Colorado Horses

      I am somewhat of a super slacker these days when it comes to my blog. But, in my defense, I am incredibly busy. Not that that is anything new for me but the blog has had to take a back seat quite a lot lately. It has happened before and it will happen again. Even though I do have other cool photos from Colorado I want to wrap up my trip with photos of the horses I got to meet. When I told people I was going to Colorado I said I was going out to judge a horse show and to meet my friends' horses. It was in my plan and I am glad it was in my friends' plans as well!

    First up on horse-meeting day was Olive, Jennifer Buxton's horse. Like many people, I am sure, I feel like I have known Olive since Jennifer got her. It has always been so great to hear about things with Olive and especially to hear about the progress Jennifer has made with her. So when Jennifer said she was going to treat me like an absolute beginner when it came to riding Olive I was fine with that. I have ridden quite a lot, off and on, for years, but I would consider myself a beginner in most ways. And I don't want to mess up someone's hard work with their horse! I also have ridden a lot of trail horses that are not very sensitive to anything.

     Clearly, I was just really happy to be on a horse. It is a fairly rare occurrence these days, since I am so busy. I am always really happy when anyone shares their horse with me!

photo by Jennifer Buxton

     Travis also loves horses, and rode for several years himself, but he stayed on the ground and hung out this time. 

Photo by Jennifer Buxton

     We took a lovely group photo and I am completely ready to go traveling all over to meet up with more model horse friends and take lots of group photos. And do lots of model horse group dinners. 

Travis and Anne Field, Cheryl Ellison, Tiffany Purdy, Jennifer Buxton, Christina Harrington and Fabian Rodriguez

      

     After we hung out with Olive for a while we went to lunch. This was a fun time as well. I needed to kill about 20 minutes afterwards, before heading out to meet Cisco, so I went to the tack store next to the bar where we had lunch. 

    I already had no more room in my luggage, but tack stores are fun. I decided I didn't need anything so we were going to leave, and I figured I should check out the clearance racks on the porch. Because of course things that are on clearance will more easily fit in my full luggage. Well, I found a slinky dress on the rack. Black velvet leopard print, spaghetti straps and a high thigh slit. And I laughed and laughed. Of course I had to buy it! I wore it out dancing and told everyone I bought it at a tack store in Colorado. It's a gorgeous dress and makes for a really good story as well. 

     After buying a sexy dress at a tack store, Travis and I headed out to meet Cisco. He is even cuter in person!

     We immediately made friends. I would have taken him home if he would have fit in my luggage and if I could have gotten away with it. 

I basically stole Cisco while I was there. 

     I had been very excited, though also a bit nervous, about trying side saddle. It was absolutely terrifying for a couple of minutes until I realized I just needed to work with Cisco and relax. Some parts were still awkward, like putting pressure on him with my right leg, but the sway became very relaxing. Side saddle is surprisingly comfortable when you calm down and realize you are not going to fall off. 

Christina had a turn trying side saddle as well. 

     Then I stole Cisco again and had to work really hard to try to get him to go at a faster walk. I had forgotten how hard it is to walk quickly in a sand arena. And I had forgotten that I can't breathe in Colorado! My quick paced walk around the arena had me very out of breath and questioning if I was that out of shape (turns out I am not that out of shape, I just can't breathe in Colorado).

     I absolutely love this photo of us!

     Travis and I went to the Denver museum of Science and Nature on our last day, where I did get some photos, but I just fought with blogger and Chrome for several days to add one more photo to this blog. There will be no more photos in here. We also went out to a fantastic Mexican restaurant with Fabian where my very limited Spanish at the door was enough to fool the waitress into thinking I spoke Spanish. I had to tell her I don't have very much Spanish (yet!) but it gives me hope that I am actually making progress with all of those lessons. 

    To sum up, I had a really fantastic trip to Colorado. I wish it had been longer, but that need to make money forced me to come back to Massachusetts and go to work. But I really do want to travel more and hang out with model horse people. And I definitely will be spending more time in Colorado.