Christmas morning, Yes, it was warm enough for short sleeves. Kirstin was surprised to find a beautiful saddle in a huge box waiting under the Christmas tree. Our old saddles that we have were actually to small for Taz. Taz has a much broader back than all of our other horses, so the saddle that Kirstin has been using just didn't sit right on his back and always seemed to pop up in the back. This is a Court Saddle made in Bryan, Tx. According to the saddle people at D & D Court is one of the few saddle makers that have a slightly larger tree so it fits the broader back horses better. It's heavier than the one that Kirstin is used to using so it was quite funny watching her hoist the saddle on to Taz, plus I think Taz has grown a couple of inches since we brought him home. The saddle looks great on him, but I think I need to get her a lighter colored saddle pad to make the ensemble look really great.




Kirstin & Taz were in our local paper again. I had sent in the Christmas picture of her & Taz, you know the one where Kirstin is wearing a Santa hat & Taz is wearing nothing. And they put that picture on the front page of the Ag section of our local paper with a little blurp about her & Taz and what they have been up to since the adoption. It appeared in the Christmas Eve paper with the caption of "Merry Christmas". It was too cool!

Kirstin takes Taz for a spin with his new saddle. She can't believe the difference in how this saddle feels compared to the one she has been using. It is so much more comfortable. If it feels that much better to her, I just wonder how much better it feels to Taz?





Having a little fun, Taz loves it when we turn a calf loose in the pen.




Just thought this was kind of cool looking. We are surrounded by woods which makes for a really neat background.

Taz meets Kirstin's nephew Daniel. Daniel must of had something sweet smelling on his hands because Taz just kept sniffing his hands.





Everybody loves Taz, even Kirstin's older brother, Derrick. Derrick jumped on Taz's back and took him for a spin, but only in the round pen. He doesn't ride horses as often as Kirstin, so we figured it would be best to keep him in an enclosed area.

EMM videos

Just got our EMM Videos yesterday. Kirstin & I spent the evening going through the Idols competition so that we could see Taz in action. Watching those videos just made us appreciate Taz's abilities even more. He & Careen were flawless in their Horse Course and the Finals competition. I was truly amazed with their performances. It was amazing to watch knowing what we know and to hear Kirstin say I can do that with Taz was too cool for words.
It was nice to revisit our time at the show and watch the trainers we met in action. We missed so much of the riding competition because of the yearling competition.

Kirstin's going to kill me

Just wanted to prove that Kirstin has a girly side to her. Very rarely will you ever see her in a dress, but she wanted to go to her very first High School Winter Formal. She prefers her blue jeans and t-shirt with her hair up in a ponytail, but this is a nice change. She looked beautiful for her first "formal" but she's beautiful with or without the fancy clothing, hair and makeup.

I've mentioned before that Kirstin loves Basketball and is a starter on the Junior Varsity Team. I was lucky enough to win a couple of fabulous Spurs Tickets at my Company's Christmas Party. We were 10 rows from the court. Here are the Spurs warming up, you might recognize Tony Parker and Tim Duncan. It was a great game and the Spurs won. Yeah. Kirstin had a really good time and this was an opportunity of a lifetime for her-we're usually in the nose bleed section when we go to something like this.

Here is Kirstin watching the pre-game activities.

AMAZING!

That's the only word that seems to fit. Kirstin wanted to take a picture for Christmas cards and this is what I got.

BFF

These 2 are one heck of a pair. Just look at the contentment on Taz's face.

Must be nice to be young and have no fear!

Thanksgiving morning and Kirstin announces she is going to ride Taz bareback with only the bridle on, but no reins. Her she is stopping him.


Kirstin loves to ride Taz bareback. He has such a smooth gait, that he is actually comfortable to ride bareback. Impeccable balance-finally those English riding lessons Kirstin took when she was just 4 years old are paying off. We lived in Germany at that time and the stable we went to only did English lessons. She doesn't ride English anymore, but many of the lessons can be applied to Western riding.



They both are so comfortable with each other.

Kirstin & Taz never cease to amaze us. Kirstin is so at home on a horse's back and you can see it in the way horses behave for her. I can't help but be in awe when a person has command of such a big animal without being overbearing or domineering. They seem to speak to one another and understand what each is asking of each other.