See ya, 2014.

1. What did you do in 2014 that you'd never done before? 
Left the country, took Shadow off the property for a trail ride at the horse park, started school for dialysis


2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? 
I don't make them because i never keep them :) 


3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Jessianne to my godson Nikko, and Sharlyne to handsome DJ

4. Did anyone close to you die? 
A very dear, close family friends passed tragically and too soon.



5. What countries did you visit? 
MEXICO!!

6. What would you like to have in 2015 that you lacked in 2014? 
a career


7. What date from 2014 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
June 28th, the day Nikko was born, such an emotional day!  

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? 
Keeping Shadow sound!

9. What was your biggest failure? 
Buying a new saddle, my dream saddle that I had to sell. Remind me never to do that again. -_-

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
i had shingles at the ripe age of 25. only me. 



11. What was the best thing you bought? 
hmmm, i don't think i bought anything that great, since will bought my saddle.. 



12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My Dad's. He did a complete 180 and I thank god everyday for helping him and keeping him on the straight and narrow. 

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? 
Family. Family. Family.

14. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? 
of course, but we don't need to go there, it's a long list. 


15. Where did most of your money go? 
In shadow's stomach and on his body. 


16. What did you get really, really, really excited about? 
Going to Mexico and taking Shadow to the Turkey Trot in November.

17. What song will always remind you of 2014? 
Oddly enough, "Turn Down for What" lol 

18. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Happier
ii. thinner or fatter? Fatter
iii. richer or poorer? Richer, a little.

19. What do you wish you'd done more of? 
Riding and spent time with my nephew 

20. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Spending money 


21. How will you be spending Christmas? 
With mine and Will's families.


22. Did you fall in love in 2014?
I fell in love in 2009 and fall more in love everyday :) 

23. Did your heart break in 2014? 
I'm sure it did, but it couldn't of been anything too serious because I cant remember.

24. How many one-night stands?
none, duh. 


25. What was your favorite TV program? 
Sons of Anarchy


26. Where were you when 2014 began? 
in my bed sleeping I believe.. lol 

27. Who were you with? 
William and I don't think i made it to midnight but his sister and her fiance and their dad were with us too, at some point.

28. Where will you be when 2014 ends? 
no plans as of yet, probably home!

29. Who will you be with when 2015 starts?
William

30. What was the best book you read?
I don't have any time to read and it is really hard for me to find a book that keeps me interested.

31. What was your greatest musical discovery? 
remembering how much i love country music and how much everything else annoys me. lol


32. What did you want and get?
a new saddle

33. What did you want and not get?
new boots, not yet anyway

34. What was your favorite film of this year?
i don't think i really saw anything that i thought was really great.


35. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
my actual birthday was a Sunday and I worked and then spent the day out with Will. The night before we went out with friends for dinner, I turned 25 #overthehill


36. How many different states did you travel to in 2014?
i stayed in NJ until we left the country for the first time ever in October.


37. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2014?
I only get dressed on the weekends, haha


38. What kept you sane?
William 


39. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Charlie Hunnam


40. Whom did you miss?
Will. I know, i know, we live together but we work all day and then I go to school all night and we are so busy playing catch up on the weekends that we hardly have time to do anything together.


41. How many concerts did you see in 2014?
None


42. Who were the best new people you met?
Kris and Greer


43. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2014:
Planning ahead NEVER works out.


44. What are your plans for 2015?
Nothing planned, besides moving Shadow to a new barn on January 1st, hopefully taking a giant leap in completing his training and not having to think so hard anymore. Finishing school in June and hopefully starting my career full time.  A house, maybe? who knows! I'll just continue to fly by the seat of my pants for now. lol

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy new year :)

Moving on

Since spring arrived the thought of winter was weighing heavy on my mind. Now that it's here, I cannot afford to allow Shadow to sit and do nothing all winter long again. It was such a set back, he needs to be in a consistent work schedule.

I finally decided to start looking at new places to board. This is something i never in a million years thought i would do. The thought of taking Shadow out of Bonni's care scares the life out of me. I know i never have to worry or if we need something it will always be taken are of without a second thought, but I just don't know what else to do. The winters are horrible and i just cannot ride outside in the winter in the place we are now. 

I dragged my friend Greer out on Saturday after doing a weeks worth of research and only came up with 4 place to look at. Two in Jackson, one in Allentown and one in Cream Ridge. I am not going to mention any names, but 2 out of 4 were complete nightmares, one was manageable and the fourth one i didn't even bother going because my brain was fried and I was supposed to go the following day. 

I made the decision to go to one of the ones in Jackson. They had a nice big indoor, a nice outdoor, miles and miles of trails and they even had a dressage schooling ring at the back of the property. They're fields were very very very muddy, but there were two that didn't look so bad and the owner was more than willing to make arrangements for me. I was also allowed to bring an outside trainer onto the property with me. I left there feeling confident, but not 100% confident. 

I informed them that I would be coming in on January 1st and then i broke the news to Bonni. I cried having to tell her and even after telling her I had a very deep nervous feeling in my stomach, but i tried to ignore it and tell myself this is what needed to be done and i had to at least give it a try. 

Sunday came and I had the boarding agreement all filled out ready to be dropped off, but then things took a turn. I had remembered a while ago William mentioning to me that one of his friend's girlfriend was 'into horses', whatever that means. lol I happened to see that friend of William's on sunday and we started talking. Turns out, his girlfriend OWNS a property with a large indoor and outdoor,  large barn, hot and cold wash stall and a heated viewing room attached to the indoor.

Sounded almost too good to be true. It is only a few more minutes into Howell from where Shadow and I are now. I contemplated it for a little while, then ended up taking a ride later that day to go see it. It was dark out, but as soon as i walked into the barn it felt like a weight lifted off my shoulders. All of the horses were tucked in happily munching away on there hay and all picked up their heads to greet me. They all looked great, happy, healthy, shiny and fat! 

The more i talked to the owner the better i felt. I took a look at the indoor and the wash stalls, tack and feed areas, hay, etc. Everything looked great. I didn't get to see the property because it was dark, but it turns out that a girl that i grew up riding with boards her mare there. (small world) 

The owner and I finished our conversation and she said she would be in contact with me by the end of the night or next morning about pricing and other specifics. In the mean time i did some of my own research and have heard nothing but wonderful things. The owner and I were in touch by the end of the night and came to an agreement, how exciting! 

I am going back Saturday with Dom and Greer in my presence to take care of all the final paper work, see the field in which shadow will be spending his time and to get verbal approval from the two of them as well as showing Dom where we will be working. 

It really feels like a weight has been lifted. The atmosphere of this barn is very similar to the atmosphere I am in now, and there is nothing better i could ask for. 

I unfortunately had to break ties with the first barn i had decided to go with, but I hope that they can understand my situation, i need to put Shadow somewhere that I can have piece of mind knowing he is being taken care of to my FULL expectations. 

We will be moving in on the morning of January 1st, stay tuned.... :) 

Supplement Struggles

For those of you that follow my blog you know shadow has a past stifle injury and know that he came out of last winter pretty much dead lame. 

Once I had seen it (I was not aware of the issue until that point, as I was not told when I adopted him) I was able to start him on Prevacox and a better joint supplement than what I had him on and he had done great. 

So in anticipation of having another winter of no riding I have upped shadow supplements being sure not to give him to much of any one thing as we all know too much of something isn't always the best. 

So I kept him on his Prevacox and his complete senior smartpak (even though he isn't a senior, lol) because I love the benefits of it. I also added another dose of HA in addition to the amount that the complete has in it and I put him on a muscle mass supplement which will aid in bulking, obviously but will also slow the deterioration when they are out of work. I'm doing everything I can to keep him sound if he is going to be off all winter again. 

So he's been on this supplement for About a month now and I have been dealing with all this back and saddle drama which is finally resolved. Shadows back is 100% better and I have bought a Pessoa that fits him like a glove. 

I went out yesterday to try my new saddle and ride my boy since he has been off since the turkey trot because I had surgery on my mouth. Shadow, he had other ideas. 

I have noticed a change in attitude lately.  When I get there to see him he is so excited and right ontop of me. Don't get me wrong he is always happy to see me but lately he has been crazy, almost like "omg mom! Hi mom, what're you doing mom" following me back and fourth and all over the place. Bonni also mentioned that she was in the barn getting dinner ready the night before and he was in the field acting like he was losing his mind which he has never ever done. 

I tacked him up and decided to lunge before I got on and with Nikko cantering around the other field shadow took one step away from me and jacked his tail up the sky and his nose followed suit. He then continued to prance around me snorting like a dragon. Did someone forget to tell him he was 16? 

So once he calmed down ( or I thought) I got up on him and he was still trying to run around with his tail up and snorting and trying to gallop the fence line with Nikko. So I took him to the other side of the ring and walked him until he was calm. 

I then decided to lunge him instead of riding him so we lunged for about an hour or so and he was moving beautifully. 

I am so glad he is feeling so good, but I would just like to ride my horse! 

So now begins the trial and error of supplements. 

I called smartpak and spoke to them about having any other cudtomers mention anything about the muscle mass stamina making their horse hot and they have nothing other than it making them "feel good" so she suggested I cut down the dose. 

Shadow next smartpak will come with a lower dose and I will have to keep an eye out for an attitude adjustment. *fingers crossed*

                      My new Pessoa