A New Horse Girl

The Memoirs of a Horse Girl blog hit a milestone this week:

100 Followers!

I can't believe how excited I am over a number.  I write this blog for so many reasons and connecting with other horse people is a big reason that I love blogging and reading your blogs.  I know that the number of followers is not a perfect count of how many of you visit and read about my adventures with horses, past and present, but for some reason it has been really fun to watch that number go up this week.  I am grateful for all of you down to my very first follower, because you cannot get to one hundred without every single person along the way who decided that this little corner of cyberspace might be a nice place to visit.  Thank you so much for visiting, reading, and sharing your comments when you have the time to do so!

Thank you!!!  Carrots all around!

Partially in celebration of hitting the century mark and partially because I have decided that the time to hesitate has passed, I have some news to share...

Lately, I've been doing some shopping around.

I have been looking for a new, cheap back-up blanket for Harley (suggestions welcome).
I have simultaneously been purusing the internet for information on...
car seats, strollers, and crib bedding sets.

SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My husband and I are expecting our first little one AND

"It's a girl!"

My parents are very excited, as are we, and my Mom has already noted that Harley may have two girls grooming him before long.  Harley would love this, of course, and I find myself appreciating him in a whole new light as I imagine a small person interacting with his wonderful temperament.  I have started describing my horse to non-horse people as "the golden retriever of the horse breeds", even though I used to like to emphasize the fact that he has a strong canter (still true) and is too forward and sensitive to be a lesson horse (still true, but give him a few years...).

I absolutely love that I feel completely comfortable around Harley even though my belly is starting to stretch the elastic in my winter riding pants to the max and I now use the therapeutic mounting ramp to mount and dismount my horse (sooooo convenient).  So yes, I am still riding Harley and all the pictures you saw taken from his back were real and taken by me.  This time of year does not lend itself well to riding, so I have not been riding as much as I would during the other seasons, and that has worked out fine.  I also have been doing far less trail-riding than I had originally planned.  Remember the Easyboots that I bought in the fall?  They will have to come out next year for their debut, because I am not interested in riding out for hours far from home (and a bathroom).

A life-changing experience is on the horizon and, quite possibly,
a new horse girl is in the works!

We made a special cake to share the sex of our baby with our family.  As a science teacher, I had to get some chromosomes and genetics symbols in there.

After some pomp and circumstance, we cut the cake to reveal....

the pink interior: strawberry mist in vanilla cake with dark chocolate frosting.

Harley was good about keeping the secret until I told all my human friends, but I did have to keep him quiet with more carrots than usual.  Every time he tried to open his mouth to share the news, I stuffed more carrots in there.  ;)

SURPRISE!!!