September blog

 This month has been a little quieter with Sophia at college. It is certainly a big change and we miss having her at home. She is, however, having a blast at college. She really is enjoying her classes and has met a bunch of new friends. We are so happy for her.

Steve and I went to her Pony Club lesson on Labor Day. After the lesson we took Sophia and two of her new friends out to lunch. It was great to spend time with Sophia and meet her friends. I look forward to her Pony Club lessons. It is so nice to see her and Wren and we often get to spend some time with her afterwards. Who can pass up a meal at a restaurant?

Sophia and her friends went to the football game and experienced your first tailgating event. 

 

The highlight of the month was going to your first Horse Trail at the Virginia Horse Center to celebrate G's birthday. This is the first time you ever did an Eventing show. On Saturday Sophia was able to run through all portions, practice in the dressage ring, jump the stadium jumping part and school the cross country course. Both Sophia and Wren were so brave. He did so well. On Sunday Sophia competed and placed second out of 17 riders! Impressive!

 

We ended up having to buy a new car at the end of the month. Sophia had gone to visit a friend at college earlier this month and had trouble with her car. It was making noises and smoking a bit. Steve went to help her. We had the car towed and he got a rent a car. Two weeks later Sophia was driving up to the barn and the car just stopped. The barn owner tried jumping it and it didn't work. I picked up Sophia and the barn and Steve meet us at the dealership. We ended up buying a 2017 Honda CRV. Somehow Sophia convinced Steve that she should have this new car!

I went out for a wine tasting event with the barn moms.

 

To finish up the month Sophia went to Dressage at Devon with her friend G.

The pets are all doing well. We know that Otto really misses cuddling with Sophia because he is even more cuddling with us this month.

August 2024

August-- Not sure I can come up with the words to describe the month. Hectic, disappointing, exciting, adventurous, bittersweet. Those are the ones which immediately come to mind.

Sophia worked her last Saturday shift at the barn on August 10th. She has worked Saturdays for over two years. Leaving the house at 6:15 or earlier and not returning until 4:30 PM. Sheworked hard the whole day. 

Sophia spent the past couple of months getting ready for the C3 Dressage Certification. This was her first National Rating and it was HELL. She was well prepared. She did everything you could do, practiced lounging and wrapping. She continued your private lessons and clinics. She worked on grid work and designed a grid exercise. There were only two people doing the C3 Dressage certification. Gretchen did the Eventing. We all went up together. Dressage was the full day on Monday, followed by eventing late Monday to Wednesday. Having all the dressage requirements packed into 7 hours left no time to recover and regroup. The rating expectations were tough. It included riding different parts (warm up, test, without stirrups, grid work and riding in the field). It also included lounged and switched horses for one part.  Sophia then had to critique each part and then listen to the raters critique her ride and her assessment of the ride. Wren is not your typical dressage horse. The raters weren't fans. Sophia's position, likely due to Wren's bouncy nature, was a little off centered. The raters did not mince words. It was defeating. Both Sophia and the other girl failed. Interestingly enough she passed the portion that she rode the other girls horse. The raters said your position was perfect on her horse. She may have passed the whole thing if she had brought a horse is more in line with a typical dressage breed. Sophia worked hard, did her best, Wren did well. It just wasn't what they were looking for. The standards are high, the expectations for Dressage are harder than Eventing. After this experience I don't think she will try again, and honestly I don't blame her. However, if she does, I will be behind her every step of the way. 

We ordered dinner from a Chinese Restaurant while we were away for the certification. This was Sophia's fortune. It could not be truer. 

Sophia attended a 4H Senior Awards ceremony at the fair and and end of the year Pony Club celebration.

Sophia and I went shopping a couple of times. We also organized all the purchase for your big move in day. Move in Day was August 22nd. We got there around 8:30 and lugged everything upstairs (the football team who was supposed to help were still practicing or perhaps at a different building). We rearranged furniture and set up your room. Sophia spent time hanging the tapestry and pictures. I unpacked most of your clothes while Daddy set up your desk. We had lunch and then left Sophia to her orientation activities. 

It has been so hard not to have Sophia at home. I miss her more than you can imagine. But she is aving a blast. She has met new friends, have gone to the gym to work out, and are enjoying her classes thus far. We get short texts but other than that not too much communication. This makes me proud, I know Sophia is growing and learning to be more independent. It also makes me sad because I miss talking to her every day, hearing about things that she is doing. Bittersweet. 

Thankfully she is not far and we have seen her at the barn. This past weekend Steve and I watched her ride and then took Sophia and two of your new friends out to lunch. Loved it!!

Our pets are all good. No doubt they miss Sophia too, especially Otto. 

No doubt these blog posts will become much shorter now that you aren't home. But I am going to keep them going for as long as I can. I have been doing it since March 2005, almost 20 years!  Why stop now? 

July 2024

 July was a month packed with FUN! We started the month of remembering July 1st, 2006, the day we got our referral and saw Sophia's picture for the first time. Every year I take a picture of her holding the photo that was given to me during the referral meeting. Lately she barely tolerates having this picture taken but she knows how important it is to me. 

We also remembered Grandma Beadle on July 1st as it was her birthday. And Grandma Bev, the anniversary of her passing was on July 3rd (2017)

We started the month heading to WEC for the Pony Cup Finals. Wren is far from a pony but they have a licensed show along side the Pony Cup which is awesome. The best part is the ride up Starbucks, of course. Wren was not a fan of his whipped cream treat! Sophia had incredible rides both days but her scores on Saturday, the second day of the show, were her best yet. 66.94 on her First Level Test 3 and a 70.4 on her musical! It was also great hanging out with the other families that went. The barn people are great. Sophia also read test for two people and earned a total of $200 for reading those four tests,  2 tests per day. Not a bad deal!

Sophia also competed in Lexington, VA Dressage at Lexington. She did well at these shows too. Her and Wren are really coming together as a pair.

We ended up truck shopping. Steve started when we were at WEC trying to get it handled before he went back to school. We landed on a beautiful Ford F150 that has all the bells and whistles. Mileage is around 100K but we are hoping to get many more miles from the truck. It will be "my" car seeing I drive the least and it gets the worst gas mileage compared to our CRVs. We will eventually (and by we I mean Sophia and maybe Steve) learn to pull a trailer to take Wren to shows and clinics.

At the end of the month we had a graduation party for Sophia. We hosted it at the barn and it turned out beautifully. Nick, Mari, Aiden and Lindsey made it down. Many of Sophia barn friends, former coaches and 4H leaders were there. It was a wonderful day. I created centerpieces that had her school picture for each year alongside a couple of pictures of the horses she rode the most during those years. She has been riding since before Kindergarten so it worked out beautifully.

We did back to school... or off to college... shopping this month. She is excited about this next chapter and we are excited for her. We will miss having her at home but she is only going to be an hour away.

I don't have many pictures of our animals. None of Loki this month so you will see a repeat from last month. Mr. Twinkletoes came home from his dental cleaning with the yellow tie he is wearing in the pic.

Til next month....

June 2024

 The month of June was pretty uneventful, partly due to me getting Covid after a professional development retreat. Ten days in isolation and a few more just trying to get my energy back made for a pretty boring June. But it could have been much worse.

I started the month off with a trip to the beach with my "curly girls." I didn't get many pictures but we had a great time, a day at the beach, shopping, good food and great company. 

Sophia had to go to the Youth Dressage Festival with Peggy and Gretchen. She stayed in a hotel room alone (but right next door to Peggy and G)  Sophia had great rides. She is really beginning to figure out Wren and getting him more consistently round and on the bit. She rode in the evening musical freestyle challenge. She thought he wasn't really listening to her then. In all fairness it was a very hot weekend and they were both probably exhausted. She did a Pas de Deux with Gretchen which as a lot of fun. She also did a prix caprilli class for the first time and got a 73.519 and came in 2nd. She rode level one test 2 and 3. All scores were great.

She returned home from the show weekend and attended McDaniel local, her college summer orientation. She made new friends, registered for classes and did a service project with a local food pantry. We did some back to school shopping but there is more to be done.

Animals are all good, for the most part. We tried to get Mr. Twinkletoes dental done but his blood work raised a red flag. He had VERY low platelets and the vet put him on strong antibiotics, which smelled like a skunk and steroids. Thankfully when he was retested the numbers looked better. We will attempt another cleaning after he is weaned off the meds in hopes that his numbers till look good.