2012: A Year in Review

January:

Kenai tried his hand at being a ski patrol dog during my NSP candidate training and loved it. I spent every weekend training for NSP on the mountain and loved getting in all those ski days, even if the snow sucked. There were a few phenomenal days and I really loved my first season as I learned to telemark ski. I found some time to try my hand at chasing cows and had a blast! I accepted the change in my life as a good thing and then adopted some more change in the form of a new horse, Griffin!

February:

I had some difficulty coming up with a name for Griffin at first, but I eventually settled and posted a much-awaited (at the time) photo of him. He was so little! Mountain Khakis published their first catalog and I was the featured female ambassador. NSP training, despite difficulties, continued and I really began looking forward to its conclusion in March. I also found out that my summer plans to do a Leave No Trace Master Educator course with an emphasis on stock use in the backcountry would be happening!! I also finally got the edited video of me riding a horse I helped start the summer prior. Kenai had troubles with measuring, and I visited NYC for the first time for my birthday with my mom. I got to catch up with an incredible person while I was there, too. I learned to dance with a horse.

March:

NSP training continued and I completed! Huzzah! I filmed a training session with Griffin and Kenai got to play with a starling after. We bid adieu to one of the greatest horses I've had the pleasure to know due to a freak accident. Kenai turned two! Griffin got his first trim, and I posted photos of his improvement. And the biggest thing of this month, I went to MONTANA! We squeezed in a car. We skied. And we frolicked. And we visited Yellowstone and saw WOLVES! 19 wolves from three different packs. Marked that one off my 30 before 30, big time.

April:

I spammed you with more photos from MONTANA. And I shared a video of us skiing western powder (squee!). And then spammed you with videos of the horses. And Griffin started tagging along on trail rides. I took a moment to reflect on how incredibly awesome life is. Griffin discovered his inner idiot. I updated on my year of yoga (which failed miserably due to a shoulder injury) and gave yummy recipe ideas. Somehow I had a ton of time to read books. We went to the Equine Affaire, too. Oh and of course, there were a lot of Griffin updates!

May:

I focused on the fact that I needed to be more present in my every day life instead of always looking toward the future. I scored a sweet deal on some minimalist shoes for running in a hope to start running more (which never happened because my ankles are whiny little bitches). I spent a fun week of adventuring and training with Griffin. I had a really big weekend of photography for prom, an engagement shoot, and finally went climbing. This Wordless Wednesday post got a heck'ova'lotta hits for some reason. I had another memorable weekend watching my good friend Chris graduate from college, taking photos for two of my best friends for their engagement, and ground driving Griffin. I went to a clinic/trail ride weekend in the southern part of the state with friends and met Q; I then proceeded to ask advice on her and ended up buying her. I think its safe to say she was a pretty good decision!

June:

I threw myself into life with two horses full-force. I found out that Q hates bears, but really doesn't mind ground poles, and she really has a knack for jumping! I got to fulfill a mini-dream of mine and play with Freisians for a day (and many after, actually). I finally left for 2½ weeks in the Great Smoky Nat'l Park where I learned to pack horses and practice Leave No Trace concepts.

July:

I re-hashed my pack experience gone wrong in three different parts (part I, part II, part III); it is the longest story I've told on my blog to-date, and was really hard for me to tell at the time. I went on a crazy-fast 20-mile training ride with a local endurance rider on two of her horses. And jumped back in action with my own horses, while finally pondering some of Griffin's potential TWH background. I continued to spend a lot of time with my horses, photographed one of my best friend's wedding, celebrated Griffin's birthday, and had an absolute blast fulfilling a childhood dream of riding my own horse in a parade!

August:

With August came the start of the coveted 30-mile ride. I had some pre-race anxiety, but Q exceeded all my expectations for this ride and did AMAZINGLY. I was (and still am) so happy with her performance. To get my mind of horse things I went and saw Mumford and Sons the weekend following the race (THEY ARE SO AWESOME LIVE!!). I shared a huge post of new experiences with my horses and then went to fulfill yet another horse-related childhood dream (wow, I really fulfilled a lot of these this year) and rode at Spruce Knob.

September:

I took some time this month to summarize the progress that both Q and Griffin had made during our time together. Q got a mystery ailment (which is still a mystery, though I lean toward a friction/heat cause) and I freaked out a bit and ended up not doing any more training or races this year because of it. I made the decision to really devote myself to getting into a better fitness routine for the upcoming ski season/life. I also dabbled with both horses lunging in a quasi-liberty exercise and decided it was something I would work on more this winter after I established both horses on the ground a little more. I embraced my favorite WV season (autumn) with several pursuits outdoors; this state is absolutely magical in the fall.

October:

Q and I did our second parade; the weather wasn't as great, but she did phenomenally again! A friend came and photographed Q and I jumping; our form is really improving. I spent a lot of time on the rail trail goofing around riding with cyclists instead of other horses. Q continued to amaze me during our last trail ride of the season.

November:

Frankenstorm (Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy) trashed my trails as over 3 feet of snow was dumped at the higher elevations. At this writing they are still clearing trees from roadways. I don't know if any of my summer trails will be the same for awhile. The horses weren't hurt, only a little sore. The weekend after the storm I put away studying to explore the woods with the ladies on horseback. Q and I had a blast. I worked on trailer loading with the horses some, and then goofed off with Freisian horses more. And then I went to Cape May with my bff Mandy and we caught some raptors and I met Dom IRL! Griffin's really gotten big and solid as of this month, and Q exceeded any expectation I had for her in our third parade of the year - a night parade.

December:

I reviewed 23 things I've learned in my 23 year of life. Spent a rainy Sunday training Griffin; put in my first ride on him. I spent an unnaturally warm December day climbing (finally). I took some time to recollect resolutions and goals I had for the year and make some new ones for the upcoming year, and I finally updated everyone on fitness and what I'd learned from my readings.

Man, 2012 was a busy year full of fun adventures, welcoming horses into my life, and developing myself as a person. Here's to a new year, new adventures, building upon foundations I've laid, and making 2013 the best year yet.

Goal additions

Ah, hello there 2012, and thanks for the snow so far.  Keep it coming, would you?

I’m still on a bit of a high from skiing with Kenai on the 1^st.  Pretty sweet.  I’m not sure my pup has ever been happier!  I sent the video link to his breeder, and he loved it!  I really hope we can get back up there and do it some more.  I’m going to look into getting some fabric to sew – or iron or Velcro on perhaps – to put some white patrol crosses on his pack.  Oh, and speaking of patrol crosses, my jacket should be ordered today!  It will be nice to be official, though it’ll mean I can’t ski like a bat-out-of-hell any more, haha.  Granted, I haven’t done that often in recent years, my inner speed demon has slowed, thank goodness!  Even with horses it’s slowed a lot.  Not having the opportunity to run lately has sort of cured me of my need to do it as often as I once did.  Its still an amazing sensation, but not one that I feel is so necessary.

I’ve been thinking of some more resolutions, in addition to ones I’d previously come up with, over the past two days.  My prior ones all tended to be more focused on inner growth.  I definitely want to get out and DO some more things this year.  So, without further ado, the additions to my list:

Read more – I miss reading dearly.  I was the kid who didn’t watch TV, played outside, and read a lot of books.  My time for this has dwindled to nothing lately.  I want to make time for it.  I have a growing selection of books that are begging to be read.
Ski at least 20 days this season – I have grown to despise east coast skiing.  The past two or three years I’ve only skied one or two days – tops.  Patrol should help change this, as should my Big Sky trip in March!  Not to mention, my tele skis will arrive tomorrow and I will begin learning this weekend!

Ride 100 times – This may be lofty as my efforts to move to a job elsewhere may seriously limit my opportunities to ride, but I am going to make the effort still.  One down so far!

Yoga everyday (as before) for at least 5 minutes – Originally when I committed to this goal I said I would do it every day be it 1 minute or 100.  However, I feel I’m cheating the goal a bit with 1 minute days.  Five minute minimum will calm me at least a little and benefit me more.

Run a 5K – While my ankles are absolute crap (thanks, swimming career) I would still like to get into running more before the end of the year.  I used to run 5Ks for HS XC and they weren’t the end of the world.  As well, I’m not – nor have I ever been – dreadfully out-of-shape, thank goodness; so, I think even if I didn’t have time to condition like a champ, a 5K wouldn’t be murder to do.

Make dinner at least 1x/week – This is probably going to be the biggest challenge for me.  I used to make a lot of my meals when I was at school – especially that year I lived alone.  Since moving home I don’t do it often.  But, once a week, from semi-scratch, I want to make myself (and parents, if they want it) dinner.

Learn 2 new editing tricks/month (&& take more photos) – I’ve learned a couple things in the past few months, and its helping me already.  I rarely ever edit my photos.  Most photos that have ever been on this blog (save for parts of December) have been straight-out-of-camera.  I would like to change this.  I want to learn how to make-up for bad lighting, remove distracting things (like wall outlets, power-lines, etc.), and other such little things.  Get my pictures to really look like they truly do to the eye & maybe learn a few fun tricks along the way.

Nothing outrageous, but things to improve me.

Ah, also, I’ve pursued another step in days past towards achieving my goal of getting future-super-star.  I contacted the breeder I’ve been drooling over for months now, inquiring as to the price range for her horses.  I had fears that they would be way beyond my range…but they aren’t!  All are well-within my desired range.  The youngsters are even slightly below what I figured I would one day pay (I plan to get a 1-3 year old).  Now, hopefully, within the next two years I can purchase future-super-star and start building our bond and trust and experiences from the ground up.  I’m going to take it slow and do it right with him/her, covering as many bases as I can with ground work before I ever get into the saddle (in my mind’s eye this involves intricate dancing like in the Black Stallion movie, or as the boy who found the Red Stallion did in those books – I’m such a horse nerd/dreamer).  The breeder is expecting 8 foals in the spring, so who knows, in a year or so maybe one of them will be mine?

So, cheers to you, and here’s to meeting, surpassing, and excelling at all goals for 2012!