Prioritizing My Blog Posts This Week

Sooo much to write about and sooooo little time! I guess that is way better than having nothing to say and writing 15 more posts about a heart rate monitor :) Poor readers. The internet has been down at work plus I have been actually pretty busy today (I don't blog at home because that is my time to spend with W, so I use my lunch break or before the day starts to write) which is why this post is late and short.

This week should be interesting in Blogland (if you call reading me go on and on about my life with Gemmie interesting) and here is all I plan to share:

- A funny story about Gemmie from Sunday
- My saddle story continues with super excitement toward the end of the week
- First blog giveaway - fun gift to win
- First Hunter Pace on Sunday!!

Stay tuned for all the excitement to come!!!

When It Rains....

It pours saddles! Huh? Yep, that's right! I have embarked on the most unsatisfying and annoying part of horse riding there is: The Great Saddle Hunt. I wonder if anyone out there actually has a horse that any old saddle off the rack at any old saddle shop will fit. If there is, I dislike you. And I am very jealous.

Gem is a fitting nightmare as I do believe I have mentioned a time or two (or twelve) in the past. In the beginning I could hide behind ignorance. Its a saddle. It is made for a horse. It should fit. But no. Now I have gone and done my research and learned all I could possibly learn and now I know too much. Now I have to make sure I have done all I could to ensure her comfort. Honestly, its a drag being this way. Just ask the hubs who I think is about as interested in hearing me talk saddle fit as he would be about by last gyno appointment. But that's what you get when you are married.

If I planned to just tinker around the farm forever, my current saddle would be perfect. She isn't sore after I ride, but she does have spots where the hair is ruffled up after I remove it (it should lay perfectly smooth and flat) and it tends to ride up her neck a bit causing impingement of her shoulders during movement. I absolutely adore my saddle. The leather is butter soft and it fits me like a glove. I feel secure even through her tantrums and random spooks. It is lightweight and breathes well. I got it at a discount at Rolex in 2011 and right afterward the price skyrocketed as the saddle gained popularity. That means that selling it to pay for a new one should be possible. But, I am not looking to tinker around the farm. I am looking to ask her to carry/run with me for 50 miles over probably 9-10 hours. I need to make sure it is as perfect as possible.

But I went through all of this back in late 2010-2011 and tried dozens of saddles. She just doesn't fit well. Her issues are not easily compensated for in the regular, standard saddle on the market. And believe me when I say that I've tried just about every type of saddle out there - dressage, endurance, western, jumping, all purpose, cross country, treeless. One would solve one problem, but create another. It fit her and not me or me and not her. AAAAHHHH! The hubs smartly pointed out to me a month ago that re-trying the same old would be pointless. What has changed in the last year or so that would give me any hope that any saddle would fit better than her current one? "Why don't you just break her to pull a cart instead?" Blasphemy!  Rest assured, honeybear, there is one last type that I didn't try - the flexible panel saddle.

Poor Timing....Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

"The road to Hell may be paved with good intentions, however, the road to Heaven is paved with lost opportunities."

 

- Gerrard

Just when you think life has settled into a nice, boring routine it kicks back up in full swing making your head spin. Or maybe it is just my life that does that. I can honestly say that things are very rarely ever dull. Or if they are, they won't be that way for long.

The hubs and I are fairly rash decision makers. We are not known for our researching and prolonged thinking which is why we ended up with a convertible in October in Ohio. We don't fear change or waste time wondering what if. I would rather try and fail than never try at all. It does make for some unnerving times and in the end we have wasted more money than I care to admit. When we moved down here we vowed to keep our long term goals in mind and quit with the short term gratification (or at least a lot of it, you still have to live you know). What does this have to do with anything? Well, a lot. We are passing up a chance that any other time in our lives together we never would have even thought twice about. Progress? Maybe.

My new friend down here has two properties - one is the house she currently lives in and the other is an 8 acre property pretty close to where we live now and is a rental. The backyard was offered to us as a potential place to keep the Dynamic Duo (aka: Gem and Pete) when we wanted to leave Crabby Acres and didn't know where to go. We decided to not take her up on the generous offer for several reasons, but the main one being that it lacked any horse amenities beyond a fenced area, so riding would be difficult and if we are boarding we might as well get some real benefits out of it. We then found FS Farms where they are currently residing (for the time being anyway). That was last weekend and things seemed to settle back down from that stress.

Until Monday (a whole 2 days of stress free living!! Wahoo!) when she contacted me saying that the current renters put in a 60 day notice. Would we be interested in moving into the house and bringing the Dynamic Duo along with us? Ummmm......yes! Oh wait...that was awfully rash of me without knowing any details about the house, property, price etc....Let me talk to the hubs. Oh and where exactly is this place?

I drove by that same evening and was a little deflated when I saw a huge mansion of a brick house and a lot of trees. It even had a brick gate to get into the driveway. I highly doubted that it was in our price range, so I texted her and asked. Lo and behold the stars were aligning and it was only a little higher than our current rent. For a 5 bed, 4.5 bath, 4000 sq ft home with a swimming pool and a screened in porch. Are you kidding me? Yes!!!! Oh...wait...I'm supposed to be thinking about things more. Darn.

We met her yesterday to walk around and see what all was what. There is a small arena out front that is serviceable. There is also a 100 acre property across the street that we might be able to ride on. The disappointing part was the yard. The back probably 1 -2 acres is fenced for horses, but is 85% dense trees and only 15% grass. Overall the area is large, but with all the trees there wouldn't be room for them to run around. But still....having them out back would be great. The main concern became the price. If we brought them with us the rent would go up $200 a month (not sure exactly why) and we would be responsible for our own hay (with no grass would need it year round) and grain. We bought our own grain in WI the first year and it was roughly $100/month and I figure hay to be the same so we would be adding $400 a month onto the rent for the horses. Which is the same we are paying for board currently, but with the increase in rent from our current small house we would be getting up there in monthly expenses. For a rental. That isn't an option to buy ever because it just isn't truly a horse property and we can find 10 acres that are better suited with a more reasonable house for less down the road. Sigh.

After much....hmmmm...argument is so harsh a word....lets call it debate that ate away our 9th anniversary yesterday, we have come to the conclusion that the short term gratification of the nice house with a pool and the horses out back would significantly extend the time until our primary goal in life for our own farm and that while where we are living and boarding now isn't perfect it is pretty darn cheap. Sigh. I liked being rash and immature soooo much better. This being responsible and adult like is no where near as fun.

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. 

Moving Day!

Saturday came and we headed to W Farms to get Gem and Pete. Of course it was super busy there in the morning and so we tried to quietly pull in and go about our business. One super crabby boarder came up to me and asked if I was joining them on their trail ride. I said no and kept walking. She then went up to the hubs and I heard her ask the same thing. Now why would you ask him when I already told you no? He said no, we are moving the horses. She asked where. I wouldn't have answered, but the hubs is friendlier than I am, so he told her FS Farms. She glared back and spat "They don't have as much land there" Ummm....really? MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!!!!!!!! Now, if she had been talking to me it would have taken all my filtering strength to not reply "But they have such friendlier people", but she was fortunate to be dealing with the hubs who just ignored her and walked away. Sigh. I am soooooo glad to be out of there and away from everyone.

The horses loaded up well as usual and we headed out. Once at the new barn we showed the hubs around since he hadn't seen it yet. He was content with only the same worry as me about the grass issue. We then headed over to let them out to their new pasture. The hubs made an interesting observation: the pasture was cut in half horizontally (forming a front half and back half) by a fence that ran from left to right about 2/3rds and then a pond that took up the remaining 1/3rd. He asked if the fence included the pond. They said no. Their 2 elderly geldings and a rather cute donkey were on the back half and the gate was closed between the two giving Gem and Pete their own private space (I love having them back together!).  Knowing his horse well, he asked how friendly their horses and donkey were and we were told very, but why? Hubs mentioned how much Pete likes water and said that if they come out and he is across the pond to not worry and just open up the gate for one big party. They thought we were weird.

At first things were going well. Gem and Pete said hello to the mare across the fence on the left hand side and then went about exploring. Gem was nervous as usual but began settling in fairly quickly. Until she noticed an alien across the back fence. I had never thought about it. Donkeys are similar enough to horses I just figured they would be ok, but Gem apparently had never seen one before and she was petrified. She ran away from it as fast as she could and then slowly edged back behind Pete shaking like a leaf and ready to explode. She eventually said hello, but every time the donkey (named Spook)  let out a big old heeeehaw, she would run full tilt away. Poor girl. So many new experiences in so short a time.

We stood around and chatted to make sure everything would settle in ok and when W started getting bored at the barn and hungry, we packed up and headed home. If you take a left out of the barn you go straight back to our place. If you go right, you can make a second right and head back along a road at the back of the property and spy on the horses. We went that way. As we drove past Pete was making his way about halfway across the pond, swimming to meet the others. Ha!!!! We told them he liked the water :) He never made it across though because the guard donkey stood on the other shore and yelled at him which made him reconsider and turn back around. I don't give it too long and he will make it across.

A New Home For Gem and Pete

“I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.”

- Marilyn Monroe

 

 

I made one phone call to a new acquaintance down here and the possibilities for a new barn became almost endless. There was one barn I really wanted to go see. It is a known endurance barn in the area and I had been told they had access from the property to all the local trails. How awesome would it be to ride out of the barn and have all my training needs right there? Very. The two downsides were that Gem and Pete would need to remain separated and it is 30 minutes away. But the ability to have trails right there and knowledgeable endurance people would balance that out. We went last Wednesday to check it out. Unfortunately, we were informed that she used to have trail access but the property between her and the forest was restricted now and it was an 8 mile trailer ride to the trails. It became a good back up barn if nothing else proved worthwhile.

 

What was amazing was the vast amount of offers to put Gem and Pete in people's private yards. I couldn't believe it. Every day I got a new text of a new person who was willing to fix up the fencing and put the horses at their house so they could be close and stay together. I have never come across friendlier people ever in my life. The hubs and I discussed our options thoroughly and while the private boarding was an amazing offer, the lack of an arena or trails would make riding next to impossible during the week (not that I have been riding lately any way) so we put those as a last choice. Then I got a text about a local barn that was only an additional 5-10 minutes farther than the current barn with a large, lighted outdoor arena, a pasture where Gem and Pete could remain together and even better it was laid back and as frosting on the cake - $50 less a month than we were currently paying. I just had to go check it out.

 

I happened to have a gap in my schedule last Thursday, so I called them up and ran over there and it was great. Super friendly, laid back owners with a real at home feel. No odd rules about blankets or farriers or anything really. The pasture Gem and Pete would be in was large enough for the two of them, but doesn't have as much grass as I would like. There is some and this is the end of the growing season so most places are very eaten down, but it is an adjustment from the large, lush pastures of W Farms. Had we moved straight here from the arctic north it wouldn't have been any change since the pasture is larger than up there with about the same amount of grass or just a smidge more than they had before.

 

The arena is spacious and has lights for my evening rides in the dark. They feed hay and grain as needed per the condition of the horses. It is on 55 acres and they said they have some trails cut through it that if you walk takes about 45 minutes, so for us would be about 10 minutes so is the same as at W Farms. They would be outside 24/7, but the barn has the largest stalls I've ever seen and we can use them whenever we want. For the price, I don't see how we could get better. My only concern is the lack of grass, so I will be keeping a very close eye on their weight. I am not a fan of the quality of hay down here in the South versus what I am used to up north, so relying on hay isn't so great. We will see. The hubs and I have toyed with the idea of purchasing the awesome hay from our last barn in the north and running up with the trailer to bring it down for Gem and Pete.

 

I called the hubs to let him and know and we decided it would be worth a shot. While there are other boarders, they don't frequent the barn much and if they are anything like the owners they will be easy to get along with. Given the other options - either far away , private so no riding ability, or super expensive - this one seemed like a good choice for us. We planned to move them in on Saturday morning and called W Farms to give them a heads up.

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!