Many Changes, for the Good

It's done! My diploma is at my house, and its official! I have graduated from Oklahoma State University with an Ag Leadership major and an Animal Science minor.

Yesterday, I was elected as the Vice-President of the OCTA. I am excited to get back into the organization and see what I can bring to the table to help the club and organization grow. Check out OCTA at oklahomaeventers.us

I added a new horse to my string in September, and he is finally going extremely well under saddle.

First Ride on Bravo. He was such a good pony!

TC Champ or Rio Bravo is a 2004, 16.0 hand Bay Thoroughbred gelding. He raced successfully until September of 2013. The plans for Bravo right now is to come out at Feather Creek and do Beginner Novice and then he will probably move up to Novice at a schooling show. So far we have been extremely pleased with him and the way he is progressing. He is currently for sale.

I have also taken on the responsibly of becoming the leader of the Wynnewood 4H chapter. I have extremely excited to get started on this and help these kids with all of their livestock projects and get them to some contests.

As for O'Malley, he will come out this spring at Feather Creek as well and he will run at the Training level. I'm going for few out but extremely high quality outs for him this year. We will then look at the calendar and decide where he is going next.

I will get some pictures up of Bravo as soon as my computer decides to load them :) so stay tuned.

Until next Time
*Kick On*

The Beginning of the End

Well, tomorrow starts my last first day of college! Its been a hell of a road and an incredible journey and I am sad to see it end. But we must all grow up at some point. I'm ready to get on with my life, both with my husband and my career.

As of right now, O'Malley (who is completely adorable) is done with his EPM treatment and is 100% better. He is back to normal and will begin jumping again this coming Saturday. I am so lucky to have this amazing horse to compete and call mine and I'm so glad he has recovered this well. We are looking at the calendar for where we will possibly go this fall for shows, and its looking like maybe Holly Hill and/or Texas Rose. We are taking it slow for now and we will also have to wait to see if school allows me to compete.

I completed my internship with Airborne Stables, LLC about a week ago and it was an amazing experience. I began the summer as barn manager and finished up as assistant trainer :) I am please to announce that soon I will begin teaching lessons and starting another journey as a professional in the sport of 3-Day Eventing! I helped my first student this summer go from never having sat on a horse before to being able to walk, trot, canter on his own and he began jumping some small fences.

That's it for now, I better go enjoy my last free day before classes start. So until next time,

*Kick On*

Daddy Remembered, Horses' break your heart, and a New Name.

       Its been a really long time since I've blogged. To be honest, after my last post I just lost all desire to want to communicate what was going on in my life with or without my horses. Very soon after losing my faithful long time partner, Troll, I lost a huge part of the Rockin' Shamrock Team. My father was a huge part of our team and it was hard to continue on without him. I did not event through the fall, I had no desire to and the one jumper show I did was just ok. I don't know what I would have done without the backing of my incredible family, my best friends (Meaghan, Emma, Emily, Kim and a lot of other people), Ty, and of course O'Malley.
      So now fast forward to Spring/Summer '13, another changed major (graduation this time) and a wedding.
      I found my calling in life, Ag Leadership is where my heart belonged all along and I have met some incredible people/friends/new family. I am completing an internship with Airborne Stables, LLC and will graduate in December.
      O'Malley and I had one, mediocre outing this spring at Mill Creek, once again being shafted in the dressage, was having a great ride across the country when O'Malley decided that there were man (I mean horse) eating tadpoles in the water jump, and ending with a great show jumping ride. Cue the beginning of what was going to be a long summer of mysteries. After returning home, Meg noticed that O'Malley wasn't traveling right behind. His LH was twisting while he was going, however being my super hero of a horse, he once again wasn't letting me know of top of him that something was wrong, he just kept going and getting better. Then about a month ago, even though he is still very willing to compete all the Advanced level dressage movements, he could no longer hold himself uphill. *Call in back-up* I mean, Dr. Bullock and Dr. Hague. After a month of testing it was decided that O'Malley has EPM... great another one. However, this time is much different than Shorty's case and will likely have a completely different outcome. Time will tell, and I will keep you posted.
      7-6-13 is a date that I will for the rest of my life celebrate. Ty and I finally tied the knot! The day was incredible and went off without any issues and I could not be any happier.
     Hopefully, I will be able to announce soon, that my mare Swain's Song is in foal to Flagmount's Freedom :) :) :) Again, I will let y'all know as soon as I know something. So we will eventually have to come up with a name for the adorable foal (everyone cross your fingers and pray for a bay colt) :)

Until then,

*Keep Kicking*

Dash De Kas

Once in a lifetime, we, as riders, are given a horse who lacks in talent but makes up for it with the size of his heart. My trainer used to tell me, this horse shouldn't be this good. He isn't scopy, he isn't fancy, and he is half crippled when he gets home from a show. But that horse will do anything for you. It didn't matter the distance, the height, the degree of difficulty, if I said jumped Troll answered with how how.

Troll as he was known around the barn was a homebred Quarter Horse. A racing Quarter Horse to be more exact. And yes, he raced, he raced ten times. Failed, but tried. He was not the typical Quarter Horse type. He looked like a Thoroughbred, all 16.3 hands of him, and he was as narrow as a rail, but quiet minded and honest like a Quarter Horse. He was originally intended to be sold, but had a tongue problem and would hang it out of his mouth while you were riding him. Thus, no one wanted him. I had out grown my first horse, and the other option was a moody Hann/TB mare that I would soon out grow as well. Troll was the logically option. The first time Meighan, my trainer, saw him it took me 30 minutes to saddle him, and another 15 minutes to get a bridle on him. She looked at my mother, and said you let your 12 year old child ride this?! My replied with a yes. Meg soon realized that Troll and I shared something deep. Even though he dumped me 8 times in that first lesson. I kept getting back on. We did our first Novice in 2003, with the hopes of moving right on up to training. But his lameness issues held us back. He had horrible hocks, and his stifles were starting to go as well. But he kept on trying. In the spring of 2004, we did 1 novice, and moved up to training and from our first Novice at Holly Hill in April, to Holly Hill in October of 2004 we went from Novice to Prelim. And not only competing at Prelim but competitive at Prelim. He ran around that track like it was another Novice. Spring of 2005 we did a few more Prelims, and then contested our first CIC* in June. He wasn't sound. He shouldn't have passed the jog, but he tried his heart out for me, and we made it through to show jumping. Troll was retired at the completion of that show. His joints couldn't hold up to the stress of competition. He happily lived out in my field behind my house or over at my grandfathers. Giving the occasional ride to my family members, my best friend Emily, or my mom. Who tried to bring him out of retirement last fall, but couldn't get him to walk let alone make it through a dressage test. Always loved, and never forgotten.

My first Novice, my first Training, my first Prelim, and my first International event. Troll was there from the start. He taught me how to ride an average horse, and make him exceptional. An event horse doesn't have to be fancy, they don't have to be scopy, they must love their person and love their job. Only the good die young.

May 6 1993-September 2012

End of Summer, Start of a new year, school that is.

I'm really horrible at updating here. However, summer has been very busy, and a lot has happened around the ranch.

To begin with, Harry has been sold! He now lives with a wonderful adult amateur in Texas, and even sports a new name. We look forward to seeing "Lance" and his new mom this fall at the Beginner Novice level around Area 5.

O'malley has been absolutely fabulous all spring and summer. Holly Hill started the year off for us, and he finished 4th in the Senior Training division after a good test, a double clear show jumping and a fast clear cross country round. Greenwood was next on the list, and poor O'Malley had to do dressage at 3pm in the Texas heat, however, he managed a GREAT test. Tied for 2nd after dressage. A super cross country round from my super horse moved us up to tied for 1st with our long time friends Ellie and Big D. Show Jumping proved hard for everyone and even with two rails we still managed to win the division :) and the top placed Irish horse award. We traveled next to Kansas City to attend Mill Creek P.C. and after a tough weekend, with some interesting scoring and rules we still aren't sure about, we finished 4th in another large division. Feather Creek was next on the list, and overall was a great weekend. O'Malley produced an amazing test, even if it didn't score the way it should have, and an overall all good show jumping round, and an interesting cross country we still managed another 4th place finish. At this point we were standing strong on the USEA Training Leaderboard :) check that off my list!!! Texas Rose was in June and we were ready to fight another big fight. However, once again he didn't score the way he should have, and a cross country that was extremely too easy we finished out of the ribbons.

Last week we contested our first jumper show of the year, and O'Malley won $180 :) so proud of my boy, and his form has improved so much, and my position as well its amazing.

We make the move back to Stillwater in two days, and we can't wait to return to the glorious land where the water is still :) keep cool, and pray for rain, and remember...

*Kick On* and *Bump Harder*

Merry Christmas, Here's to the New Year

Merry Christmas everyone!

It is amazing how fast the year 2011 has flown by and now year 2012 is nearly upon us. I am one step closer to achieving my degree from OSU, and therefore, closer to marrying the man of my dreams :) I have decided that we are going to have a little fun with the blog now, and we are going to do a little bio on each of our horses that are currently here at Rockin' Shamrock Ranch. Back when I first created the blog, I gave a quick run down on each horse, and now I am going to go in depth on each horse, and will even bring back a few familiar faces, and horses that I rode for extended periods of time for people.

So our first entry in the "Biography of our Horses" section will be...

CASTLEBAR FRIDAY

O'Malley as he is known around the barn, is a coming 13 year old Bay Irish Sport Horse gelding, He stands right at 17 hands tall. I imported O'Malley as a 7 year old from Ireland, in January of 2006 and he has been a blessing to my life for the past 6 years. After arriving in the states, O'Malley and I did our first event at Holly Hill in the Open Training division, we had an okay dressage, a good show jumping, and a very educational cross country round. He was amazing, until jumping into the main field, and suddenly there were tons of people, and that was it and he wanted no part of the people. Our next outing was a success compared to our first outing. Greenwood was next on the list, and our dressage, since we had another month to prepare, was remarkably better, show jumping great again, and he ran around cross country clean. Since, we were improving by leaps and bounds, we decided to go ahead and bump up to Prelim, at Crosstar. Dressage was good, and then cross country was next. After starting out the cross country well, I fell at the water, as O'Malley decided to leave the stride out to the hanging rail, and then stop at the bank, I did NOT get wet :) however, I did leave the show with a prize, a broken thumb. By the time I was home, I had called the vet, who I had planned on fixing my hand, until we realized that it was completely shattered, and surgery it was. After, my trainer rode O'Malley all summer, as I was off from surgery, and then at Young Riders with Vince, we came out in the fall, and had success at Greenwood, and Holly Hill. Both at Training level.

Spring of 2007 came and we started out our year at Training, O'Malley won the dressage, and held on to the lead after a perfect show jumping. However, again it was not our show, and he injured himself in warm up for cross country. After a month off, and slow rehab of a torn hamstring, O'Malley came back out at Briar Fox placing 6th. He had a very successful fall season after a very success summer of 2007.

Spring of 2008 we decided to go east for some early spring shows, catching Poplar Place and Pine Top, both at Training level, and both with super results!! 5th at Poplar, and 6th at Pine Top. Holly Hill in April, we would move back up to Prelim again, and this time would have good results. He ran Prelim at Holly Hill, Greenwood, Mill Creek, Briar Fox (which he won) Maui Jim, Plantation, the AEC's and Greenwood again for the area Championships.

2009 brought good results again for O'Malley and I runs at Prelim at Holly Hill, his first CIC* at Greenwood.

2010 O'Malley came out at Holly Hill again in the Prelim, and we got about half way around the course, when I realized, that I had no breaks left... So decided that I wanted to go home in one piece I walked off the course, so we reevaluated our breaks, and moved back to Training. He ran Training at Greenwood, had a win at Briar Fox, and a great outing at the Colorado Horse Park, and then for the fall we took a break from competing and worked on getting better.

2011 we came out with a vengeance for wanting it all again. O'Malley competing at Feather Creek, Mill Creek, Texas Rose, and Holly Hill, and he placed at every single event. O'Malley and I will be moving back up to Prelim at the beginning of 2012, and will be looking forward to Intermediate hopefully spring of 2013.

O'Malley around the barn is the fun, lovable, giant teddy bear. Everyone can ride him, and he loves attention. He absolutely loves food of any sort, and his all time favorite treat has to be applesauce. Yes, my horse eats applesauce, and eats it right out of the container. He has never met a stranger, and will give kisses to anyone who stops long enough at his stall. In the field, O'Malley is near the top of the pecking order, and his best friend would have to be Harry.

I hope to one day take O'Malley Advanced, and he would then be the first horse that I would have produced to the top level by myself. I have been the only one to ever compete O'Malley and I hope that never changes. I hope that our success will soon land us some very valuable sponsors, who want to be a part of the great horses' career. I have pledged to doing things right by O'Malley and if we ever, need to, we will drop back down the levels, to get it right.

Fall Fandango and new ponies

So this post is long overdue. But here are the results from Fall Fandango

We arrived in Houston late on Thursday night, unloaded the horses (Bennett, Foxy, Sugar, Pancho, Playgirl, Wee Man, Tina, and Chiquita) into the huge arena pasture that they would be living in for the next 4 days, gave them hay, and grain and then headed to the hotel.

Friday morning we (Rader, Jules, Kallie, and I) got up early, ate breakfast at the hotel, and went out to take care of our ponies. We decided the night before that we would ride the ponies in the morning to tune them up and ourselves up before our match at 3:30. We proceed to feed the ponies, clean take and exercise our noble steeds. We had a meeting at 1 for the players, so we grabbed a quick lunch, and went to the beautiful facility where the matches were going to be held. On our way to lunch, the wonderful, Parker, made an appearance to help us for the weekend.

The meeting was held, and as soon as it commenced we raced to the barn and picked up our ponies, arrived back at the arena and watch the Texas A&M girls finish playing the Texas Tech girls.

Our game started a little late, but we played the University of Texas girls first. We played a hell of a game and won with a final score of 15-4 YAHOO. That brought us our final qualifying score for regionals in the spring!!!! After finishing our game, the boys of A&M, Tech, and SMU played a "round robin" type game and we hot walked the horses for the SMU boys. During the boys game, my wonderful parents arrived to watch us play on Saturday. :) We finished up with the boys, loaded our horses, took them home, gave grain and hay, and headed back to the hotel.

Saturday morning brought an early morning, as our game was at 11. So we were at the barn by 8 am, and loaded and headed to the arena around 9:30. Our second game, would be a rematch again Texas Tech. Our game started on time, and by the end, we had dominated with a commanding 16-2. That ended our weekend, with 2 wins, and a total of 31 points for us, and only 6 points against us!! GO POKES!!!

We loaded our ponies after our game, and took them back to the beautiful farm where they were staying, went back to the hotel showered, changed, and then my parents took the 4 girls to a late lunch/early dinner at a great little mexican place that we found! After eating, we returned to the arena to watch the boys play again. After some great polo, we went back to the hotel, and got some much needed sleep, so we could load up and head home Sunday morning.

We were on the road by 10 am Sunday morning, and we were back in Stillwater by 9pm. We picked up 2 new polo ponies on the way home, and while we were picking up the 2nd, we got in a few "Sunday Chukkas" in Decatur, Texas!! WAY TOO MUCH FUN. The OSU polo team received an 8 year old bay mare named Berlin, and an 18 year old grey gelding named Tornado. They are great ponies!!!

That next week we gained another new horse, a 3 year old black/brown mare named Skyy who we got off the track. You would never know that she was off the track however, other than her first time out in the pasture when she ran around like a madman lol. I sat on her 2 days after getting her, we did a little walk and trot, and I could swing a mallet, and hit balls, as well as have Meaghan throw balls at her!! What a star!!

That is about it for now, so until next time...

*Kick On* *Bump Harder*