Got some GREAT pics today! and a Thanks!

First off, huge thanks to Stephanie at http://theaspiringequestrian.blogspot.com/ for giving me an award called the Honest Scrap award.

"When you receive The Honest Scrap award you must stick to some rules: Recognize your award presenter and link back to their blog in your post. List 10 honest things about yourself that others might not know. Present this award to 10 admirable bloggers and link to their blogs. Leave a comment on your recipients' blogs to let them know to visit your post to retrieve their award."

10) I just got an animal called a Sugar Glider. Her name is JJ and she is so cool!

9) I've lost about 25 lbs, and hoping to lose about 25 more!

8) Just went white water rafting for the first time up in Tennessee and it was WAY fun!

7) I have played the lottery in some form or fashion every single week since I turned 18 ... and I'm 30 now!

6) I plan to scrapbook every year of my son's life until he gets married ... and I'm about 4 years behind on it right now!

5) We have now done 4 cruises together as a family, and plan to do one every year indefinitely!

4) I love Disney movies, but not crazy about all the teen junk that's on Disney Channel that my son insists is "so cool".

3) I did NOT want to see the first Transformers movie. Now I think it's safe to say that both of them are on my top 5 list of all time GREAT movies!

2) I haven't ridden a 4 wheeler in 7 years and I MISS it like crazy:(

1) I have 4 fairly large tattoos and am currently planning a 5th!

I really enjoy Stephanie's blog because Fawkes is a big chestnut ottb like my boy (although, mine's not that big, lol)! I hope to be able to get my boy the type of lessons/training she's done with Fawkes here in the near future, and hope her ankle heals up quickly.:)

I'll have to post my own list of awards in a different post because Hubby's waiting me to finish up this current on! Today was good. A friend from the barn I teach at came out to Tiki's barn with me today. She watched me ride the boy and took some good pictures of us, yay! I am happy that I feel so strong ... a pic that a student of me took right at a year ago showed me jumping ahead, leg turned way too far out, leg slipped way back, hands planted and rigid in the horse's neck, and my elbows flapping out. The pic took today showed my leg right in place, seat out of the saddle according perfectly to his thrust, heels down, back flat, hands in an automatic release and following his neck. Yay! Tiki was a good boy; did a few of his "tricks". Missed the right lead twice ... not sure what was up with that. Maybe since I had an audience I wasn't setting him up perfectly. Went fairly quickly through the warmup, then jumped around a little bit. Jumps were good; no knockdowns!! I'll post pics now.:) My friend confirmed that the trot looks way better; bigger and slower, just as I've been working for.:)

For the first time ever in his life, Tiki was actually ridden by "little kids". My friend has 3 kids; ages 9, 6, and 2. The 9 and 6 year old take lessons from me, and were able to actually get him to trot around. He was reluctant ... he kept looking at me to make sure that was what he was supposed to do. Then my friend got on him; Tiki was definitely the most horse she's ever ridden. She would get him to trot, say "Good Boy", and he would stop. Lol, I had to get her to quit telling him "good", ha ha. Once she did, he trotted around a few times for her. They even cantered, and he didn't get fast at all, YAY!! All in all, it was a GREAT day!:)