Award Time

I was recently awarded with this award for blogs with fewer than 200 followers.

As a recipient of this award, I am obligated to recognize five blogs who meet the criteria of under 200 followers.  Trés difficile!  Most, but not all, of the blogs I follow and enjoy have fewer than 200 followers.  I subscribe to somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred and there are probably 25-30 that are particular favorites.  So, how do I get that list down to five??!  Can I cheat and list ten?

In no particular order, here are my recommendations.

The Adventures of Crispy Creme is a new blog.  There are only a few followers so far; she has yet to be discovered.  This blog records the progress of a young girl and her horse, Crispy Creme, in dressage.  She boards him at a Lipizzan facility (he is a Lipizzan cross) so there are gorgeous photos of the horses there as well.  I hope she sticks with her blog -- check her out and give her encouragement.  We need more dressage bloggers!

A Mouse in France is written by a woman who lives in England, but her heart is in France.  I suppose I feel a kinship with her on that front.  She has a lovely home in France that she is slowly fixing up.  She writes with honesty and integrity and introspection.  It's not about horses, or food, or goats but it speaks to me.

A Little African Magic is written by Liesl in South Africa.  Most recently, she's been blogging about her daughter's pet warthog (he's so cute!  Really!) and there are some spectacular pictures of rescue from the recent floods.  Look at that post for sure -- amazing shots of heroism.

Beautiful Mustang is written by Linda about training her beautiful mustangs - Beautiful Girl and Cowboy.  She has struggled with some mysterious head shaking by Cowboy and shares/understands the whole heart horse thing I have with Jackson.  Her comments have been wonderfully supportive even though our disciplines are much different.  She's an excellent horsewoman for whom I have a great deal of respect.

Calm, Forward, Straight is written by a fellow dressage rider, doing her best to train her TB horse (Val) on her own with limited access to trainers.  She lives in a secluded location - an island in Canada -  that makes our little community seem like the heart of the city in comparison.  I consider this a dressage friend blog -- having a horse at home, struggling with the dressage journey, and keeping a grey horse clean.

Dressage Training Journal is written by Carol about her dressage journey with Rogo, her warmblood cross.  She is very focused and organized about her journey which are traits that we share.  She also has her horses at home and has a husband who rides as well.  We share the same approach and philosophy to the training of our horses.  I love it when she cross-trains by cantering bareback on the beach.

Hidden Meadow Farm is a heritage livestock farm in Nova Scotia.  Her Highland cattle are to die for, drop dead, gorgeous.  I can't get enough of her pictures of them -- and the babies... OMG, the cutest things ever.

Memoirs of a Horse Girl is about Val's dressage journey with her handsome buckskin QH Harley.  I share with her the love of practicing dressage with a non-traditional breed for a partner.  All horses can benefit from dressage and I love having a friend on that same path with me.

Sprout 'n' Wings Farm  Michaele has the cutest goats ever and makes wonderful products from their milk.  She and her daughters are crafty and fun and an inspiration to me.  Michaele has a wonderful sense of humor and her outlook on life is wonderfully positive.

A Work in Progress  Shannon is very successfully training her dressage partner, Spider.  Although she is much further along the path than I am, it is inspirational to read about their struggles and accomplishments.  Spider is a TB and not some fancy schmancy warmblood.  And look where they are!!  In fact, I think Spider was a jumper.  That gives me hope with Winston.

And, lastly, here's a link to a post today on Buckskin and Bay.  There is a lot of truth and wisdom in this post about the connection between a horse and his rider.  -- and the guilty number we let others do to us (and do to ourselves) when we aren't a good match.  It's harder to break up with a horse than end a bad personal relationship (for some of us).

I could go on and on.  There are so many wonderful blogs out there and I read so many of them.  This is just a smattering of the ones I enjoy.  I hope you find a new blog to follow as a result of my list -- I think that is the biggest benefit of these awards.  It gives us an opportunity to find new blogs!