My sister and I have been in love with horses since we were very young. When we were 5 and 6 (she is 11 months older) my mom put us in dance lessons. On the way to the dance studio was a barn. I think I could have cared less about dancing (sorry mom) and we would beg for horseback riding lessons every time we drove by. After a couple of years she finally gave up and let us take summer riding lessons. We did this for the next 2-3 summers.
After that we found a stable out in Draper, UT that leased out horses. At the age of 11 and 12 my sister and I ran a pretty full babysitting business. Our $2-3/hr was saved to lease horses by the month over the summer. We then started saving for our own horses and both paid for and purchased our basically unbroke horses that we went on to "train" ourselves. The babysitting business eventually faded and became full time (when not in school) horsey jobs! We mucked stalls, fed horses, guided trail rides and taught lessons.
I purchased my mustang Kira in 1991 when I was 12 years old and she was 3 years old turning 4 in the spring. At the time she was barely halter broke and had had a saddle on one time. She lived on a 5 acre pasture. I spent the winter trying to pare down the time it took to catch her. At that time it was about 3 hours! We went on to do all of the "normal" horse things but she still was quite difficult in some aspects. She would not trailer load without a concerted effort (several people and a few hours), didn't like to be dewormed and would rear and also did a lot of pulling back when tied. Fast forward several years to 2002.
I started the Parelli part of my horse journey 6 years ago in late March/April of 2002 when my sister told me I was going with her to a Parelli Tour Stop in Ogden, Utah. I didn't really want to go at that time because I had just had my first son (hence the savvy mom - I have 2 young boys ages 6 and 3 years that I am a full time stay at home mom to) less than a month prior. My husband bless his heart didn't want the little guy all that time by himself (I was pumping/breasfeeding) so off we went with my baby, my breast pump and my sister from Salt Lake to Ogden for this event.
Like many people say, it was completely mesmerizing. I had known that I wanted to do what they could do, but I had never seen so many people, and students able to do such amazing things. They were riding bridleless, bareback, playing with horses on the ground at liberty, which meant there was no physical connection between the horse and human. Just a connection stronger than any rope!
I was hooked. Shortly after this my husband got a job offer in Colorado. He moved there and I stayed behind to sell the house. Well 2 months later in July 2002 they laid him off. So we moved in with my parents since we still had to get rid of the house and as soon as he got a job I started saving. I saved for a year or so. (at the time I was working as a part-time accounting clerk and some other temp jobs). I bought the Mega-Pack from Parelli which at the time included levels 1-3, 2 carrot sticks, halter and lead, 22ft rope, 45 ft rope, hackamore and snaffle bridle. I set off to learn Parelli!
By March of 2003 we had purchased a house in Riverton, UT that had a 1/2 acre of horse property. It was perfect! I could feed my horse, play in my backyard! It didn't get much better than that! That same year my horse had an accident while tied to a stall door where she flew back and ended up breaking her right hip. I was supposed to give her a year to a year and a half off to see how it healed. This was also the first year I did a clinic with my sister in Heber, Utah. We went to this clinic and I had only played games 1-3 (friendly, porcupine, and driving). It was all so new! I learned so much and was even more in love with the program.
In Sept 2004 I gave birth to our second son. I had been filming my level 1 to send in for assessment, but didn't get it done in time! So I ended up assessing and passing my level 1 with Kira the next spring in May 2005.
In September 2005 we moved again for my husbands work. This time we landed in Champaign, Illinois. I was lucky enough through the savvy club locator to find Jody, a fellow PNH student who also ran a boarding barn 45 minutes from where we would be living. So Kira made the trip halfway across the country to Illinois.
While in Illinois Kira and I moved on to level two. Rewind to her accident for a minute. I gave her a long time off, used laser therapy on her leg along with frequent massages. Kira still had a 1.5 grade permanent lameness in her right hind. Add this to 1999 foundering (from a college intership at a dude ranch in Colorado where they fed WAY too much grain) and again in the spring of 2002 when I had my baby and she wasn't in the greatest of physical shape. She had had corrective shoes for about 1.5 years and was very sound in her front end. But her hind end still bothered her and I knew she would never be able to jump or do stressful physical activities. I was doing at least 2 PNH clinics a year while in IL and I could tell that she was in pain, especially after the clinics. I was feeling really bad about what I was asking of her physically.
Back in Utah my sister had the PERFECT family that wanted Kira. I debated about this for almost a year! Finally I made the decision to send her to this family that would take EXCELLENT care of her forever. So in March 2007 Kira travelled back to Utah once again.
That left me HORSELESS for the first time since I had gotten into horses! Technically yes, but not quite. Enter Duck, at the time coming 5 year old Appaloosa (who doesn't have any spots) that Jody owned. I had previously played some with her at Jody's place. You see, Jody also has 2 boys to raise along with keeping up on a boarding barn, her corn farm and her other main riding horses! She is crazy busy so Duck hadn't had a lot of work for her age. At least it was the right kind of work! So Jody decided to let me lease Duck which I did from March until August 2007.
And then the unexpected (I guess I should have expected it by now) we were moving AGAIN! This time to North Carolina. In a frenzy of the month of August we found an apartment in a day and a half trip, I missed my yearly Carol Coppinger clinic, we went on Vacation to Utah (had prepurchased tickets to go home), and then MOVED to North Carolina just in time to start my oldest son Christian into Kindergarten!
But Duck was still in Illinois and now I had to find a barn for her in North Carolina. So I started looking but there would be no "savvy" barn for me this time. I moved Duck here in November. I wasn't happy at my first barn so I just moved her at the first of May. This barn is much better.
Kira and I had been 2 tasks away from assessing level 2. I knew I would be starting over again with Duck. She is young, and green but the exact opposite of Kira. And so after 5 years in PNH you can probably see why I am still not done with level 2, and probably won't be for awhile. But is has been said, it's not about the destination, it is about the journey. Well, I have had an interesting life and horse journey so far. Not all of it good, and at times very frustrating with all the moves etc. But the important part is that I am still plugging along. Slowly, but surely....
So this is where my savvy blog begins...
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