Liebster Blog Award

I am very humbled and honored to receive my first blogging award!

Thank you very much to Karen of Karen's Dressage Blog for awarding the Liebster Blog Award to Eventing In Color - it warms my heart and is so encouraging!  Karen's blog is one of several that I follow quite regularly - her journey from endurance to dressage is very interesting, especially considering that her Arabian horses are along for the ride as well! I love to see horse breeds that are atypical for any given discipline - horses are amazing creatures who too often get pigeonholed into certain riding styles...but I digress. Karen's blog is not only witty and relatable, but she posts all the time so there's always something new to read, and she includes tons of pictures which is awesome. Plus she is in Bakersfield - just a hop, skip, and a jump away from me here in Ventura California. One of these days I hope to bump into her a show! Note to self: sign up for more dressage shows.

Official Rules of the Liebster Blog Award:

1. Copy and paste the award on this blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who gave you the award.
3. Pick your 5 favorite blogs with less than 200 followers, and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have received the award. 
4. Hope that the 5 blogs chosen will keep spreading the love and pass it on to 5 more blogs.

Liebster means "dearest" in German. And presumably this blog award originated there. 

Here are my 5 favorite blogs with less than 200 followers (in no particular order):

1.  The Polka Dot Periodical is written by Nicku up in northern California about her young Appaloosa horse Pongo and their emerging career in eventing! Nicku is about my age, has a young horse, that horse happens to be a breed not often seen in eventing, and also has incredible coloring - dare I say this sounds familiar to my own situation? Nicku has a compassionate soul and I really enjoy reading her blog. Her insights into what works with Pongo reminds me to go back to the basics to find what works with Spirit.

2. The Grey Horse is a blog written from the perspective of William Pendleton, an American Saddlebred horse who lives in New York. He's got a great, feisty Saddlebred attitude. And his human, SmartAlex, gives him an amazing life filled with apples, pleasure riding, and photo shoots!

3. Sprinkler Bandits is an awesome blog and needs to be on everyone's follow list/RSS feed/Google reader/whatever. I couldn't find out how many followers it has - so it is conceivable that I am violating Rule #3. But oh well. It's one of my favorites so it made the list anyway. SprinklerBandit is witty and sassy and sarcastic, yet optimistic and a hard worker. She has awesome insight on shopping (her posts on how to shop are GOLD) and isn't afraid to talk about her fears and frustrations.

4. Wylie Eventing follows Leslie Wylie in Tennessee, who is an up-and-coming eventing trainer with her own gaggle of little girl riding students, multiple competition horses, and a really cute bunny. She is also a journalist so she definitely is a stylish writer.  Like myself, she is presently enjoying an engagement - balancing wedding planning with riding. Her horses are definitely sassy - which I find soooooo relatable. CoughSpiritCough.

5. Boots and Saddles is the blog of an endurance rider, Mel, who has an awesome sense of humor. She's also a vet student (read: *smart* and *overworked*). She and her horse Farley overcome life's many obstacles together, and relate the good, the bad, the ugly, and the funny along the way!

Again, my sincerest gratitude to Karen of Karen's Dressage Blog for following my blog and finding it worthwhile - the sentiments are completely mutual! You inspire me to be a better blogger.

Off to complete the second half of rule #3...and catch up on my blog reading! Happy Monday everyone!