A Soft Spot for Stars

Ultimate Trail Horse Challenge-Dec 2019

Initially when Trainer talked about hauling Joey to this, he was just intending to ride him around and get him used to the show environment. Then he started schooling Joey on obstacles and realized it wasn’t too far fetched to expect Joey to be able to participate in the actual challenge. So I sent in his entries and we planned to just haul him down there, show him in all three rounds, let him…

The easiest keeper.

The hardest keeper.

Where to start with Joey. As of last week he now wears sliders on his hind feet. He has adjusted to front shoe life well. Trainer is watching his back feet closely because apparently his small feet/his thin hoof walls/the way sliders are made is complicating him wearing the sliders. This is one of those occasions where I’m glad Trainer does my shoeing. He knows exactly what’s going on and monitors it obsessively and fixes what needs to be fixed himself. No scheduling appointments to tell another professional that my trainer isn’t satisfied with something/it isn’t working. Trainer just fixes it himself. It definitely costs more than my regular farrier(s), but I could probably do a whole blog post on the beauty of paying more for things that actually feel like an added value/less stress. This is one of those for sure.

He went to the obstacle challenge in December that I referenced in my October post, but I’ll do a separate post on that since he actually ended up competing and I have a ridiculous amount of pictures to share. I didn’t ride at that one, but we’re planning on going back in March and Trainer will show him in the open and I’ll ride in the amateur division. Which is made possible by the fact that…

New Joey selfies made possible by a long weekend of horse showing.

I now lope my baby horse! And have been for a while now. Like since early November. K went down with me to see Joey and Trainer mentioned trying it on the lunge line and I went for it since I had her there to video me. I love watching videos later, particularly to prove to myself that my SUPER FAST zoomzoom pony is in fact barely crawling along at the lope. In fact, one of my biggest issues at the lope is keeping him going. My fitness is meh. He’s a push ride. I need more strength to push. So I’ve been attempting to hit the gym 2 or 3 nights a week and I ride mostly on Saturday mornings. I’m content currently with my weight and how my body looks (though I’m sure it could always be better and all), I just need to be more fit. I’m seeing myself build stamina on the treadmill already, so I’m hoping that carries over to in the saddle.

And speaking of saddles…wompwomp. My Billy Cook that I bought when I got Paige is now kind of too big for me. Yay weight loss? I can still ride in it, obviously, but I’m not as effective as I’d be in a smaller seat. When I use my legs like I need to in order to cue Joey effectively, my seat moves around and such. I rode in it a few times this fall and was fine until Trainer gave me a lesson and I started trying to actually ride…then it became clear that it wasn’t going to work. I’m shopping for something else, though ideally mine will sell before I pull the trigger on something else. I’m stupid picky though, so finding what I want used has proven challenging. Also, as with everything else in life, I have champagne taste on a beer budget. I found a gorgeous custom ranch saddle with turquoise buck stitching, but at $3500 it isn’t likely. (Do we really need BOTH kidneys?)

I basically need all the things. The only thing Joey wore at the horse show in December that was actually his was his blanket. We borrowed saddle/pad/boots and Trainer used his working headstall on him. If anyone would like to send us all of the money, I can tell you exactly where it will go. 😂 I am buying a set of SMBs to save for shows since he’s so rough on his working set. I bought an ugly working set for him last month so that he’ll naturally be gentle on these and they’ll last forever…which means we’ll have to look at them forever. That’s how it works, right?

Body by alfalfa.

He’s changed SO much since last year, which is to be expected since he’s growing up and all, but Trainer really has him looking like the fancy show pony that he’s turning out to be. He doesn’t naturally show a lot of muscle definition, but he’s definitely in great shape. I’m loving having a hairless winter Joey. He stays SO much cleaner and not having to shed off all that white hair this spring will be nice.

I’ll post more soon…at least about the December show. We have FOUR shows on the calendar for 2020, which may not seem like a lot, but when you’re used to one 3 day show a year, budgeting for FOUR of those with a horse in full time training and the intention of breeding a mare in May, it makes things a little tight in the money department. I’ll make it happen though…somehow. 😂

Here’s to a full and fun 2020 with more of this view!

Looking so grown up.

The only snag we’ve really hit is that he became foot sore last month and Trainer suggested that we go ahead and put him in front shoes, which immediately solved all of his issues. He’s working hard, so keeping him feeling good is our top priority. Much to Trainer’s dismay, he pulled each front shoe once the first week that he had them on. Once being a derp and somehow tripping over himself walking into his stall and once forging at the trot, which doesn’t really surprise anyone as big as his trot is.

Joey’s main flaw is that he’s lazy, which is actually totally fine with Trainer and I because it means that even when he’s eating like a king (which he is), he’s still not prone to being hot. There’s a lot more whoa than go to be had, and we’re both totally fine with that. It does mean that things Joey finds physically difficult are met with more resistance. For instance, despite being reining bred, he’s not wild about sitting back on his hindquarters and pivoting…because that means he has to lift his shoulders. Trainer has taken it slow with him and hasn’t put as much focus on that for the last few months, just touching it occasionally to see if Joey puts the pieces together on his own. Now we’re at the point where this is his new focus because all of the other aspects of his training are so much further along. Hopefully with a little pressure, he’ll start to realize that picking up his shoulders and turning is far easier than doing a bunch more ugly spins while Trainer waits for the one good one to reward.

  The good thing about that becoming Trainer’s new pet item is that it means Joey’s lope has improved. I’ve actually held off on loping Joey myself because if you’ve followed this blog for long, you know that I harbor some loping anxiety myself (thanks Lil Man and Copper…). Luckily Trainer is incredibly supportive and doesn’t want to pressure me into anything I’m not ready for. I’ve previously ridden with people that are of the mindset that the only way I’m going to get over it is to push through it, and with a broke horse, I totally see that logic. For instance, Paige. There’s no reason I should be afraid to lope her. Do I still get nervous about it? Sometimes. Do I push through because I know her goal in life is to eat more cookies instead of toss me into a fence? Yep. The same logic does not apply to green baby two year olds. While Joey’s goal in life isn’t to toss me into a fence either, he’s still a baby and babies do baby things. One of Joey’s baby things has been to be a little squirrely at the lope transition sometimes. So since the last thing I need is to be afraid of my baby horse and the last thing Joey needs is my inexperience allowing him to get away with something that Trainer has actively been correcting, we’ve been holding off on the loping. Trainer has been very encouraging and says that there are infinite things to learn about your horse at the trot and has me extending Joey’s trot and practicing standing the trot. Standing the trot felt SO weird the first time and has definitely been working some inner thigh muscles that have been dormant my entire life, so we’ve been making good use of our time. Joey’s progress does make me optimistic that my turn to lope him is coming up soon, which I’m actually growing more excited about vs. nervous. Trainer has told me that I’m the one making the call and just to let him know when I’m ready and he’ll put me on the lunge line the first time so I can get used to the feel before I’m 100% in charge of steering. I MAY have told trainer that I have been known to forget to steer at the lope. 😂

  Trainer also has several obstacles around the outdoor that I enjoy playing with. I know Joey well enough to know that obstacles aren’t something he’s going to overreact to, so even if Trainer hasn’t done something with him before, I’m not nervous about attempting it. Worse case scenario is we do it poorly and Trainer has something else to work on. Trainer has been joking about turning Joey into an obstacle challenge horse to beat the man who boards with him and shows in those competitively and the man didn’t seem to find it as funny as Trainer and I did…perhaps because the little two year old might be good at it? 😉 With that being said, Joey’s first off the farm outing is currently supposed to be an obstacle challenge in NC with Trainer (and said man…). He won’t be competing (or at least that doesn’t seem to be the plan), but will just be there to work around other horses under saddle away from home before going to compete next year.

I got all four of his feet on this before Trainer did.

I do want to get my chiro out to adjust Joey soon, though timing it may be tricky with Trainer going out of town for the AQHA Worlds in the next couple of weeks. We’re also trying to figure out some opportunities to haul him out that are close to home and have indoors, which is a struggle this time of year. So far the only thing I’ve found so far is a barrel race…which is humorous. If Joey can keep it together watching hot headed horses turn barrels, he should be game for anything right?

I am really excited that my weekly visits now involve me riding Joey after Trainer shows me how things are progressing with him. It’s incredibly easy to forget that I’m cruising around on a two year old who has six months of riding, which says a lot about both Joey and Trainer. I’m looking forward to seeing where we are after another six months! Maybe we will have already gotten through our first under saddle show by then? 😎

😘

I’ve learned that the fun thing about working with new horse professionals is that they have no scope of your abilities or knowledge of whether or not you can ride worth a darn. I’d been a little backwards about asking to ride Joey because I wanted to make sure he was good and ready and that I wouldn’t be messing up or slowing down his progress by spending time in the saddle myself. I’ve gone a year without riding (minus the trail ride in Maui), so a little longer won’t kill me…or that’s what I told myself. Then one evening I casually asked Trainer about how much lessons on Joey would be (spoiler, lessons on a horse in training are included) once he’s ready for me to start riding and he said I could start riding him whenever I wanted, but it would be best for his progress if we kept it to a weekly basis for now, then bump it to twice a week later. So I didn’t ride that evening since I didn’t have my helmet or spurs with me, but I came prepared the next week.

I watched Trainer school him some before it was my turn. I put my helmet on and asked Trainer, spurs or no spurs, because I’ve heard him say numerous times that without spurs you aren’t gonna go any faster than a walk on Joey. Remember how I called Paige a potato and Joey was dubbed tater tot when he was in utero? Whoops…it stuck. So Trainer said, “no spurs, let’s just walk and get to know him tonight.” Sure thing. I will take the advice of the man who I write the big checks to. That is his role in my life. So I mounted and walked, turned, side passed, backed, etc. for 15 minutes or so and got the feel for him. Then I dismounted my very short horse (who feels that much shorter on the dismount honestly) and gave him all the big scratches for toting his mother as quiet as a mouse. Meanwhile Joey is just like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

“Why is mom so excited that I carried her? I carry man human every day.”

The weird part is that I was definitely more nervous about riding in front of Trainer than I was about riding Joey. Though I’ll admit a good percentage of the nerves melted away when Trainer offered to lead me when I first got on. The bar was set low you guys. 😂 I told him I’d probably be fine without being led and managed well enough. He told me at the end that I could have my spurs and trot when I came down next time, so apparently I wasn’t too horrible.

It’ll be interesting to see if my nerves continue to stay at this very low level with Joey as the intensity increases. Copper and Lil Man definitely contributed majorly to my nervous rider mentality, so the concept of having a gelding that takes care of me that I can trust is a little mind boggling. My confidence with Paige has (so far) transferred over to riding Joey, which is all well and good until I forget he’s a two year old and get myself in trouble. I’m under a lot of adult supervision while he’s at Trainer’s though, so I doubt he’ll let me get in trouble. 😉

The second ride also went well. I got to use my spurs and we did a lot of trotting. My initial reaction was that Joey’s jog felt bouncy and Trainer said that’s because he has impulsion, something I’m not used to with Copper’s more flat western pleasure type jog. After watching the video Trainer took, I realized that he really isn’t as bouncy as I felt like he was.

My other main take away from this ride was that my horse has SO MANY BUTTONS and Trainer is talking about adding more. Like there will be different cues for a downward transition from a jog or walk than the downward transition from a long trot or a lope. Add that to the fact that none of his cues are the same as my other horses and my brain is gonna be a little fried before I get all of this down. Luckily Joey is the most chill baby horse ever, so he doesn’t get too frustrated with me. I see lots of lessons for us before we go out in public anywhere.

I will admit that the entire time I’m riding my horse I’m just a little bit smitten. Trainer probably thinks I’m nutty when I randomly go “doesn’t he have the cutest little ears?” Then I watch the video 97 times the night after the ride and at least wander back to wherever I’ve posted it 4 times during the day just to marvel at Joey. I’m still in awe of the fact that I made this horse. Every time I go down to Trainer’s I’m validated in that I made the right choice by putting him in training there. Even if I decided I don’t want to show one day I’m going to have one fancy broke pony to play with. Also, I totally get to say pony genuinely now since he isn’t above 14.2 yet…and he might not even mature over 14.2. I’m okay with it. Not nearly as far to fall. 😉

That 🍑 on Joey. 😍

I also can’t say enough about how well cared for Joey has been while at Trainer’s. We’re asking a lot of him, but he doesn’t seem the least bit stressed or over worked. I haven’t seen a single poop stain on the cream puff since May and he is in great shape. Trainer is also a farrier, so Joey’s feet always look great as well. It’s been the easiest adjustment having him there, minus the fact that his goobery face isn’t greeting me at home every evening.

He’s still the biggest ham when I try to selfie. 

One day he’ll be back at the farm, but let’s win some stuff first, okay Joe? 😘

Just the cutest baby ever. Nbd.

Ninety Days Under Saddle

It’s gotten very quiet around here lately, which is mainly the product of my own laziness, because I could find something to write about I’m sure. An update on Joey would probably make the most sense to start off with since I’ve given up all hope on blogging about my trip to Maui at this point. Just know this, Maui is beautiful and wonderful and if you ever get the opportunity, you should go. I’d…

Memorial Day Sales/Things I’m Selling

While I’m working on the monster that I’m sure my Maui recap post will be, I figured I’d go ahead and write a little something about what I bought during the RW Memorial Day Sale. I’m pretty interested to see how one item fits when it comes in today!

Spoiler alert…I have the most boring sales haul ever…two items, one for me and one for Copper. And, speaking of Copper, I cleaned out my tack trunk…

Let’s start with Joey since I know most people are here for the horsey stuff. Hawaii later? Sounds good.

So, I took Joey to the trainer a couple weeks later than initially planned. He was originally supposed to go at the tail end of April, but it ended up being put off until the first week of May since Trainer (J) had two shows back to back and wasn’t going to be on hand to watch him settle in. Knowing Joey, I wasn’t terribly worried that he wouldn’t settle well with whoever was watching the barn, but I can understand J’s apprehension, so I was totally fine with two more weeks of Joey cuddles.

So, on May 2nd, I took a half day off work and went to the barn and found Joey laid flat out in the hay unconscious, and knowing him, likely snoring. (I wasn’t close enough to hear, but if you remember the video of his gelding, you know snoring is in his repertoire.)

Afternoon naps are the best.

Oh hi, mom.

Do I have to get up though?

I went on and did my evening barn chores so I wouldn’t have to do them that night when I got back without him, then hooked up to the trailer and got all the windows and vents opened for him while waiting for K to get there to ride along for moral support/trailer driving coaching. I’ve only pulled the trailer 4 times or so and never with one of my own horses on board, just S’s (thanks S for guinea pigging your horses?) 😂 The drive over was uneventful minus the fact that the last 10 miles of interstate driving included an absolute gully washing downpour. I joked that Joey’s entire face would be drenched when we got there.

A couple days before this, I got the grand idea to practice loading with Joey because I couldn’t remember if he’d been on my trailer. I knew he’d been on K’s stock type that has all the open sides and room, but thought my small, dark, two horse slant might prove more scary. What I didn’t consider was that I wouldn’t be able to get Joey to back OFF of the trailer. Being his typical fearless self, he followed me onto my dark little trailer with little hesitation and he stood quietly beside me as if we were just standing in the field chilling. Zero percent nervous, not even terribly curious about things really. Just in a trailer. No big deal. Cool. Except he was NOT feeling backing off. At first he was like, sure mom, backing, I know this game. Then he realized he’d have to let his back feet drop off into the oblivion and he very calmly told me no. For 30 minutes or so. No escalation, no further nerves about being on the trailer, just resignation to the fact that we now live in the horse trailer.

As I mentioned, my two horse slant is small. If I hadn’t have the rear tack expanded I might have had a better chance at convincing him to back off, and it wouldn’t have been so tight to let him turn around in the trailer, but I finally gave up, looped the lead rope around his neck and got off the trailer to let him figure out how to handle the situation. Questionable logic possibly, but I think he’s proven capable of rational thought, so I figured why not let him figure it out. So he glanced over his shoulder at me, contorted himself into a pretzel and turned around. He then looked at me quietly and waited for me to grab the lead rope and encourage him to step down.

Or rocket launch off. Naturally.

So when we pulled in at J’s, I’d already decided just to let him pretzel and turn again and ask J to put that on the list of things that Joey needs to learn if he thinks he isn’t ready to ride and needs something else ground work wise to work on in the meantime. J said that the first couple of weeks he was there would be focused on ground work and that he would teach him how to back. I replied that he knows how to back, but the off of a trailer part was the crucial bit of the sentence and he just reiterated that he’d get a lot of groundwork first. Sounds good to me.

So, the interesting thing about working with a new trainer is that they have no idea of the owner or horse’s abilities at drop off. Not that I’m a seasoned pro or that Joey is the epitome of a cultured two year old, but honestly between my half ass effort and Joey’s general trainability, we really haven’t done half bad. But, since J didn’t know either of us from Adam, I think it’s safe to say that he probably proceeded with caution since he knows so little about us. So sure, by all means, teach my baby how to back. 😉

A couple days before he left-hand grazing the driveway with Cheddar.

After the weekend, I messaged J to check in and asked how Joey was doing, to which I got a “doing good and eating fine” message back. I’ve only known Joey not to eat once and that was when he had the infection/ran the super high fever after his castration, so yeah, I’d hope he’s eating. I had already determined that J was a man of few words, so I didn’t take it personally and went to Hawaii eager to return and see how groundwork was going on the 17th. On the 10th, eight days after I dropped Joey off, I received a short video clip that showed Joey trotting around the indoor with J aboard. He was low headed and quiet on a loose rein and looked more balanced than I’ve seen a lot of horses after 30 days, much less in this short of an amount of time.

I’d be lying if I said that seeing my kiddo going so well didn’t hit me right in the feels. I was a tiny bit sad that I’m missing a lot of his training, but I also know that that is just part of having a horse in full time training, even though I’m far from used to this scenario. Most of my emotion was sheer pride. I’ve always been the horsey friend with the least training skills, so to see my baby moving ahead of schedule after spending 99% of his formative time with me and me alone was validating. I give 90% of the credit for his trainability to damn good genetics, but that other 10% was me…doing something right? I spent the rest of Friday in Hawaii on a high. There’s nothing like being on a dream vacation and getting SO excited about what you have waiting on you at home.

So, after a week in Hawaii, I arrived back in Virginia and made plans to go see Joey first thing the next morning. I walked in the barn to see him tied and he watched me very closely. J was on another horse in the outdoor so I scratched on Joey for a few minutes (and teared up a tinyyyy bit to be honest…) before going out to say hi to J. Joey seemed 100% at home and like I’d just walked out of the barn five minutes before, not two weeks ago.

After finishing up with the other horse, J tacked Joey up casually like you would a broke trail horse and lunged him a few circles at all gaits in each direction before bridling him and mounting. Honestly I felt like I was watching a smaller version of Paige because he stood quietly while J mounted and just had the same general demeanor that I’m used to with Paige. He walked him around and flexed his neck a couple of times before reaching back and fooling with the saddle bags on the back of the saddle, making noise with the velcro on them numerous times while Joey just walked along unbothered by it all.

  I had told J that Joey was laid back when I first met him then again when I dropped him off and had also said that he has a lot more whoa than go. J countered that several do until stalled and put on the alfalfa, then they get a little hot until they settle in. So I was pleased to hear that being stalled and on alfalfa hasn’t changed his disposition at all. J stated that if he keeps the same attitude as he has currently that Joey is the type of horse that he likes to train and that he’d much rather have one that quits unless you make him work vs. one that runs hot and has to be ridden down to get to a point of being trainable. I’m 100% not the type of rider who wants/likes a hot horse, so I agreed that I’d prefer Joey stay lazy as well since that’s what I’m used to with his mother. Willing to work if you ask, but otherwise willing to chill. I bred for that brain first, conformation and movement second, and color third.

This is one of the reasons I’m happy to have Joey in full training somewhere. A few friends have quipped that Joey is so easy I could’ve started him myself, which is debatable. I can see their point in that Joey is so easy, but by sending him to a professional I keep his willingness to quit from becoming a insistence to quit. CoughcoughRobin. I know where my strengths lie and training riding horses who don’t have holes in their training is far from one of them.

Anyway, after watching Joey walk and trot around the indoor, J kissed and Joey immediately bopped up into a little rolling canter so quietly that it surprised me. I didn’t even know if he was loping him yet at all so to see him effortlessly step into the lope made me grin. The balance and body control that Joey has already after two weeks in training is something I keep being surprised by. He’s always been this derpy little baby in my head, so to see him capable of something athletic looking for his stage of training made me happy. J quipped that he was going to start riding him in spurs the next week (which is now I guess) so that he can show Joey that he has faster gears than he’s currently volunteering. He said that everything up to this point has been about forward movement with steering and brakes, but I can see why he wants to use the spurs because even maintaining what I call Joey’s “lah-te-dah” trot and rolling canter is taking some pretty dramatic pony kicks. Naturally this doesn’t surprise me at all after teaching him how to go on the longe line as the gaits he’s given me have always defaulted to what is easiest. So I guess this week Joey is learning about how to adjust his speed and stride length now that J feels like he’s ready to accept spurs.

After demonstrating Joey both ways at all three gaits, J dropped the reins and grinned and said, “not half bad for two weeks.” I heartily agreed. I’d told J previously that Joey’s well being, mentally and physically, ranked over rushing him into things, so it was reassuring to see how easily things seem to be going and how comfortably Joey is adapting to working life. J again mentioned that he likes that Joey isn’t reactive or hot because that allows him to gradually increase the length of his workouts with gaining fitness in mind while still being able to teach him something with each ride. While I agree with the old adage that wet saddle pads make broke horses, it’s nice to see a trainer realize that it isn’t necessary to work one into the ground past their point of physical ability. Joey left his workout looking alert and engaged without looking warm or overworked.

Immediately after being ridden. 

When I initially Talked to J about Joey I told him that I was hoping to eventually show in the ranch events at APHA shows and that my long term big goal was to ride him and look the part at the APHA World Show. When I told J that in January, he gave me a little spiel about how much training goes into a horse showing at that level and what qualities a horse has to have to be competitive in the ranch classes. This information wasn’t new to me, but once again, J didn’t know me or my horse from Adam, so I think he was taking my goals with a grain of salt. I haven’t brought anything competitive up again since that conversation, opting instead to let Joey demonstrate whatever skills he has to J over the course of time and let J make his own opinions about Joey’s possible future. I realized my goals might not be terribly far fetched when after mounting Joey and starting to walk circles, J looked at me and asked when and where the APHA World Show is held. I told him and he went on to ask me several questions about Paige and Tanner and trying to get a better idea of Joey’s breeding, so I think the wheels are definitely turning now that Joey has demonstrated that he’s more than a pretty colored gelding.

What do you mean I have to be more than pretty?

J has a show this coming weekend, so I’ll be going another two weeks without seeing the kiddo. Not that I can’t go down there on the week nights, but at this point I’m not the person that needs to be riding him, so I can make better use of my time by getting stuff done at the house and farm on week night evenings instead of driving over and watching Joey. It’s fun to see the progress in two week intervals honestly. Based on what J had said, I set my expectations low for the first two weeks and was more than pleasantly surprised to see Joey at the point that he’s at. Until then I’ll just keep watching the videos from Friday on a loop…makes sense, right? 😉

Happy Birthday Joey-Two Years

Joey’s birthday isn’t officially until Sunday, but I likely won’t remember to post then, so I wanted to go ahead and mark the occasion on the blog with some cute then and now photos.

I really don’t have the words to express how much this horse has meant to me already in his life. He’s gotten me through some incredibly tough moments in the last year, and always makes me smile after a rough day.…

I’ll start out with some dog pictures. Look how cute my kids are:

Getting a picture where none of them are blurry is an accomplishment. 

After having Tucker for a year, I finally got him his own tags. 

I got him neutered back in February and he’s even more cuddly now, which is amazing. 

Dex is still my mischievous little love bug of course. Nothing new there. 

After putting it off for ages, I finally had Ariel’s teeth cleaned at the vet. K did it where she works vs. having it done at my regular vet’s office because I thought nervous Nellie Ariel would be happier with K than with people she doesn’t know as well. It went great and her teeth look so much better.  

Ariel also sleeps in the bed with me most every night. Occasionally she’ll snub me and sleep in the dog bed on the floor. I never know what I’ve done to offend her, but I don’t take it too personally. 😉 

On to horse pictures…

Looking grown up. 

I thought about sitting on him this night, but then I realized I’d have no one to document the moment or keep him from wandering to the hay bale with me. 

I still love my Hay Chix net btw. I can’t imagine how much hay I’ve saved. And if the growthy coming two year old looks like that, it’s safe to say everyone else’s weight has been maintained well throughout the winter despite the netted hay.

After removing a lot of hair off of his body. Only a ton more to go…

Being chased out of the barn. 

The red kids out on the furthest part of the farm. Copper’s topline could look better, but I can’t even feel his ribs, so his first low maintenance winter worked out well. He’s typically grained heavily and blanketed during winter, but now that he’s been Lyme free for nearly two years he’s finally adapted and is low maintenance like he was prior to the Lyme.

His hoof cracks are pretty much completely gone as well.

Paige still isn’t sound, but she seems comfortable. Still can’t decide what to do there. Until then, she stays on (mostly) level ground to not aggravate what is likely arthritis. 

Back when it was still super muddy. We’ve finally had some dry weather lately.

I’m hoping to put together a few collages like this of baby Joey versus current Joey for his birthday in a couple of weeks. Looking back at his baby pictures is giving me foal fever, so I’m glad that K has a half sibling coming here shortly. 🙂

Random pictures…

This is what happens when you don’t realize that a tree branch is scratching the paint off of your trailer all winter. Whoops.  

I bought this cute fabric to make curtains for the horse trailer. I finally finished the curtains for the loft area upstairs, so Mom says I can do these by myself. We’ll see!

This was a liberating day. If only I hadn’t had to pay $700 in health insurance for him since he moved out…if you’re wondering how I can afford to send my baby horse to a nice trainer, it’s because I’m finally only paying for me, not for everything for someone else as well.

Cheddar Chee! He meets me at my car to walk me to his food bowl. 😉

Me today, because I’m wearing my favorite earrings and felt kinda cute. haha. 

She’s the best.

Seriously though. I’m hoping she always likes me as much as she does now…and that maybe she’ll even like Paige a little once she’s older. 😉 

Hope everyone has a great weekend! The weather is supposed to be pretty here, so I anticipate plenty of barn time!

Sorry for the awful blog title. It is what it is. I also really didn’t mean to go over a month without blogging, but there has both been a lot going on and a lot of nothing simultaneously.

Lots of hair growth though?

First of all, my divorce has been final for two weeks now. Of course, I had a really rotten sort of day the day it became final, but I didn’t really find out about things being final…

Living My Best Life

Yesterday was one of those days where things seem to come at you from every angle. I woke up to a phone call from the Sheriff’s office telling me that I had a horse in the road…a brown and white one to be specific. The voicemail said that they put him in the field beside the “brown quarter horse.” So it sounded like Joey was out and that they put him in the donkey field since I assumed the brown…

While yesterday was about looking back, today is all about looking to the future! 2019 is proving to be an exciting year already.

Maui

Back in December I decided that I was going on a big trip for my 30th birthday whether I went alone or coerced someone to go along, so I proceeded to plan a week long trip to Maui. Initially I wanted to go abroad somewhere for the first time (I’m still coming for you Italy…), but I really wanted to go away over my birthday week and the odds weren’t high for me getting my name changed in time to apply for a passport and get it back in time. So, darn, going to have to compromise and go to Hawaii. 😉

After booking my flight and AirBnB my mom decided to go with me. She and I spend a lot of time together and go on adventures together regularly, but this will be our biggest adventure to date. I’m looking forward to going with her and stretching both of our comfort zones a little bit while we’re gone. So far I’ve booked a whale watching boat tour since we’re going right at the tail end of whale season in Hawaii. There is also talk of kayaking, snorkeling and maybe horseback riding, though apparently I’ve booked a trip to an island that doesn’t allow you to ride on the beach, so I’ve yet to determine if riding on the island is worth the cost if I can’t ride on the beach. If anyone has any experience with this, feel free to fill me in. I’m pumped about this trip though, and beyond grateful that K is willing to keep my dogs and run by the farm for me to check on the horses. I truly don’t know what I’d do without her.

Joey

Another reason to not spend money on potential horseback riding in Maui is that soon enough I’ll be able to sit on Joey. I’ve been watching him pretty carefully this winter and have decided to go ahead and send him to the trainer to be started under saddle during his two year old year. He’s mentally more than ready and physically I think that the exercise will do him well. He’s looking very round lately, though there are random glimpses of the horse to come underneath the polar bear fluff. It’s next to impossible to get a picture of him that demonstrates the good moments; they all turn out to show him still looking like a pudgy little kid’s pony. For example:

Could literally eat dinner off of his back…he gets it honest from both sides…

His eyeliner in this one makes me giggle.

I haven’t been graining him since before Christmas, though I didn’t make a conscious decision not to, I just didn’t start him back on grain after the big snow we had. When I talked to the trainer last weekend he said to go ahead and start him back on grain despite the fact that he looks like a walrus. My words…not his…he is unaware that he is getting a walrus/polar bear hybrid in for training in April, though the polar bear tendencies will be gone by then. I did end up going with the trainer that is 30 minutes from home. I went down on Saturday and watched him work with three different horses. From what I’ve seen, I think he’ll be a good fit for Joey. He’s a quiet and kind rider and agrees with me that Joey’s long term soundness is our first priority and that developing him to be a safe amateur ranch riding horse is second. Any competitive successes are just the icing on the cake.

So just like that, young Joey will be thrust into adulthood this spring. It generally takes a ranch riding horse a year to get to the point where they’re ready to go out and show after being started under saddle, so by starting soon, we’ll be more likely to be able to show next year. Of course, you guys know how horses are, so anything could happen.

Paige

Speaking of how anything can happen to horses, Paige is still mysteriously lame. With how much of a cluster my life was at the end of 2018, I was unable to get her to VT to be xrayed. I had anticipated that I would be living in an improved two income household during the fall and would be able to afford to get caught up on a bunch of things, but instead I found myself re-calibrating and figuring my situation out. Now that I’ve got a better grasp on things, I want to get her in to be looked over soon. She doesn’t seem any more lame than she was last summer, but nothing has improved with months out of work either, so I’m apprehensive to find out what’s going on. That appointment will hopefully happen prior to Joey moving out, but after the weather around here becomes less sketchy for trailering.

Copper and Robin

These two are allowed to exist and be happy and healthy on the property for as long as I’m lucky to have them, but I also don’t have any grand plans for them outside of that in 2019. Pasture sound and mental sanity is a lot to ask for these two sometimes, so we’re going to keep things simple for them. 😉 On another note, the Clydesdale boarder has been sold and moved out over Thanksgiving, so I’m open to

The three amigos (including boarder, Kricket)

Donkeys

Luckily there will be no donkey births this year. Russell was gelded in December of 2017, so his swimmers should’ve been long gone by June when the girls had foaled and became able to be bred again. Rudy moved in with K this fall, so Russell and the three girls are the entirety of the donkey herd right now. If I knew of someone I trusted who wanted a donkey, I’d be willing to let Russell move in with them. The girls have been bullying him more lately and haven’t been letting him eat as much as I’d like, so he’s loose in the barn with a free choice round bale and is getting grain rations until I feel better about his weight. So if anyone local-ish is looking for a little gelded jack that is easy to get along with, I’m willing to part with Russell if he’s going somewhere where he’ll be taken care of.

Horse Shows

Originally I intended to show Joey at the APHA Eastern Nationals that are being held in Lexington (two hours from home!) this year. The combination of lack of funds due to him going to training in April plus the fact that it is coming up soon in late March with limited information available about the event has caused me to reconsider that and I’ll just be driving myself down to cheer on friends and leaving Joey at home. I really hope it is here again next year when he’s able to be shown in more than two classes so that I can support the concept. It just doesn’t seem to be worth the money to me when we’ll only be eligible for tobiano and two year old lone line.

We will still be attending the VPHA Futurity show on Labor Day weekend, though not showing under saddle. I intend to take him in the two year old versions of all the same classes we did in October and try to win some more money. We should be much more competitive in longe line since he will have been in training for months at that point. He will lope on a circle by then I’m confident. 😉 They also do not have two year old ranch classes, so his first opportunity to show under saddle won’t be until next year, which is preferred in my opinion. We’ll see how he’s doing training wise…I may get to ride him around the showgrounds for fun? Or maybe my trainer will come down? Who knows…this is a new world for me…I’m certainly not used to having a trainer.

Everything Else

I don’t have much else planned for 2019 at this point, but it is still early in the year and my life changes constantly. I do plan to have some vet work done on the dogs this spring. Ariel needs her teeth cleaned and Tucker needs to be neutered. 2018 was one of the lowest maintenance years for vet work on the dogs, so I’m hoping this year will be comparable outside of those procedures.

Best little family.

As always, there are a few house projects and a few farm projects I’d like to do, but with prioritizing Joey’s education, anything that costs significant amounts of money will be put off for a while. I’m very lucky to be in the position in life where my financial decisions only impact me, so prioritizing something so incredibly first world isn’t as big of a deal as it would be in many situations. I’m not saying everyone should be en route to divorce before thirty, but it certainly makes it easier to make these sort of decisions alone.

So, here’s to a year of selfish spending and (low budget) self improvement. Hopefully I’ll even get to ride a horse more than 6 times this year? 😉

Saying Thank You, Next to 2018

While my 2018 ended on a weird note by adjusting to living alone, overall it really was a good year. I’m a little late in doing a year end summary of sorts, but I think it’s worth it so that I realize that 2018 wasn’t all bad. Yeah, the last four months of 2018 contained a LOT of changes and while I kind of let my ex get off easy in this post, several of you that are friends with me on FB are…

Unfortunately I failed to get a picture of my gifts when they were still wrapped. I had no chill and ripped into them immediately and flung glitter all over the place. The wrapping paper was white with golden (hence the glitter) unicorns all over it. I had just gotten back from buying my new (used) car and my guy friend who went with me stuck around to see what my gift was and laughed at me when I was covered in golden glitter.

Inside the box was a baggie of Olivia’s homemade horse treats, which I immediately took out to the barn to spoil the kids with. Paige LOVED them. Joey, on the other hand, has only been hand fed treats once or twice in his life and wasn’t sure I should be trusted, which made Paige happy, because MOAR treats for her.

Joey is dubious about treats.

The other two packages contained things for me, not the ponies. A pair of super long Tuff Rider Socks and a super cute leather/gold toned leather snaffle bit bracelet.

  So cute. 

I’ve already worn the bracelet a couple of times, but the socks haven’t been used yet because I left both the socks and bracelet sitting on the end table in the living room as a visual reminder to take the pictures for this post…now they can go to my bedroom, where socks are chosen. 😉

Thanks to Olivia for my gifts! Paige will continue to enjoy those treats, though I guess I should remember to take some out to the rest of the herd when I go out there to check on them next. I know Robin will appreciate them as well. Copper is a little weird about treats. Not sure what it says about my herd that my girls love cookies and the boys are picky.

Also, thanks Tracy for hosting this again this year, it’s so much fun to read about everyone’s gifts.

Happy New Year to everyone as well. Hopefully I’ll have the opportunity (and content) to utilize this space more in 2019.

Just gonna be some ramblings here today folks, though hopefully coherent? TBD.

So, on the horse front, things are good. Everyone is hairy, fat and covered in mud. We had a pretty big snow (20 inches!) last week and I got some time off work, during which I developed strep throat for the first time. I had some other such throat funk back in October. I generally don’t go to the doctor for the common…

Black Friday Haul 2018

You know you went a little too hard with the Riding Warehouse Black Friday sale when you actually have to pull up your email confirmations to remember what you bought. Yup, confirmations. Plural. Because I apparently have no chill.

Let me start this out with a little bragging. So, I thought Joey won just short of $300 at the show in October, but they posted the official amounts last week prior to…

First of all, thanks to all of you guys who shared kind sentiments on my post about the end of my marriage. It was hard to determine how/if to share that, but in hindsight (so far) I’m glad that I did. I’ve also recently reverted to my maiden name on fb, so if we’re friends on there and you see my new (old) name, just glance at my profile picture and you’ll see Joey and know all is well.

Speaking…