the illness. and a bit of growing up to be had.

as many of my close friends already now the life of Lara is always hysterical. Seriously I hear myself sometimes and all I can think of is really??? .... Recently many people ask me why I groom?? Why work a zillion hours have no chance at a real social life and be okay with it?. The answer is simple I LOVE IT. Hands down I have the best job ever. yes its not 5 days of 9 to 5 its 6 days of 7 till whenever. but I love it. I get up everyday excited to have my job and sometimes life isn't perfect. Mine is far from it. but I have the greatest boss, the best group of friends to share my opps moments with and an amazing horse who is finally starting to grow up. So next time someone asks me why, the answer is simply this because I LOVE every second of my life. happiness. what more could you ask for?

Recently I have had to make many grown up decisions! and let me tell you those are not so fun! I gave my dog away. As many of you already know I love my dog more than life itself. I saved her from the pound when she could fit in the palm of my hand. It was odd like I was ment to have her. but thats a whole different story! this winter i made a decision to leave her in va because it was too hard for her to be here. She has some separation anxiety issues and while I have been gone they amplified and became quite destructive. I made a very tough decision to give her to a family that had someone home all the time that would not travel every weekend and sometimes for a few months. As sad as it is she has a great new family and a home that I could not give her. (yup being a grown up blows sometimes!) as that chapter ends another one begins i guess! there are so many new and exciting things changing! I will keep everyone posted to the latest developments!

On a much more positive exciting note! Jenn had 2 great runs at advanced at sopo this weekend! It was a bit hectic on thursday and friday, but I am working on those time management and assorted groom skills and must say the horses looked pretty amazing this weekend! It was such a special thing to be a part of. I can not wait for the upcoming season!! The only bummer of the weekend is I seem to have caught "the aiken illness" as it has been dubbed. the illness is this wonderful head cold. Let me tell you not so fun! however after some nyquil and assorted other drugs things seem to be on the up and up! I am finally able to breathe without coughing. mostly. it is entertaining when Im trying to have a serious conversation and can't get out 2 words without a coughing fit. Tomorrow means a return trip to Va to drop off all the jumps and some of the extra gear. Then back to SC for a few days and then the real move back home happens. via the fork. and then for me on to plantation with sam the next weekend. I will keep you posted. until next time I will try to have both feet planted firmly on the ground. <3.

Full gallop take 2

It has been a long time since my last post! I have been keeping extremely busy, having my horse down here, attempting the school thing, and being social! Well and of course my job… We have been to Red hills and Pine Top with the big boys. Both of the events went well for us. I have been perfecting my braiding skills and the like. Red hills was gorgeous!!! I cannot wait to head back down there next year. We had 4 horses there, so I didn’t get to watch too much. But I did get to see the World Cup show jump, and that Nicky Henley, he is such an awesome horse. What a special moment for the both of them! The weekend after Red Hills was sams first event of the season, Full Gallop. I was a tad nervous going in, he had a ton of time off because he got sick when he shipped down and had only been doing real work for maybe 2 weeks. We decided to run him BN because he hadn’t done anything since june. I have been working hard on my position and on sams ride ability on the flat and was hoping to show off our hard work and maybe break the 40 barrier! Well we did that! He received a 38 to sit in 3rd place. I was so happy with the test. It was his best to date! On a side note I got to show off my sitting trot skills! I have spent a ton of time learning how to sit properly and finally feel that I don’t flop about and that I can actually ride sam better while I’m sitting. Finally some improvement on the Lara part. Sam would most likely say thank goodness!!! Finally my rider knows something! After finding my score out via text I was over the moon. Who wouldn’t be??? Going into Sunday I was quite nervous! Show jumping is by far my most nerve-racking phase and well sam hadn’t been xc almost 9 months. Yikes! That alone put me on edge. But I walked my course and made plans A B and C. I am such an over thinker. Always analyzing everything! Once we got there I didn’t have much time to think about anything, since Jenn and I only had about an hour between times. This is always great for my nerves. No time to stress. Off to warm up I went, not really sure what my horse was going to do. He was very full of him self in a good way. He was trying to show off his mad skills. Or something. We worked on staying soft and quiet and being able to move him up, all flawless. I watched a few rounds and noticed that rails seemed to be on sale. Never a good sign. Needless to say I just kept picturing a perfect round, and I had one! Sam was perfect totally flawless all business like, one rhythm. He is finally starting to grow up and put all the pieces together. After a big sigh of relief and about 10 mins I was off to xc. Sam I think forgot what the start box was. He literally was standing attempting to fall asleep. I was a bit nervous going out since sam seemed a bit lackadaisical. Turns out all I needed was to jump fence one. After that he didn’t look at a thing! Jumped everything right out of stride. I couldn’t have asked for a better round. So I loaded up and ran to grab some food and check scores. They weren’t up, so I headed out and got a text from a friend telling me I had won! How cool is that? I won and Sam gets to move back up to novice. Sam is one special horse, and I am super excited about the rest of his spring season! Sam is enjoying a mini vacay as I am off to Sopo for the weekend. More soon!

http://www.hoofclix.com/Full-Gallop-Farm/2010-03-14-USEA-Horse-Trial/LaraChance-BN-A284/11517862_29Vr2#810770099_zvPRB a link to some pics!

and Sam wanted everyone to know that he gets a new halter. mainly because he broke 40! but also because he won. He was pretty excited about the whole situation!