Taking another break



Spencer and Bonnie



I’m going to take another break from blogging…

I’ve been thinking about it for a few weeks and I think I’m ready for some time away. Work has been crazy busy and stressful and I just don’t want to spend much time on the computer when I get home at night.

I’ve started riding Spencer and we are gearing up for lessons and more regular training. We might even make it out to some shows this summer if all goes well.

I think Spencer is enjoying his time at the barn so far – he is turned out alone (as are a lot of the show horses…) but he is surrounded by about 8 horses that he can visit with over the fence. I think at least 6 of his neighbours (ha!) are mares and all are in heat! Here is a pic of Spencer visiting with his favourite lady – Bonnie the Clyde! Bonnie is about 19hh at the moment! (Spencer is 15hh)…

I’m looking forward to spring (we are still getting snow here!!!!) and doing some work around my little property.

Happy trails to everyone!

A successful day

So, yesterday Spencer went down to the boarding stable! I can't wait to start working with him again!

I took the day off work and had the farrier out in the morning.  My farrier was mentioning the fact that he trimmed the horses for both of the previous owners of my house and had been coming to my place for over 15 years - I thought that was kind of neat!

Spencer's feet held up really well over the winter.  I think I was up to almost 12 weeks between trims - which I would normally never do - but his hooves weren't long or chipped, so I think I did ok. 

Since I had the day off, I went out several times during the day to hang out with him. I was feeling a little teeny bit sad that I wouldn't have him at home, even though being able to ride is going to be great.  Every time I went out he was nickering and really friendly - so I'm wondering if he suspected something was up?  :-)  The trailer came around 5pm and he jumped right on.   He seemed pretty keen to be going somewhere! lol  I guess going somewhere in a trailer meant he would be seeing other horses?

After the 5 minute trailer trip, he hopped off the trailer and didn't even call.  I was a bit suprised. He nickered to a horse in another stall and settled in to eat his hay.  I have to remember that he is a show horse and was in a show barn for the last 5 years. 

I'm going to go down tonight after work and lunge him in the arena to see how he does.  He is used to arenas, but as we all know each arena seems to have monsters lurking in corners. 

I even got an email from my new coach last night - someone had told her that Spencer arrived before I had a chance to!  Funny how quickly you forget about the boarding barn gossip hotline when you aren't around for awhile!  The good news is that the coach is keen to get started and so am I.  I'm looking forward to lessons even though I have a feeeling we will get our butts kicked!!!  :-S

Random Ramblings – Vol. 2

So, not much to post about right now. Still snowy, but there is some hope. The temps are slowly rising and snow is melting. In fact, our road is nice and clear. I took Spencer out for two hand walks this week – covering about 4kms each time! We met a few neighbours, who were surprised to see me walking a horse. I said that I don’t have a dog, so why not walk this guy instead? ;-)

Spencer is still on track to go down to the barn this week – I just have to finalize transportation issues. I was going to handwalk him down, but I’m a bit nervous. The road to their place is hilly and cars drive fairly fast. There are also at least 2 farms with horses, so I’m not sure how he is going to react. I’m sure he would be fine, but I think for our first outing, I’ll go with the trailer!

I met with my new coach and some others from the barn last week. I was fun to start planning lessons and hearing about everyone’s show plans. My new coach – I’m just going to call her Coach from now on – was grilling me on my plans and expectations. I had her try to guess the last time I had been at a show. She said 10 years? Nope. 5 years? Nope. 2 years? At this point I was laughing very hard. The last time I was in a show ring was 24 years ago!! She almost fell off her chair when I told her. LOL

I look a bit younger than I am, so that always throws everyone off at first. I also told Coach that I expect her to be honest with me – I don’t want to hear that I’m doing great, when it reality there is no way I should be near a show ring. She promised she would be honest. She also told me she likes a challenge, so I’m guessing I’ll make it to a show one way or another! 

I was able to take Spencer’s blanket off two weeks ago when the temps were staying consistently above -10C (14F) , which was great. I hate horse blankets!!! He was sweaty under his mane one evening, so I decided to just ditch the blanket. His coat has fluffed back up nicely and he seems to be coping just fine without the blanket. That convinces me to try not blanketing him at all next winter!

He is also starting to shed! As messy as it is, it is the best sign of spring I’ve seen so far. He dislikes being groomed, so that may prove to be an issue when we are riding more, but he’ll just have to deal with it.

Another reason that I’m looking forward to having him away for 6 weeks or so is that it will give me time to clean up his paddock and make some repairs to my fence. I’ll need everything to be nice and solid once the grass starts growing – as he likes to lean on the fence. I have to add a few posts on the western side of the small paddock, as the wire is really sagging, not to mention being almost buried in snow! Then I can double check the connections and make sure there is a nice voltage in the fence…

That about covers things around here!