LOTS n LOTS of good news!

Here are Foxy & Cleo in their stalls in North Carolina...we should have brought Radar...halter horses werent that special!

I lost a total of 18 pounds so far!! What a great feeling! My clothes look much better and I am excited to wear my new showmanship outfit for the Jax show and the Georgia show!
We just got back from North Carolina and while I didnt do so hot, Caitlin got tons of points! She was also circuit champ in barrel racing of all things winning an expensive jacket embroidered with her's and Foxy's names...The drive was wonderful and the mountains were gorgeous...we had a wonderful time!

Tomorrow we have a show in Tampa...just doing the halter classes as two of my LEAST favorite judges are judging...so we will take Radar over, do a couple classes, and leave...I get to hang with Michelle and see what being on the Pinto Horse club board is all about...still not sure if I want to do that...



Here is a picture of Radar...what a gorgeous guy...this is him right out of the pasture...Caitlin clipped him, gave him a bath and kicked the competitions ASS!!


Here is a picture of my stupid broken foot...My entire leg swelled up and from the looks of my foot I could weigh 400 pounds...Today the swelling is much better, I am getting around without the crutches despite my massage therapist reprimanding me for doing so...she said I could sustain a stress fracture. Oh great news.
On the studio front, I have several sketches to post that I think will get the interest I had hoped for...easier to carry a sketch pad and a pencil tin than the entire studio with me...especially since now we are headed for Georgia, North Carolina, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas and possibly Colorado in the near future...

Back from South Carolina...what a TERRIFIC and successful show for Caitlin...nabbed a ton of points as follows:

won open pole- bending
youth pole-bending
showmanship: 1st, 2nd, 6th, 7th
youth geldings: 3 1sts and a gate
Open geldings: 3 2nds and a gate

And there I was, a lump of uselessness because all I could do was hobble about on crutches and whine to myself...I was NO help...
Radar was awesome...we are so excited about his presence in the show ring...3 out of 4 judges loved him!

We have decided to go to North Carolina for the 8 judge Dash For Cash show...let's see if we can finish out the year first in the nation in youth poles...

More later and pictures too...

I cannot believe the luck I am having...actually there is no such thing as luck...mine is just one crappy event after another...
Yesterday the plan was to go get weighed (restarted Transformations diet plan) and afterwards go eat a pancake breakfast at Steak N Shake...I lose 10 lbs so the pancakes tasted good even tho I couldnt even eat a full order (more good news!) Then we headed home to hitch the 2 horse and go after Radar, the new horse...My truck wouldnt come off the hitch of the 2 horse so I stood on the bumper to weigh it down and get it to drop...drop it did and FLUNG me high in the air like one of those pancakes and smashed me to the ground!! As soon as I landed I knew my ankle was injured...the pain was incredible...I screamed and held onto the truck tail gate, sobbing uncontrollably while Caitlin tried to get me to calm down...finally she got me to the ground and called Jimmy on the dispatch to come home...My ankle was swelled up like a basketball and it was turning a frightening shade of yellow....
Cut to the chase...they take me to the hospital where I get to learn I have a severe sprain...no riding, by crackee...I sob all the way home...let me ruin it for everyone...
Anyhow we get me loaded on pain pills, and hitch up the '05 gooseneck (brakes albeit brand new on the 2 horse are seized up!~) so we get to Carol's and she and Caitlin collect all of Radar's belongings while I sit like an invalid with Bob who just got done with cancer surgery (he has to show me the staples) and he keeps asking me why a 75 yr old woman is jumping off her truck..."Bob, when you feel better, I will have to kill you!"... I am not 75!!!! Not even close!
So anyhow we decide to still do the South Carolina show even tho Cleo will not go, and Caitlin will have to do EVERYTHING, including drive...I am just baggage.
Jimmy fixes the brakes on the 2 horse, helps Caitlin load the '07 Exiss, spends the evening teasing her and Preston (and me of course!) and we all decide we can do this, despite our menfolk giving us warning after warning...We will only need to be there for the Friday and Saturday classes, can head home early Sunday morning since there is no need now to hang around for my Sunday classes, and if my ankle feels better I will certainly try to show Radar in our one class, amateur geldings. No riding...Cleo is acting mad at me although I havent been to the barn, Caitlin tells me she is cranky...all that practicing...well, after this show my next will be the Florida Fall Classic in Jacksonville, so maybe I will crank on the judges there...Would be awesome to win another saddle!