2024 Review

Oh another year gone, where did it go?!

Well let’s see if I can catch up the last few months…

-The chicken endeavor has not gone as planned. We now have only 1 of the originals! Ended up with 2 nasty roosters, who we found ways to dispose of, and now just have 2 hens, neither of which are laying eggs 🤦‍♀️ We’ll try to get a few more hens in spring, now that we know we like Bantams the best!
-Skyler had a blast with Cross Country and placed very well for her age group at the final meet.
-Jasmine didn’t end up working out; after a month of trying to get kitties to get along, she just was too aggressive towards Luna, and Luna went into hiding and was very stressed out. Jasmine was returned to the shelter for a new family – single-cat household.
-Skyler and Sally were “Reserve Champion” in Short Stirrup Hunter – a great full first year of the “big kid” competition and really boosted her jumping confidence.
-Skyler’s Challenge Soccer team was in 2nd place at the end of thee fall season. Now they have a winter indoor league for fun games only (no practices) before the spring season kicks back in!
-Asher finished up his season with the Travel Soccer team. They all came together playing as a team by the end, but typically were matched against higher teams and didn’t win often.
-Early October Skyler and I returned to NJ, with Breeze along, for a 2nd trial on the horse she liked. We stayed overnight and brought back NF Drumroll to VA. Drum settled in well and is now the herd boss. They’ve had about a 1/2dozen rides together due to weather and the soccer schedule. Their first jumping clinic was this week and they did great!
-Late October I took Drum and Breeze to a Tom Moates clinic alone. We confirmed the good-citizenship of Drum and found some things to work on as well for him. I was able to get Breeze to show his antics that I had been seeing on trail with him and we worked through them with some guidance and how to continue to do so at home. It worked well enough that this last ride J&I met for was a bit tough to “set him off” into a worried state over the 14miles covered.
-I got to travel way back “Home” for work in Nov to Rochester, so I was able to go drive by my old house, HS and have coffee with a long time friend while there.
-Asher broke his toe early Dec – an avulsion fracture – that landed him in a boot for 3 weeks and no track practice allowed. He’s been cleared to return, so he can get back in shape for HS soccer tryouts this spring.
-Promptly after that ER trip, we had an appointment to check out a kitten through the same rescue as Luna & Oreo… We brought that kitten home and during our vacation she has been almost fully integrated into the house (hasn’t been allowed loose overnight yet) and now we have Celia and Luna running around for hours playing tag a few times a day. lol

My new job has been great. I’m really happy and enjoying what I do. It took a slightly different turn this summer, which has resulted in a lot more travel, and gaining lots of military acronym knowledge! lol

Doug is still at his job and enjoying things there. Seems like a re-org every year trying to adjust to the market and demands and long term plans, so he has just landed another team reporting to him.

2024 took some turns I didn’t expect… Me feeling lost and insecure about Breeze’s and my future, the missing out on so much this fall that I usually get out to – either out of fear or lack of time. I have to admit I went into the Tom clinic thinking I was going to beg Tom to take Breeze on for training, as I just felt defeated and debating if we should continue. What happened there was not a miracle – but it was eye opening. I was able to see the progress, despite the limited time to work on things, that had been made from someone who’d seen us in the beginning; I was able to confidently work him through the rough spots and get tools to continue our work one step at a time… Larger groups, faster horses, out and back rides, faster speed of travel, different terrain… All in hopes to get us to a “real ride” in 2025!