The Spooky Horse that Could

Some days I'd like to take my animals (horses and dogs) by the neck, shake them like a maraca and tell them to stop ever doing whatever it was that prompted my fit of anger ever ever again. Luckily thinking that thought, or even visualizing it happening does not make you a bad mommy. Doing it does. So instead of paying tribute to my lack of a Hispanic heritage or trying out for a mariachi band with my animals, I collect my thoughts, take several deep breaths, and try my hardest to end on a good note.

Today was no exception. I found myself riding in charcoal breeches, a black helmet and black gloves in a black saddle on a black horse at 1:30pm in Texas. This situation was made more frustrating by the fact that when I not so limberly hopped on Cash his first thought was "Run like the wind Bullseye!" Thank heavens for balance, after we got stopped, tightened the girth 4 holes (haha, ugh.), shortened a stirrup and figured out my rein situation I was ready to go. So was Cash. But not on the rail. Not in a straight line. Not bent to the inside. Not over the ground poles. I pulled right he went left. I gave him influencing leg, he ignored it. When the wind blew he was ready to ninja fight every single monster that has never popped out of those bushes in that arena he's been in for the last 3 weeks. I was pretty much ready to call staying on a good day and call it quits.

I'm not necessarily a brave or risk taking person. But I am a stubborn person. And I do not let my animals win battles that I know will cause problems later on down the road. So I decided, "Let's trot! Cause the walk just isn't working for us. And you know, the faster the better right?!" Well hopefully at this point y'all are all ready to hear a story about how my butt ended up in the dirt and the horse ended up cantering I-told-you-so circles around my limp body. But that's totally not what happened!!

Cash decided that today was the day he was finally going to show me his loose rein trot, not too fast not too slow, not trying to grab the bit and run, bending around beautiful 20-ish meter circles, crossing the arena, and not punching me in the face with his poll. How this horse went from scared of life itself to children's hunter pony in a split-second, poorly made life decision I have no clue, but let me tell you who's a proud, non-maraca playing mommy. This girl.

Meet the Boys!

I neglected to go into further detail about the two horses I currently have in training who will also be entertaining you for many months to come.


Meet Cash

The first horse. He is a 9 y/o, almost black, Morgan (our best guess), gelding.

The day I got him he bucked me off. He wasn't ridden in an arena and he was pretty much scared of everthing. Also, he had a fun habit of not letting you catch him. A friend at the barn asked me an all too valid question when I was explaining him to her, "Why?!" He's calmed down a lot more and he's EXTREMELY smart. At 14.2 he's my little pocket pony but I'm hoping he will follow in Teddy O'Connor's shoes (well, hopefully not legitimae shoes. He's got nice feet now and I'd rather not have to put shoes on yet!). He doesn't have to win Rolex and make the olympic team, but I'd really like to go at least 3' with him if he wants to, and have some fun on this sturdy pony!

Attitude-wise, he's a jerk to other horses. Definitely top of the pack. His girlfriend Jelly Bean puts him in his place though. He is a big baby, doesn't want to be outside in the heat, loves his stall, and LOVES a good face rub. :)


Meet Marvel

Number 2. A 5 y/o, bay, OTTB, just recently gelded.

This is my prom king. He's friends with everyone. The saying "A good stallion makes an even better gelding" is super true of him. He has a fantastic attitude for an ex-stallion, ex-racehorse, 17 hand giant. He thinks he's a 13.1 child's shetland pony. He's got splay feet so I'm planning on him being my entry level, welcome-to-the-game, getting my feet wet, event horse. One day when I have that mythical boarding barn in the clouds, I think he will make a great lesson horse.

He's quite the looker, and has a pretty face and gentle eye. He's not the brightest Crayon in the box. He's been known to poop in the occasional water bucket and steal his buddy's halter off the front of his stall.

Dreams and Aspirations

Today I have had plenty of time to think about my dreams and be daunted with real life, which often gets in the way of accomplishing them. Unfortunately few dreams that include horses are conventional, and mine is no exception. I have been reading the book "How good riders get good" by the great Denny Emerson. He has challenged me to better my position in life, not financially, but horse-wise, if I really do want to acheive my goals.

Which begs the question, WHAT ARE MY GOALS?! AH! Jumping? For sure! Eventing? I mean, yes. Owning a boarding stable? Most likely.

But do I want to be an olympic athlete? An International one? CAN I be an athlete at that level? Will my family suffer? Will they be supportive? HOW IN THE WORLD CAN I FIND A JOB WHERE I CAN BE AT THE BARN 86 HOURS A DAY (which is obviously the major question here!!!)?!

Even if you aren't a "horsey person" you probably realize that the word horse is actually a latin/german word meaning "never ending money drain". And especially for me because I'm always changing my colors (new halters, bridles, lead ropes, saddle pads, blankets, buckets, etc for everyone!) and the trait I definitely received directly from my dad is that I need to have THE latest and greatest, most up to date, highest tech equipment known to man. This leaves me wondering how I (not the animals, they always come first) am going to eat once the horse fever fully establishes itself within my body and it's too late to turn back.

So I have come up with a few scenarios that might hopefully allow me to both make enough money to at least eat ramen, and "live the dream":

• Realtor - While this sounds glamorous, the start-up cost is the price of this cute 3 yr old dark bay Warmblood gelding for sale right now...
• School Teacher - Summers free, off at 3, no weekends. Livin' the dream right?! Well, aside from the meager salary, lesson plans start when you get off at 3. On top of that, my patience with children that don't love horses is at an all time low...
• Small Business Owner - So this is probably the most acheivable dream/goal. As with everything there are pros and cons. Pros are pretty obvious, cons being that when you own your own business it actually probably takes more time out of your day than a regular 8-5 job would. I feel like I could totally pull this off as I have identified several needs in our area (can we say homemade bagels people?!) that I feel I can fulfill.

I have a year to hammer out the details and find what fits into my schedule so I can become a good rider. Whatever that will end up meaning to me. I'm extremely open to ideas and suggestions. Particularly if it includes the words horse, or a million dollars and 20 hrs/week... I've got standards but will listen to all offers :)

Cash

RIP Ginger

My goal in this blog is to entertain you with relatable posts so we all realize we aren't the only foolish, way to dedicated, horse people out there. Unfortunately not everything dealing with equine life is fun. I hope to not have too many posts like these.

Early this morning the unthinkable happened. My friend was forced to make one of the hardest decisions in any animal owner's life. Her beautiful TB/Belgian mix coliced and is no longer with us. She tried for hours to make her comfortable, hydrate her, and help her through, but in the end she was far too impacted for the vets to do anything more. She is a brave and selfless person who made a decision no one ever wishes to be faced with. All of our thoughts and prayers are with her, her boyfriend, and their other horse as they make it through this extremely hard time.


Ginger, you are missed!

Bio

I am Jeannette and this is a blog I've been dreaming up for a few months now. After a brief 6 year hiatus (my parents were banking on it being a complete retirement) I have driven head first back into the world of horses. While kicking myself for letting my emotional horsey scars keep me away for so long, I have picked back up this bank account draining hobby at, what I feel, is probably the most oportune time in my life.

WARNING: If you do not care about where I come from and are only interested in where I'm going, please don't read this next part. I wouldn't want to run the risk of sounding boring or whiney! I'll let you know when you can start reading again. ;)

Briefly, I come from a hunter/jumper background. I started riding as soon as I could afford lessons which was about 13-14 years old (thanks all you babysitting clients!). I was lucky, or not, to live in a very well-off community. This has nothing to do with my parents giving me whatever I wanted, it just means there were fantastic barns in my area, that also cost an arm, a leg, and your first born child to ride/train at.

After a few years of riding I got the itch. Not that I hadn't had it before, but I was SO ready for my first horse. I was 16 years old and working my butt off 40+ hours a week as a lifeguard (don't worry parents! I was homeschooled!). My parents were completely against it but I guess my philosophy was that if I annoyed them long enough they'd give in. It KIND OF worked. I leased Samson, a 9y/o OTTB and bought him a few months later.

He was everything every little girl dreamed of and parents were afraid of. He was HUGE, 17.1. He had the shiniest bay coat I had ever seen, and he USED TO BE A RACEHORSE!!!! I had to ride him in a gag bit so I could eventually get him to stop, I wasn't allowed to ride him in lessons because he thought every horse in front of him was challenging his speed, and when I finally did get to ride him in lessons we were walking cavalettis because he would jump them 6 feet high and take off running afterwards. Needless to say it was love at first sight.

He took me far. We competed in every show we could get our hands on and I only fell off at one of them. We were best buddies. But then college came and without warning he was given away. I tried again when I went to school, exercise riding horses at several barns, even buying a little OTTB mare who hated my guts completely. When my dad gave her away too I was heartbroken and completely gave up.

START READING AGAIN!!!

So here we are today! Back into horses. My new goal is to become an eventer. I know there will be ups and downs (more downs than ups with the horses I've got now). I'd like my small accomplishments and gigantic failures to make someone laugh so that my crying is hidden in the background.

To start you off laughing the right way about my eventing dreams, I board at an almost 100% western barn that has no jumps. None. Zero. My eventing propsects are a 5 yr old 16.3 OTTB with splay feet and a 9 year old 14.2 Morgan with mental issues that would blow your mind.

This is our journey!