Honest Scrap Award

Horse of Course was kind enough to bestow the "Honest Scrap" award to my blog! My first award!!! =) I've been following her blog for a while now. She's a dressage rider who lives in Oslo, Norway. Along with providing good, practical training advice, she also shares her trail riding and traveling adventures. She lives and rides in an area that receives a lot of snow and has a terribly long winter from the sound of things, but she doesn't let that slow her down overly much. I've picked up a few gems from her site, http://horseofcourseeng.blogspot.com/.

When you receive The Honest Scrap award you must stick to some rules:

Recognize your award presenter and link back to their blog in your post.

List 10 honest things about yourself that others might not know.

Present this award to 10 admirable bloggers and link to their blogs.

Leave a comment on your recipients' blogs to let them know to visit your post to retrieve their award.

Here are 10 honest scraps about me:

1. My husband, my son, and I all have our birthday on the 19th of the month, just different months. Taren, my son, barely made the deadline, arriving at 11:57 PM. Yes, I was pushing like a maniac and some of my first words were "Did we make it? Was it before midnight?"


2. I finished the Tevis Cup 100-mile endurance ride in 2007, which was a dream of mine for 20 years. I'm proud that my first endurance horse was a non-Arab. I think he taught me a lot since the sport wasn't overly "easy" for him but he was very capable if we had our act together. Sinatra has now passed on but he was deserving of his own blog, see here for our ride stories together: http://www.ctsinatra.blogspot.com/


3. I'm equally as proud of my Miss Reno Rodeo 1999 title, and I think that buckle is much prettier. =)


4. I've only been out of the country once, to Victoria, Canada. I would LOVE to travel more, especially internationally. But I don't even HAVE a passport... yet.


5. I have been to a lot of cool places in the United States - Grand Canyon, Bryce, 4-Corners, Disneyworld (& Disneyland), Daytona, Yellowstone, Las Vegas, etc. Most of that is in great thanks to my Grandparents who were willing to haul 3 (or more) bratty kids around in an RV during the summer for a month or more at a time.


6. My ideal job would be something that centered around horses but didn't require me to be outside all hours of the day. Anyone have any cool marketing or promotional type positions open that pay really well???


7. My mom is one of my best friends. Not so much when I was a teenager, but more and more as I get older. I'm just sorry she wasn't into horses when I lived at home and instead waited until I moved out to start riding more and getting a horse of her own.


8. I love my "car". It's a dark sky blue 2005 Dodge Durango, V8 Hemi. With nice wheels. ;)


9. I grow my hair out pretty long then get it all cut off and donate it to Locks of Love. I've done this 4 times now. The last time was partly because of my broken arm... Even seen a husband try to do a ponytail???


10. I strive hard to be the kind of person that other people want to be around and be friends with.

And now for the bloggers to whom I shall pass on this award:

1. Trot on Hank - This is the story of my friend Jonni's horse Hank. Hank lives in Texas and underwent colic surgery in August 2008. Since that time he has returned to competing (and winning the CRAP out of!) NATRC rides.


2. Endurance Granny - E.G. is working on getting her home-bred horse Phebe going in AERC endurance rides. They had a set-back at their first LD and have gone back into training mode. I especially like this blog because E.G. has had a lot of the same issues with Phebe that I'm having (and am somewhat expecting to have) with Diego.


3. Boots & Saddles - Mel has been competing in endurance for a couple of years now. She's a fellow West region rider, but we haven't had the chance to actually meet. She's planning on making her first attempt at Tevis (which is also her first 100-miler) this year. I hope to get the chance to meet her there!


4. Go Pony - This is my friend Ashley in Arizona. Again, we haven't met in person but will most certainly be spending time together at Tevis this year. Ashley rides a POA mare Mimi in endurance and this blog is a chronicle of their adventures together. I think it's especially cool that Ashley does most of her rides with her dad, something I really enjoy sharing with my mom as well.


5. Living in a Zoo - Another endurance blog!!! I think it's fabulous how many riders, especially new riders, are documenting their journey into this sport that I so love. Not only is Elly starting to compete with her horse Jasper, she's a fourth year vet student! I don't know how she finds the time. I'm excited to hear more about her adventures, both in the clinic and at rides.


6. Zephyr's Wonderful Wanderings - Sharon and her horse Zephyr live in Maine and recently completed their first 100-mile ride! Zephyr is a beautiful Arab/Rocky Mountain cross. I'm also throughly jealous of their beach rides along the coast.


7. Adventures on Arabee - Nicole had been conditioning her mare Arabee to compete in their first ride, but that got put on hold while she and her husband add the blessing of a second child to their family. She's still updating occassionally. I'm sure we'll hear more from her this winter/spring on the horse-front.


8. EnduranceRider - April in Tennessee has two horses which she's doing rides on, Tanna on whom she recently completed her first 100-miler at last year's National Championship, and Serts who recently completed his very first LD (25-mile) ride.


9. Karen's Endurance Ride Stuff - No endurance blog directory (which this is becoming) would be complete without the Martha Stewart of endurance riding, Karen Chaton. Her blog (actually the whole site) is just a WEALTH of resources. I've seen and passed on many a link to her site for many, many different topics from barefoot hoof care, equine nutrition, tack tips, ride history, and much, much more.


10. A Good Horse - A non-endurance blog! Solitairemare has a fairly new-to-her horse named Rugby. After getting dumped a little while ago, she has decided to go back to basics and work on more groud work and gaining respect with Rugby. Sound familiar??? She has a trainer, T.S., who has been helping her achieve her goals. Like me, she's very much ready to start riding again.

I have many other blogs I really enjoy following as well, please see the sidebar. I tried to mainly include those that I thought would post a response.