Hobby Horse Blog Hop - Week 4

It's that time of week again!  Dreaming's Hobby Horse Blog Hop!  I'll put the linky thing at the bottom so you can join along.  It's been quite a bit of fun, even if I did miss last week.  Let's hope that my answers this week make up for my absence from last week.

1. Have you ever been a victim of the weather when you were riding, or participating in some other sport? You can't ride where we do and not get caught in weather.  I've got a couple of blog posts on some of the more hair-raising rides from when I was working as a wrangler: Racing The Storm and Lightning in the Yard.  It's bad enough to be caught in weather by yourself or with a friend, but to be out there with inexperienced riders looking to you for direction?  Well, that just gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "Cowgirl Up".
2. If you could take a lesson with anyone in the world, who would that be? I work as a crew member for Julie Goodnight's TV show, Horse Master with Julie Goodnight, and I always learn a ton.  But I'm learning it from the ground.  I love her teaching style, so that puts her at the top of my list.  But...I want to take lessons bareback.  I've been riding bareback for about six years now and I want to be able to do everything that people in a saddle can do.
3. Which season is your favorite? Springsummerfall.  Riding in the snow can be pretty.  Once.  Okay, maybe twice.  But then I'm over it.  I'd much rather ride in the spring, when things are greening up and blooming. 

The frogs sing in the spring and it's the best sound ever.

Or the summer, when it's too hot to be in town and I can escape up to the mountains for a long ride. 

My favorite Aspen grove

Or the fall, when the leaves are changing and the temps are cooling off. 

At the south end of the Aspen grove

But I'm over riding in the winter.


Ok, now my question to add...how old were you when you first rode by yourself?  (Riding behind an adult or in a snuggli doesn't count.)

Hobby Horse Blog Hop - Week 2

Hobby Horse Blog Hop Prompts - Week 2:

1. Tell us about a special person you associate with your interest in horses. In what ways did(does) the person support you?
2. Carousels: Yes or No? Which horse do/did you choose to ride?
3. What sort of books did you read when growing up?

Okay, here we go:

1. My godmother, Debbie is the first person I associate with my love of horses.  She and Flame, who was a horsey saint, make up my earliest memories of horses.  Now, it's Mom (the Bionic Cowgirl) and Beel who are my best horse friends.
2. Carousels - meh.  I'm kind of luke-warm about them.  When I was a kid I didn't care which horse I rode on the carousel, as long as it was a horse.  There was no way I was getting up on any of the other animals.  That just wouldn't be right.
3. I had two series I read growing up: Trixie Belden and The Black Stallion.  Other books didn't exist.  I still have most of both series, though some have been lost/destroyed in moves and I still enjoy picking them up and flipping through them.

My question: if you could own any horse, who/what would it be?