The latest news with Stella! (:

Well, first of all I'm going to say that Stella is indeed pregnant! She has such an attitude at times. It's so funny when she 'back talks' me. Her mouth snarls, and she glares at me, but I know she won't do anything. Today was a good day, and I took some pictures of her belly, and the photogenic attitude she had today.

I wanted to give Stella a break today, so I put a bare back pad on for 'bare-back-butt' purposes only.(: I haven't been actually jumping with Stell a whole lot due to the chill and the occasional mud. I normally just excersise her in the arena, but today I wanted to have a stroll in the field. That is exactly what we did. While I was riding, I was taking pictures of anything and everything.

The first picture I took (along with multiple others that match) was of Stella's head from her back. Don't get me wrong, I have ALOT of these now after today. :D This one is my favorite, because you can see the soft look in her eye along with seeing her ear position. This picture makes her look like she has a double mane, but she really doesn't. Some of her mane flips to the opposite side. I can't get it to stay all on one side.

When I rode her to the peak of our hill, I took a picture of the house, arena, barn, the horses, the fields, and the arena. Our arena almost hid everything! Somhow, that picture didn't make it on to the computer.

The past several months I have been traing Stella to jump. This is required to do English Equitation, on a "postage stamp". We normally ride Western, so when Josalynn, my sister, first started jumping her Thoroughbred gelding, Patroit, Dean said the saddle was like a "postage stamp" or "air - mail stamp". "Postage stamp" is what stuck, so now it's what we call the English saddle. I was really afraid when I first started riding the style. The first several weeks I didn't do anything but walk and trot. My mom told me if I didn't canter her, she'd loose her ability to move any faster. I knew it wouldn't happen, but I pulled up the nerve to canter in the "postage stamp". Cantering in English wasn't any different than the Western saddle. Posting really built up the strength in my legs. When Stella and I went to our first show, the judges and the other riders all complimaented that I was well balanced and had a great form over her back. All because of the hours I spent Posting.

Sometimes Josalynn and I would go out to the field, climb up on our horses with just lead ropes, and have a little ride. I was never brave enough to canter with Josalynn bare-back so I just trotted with her. Today, when Josalynn took off cantering, Stella went with her, trotting. I realized she'd become used to only having to trot when we were bare-back. I pulled up the nerve to tell her to canter. The first step, I was squeezing really tight around her belly, so she went faster. I wasn't bouncing, but I was terrified. I made myself relax, and cantering was a breeze! I slowed Stella down to a trot, then to a walk so I wouoldn't wear her out. I cantered around the arena several times, I have never had so much fun bare-back before!

Another thing Stella and I have accomplished is, cart training. I have been trying for a while to train her to cart. She didn't like the cart behind her. She ground drives, and will do anything you ask her to around the cart. She didn't care about the noise, but she would not hook up to the cart and pull. I continued to work with her ground training. We sort of gave up trying to hook her up. We drug poles on the ground to substitute the cart. Here recently, we tried again. I ground drove her for an hour, drug the poles, pulled the cart around her, then hooked her up. I took off the reins, and just led her by the bridle (with a rope). She was a little nervous, but she pulled the cart!!! We worked with her everyday and now I can get in the cart behind her! I never even dreamed she'd let us train her. She did! I am SO happy, and proud. I don't know what changed the attitude towards the cart. Either way, I am happy to be able to get pulled around in a sled this year, by Stella!

The last post I did, was about the Myhio Have Horse Show, and I couldn't get any pictures on it. The computer is loading good, so I am going to post those on here too.