Month: January 2010

I was just doing laundry (yes we all have to do it sometime) and realized that some people have suits they take the to the laundry while I have equestrian apparel. It’s was a nice thought that I can wear for work what I also love to do and that revolves around horses. Now after getting back from Holland I don’t have any qualms about going out in public in my riding gear (less my dress or polo boots) as it’s really common there and even the awesome ladies that work at The Tack Factory (Hi Ellen!!!!!! I miss you guys! Picollo says hello to Asha!). Training in Oregon and SoCal it wasn’t much of a thing but you don’t see to many dressage folks in this area so you do get interesting stares from the local farmers or military crowd. I’m proud of the life I have and the tasks and apparel that goes with it so I’ll be picking my fruit at the local market alongside the folks in their business attire with pride. Oh and with a little detergent, cold water wash inside out and hang to dry, my work clothes are MUCH easier, cheaper and better for the environment to clean! Yah!

So I had a great first ride on the gelding and completely forgot to blog about it or post pictures. Dang you Twitter account! So yes, I did Tweet this picture and, for whatever reason, remembered this morning I did not blog it! Zoinks! So this was post first ride on the gelding and no, he still doesn’t have a name yet. I’m thinking Sir Bolero since he’s a Sir Donnerhall (Sandro Hit) out of a Bolero mare then I could just call him Bo as in the Bo from Dukes of Hazzard (the original, not the crappy movie remake) as he is quite handsome.

Sorry, I digress. Here’s the picture. He was awesome! Ex refused to let me off the lunge for the picture and told me he’d never been that nervous in his entire life. What? This guy (Marine) who studied combat life saving, trained in combat, deployed to Iraq and is someone who I personally consider a pretty brave human was nervous? Guess it’s different when it’s his wife that could potentially be bucked off. 😉 The long and the short, the little guy was splendid and he’s now going quite well without the lunge around the arena even and touching on some really basic leg yielding plus he long lines soooo nicely it makes me want to take up driving! Nah! Not really, I like riding too much. So without further delay here’s the picture.

That title sounds like it should be some classic rock song but really it’s just simply stated that we put the chickens in the sun today. They are currently in the old hay barn under lights but it was such a lovely day that why not get them some vitamin D! I think an chicken tractor is in order at some point this spring and can’t wait for these gals to start laying again! I think they are almost finished molting so hopefully they’ll be back in the nests boxes shortly after!

So I’m about to start trying out this bedding I found which seems quite innovative. I know nothing first hand but from reading about it. It’s 100% pine sawdust, twice filtered for dust and compressed using 10,000 pounds of pressure into a pelleted form. We’re going to swap bedding this week and start using it. It should be as easy as pouring a few 40 pound bags into the stall, spreading evenly and adding water to fluff. I think the innovative Shaken Fork I use should be perfect for this product actually! A couple reasons why I’m so interested in this bedding?.. We currently have 4 acres so space is a concern and shavings bags do take up a large footprint. These bags in this picture is about a 4 months supply of bedding for 2 horses!! So lower carbon footprint based on the shipping plus much less space requirement at your stable. Another big selling point for me is we’re wanting to compost and taking little steps to sustainability so the less bedding we pull out and more just manure that we pull the smaller and more rich pile we’ll have! Well, I’m excited to try and and SOOOO thankful that I have a job where I can test really innovative products and meet such kewl people in the industry! More to follow and we might even do a webisode on it! So stay tuned or as we say… Tune in. Tack up.

Yes, the gelding doesn’t have a name yet but I’d really like a great name since he’s for resale. He’s just too cute but I don’t want to give him a cutesy name as there’s such great movement in this guy that he needs something a bit more powerful. Well the name aside, he’s doing great and we’re going walk, trot and canter around the arena now and he’s starting to get it. He has great changes in his pasture that I’m kinda bummed my plan is to sell him this year but who knows what will happen. I still have a safety person present and Ex has been that person for me. He snapped a couple of quick photos with the iPhone while I was lunging. I think he’s still a bit too nervous and busy watching to snap some while I’m riding around but we’ll get some soon and post. I’m also planning some video and photo shoot with the mare soon so that should be too much fun and hopefully yield some great footage and images. Oh and for those techie viewers, nope… that isn’t Photoshop! The weather these past few days has been simply amazing! So the grass is still it’s nice winter brown but the sky has been spectacular!



Yes I know I’m lunging with a helmet on but I put it on when we walk out to the court so I don’t forget to attach it to my head before mounting. Tehe!

Equestrian Collections, English Riding Supply and HorseGirlTV teamed up to giveaway an ANKY Remy Carriat Dressage Saddle. We’ll be announcing the winner on February 28th so remember to Tune in. Tack up. with us here at HorseGirlTV for the winner announcement! We just sent a Tweet today about the finalists selection so if you’re already following up on Twitter then you already know! Submit finalist selection entry to Team HorseGirlTV for the drawing in March by filling out the form online at http://team.horsegirltv.com.

This FREE, brand new ANKY Dressage Saddle is valued at $2800.00!

Any taxes are the responsibility of the winner. The decision of the judges is final. The winner will be announced on here and on Equestrian Collections sometime in March so remember to check back!

This contest is void where prohibited by law. If we have a winner located outside the US, they will pay shipping of the saddle.

Best of luck to you all in this awesome give away! A big thanks goes to Chris at Equestrian Collections (http://equestriancollections.com) for putting this all together AND more importantly providing the give away saddle! Thanks for your support EC! As I always say, thanks for watching HorseGirlTV and we’ll see you next time!

Tune in. Tack up.

Angelea and Team HorseGirlTV!

We have the wash area almost complete and it looks great! The additional concrete was spread around the existing circular pad & drainage. Next we’ll add the cross ties, put the mats back on and it’ll be ready for horses! Yah! It’s so neat!



We both put our initials in the corner! My first autograph on a property since I was a wee little girl! Too cute!

I’ve been writing off and on for Dressage Today since, if I remember correctly, 2004 when my first feature on the FEI Freestyle Forum in Germany was published. Patty, the awesome DT editor, is such a great lady to work with/for and I wish I had more time to submit more work for them! I know it’s so old school of me but I do keep all my tear sheets from not only Dressage Today but other publications who have published my work and I still have an old school portfolio. Well, yesterday I received the tear sheet from my recent work they purchased and published in the January 2010 of Dressage Today and, even though I’ve been a tech geek for over 15 years, it never gets old seeing your work in print!

You can read the article about my experiences as a working student and in the industry via their affiliate online at http://www.equisearch.com/lifestyle/education/working_students_120909/ but for an old fashioned flavor you can look at the JPG version of my handy dandy tear sheet below. If you haven’t yet subscribed to DT, they are a great mag and you should consider it. You can read some of their articles, like mine this month, on EquiSearch at http://www.equisearch.com/dressagetoday/.

I was just realizing I actually have two offices! Wow! Most people only have one. Here’s the view of one of my offices from the other office. I was just out there working the adorable gelding from the ground (officially un-named still as I’m still waiting to receive his papers). He was a rockstar with his ground work today and as soon as the weather permits several consecutive days of ground work, I’ll back him (of course as long as there’s supervision from the ground, haha!). I do think he’ll be a sweetie-pie tho as he’s really got his voice commands down after only 1.5 weeks and maybe 6 times working with me so far.



I can’t wait for Edwin with Attwood Equestrian Surfaces to come down for an interview so we can move forward with turning our little arena into a fancy dressage court! Check them out if you haven’t heard of them as they have the leading footing products in the states as far as I know! They are at http://equestriansurfaces.com/ and both Edwin and Nick are AWESOME!

Okey, I have to get back to training now as this over 40F weather is stellar and Miss C is probably feeling neglected now that the gelding had all the attention today so far. I hope the weather is a fabulous where you all are at!