TOA Blog Hop: Worth 1k Words

Worth 1k Words.

Let's share our favorite photos of our stud muffins.  No limit.

Oooohhh, boy...you asked for it...an excuse to plaster all of my fave photos in one place. Some will have been seen before, others may be new. Obviously, the pony garners the most of these...but with 18+ years of photo-taking together, we've gotten some keepers. (This doesn't even count all of our show-ring days, all of which are hard copies that haven't been scanned yet.)

first LD, Man Against Horse 25 2006

second LD, in which she is still pulling on me into the first check

bittersweet...our last competition (and the
one that decided her retirement)
photo by Laura Bovee

my favorite ride photo ever, Valley of the Sun 2009

ignore my position...she has much better jumping form than I do

such a stinker...this is why we didn't use
snaffle bits at ridesphoto by Jane Grey Photography

first distance ride, First of Spring NATRC 2002
photo by Jane Grey Photography

playing in the Salt River

playing in the wash at Catalina

one of my favorite ear-cam shots...playing in the pines in Flagstaff

Man Against Horse 50 2009 -- best ride accomplishment ever

war mare face

Las Cienegas LD -- I love the going away shot

she's not big on cuddles usually, so I love that her ears are up
and she's actually happy about it

first back-to-back LD, day two...thrilled with how perky she was!

love all ear-cam shots...so attentive and alert

first 50! I'm a dork and she's like 'whatever'
photo by Laura Bovee

And I've done enough rides and gotten enough good pics of her that I feel Liberty qualifies to be included here as well...

love this...another one of my favorite ride
photos
Bumble Bee 25 2014
photo by Susan Kordish

the precursor to the above awesome photo,
I'm gabbing and she's hydrating
photo by Susan Kordish

majestic view, dorky green horse, silly rider
and granted, I had my stirrups a hole too short (green horse
security thing) but dang, she's tall and I'm short
photo by Susan Kordish

another favorite going-away shot
photo by Susan Kordish

our first ride together and we kinda look
like we know what we're doing
(after she spent the prior several minutes
balking at the photographer)
Prescott Chaparral 30 2013
photo by Susan Kordish

an interesting side profile shot...this mare has the most
interesting face...and yes, while the photographer is below us,
my feet are that high up on her sides
photo by Susan Kordish

Libby's first ride, Gina riding...doing her
trademark "thing" of air-pawing whenever
she's impatient

more ear-cam!

forcing cuddles and how-to-take-a-selfie on her

dork mare (mid-shake)

love it...can actually drop my reins on the crew bag and she
stays put!

being a twerp...post-ride, 30 miles wasn't enough...digging to
China and sticking her tongue out about being yelled at

TOA Blog Hop: Shining Star

I'm still contemplating my 2014-in-review post, so have an easy post, courtesy of The Owls Approve Blog Hop to tide you over.

Let's talk about the biggest achievements your horse has accomplished. I'm not talking about you as a rider - I want to know what your ponykins has done to make you proud. Is there a glorious satin collection, did he/she figure out some dressage movement that took months to learn, or are is it just a great day when your butt stays in the saddle? It's not all about shows or the things that people see.

She's my 50-mile endurance pony. She successfully did a sport that not many horses can do, and even fewer still within her breed. She's definitely got "unlikely endurance candidate" stamped on her, but she still did it...200 miles worth, with three other pulls, only one of which was about her.

Above and beyond that, she completed the Man Against Horse 50-miler. I could not be any more proud of my less-than-14-hands of Go Pony than I was at the finish of that ride. She reduced me to tears as she strode proudly across that line, nearly 12 hours after we had started that morning. Didn't matter we were the tail-end of that pack...we had conquered the trail that had thoroughly whupped up the previous year...in her mind, we had won.

As sad as I am that she's now retired, I'm happy I was able to give her the years of endurance that I did, because that is where her heart is happiest.