Nov/December Part 1

A big warm or rather COLD! seasons greetings from Starbucks in central Illinois.  Christmas break has began so I have moved from Kentucky back home. I apologize for not updating my blog for a long time.  A difficult situation came up at my apartment and I wasn't able to live there for about 3 weeks and then last week I was too busy with finals.  I have so much I want to write about, but to keep this blog from getting too long, I have decided to spread it out over three separate postings.

Part 1 - Before Thanksgiving

      I had such a good ride on a mare by the name of Tux today. She is a very hard horse to ride because if you touch the reins at all she will run off with you. It takes very quite hands to be able to gather in the slack and advance too the two point position (standing up in the stirrups and placing your hands firmly down on the neck) to be able to keep her in check and in a controlled canter. Today, I achieved this and had one of the greatest rides yet at the academy This was a huge accomplishment for me to be able to ride this mare.  Although it was not with 100% execution, she didn't take off with me and I was able to canter her nicely around the pasture. It was an amazing feeling to be able to achieve this small goal :)

      These past few weeks it has been getting quite cold, but than other days it will get in the 60s. It has been very strange weather. In addition, this has been the wettest year on record in Kentucky. Consequently,our riding is often restricted to the barn which is a little disappointing because all we can do is jog.  

    My vegan diet has since ended.  At the time I was going to post this, I had lost 7 lbs. It was an amazing feeling to be within a pound of the apprentice jockey weight requirement.  I wish I could go on to say that I have kept my weight down and I'm still eating healthy, but sadly that is not the case :(. When my diet ended, my body craved all the sweat, salty and fatty foods that I had kept out of my diet. I couldn't control myself and started eating anything and everything in sight.   I guess I psychologically told myself that if I went on another diet I wouldn't be able to eat these goodies for a while so might as well stock up. Due to this excessive uncontrollable binge, I not only gained all my weight back but I added a few additional pounds. I'm very ashamed with myself that I allowed my body to take over like that. However, this Christmas break I'm planning on kicking my bad eating habits so I can be back to my goal by the time I return to Lexington.

Here is a little teaser and snippet from part 2:

I met a very famous jockey and it is not Chris McCarron.  I get the pleasure of learning from him every day :).

Chris gives the greatest Christmas gift ever!

I'll be posting a few exciting pictures.
I get recognized in a racing enthusiasts blogg.

 Enjoy the holidays and the read!