2014 Year End Review - Part III

Amazingly fall and winter were our busiest time of the year.  Well not amazing for fall, because I love fall, but riding in the winter is amazing because I rarely ride in the winter.  I've always given Chrome the winter off.  It's been fun changing things up this year and finally realizing Chrome can be energetic haha!

September

I fulfilled two bucket list items (both have been on my list of things to do for years and years) in one day!  Polo and riding in a horse drawn cart!  Post is here.

I introduced Chrome to clippers for the first time.  See video here.

I finally rode my horse again and we went to a neighbor's house.  I chickened out and got off to walk past the horses...  details here.

October

We added goats to the family!  Post is here.  Then Chrome tried to kill them... post here.

We decided to join in on 2pointober!

The goats were successfully integrated into the herd finally and we got our baseline for 2pointober.. a measly two minutes!  Details here.

I finally rode again and we worked on our two point and we finally managed to canter again!  Post here.

Two point jockey style hehe.

We worked on two point more and I asked for a critique because I had literally never ridden in two point before October 2014.  :)  Pictures here.

We celebrated our five year anniversary together and I had my first giveaway where the lucky winner got the awesome decorative plate shown above.  Post here. I also did a post (link) sharing five years worth of pictures of Chrome... like millions of pictures!

We did something else I had been dying to do for years!  I rode Chrome with another horse and he was awesome!!!!!  Click here for more details and pictures.

We did a really awesome questionnaire by L. Williams where I listed every horse I've ever ridden with lots of pictures.  :)  Post is here.

I finally rode Chrome all the way around the block!!!  The first half was alone and then hubby joined the second half on his bike.  This was also the start of him biking with us a lot which I absolutely love.  Other than the mother of all stalemates (details here) it was a fabulous ride.

I had fun torturing my horse with a tarp.  :D

I shared pictures and videos of ride sixty eight with us trotting by heavy equipment and he didn't even care.  :)  Post here.

I cantered him bareback for the first time!!  Video here.

I finally rode Chrome with other horses out on the road (and we saw alpacas and rode in the dark for the first time)!  Details here.

 

I rode Chrome on the buckle by horses he's never seen before!!!!  Huge accomplishment for me!  Details here.

Even though we failed at 2pointober I don't consider it a fail at all because it motivated me to get out there and ride consistently!

November

I jumped Chrome for the first time!! Click here for the video.

The herd is finally a herd!

One of the items on my bucket list was to train a horse from weaning through the basics under saddle.  After all of the progress we made in October I finally checked this one off the list and shared in this post some of the awesome things we've done together.

I opened the gate from Chrome's back for the first time here.

I coerced hubby into riding double on Chrome for the first time!!  Sorry no pictures...

The weather cooled down and the whole herd started to get very energetic.  This had a huge effect on our next rides, but it also made for lots of fun videos.  Link here.

I made an Instagram account for Chrome.  To add me check out the post here.

First time he's worn a blanket since he was a weanling.  :)

I got Chrome a blanket because last winter he was absolutely miserable when it rained below 20 degrees.  Post is here.

I cantered Chrome off property for the first time!!  To see a video, go here.  That was also the point where I realized I was overreacting when he dropped his head, expecting him to crow hop... must stop doing that!

Our rides started to get interesting with the weather changing and because I'm riding in weather cooler than I ever have with Chrome (I previously gave him the winter off).  I also realized how sensitive he actually is!

Chrome kissed a bull and he liked it hehe.  We also rode in a cemetery.  More pictures here.

I found a list of a bunch of things I want to do with Chrome someday and shared some of the ones we had already completed.  Check out the list here.  Then I followed up with a video showing some stuff we knew and trying new things which he aced except for me standing on his back.  We need more practice with that.  He kept trying to walk off and I can't balance if he moves.  Hehe.  Watch the video here (I had some pretty good attempts at standing up!).

I rode bareback and bridleless again because I was bored while waiting on hubby to jump the tractor.  :)  Post here.

I obsessed over bits here.  I finally ordered a French link snaffle and it took forever to arrive.

I finally got a video of me riding Chrome (watch it here) as a baseline for where we are right now, so that I can come back to it later and see the progress we've made.  I sometimes feel like we are standing still, so hopefully this will help me see that we actually do make progress.

Tank top in November!  Love it!

Hubby and I finally measured out and made an arena in my back pasture so Chrome and I can practice important stuff like circles!  It's just buckets full of rocks marking the corners and center of the long side but it works great.  Post is here (there is also video of me riding in it).

I introduced Chrome to my new recurve bow so we can practice mounted shooting someday (have to practice shooting it without the horse first) and got great pictures of him arching his neck.  Love it!  More pictures here.  Once again sleeveless in November.. love it!

December

I hosted my first blog hop here!  Thank you everyone who joined!

I finally replaced my old as dirt helmet with a new Tipperary in my favorite color!  Post is here.

The gravel hill down the road was finally soft enough to work Chrome on it.  I got video too!  Watch it here.

The whole herd was feeling their oats and I got great pictures and video of Zep being silly.  Watch it here.

I got Chrome a blue plaid halter!!!  See more pictures here.

We rode in the dark several times, including on 12-13-14 hehe.

We finally got gravel added to the barn!

Also his spooks are getting bigger, read more here and here.

 Chrome's 5.5" French link snaffle finally arrived and seems promising...

 Since I finally got some riding pictures I actually really like!

 

I finally found his BIG trot under saddle!!!!  

More pictures here.

We did even more off property cantering!  :D

 We took Christmas photos on Christmas Eve.  Click here to see the rest.

 We got all dressed up again and went on a two hour 

Christmas ride on Christmas day. See more pictures here.

I got my Secret Santa gift and it's perfect!!!

I finally figured out how to use Endomono on my tablet so I'm tracking our rides now and it's awesome!  I can't wait to track our mileage for 2015.  :D

We ended the year with the fall that you all have just read about. So now I have no idea what my plans or goals are for the new year. This has completely changed how I feel about everything. I don't feel the optimistic excitement about the new year that I did just a few days so. I feel cautious and a bit scared. That's life though and I'm not letting that take away from all the accomplishments we've achieved this year. I'll just keep my fingers crossed that we haven't lost a lot of ground and that I can get my confidence back fairly quickly. If I don't though that will just be what we work on for 2015 instead of all the other things I had planned.

Also blog hops were totally the thing this year!  Here is a link to all of the ones I participated in.

I hope you enjoyed reading my reviews as much as I enjoyed reading yours.  Reviews are so much fun!  Happy New Year!!!