Week in Photos

Look at me, not waiting two weeks to post photo updates! Things are sure to get exciting again in the immediate future, but I'm actually having a lull right now. *gasp*

Gunner did some pretty intense pole work during his last few lessons. He is getting more and more coordinated all the time.

No Frills 2017

When we completed Foxcatcher two weeks ago, Evelyn immediately offered Dart to me for No Frills. I wasn't sure I wanted to do it. I've had so much going on and I've been grumpy and stressed that I really just want to hide under my blankets and not come out.

Plus one particular person made some nasty comments about Julio that left me wanting to punch someone, until a friend of mine pointed out that Julio has been to more AERC rides than this snotty woman has. Right.

Sandy, who is basically my life manager at this point, helpfully told me, "Shut up and send your entry."

Mike reminded me that he's working seven days a week right now and that I'll be less cranky if I find things to do on said weekends.

He also pointed out, "If you skip No Frills and then end up completing OD and Fort Valley, you are going to be kicking yourself." This is true.

So I reluctantly sent my entry the day before the deadline. I had to judge a show back home in NJ on Sunday, so I needed to be home Saturday night at the latest. Riding 55 tough miles and then driving 5-6 hours home was not appealing, so I decided to do the Friday ride. Evelyn and Jeff would be bringing all four of their horses in preparation for bigger plans for the ride season. The plan was to have all three of us ride the 55 on Friday with Dart, Dee, and Dolce. Then, I would head home while Jeff and Evelyn did the Saturday LD on Dee and Rella.

And then there were two... again.

Well, Tegan didn't work out. I just sent him home an hour ago. It's not a particularly exciting story, but since I shared how I got him, I figured I shouldn't just leave you guys hanging.

Tegan is very pushy. He's young. He's a draft. I was expecting that and was ok with it.

Unfortunately, Tegan also doesn't stay in fences (or walls). That is a deal breaker for me.

Mike took care of the horses while I was away this week (ride story coming soon!) He did a great job, but he admitted he had his hands full at times, and that Tegan was making him feel anxious.

Yesterday, I pulled JR out of the pasture to give him a bath. I got about twenty feet up the driveway when I heard a loud crack behind me. I turned around to see Tegan standing on the bottom rail of the four-board fence. He had already popped the top rail free, and was actively working on the middle two. Of course, this was literally the only section of the fence where the boards are nailed to the outside of th
e posts, not the inside.

I tried to scurry back to chase Tegan off, shouting and waving my lead rope while dragging an understandably hesitant JR in my wake, but it was too late.

Tegan busted through the fence and appeared, loose, in the driveway.

Dammit.

At this exact moment, both Mike and my landlord pulled into the driveway. This was both a relief (because I would have help) and an inconvenience (I was hoping to handle this and have nobody be the wiser).

I chased Tegan down the alley between the paddocks with hopes of containing him. A very horny crazed Tookie tore after him. They touched over the fence and Tookie squealed. Thankfully, the stallion does respect the fence and stayed in his pasture. I thought Mike was going to have a stroke from the stress.

After charging up and down the alley a few times, not wanting to be caught, Tegan barged right through the tree line and into the woods at the back of the property. He pushed, shoved, and forced his way through the dense underbrush (who needs a trail?) until he appeared at the far corner of the paddock. He shoved through that fence too and I was relieved that Tookie was separated by a metal gate. I'm not sure what would have happened if the two of them got in together, but I was certain I didn't want to find out.

Thankfully, Tegan was now in the enclosed barn yard (not that fences mean much, apparently). Unfortunately, he still didn't want to be caught. Mike ran for a bucket of grain and a lead rope, and I immediately got on the phone with Nicole to tell her that Tegan wasn't going to work out.

Mike lured Tegan into a stall and closed the door. He then proceeded to do this for half an hour while Mike and I repaired the fence:

I told Nicole that there was no rush, but Tegan had to go home. I have to be able to pull my horses out of their pasture without worrying about the fence staying up. I am sure that this would be manageable with electric fence, but I'm not about to make alterations to our rental property for a horse I don't own. Plus, I can only imagine what he'll do if I try to contain him somewhere away from home.

At the end of the day, it boils down to the fact that I train other people's problematic horses for a living. It is not something I want to be doing in my free time as well. Tegan was here for ten days. In that time, I had the chance to ride him twice. To be fair, he was very good during those rides. Meanwhile, Mike and I struggled for 10/10 days to manage everyone together. The risk to reward ratio just wasn't worth it.

Did I mention I came out to feed last night to find him standing on the second-to-bottom board on the same section of fence? It held this time, but I wanted to strangle him!

It's too bad because he is a cute little guy and I really liked his mind and his personality. I'm just not set up to handle it in my back yard right now.

Nicole picked Tegan up today and was gracious and wonderful about it. She apologized and I told her not to. She's been struggling with him at home for the last six months as well, and we brain stormed some ideas on how to get Tegan over this tantrum behavior. He may be coming for a few lessons in the near future.

I think Tegan was relieved to see his mom. He must feel like he went to boot camp for ten days. All we did was yell at him and take away all his fun.

Nicole did comment on how politely he led from the field and onto the trailer, though...

Two Weeks in Photos

I'm going to start this post off with video of Tookie. This is something he does regularly and I've only now managed to catch it on camera. The horses are turned out on the entire property during the day. There is a section in the back left corner (you can see it in the video) that is wooded. There is technically a fence in the woods, but there must be a gap or hole in it, which Oreo figured out. Oreo will go through the woods to graze on the neighbor's lawn from time to time. The neighbor is a horse person and a good friend of our landlord's so that part of it is fine. For some reason, however, when Oreo gets thirsty, he doesn't know how to get back into the pasture through the woods. Instead, he walks down the neighbor's driveway, down our quiet back road, and sort of stands at the bottom of the stairs waiting for Mike or me to put him back in the paddock. This is amusing and mostly harmless and Tookie has not figured out how to follow Oreo through the woods, so it's all good. Obviously, we don't want Oreo walking down the road at night though. As a result, the horses get locked into the barnyard at night. Thankfully, Oreo does not know how to get out of the barnyard... but Tookie does! This only works if my landlord doesn't clip the rails up, which he usually does. Yesterday, while I was sipping my morning coffee, I heard the telltale bang of the fence boards, and finally thought enough to grab my phone and get a video of Tookie's great escape routine. I like that Oreo just waits for Tookie to do the work for him! The whole bunch of them are too smart.

And then there were three...

Tegan came home on Friday. Prior to his arrival, I was feeling a mixture of excitement and nerves. What if I was making a huge mistake? Sure, it sucks not having a horse of my own to ride, but I enjoy my routine with Ozzy and JR at the house. Winding down every night in the horse pasture, brushing muddy coats and listening to contended chewing, is a cherished part of my day-to-day. Was I going to mess this up for an occasional ride? As everyone kept reminding me, this isn't permanent and I can always send Tegan back if he doesn't work out.

Friday around three o'clock, Nicole pulled in with her bumper pull trailer in tow. I had locked Tookie and Oreo up by the barn to lessen the excitement of the baby's arrival. Of course, the second the trailer pulled in, Tookie started hollering. Tegan innocently whinnied back.

Foxcatcher 2017

When I got invited to do Foxcatcher this year, the first thing I did was check the weather forecast for last weekend. It's not that riding 50 miles in the rain, sleet, and snow last year wasn't fun. It's just that it was the sort of fun I prefer to only try once. Thankfully, this year's forecast called for sunny skies and warmer temperatures. When Jeff and Evelyn offered me Dart for the LD, I willingly agreed and sent in my entry.

As I think I mentioned, this is only Dart's second season competing in endurance. Jeff would also be riding his new mare, GJR Bella Cinderella aka Rella, in her first ever competition. They've only had her for four months so it would be quite a test of her abilities.

Rella before Jeff and Evelyn bought her.

Photo Posting

Apparently I have taken about a hundred photos with my phone in the last two weeks. Whoops. I am going to need to do one of these posts every week if I keep this up. Seriously, letting me have a smart phone is just asking for spam.

Starting this entry with the beautiful tack trunk that Mike built (not for me!)

Spoiler Alert

I am getting a third horse. Temporarily.

But I think a lot of you saw that plot twist coming.

Camera-Clearing and Blogging Introspection

I struggle with what direction to take this blog in sometimes. I am a hoarder of memories and media and I spam the internet constantly. Life is hectic, a whirlwind, pretty much all the time, but I stubbornly refuse to quit blogging.

I know I want to keep a log of my time with my horses/dogs and major life events. I enjoy writing (and then re-reading) my endurance ride recaps, and they are always well-received.

I used to record day-to-day happenings regularly, whether they were important or not (my old blog is dreadfully dull, full of the incoherent ramblings of an angsty teenage girl). I have no time or desire to do that any more.

For a while, I tried to just do client stories, but there are honestly too many of them to keep up with. This is a good thing. Plus, mostly, my clients make steady, uninteresting progress, just the way I like them to. For the most part, they're not my stories to tell!

I do want to expand my Endurance Memoirs blog, but good writing takes time, concentration, and editing. It's not a project I want to tackle lightly or half-heartedly, and so it sits stagnant even though bits and pieces swirl around in my head, itching to get out.

I've found my Instagram photo dumps to be cleansing. It's much easier to keep up to date if I just purge every week or two. It's a good way to get all the little things out without wasting time and blog space on them. So, just now, I decided I'm going to start doing the same with the photos that don't make it to Instagram either. Below is a dump of the photo folders sitting in my pictures library on my laptop. Some of these haven't even seen daylight. Most of them don't come with any kind of story. I'm hoping that sharing them will ease my self-induced anxiety about letting blogging slowly slip out of my grasp...

In no particular order, have some photos from my life (with or without stories to go with them)...

A random photo of the front yard after the only significant snow fall of the year.