1. I had a Cockatiel named Gray Ghost growing up.  You wanna talk about bonded?  Gray was an asshole (probably the start of my vast appreciation for asshole males) and bit everyone in my family but me.  I had to wear gloves to work with him for about the first six months.  I took him all over the house with me and really instilled in him the idea that I was it.  Eventually, the gloves came off and he would allow me to groom him.  Then the cage door was opened and he was given the rights to fly around.  He would crawl from his cage to my bed and wake me up in the morning, or grab a bit of whatever I was eating (chubby kid).  Gray followed me out of an open kitchen door one day.  Domesticated birds don't really know how to come down from great heights.  Hello, tragedy.
2. My mom was concerned about my self-esteem when I was in the third grade.  I spoke with a German accent, was fat, was in the gift program and speech therapy, was horse crazy, and spent more time reading than socializing (not much has changed).  My third-grade teacher did some survey and found that not only did I think I was awesome, people liked me (still, not much has changed).
3. I had an internet boyfriend in middle school.  I actually met him in real life (though we lived states away) and we're facebook friends.
4. As part of the gift program, I was able to take the SATs in middle school.  I scored well enough that I was able to attend an award ceremony.  That was the last of my smarts and I promptly excelled in mediocrity. 
5. When I graduated high school, my hair reached my butt.  I spent all morning straightening it and getting it pretty, only to then sit on it and get a crease from the stadium chairs.  My first hair cut in a salon was when I was 21 and was by a former student of my mother's.  I went from butt to chin.  I also spent several years with fire-engine red hair.

High school.  Seriously, the hair!

6. When I was a senior in high school, I was also a competitive fencer.  ..Meaning, I went to one competition and got my ass beat.  I still have my sword and it is ah-mazing.  For those of you in the know, I fought with a foil with a custom pistol grip.
7. When I went to youth group, growing up, I sang so horribly that I was given the task of manning the projector.  
8. We had assigned seats in one of my college classes, which came back to bite me in the butt after I sat next to a dude that I ended up briefly dating and then had to remain next to him for the duration of the semester. 
9. My family dog growing up was named Killian.  She was a chow mix and bit my grandmother.  And a few neighbors.  And my niece.  My mom still let her out the front door every day for an hour long solo walk around the neighborhood.
10. My husband and I took a cruise for our honeymoon.  We swam and danced and kissed dolphins.
11. At any given time, I generally have my next five tattoos planned.

11 Questions by Saiph

1. Who is your favorite horse? Why? Mine.  Because he's mine.  :)  It doesn't hurt that he's brilliant and beautiful.
2. What is the most exotic/unusual pet you've ever owned? A blue cobalt tarantula.  I also had a zebra-striped, a Chilean, and a pink-toe, but the blue cobalt was the most expensive and the hardest to acquire.  (The zebra-striped was special, though, because I rescued him from a pet store that had just dumped him in the cricket container to be tortured by food.)
3. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?  A veterinarian.
4. If you ended up being something else, what made you change your mind? I didn't trust my ability with either math or science.  I also didn't look forward to the years of continued education and the whole dissection thing did not appeal.
5. What are your long-term riding career goals?  I'd like to show more.  I'd like to do a dressage test, another hunter pace, maybe event.
6. What is your greatest riding achievement? Showing Duke at 3".
7. What is your greatest regret?  Moving out of my mother's house and in with a boy.  I should have saved my money and my feeble little heart.
8. What is your favorite movie and why? The Last Unicorn!  It's got love and adventure and butterflies and unicorns and a strong female lead.
9. Have you ever read a book so much that it changed your life?  Which book?  Too hard.  I was in a snit while I read Twilight (don't laugh), but really any of these were big books for me: The Bell Jar, The Awakening, East of Eden, Of Human Bondage, A Sinless Season and Like the Red Panda. A Sinless Season helped on my path to atheism.
10. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?  What would your house be like? Warm, coastal, with places to ride.  A lot like here, but I'd want more horses.  And I like my house now.  :)
11. If you could have any saddle, which one would it be?  One that I didn't have to pay for?  That didn't come second-hand?  That cushioned my butt and the Archer's back.

11 Questions by L.

1. Favorite type of jump.  Either an oxer or a bounce.
2. Favorite professional rider/horse team.  Teddy (RIP) and Karen O'Connor.
3. Favorite Riding Exercise.  Er.  I used to like "stand two, sit one", because it was easy to count.  Oh!  Counting strides before a fence.  Or collection.  Or lateral movements.
4. Least favorite riding exercise.  I hate practicing lead changes.
5. Where do you see yourself next 5 (I'm assuming that's what you meant) years (horse/career/life)?  Archie will be 21.  I will be.. old.  I'll probably have procreated by then, so I'll either need to have Archie at a barn where I don't feel obligated to check on him every day or I'll have acquired my own pasture.  I'm hoping for the latter.  As far as career, I like my job, but I'd like to have a successful equine/canine/feline photography biz going, too.
6. Advice you would give yourself 5 years ago.  Five years ago, I was still living in Augusta.  I would tell myself to stop buy things and to squirrel away as much money as possible.  I would remind myself that a change was coming, as soon as D graduates.
7. If you could change your name, what would you change it to?  My mom almost named me Rancine.  I think Rebekah is a vast improvement over that.  I also love the name Samantha.
8. If you could train with anyone, who would it be and why? I'd kill to have another lesson with my old trainer from Augusta, because I think she got my issues and my horse's brain the best.  I just want a lesson on my own horse.  Someone to push me, but not break me.
9. I'm giving you $5k, what would you buy?  D and I talked about this last night.  I would immediately drop half of it on debt and then I would play with the rest.  A new(er) laptop.  A refurbed iPod Nano (in blue!).  Some field boots and paddock boots.  A saddle.  I think I could make it stretch that far.
10. Give me the recipe for your favorite dish that you can make.  You get some Doritos, Spicy Nacho flavor, and some cheese.  Cheeses.  Various.  And some mild salsa.  And you layer that shit - chips, cheese and salsa - until you fill a soup bowl.  And then you microwave it for a minute to two minutes, depending on how gluttonously you layered.  And you eat.  With a beer.  I can also make a killer German potato salad, but as taught in the way of my mother: no measuring and served warm.
11. Dream vacation destination? Europe.  Trains and hiking and shitty compact rental cars.  Garbled French and Spanish and German.  Kindereggs and baguettes and fresh cheeses.