Happy New Year

Hello All

Whew, this year flew by.  It was a busy one. 

 In Spring of 2010, I was busy getting my first book, “Sunny and her Cochlear Implants”  ready for print.  Finally, after much back and forth between the publisher, illustrator and I, the book finally went to print and was released in June 2010. 

Meanwhile, I was busy showing and riding Chance throughout the spring.   We finished the show year at Region 9 in Forth Worth.  Chance and I had our ups and downs.  The winning moments were especially priceless and emotional because it goes to show that hard work, perserverance, with persistence doe pay off!!!!!! 

As we moved in to fall 2010, I was very busy with Toastmasters.   Even competed in the Humorous Speech and Table Topics contest.  The highlight was winning in both.  

In addition, I took the next step in advancing  my professional speaking career by speaking outside of Toastmasters and Hearing loss Association meetings.  I spoke for a quite a few organizations and I had a blast doing it.  I love speaking as much as I love showing horses.  I became a member of the National Speakers Association Pro Track program.

Finally, ended the year by taking Chance to the xmas show in Katy 2010.  We had a great show!  Even received a first place in a large class with a flawless ride.  My trainer Jennifer Goslin told me that was probably the best ride of my life with Chance.  To receive that first place ribbon was the “icing on the cake.

I know 2011 will be an even better year!!!

I wish everyone a sunny new year don’t forget to book Susanna for your next event at www.susannamdussling.com or buy “Sunny and her cochlear implants” at www.sunnyandhercochlearimplants.com

As always,

Susanna

An Update: Long time, no write

Hello Everyone!!

I know it has been way too long since I’ve blogged.  6 months has gone by.  I have been as busy as ever.

Still working at Academy, I am thankful to be employed during these trying times.

On the other hand, I have been as busy as ever, when I am not at work.  I am still involved with the horses.  Megiddo is happy and well with LRPH in Buda, Texas.  I still visit him often.  He is paired up with a young lady and they have been doing great.  He is still winning at the young age of 23.  Jackie, is his youthful partner.  She is learning and they go to schooling shows together and win. 

Chance and I are still at Goslin-Nix’s.  It has been just a little over a year since I have moved Chance here.  We are learning so much together with Jennifer patiently teaching me  how to improve my riding.    We have been very successful in the ring already this past Xmas.  Chance and I were the Champions in the AOTR Half Hunter Division.  We went on to the HAAS Show, where we competed only in the Open division, competing against several heavy hitters, i.e Wendy Potts, we placed right behind the trainers in all the classes.  It was fun.  Thanks Jen!  All your hard work with us is paying off!!!!!!!

Now, we are prepping for the San Antonio Fiesta Show in May.  We are ready to claim our Championship in Half Arabian Hunters AOTR.  Then on to Region  9 Regionals!  Once again, ready to win!  I can’t wait.  I am looking forward to it.

I am still very involved in Toastmasters, now I am involved in 2 clubs instead of 1.  CyFair Super Speakers and Laffmasters.  I have been having fun honing my speaking skills, participating in contests and attending conferences.

In addition, I have a big suprise coming out this summer!  It is another project I have been working on.  You’re just gonna have to wait.  I will give you a hint:  It is related to cochlear implants.  Stay tuned!

As always, have a sunny day!

Susanna

Busy, Busy,Busy!

Hello Everyone!

What a week!  This past Thursday, I was a contestant in an “IceBreaker” Speech Contest for Toastmasters.  This contest was held by a local Toastmasters club called “Story Tellers.”  Eleven of us, from various clubs around the Houston area participated.  Wow, it was awesome!  I heard eleven outstanding speeches.  Just like people come in all shapes and size, great speeches are presented in just as many ways!  I enjoyed listening to the others and I learned alot about the various contestants.  After all, an Ice Breakers speech is a short speech about you!  How hard can that be?  It is not that hard to talk about yourself; however, you still have to organize it, make it interesting, and make it not seem like it’s all about you.  After all, you are also trying to make the audience feel good about themselves too and perhaps learn a thing or two!

My speech was called “Dare to Be Different.”  It was about a challenge, I presented to the audience, utilizing my experiences as  a “Hard of Hearing” person.  It was a positive speech, it really was not about my story, it was about what the audience can do for themselves to live their lives in a more fulfilling manner.   I received lots of compliments, although I did not win.  I may not have won, but I felt great after the presentation with the good feedback.  I enjoyed the contest, it was my first Toastmasters contest and I hope it is the first of many more speech contests.  As y’all know, I am competitive and I have a new challenge to conquer,  winning a speech contest.  There will be a contest in the fall, and I will be back.

Writing of competition, I will be off to the Region 9 Horse Show in Fort Worth tomorrow.  I can’t wait!  It’s been 6 years since I had shown at the Regional level.  Chance and I are ready!  We have been practicing hard and we had an awesome lesson this past Friday.  Hopefully, we will repeat that same awesome ride!

I will be showing on Tuesday in Half Arabian Hunter Select Rider and on Wednesday in Half Arabian 40 and over! 

Stay tuned, as I will post a new blog entry on how it went.

If you are in Fort Worth, stop by the John Justin Arena and watch the show!  Lots of Gorgeous horses and incredible riders, with their patient trainers!

As always, have a sunny day!  Susanna

Spindletop Show Results

Hello Everyone!

The weather sure was nice for the Spindletop Show this past weekend in Katy at the Great Southwest Equestrian Center.  Sure, we had an occasional shower, and it was hot, but not too miserably hot.

As for the show itself, there was a good turnout from the farms and the classes were great.  The judging was excellent.

As for Chance and I, it was a mixed show.   I was only able to show Chance in two classes, I originally had more classes planned.  However, Chance was not feeling well.  Chance was having some “lameness issues.”  I will tell you that he had stifle problems in the past and it has been corrected with medication.  Occasionally, it will flare up, well it decided to flare up at this show.  As we all know, horses can have lameness problems and it does not mean the end of their career as long as you treat it and manage it properly. 

Therefore, I only rode Chance in two classes because we did not want to make the problem worse.  I still managed to have two great classes, in spite of him being a little “off.”  Chance showed alot of heart and he performed well. I was happy with my rides, because people noticed that I was riding much better and keeping him in “frame.”   I felt like the hard work in all the lessons were paying off.  I also managed to slow him down at the canter which was something I was working hard on.  In addition, I was feeling much more confident in my riding and it makes a huge difference in the outcome of the ride.

I am excited about the future with Chance, because he will be treated this week by the vet and I know he will return to top form.  I know we can only go “up” from here.

Next, we plan to show at the Region 9 show in Fort Worth.  So, the two of will be real busy in preparation for the show.  Chance will get rested, treated, and schooled.  In addition, I will continue to polish my riding, by taking some lessons next week. 

I had never shown Chance at Region 9, thus I am excited.  It has been 6 years since I had shown at Region 9.  Chance has shown at Region 9, one time in the past with another rider and he was a Top 5 Winner in the Select Rider Class.  I hope to repeat this feat!  I will only try!  In addition, we will also compete in the 40 and over class. 

Stay posted and I will tell you how we do. 

As always, Have a sunny day.  Susanna

Spindletop Arabian Horse Show

Hello Everyone!

This weekend I will be showing at the Spindletop Arabian Horse Show held in Katy, Texas at the Great Southwest Equestrian Center.

This will be my second show with Goslin-Nix Training Center with Jennifer as my trainer and coach.   I am excited to be here!   Jennifer has been working steadily with Chance to teach him to be a little “softer” in the bridle and to really use his whole body to be more collected and rounded.  Chance has really risen to the challenge and he is coming along beautifully.  Yes, there is still work that needs to be done before we participate in the Region 9 Horse Show in Fort Worth, Texas.

On the other hand, Jennifer certainly has alot of patience, she has been working with me on improving my riding.  Some of the many things I have been learning is to really utilize my fingers and hands.  In addition, to using my hands and legs together to achieve the ride we need to have. Furthermore, I am learning to slow down at the canter, it is not easy, because he likes to fall out of it…I do realize it is not his fault! I need to use leg contact!!!!!!!.thus, this is were the leg and hand training comes in.  The first few weeks my legs were sore.  No, they are not sore anymore, as I am starting to use my aids better.

 I have been taken as many as  3 lessons a week.  I have never had this many lessons at one time in my life, and I am having a blast.  I have to admit it is alot of hard work in putting a horse together.  At least I am trying very hard and I want to do well.  By like, I have been saying, you have to make sacrifices and work hard to achieve success at anything that you do in life.  It is a process, if it were easy, we would all be National Champion Riders!  I am persistent and I am always willing to try again, after a not so good ride.  Thus, when I have an awesome ride, it truly is an awesome feeling. 

I am looking forward to having fun showing Chance this weekend, and to test many of the new skills I have learned. 

So, if you have nothing to do this weekend, come to the equestrian center and watch some gorgeous arabian and half arabians show.

As always, have a sunny day ! Susanna

www.condron.us.com

Mayfest 2009 Horse Show Results

Mayfest was a blast.  As I mentioned in my earlier blog, it has been 6 years since I had shown at this particular show.  I had forgotten how fierce the competition can be.  However, that’s a good thing, it challenged Chance and I to push ourselves to the next level. 

Afer all, Chance and I had done well at previous horseshows including another really competitive one which is the Cowtown Show in Fort Worth. 

We did well, all things considering, it was our first show with our new trainer, Jennifer of Goslin-Nix.  It was her first time to work with Chance at a horseshow, and she was satisfied with what she saw with Chance and I.  Yes, we have several areas of improvement, most noticeable to slow down in the reverse direction and to have a really consistent “hunter” head set.

Yes, I made some mistakes; however, I had one just about perfect ride, in the Championship class on Sunday morning.  I will be honest, I was disappointed I did not receive a ribbon.  However, as it’s been known in the horseshow circle, sometimes, you win a ribbon in a class that you personally did not think was up to your expectations, and other times you can have a perfect class and not get a ribbon.  It all evens out in the big picture of things.  Most of the times, the placings fall where they are supposed to.

On the other hand, it is not always about the placings, it is your personal goals for the horse show and the class that is taking place that matters the most.

Therefore, I was very happy with my class that Sunday morning during the championship, because I proved to myself and Chance that we can overcome our past errors in earlier classes at the show.

As for the show itself, it is really competitive, all the big boys and girls come out to play, because this show is shown in the same facility where we have our Region 9 show a few short weeks later.

Also, it is pretty much the last show of the season for us Texans, with the exception of  Spindletop, San Antonio Fiesta and Regionals.  We, Texans do not show in the summer, it is way too hot.  Our show season begans in the fall, with it peaking during the spring months.

Yes, some people show in the summer, but they go way, way, out of state like Missouri, for instance.

Thus, this also is a great show for trainers and riders to fine tune their horses for US Nationals which happen in Tulsa in October.  It gives the trainers and riders a chance to see “how they stack up against the competition.”  Therefore, enabling them to have all summer to finesse the horse and rider teams.

Finally, the classes were quite large which is awesome, lots of competion with  tremendous “quality” in the hunter classes.

I am glad I went, I had a blast and I am ready to rise to the challenge with Chance, Jennifer, and Mrs. Nix.

We are looking forward to our next show at the Spindletop Show in Houston in Late May and finally, the Region 9 show in June.  I have never shown Chance at Region 9, so that will be a goal accomplished.  Whoo hoo!

I will write more about the upcoming shows, later.  Until next time, Happy Riding, see ya at the shows, and as always, have a sunny day.

Susanna and Chance