We're famous!! Well, maybe just a little...

Big, huge, massive thanks to the Copper Gazette online-

I was asked to write up a small piece for their online news site. Copperopolis (yes, that's a real town!), is one of the many towns in the Sierra foothills of California- and their news site has lots of local community info, with fun little stories thrown in.
And I'm in it today!! Wooooooo!!!!

I wrote a completely stand alone piece for them, since I felt like I'd be cheating if I used a blog post. So I figured I'd sum up the past 8 months of horse ownership in an open letter to Altivo. Not that he cares, but if you do, here's the link to my article.. 

BigGreenGirl goes Editorial!

Also, last weekend, I went on another trail ride on the OtherHorse. We had a trail ride scheduled for a big group, but the ick is going around, and our rig driver came down sick the morning we were supposed to go. So no ride on the dirty marshmallow horse...which was sad for me, since the trails are really calling to me, and there really is a difference in being on your horse as opposed to someone else's. He knows my signals, I know his body language, and there's just a little more communication there that you and an occasional loaner horse just don't have.


Now, don't take this the wrong way, since Tanna is a great horse- she's very forgiving of a green rider, has a big heart, is very personable, and has a smooth trot and canter...we'll come back to that in a bit.

It's very different grooming and tacking up an OtherHorse, especially this one- she's a Quarter Horse, and I'm used to a Percheron, and that's just one tiny (ok, BIG) difference. Well, their butts are probably the same size.
Oh! So the canter....well, there we were, Tanna and I following HorseFriend and her horse, Freeman. (Kudos to anyone who can guess what breed he is!)

HF says she wants to trot up a hill, and knowing Tanna will follow her, she made sure I was comfortable with it. Trotting isn't scary, so I agreed, and off we went. In her effort to keep up, Tanna switched to a canter, and whoosh, we were flying!! For about 2 seconds, then I slowed her down, scared out of my wits!! Ok, maybe not that bad, but wow, that was a shocker!
HF heard hoofbeats behind her, slowed her horse to turn and look at us, and off flew her sunglasses, inches from the horse's hoof! She hopped off to grab them, and we realized that we were standing in an open field, no rocks or high points in sight...and we ride her horses with nothing but bareback pads. Silly, silly trail riders.

But wait! We put our two horses together, I flexed my foot, and she stepped up, using it as a mounting block. Ta Da!!! One rider up, thank you very much!

So, all in all, it was a good time, and hopefully in a few weeks, I'll be able to take Altivo up and we can go trail crazy!

Until next time!

Cheating again!

Dear Altivo:

I know, I cheated on you again. But I NEVER said I wouldn't! And besides, you probably don't care anyway. Although on our last ride, you had more energy than I've ever seen, almost more than I care to have in a horse, and it was certainly fun to turn you out into the arena and watch you buck and fart your way to a gallop, which you held for 3 laps around!!!
But still, the opportunity to ride trails was too enticing for me, even if you couldn't be there with me.
You've never met Tanna, but she is a little like you. She's friendly and calm, and has a big butt. She's a quarter horse though, so she's way smaller. The ground isn't so far away when I'm sitting on her.
I took a mean face picture, channeling my inner jockey, pretending I'm astride Zenyatta at the finish line- so you can see how much fun we had.  I promise I'll bring you another of my leftover candy canes to make up for this.
I'll be back to inconvenience your life soon, Big Lug!

Love, BGG

In Altivo Update World-

I have one of the barn girls ride him about once a week to keep him focused and make him work harder than I ride him, since I'm so green we don't exactly gallop about the countryside if you know what I mean..  ;)
Well, she reported that he had tons of energy on their last ride, and when I hopped aboard on Friday, he just couldn't stand still!! I never lunge him before we ride since he's so laid back as it is, so I just mounted and started poking around, and he was just amped! I gave him just a little bit of leg and a "let's go" and he started walking in high gear...so I asked for a bit more, and poof! The fastest trot he's ever given me, so fast that posting got difficult, so I sat for it....and I let him go until I felt him start to slow, so I pulled him down into a walk. But wow!! Then after our ride, I put him into the arena so we could do a little groundwork, and he charged around 3 times, so I told him to head the other way, which he did for 2 more laps!!! A thundering Percheron is an awe filled sight indeed!
The only change I can think of is that we've been doing our horsie yoga and he just had bodywork done last weekend.
What a difference! I'm going to visit him tonight or tomorrow night, so I'll see how his energy level is at that point. Ya know, when your horse is healthy, life is GOOD!