2014- a first year of blogging in review

I can't believe that it's already been over a year since I started this blog! I did mean to acknowledge the actual anniversary of my first post, buuuuuuut I thought it was later in the month and didn't even bother to check until I'd missed it by about two days.  Oops.  Either way, the actual anniversary was December 7th , after which I promptly didn't write for almost an entire month.  Luckily for me, I decided to make posting at least once a week my New Year's Resolution (which I kept for the most part), and as a result, I got to keep blogging and meet so many great people (metaphorically speaking of course)!

January

I give a little basic background on my horse and where she came from.  I recollect on some progress I've made with not freaking out when someone comments my horse might not be at 100%, and I have my usual crazy winter Jazz.  It seems so weird to think that I didn't know almost any of my now go-to groundwork exercises back then.

Jazz's original sale photo

February

February was definitely my best month for posting, and I learned a lot of things.  The most notable, to me at least, was a new way to lunge which ranks as probably the most useful tool in my groundwork arsenal as of today.  We continue to make good progress with groundwork and respect, and I recount my years at horse camp (read: essentially my entire riding experience pre-Jazz) complete with a slightly cringe-worthy picture from my youth (well, my younger youth).  I also promise an explanation of when I started at the rescue that it now occurs to me I never wrote.  Oops.  Note to self: rescue that story from the drafts.  I unexpectedly attend the Saskatchewan Horse Expo where I got to watch a few clinics and shop at the trade show.

Cutest, sweetest gelding ever

March

I hit a tough spot in our groundwork re-start, though it doesn't last long.  I also participate in my very first blog hop (which explains my URL if anyone missed it and is curious).  I wrote what is still one of my favourite posts to date (you can't go wrong with Julie Andrews, plus it's a nice flashback to being in a production of the Sound of Music).

Mmmm professional quality photography.

April

After my return to basics and groundwork, April is when I started riding again in earnest. For anyone who read my last post about Jazz's teeth, here is the post where I explain what her teeth were like around this time last year.  Jazz starts shedding, though molting seems a more accurate term.

May

I promise another post I never wrote (about the Mane Event)... oops.  There is also a completely unreasonable snow storm which leaves Jazz very cold, stiff, and shivering (and one of my favourite post titles of the year).  Of course the gross weather means I get to break out the blanket I bought almost two years ago and never even took out of the package (I am hardcore on team naked horse, but I draw the line at May snow on my shedding horse), and Jazz looks very cute.  I participate in one of my all time favourite blog hops.  Side note: there is nothing I love more than hearing about bits.  If anyone ever wants to entice me into reading a post on their blog, make it about your bit.  Jazz turns six!

There's a reason everything I bought her for our first two years together was blue. 

I pretend I know how to run barrels (Jazz's favourite) for her birthday, but I fail to stare them into submission.

June

I get a new trainer, and Jazz gets fussier and fussier, until I remember she's due for her teeth (another personal favourite post title).  While I wait on Jazz's mouth to heal up, I take a lesson on my new Trainer's awesome lesson horse.  I buy an English saddle!

Mmmm shiny summer Jazz

July

I hit 1000 pageviews! Jazz continues her random naughtiness, which has been going on since before her teeth were done at this point.  I compare her, not inaccurately, to a rubik's cube, and get in a few bareback rides with the halter on a horse I hadn't ridden properly in the saddle for about two weeks.  I somehow manage to get away without serious injury. I own up to some of the blogs I check obsessively  follow, and we buy a trailer. 

One of my favourite pictures of us. 

August

I update a little about my horse, and discover that purple is her color. I attempt to sell a couple of things in a tack swap with no success (which I still have and can be viewed here).  I take a trip to London, England, and document everything horsey in sight (which reminds me, I ought to finish up that post since I still have some exciting pictures I never shared).

September

Jazz goes on the only trail ride we've managed this year.  I avoid actual updates via blog hops and questions.  I write the longest post EVER about the Household Cavalry Museum in London.  I make a first attempt at starting a blog hop with sadly, no takers.

October

Definitely the worst month for posting with a dismal 2 posts.  I fess up to how I've been jumping behind everyone's backs.  I also attend my first show, but the post for that isn't until November, so I'll include it there.  

November

I attend my first show and Jazz is awesome!  We manage a 1st, 2nd, and a 5th, despite a rocky start to the morning.  Basically all else that happens in November is I don't ride my horse.  I talk about hypothetical future disciplines and take some of my favourite pictures of Jazz ever.  

And I'm not going to bother wrapping up December, as it's barely half over.  It seems so weird looking back at all I didn't know then and all I do know now.  I also learned I promised a few posts that I did not deliver on, but will be sure to revisit (such as when I met Jazz, the times she's bucked me off, the posts left over from London I still wanted to share).  It's pretty unlikely I'll write about the Mane Event from way back in May now, unless I have a reader particularly dying to read about me struggling to remember details from months ago, in which case let me know in the comments.

Another mostly unrelated note: at some point in the last couple of months I hit 2000 pageviews and failed to note it on my blog then.  As of now, I have 2462. Yay!