6/14/2013 by annablakeblog…

Friday”s Ride

Catching up on my riding blogs.  I rode by myself on Friday, as Kevin had plans and Starry was due to have a day off.  I took Cole on a fast 5-mile ride.  I always ride faster when I’m by myself.  This was our day to canter.  We cantered in all the good spots.  When we reached the spot that I practice that hard-to-get-right lead,…

Teenage show jumping talents Daniela Stransky, Mario Gamboa and Jose F. Bonetti are among the young riders who help raise funds and awareness for the non-profit Step by Step Foundation (…

Hey Ya'll, I just wanted to let you know I have blog at www.arabianaristocrat.edublogs.org, please check it out, I am still new so any advice, or feedback is appreciated! Thanks!

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This week has been full of rain down here in the Piedmont of North Carolina.  We’ve gotten about four inches of rain over the last seven days.  I just got to ride once.

Debbie had to go off Wednesday so I did not get my lesson.  I went out to the stable anyway, I wanted to see if Mia was still responding to my increased stability, and I also wanted to take care of her.  I was tired from a dentist appointment on Tuesday and I forgot to bring my hard hat,…

I recently visited OEF's Horse Day @ the CNE riding academy in Toronto. Lots of lovely horse folks, industry professionals and organizations, legendary jockey Sandy Hawley and Norman the one-eyed ex-racehorse was there, too. Here are a few photos from the visit

Freedom had a foal last night! A beautiful filly! Go on mare stare to see them! So tiny and So precious!

Have you ever been rescued by a horse? How old were you? Does it still happen?

I’ve been thinking about Julie. Cool name, isn’t it? I make no apologies, I was 6 years old and thought it was the best name ever. I thought Angela was a good name too.

Julie was a pinto pony. She was…

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It's been a long time since I've written a blog on here, things have gotten crazy busy, but in a great way.  After a very long winter in Northern Ontario that had all of the residents thinking that maybe, just maybe it would never end, it did.  We still got snow on June 3rd, but it didn't stay!

This is going to be a bit of a personal diary at the same time as hopefully being a bit inspiring to other riders who may be going through the same thing. Firstly, let me start off by…

Rainy Weekend

It didn’t rain when we rode, but it rained at night so much that we weren’t able to cross the river on either day.  Sigh.  Another roadblock in our way of getting Dante on the trail.

The good news—I rode Cruise.  I just stayed on the little trail on the property, which isn’t very exciting, but it was just nice to be back in the…

Saturday June 1 2013

I didn't get out all week to see Cooper, between stomach issues and being too darn tired after work. We were supposed to go Friday night but my spouse fell asleep and we didn't it out.

Cooper was very happy to see us, squeezing up against the corner of the stall door trying to get to us. 

I tacked him up with the bridle and bit and did some ground work for about 30 minutes. We did some half circles to the back of the indoor arena and once there we…

My apologies for missing several weeks of blogs.  I was just too exhausted from riding and something had to give.  I refuse to cut down my riding if the weather is good, so I stopped writing my weekly blog. 

A few weeks ago I went to my “local” tack store and asked the owner to show me the coolest (as in not too warm) riding pants she had since the weather had gotten too hot for my wonderful full seat breeches.  She directed me to the Kerrits Flow Rise Performance…

Are you looking for a way to build a better partnership with your horse?  Below are two simple questions that you can ask yourself to help release the tension and resistance between you and your horse.  All frustration and resistance (the effect) really comes from a misunderstanding and miscommunication (the cause).  If you can find a solution for the cause, you do not need a solution for every single behavior because they are all the effect of something deeper.  You can learn to observe the…

Wednesday evening, my older niece, who recently came home from college, came out to ride.  Since I’m not riding Cruiser, yet, she got to ride Ranger.  It has been a couple years since she rode him, and last year, she only rode Cole once or twice.  Life got in the way, last summer.  She did admit to being a little nervous about riding Ranger.  He is a big horse, and he is…

On the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, I met Ellen at the barn.  After we did our chores, we decided to work with Dante.  Ellen is still a little nervous.  She is used to riding more experienced horses than Dante.  Dante hasn’t given her any…

Hee is a website that gives you info on what diseases you should watch for in your quarter horses-

www.equinechronicle.com/health/genetic-diseases-in-quarter-horses