I LOVE The New BM

Sunday morning I awoke in a funk. I needed to ride and with only three weekends standing between us and our first 50 miler, I wanted to get one last 20 mile ride in. I had zero motivation and just wanted to stay home playing with my son. The hubby reminded me that it is times like this that makes it "endurance" and not just trail riding and to get up and go ride.

I made it to the barn and the new BM (barn manager) came over as I was backing the truck up to the trailer.

"I was going to call you this morning. We need to talk." (BM will be in blue)

Oh...good...I'm getting kicked out of one of the best barns I have ever been at and it has only been a week. Glad I left the house this morning.

"Uh oh...what's wrong?" ( I am in red)

"Nothing is wrong. The horses are settling in great and they are easy to work with."

"Oh...ok...."

"Now I've been thinking ever since you moved in about this whole thing and if you want her to carry you 50 miles, I think she needs more groceries."

"Um...has she gotten skinny in the last week? I think she is really at a perfect weight right now unless she has dropped some. She has plenty of grass out there to eat."

"No, she hasn't lost any and she looks really great right now, but 50 miles is a long way and she needs more fuel. What do you think?"

"Well, I agree that I'd rather her go into it with reserves, but I don't want her fat. She is such an easy keeper and got fat last winter off air. She really doesn't need a whole lot as long as there is grass for her to eat. Do you want me to come over on my lunch break and feed her?"

"Absolutely not. That's what I am here for. She isn't getting any grain right now. Maybe a handful to get the stall horses in off the pasture in the morning. I think she needs grain."

"I have bags of grain from when we had to buy our own. Do you want me to drop them off and you can use that?"

"Nope. You can have all the grain here that you want. She is super easy to catch, so why don't I just bring her in with the stall horses and put her in an empty stall to feed her. Then when she is done, I will put her back out. Would that work for you?"

"Yeah, but that seems like an awful lot of work for you"

"Hush. That's what I am here for"

The BM is such a friendly, kind, good hearted man. He puts the welfare of the horse first and will do anything he can to make sure each horse and healthy and happy on the farm. I did warn him that I don't want her fat. She is pretty darn close to perfect right now and I am planning on starting to taper a good bit, so her work load is going down. I agree though that some extra energy and reserves would be a good thing leading up to this adventure.

I've just never been somewhere where they are so willing to do what is best.

New Digs

Moving barns. Ick.

Sunday was moving day for the Dynamic Duo. Our current barn was seeing a change of hands next month and it is still up in the air who is taking over. Last I heard a lady who breeds warmbloods was coming to look at it. Who knows how much she would charge or if she would even offer boarding. It was time to get out.

We headed out bright and early before the hubby could get too sore to say no and loaded everything up. One big bonus of living out of the trailer is that I never have to worry about grabbing my stuff. Everything is already in place. Gem and Pete loaded great and we were saying goodbye to the BO and heading to their new digs.

We pulled into the new barn yard and I parked the trailer to unload the horses. Unfortunately, the one big negative with this place is that they split mares and geldings. Gem and Pete have been side by side for nearly 5 years with just a small stint at Crabby Acres and I really hate splitting them apart. Having made finding a barn for them a second job I can honestly say that there is no other options out there right now.

Gem unloaded first and I headed out to her pasture to show her around. The mare pasture is to the left of the barn and is 35 acres of wide open space and tons of wonderful grass. There are 3 other pasture board mares out there full time and one stall board mare who gets added at night now and then during the day in the winter. The grass is so plentiful that the current horses have been taken off grain and no hay has been required all summer. The other mares aren't ridden ever though, so I made a mental note to keep a close eye on Gem so she doesn't get skinny with her heavy work load.

We wandered around the perimeter and met the boss mare who is a massive dun quarter horse. The BO's right hand woman explained that she has never seen her kick or bite and will just run new horses around until she lets them in. I can live with that. Gem was not in the mood to socialize one bit and tried to double barrel her. Sigh. Be nice mare!!!

Eventually we ended up back at the gate and I let her go. She was very stressed and kept calling for  Pete and spent the next 10 minutes running back and forth by the gate. It broke my heart because I knew if Pete was out there she would have run around happy for the room and got busy grazing. The other horses just looked at her like she was crazy and left her be. I wandered back to the trailer so the hubby could get Pete out.

Pete is in a 40 acre pasture with the same lovely grass and I think 6 other geldings full time with 2 or so added from the stalls. He wandered around good naturedly as usual and when he met everyone else he just let them sniff and got busy grazing. He is so easy going. He immediately made friends with everyone and was enjoying himself when we left him.

We did drive by again later that day to check on Gem. We didn't bother going over (I wanted to see how she was acting without her knowing I was there) and instead just parked the car on a side road bordering her pasture. She was by herself a little ways away from the two main mares (there are 2 quarter horses who are best buds and run the pasture and then a third mare who is a 28 year old arab who just ignores everyone and stays out of the way) and was grazing just fine. I yelled out a hello and she popped her head up. Well, apparently the boss mare took notice and decided to go say hello again. Gem snorted and squeed then pawed with a front leg. That wasn't being nice. The two mares came over and Gem turned and double barrel kicked the boss mare. Ick. We will have to see how this goes.

So why this barn?

Well, two big reasons: 3 miles from my house and the largest, best grassy pastures I have ever seen. Gem will get to eat real grass, move around and maintain some level of fitness.

There are other reasons too. There is a lighted arena for work in the evenings. Both pastures have a wide grassy lane mowed around the perimeter. The geldings comes in at 1 mile even and the mares at 0.75. They have a short but steep hill on each lane. While these aren't trails, it is better than nothing and I can get a lot of speed work done on great footing out there. I can circle, do figure 8s, do laps at trot, canter, gallop.

The BO is an older man who has more horse knowledge than I may ever have in my life time. He was big into the local rodeo circuit back in his day and did super well until injuries piled up. He is friendly, super nice and after talking to several current and past boarders I know that the horses will get the best care ever there. He won't let Gem get fat or skinny and will let me know if anything comes amiss.

I ma excited to be there and think that once they settle in things will be really good. I just hope Gemmie agrees!

First Ride at Serenity Haven

Ahhh...a lovely evening in late July in the South. A beautiful setting with big fluffy white clouds dotting the bright blue sky and a just beginning to set sun. A peaceful farm nestled in the hills with no road in sight and no sounds of civilization to be heard. Horses happily grazing in their fields. The whole place is energizing, refreshing and yet calming to the soul at the same time. I am anxious to get on my beautiful and athletic mare and explore the trails together as the summer sun sets behind us. Having just finished 25 miles together, the bond has obviously grown between us and we are now of one and the same mind.

I park the van and hike up the hill from the barn to gather my big bay mare out of her new pasture and begin the stress reducing ritual that is grooming and tacking her up. She walks serenely up to me saying hello. We walk back to the trailer parked outside the barn to groom and she calmly looks around her taking in the beauty that is a summer evening.

We walk, side by side breathing as one entity, into the barn with thoughts of the wondrous adventure ahead of us dancing through both our brains. And then we spy the cage of pet rabbits off to the right of the barn aisle. I see them as cute, slightly smelly, fluffy creatures chillaxing in front of their specially placed fan. Gem sees them as blood crazed ware rabbits snarling and gunning for her jugular and jumps out of her skin slamming on the brakes and trying to spin as fast as she can to get the heck out of there. Huh... Interesting...

We finally make our way past that death defying cage and I snap her into the cross ties. I pat her lovingly and walk to the tack room to get her gear. She flips out, rears, throws her head and tries to lunge forward only to hit the end of the ropes and flip out again as she flies backwards. Huh...Interesting...

Finally able to tack her up all thoughts of a lovely and serene ride on new trails as the sun sets begin to fade way and are replaced by the remembrance of how much of a tool she gets when riding at a new barn. Trailer her out to the middle of nowhere? No problem. Ride her out of the barn on familiar territory or even God forbid in a fenced in and completely safe arena on property? Total melt down.

As I throw my leg up over her back, she prances, neck arched and tense, back hollow, chewing on the bit and ready for any excuse to speed off. My brain has now completely destroyed any thoughts of even a barely passably decent trail ride and is now in "don't die, don't die, don't die" mode which it has gotten pretty good at over the last 5 years with Gem. Hmmm.....where to go? Off to the right is a fishing pond and then a big, steep hill. Sounds like a good idea and a way to slow her down a bit.

We head off over the pond and hit the uphill trail. Gem takes off in a brisk trot dodging tree limbs and basically not paying any attention to anything but her own skin. There goes that wonderful bond and thinking the same. We make it to the top in one piece and then head back down the other side. The trail is narrow, twisting and turning around trees and the limbs desperately need trimming as my head bounces off of them as we go spinning down the hill in a barely contained trot. We slam back into the main trail again and Gem decides to go right. Which goes back up the same hill. Fine. Run yourself up and down that hill all night for all I care. Up we go again and about half way up the light bulb in her brain flickers on and she realizes what she did. I manage to get her back to a better trot until we hit the downhill side again when she picks up a huge canter and flies down between the trees. Thankfully my knees are still attached to my legs.

We make it out of there alive and this time I go left back to the barn to avoid another near collision with the trees. We head past the barn and up the hill toward her pasture where another set of trails begin. Gem thinks we are going back to the pasture, so she isn't too pleased when I ask her to go left and into the woods away from Pete. She eventually defers to my wishes and we head into the woods.

She finally is going at a reasonable pace and I let my breath go. Then we come across the inconceivable: a flat rock across the trail! Oh my!! What are we going to do? I know!! Walk across it like the big girls we are. Nope. Instead we slam on the breaks, duck down and spin like the best cow pony in the world and try to gallop back out of the woods. Good try mare, but not going to happen. Eventually we cross the rock of death and head deeper in the woods. We hit a T and since things have been going...well... not good but at least a little less badly I head left to get to the big 20 acre hay field. I know there is a trail in the back right corner that goes to a big creek, but the sun is setting, my brain needs a break from panic mode, and Gem is dripping with sweat so I follow the upper portion of the field to the arena and back to the barn.

Back at the barn, I hop off glad to feel solid ground under me again and glare at my stupid pony who just acted like she had never been on a trail ride ever in her life before even though we spent the last year  trailering out to different places and going on hunter paces and an endurance ride. Or the last 4 years preceding those out trail riding.

I lead her back to the barn, but those darn ware rabbits were still there trying to entice her closer and closer so they could infect her with their diseases. Once we manage to slither past them, we are back in the cross ties and acting like a complete moron. Spinning, rearing, pawing, snorting. Oh come on now! You are 15 years old and have been exposed to trails, arenas, jumping, cross country, dressage, hunter paces, endurance, camping. Why are you such an idiot?!?!

I do forgive her just enough to take her out and sponge her down before going back to pasture. I let her go and head back to clean up our mess and put things away.

On the positive side, even with not doing the 20 acre pasture and the trails off of it and going at a break neck speed that I wouldn't choose to ever do again, we managed to be out for 20 minutes. Not much, I know, but...if you add in going down the field and those two trails, even at that pace we would have been out for probably close to or just over 30 minutes. Slow it down and it would definitely be 30 minutes if not 35 or 40, but lets keep 30. Do the loop twice (which wouldn't make me slowly want to die inside. Anything over twice and I get antsy) and that would be an hour long trail ride with hills without having to trailer anywhere. Plus...there are still the power lines to explore. That's a heck of a lot better than going in a circle in an arena and better than the nothing I was doing at FS Farms, so that made me happy.

Dynamic Duo Gets New Digs

I swear I put way more thought and research into finding my horses a new home than I have ever done with finding us a new one. If only they gave a crap  :)

My list is simple:

 - Pasture board with this amazing thing called grass and not just dirt and weeds
 - Ability to keep the Dynamic Duo together
 - An arena with lights for weeknight night riding
 - Trails would be great
 - Good quality hay, water and grain
 - Trailer parking
 - In my price range which is admittedly limited

After searching for months and months (since April) we finally found a place that had the majority of those things and decided to give it a try. I wanted to wait until after Biltmore to move them, so last weekend we packed the horses up in the trailer and amidst intermittent pouring rain we moved them over to their new digs...lets call it Serenity Haven (not its real name, but pretty nifty and so far accurate).

Lets see how it stacks up to my list:

- Pasture board with grass....check! The pasture they are in is mostly grass. The recent drought has taken its toll on it, but fortunately it hasn't had any horses in it so while the grass wasn't growing, it wasn't getting trampled and eaten down to nothing either.

Looking up the hill to their pasture
 

 - Ability to keep the Dynamic Duo together....check! They are in their own 4 acre pasture with some woods and 3 nice next door neighbors. It is on top of a hill

House and barn are behind me, they are up the hill
 and that is the drive way to the right

Looking down the driveway



They are behind me and that is the barn

so the drainage even in all this rain we have been getting is awesome. Hopefully no thrushy feet.

- An arena with lights...nope :( They have an arena of sorts...basically a flattened section of the back hay field, but no lights and it isn't fenced in or anything like an official arena. But...

- Trails would be great...check! I'm always a little cautious when a BO tells me there are trails on property since most of the time it ends up just being the pasture you can ride in or a 5 minute walk around the property. But the hubby and I took W and Bones out for a hike on Sunday and we logged about 3-4 miles of actual real trails with some pretty nice hills in there and mixed footing. Plus the BO said you can ride the power lines from the end of the driveway for miles. I haven't been on those yet to see if the footing is decent or if it is all straight up and down and rocks. So the trails aren't extensive or varied enough to get all my conditioning done, but it does allow for me to not ride in a circle a hundred times. The downside is obviously there are no lights (although that would be impressive) so in the winter I won't get any riding in during the week, but in reality last winter when it was dark before I even got out of work I wasn't going to ride anyway.

Gem throwing a hissy fit in the airy barn

- Good quality hay, water and grain....mostly check! The hay looks about as nice as hay around here gets. I still miss the hay up north which was much nicer over all, but this hay looks pretty good. My only concern is quantity, but I am going to watch closely and see before I jump to conclusions. Water is clean and fresh. Grain we supply, so it can be of whatever quality we choose.

- Trailer parking....check!

- In my price range....check!



Gem in the cross ties

So all in all it is looking pretty good. In addition to the above, there is a fishing pond and we can bring our dogs out to trail ride with us whenever we want which is extremely hard to find. The BO is amazingly nice and really wants to learn about endurance and start going. Who knows? Maybe we can ride together and get to be pretty good friends. There is another boarder there who is also interested in endurance as well. I might get some nice riding friends out of this.

I really only have 2 current concerns:

1) Quantity of hay as mentioned above. They were getting about 3/4 of a bale for the two of them a day at FS Farms with grass and grain. Here they don't appear to be getting anywhere near that much. I am going to wait and see if she starts to look too lean and then ask for it to be increased. Hopefully that won't be an issue.

2) Distance. It is 30 minutes from our house which is a bit too far by 10-15 minutes. But if it limits my need to trailer out and gives me decent mileage during the week, it will be worth it. We will see what the winter brings.

So far I am pretty happy with it. They are a small place with eager and happy trail riders. Bones and Einstein can come along and ride with me which is awesome. The whole barn atmosphere is calm and the scenery is breath taking. Lets hope it works for the long term!


Looking down toward the barn

Gems big butt blocking some of the view

Conundrum

In case you are just tuning in  - we moved. Again. Actually, we both really like the new house a lot better than the last one we rented and it is so much closer to just about everything. I love living in the country and hope to someday have our own farm, but if I must live in suburbia I want everything to be super close or else why put up with neighbors? Now we are and it is grand.

What isn't so nice is that now the Dynamic Duo are 50 minutes away. OUCH. I was debating just leaving them there. I adore FS Farms. It is possibly the best place we have ever had them. But when I left the house at 0730 Sunday morning and made it to the trail head at 1030, my mind was made up: the horses must be moved. It is crazy to take that long just to get on the horse and it just wont ever happen during the week like that.

Once I knew we would be moving to the other side of things back in the spring, I began to look for a new barn for the horses. Way back then I contacted just about every place I could find and ended up looking at four barns.

#1: 50 acres of what should have been beautiful pasture. Lighted small arena, place for the trailer and good hay and grain. They would be brought into a stall to eat and then let back out. They could be kept together. Trailer parking. $250/horse/month. But.....when we looked at it the "pasture" was a paddock that required dragging monthly and there was no grass in sight. Why? because the 50 acres had about 70 horses crammed on to it. No go.

#2: 15 acres (ish) right down from my work. Indoor arena, awesome outdoor arena with lights, brought in to eat and could be kept together. $300/horse/month. But....had no trailer parking and all the horses were rotated between two dirt areas and kept in a massive herd that was oversized for the tiny spot. No go.

#3: 17 lush acres of grass in 5 pastures. Mares and geldings separate. Amazing timothy hay, soaked beet pulp, supplements, hosed off in summer to cool down, fly system, lighted arena. Basically a spa for the horses in every way possible. Trailer parking. $345/horse/month. But...kept inside stall 13 hours during daylight in summer and 12 hours overnight in winter. No go.

#4: 80 acres in two pastures. Mare and geldings separate. Outside 24/7. Hay provided when needed, mostly in winter. Lighted arena. Small set of trails on property. Trailer parking. $200/horse/month. Downside: Gem and Pete get split. Probably where we will end up though.

We weren't really in love with any options, so we decided to sit on our butts on it for a bit longer until we actually moved.

Well, we are moved and this isn't going to work out. So...I looked online in case something new popped up and it did. A family run operation close by. I checked it out yesterday and...it won't work. Darn nit. Why is this so hard???

I actually liked it quite a bit and the Duo can stay together in a nice grassy area. It isn't very big, but it is serviceable. Problem? They have a new boarder coming in with a stud colt. And it is going out in the pasture up front with just regular old wooden fence about 6 feet high. What do you think will happen the first time that Gemmie comes into heat? That stud colt will go bursting through that wimpy little fence and impregnate my mare. I don't need a Gemmie foal. I really don't need some random who-knows-what-breed Gemmie foal. So no go.

Sigh.

Shaken...Not Stirred

My life that is.

Maybe it is some sort of mental disorder, but I just can't seem to ever remain still. Every time life gets settled into some sort of routine, the apple cart gets upset and we start scrambling.

When we moved down here to the land of sunshine and happiness, we knew things would end up changing. The hubby's job is 50 minutes away from my job. We actually thought that he would end up leaving his and moving closer because vet jobs are easier to find than my job. We were smart (or just too poor to do otherwise) and rented our house to wait and see how things ended up.

Well, it turns out that he adores his job and is staying. I, on the other hand, do not adore my job and so I put my 60 days in (almost 60 days now...wooot!!!) and purchased my own medical practice that will be official Friday (eeeek!!) It is a lovely 7 miles from the hubs. Which is all sorts of good.

But it makes absolutely no sense for us both to drive 40 minutes to work in the same direction. The wasted gas money alone is worthy of a move. So when our lease is up in June we plan to move over yonder. Over yonder has a lot of benefits. The big one being that the hubs can now start helping to drop off and pick up W from day care.

Moving also means a massive life upheaval. I'm going to be a business owner. A boss. The sole person responsible for everything. That is exciting, scary, fun and a lot of hard work.

It also means a whole lot of change. We found a new day care for W that is just down the street from my new office. It is a commercial place versus his in home one now, so I think he will have a period of adjustment. There are some awesome things that we love:

• it is only $10 more a week ($40 more a month) than what we currently pay
• they provide breakfast, lunch, milk and two snacks
• they provide diapers
• they provide wipes
• they are never closed
• they teach, a lot

While an increase in any bill stinks, we will more than make up $40 a month in not having to cook 2 big, healthy meals every 3 days, diapers, wipes and milk.

There are some things I am concerned about, but it will work out in the end and if it doesn't we can always move him.

I'm not a big fan of our house or neighborhood so leaving those behind isn't a big deal to me. The hubs is hopeful he can find us a farm to rent, but I'm doubtful. Where we live now is annoying. We live in a 60 house neighborhood and hear our neighbors late at night and can't go outside without someone being around. That would be just fine with me if it wasn't for the fact that we are an isolated neighborhood in the middle of nowhere with a 20 minute drive to the store. No quick trip for milk for us. Now I know plenty of people drive farther, but for me if I am going to be stuck with neighbors on top of me I better have the convenience of the store being on the corner. If I want a long drive to the store, then put me on 50 acres and let me have my space and privacy. We currently have neither.

The one big, huge thing I am stressing over is the Dynamic Duo.  They must be moved because the current barn, while we love it, is going to end up being 50 minutes or so away and that is just too far. If I want to have them that far I will find a barn with intimate access to a massive amount of trails.

I have scoured the area looking for a new barn for them and found some pretty amazing things existing in the world. Like $1200/horse/month board. In nowhere SC. Are you serious?? I'd like to meet the people who pay that. Seriously.

Stay tuned for our barn hunting adventure....

FS Farm Pics At Last :)

“Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.”  

- Anne Frank

 

Welcome! Come take a tour with us :)

 

 

The Dynamic Duo are back together and are relaxed, happy and healthy. No more bite wounds or kick marks. No more stress. No more blanket arguments. No more irrational demands or rules that are only voiced once you have broken them. No more "We need to talk. The hubs and I enjoy the company of the BOs (husband and wife team) who are down to earth and really easy going. It is peaceful. It is relaxing. It is just what we were looking for.
 

 

 

 

Here is the front of the pasture just as you walk into the gate. It is mostly dirt due to the amount of trees which will be nice for protection from the rain and hot sun. They are currently getting a bale of hay until it runs out and then it is replaced. They go through one a day right now. You can see Gemmie hiding waaaaaay off in the background if you look between the hay feeder and the tree. I love how she greets me at the gate ;)

 

 

 

 

This is the back part of the field. The shed in the very back is actually part of the back pasture where the BO's two old geldings and donkey are. We keep inviting them to open it up to all, but the BO is worried that the donkey may pick on Gem. Apparently he wants a bunch of little mule babies around even though he is "fixed". 

 

 

 

 

 



At the back of the Dynamic Duo's pasture is a fence and a pond. The pond was used for drinking water in the past. Now it is being used for both drinking water and a nice cool Pete bath in the heat of the day. The BO has seen Pete chilling up to his belly in the water on more than one occasion. I told him he liked water!   

A better view of the gate separating the two parts of the pasture which ends at the pond. Pete keeps trying to cross, but the guard donkey on the other side starts screaming at him. He gets scared and swims back toward his shore. Someday he will cross and then what will my Gemmie do? She isn't into water aerobics so I doubt she would swim across, but then again she hates being alone so which would be worse?

The pond. It is stream fed.

 

Moving on... There were two horses boarded in the pasture next to the Dynamic Duo when we moved them in. I guess their greatness scared the others away because they came and took them away the next day. Now that the pasture was unoccupied we asked if the gate could be left open. The BO being as awesome as he is, he did so and now the D.D. can walk through this gate and into another area with more grass. If new boarders come again, we will lose this, but for now it is great. Though the gate is this nice field with some trees. There is another field that this runs into and they even left that gate open for the D.D. to use for now. I have seen Gemmie using the first field, but not the second one, so I am not

sure if they really need it or not.

 

 

 

 



There are other amenities to the barn outside of just where the D.D. spend the majority of their day. The barn was built in the mid 1990s (ick...sounds so recent but really isn't anymore) and is very open and airy. They stay outside 24/7, but we have access to the barn for the tack room, wash area and we can use stalls whenever we want as long as we bring them in/put them out and clean up after them. I'm sure if we really needed it in an emergency the BO would help us out, but they like to be fairly hands off of the horses to avoid any confusion or stress. There is even hot water available to wash the horses with when it is chilly.

                                                                                  

 



 

The arena is great too. Very large and believe me there is plenty of room for a Gemmiecakes to open up and gallop around in there. I've witnessed it both on the ground and under saddle. It is amazing! I think I mentioned before that the footing is very deep to protect western horses when doing sliding stops and sudden turns. It makes for hard work for the horses when asked to trot nicely in it. Just imagine jogging in the dry sand at the beach. When cantering or galloping you feel like you are floating on air. There are no jumps currently and I may ask the hubs to make me some over the winter. I'm a little nervous to jump in the footing though. I don't want them to sink and end up straining a tendon. Ground poles would be great though.

 

And last, but not least are the little piggies that line the drive entrance and the beautiful flowers that are everywhere. The place is only a few minutes from town, but when there you feel miles from anything. It is quiet, peaceful and just what we are looking for.



Night Riding

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”  

J.R.R. Tolkien

 

We went back Sunday morning to check on them and ride a little. I took her out of the pasture and led her to the barn which is the most airy and open barn I've come across. I swear I will get pictures soon. I felt weird taking them in front of the owners on day 1 and they were there again Sunday and then Monday it was too dark. This weekend I will get some pictures up. I put her in the cross ties like I have done in 5 other barns over the last 4 years countless of times. She lost her mind. She reared. She tried to spin. She splattered poop everywhere. I tried to calm her, but she wasn't having any of it, so I just tried to tack her up and move on. I put her saddle on and was stupid enough to turn my back to grab her girth and she pranced in the ties and stepped on a sheet of plastic that scared her even more and I watched as my saddle flew off her back and landed on the cement. I have just decided to sell the stupid thing and now she flings it onto the ground and scratches it! (It turned out to be ok though. I took it home and saddle soaped it up and polished the leather and you can't even tell now, but what horrible timing!) At that point I decided this wasn't so smart, so I clipped the lead rope on her and walked her out to the arena. I let her walk around and look at things and then unclipped her and clucked her up. She is sooooo beautiful to watch and she pranced around and even took off a few times bucking and snorting. After about 10 minutes, I hooked her up again and we returned to the barn where I commenced the tacking up process. She was not behaving super well, but she was a lot better and I was able to finish without incident. Darn mare!

 

I took the ride easy - we just walked around with the only goal of getting her to be calm and stop shaking. It took about 20 minutes, but she eventually relaxed and I called it a day. No sense in pushing her too much.

 

Since Sunday wasn't exactly aerobic, I figured she could do with another ride Monday night. It is getting dark so early now. Back in the crossties she went and this time she only pranced a little from side to side. No rearing. No trying to bolt. Progress. Off to the arena we went and I was so happy that the lights are bright and light up about 75% of the arena. The back light belongs to the city and it is currently burnt out, but the owner said it should be fixed this week. I have never really ridden in the dark before. Up north there are indoor arenas, so even at night it feels like day. Down here the weather is nice enough to not need to be inside, so indoor arenas are rare.

 

It was incredible!!! Gem was spooky and tense for much of it, but she deserved to be. A new barn, a new arena and now it was dark. Poor thing. We walked around as the stars came out and I was in heaven. It was peaceful, relaxing and exactly what I needed. She was fairly calm at the walk, so I asked her to trot. There was one spot where a gate panel was laying up against the fence and there was a bright blue barrel about a foot away from that and it was in the darker part of the arena and she was scared to go past it. I let her take her time and eventually we trotted on by with only a sideways glance and a snort of disapproval.

 

My only negative comment on the arena is the footing. It is sand and it is deep. They used to train western horses for reining, roping and barrels and you need deep footing for those. Deep footing is harder work and even at the slow pace with a cool night (low 70s, upper 60s by the time we finished) and barely working she was sweaty. Now some of that was nerves, but it was like running on the beach in the dry sand. She will get used to it and it will be ok, but I don't want to push her too much right now and risk straining a ligament or bowing a tendon. We will take our time to get acquainted with the footing and surroundings before I push her too much.

 

As I walked her back to the barn, I was so happy with the move. It was nice to go to the barn and have peace and quiet with time to bond with Gem and work through our problems at our own pace. I really enjoyed riding at night which is  good thing because I will be doing it most of the time from now until spring. 

The End

Ok...well this is getting long and whiny so I will wrap it up here. All these little things kept piling up and began to make life not so enjoyable around the barn. I began to dread going and would try to tack up quickly and head out to avoid the "we need to talk" from the BO. It never worked, but I kept trying.

Two final events occurred that pushed us both over the edge. The first was our farrier. I chose her at random on the internet. I refused to use the barn farrier due to his reputation for making horses lame. When I showed up on Saturday D and S (who I really like) were both there. I brought Gemmie in and D made some comment or other. I told her our farrier was coming. She made some other comment and I told her that we were using someone else. She asked who. I was now getting irritated with the questioning, but I told her it was a barefoot trimmer named K. She replied "Oh, does BO know?" I said I doubted it. She then said "Well, there is bad blood there" I snapped back "Good thing she isn't paying for this then" and left to get Pete. Sigh. You can refer back to the foot post for the farrier story if you care to.

That was on Saturday morning. Sunday afternoon I wanted to go by the barn and check on the horses to make sure they were still happy on their feet and to re-measure Gem for hoof boots which I seem oddly incapable of doing correctly. The BO showed up and started off in her condescending tone "We need to talk" Sigh. Again? She then informed us that we could not use the farrier we chose because of undisclosed personal reasons between the two of them. The hubs tried to reason with her saying that our professional relationship with the farrier is not related to her personal feelings, but we were just told that (continue condescending tone) "you are used to businesses and this is a family establishment" Umm... kindly quit telling me what I am used to and no you are wrong. Wisconsin was a family owned establishment. We were told we could use any farrier we wanted. Apparently not. We asked if there were any professional reasons we should avoid this farrier (like hurting horses, being late, changing fees etc...) and was told no she just doesn't like her. Then she told us we could trailer out to meet the farrier in the future. Huh? Oh...and please don't tell her anything. Ok...wait...so you want me to call the farrier who I have an appointment with in 6 weeks and tell her not to come, try to find some random roadside location to trailer to, and yet not explain this sudden and irrational decision? No thank you. I will not get put in the middle of your personal problems. I'm not being loyal to someone I barely know, but really? This is getting old.

We left and talked about things and decided we needed to move the horses. It just is too much of a hassle to cross lines we don't even know existed. I wonder how long it took for D to tattle tale on us to the BO. Do you think she waited until we left to call? We debated on timing since we had no clue where to move them to. I have a new friend who has a lot of horse connections in the area (and also has "bad blood" with the BO) and so I called her and asked her if she new any boarding establishments. She knew a bunch. Or if we would prefer we could have them in her backyard. Or in her friend's yard. Or in another field she knows can be leased. Or...or....or...lots of options!

Downward Spiral

Gem is super important to me and I want her to remain healthy and happy for a long time. She is my riding partner and even though we don't always see eye to eye, she is stuck with me and I with her and I wouldn't have it any other way. I am not super neurotic about her. She is an outside animal and will get rained on, will sweat, will have some times when she is cold, will show up with nicks and bites from time to time. I get all of that. Honestly, I do. But when she started coming in every single day with a new bloody, swollen kick mark on her hide I got angry. I even tried talking to the BO about it and was told she got them from tree limbs. No. No this big swollen mark in the shape of a nice metal shoed hoof is not from a tree limb. But fine. BO said she was moving pastures to get her out of the trees. Ask me how surprised I was to find that the marks kept on happening even in the new treeless pasture.

But still, all in all Gem was doing ok. The large pastures and hills were keeping her in better shape than my lack of riding was, so we were going to stay. But the problems kept coming up. Each time I would go to ride, something would interfere. My limited time kept getting eaten away by crap I had no interest in. I got conned into going on a "trail" ride one evening with the BO and her sister. We set out from the barn to get some conditioning done and I was excited. Maybe there were trails I didn't know existed and I was now going to be shown how wonderful they truly were. An hour of slowly walking around the pasture later and both Gem and I showed back up at the barn in a sour mood. The most annoying part of the ride was the fact that the sister took the lead and refused to give it up even though her horse walked at about the pace of a turtle in molasses and Gem just plain walked faster. I would pull up beside her and Gem would inch past. The I would be informed that we would be turning soon in whichever direction I happened to be on (so if I was to her right we would be turning off to the right, left/left) but never saying where exactly so that I would have to pull Gemmie up and wait for her to slowly pass us. And did we turn? Yes, but just in a tiny circle. It was all just to maintain her lead. Annoying. Eventually I just plowed ahead and when she inevitably said we would be turning, I would just say "ok, go ahead and we will circle back and catch you". Ha! Put that in your pipe and smoke it!! Any guesses on how many rides I've been on with them since? 1. Because I was stupid and forgot and how much I hated the first one.

Ok, but still that's not a real reason to leave the entire barn. Just avoid going out with them. I chalked it up to one more annoying experience and moved on. Now, the hubby had been having a completely different experience at the barn than I had been. Being a guy, I guess the BO wasn't threatened or something and she treated him nicely without scolding, stopping him riding to explain why he stunk so bad etc... He thought I was exaggerating my frustration. Until the weather got a little colder (and by that I mean in the 80s instead of the 90s). The BO mentioned to me that they required blankets on the horses 24/7 once the weather turned cold and their definition of cold was 60. I informed her that we didn't blanket in the arctic north unless the temperature got below 10 degrees and yes the horses were outside in the snow and wind. She countered with the fact that it rains and the horses get wet. I shot back with the fact that snow is wet as well. I told her to speak to the hubs because honestly I was tired of always being talked at. Next time he showed up, she brought up blanketing. He said no. Our horses are likely to look like yaks again this winter not knowing it wont be below 0 most of January and are at risk of overheating as it is. She dropped it. The next time he showed up she was prepared with a catalogue and pointed out all the lovely horse blankets to him. He said no. By the third visit, third conversation the hubs had just about had it and was now at my level of the barn wasn't bad and the horses were well cared for, but man going there is just obnoxious.

But even with that we weren't going to leave. Gluttons for punishment, we talked it over and with the proximity and health of the horses being good, we were going to stick it out. But still....things just kept piling on.

I mentioned boarder, D, in my foot post. She is always present. She is talkative but not in a super friendly nice way. More in a trying to push your buttons and start trouble sort of way. I just ignored her. One incident made me seriously dislike her even though I had nothing to do with it and was just a bystander. I showed up to ride and when I got there I was asked to look at a young girl's arm. Apparently she fell off and landed hard on her arm and it hurt. The arm was bruised, but not broken. She was embarrassed and so close to tears. I told her not to worry. I've fallen off Gem so many times now I can't even remember them all and most were from silly mistakes. It happens. She smiled. Apparently, she had been riding D's horse. Nobody was blaming the horse. They were just worried about the girl. D came over with the horse and announced loudly to everyone around that the girth was loose. So loose that it was the cause of all problems. In fact it was so loose she had to tighten it 5 holes. Now, I looked over at her saddle and it only has 6 holes. So in order for her to have to tighten it 5, the girl who rode would have had to basically not put it on at all. Which wasn't the case. D just wanted to place all blame on the poor girl who after hearing this and being stared at by everyone started welling up with tears. Sigh. Some people. I tell this to highlight the overall personality of the boarders there. They are all snitchy middle aged women who try to weasel their way into your business not to be friends or helpful, but to find something to shove in your face or a way to feel superior to you. I ignore them all as best I can, but as my next story will show, sometimes I just can't.

Boarding Life

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.”  

 

- Baruch

 

 

I understand that boarding is a compromise between what the horse owner wants and what the barn owner (BO) can do/wants to do. Honestly, the hubs and I really try to be as low key as possible. Our needs are simple and we will follow the rules of the barn as long as they are made clear to us. If there is a rule we can not live with, we will leave. I don't expect rules to be changed for us. All I want to do is go to the barn, get my Gemmiecakes, tack her up and forget the world.

 

I don't stir up drama between boarders, mainly because I just don't care to. I don't use the barn as my social hour. I use it as my time to decompress and bond with Gemmie. Basically, leave me alone and leave me out of it. I won't butt into your affairs with your horse and I expect...no I demand...you to butt out of mine. All I want for Gem is a safe and healthy environment where she is getting the nutrition she needs to be fit (not fat or skinny) and to not get the crap kicked out of her by her pasture mates. If you tell me you provide a service, then provide it. Otherwise, I will be there to meet my farrier and vet every time. I will not ask you to do annoying tasks such as hand walk my horse for me, pull or put on various equipment (boots, blankets, fly masks etc) or to feed an ungodly amount of various supplements. This is a business transaction - I am paying for a service that you are providing. No, you are not doing me a favor by allowing me to pay you to keep my horse. My money is for services rendered. I will be tidy and leave the barn as I found it every time. I will respect your property and that of other boarders and not touch what is not mine. I will put up with a fair amount of crap as long as Gem is healthy and happy and I am still enjoying myself. Once going to the barn becomes a chore something needs to be re-evaluated and changed.

 

Unfortunately, going to the barn has become a chore. For many reasons which I will bring to light here over the next post or so. The story begins pretty much at the beginning (don't they all?)  and ends last weekend when I was finally pushed past just being annoyed with the situation and into wanting to leave. Which we are. I have put in my 30 days notice and we are looking at a new barn tonight after work and I have a few other options hanging out there as well. None seem perfect just yet and I know I will need to compromise something on my list, but we will see where we end up.

 

So what has been going on? Well, let me tell you! In general terms, there is a mashing of personalities going on. While the hubs and I do not purposefully go out of our way to go against the grain, we will stick to our guns about something we feel is correct for us and apparently what we think is correct is just about as far off as what the barn thinks is correct as you can get. About just about everything. My first "annoyance" occurred about a month after we got here and the horses were finally taken off quarantine and  allowed in the barn to eat. We were aware that they would be split up. We weren't thrilled with it, but rules are rules so we said fine. What didn't need to occur was placing Gemmie in the outside back left corner of the barn and placing Pete in the outside front right corner of the barn. As far away from each other and out of sight as possible. Really? They couldn't be across the barn aisle? Fine. Be alpha female BO. I can live with that. What got really old really fast was that everyone felt the need to tell me every single time how they think Gem and Pete miss each other and how sad it is. Really? Rub it in a bit why don't you? It finally stopped when I snapped something not so friendly at someone about how it wasn't up to me to me separate them.

 

Next up was being scolded like a little school girl (which in general I don't take very well) for not cleaning out both horse stalls and scrubbing both water buckets when I am there. Huh? I am paying for full care board. Full care board means I show up, ride and take care of my tack and that's just about it. The feeding, turnout, water and stall cleaning is done by the barn. Otherwise it is partial care board and cheaper. It was explained to me in a very condescending tone which I didn't appreciate, that at this barn since it is family owned (um...aren't they all?) when I show up I am responsible to clean my own stalls and water buckets. Eh? Explain again to me why I'm paying you? But fine. I did it and vented to the hubs about it and we carried on. Really it makes going to the barn a hassle. I spend from 7pm-9pm at the barn. I ride for 30 minutes. The remaining time is spent getting scolded for something I did wrong, getting ready to ride, getting finished with riding and cleaning two stalls and water buckets. I pay so I don't have to do the latter.

 

Time kept marching on though and I got used to the headache of doing their chores for them. They know I have limited time and that I only show up at night. If I rode during the day the stalls would have been done the previous night and I would have nothing to do, but I ride at night so I'm stuck with it. Again, its just a show of alpha female going on and I bit my tongue because we liked the location being so close to home and we liked the large grassy pastures. But the hits just kept coming....

 



New Footsies for Gem and Pete

Feet. I work with feet all day long (being a podiatrist and all) and yet I still find them to be very interesting structures (in a completely non fetish kind of way) meant to carry us tens of thousands of miles in our lifetime and yet they are small and fragile. The horse hoof is the same way only built even more strangely and so I find it a fascinating subject. Trimming the hoof can be a scary ordeal since the soundness, rideability and overall health of the horse relies on good solid feet being underneath them. There are certified farrier schools, but there are also numerous people who learn on the fly and set up shop. Finding a new farrier in a new place is stressful.

How do you find a farrier? If boarding, the simplest thing to do is use the farrier that the barn uses or at least the majority of boarders. The person will already be familiar with the barn and you could assume they do decent work or they wouldn't be there. Of course, assumptions are never a good idea and we have learned the hard way that this isn't always a good way to go. The first farrier I used was a barn farrier and made Gem lame. We found our fantastic farrier in the arctic north this way and became friends with him. He never made them even tender over the course of three years. We miss him.

When we made the Big Move south we had our arctic farrier trim them right before to bide us some time. I started asking about the barn farrier and was not happy with what I was finding out. One boarder who is smart enough to know better said that she loved him, but oddly enough every time she brings her sound horse up to him she leads a dead lame horse away. Huh? Put two and two together there lady! I heard a similar story from too many people to want to even think about using him, but now I had no clue who to use. Knowing that I like my horses barefooted, I searched the web for a barefoot trimmer and came up with exactly one option - K. A self proclaimed barefoot trimmer with a lovely website and a fair price. So I booked her for last Saturday and nervously waited to see what she would do. When I called her I told her where we were (W Farms) and she said she knew the place and how to get there. See you Saturday.

I know enough about barefoot trimming to ask the right questions and be able to spot BS when I hear it. I had a host of questions ready to test her knowledge and make sure she wasn't going to hurt my horse. She lacked personality, but (arctic farrier you don't count) it seems to come with the territory. She was promptly on time, handled my horse calmly and answered all my questions with the proper buzz words to appease me. She didn't touch the parts of the hoof that I knew shouldn't be touched and didn't make them look all wonky. I made a return appointment with her for 6 weeks. Interestingly enough, two boarders (one of which I severely dislike) who were present during this (oh! and play a vital role in tomorrow's post) pulled her aside at the end to ask her advice on their horses who were foot sore. I found these interactions to be very interesting. Interesting enough to bore you with them:

The first person, S, has a mare who is shod in the front, but barefoot in the back. Her back feet look lovely, but her fronts are wonky and she is always painful after a trim. She asked K her opinion about pulling the fronts and letting her go barefoot. She only rides on property in the grass. Personally I see no reason why any of the horses on the farm are shod since none leave the property and spend all the time either on grass or sand. But, I digress again. K gave her opinion that, yes they could easily go barefoot and that they were overall healthy hooves. S asked me if she could join our 6 week rotation and use K and I was happy to.

The second person, D (who I dislike), has a gelding and is the above mentioned lady who can't seem to figure out why her horse is always so lame after being trimmed by wonder farrier. She plays an extremely vital role in all my drama of late. Anyway....after scowling at the farrier through my and S interactions she asks her for a second opinion on her horse. K spends significant time looking at the hooves, testing for soreness and explaining to K the difficulty the horse is having since the wonder farrier decided to cut away all toe and all heel leaving little for the horse to comfortably walk on. What was amusing was D's inability to understand that K is a professional herself and that her time is money. D kept asking K if she felt that her original farrier could fix this or that and what to tell him. K was patient through all of this. I would have told D to either pay for my services or understand that her farrier created these issues and the chances of him fixing them are slim, but good luck with it and left.

Anyway...here are some pics of Gemmie's lovely feet. I took them so that I could get her some new hoof boots. I am working with a patient woman (and fellow endurance blogger - see Boots and Saddles) in California who is going to send me some trial boots and see how things go. I am apparently brain dead when it comes to measuring the hoof though because I have now done it twice with similar results and they just aren't matching up with what is realistic. She offered up another technique which I will try tonight and see if I can clear the hoof fog from my brain. Enjoy!

Right front

Right front

Left front

Back left

Back left

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Unhappy Boarder

 

“Stepping onto a brand-new path is difficult, but not more difficult than remaining in a situation, which is not nurturing to the whole woman (or mare).”

 

- Maya Angelou

Ever since Gem got caught up in her pasture last weekend, I have been worried about her. No, she didn't hurt herself beyond some superficial scratches, but I can't keep from wondering what drove her into the woods in the first place. She isn't a particularly nosey horse. That takes effort and Gem is all about low energy usage. There were no scrumptious grasses hidden to lure her in. So why go in?

The only explanation I can come up with is that she was running to escape one of her herd mates. I know which one too. A stocky brown mare with a crooked white stripe down her face named Classy. Classy, my butt! I've seen her chasing Gem off the water trough and she has forced me to be the crazy horse owner who chases a horse away to let mine drink after a work out. I have no issues stooping to that level. Gem is very low key in a herd. She doesn't vie for the head honcho spot (again too much effort and responsibility) and leaves everyone else pretty much alone. At first I figured it was because Gemmie was so new to the herd and it did settle down for a while. But on Tuesday night I noticed yet another new mark on her hide and this one was definitively hoof shaped.

I got angry. Gem is getting all marked up. Yes, they are all superficial. Yes, horses will be horses and sometimes come in with a mark. But all these superficial marks are starting to add up to one messy looking pony and I am tired of it. I pulled her over to show the BM in the middle of her lesson. She tried to pass it off as a scratch from the woods. I told her there was no way that was from a branch. I'm not going to allow Gem to get hurt. She told me that she had thought of a plan. Ok, fine, but it better be a good one.

Her thought is that Gem is going into the woods to say hello to the other horses across the fence (perhaps, but only because her herd is a bunch of cranky ladies that she doesn't like) and if we eliminate both the woods and the neighbors it should all go away. So, the whole farm is getting an upheaval. The geldings are getting moved to Gem's current pasture, the other herd of mares (currently next to Gem) are going to the geldings' pasture and Gem's herd are getting put out back behind the barn. That way no horses will have immediate neighbors.

Personally I think that is a lot of hoopla when all she really needs to do is move Gem out of her current herd and in with the other group of mares or better yet take Pete and her and put them in one of the empty pastures all to themselves. But, no. Why do something simple when you can make it more dramatic and time consuming and annoying?

Summer 2013

"All of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon - instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today"

- Dale Carnegie

And we are finally caught up to present day!

Gem and Pete have settled in pretty well. They were split up (sadly) about 3 weeks after being here into their own male and female herds. Gem is in a pasture with 4 other mares and has about 15 acres to roam, mostly grass with trees scattered around for protection. Pete is in with, I think, 6 other geldings in a pasture about the same size. They get brought in for "grain" at night - just a tiny handful to get some supplements (grass balancer) into them. They have filled out well and are borderline portly again. In fact, Pete has been brought into the dry lot 3 nights a week to prevent grazing and getting fat. I think the large area and the fact that she is out basically 24/7 has made her braver. Or maybe it is just wishful thinking.

I get out to the barn 2 weeknights after W goes to bed at 7 and Sunday morning. The hubs has been getting out on Sunday as well, but will be going a weeknight now as we prepare for our next outing. I've been really easy on Gem thus far. It's been way more hot and humid than she was used to up north. I was pulling her out of the pasture lathered in sweat and would brush her and give her a cool shower and put her back out. When I have ridden it has been light work and short periods only. I did go jogging with her which helped get her legs moving and let her see all the new areas with me on foot. My lunge line broke though, so that has been put on hold for now. I like using the lunge versus lead rope for two reasons 1) it gives her more room without stepping on me and 2) if she is particularly bad I can lunge her to get her refocused.

They have a nice outdoor arena with trees and jumps which helps me a lot. In a big open area I tend to lose focus and let Gem get away with a lot she shouldn't. Who cares if she cuts the corner or goes in the middle? We are just going around the circle again. With obstacles I can more clearly have goals: we will trot between the tree and the jump, then turn left and go over the second jump and canter to the other tree which we will go on the outside of etc.... It keeps me focused and forces me to ride better and with a purpose. The only problem is that 7pm is a busy lesson time, so the arena tends to be busy which I why I am working with her in the grassy field next to it.

I got a great 1 hour conditioning ride on her the other day. It was mostly trot and canter with jumping and short walk breaks. She was great until the last 10 minutes when she got tired. Man, is she out of shape! It won't take long though and she will be back. The great thing about Gem is that she holds onto fitness really well. Once conditioned she doesn't need a ton of maintenance.

I need trails and I need time. Currently my plan is to ride in the arena or around the "trails" at the barn 2 weeknights and hopefully trailer to the real trails on the weekend. I have a year to get her 50 mile ready and this should be doable barring any unforeseen happenings. I don't want to miss time with W but I'm thinking I can head out early enough that it won't matter or that the hubs can bring him hiking while I ride. We will see how it goes. I am debating moving them to a different barn as well. I like where we are enough. It is so close to home. But it lacks real trails so I'm spending time in the arena. If I moved to a place near the trails, I would have 30+ minute drive every time, but have almost unlimited miles to condition on. It's probably six of one half a dozen of another. Time wasted driving on an already tight schedule and with the days getting shorter, my access to trails will be limited to weekends anyway. For now we are staying put, but we will see what the future brings.

 

 

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Unsolicited Advice

"Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice Doggie" until you can find a rock"

- Will Rogers

Why do people feel the need to not only watch and judge you, but to then take up a lot of your time giving you advice that while it may be useful, is not wanted? The horse world is particularly bad at this. I adored our Wisconsin barn owner for the simple fact that she never, ever did this. She is an upper level dressage rider and instructor and is a very good rider. She would be hanging around when I rode Gem at times and I could literally be bouncing off the walls, running amok, screaming, falling, cursing and all she would say "Gem sure looks good" or some other vanilla type comment. She wasn't even being sarcastic! She was just a genuinely nice person who butted out unless asked.

I remember one time I rode around the fields with her on her imported, super well behaved gelding, and Gem freaked out over nothing and bolted. I circled back around to her and she just smiled and we continued on. Oh, I'm sure a piece of her was dying inside every time she saw me, but she kept her mouth shut unless I asked for help. When I did ask, which was rare since I didn't want to impose on her, she would answer with something easy to do and helpful without a lecture or looking down on me.

This was most definitely not the case yesterday with our new barn manager (BM) :( After life getting in the way the last two weeks, I finally got to the barn on an absolutely gorgeous evening. You know the type - sun beginning to set, light breeze, blue sky with big fluffy white clouds. Lovely. I was in a great mood and Gem behaved really well for the first time in the grassy field beside the arena. Walk, trot, canter without an issue. She can be so wonderful. Lessons were beginning to end in the arena so I headed on over. Gem was not amused. She thought we were finished, silly girl! We have a 50 to get ready for!! :)

The BM was lecturing two students in the center and all the jumps had been rearranged to take up a lot of the free space, so it was a little tight maneuvering without crashing into anyone or anything. Gem wasn't into the whole turning, bending, listening thing right then. Usually when she gets like this I just let her canter around until she calms down, then I make her canter just a bit more and ask her to trot and get back to business. I've grown used to it and while it won't win us any blue ribbons, it works for us. I couldn't safely let her go with everyone in there, so I asked her to slow down. She did what I knew she would do: got tense, threw her head into the air and completely ignored me. Not wanting to create an even bigger scene, I turned her in a small circle to slow her down.

Apparently the BM was watching this and she did not approve one bit. With the tone a school teacher uses on a bad student, she asked in a not-quite-so-sweet voice if I'd please come over. With my spider sense tingling, I did. She immediately grabbed the reins from me. Um...? Ok. She then launched into a lengthy and daylight consuming lecture on why I basically suck at slowing my horse down and offered up a complicated solution that I had no intention of ever doing. Her warning that her method tends to make a horse rear until it got used to it, didn't help matters at all. She then instructed me to walk around the arena practicing it while she watched. Yeah...that's not happening. The sun was setting now, my great mood had long since vanished and I was done.

I tend toward being a little anti social which is a trait I am trying to beat down, so I decided to make small talk. I mentioned the hunter pace I was gearing Gem toward in September (more on this soon!) and asked if anyone else was going since I knew it was popular amongst the barn folks. Bad idea. Maybe she is too used to dealing with teenagers and soft middle aged women who require an alpha female to boss them around but I'm neither of those. I may know crap about showing, but I know trail riding and camping and what both my horse and I are capable of. Anyway...

She proceeded to inform me that neither Gem nor I were in proper shape for this and that a 1 hr long trailer ride is very stressful. Trying to remain halfway decent, I just responded that we had driven way longer for a ride and rode much farther (hunter paces here are between 6 and 12 miles only) without pause, but thank you for your concern. Not to be out done, she continued on her ill advised, superiority complex driven rant and explained to me that I wasn't riding as much as before (wrong), Gem wasn't in as good of shape (wrong again) and finally that she decided the barn was all going together and we could tag along (couldn't be more wrong). I turned to her, smiled and in a definitely-not-sweet voice informed her that the hubs and I were going to be there for 9 am, we would be riding it at our pace and that if it was short, Gem would be doing it twice - once with Pete and a second time alone for solo miles. I walked off with Gem in tow and ignored her dropped jaw and angry eyes.

 

 

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New Barn, New Attitude

"In the long run men hit only what they aim at. Therefor, though they should fail immediately, they had better aim at something high"

- Thoreau

The new barn was great. An indoor arena, outdoor jump arena with a full set of jumps, outdoor dressage arena with the gazebo and plastic geese of doom, and trails with cross country jumps. Gem and Pete had a pasture all to themselves and I could take riding clothes to work and stop on my way home.

New spaces meant new reasons to act like she had never been ridden before and we began the process of learning how to be calm all over again. She settled in pretty well to the indoor and outdoor jump arenas but I never did get her 100% relaxed in the dressage arena. The gazebo and plastic geese that were behind it were just too scary. It didn't help that the one time I finally convinced her that there were no monsters in the field behind the arena, a baby deer jumped out and caused her to have a meltdown. Oh and there were chickens around there too and she hates chickens. You just can't trust a chicken.

The property was set up with a lane that ran from the barn and indoor arena to the owners house with the pastures on either side. It was perhaps 0.15 of a mile long, maybe 0.25. One day I decided that we were going to ride down the lane to cool down. All by ourselves. I rode her out of the jump arena, turned left down the lane and 40 minutes of my life that I will never get back later we arrived at the dressage arena of doom at the far end of the lane. She would walk 2 steps, turn 180 degrees and try to charge back to the barn. I'd turn her back around and repeat. Ok, that sucked, but we got there in one piece with me still in the saddle, so I let her graze as a reward and then turned around. 30 seconds later and we were back at the barn. I was still in on piece and in the saddle, but that wasn't acceptable behavior either so, to torture myself even more, I turned her around and back down the lane we went. When we moved out 2 years later I had her trotting down the lane without a fuss. It may take us forever, but we get there eventually.

Things kept progressing fairly nicely at the farm. I had at some point decided to become an adult and put my big girl panties on and really began to ride Gem. Oh, she still threw her tantrums and had days where she just wouldn't listen to a darn thing I said, but I learned that if I just sat up there calmly and ignored her she would get bored and settle into work. I read something online that stuck with me and helped a ton:

A horse and rider should always equal 10. If the horse is a 2 that day and being lazy, the rider needs to be an 8. If the horse is Gem and is a spaz at a 9, then I need to be a 1.

We even began doing gymnastic jumping lines. We rode in every arena and down the lane like big girls and had fun doing it.

Then one day at work something remarkable happened. Ok, I'm exaggerating again, but it was pretty awesome. One of the docs I worked with mentioned that she had a friend who did endurance riding. Would I be interested in having dinner with them? Um...you bet! I had researched endurance numerous times and been to the AERC (American endurance ride conference) website and read through all the education materials, but it seemed daunting to me. The conditioning plans seemed impossible to follow, the rides confusing and the rules numerous. I gave up before I ever began. Now I could talk it out with someone and learn from an experienced rider.

 

We met for dinner and I learned a ton. She had been at it for 10 years doing shorter distances on her mare and longer on her gelding. No, I didn't need a special saddle. No, I didn't need a special bridle. No, I didn't need a specific 6 day a week training program. No, I didn't need a house on wheels rig and could just use a tent. All I needed was passion and a sound horse. Well, I had that for sure. She suggested I start with a shorter distance and work my way up. She also pointed me to the local endurance club website for rides.

 

I was pumped! I looked at the ride calendar and luckily for the hubby (isn't he such a lucky guy?) there was a ride 3 hours away on our anniversary weekend. What better way to spend it than camping and watching me ride for hours on end? For some odd reason he actually agreed to it and I signed up for the 25 mile distance on Sunday. Actually, he agreed to it I because I had spent a Saturday morning in May freezing my butt off at 5 am for 4 hours watching him run his first half marathon (no, he wasn't that slow, but they had to be dropped off at the start super early and I didn't want to miss anything) only to cross the finish line swearing, bleeding and in a generally crappy mood and he owed me. Freezing in May? It was Wisconsin and it snowed. In May. My God am I happy to be out of there.

 

You want me to go how far?!

 

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