Credit Where Credit is Due.

  This cartoon pretty much embodies how I feel about my horse Nick at his very first show...and probably how he felt too. :-) We came in 11th out of 19 with a clear XC round and LOTS to work on in Dressage. :-)  I'm sure Nick never thought when we first met on a rainy morning in March about 5 years ago, that his life of being a leisurely pasture horse was coming to an end.
  He has come a super long way since then, and really most of that progress had taken place in the last 6 months. His health has made a tremendous turn around thanks to the help of my Veterinarian Dr. Wilson from Oregon Equine (http://www.orequine.com/index.pml) who helped me find the right supplements and grain to balance out his system. The improvements were almost immediately noticeable, from the condition of his coat and weight right down to the tips of his toes.
   I also need to give a shout out to my Trainer, Anne Carr (http:\\www.annecarreventing.com) who assured me at my very first lesson that my horse was not a P.O.S. Horse (Piece of Shit) just because he wasn't super fancy and fell into the Senior category in life. She also in no uncertain terms told me to stop making excuses because of the unhealthy horse he used to be, and start riding the healthy horse that he now is, and this alone has changed my thinking about our training. You can't move forward if you're always looking back.
  And last but far from least I need to give a shout out to my barn buddies who cheered me on, My mom who came from PA to watch, and to my husband, Darren, who had no idea what he was in for, but supports me anyway.