A short but happy ride

Rode Bestie on Friday. I had lunged her on Thursday night so that she could get her inner bronc out, but she was actually pretty good. Only a couple of head tosses in my direction, like she was saying, "You know, I could really run if I wanted to, but I'm just not into it tonight. But I could if I wanted to."

We rode around in the indoor for a few minutes. Amazingly, no one else was riding; that hardly ever occurs, especially now that the barn is full with about 30 horses. We negotiated through a couple of passes by the door to the outdoors, where she wanted to head directly out and I said, "No, not quite yet." She's so funny. You can just feel her settle down when you're consistent in your reply to whatever it is she wants. We had a couple of good slow trots around the indoor. When she's doing her little Western jog, she is just so smoooooth. I keep trying to get her to take it further and further, but it's like a little bell goes off and there's no more slow jog. She gets faster and faster and then gets all frazzled. I'm not sure how to get over this hump.

So after nice stretch of s-l-o-w, we went outside and walked around the field. I'd much rather end on a good note so both of us are happy. And on a 50 degree-plus day, I too would much rather be outside than in the indoor.

60 degrees in November

A few days ago I was writing about dealing with the horse blankets, and now it's 66 degrees! Whenever this happens, it's like a little gift; you take it, whisper "thanks," and go about your day not letting yourself think about what weather might be coming down the pike.

I got to the barn late yesterday because I had a much-needed haircut scheduled. It was about 7:15, so Dude and Bestie had basically finished all their dinner hay and were snuffling around in the shavings looking for stray pieces. Both were muddy as anything; it had obviously been a good day outside with a lot of happy rolling in the areas still wet from last week's rain. I chatted with a couple boarders who were still in the barn, then mucked the stalls and curried each of them to get the mud off. Dude had it packed into his hooves like concrete blocks.

I went in and out of their stalls and the tack room numerous times, getting brushes and treats and other stuff, and every time Bestie would see me reappear she would nicker pointedly at me. I got the message ("Take me out for grass NOW slave lady!") but ignored her since it was pretty dark and I really wanted to get home and see what was happening with the election.

I love being in the barn late at night or early in the morning. It's just so peaceful with the sound of horses muching on their hay, and they're generally pretty quiet since they know their routine. They watch what you're doing with idle curiosity but don't get worked up about anything, particularly in the evening, when they know they're in for the night.

Home on the range

I should've done this back at the beginning ... some shots of the barn, our ponies' home. For the first picture, I stood in the grassy "aisle" between the two outdoor rings and the two stallion paddocks. The fields are to the right. That's the indoor arena straight ahead, with the barn attached to the left. It's definitely a nice facility and I'm very appreciative of all that we have there. I'm still amazed at the quality and lushness of the grass in the open areas (where no one is turned out and where we continue to hand graze until the snow starts staying around). The shot of the fields shows the morning turnout group happily grazing. They're usually out from about 7:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. The afternoon crowd heads out from 11:30 a.m. until about 3:30 p.m. The grass is looking pretty sparse in the fields at this time of the year, but they're definitely happy to be out regardless.

Silver sparkle boots

Dude's bell boots are favorites at the barn. He's had them a while, but they've been packed away in the trunk with all the show stuff that we no longer use. He got them for Christmas one year. A couple of weeks ago he finally ran his old bell boots into the ground; they were barely hanging on with major strap and Velcro malfunctions going on. Rather than going out and buying new boots, I dug the sparklies out of the trunk. The turn out girls said he looked like a male body builder when they have those colorful booties on. Hmmmmn.

I've often thought we should've bought stock in Davis, the company that makes these bell boots. At times I've tried to save money by buying cheaper boots, but the Davis boots have really been the longest-lived on our horses, as well as the most flexible boots with Velcro closures that I have found. A couple of the other brands seemed fairly inflexible, particularly in the cold, and I worried that the rubber (or whatever it was) might bruise their ankles. Bestie is not shod now, so she doesn't wear them any more, but Dude is the king of bell boots since he stands base-narrow and tends to step on himself quite a bit.

Time for a close-up ... a little muddy, but definitely still gleaming in the sunlight!

First snow

Here's the view today from my office window. It was snowing when I left my house, but both my house and office are at higher elevations so I'm not sure if it's snowing at the barn, which is near the lake. I left the horses' turnout sheets on their stall doors just in case they go out.

They're always so funny with the first snow, snorting and snuffling around in it. Yesterday they didn't go out because it was chilly and rainy all day, so I'm sure they're anxious to escape the confines of the barn. It's supposed to get back to the 50s this weekend, which is good--I'm not too excited about getting back to blanket weather!

Sighhhhhhhhh

Wow, I am EMBARRASSED that I haven't posted since early October. Excuse: Visit to Katie in CT, parents came for a stay, and two college visiting trips (with two more to go). Funny how when you think back it never seems as though you were really as busy as you thought you were at the time. But I'm pretty sure I've only been on our home computer once in October. Seems like I get home and crash.

The thing about the college trips is that the ponies go without my tender loving care for a day. But it is good to come home and see that they survived, and that maybe, just maybe, they CAN do without me for 24 hours. The barn friends were poking fun at me because I left three notes at the barn with emergency numbers when we went to visit Katie (two days, one night). I left one on the manager's desk, one on Dude's door and one on Bestie's door. They were like, "Did you leave ENOUGH notes?? We thought we'd find them all over the barn!" A little obsessive compulsiveness, what can I say.

After each of my absences I arrived at the barn on the following day to find both horses happy, healthy and very dirty. They always look up when I arrive like "Oh, there she is!" Dude does his low nicker and Bestie does her high pitched crazed-sounding whinny. It's a nice welcome, and one that I'll never get tired of. Today it is raining and cold, in the 40s, so I doubt they got turned out. I'm just hoping this isn't the beginning of the usual dreary claustrophobia-inducing weather we see in November. I'm not ready to ride/work them inside yet!

Where did September go?

Fall always rushes along here. The leaves have been absolutely gorgeous--so if anyone reading this blog is thinking about a foliage visit to northern VT, you'd better get up here in the next week! We had rain last night, and that always seems to bring out all the colors. A couple of the local weather forecasters were saying that the stretch of sunny days in September, combined with cool nights and summer's rain, are what have made this an amazing fall for foliage. It's certainly one of the best that I can remember.

Ran over to visit the ponies this morning because we are hosting a couple of visitors from Nicaragua and I didn't think I'd have time to hit the barn this afternoon. The horses were inside because at turnout time it was pouring. There was a break in the rain while I was there, so I was able to graze them both for about 20 minutes and give them a little walk. Not sure when our guests are arriving, so I didn't want to linger too long at the barn.

When I first arrived, Bestie whinnied, and Kara commented that Bestie had been "telling them" all morning that they'd forgotten to turn her out. She is a very vocal horse. Last night I mucked her stall and then moved on to take care of Dude. Right as I was finishing up and about to leave, Bestie put her head into the hall and whinnied every time she saw me in the aisle. Her way of saying "Hey, you didn't get ME out!" Nothing gets by her. So of course I had to graze her for a few minutes. I'm a softie, I admit it.

Two new horses came in this morning while I was at the barn. New boarders. One is 31 YEARS OLD!!! And he looks pretty good! I always start to think about the "what ifs" if ours live that long. That would be 16 more years for Dude. I'd be 63. Yikes! Best not to think too long about that!