In the Arena # 102 - No pain, no gain + awards!

I love when awards roll around the blogosphere. It's a great opportunity to discover new blogs, and share your favorites. (And prizes make me happy!)

We've been given the Liebster award by Amy at Slow and Steady Wins the Race, and Annette from News From Aspen Meadows. Amy's blog shares how she manages to train her ottb Steady to be an eventer - her passion, as well as run a farm and be a full time mother. She tells it like it is, with a great sense of humor. Annette rides dressage, cooks good looking food, and has a most beautiful ranch with many lovely residents, featuring her horses Jackson and Winston.

Liebster means “dearest” in German, and the award is intended to help up-and-coming blogs get the attention they deserve. Here are the rules:

1. Copy and paste the award on our blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who gave you the award. 
3. Pick your five favorite blogs with less than 200 followers, and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have received the award.
4. Hope that the five blogs chosen will keep spreading the love and pass it on to five more blogs!

Here are my choices - spreading the love. :)

Paradigm Farms Horse Retirement - Melissa and her husband Jason run an absolutely perfect equine retirement farm in Tennessee. Besides providing loving, conscientious care to the residents, somehow Melissa and Jason find time to (frequently) document their goings on with photos, video and stories. What a bonus for the horses' people!

Collecting Thoroughbreds - Sarah's blog documents she and her ottb Derby's dressage journey seriously, but always with humor. I relate to her so much - and am very jealous of her awesome trainer.... see next award recipient.

TB at X - Christy is a sensitive, thoughtful dressage trainer who uses patient classical methods to train her two ottbs and a number of students (see previous award recipient). She is also blessed with the ability to put her knowledge and experience into words, clearly and concisely. Her blog posts always resonate.

Of horses and boys... and everything in between - horsemom balances motherhood and her dressage journey with humor and passion. We're on the same page about putting our horses first as we navigate the realm of classical dressage.

TB Friends - Joe Shelton runs a super successful thoroughbred rescue and re-homing operation in California. He saves injured horses right off the track. He deals with the kill buyers. He helps folks who are losing their farms. He has a loyal group of volunteers as well as a huge online following. A more humble, dedicated man you may never meet. Beautiful things happen because of this blog. Visit - you'll be inspired.

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Anti-saddle bareback campaign ride #2... an effective ride with tons of trotting. Forward is coming back. I believe I'm getting the hang of the posting without stirrups thing. Iron thighs and a core of steel when this is all said and done... and tomorrow I expect to hurt. Badly.

Terry from Moondance Ranch left me a great comment on my past post, with a link to the series of 9 Schleese videos about proper saddle fitting. Great resource. I wish I had seen these before I bought my saddle. I feel like I can make an informed choice about saddle fit now - and be a proper advocate for my horse. The videos absolutely confirmed that because of his shoulders, Val needs a wider tree. Even though he has sufficient wither clearance with a medium, he doesn't have room to move his shoulders. I hope we haven't done too much damage.

Speaking of Val - happy 10th birthday my mane man!!! The new saddle is coming, but until then....