Alberta Equest

 On June 25 & 26 we hosted our second clinic at our farm with Jessica Kerschbaumer. Unfortunately due to Sierra getting bred and crappy weather, we only got to ride a handful of times between clinics, but never the less we geared up for another great weekend of learning!  We usually host our clinics as weather-pending, in the event that we may get rained out... never did we expect to nearly have to cancel due to extreme heat.  The entirety of Western Canada is basically stuck in a bubble being pumped full of hot air, and as the mercury threatens to hit 40 degrees Celsius or more (104F), we are essentially melting. Instead of cancelling the clinic, we revamped the schedule to avoid the hottest portions of the weekend, while keeping a cooler center-ring stocked full of cool drinks for everyone, and the barn hose basically ran steady keeping horses cool. Due to changing the schedule, we did a half day on Friday and Sunday, and a full day on Saturday.  I chose...

 I've been run off my feet lately which has yielded minimal time for blogging, but the current monsoon has opened up an unexpected allowance in my busy schedule.  Months ago, I promised to blog about my adventures in the breeding shed in addition to my riding journey, and at some point I decided to attempt to breed Sierra as well. I was torn and undecided on just when I would do that, but I decided to bite the bullet and just go for it.   I chose Parcival for Sierra for many reasons.  Besides the fact that I have absolutely loved him for the majority of my horsey-life, he's getting up there in age (24 this year I believe) but more importantly, given that Sierra is unproven in the realm of motherhood and reproduction after having two foals by him out of a different mare, I have come to have an idea of what he passes onto his offspring and what he can offer a mare.  Both fillies had exceptional temperaments and willingness to learn, strong loin connections, w...

 Things have been fairly quiet on the blog-front lately, because I haven't had a whole heck of a lot on the go that was worth writing home about, and as if that wasn't enough I had absolutely no media to accompany my recent miles spent in the saddle. The truth is, I've been riding moderately often and we have been slowly putting the shattered pieces of our training back together after all that ensued last year - believe it or not, having a baby really changes things and as if that isn't enough, add in some other garbage along the way and it left Sierra and I a bit of a jumbled heap shoved into a corner and under the rug. Rather than dwell on it, I've been motivated to dust off my boots and rebuild things but more importantly, I've finally found the comfort in riding that I haven't felt in many years.  We all began similarly in that the love of the horse, riding and all that surrounded it was enough to feed our soul. Eventually, like many, I chased goals, dev...