So I think I left off last time with coming home from BC and the farm being a mess...

I lived with my mom from when I got home in May 2006 until I moved out with my bestest friend Niki in October 2007. In that time I finished getting my GED through learning centers since the head honcho at the highschool deemed me pschotic after my episodes there through my teens...can't say as I blame him. I had to travel about an hour and a half every day to Winnipeg for my first two credits since I was too late to sign up in town 10 minutes from the farm...but got on there for one of my last two credits. I was dumb and somehow mixed up my courses and couldn't take the same one twice and have it count as two...so I ended up going back to the highschool and BEGGING for them to take me back for ONE credit and he still said no. I went straight to the source and explained my situation to the english teacher and she said to ignore the prncipal...just show up to her class twice a week and she'd sign the dotted line saying I completed the course. So, June 2007 I graduated highschool...I had promised Jenn I wouldn't quit and followed through with it. I was pissed at my mom though because for grad pics I wanted to wear my rings and I had done her dishes and left them beside the sink...she put them in a "safe" place and never found them for 7 months. Oh well, c'est la vie.

While doing that I had alot of work cut out for me...mom had let the fence get run into the ground. We have a 10 acre farm. That's ALOT of fence man!!! So I started by tweeking things to make it safe...tie up loose ends, fix busted posts, that sort of stuff. I also had alot of horse work to do! At that time we had Dove and Flika, Cinder and her two colts (Max, 3 years and Khodi, yearling), Shekhan Flika's filly (3 years old), Justus Dove's filly (2 years old), and Mini Man...all 3 boys were stallions. AWESOME!!! I had them all snipped within a couple weeks of being home! Sorry boys :) none for you! While I was away my mom did less than nothing in the way of handling any of these youngsters...joy! SO...I had 2, 3 year olds to start under saddle, a 2 year old to introduce new things to, AND a yearling that was scared of his own shadow. I started with Khodi first and got him desensatized...worked with him for about 4 months before selling him to a lady interested in english stuff and ended up pretty much GIVING him away for $250. I got more than that for my weanlings...but I had too many and he needed to go to someone who had the time. Then I forcussed on the 3 year olds...Shekhan I had started under saddle before I left so her tune up was easy...but I still hated that pony! Ended up selling her to a kid just for western trail riding and pleasure riding - stupid thing is that she's selling her in spring now because pony learned that if she acts up, the kid gets off. Whatever. Max was a little harder...he took patience. But his movement was amazing...seriously, you felt like you were on a horse the way he moved! For having such a short back, she was REALLY smooth! I wish he had been bigger...would've kept him! But I sold him to a lady with a 12 year old daughter, they're doing well now in pony club and apparently working towards small jumps! I'm happy with his placement.

Justus was my treasure...she always had been, since the moment she hit the ground. It KILLS me that she topped out at 14.1hh because she really is such a onderful and smart horse! But me being 5'10 I just feel so big on her. I know she can handle my weight, but my height throws us both off sometimes. I'm just blessed to have found such an awesome kid to lease her...she started riding with us last summer and handled Dove like a pro. Awesome seat and amazing balance...and took instruction like she'd thought of it. When I saw this, I saw stars as to how far she could take Justus and offered a lease with my pony. It's still going stong, had it's stare of bumps but stronger than ever now.

I think I went over what happened with Cinder in my last entry...how I sold her January of '08. After I'd finished highschool I spoke to my gramma about college...we agreed that if I found a course I liked then she'd pay for it with my inheritance money from my dad's death. I looked at a couple things but desided on dental assisting because it was one of my interests I guess, was a one year course, and it's something I can take with me wherever I go. Every city has dentists, every dentist needs an assistant. So I spoke to the college advisor and was enrolled to start in like 2 weeks! I didn't think it would all happen so fast but away I went! I have to say now, COLLEGE SUCKED BALLS! I was in a class of 19 where in the year I went the Dean and 2 of the dental teachers left, one of my teachers was diagnosed with breast cancer, AND we pretty much bought our diplomas. There were at LEAST 4 students in my class that should've failed just because of competancy tests being failed...but they passed them anyway because it would look bad on the school to have so many fail. Ick. BUT I worked hard and got through it, graduated in July of '08. After that I started working in an office but that'll be for my next entry...too much to type there! I ended up using friends and trickery to get Cinder back after I'd graduated. Wendy gave me the money and Niki used her powers of disguise to act as a buyer and trick the girl's mom into selling her. Her mom actually told Niki that "Shay-la is NOT to get ahold of this horse!" To which Niki muffled her laughter and agreed...in any case, she's home and I couldn't be happier.

I'm going to have to cut this one short and save work and Eve's purchase for next time because my laptop is REALLY hot right now and I don't want to lose everything I've typed already because it'll shut itself off when it overheats! Later!