Frankly, I never set out to own a horse. But, then again, I never set out to be a runner and I'm still running 17 years later. Who knows? I may still own a horse in 17 years.
The road to horse ownership started out when I was browsing my adult equivalent of the Girl Scout badge book. I was bored and wanted to try something new. Some of the badges I had already accomplished. I had been published, learned to sew, acted in a play. Some I never wanted to do-sing in public, sky dive. But, I've always loved animals so when I came across the badge for horseback riding I thought I would give it a try.
I signed up for western style riding lessons for a 10 week trial. It went okay, although learning to ride as a mature adult wasn't as easy as it would have been if I were 7. I signed up for a second set of lessons. At one point, I almost quit because the instructor humiliated me after a class was over. The barn owner had to talk me into coming back. Eventually, I got better and began to enjoy the relationship with the horses. I rode several horses. One day, the horse that I had been riding most regularly was lame. The instructor (by this time I was on the third or fourth) told me to ride Storm instead. When I got on Storm and rode him for the first time, I fell in love with riding and with him. Most of the lesson horses you had to practically slam your legs through their rib cages to get to go. But not Storm, he loved to trot and canter; he loved to go. He also liked to run through open gates, which I found out quickly! Hold on!!
I began to ride him every time. After I had been taking lessons for a little over a year, the owner of the barn decided to sell some of his lesson horses. He kept trying to talk me into buying one. I hemmed and hawed saying I didn't think I was ready for that much responsibility, but he kept asking and convinced me to lease Storm for a couple of months. I also told the owner that if someone else offered to buy Storm, I wanted first chance at purchasing him. If I was going to buy a horse, Storm was the only horse I was willing to buy. In a lease arrangement, you get to treat the horse as if it is your own without the daily responsibility of mucking stalls and feeding. I started to show up at the barn every day. I groomed him and rode him for a while before I headed home. He was better than a therapist! One day a man showed up who was interested in buying one of the horses the owner had for sale. He looked at the others and I knew he wanted to get a better look at Storm. I was 10 days into the leasing arrangement and I kept riding Storm so the man couldn't get a better look at him.
I went home that night and told Neil that I was going to buy him. I couldn't bear the thought of anyone else having what I considered "my horse". And that is how you end up with a horse. Storm doesn't mind at all. He is now living the life of luxury. He has a fan on his stall for days the temperature exceeds 80 degrees. He gets pasture time with his buddies daily. His stall is immaculate every evening when he goes to bed. He has an endless supply of fresh water in spotlessly clean buckets. He gets supplements for his joints, regular farrier and vet checks and an owner that absolutely adores him. The feeling is mutual!
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Monday, June 2, 2008
First Trailer Experience
June 1, 2008
Storm and I took off on our first trail riding adventure since I purchased a horse trailer. Since I haven't practice driving a trailer, Neil volunteered to drive us to Carriage Hill for the day. We hooked the trailer to the Jimmy and headed to the barn to pick up Storm. Storm is 24 and although he is an older horse, most of his last few years have been spent in one place. I have only trailered him once since I've owned him and that was to transfer him from Shady Joe's to his new home. I had a friend of my help in that move since at that time I didn't own a trailer and had never moved a horse. What can I say? I'm so green at this it is a wonder that either one of us survived. This was to be our first true experience at touring the local parks on our own.
As I said before, Neil and I hooked up the trailer and headed to the stables. Neil had the trailer in place and we were ready for our first attempt to load Storm. I got him out of his stall and we walked over to the trailer. All of my equine friends had given me "tips" on how to load a horse, but tips never quite cover all of the contingencies of working with horses. I walked Storm to the trailer and tried to get him to step up into the trailer. He wasn't having any of it. I baited him with food. I tried smacking his butt with the lead road. I tried walking in with confidence, but every time he got close he backed off with every pound of his 1000. Neil tried wrapping the lead rope around the stall partition. It worked for a minute, but ultimately Storm had enough and the rope of the lead gave way to the strength of the horse. Not only was my horse not in the trailer, but he was running lose with his Arabian tail straight up in the air, prancing around the yard like a football player who just scored a touchdown, looking down his nose at us in our defeat.
Two friends from the barn joined Neil and I in our pursuit of my errant horse. Storm ran to his pasture and bellowed to his herd the evils that we were trying to inflict on him. But, ultimately the knowledge that I was the food source brought him to his senses and he allowed me to approach and attach another lead rope to him. The owner of the barn came to our rescue and showed me how to persuade him to jump into the trailer. We were off to the trails!
We stopped by a friend's house and picked up her and her horse. When we got to the trail head, we began to unload the horses. Unloading is theoretically loading in reverse. Jasmine (my friend's horse) backed out like a champ. Storm, now that he had found safety in the trailer, was not about to leave it. Trail riding in a trailer was definitely not what I had in mind. I tried backing him up but every time one of his feet sensed the abyss, he stormed back to the safety of the trailer. His foot even touched the ground, but it was not secure enough. However, we were not about to be defeated. Neil looked for alternatives. He discovered that the stall divider would come off. After some pounding, grunting, and a bit of pure strength, Neil was able to take the divider out. I was then able to turn Storm around and he jumped less than gracefully to the ground. He was out. We had broken all the rules, but at least I wouldn't be feeding him in and cleaning out a trailer for the remainder of his days.
Trail riding is the reason for owning a horse. Storm and I fell back into the comfort of the great outdoors. His previous home had been quite close to Carriage Hill and we had ridden the trails together before. We rode across meadows, forded streams, picked our way through sticky mud, listened to the wind in the trees, nibbled at grasses, reacquainted ourselves with all the wonders in the woods. We rode for three hours. Eventually, we made our way back to the trail head. We were all tired and sweaty.
We only had one incident on the trail in which Storm and I disagreed on how we should proceed. When we got to the turnoff for his old stable, he was thoroughly convinced that that was the way to go. Anyway, after swirling around like twirl-e-birds for a few minutes, I convinced him that we weren't going home that way. We were both nauseous from the ride.
Back at the trail head, we rested until Neil showed up. We loaded the horses and this time Storm took much better to the loading. We reversed the process and dropped my friend and her horse off and headed back to the barn. I asked to owner of the barn to help unload him to see how she convinced him that stepping off backward was good. However, after much pushing, prodding, multiple leads and multiple participants, Storm was having nothing to do with backing out of that horse trailer. Once again, we took out the partition, turned him around and he leaped to the ground with a total look of disdain at me.
I hosed him down in the horse bath and picked off the ticks he had collected, then turned him out to pasture. Ticks like white horses much better than other colored horse, so the tick picking was no small task! The next item on my agenda is to contact Victor Fleming to find out how I can get a horse of a different color.
Storm and I took off on our first trail riding adventure since I purchased a horse trailer. Since I haven't practice driving a trailer, Neil volunteered to drive us to Carriage Hill for the day. We hooked the trailer to the Jimmy and headed to the barn to pick up Storm. Storm is 24 and although he is an older horse, most of his last few years have been spent in one place. I have only trailered him once since I've owned him and that was to transfer him from Shady Joe's to his new home. I had a friend of my help in that move since at that time I didn't own a trailer and had never moved a horse. What can I say? I'm so green at this it is a wonder that either one of us survived. This was to be our first true experience at touring the local parks on our own.
As I said before, Neil and I hooked up the trailer and headed to the stables. Neil had the trailer in place and we were ready for our first attempt to load Storm. I got him out of his stall and we walked over to the trailer. All of my equine friends had given me "tips" on how to load a horse, but tips never quite cover all of the contingencies of working with horses. I walked Storm to the trailer and tried to get him to step up into the trailer. He wasn't having any of it. I baited him with food. I tried smacking his butt with the lead road. I tried walking in with confidence, but every time he got close he backed off with every pound of his 1000. Neil tried wrapping the lead rope around the stall partition. It worked for a minute, but ultimately Storm had enough and the rope of the lead gave way to the strength of the horse. Not only was my horse not in the trailer, but he was running lose with his Arabian tail straight up in the air, prancing around the yard like a football player who just scored a touchdown, looking down his nose at us in our defeat.
Two friends from the barn joined Neil and I in our pursuit of my errant horse. Storm ran to his pasture and bellowed to his herd the evils that we were trying to inflict on him. But, ultimately the knowledge that I was the food source brought him to his senses and he allowed me to approach and attach another lead rope to him. The owner of the barn came to our rescue and showed me how to persuade him to jump into the trailer. We were off to the trails!
We stopped by a friend's house and picked up her and her horse. When we got to the trail head, we began to unload the horses. Unloading is theoretically loading in reverse. Jasmine (my friend's horse) backed out like a champ. Storm, now that he had found safety in the trailer, was not about to leave it. Trail riding in a trailer was definitely not what I had in mind. I tried backing him up but every time one of his feet sensed the abyss, he stormed back to the safety of the trailer. His foot even touched the ground, but it was not secure enough. However, we were not about to be defeated. Neil looked for alternatives. He discovered that the stall divider would come off. After some pounding, grunting, and a bit of pure strength, Neil was able to take the divider out. I was then able to turn Storm around and he jumped less than gracefully to the ground. He was out. We had broken all the rules, but at least I wouldn't be feeding him in and cleaning out a trailer for the remainder of his days.
Trail riding is the reason for owning a horse. Storm and I fell back into the comfort of the great outdoors. His previous home had been quite close to Carriage Hill and we had ridden the trails together before. We rode across meadows, forded streams, picked our way through sticky mud, listened to the wind in the trees, nibbled at grasses, reacquainted ourselves with all the wonders in the woods. We rode for three hours. Eventually, we made our way back to the trail head. We were all tired and sweaty.
We only had one incident on the trail in which Storm and I disagreed on how we should proceed. When we got to the turnoff for his old stable, he was thoroughly convinced that that was the way to go. Anyway, after swirling around like twirl-e-birds for a few minutes, I convinced him that we weren't going home that way. We were both nauseous from the ride.
Back at the trail head, we rested until Neil showed up. We loaded the horses and this time Storm took much better to the loading. We reversed the process and dropped my friend and her horse off and headed back to the barn. I asked to owner of the barn to help unload him to see how she convinced him that stepping off backward was good. However, after much pushing, prodding, multiple leads and multiple participants, Storm was having nothing to do with backing out of that horse trailer. Once again, we took out the partition, turned him around and he leaped to the ground with a total look of disdain at me.
I hosed him down in the horse bath and picked off the ticks he had collected, then turned him out to pasture. Ticks like white horses much better than other colored horse, so the tick picking was no small task! The next item on my agenda is to contact Victor Fleming to find out how I can get a horse of a different color.
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