"You were Born to Blog." That's what my friend Jo said to me! I've enjoyed sharing my adventures with readers. I'm not sure how many people read this, but I do have friends who've mentioned they do. It's a good way for me to journal what happens in my days. I wasn't sure if anyone was actually reading it, so thanks for letting me know you stop by here occasionally.

Between 4 new horses at the barn in the last month, I've been able to keep the plates juggling! Shy, Summer, Pete and now Maya are all getting played with almost daily. Eliza has been a big help and has ridden Augustine two or three days now, his first rides. She's been riding Maya too and taking care of her. Pete has come to an understanding about things, and today we revisited trailer loading with much success. I don't need to go into what day 1 looked like! It wasn't pretty. He'll be leaving this weekend to go to a friends nearby so she can put miles on him. Lots of nice sweaty miles hopefully as he needs to shed a few pounds. (Understatement). He's a joint sales project and by winter I hope he will be finding his partner for life. He's on the road to becoming a great horse.

Summer has been coming along nicely. Her owner got on her and I led her around for the first time. I'm glad she was able to be the first one to "ride" her. It wasn't much of a ride, just a slow walk around the arena. Summer has definitely pushed me to some interesting places in my head about horse psychology. I've had to approach her in a much more mental way than physical since she just didn't seem to be getting it for a few days.

The biggest breakthrough was when I realized the majority of the issues were around her lack of yielding to physical pressure. Once I caused her to lower her head by applying pressure to areas of her face, it all changed. So I've learned alot. I knew this stuff, though, but it wasn't until Summer came I realized just HOW IMPORTANT it is, especially with a horse like her. So here comes Pushy Pete and the first place we visited was his head and causing him to yield to pressure. Things changed.

Pete and I had another visit with the trailer today. Glad to say he's a champ now getting in and out. Was able to stand by the fender and send him in from about 12 feet away. Walks in, turns around and stands. He gave me a little bit of drama in the beginning, but saw I wasn't impressed so moved on to getting in the trailer when asked. Good boy, Pete.

Maya is just an amazing horse and we've all decided that she will be staying with us!!!!!! Her "sponsor" and I both feel that Maya needs to be at The Center with people that love, honor and appreciate her on a daily basis. I'm not sure if it was Morado or Maya who decided they would pasture together, but the morning after we got her, I found Morado had gone under the fence to get in with her. It's a great match and he really has helped Maya acclimate I think.

Before this gets too much longer, I 'll close with saying that the former house site rubble and pile of junk has been removed! It looks great! Big thanks to Gilbert, the Benoits, and John for gettin' er done! We also chose the site for the future barn/arena and am starting to move forward with those plans, contingent on creative financing.

Headed to Ford dealer tomorrow to see about trading my broken truck in. After 3 tows in the last 4 weeks, I'M DONE. This last breakdown could cost me more than the one before. May the black truck find happiness with another owner.