Herd dynamics and nerves

I've learned alot in the past year about herd dynamics - having a horse on the bottom of the hierarchy allows you to witness a bit more of the happenings out in the paddock.

Rusty is now out with a group of six other geldings - well, technically 1 of the boys is a yearling stud colt... He is down at the bottom of the herd with another Appy gelding. My former horse Jackson is out in this small herd as well. Before Rusty, Jackson and the other appy gelding were the two boys at the bottom - they stuck together and tried to avoid the big boys. With Rusty in the mix, Jackson has made a move to gain a precious rung on the herd ladder.

He is chasing Rusty alot - running him off and keeping him separated from the herd. I feel bad for poor Rusty, but I'm sure all of these behaviours will settle down as they all get used to each other. Rusty is covered with kicks and bites - it took me quite a few minutes on Wed. night to check and clean all of his wounds.

This herd dynamic has caused me a major problem when trying to catch Rusty. I've realized that the other horses - especially Jackass - err, I mean Jackson don't really respect me. I tried to catch Rusty the other day and Jackson waited until I had my back turned to charge us - Rusty was scared, so I had to let go of the lead rope. When Jackson swung around, he very nearly hit me. I tend to be a little nerovous in general, so when something like that happens, my nerves just went to hell in a handbasket. I swear that all of the horses could hear my heart pounding.

I need to work on my confidence out in the paddock - I need to be the dominant one when I go out there... I've been back out twice since that happened and things are improving. I go out with a lunge whip and a dressage whip and really get after Jackson to move away whenever I come near him. It's a bit of a struggle for me - because I used to go out and pet him and give him treats - but those days are over. I need to just go out there, bring in my horse and ignore the rest of them. The other horses don't pull any bad stuff when I lead my horse by, so that is good.

I've been debating about even writing about this, as I feel like a total wimp. I'm not a squealy "girly-girl", but I can be a bit jumpy. It really bothers me that I don't always have the confidence to walk out in that group and just get my horse. I'm hoping that I can overcome those feelings soon. Sadly, there isn't enough paddock space to move a couple of the geldings to another field to alleviate the situation, so I'll just have to deal with it.

My Blogging Space

I can't resist a tag, so I'm posting pictures of my blogging space thanks to pony girl's suggestion!

The first picture is of my home work space. We have hijacked our dining room as our office. Richard and I both sit in hard wooden chairs. Even though I have a nice laptop, I can't sit with it on the couch/bed because I get dizzy. Go figure!

On the left, my personal assistant and secretary, Mr. Kitty. He is very helpful - especially with scheduling naps and eating elastics. In the center is my lovely red Dell laptop. To the right is my ever present glass of water and some crackers. In the back is the hubby, Richard. Behind him is a lot of bike stuff. Richard sells/repairs/upgrades road/triathlon bikes in his spare time. Part of my house is like a bike shop. Kinda fun.

I occassionally check blogs at work on my lunch break, so I thought I'd post a picture of that as well. My home picture is fairly tidy - I just cleaned up piles of papers on Sunday. The picture of my desk will give you a good idea of the typical mess...

Edited to add: blogger posted the work picture really small, so it is hard to read the text. I have tonnes of stuff on my desk - papers, notebooks, crazy coloured sticky notes, blank cds/dvds, dvds of photos (I'm a webmaster/photographer/graphic designer/jack of all trades kind of person), memory cards, card readers, etc. etc. Because I am stuck at my desk all day, I have all kinds of pictures posted everywhere - half are horse related, half are family/travel picutres. Those things are the reasons why I work, so I keep them there as reminders to cheer me up. I also have a care bear and a little stuffed RCMP horse hiding out on the top shelf. On the left I also have my APHA calendar, guess I need to buy an Appy one next year!

Fun idea, Pony Girl!!

Riding Goals - S.M.A.R.T. or not?

I've been thinking alot lately about what I want to accomplish with my horse this year... Yes, I just want to have fun and do some trail rides, but the organizer in me sees alot of opportunities to improve my horsemanship skills and teach an old horse some new tricks.

My new horse, Rusty, is a "finished" horse in most respects. He does a nice walk/trot/canter, has done some dressage, western riding and trail riding. He ties and stands to be tacked up no problem. I could easily just get on him, bounce around on his back and put him back out in the field. That would just be too easy for me. I tend to get lazy if I don't have some goals and a bit of a plan. I'm sure the horse would benefit from doing more than just trotting in circles.

Anyone that has worked in a corporate/government environment has probably been faced with writing performance reviews and the like. There is a lot of talk about goals being SMART:

S - specific
M - measurable
A - attainable
R - realistic
T - timely

This approach is extremely specific and while I don't intend to write great volumes of my goals, I do intend to follow this basic principle.

Many goal setting articles also advise people to start with a main goal and break it down into the steps that you will need to accomplish to achieve this goal . John Lyons uses this concept when he talks about training horses. If you want your horse to stand to be mounted (that sounds so dirty!) you need to work backwards from that point and figure out the steps to get there. The thing about working with horses is that it is important to take your time and make sure each step is solid before moving on to the next one. This is where having a bit of a plan comes in handy.

So, what are my goals, after all the big talk, you ask?? Good question. I'm so glad you asked.

My basic goals for this riding season (which is until about November here) are:

• ride/work with Rusty 4-5 times/week (this could include groundwork)
• take lessons to improve my knowledge of aids/cues and work on my balance
• learn some NH stuff and practice with ol'Rusty (Parelli, Lyons, Anderson, et al., clicker training)
• work up the courage to canter out in the hay fields/trails
• Rusty's ground work could use a tune up - flyspray, bathing, clipping, feet, standing still when chubby rider trying to get on ;-)

AANNNNDDD, most importantly:

• have FUN!!!!!

Thanks to anyone that actually read this far! What are your horse goals for this year????

TGIF and saddle fit issues

I'm really enjoying this blog thing - horse people are great bloggers and great commenters!

Thanks to the folks that stop by here and have a look and leave a few words. It is fun for me to connect with other horse people. Aside from a few friends here, no one else in my family/work environment is even the slightest bit interested in horses or hearing me blab about them!

**********

Well, it's the last few hours of work for this week and as I stare out my window, I watch the skies darken. That in itself is a sure sign that the weekend is coming. I had a fun day planned tomorrow - we were all heading to the barn to paint jumps and have a bbq -- and of course, ride! Thunderstorms and rain are predicted for tomorrow, so that fun stuff will probably be out.

I do hope to get a ride in early in the morning though - if I'm lucky. Ol' Rusty has had 2 whole days off! Lazy bum...oh wait, it is me that is the lazy bum! I had a good excuse last night - we spent the evening with my sister-in-law, neice and 3 nephews.

The 2 older ones had a baseball game, so we went out to cheer them on. I haven't had a good laugh in a while - watching 6 and 7 year olds play sports is a good way to get a few chuckles, let me tell you. They are all over the place, not paying attention, dancing, tripping, etc. It was a nice coincidence that there was a big AQHA show at the same fairgrounds. Everyone was pulling in big rigs and warming up horses. I was easily distracted by all of that!

I really wish that I had a good friend that was doing all of those higher level shows - I would be the best groom ever! Hanging around with all of the horse people, getting the horse and tack ready...lots of fun!

******************

This post is a little (ha!) disjointed - I'm pretty much just typing all of the random thoughts zipping around in my brain.

I'm having some issues with fitting a saddle on Rusty. My western saddle doesn't really fit - regardless of the type of pad I use, the gullet ends up right on his withers - ouch. I guess my western riding will be on hold for awhile. I went to my local tack shop to have a look around - they didn't have any saddles with semi-QH bars + the right size seat for me + a decent price. I don't really want to shell out $2000 for a Billy Cook or similar saddle right now.

English saddles have so many more options with cut and sizing. I have a beautiful 2nd hand Stubben that I bought last year that fits ok. It doesn't fit me that well - the flaps are really far forward -but it will work for the short term. I have a friend that has done alot of saddle fitting, so hopefully she can help me out next week. I'm going to go trial 3 or 4 saddles from the tack shop and we should find one that works. My poor credit cards will probably go up in a poof of smoke, but what can you do? Luckily all of the money gets refunded when you return the ones you don't want. I can also trade in my western saddle and my Stubben for store credit towards a new saddle, so that will take the sting out a bit!

I hope everyone has a fun weekend - get out and ride those horses! :-)

Mr. Appy's first day at his new home

So, my new horse arrived yesterday morning. I dragged my hubby out with me. We were there at least 45 minutes before the horse was due to arrive - I wouldn't want to miss him!

We helped out around the barn while waiting - cleaning a couple of stalls, etc. I felt like I was 12 again, waiting for my first horse to be delivered!

They finally arrived - he backed out of the trailer like it was no big deal. He checked the place out with calm, experienced eyes. There was no whinnying, no snorting, no prancing. Just a bit of curiosity. He had been bathed that morning and his legs were carefully wrapped with bandages and clean white polos. Apparently he loads in the trailer no problem.

The previous owners went to alot of trouble to send him all nice and tidy. It was great to see. They also gave me a huge bag of stuff - a really nice black dressage bridle, leather halter, 2 sets of polos, 2 winter blankets (!) and his flymask. Buying this horse was very pleasant - the sellers were honest and friendly and the horse was exactly what they said he was.

I rode him last night as well - 20 minutes in the ring and about 20 minutes out in the hayfields. We walked and trotted (it was really hot) and he was perfect. No jigging, bolting, spooking or other silliness - not to say that he might not do some of that in the future, he is an animal after all.

I have to say that I am looking forward to riding alot this year and actually having FUN!

Here are a few pics - sorry to make you read through all of the blabbing first! ;-p

Is it safe to come out???

Oh, you have treats - well, why didn't you say so?!

Who is that guy? Does he have treats?

Warm and sunny day at the barn

Summer seems to be here, finally. It was very hot and humid today, after a nice cool spring.

Jessie doesn't arrive until Monday morning, but I went out to the barn to drop off my saddle and helmet. There is a new foal there that I've been dying to pet, so I figured I could get a few birds with one stone.

I also took my dog Max with me - he loves it out there. Even though we were there at 8am, he got hot pretty fast. His black fur works well in the winter, but cooks him in the summer.
It is very lush where I live this time of year. We seem to have had more rain than usual, but maybe I'm just imagining things. By July, the grass is brown and the plants are in survival mode, but right now it is like living in a rain forest - well, almost anyway.

Here are a few pics of a nice summer morning in my part of the world... Hope everyone has a good weekend! I'm volunteering at a horse show tomorrow, so that should be fun. Note to self: pack sunscreen!

Above: Max jumping!

Max testing the hay...he thinks it is ready to be bailed any day now.

Lush grass...

Mom and baby Suede (both APHA)

Is there anything cuter???

My horse search - part the second

In the past 2 weeks, 4 prospects turned up. (I wasn't being to particular about breed here, any breed that met my criteria would have been considered.)

The first 3 prospects all sounded ok, but had a few teeny red flags, so I didn't go try out the horses. The fourth is a 17yr old Appy gelding - this one sounded promising. He was ridden regularly by children, had been to shows, had been out on trails.

As you know, I went to see this guy and rode him 3x over the past week or so. He has been very consistent each time - w/t/c no problem. He has been in dressage training for the past year, but not super good at it. He could do training level ok, but that would be the extent of it. So his owner bought a fancy young warmblood.

I had this horse vet checked on Wed. and at 17 he was given a clean bill of health. No lameness issues, hooves good, no arthritis visible (yeah!), eyes and teeth good, back good, etc. I was half expecting something minor to show up - some sort of arthritis - but the vet and I were both pleasantly surprised to see nothing at this time.

Soooo, I worked out an agreement with the seller - and I now have a horse again!!! He will hopefully be trucked over to my barn early next week.

I'm really looking forward to getting going with this guy - I will be able to ride 4-5x/week and I'm hoping we can do alot together... Hopefully I've made the right decision this time around. I'm hoping that if a 9 year old girl can handle him, I'll be just fine.

Here are a couple of pictures - please ignore me - I look like a sausage with legs. Hoping to remedy that this year. His name is Jessie - which I don't like at all. I'm trying to find something that sounds similar - so far, I'm thinking of Ollie, Rusty or Eddie - any suggestions?

My horse search - part the first

So, looking for a new horse when you have had a bad experience the last time is quite daunting.

When I bought my horse last year, I was all excited and overconfident in my abilities. I had ridden alot as a teenager and knew nothing of the creature called "fear". I could ride English or Western no problem. Sure, I was now 15 years older and many pounds heavier, but I could do it all. I knew how to work with horses -right? Sure! You bet!

Boy, did I overestimate everything - my confidence, my riding ability, the way I looked in breeches (yikes!)... So, here we are are, 1 yr later - my ego and my confidence cracked and shaken.

My horse search this time around took a very different tone. I had learned alot in the past year, both about my abilities and what I needed to look for in a horse. My barn owner is a total gem and with her guidance, I learned alot of questions to ask and red flags to watch out for.

I started searching the local online horse ads back in March. I was looking for an older horse - over 1o, under 15.2hh (I'm really short), under a certain price range and lots of mileage - both in the ring and on the trails. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find something like that? I would say that over 90% of the horses listed for sale in this region are under 8 years old and green broke or need an experienced rider! The odds weren't looking good.

In the past year, I've met a few local barn owners and trainers. I sent out a few emails asking for horses that met my criteria. The responses were interesting and somewhat discouraging. Most people are working/training/selling youngsters - not what I was looking for. I guess all of the older, sane horses are hidden away somewhere. :-)

To be continued...

Officially horseless

At this point in time, I am officially without a horse. It feels a bit weird, to be honest. I'm sure other horse people understand what I mean.

I'll miss Jackson, he was a decent guy. Too bad it didn't work out for us. I owned him for almost a year - between 2 accidents/injuries - 1 his, 1 mine, my trust and confidence was shot. I tried to ride him again, but I just didn't have the right personality to work with him. His new junior rider is putting him to work - she has him trail riding, galloping all over the place and working over fences. I hope they have fun together. He is staying at my barn, so I'll get to see that he is well-taken care of.

A blast from my horsey past

Tomorrow is a big day for me - I've sold my gelding Jackson to a great junior rider at my barn. We are meeting tomorrow morning to sign over his registration papers and hopefully get my hands on some cash.

I took a big loss on this horse, both time wise and financially. I won't go into it here, but it was mostly my fault for not knowing enough. I'm very lucky that he is going to stay at my barn with a great little rider. I know he will be loved and well looked after. Money isn't everything.

So, I am technically horse-less at the moment. That may change soon, but I'll get into my horse search in another post.

A few days ago I was digging through some old photo albums and found a few pictures of me with the horses I had when I was young and carefree, so I thought I would post them here for a bit of nostalgia. I loved both horses and have wonderful memories of trail riding through the forest and galloping through corn fields on both of them.

I got my first large pony when I was 12. Her name was Tar - real creative eh? :-) She was a 14.2hh Appaloosa/Welsh pony cross. She was built like a tank and never lame in the six years that I owned her. Luckily I'm quite short, so I never really outgrew her. She was a bit much for me to handle when I first got her, but luckily I worked through it and my parents didn't catch on that she was alot to handle. I went on long trail rides with this girl, through creeks, rivers, giant mud puddles and all sorts of stuff. On some trail rides my friend and I would make our own trails, laughing like maniacs trying not to get knocked off our saddles by tree branches. What a good girl she was. She wasn't fast or particularly pretty, but we also did 4-H shows and parades together for a couple of years as well.

When I was 14, a friend's Mom who coached me a bit decided that I needed a bit fancier horse to do more showing with. My parent's didn't have a lot of money, so a free horse was found for me. It was one of those friend-of-a-friend situations - a lady had bought an arabian gelding and was too inexperienced for him - so he ended up with a horse-crazy 14 year old girl! I was beyond thrilled. This handsome bay was delivered to my house - I thought I was dreaming - and he was free!

His name was Pharley - again not too creative, but it suited him somehow. We went to an english barn and learned to do some basic dressage. We went to a few shows that summer - please ignore my bad posture in the picture! I had a lot of fun that summer, working at a proper barn and learning lots.

I ended up keeping both horses until I was 18. I somewhat foolishly (upon looking back) decided to go away to university and had to sell both horses. That was tough - to this day I'm not sure why I did that. Oh well - it is in the past...

There is a lot more to this story - some of it was too painful to write about, even almost 20 years later... So I'll just wrap up this looonnnnggg post and move on.

Strange things from my office window

So, I'm sitting here at work wishing I was outside.

I work for the government, but our campus is also a public park, so people in the neighbourhood walk by with their dogs all the time.

I have a window right by a sidewalk and see all kinds of interesting things.

So far this year:

• 2 people cross-country skiing down the road outside my window during a snowstorm
• groups of Asian tourists looking in our window and taking pictures (I work on the site of a famous Canadian tourist attraction that may involve horses)
• people's dogs pooping right outside the window. One guy wasn't going to pick up after his dog until he saw me waving.

Today's sighting takes the cake - a lady trying to walk her cat on a leash! He was a very fancy little orange cat - but he didn't seem to like the whole leash thing. She stopped outside my window for 5 minutes talking to him the whole time. Very cute. I was about to grab my camera and get her picture, but she saw me and left! LOL

Retail Therapy

So, I'm feeling a bit better today - trying to just let go of the bad mood vibes from yesterday. I've been thinking more about that appy gelding - even started casually looking for dressage saddles for him - that must mean something! lol

Stephanie made a great suggestion about doing something different to take my mind off of things - so while I'm waiting for the hubby to get home to go for a bike ride, I thought I would do a little pretend online shopping. There are lots of great horsey web sites with cool stuff to buy (someday) so I thought I would create a little wishlist. I feel better already! :-)

Kerritts - I have a pair of their riding tights and they are really comfortable. I noticed that they now have a "green" product line called g.r.a.s.s. - which looks really cool. I hope my local tack shop picks those products up soon! I don't want to have to pay US shipping if I can avoid it...

DVDs on saddle fit - English and Western - something I would love to learn more about instead of just guessing and hoping. (must ignore their 10% off online orders deal...) There is a decent article about saddle fit in my April 08 Perfect Horse magazine - I think I'll just stick with that for now.

Very cool chaps and half chaps - good thing I need to lose a bit of weight first or I'd have about 10 pairs!

John Lyons videos and books - I have a few, but you can never have too much horse stuff, right?

Cool stretch riding jeans - the low-ride boot cuts look pretty comfy!

I have a ton more links at work, but I'm at home today, so that is probably enough. My credit card would go up in a puff of smoke if I started ordering stuff, so I'll just worry about getting the horse first! lol

One of those days..

I feel a bit defeated today - I'm tired and frustrated with things in general. I'm on my 4th pair of shoes today - each pair kills my feet. My co-workers must think I'm nuts as the pile of shoes under my desk grows and grows - barefoot is next. I wore a new red vest today over my white shirt and my white shirt is now pink because the material of the vest rubbed off. *sigh* It's just one of those days.

I'm really second-guessing myself and worrying about my next horse purchase. I do love horses and riding and want to stick with it. The gelding I tried last night met alot of my criteria, with a couple of minor exceptions. I'm just so hesitant to buy again in case I'm stuck with a horse I don't like/can't ride in a few months like last time. The owner and her daughter seem really up front and honest though, so I think I'm getting the real story on him at least.

So, feeling all grumpy, I decided to check out a few blogs for inspiration - I read Callie's post about why she loves her life and it made me realize I was worrying about all of the small things. I do have a great life and lots of things to be grateful for - so chin up, Laura and move on.

I'm going to ride that gelding again on the weekend - maybe test him out in my western saddle and see if it fits him ok. He has high withers, so it'll be a bit trickier to fit saddles on him, I'm guessing. I'm also going to ask to take him out for a short hack, to see how he does.

Hawk goes home

So I decided yesterday that Hawk just isn't the right horse for me. *Sigh*

He is pretty, affectionate and easy to catch, but he just doesn't have enough experience for me. I've realized that I need an older 'been there, done that' sort of horse. I really need to rebuild confidence and get more miles in the saddle before I can work with a younger horse.

I'm going to see a 16 yr old appy gelding tonight - an 8yr old is currently riding him, so I should be able to handle that. LOL. Maybe he will work out for me - if not, back to square one. There aren't many older, well-trained healthy horses around. I guess people are holding on to those ones the most. :-)

Anyone want to send me a pretty, very well-trained horse???

Hawk's Trial - Day 5

Day 1 was good, days 2, 3 and 4 were very bad and now day 5 has brought alot of improvement in him!

He is alone in a paddock (we didn't want someone else's horse getting all kicked up) and is getting used to electric fence for the first time. I think the electric fence "biting" him was what put him on edge so much the past few days. He was very worried that everything else was going to "bite" him as well.

The barn owner and I decided to ride him today (I even took the day off work). We brought him into the barn and he was a little nervous at first. He was dancing around in the cross ties, but quickly settled down when I started grooming him. He was a breeze to tack up.

Once in the ring, we worked on leading him and getting him to stop when I stop. After a couple of laps around the ring he picked it up quickly. The barn owner then got on and started working him. He did really well - he isn't a spooky horse - he was looking around a bit but that was all. She rode him for about 20 mins, walk trot and canter.

Then it was my turn to get on. YIKES!!

I tend to be a nervous person, but I knew he was a steady guy. I took a few deep breaths and then climbed on! He was very good for me. His head was up a bit, but as we worked more he relaxed and settled down. There is lots to look at around the riding ring - other horses, cars coming in, traffic on the road - but he didn't try anything bad. He really seems like the kind of horse that won't explode if things get a little hairy - which is what I need. I even cantered a few circles - they weren't very pretty, but it was a canter. I've had my other gelding at that barn since last September and haven't felt good enough to canter him...

He doesn't have a lot of experience - but his temperament seems to be making up for it. I'll need to spend some time doing alot of ground work with him to get him where I would like him to be. Luckily my barn owner is a gem and is willing to teach me skills that I'm missing.

Tomorrow we are going out on a trail ride - the barn owner's hubby is going to ride Hawk for me (he is fearless) and I'm going to ride a school pony. We'll see how Hawk does and if he isn't too spooky we may switch horses part way through.

Soooo, if we get a few more good rides out of him over the coming week and a bit, I'm thinking I just might buy him! I'm guessing that today was probably his worst ride and that he will only improve as he gets used to me and the new barn.

The junior rider has until the end of the week to decide about buying my other gelding - I'm pretty sure that she is totally in love with him, so it shouldn't be a problem!

The new man in my life...

Hawk arrived at noon today, amidst cold, windy and rainy weather. He didn't seem to be phased by the weather at all, which is nice to see.

I have him for a 2 week trial, so we'll see how we get along together. Enjoy the photos!

Now I'm Really in Trouble!!!!

So, my experienced friend and I went to try the paint gelding again last night.

He was a very good boy, despite being taunted by a herd of yearlings (on the other side of a fence) and practically being devoured by mosquitoes!

The owner/trainer rode him, then my friend rode him and finally I got on. I had a really good ride, wak, trot, canter without any problems. The canter was the key for me - my friend and I agreed ahead of time that if I was too nervous to canter or if his canter was too wild, then we would know for sure that he wasn't the right horse. I was able to get a nice smooth rocking-horse canter from this guy! It wasn't a slow western lope, but it was a nice calm canter. I was pretty excited. I've been having confidence problems while cantering and as a result haven't cantered much while riding since last summer.

So, the owner offered me a two week off-property trial just to make sure he was a good fit. Apparently he rarely lets people do that, so that is encouraging. I think he can tell that I'm really looking for a steady horse and if he lets me take him for 2 weeks I'll probably end up buying him - as long as he is steady on the trails.

After running it by the hubby, we agreed that a 2 week no-risk trial was a great situation for us. I'm going to call the trainer today and work out a time to have him brought over to my current barn. The trainer is away for the weekend, but maybe he will have time on Monday!

I had a girl at my barn try out my current gelding - she is a fearless junior rider. After 15 minutes she had Jackson bending and putting his head down. He could have done well in a HUS class with the way she had him going! She was even able to canter him on a loose rein, which no one else has been able to do! Sooo - best case scenario is that she convinces her parents to buy him, worst case scenario she leases him for a year and covers my expenses. I could try and re-sell him next year, with a year of good solid riding under his belt... Here's hoping that works out!!

All of the above combined with the fact that the weather here has been gorgeous, has me in a pretty good mood for the weekend coming up! :-)

RCMP Musical Ride

Well, yesterday was a good day for me. I had the privilege of seeing one of my most favourite things - the RCMP Musical Ride!!! I had the opportunity to take a lot of pictures and speak to a few of the riders after the performance. All of the riders are police officers and go through a rigourous testing process to become part of the ride.

I happen to work at the same site as their stables - sadly I don't work IN the stables, but it is just one building over. I see the riders out on hacks almost every day.

Yesterday was the annual inspection of the ride, before they go out on tour. The horses are beautiful - and the riders in their red serge make for a fantastic picture.

Here are a few of my pictures - I was only a few feet away from the fence. More pictures can be seen on my flickr page.

Dilemma...with a capital "D"

So, I went to try out a new horse tonight. Might have been a mistake, because I kinda like him.

He's a bay paint, just under 15hh. Sweet and quiet and sensible. Just what I need.

Oh, why can't I have just a bit more money???

I have the money to buy him - he is very reasonably priced, it's paying board for two horses that has me all choked up. I pay a very reasonable price, but when you start multiplying everything by 2, it adds up.

My current horse, Jackson, is for sale, but in this over-saturated market, it could take a few months to sell.

The "almost-funny-but-not-quite" thing about this whole situation is that in 2 weeks from now we will know about my husband's job situation. If it's good news, I buy 2 horses, no problem, if it's bad news, it's an easy decision to not buy the 2nd horse.

Maybe I'll get lucky and the new guy - Hawk (cool name even) won't sell before then and I'll have a bit of time to work things out...

Has anyone else bought a new horse recently? How do you know for sure if it's the right match???

*sigh*

Maybe I should take up knitting instead...

Trying to write, yet again

I've stopped and started this blog many times - never knowing exactly what to write...

Sometimes I think I need to write just for myself, others I think it would be nice to have a few people stop by and visit...

We'll see what happens this time around.

I'm probably going to be posting about horses alot, as that is my hobby and my passion. I'm getting back into the horse world after a 12 year absence, so it's taking me a while to get rolling again.

I bought my first horse as an adult last summer and had some ups and downs with him. I might try and write out all of my experiences for posterity.

My current horse, a paint gelding named Jackson is currently up for sale. He and I just aren't getting along that well. He needs a confident rider and I'm just not there yet. I have a girl coming out to see him tonight, so hopefully all goes well there. I would like to get him a new home, so I can start looking for a new ride.