Our trail to happiness !

Our trail to happiness !

Monday, August 31, 2015

Kizz and I .... to be continued ???

Do I continue with our blog , our Trail to happiness ?? because I am sure we have made it here!!!
I feel so confident and happy with Kizz and doing this with him has done more for my self confidence and pride in myself than anything else ever has. I have gained new friends, strength, health, pride in myself, a closer relationship with 2 of my kids even!  I can't ask for anything more.




In August alone, I have galloped with the reins ahead on his neck down a trail neither of us had ever seen before, knowing he would take care of us!! and Crossed mud and ditches we had never seen before, him knowing I wouldn't ask him to go where he couldn't safely go...

I 've rode out alone with my 6 yr old on her mini mare, with him -his FIRST time on trail in a S hack at that!!

I've done some trails with him prancing along behind both of my kids riding in front of us, and knew he would chill and behave or at least that he wouldn't endanger them!






I've galloped along with my friend on her OTTB giving it our all!! and long trotted ahead of them even keeping pace without breaking into a canter.. I Love this horse and we are both very HAPPY!


I have trusted him to take my son out and show him the ropes of endurance and taking care of ourselves.. something I thought Kizz would NEVER do! 





and... we have even Trailered out to new trails, and went into a big lake.... and splashed!! <3







But yes I'll continue to blog.. because some day I might need to look back on all our adventures and see how far we have come.. and maybe , just maybe encourage someone else to do the same!!



                                      I have A LOT more riding to do with these 2!!!! <3



August, our first ACTRA ride of the year!

    Kizz & I have been doing very short and somewhat slow rides with my son Alex & his new mare Raine, and not much for conditioning in July, since we are only planning to do JP's with him and we have been super busy working on our new barn at home most evenings and weekends. Well just a few days before our first 15 mile JP of the year "Mcdonalds run JP" , Alex's mare comes up lame with a HUGE abscess :(

     Luckily she heals up fine, but we can not take her to any rides, So I have to decide if I want to still go. I realize I have the trailer borrowed, hubby is taking the weekend off to go ,we have already bought alot of the things we need to camp out with the horses the first time ever on our own.. So we go!! We take my daughter and her Mini mare Dream. The ride Manager says it's completely fine for Ava lee & Dream to pull at half way and only do half. So we plan for that! (7 ish miles is still a fair amount for my daughter's little mare.


     We arrive at camp and set up! So nervous!!! our first time doing this without a long time endurance rider taking charge!! We set up and the horses seem great! they settle in perfectly!! How nice! We pitch our tent and settle in as well :) Lucky a nice ACTRA member lends us her fence charger as I don't have one and I'm so worried it being our first ride that one of ours might decide to test the fence! It is Dream's First trip from home too! totally new to her!





    Not long after when we get settled in, we learn from some of Saturdays riders , that there isn't a LOT of mud, but the mud there is, is fairly deep. We decide it would probably make the 7 mile ride too much for Dream's little legs!! So She stays back at camp. I have a lady that says she doesn't mind me riding out with her!! So we tack up and get ready to go! I have a very nervous stomach!! This will be Kizz's first time going somewhere new and riding out with horses he doesn't know!!! WILL he be a nut and spin and scream, will he get racy and not listen... I have NO idea how he is going to handle this!!


Time comes for us to Mount up.. I go up 2nd to last (just ahead of the lady I am riding out with Jody and her young mare Georgia)  Kizz is yelling back and forth to Dream.. I totally wasn't thinking about how he would not only be riding out with horses he doesn't know, but leaving his buddy at camp!!! WOW so glad I didn't have time to worry over that one until the time came. He wasn't HALF as bad as he had been other years being away from his buddy or whom he trailered with.. He circled the mounting block a few times and yelled some. But certainly not spazzing like he would have at another ride! Finally he started to stand and a nice pat from the judge gave me enough time to actually mount up!! woot woot!!! He wouldn't stand and was antsy but he was still VERY manageable!!


We ride out !! and he goes off to the trails like a boss!! As much as he didn't want to leave Dream, HE LOVES endurance!!!

off we go , down the pave to the trails! 



we lead most of the trail, Kizz is SUPERB! couldn't ask for a better guy!! He's super well behaved ! We even do a nice little hand gallop down a cute twisty trail that he's never been on before, you can tell he just LOVES it!!! 

 A cute picture of Kizz and I on trail taken by Jodi ! Look at the loose rein !! What a guy!! so proud of him! He did SO well, It totally has given me the confidence to take him to a ride and ride out alone sometime!!  but hoping my son is going along with me for most of them from now on!!! 


What a great ride, great meal, great time camping! lots of nice members came and chatted with us! An all around great time with My hubby, oldest son and daughter. Wish my middle son had come too , but he's not much for horses OR camping out! haha but we missed him!