Random Tuesday Blatherings

I am a bad horse mom. I haven't been to see Rusty in a week!  Eep!  I had a busy and stressful week last week, so I'm glad it is over.  I actually had a good lesson and ride on Rusty last Monday, so I hope some of that stuck in his little pea brain for our next ride - which I am hoping will be tonight!

So, the big barn dilemma of 2010 has come to a close. I spoke with my current BO and we had a great talk.  I have decided to move Rusty and we will be packing up and heading to the new barn on May 28th.  It was a tough decision because I do like my current barn, but a summer/fall of trail riding sounds like a lot of fun.   Since I will be saving money in board, I will be applying that money to regular lessons, starting in the fall. I will ride one of the BO's horses (hopefully the cute buckskin pony!) I really wanted to keep a good relationship with my current BO (I'm going to need better nicknames eventually) as she is one of the best instructors I have worked with. She is so good at explaining concepts as well as modifying exercises if things aren't working. 

I've done a lot of thinking (big surprise! lol) over the past couple of weeks about where I want my riding to go over the next few years. I haven't really ended up with a clear path because there are lot of things I would like to do.  I've reserved making a decision on anything big until I've had a summer/fall of riding at the new place. If Rusty and I aren't having fun, then I will look at trying to sell him next spring and find a better match.  Next summer I will have the option of showing (schooling shows only at this point - that's all I'm interested in) one of the current BO's horses - she often takes a couple of horses and a bunch of kids out to these shows.  So, I have lots of options and lots of time to try out some different horse activities and find which ones (maybe all of them!) suit me and Rusty.

I'm looking forward to exploring the trails and a few good canters through the fields at the new place. Hopefully the bugs won't be too bad! Note to self - invest in horse AND people bug spray!

Sunny Sunday at the barn

Who doesn't love a good roll in the sand?

And a good shake?

Look at my nice trot - too bad you can't make me do that under saddle...

(Notice the mouth full of hay here? There was a round bale at the end of the arena and he kept trying to steal a bite)

It is hard to get good pictures when riding alone...

Back out in the paddock after a ride and his first tail wash of the season.  His tail has grown about six inches in the past year! It is still quite thin down at the bottom, but it is something at least!

The Dilemma - Part 2

You can read part 1 here...

I don’t want to keep harping on about whether I should move Rusty or not, but I do want to document my thought process here. Also, I wanted to thank everyone for their comments, suggestions and support. I knew you guys would be a great sounding board for this issue!

One thing that is bugging me a bit about my current barn is that I can’t let anyone besides me even sit on my horse. Not a huge deal, but we have a few friends with kids that would love to visit Rusty. I just have to say no now to keep things simple. Other barns I have been at just require me to sign a waiver and I can do what I want with my horse (except teach other people, which I am ok with).

Stephanie asked what I want to do with my horse(s) in the future – and to be honest – I have no idea anymore. I think I may like to try some fun shows later on, but in the short term, I just want to ride without any pressure. Now, this pressure has all been created by me at this point – no one is pressuring or pushing me to do anything. So, I will need a new horse for those future goals, but it won’t be for a couple of years at this point. That will give me time to save up some money and refine my riding skills a bit and see where that takes me. I’m sure Rusty will be ready for retirement in a couple of years anyway, so that might be the best option for me right now.

I’ve come to terms with my situation a bit better this past week. Thanks to your helpful comments, I’m letting go of the guilt. I’ve realized that it is ok to change barns and/or focus. My current barn worked out well for me at the time, but I just don’t think it does anymore.

Broaching the subject with my BO is the tough part – I don’t like springing big news on people – it always makes me nervous. I don’t want to be judged or criticized for my decision, so I’m dreading that a bit. I’m hoping that she will understand and that I can leave on good terms. By moving to another barn, I will be saving at least $100, which I can then apply to lessons. I’m hoping to take lessons with her over the fall/winter using one of her horses, so I can work on learning more without the pressure of doing the lessons on Rusty and being frustrated.

On that note, I think it is safe to say that I have decided to move Rusty. I’ve been researching barns in the area and have two on my short list. Both have most of the qualities I am looking for this time around:

• Cheaper board, without compromising care

• Trails and hay fields to ride on

• People to ride with

• Within a 30 minute drive from home

• Not too busy with kids doing lessons

• Lessons available (although not from a certified instructor)

• Flexible – ie I can bring my own coach, vet, farrier, as well as let other people ride my horse a bit

One barn is the place I was at before. Some of you may remember that I moved Rusty away from there because he was being badly picked on in small overcrowded (IMO) paddock. I sent out a tentative email to the BO there and asked if the amount of horses she boarded had decreased a bit and if Rusty could be turned out in a smaller group. This is possible at the moment, but she couldn’t guarantee that it would stay that way. So, that raised a bit of a flag for me.

I visited a second barn last weekend and the property is really nice. They have 100 acres (which is pretty big for the immediate area near me). It is all trails and they are working on cutting more trails every year. Right now, they have about 5 miles of trails, roads and fields to ride on. That is pretty enticing to me! Another perk about this place is that it is on the same quiet dead-end gravel road as two other stables. One is a fancy-ish dressage stable and the other focuses on eventing and jumping. It is possible to take lessons at the eventing barn in their indoor arena over the winter and to use their facilities outdoors – which include a half-mile track and cross-country course. Now, I hope you guys are chuckling a bit at that – because I can’t really see Rusty and me galloping the track or jumping much of anything, but it is nice to have some options! 

So, the end to this somewhat long and drawn-out story is that I’m going to make a move. I’m going to go visit the second barn again on Saturday to make sure I still get a good vibe from the place. The move probably won’t happen until June 1, due to giving proper notice and all, but I think it is going to happen!

Fun filled weekend

Thanks for all of your comments and advice on my dilemma. I'm going to think on things for awhile and make some decisions. I'm not in a terrible rush, so I'm going to weigh all of my options before I do anything.

I had a great weekend. I had Thursday afternoon off, as well as Friday and Monday.  I made it out the barn everyday but Sunday, so I feel good about that.  Rusty and I had one good ride and the rest were just ok. 

I wanted to share a few pictures from my day on Sunday - we were at my in-laws new house and we enjoyed a great sunny day. It was warm enough to wear flip-flops (yeah!) but with a nice cool breeze. There were Easter egg hunts, a nice lunch and some fun with firearms!  :-)  (Mrs. Mom and Stephanie will like this part!). I practiced firing a .22 rifle and a WWI German Luger!  It was pretty damn fun, although I don't think I would ever feel comfortable carrying a loaded weapon on my person.  I have a couple of gun pictures, but I don't feel comfortable posting them...so you will get cute dog pictures instead! 

A pic of my feet - standing on a chunk of snow and ice at the edge of the river

One of my nephews working hard at finding Easter eggs...

Max had a great day playing in the water - I managed to get him to sit still for a minute for this picture.

Here he is jumping out of the water onto the chunk of ice. He enjoyed rolling in the snow after his dip in the water.

This adorable puppy is my father-in-laws new Border Collie, Gypsy. She is 4 months old and really cute. She was a bit shy with all of us, but she'll adapt soon.  The good news is that I get to take care of her for 3 months next winter when my in-laws go to Florida!

A couple of attempts at capturing the sunset after a great sunny day...

I hope everyone had a nice Easter weekend!

The Dilemma

I think part of the reason I haven’t been posting much is that I have been having a hard time with riding over the past few months. Nothing is really wrong, per se, but I just haven’t been enjoying myself much. I board at a barn with a nice indoor arena and I just didn’t use it much. I maybe rode 1x/week over the winter. Not so good when you are paying a lot of money for board.

I also don’t feel like I am making a lot of progress with my riding skills. I’ve been riding again as an adult for about 3 years now. I feel like I am sort of stuck at the advanced beginner/ low intermediate stage. I had really hoped to be making more progress by now as my goals were to go to a few schooling shows by this summer. That just won’t happen – Rusty isn’t really properly trained to go to a show anymore and I just don’t have the skills. I had been sort of focusing on this goal and I was really beating myself up about not achieving it. (Now, I know that to improve at anything, you need to get out there and do it more. Getting out and riding 4x/week would probably get me some improvement, I’m sure.)

After a really bad ride a couple of weeks ago, I sort of broke down and contemplated trying to sell Rusty and maybe taking a break from riding. I quickly realized that not riding wasn’t really an option for me. I do enjoy it too much to just give up that easily.

There a few issues on my mind:

• Rusty isn’t a great fit for me physically – my short legs and his large barrel look mismatched and it is hard for me to use my leg properly
• Since I’ve backed off the goal to show, I’ve realized that although I like riding in the arena, I would really love to get out and trail ride and just enjoy being on horseback instead of worrying about the finer details all the time
• There is nowhere to really ride out at my current barn. There are some hayfields, but they are under snow and water 11 months of the year. The one month they are ride-able is often extremely buggy.
• I can ride on the road by the barn, but it is extremely busy with morons that drive too fast
• No one at my current barn really wants to ride out in the fields/road, so I am alone 99% of the time.
• While I really like the care Rusty is getting at my barn, there are a lot of rules. And I mean A LOT. I typically like rules and have no problems following them. Right now, I can’t bring anyone to the barn but the hubby (without a big approval process) and I can’t let anyone even sit on Rusty. (I’m sure this is due in part to insurance issues)

So, with all of those little issues swirling around in my mind for the past 2 weeks, I’ve been thinking of some options (in no particular order):

• Try and sell Rusty or find him a good home. I had hoped to keep him and retire him, but maybe that isn’t the best option. Not sure on this one…
• Move barns – find a place with more hacking/trail riding and cheaper board. That way I would probably keep Rusty and just have fun with him on the trails
• Find a barn with cheaper board ( but with good care, of course) and ride Rusty on some trails, while looking for a new, smaller horse (under 15hh) that might suit me a bit better. (I could probably afford two horses at a different farm. I’ve looked up a couple of places where outdoor board is almost half of what I pay now)
• Stay where I am and just deal with it and try and ride in the ring a few times per week

I hope all of this doesn’t sound too whiney. I know I am lucky to have a horse in the first place and I do appreciate that. There are also lots of people whose horses are sick or injured or they can’t ride anymore for all kinds of reasons. These are just the issues I’m going through right now and thought I would share them here.

So – what do you guys think of all this? I could really use some opinions here. I feel a bit stuck and I’m not sure of the best plan of action right now. I’m not in any rush to make any decisions, but I do want to keep trying to move forward and resolve a few things.