then... today happened. Its Monday. I am busy. But, my mind is completely pre-occupied with drama. Scary and potentially expensive drama. As I may have mentioned. Daphne ate some carpet in my current bedroom. Its at most 3ftx2ft. Its by the door because she escaped from her kennel one day and because of her separation anxiety, she tried to escape. Thankfully she didn't damage the door. Anyhoo-- as I have signed a "roommate release" so that my roommate can take over our whole lease and I can be released to leave at the end of December. I also wanted to get the carpet damaged repaired and paid for so that everything would be cleanly separated for me to begin leasing at another location. I notified the office staff and they had their maintenance staff examine the damage. I received a follow-up email today alterting me that they "don't do partial replacements" and will have to replace the ENTIRE unit! They seem to expect me to pay for "furniture removal" (since my roommie is clearly staying there for at least another 6 months and has her furnishings in place) and for carpet (which they claim has 2.5 years remaining on it) and installation. This is completely asinine to me. How on earth is it logical to tell me that I have to replace an entire apartment with carpet when there was only damage done to one 1/2 of one room (because a seam separates 1/2 of the room from the damaged portion). Has anyone had experience with this? I told them that I was obligated to at most pay for replacement of the entire bedroom and associated installation fees but would not be willing to pay for anything else. I know they've probably protected themselves in the lease (which I need to dig up and review tonight). But I would rather pay an attorney to review this for me than to let them win. First because I can't afford to carpet an entire apartment (last time this happened it cost me $185, so I allocated $300 for this instance) and second because my principals tell me that they are trying to do what they had to do anyways on my dime and it is an injustice! And now I'm crying at work.... fabulous.

Sorry for the rant.

Sunshine and Gleefulness

Oh yes, you read it right. This Negative Nancy is turning things around! I have lots of good news and photos to show you.

Where to start?

How about I start with last week. I asked Kansas to begin riding Granite once a week. This is tough for me and I am nervous but it frees me up a little and insures that the big man gets more time under saddle. She is now riding on wednesdays and she rode for the first time last week. She said he was fairly good, so thats a start.

I only got two rides in last week myself but they were really good. Marissa is always right when she tells me just to keep going forward and working through issues without overthinking them. He has already improved in ducking below the bit. I just keep asking him to go forward and leaving his head alone and he seems to work out the issues independently. I am so proud of him, I just have to learn not to harp on the small stuff just yet. We are getting more canter transitions and more flexibility in lateral movement and tempo at the trot. I feel like Granite is figuring out where his hooves belong and how to user his big body and muscles.

I rode Saturday morning and was rudely reminded that winter is almost here! It was 41 degrees at 8:30am when I drug my lovely bf and puppy to the barn with me. Granite was great. TK played photog and I have lots of photos to share with you as a result! I love looking at them and comparing them to the photos taken in early summer. There is so much improvement! YAY!

Want to hear some of the best news? In less than two weeks I will have my choice of 4 weekday evening during which to ride my horse every week! Why is that??? Because on Friday, I gave my 2 weeks notice at the Restaurant! I am sooo thrilled. That place was slowly killing my spirit. I am moving soon which will save me quite a bit of money and I've made some contacts asking if anyone knows of someone needing barn sitting etc, but the solidifying factor in quitting now was that TK's mom's "cleaning lady" recently had surgery and is out for a few months. TK's mom has offered me $100 each day to clean her house two times a month. This was JUST enough to get me by at least until I move! I started on Saturday and although its a relatively awkward situation, me cleaning my bf's parent's house, it isnt waiting tables. I get to bring Daphne with me and I get cash for only 2 days of work a month! I get my week day evenings back and escape the stress of waiting tables! WAHOOOOOOOOO. I feel like a have a new lease on life now that I know the light at the end of that tunnel is quickly approaching!

Speaking of Leases.... TK and I spent all day Saturday searching for a new place to call home. By moving into a 1 bedroom apartment, he is getting out of his parent's house and I am saving money (enough to quit!) and gaining so much time to be with my horse! We found a great place that is close to Di-Aunts (where I drop the pup daily... so it will save me time and gas money too). Its inexpensive and safe and the floor plan is 780sq feet. We are going to turn our applications in after work TODAY! If everything goes as planned, we hope to have a moving date of January 1, 2011 :)

In other news, I had an interview last week. It was really promising although I haven't heard anything about a second interview yet. I also applied for a position with another municipality. I haven't heard from them yet, but I am hoping to secure an interview since I have a friend who knows the HR director. I still have many hurtles to conquer and money is still a big issue, but TK and I (and Granite and Daphne) seem to finally be moving in a positive direction. I am freeing myself up to be with my horse and save time and money and energy. If I get a new and more challenging and rewarding job, I will be on cloud 1,000 :)

Enjoy some Photos :) I enjoyed the ride during which they were taken.

(TK and the Coon Hound puppy that he wants and CANNOT keep...Daphne being jealous)

A testament to Granite's personality....

Grace and Baby Granite

Granite's Mother, Grace, is for sale. I have kept in relative contact with the owner/breeder from whom I bought Granite (who currently still have his dam). She emailed me this weekend asking if I would be willing to write her a short testimonial about Granite and his personality for her to use in Grace's sale ad. This is tough! I can go on and on about how great Granite is, but when I try to write a sentence or two to sum up his personality (that don't involve the words "dude" or "stoner"), I hit a road block. You all practically know my guy.... any suggestions??? And anyone want a rock solid Hannoverian Certified Broodmare?? Shes a peach and makes babies like Granite :)

The White Rabbit... Mad Hatter & Robin Hood

Ability is of little account without opportunity. ~Napoleon

Good Morning and Happy Friday Blog-land!

CAUTION...LONG POST!

I apologize for my long absence! I'm not even sure where to start my re-cap!
Lets start where we left off October 15th and on:

TK and I went on a fabulous trip to Grandfather Mountain, NC on Saturday the 16th and hiked with Daphne for the day then stopped to get fresh apple cider and a pumpkin on the way back home! It was a great great day!

I got to ride 4 times the week of October 17th! It was fabulous.
Eva came out on Sunday and we went for a long run and talked about things such as marriage, families, benefits packages and where our decisions with our horses have fit into it all. Merely years ago, our discussions centered more on graduate programs and how we hated that we couldn't go out as much. Growing up kind of sucks... actually, it really sucks! Taylor Swift was right when she said "stay little"...anyway, off topic.

After our run, Eva and I went riding. Reno did pretty well and so did Granite. We switched horses and that was also a lot of fun. Its so nice to see Granite move under someone else (and a talented rider at that!). Eva was really impressed with Granite and that made me feel like a million dollars (and maybe like its all worth it in the end).

I fed horses for Becky Monday and Tuesday of last week. I love it because she reduces my board and I get to see Granite before and after work! I also managed to squeeze out the last few minutes of daylight on those days for some easy rides. Granite was very forward. I think this was due to the crisp air and the newly constructed baseball fields on the other side of the pasture. I took him for a hack through the pasture and he spooked his brains out. This energy came straight to the arena and he sped around like a demon! But... we worked through it and by the end of both rides, I had a sane and very forward horse! I am so unfamiliar with a spooky or forward Granite.

Because I am greedy and my Thursday Night Work Meeting was Parks & Recreation (and I feel that I should be able to wear jeans and be dirty for a RECREATION meeting), I took the opportunity to recreate after my work day and before my night meeting by riding my pony. He was really sticky in the canter and I was frustrated, but worked through our problems by cutting across the ring and asking for the canter on a bend instead of on the rail. It worked and I felt satisfied on our accomplishment for the day. Its the little things at this point :)

I worked on Friday night (as per usual...HATE this). And on Saturday morning, TK and I headed home to the Outer Banks to visit my folks!!! We took Monday off and spent 3 days at home. I hadn't been home since July and missed it terribly. I got my hair cut by my favorite hairdresser, I had my mom's lasagna, did some serious thrift shopping, had brunch with my high school friend/ college roommate, watched the Redskins win with TK and my Daddy (my hero!), went running down the old dirt road that leads back to my house, had lunch at my favorite Mexican place/ high school hang out, visited my mom's coworkers, got a Halloween costume, then had some of the best sweet tea in the world on the way back here. The ride back is 1,000 times easier with TK and Daphne. I love them both so much and its like my heart is home even when my body isn't. The only thing that would have made for a better weekend would have been if Eva could have come too (I tired to convince her... but she couldn't).

This week was short but has felt so long! I only got to see Granite on Tuesday and didn't get to ride him because I had too much to do at home to catch up. I haven't ridden at all this week! This leads me to strongly consider letting Kansas (see last post) ride him. She offered to hop on him and hack him at a walk and trot for me... I know he needs consistency. I am scared to lessen the bond/communication that he and I have finally developed, but I don't want to do him a dis-justice by not riding enough and with all my work hours, its barely possible to ride more than 3 days a week. What do you think? Ask her to ride him a day or two a week? Or keep trying to make it work for a few more months so that we can continue to develop our under-saddle relationship?

Wednesday was a bad day. TK got into a car accident. A hit-and-run. He is OK, thank god! But his airbags went off (bruising him up) and his car remains in the shop. He called me at 4pm (my office closes at 4:30) and I was the only one in the office and it was monsooning outside! I locked the office and left! It was the scariest drive of my life (30min) because my tires are about 6 months overdue to be changed. They are seriously bald and after SKATING the whole way to get TK, I have made the executive decision to borrow the money to have them changed on Saturday! But I rescued my poor bf, thanked the stars for his safety then upon his request, dropped him off at football practice to coach his JVs...sigh. He has such dedication to those guys. I love him! I had to call in to the restaurant so this gave me 2 hours to hang out with Di-aunt. Watch the Barbaro documentary and eat some Mexican food (my fave, if you haven't noticed).

Then there was yesterday. My work meeting didn't end until 9:30PM but despite the hectic-ness of work (Early Voting at Town Hall....argh!), I had a great day. Why  you ask? Because I got a call for a job interview!!! As a Marketing Specialist for the corporate offices of Goodwill Industries! I'm in love with the job description and it would keep me in Greensboro, but there is no listed salary... so who knows if anything will come of this interview, but its a possibility and an opportunity and I am thrilled! I also heard that a great great job is opening in a nearby city (I could commute) and a friend of mine is in good with the HR director (hopefully getting me an initial interview).

And on more job news... you know I desperately hate my part time job. So, I put some Craig's List ads out and made some phone calls to horsie friends... basically whoring myself out as barn help. I don't need to earn much a week to close the gap (I'm good at being thrifty and am looking at some serious $ saving changes...in a few paragraphs) and I know I will be so much more happy at a farm, getting exercise, making some extra dough and expanding my horse contact network! I have gotten 1 response asking me to come out next week (I plan to take TK or a friend for safety purposes). IF I can secure feeding/cleaning at a barn 2-3 nights a week, I can quit my devil job. Cross your fingers for meee!

And in MORE big news. TK and I have decided to move in together. Yes... 6 months is early. But ALL of our friends and family are super supportive. He is currently living at his family's house and its straining their relationship (grown son living at home...yeah, notsomuch) and I am paying a lot for my 1/2 of my apartment! TK and I stay together most nights and do a lot of commuting between our two places (his in the neighboring city---25min). If we share a 1 bedroom or an inexpensive 2 bedroom in a more central location to our jobs (and Di-Aunts where I take Daphne for Daycare every day), I will be saving over $150 a month and be really happy in a home of our own (not sharing with parents or roommates and worrying about disturbing people and letting them know if we are coming home or not etc....). We've been researching for about a month and I have created a fabulous spreeadsheet (very similar to that of you folks picking new barns) of possibilities. TK has a day off of work today and is actually going to check out about 5 places. I am so excited that this could be happening soon! I could be moving in a month! It may be initially expensive, but its going to save me in the long run and save me so much time, gas money, and hassle in coordination! And, I'll get to make a home with Tk and Daphne!

So... thats whats been up in my life. Sorry for all the sparatic, long, recap posts! This weekend will be in Charlotte with Eva and Tk and HIS best friend! YAY! I'm going to be the white rabbit and TK will be the mad hatter! I'm going to squeeze in a ride Saturday morning early! I miss my big grey guy... a lot!

Happy Weekend Ya'll!

This week in the saddle...

Well, as I told you, I spent Monday (usually a riding day) sick in bed/the bathroom floor, but apparently the world doesn't completely hate me because I was rewarded by a meeting cancellation which resulted in a riding day on Wednesday (usually a work night). So, I still managed to get 2 weekday rides in this week despite the minor setback on Monday (isn't that sad? That I get excited by getting in two rides....ugh!).

Tuesday was your average ride. Granite wasn't fabulous, but he wasn't nasty. Becky was teaching a lesson in the arena and while she says I can ride wherever I want, I try to be courteous and stay out of the way. I also feel a little self-conscious when she is in the ring because she trained Granite and gets much better results from him than I do. So, I didn't push the issue of the canter but I did manage to get one solid transition (not a run-into-it canter, but a transition).

Granite has developed a new vice, now instead of simply grabbing the bit, jacking his head up to the sky, and hollowing out through the back, he curls his neck and dips behind the bit! I hate this habit even more than the second because short of popping him in this mouth, I don't know how to remedy the situation. He seems to do it most when I drive him forward through my seat and legs and try to get more action from the back. Any suggestions out there in blog land? Books I can read on the issue of bit avoidance? I really have tried to leave his head alone and not ask for collection but focus on going forward, but now when I drive for that forward motion I am met with the neck curl/bit evade!

Aside from our episodes of "how can i avoid this thing in my mouth", Granite was pretty solid during Wednesday's ride. He is doing well with his trot transitions and I (fairly easily) got a few canter transitions out of him. I also got to ride with a new boarder. I generally don't like others, but she seems pretty dag on cool (the binder twine currently holding her spurs on make me give her my nod of approval-- that is SO something I have done!). Anyway, she is a freshman at my alma-mater (also, cool points) and she hails from Kansas. She has a little Morgan and they Event. The Morgan's name is Al and he is cool as hell. He will do lead changes on the straight-away every two strides. He collects, he bends, he will jump anything like a pro. I am in love with the little fella. To my pleasure, 'Kansas' offered me a go on him on Wednesday after we both finished our own rides! I happily accepted and even traded her mounts (She is only the 4th person ever to even sit on Granite's back).

This was so much fun for a few reasons. A) I got to ride the coolest little guy ever. B) I got to see my horse go under english tack for the first time. C) I got to feel some MAJOR differences between our horses (mainly that my horse has a gigantic stride and major potential) and D) Much of my issues with Granite are probably my fault.

I felt like I was riding a pony and we were going in slow-mo because Al is so small and I am used to such a gangly dude. I also noticed that HE (well seasoned super star Al) hesitated for a canter transition, indicating that I am off balance or really not asking in the most efficient manner. I felt myself go off balance a few times as well (I can never tell on Granite because he is so wobbly-- you know riding a green-bean like him is not unlike working one of those joined snake toys that never go all in one direction at one time). I really wish I could afford some lessons even on other horses, because I need to address these issues I noticed. But at least I am aware of them and can be mindful of them during my rides.

Al was a champ for me and I even popped over a little fence for the first time in decades. Thank god he is pretty "point and click" because I sure didn't help him out any.

Big Al doing his thing with Kansas

They Rock!

It was also great to see that despite the constant bit evasion going on, Granite looked like a rockstar under saddle. I have only seen Becky ride him (western, draw reins, training rides) and it was a world of difference to see him under english tack with a great little rider on top. It gave me a glimpse of how AWESOME our future can be if I ever get the time to properly devote to him.

Ok, Time to go BACK to work (I neeeeed new jobs!).