Happy Anniversary!

Two years ago today, I was driving up to Salt Point, NY to pick up a big, green 3 year old filly. Two years ago today, this whole adventure got under way. There has been laughter and tears, disciplinary issues and flashes of brilliance. But most importantly, there has been bonding. I wasn't always sure I liked Dee, but I guess I always knew that I loved her, and now all I want for her is a cushy life. I'm not sure I have big goals anymore. Maybe that will change once I'm settled after school and can get back into riding more full time, but I would probably be happy with focusing on dressage and doing little jump schools occasionally, with lots of hacking thrown in for good measure. I'm not sure I care if her and I never make big splash on the show scene, or win lots of ribbons. I want to hang out with my mare and enjoy her. I want her to be happy and healthy until the end of her days. I've grown to seriously love my big brown beasty. Just a quick look back... here is the progression of Miss Dee over the past two years:

December 17, 2009: Dee comes home on a FREEZING day. I find out that she HATES things on her hind legs, including shipping boots and leg straps. She meets some new friends and is pretty relaxed about the whole "new person, new barn, new everything" situation.

January 2010: Dee and I work on strengthening, and I find out that Mare has a SERIOUS buck in her. The ring is usually frozen, so we can't do too much.

February 2010: Dee learns how to share a ring with other horses at Nancy's. She pretty much takes it all in stride. We have a natural horsemanship lesson. She kicks at the stick a lot, but ends up relaxing a little about it. I pull Dee's shoes off for the remainder of winter, since she finally had enough foot to be comfortable without shoes. My trailer gets snowed in and we're basically stuck doing a whole lot of not much in the snowy ring.

March 2010: Dee could care less about horses coming and going from the ring at Nancy's. She then starts dropping weight and goes on a powerpac for worms. She also gets a much-needed face shave...

April 2010: I discover that my pony has tons and tons of gray hair. She gets her first bath because she is a filthy mess and is pretty well-behaved for it. We do some free jumping and she is ridiculously adorable about it... super relaxed but SUPER awkward. Dee learns how much fun a stretchy trot can be. The first signs of crazy hormonal behavior surface as she begins to lean all over the curry comb towards the end of the month.

May 2010: Dee's canter starts coming along a little. She got her teeth done, and we had a couple of nice rides. At the end of the month, we have what I now know was a hormone surge. Grouchy, awful behavior under saddle and on the ground. Tense and angry, peeing everywhere. BAD BAD BABY. But then we jumped some at Nancy's and she was out of this world fantastic. I was apparently a bad mother and didn't take pictures that month.

June 2010: Dee starts the month off by being absolutely amazing. She is jumping and being brilliant. Towards the end of the month, we hit an even harder cycle and she is a monster. We go on her first ever trail ride and she is very well behaved, taking everything in stride, but she pretty much refuses to be good about anything else under saddle. She is stiff, grouchy and all around horrible.

July 2010: A bad month. Dee is a little lymey so I stick her on Doxy. She spends most of the month being a total wench.

August 2010: She has a decent month! But then again, I am also on vacation at the end of the month, so I miss the heat cycle. No pictures.

September 2010: My trailer breaks down. Sigh. With no way to get her off the property, we don't have a very good month. She is a herdbound cow, and a hormonal mess.

October 2010: I had pretty much just thrown my hands in the air about her. I was super busy getting ready for LSATS and didn't really have the time or energy to fight with her, so we did a lot of lunge work instead. Still no trailer.

November 2010: She's pretty bad. Nikki comes up to sit on her, because I'm convinced it's just me. It's not. She is mare-ish and angry ALL the time. I make arrangements for her to go to the cowboys and get some lessons in life as a riding horse.

December 2010: Dee moves to Southbury for training. I throw my back out somewhere around Christmas.

January 2011: Dee is doing pretty well in her cowboy training program.

February 2011: I bring Dee to Windhorse. I am basically a cripple with my back, so we do lots of groundwork. The weather is horrific. B helps us on the ground, and manners are dealt with.

March 2011: Dee moves to Steph's for jump lessons and for me to recoup. Steph hates her at first.

April 2011: I visit Dee at Steph's. Steph still doesn't really like her. I have my back surgery.

May 2011: Regumate! And with that, suddenly steph really likes Dee because she's no longer an angry ball of hormones! Dee also comes back to CT! We move to an awesome barn in Woodbury and Dee takes great care of her recovering mommy.

June 2011: The weather is hot hot hot, but Dee is an ANGEL. I work hard on her canter and she takes care of me over jumps.

July 2011: Dee is being wonderful, but it's almost time for me to leave for TN and I am sad. We look for a place for her to stay while I am gone. We find L and H through B, and Dee is set to move on the last day of the month.

August - December 2011: I am in TN, Dee is in NY. We are both doing well. I get to see her in 3 days and I CANNOT WAIT!