New Adventures of Old-er Jamie

Well, you can beat e'm down, but you can't keep down for ever! Is that a saying? I feel like that's a saying. Some of you are shaking your heads. Ok, well, maybe it isn't. "Anything's a possibility." as my best friend's almost-husband always says. It's my new favourite and least favourite saying. It inspires hope, but at the same time, a bit of despair. Chew on it for a few minutes. I'll come back to you.

Anyways, You're probably wondering where I went since my last post. There were a lot of changes in my life since then, some good, some not so wonderful. All of them have led me to where I am now, and I am happy so that is all that counts right? RIGHT?? The wonderful mare I had in training for sale, which I wish I could have purchased for my own, sold a couple months ago and is now being owned and loved by an AA who will give her a nice quiet home. I wish them all the best! It's the greatest feeling, as a trainer, knowing that you took a horse who was so offended by the bridle, and the aids, that no one wanted to ride them, let alone an AA go anywhere near writing a cheque for them, to having someone be able to hop on, and do 2nd level movements in a nice soft connection with bend and contact and be able to test out the gears.


So anyways, without further ado, I present my newest ride, a coming 6 year old, 17.1 hh branded Andalusian gelding by Competitor (Kianto). His name is Corazone de Leone. He is owned by Tisha Rowe of Barnhartvale, Kamloops, B.C who has done all of his training, and continues to do so until I find a rental suite closer to her facility. I have so far only ridden him twice, and he has just a lovely temperament. Tisha has done an incredible job with him so far. He is a very large, long horse with a massive neck, and as I am smaller, It will take some time for us to get coordinated with each other and synch our timing and strength to the fine-tuned level it needs to be. I am bringing him to school to Thunderbird Equestrian Center for Touch of Class Dressage Show next weekend and have started to arrange plans for July and August to take him down to Leslie's for one weekend each month for a few days of lessons with fellow dressage rider and friend Brittany Moore. Short term goal? Become a partnership. Long term goal? Debut at 3rd this fall, then PSG next spring.  For now, here are a few shots of where we started at! Enjoy :)

So, after 18 years of riding, 3 open back surgeries, 36 epidural spinal blocks, 9 MRIs, 2 bilateral full-level lumbar rhizotomies (32 injections each) and 1 passion for horses, the only phrase that comes to mind? "Anything's a possibility!"