This is Tandy and I around 1994 doing western eq medal classes in MA where I grew up. This horse gave me all kinds of confidence, which I really needed at the time. I still retell stories of how Karen and Starr had me compete Tandy to show me I was able to win if I had a trained mount, but winning only teaches you that you can.
Riding difficult horses taught me very different horsemanship lessons, and made me the equestrian I am today. I've learned so many different things from each horse that I've ridden, and I was super fortunate to have been able to ride and show this one.
Things are ramping up as we finish preparations for moving to the East Coast!
We are permanently relocating to Halifax, Virginia, about an hour North of Raleigh. This is to take advantage of the better weather (mostly avoiding the wind and snow which affect the head injury the most) and to be closer to bigger competition venues. Our property here has sold and is very near the actual closing date. We have containers from a moving company arriving this weekend to transport the house and barn items, and the horses will be shipped in a private load with Equine Express www.equineexpress.com
This is the binder with all the documents required for each of the seven horses to be shipped across the country. I have a photo ID page with identifying marks on the horses, a health certificate for all of them, a brand inspection, negative coggins, and vaccine certificate for each horse.
This book has my moving notes - so far it contains 30 pages of to do lists, with dates, reminders, checklists, appointments, etc. I am very pleased to say that I've checked off nearly everything in the many pages regarding this move, which is incredibly satisfying!
Because of the brain injury I can't do a three day drive, so I'll be flying with a friend to Virginia, while my husband, daughter, and inlaws drive our car, truck, and horse trailer with all the small animals. My four cats aren't going to be very pleased, but we don't leave anyone behind on a big move like this. The dogs will likely think it's the greatest adventure ever, since they all love car rides.
It's a huge undertaking to move an entire stable of horses across the country, but it will be well worth it for improvement in quality of life for all of us. All five of my personal and lesson horses are going, Highboy, Note, Raven, Dewey, and Daisy, as well as Ferriana and Curio. A stunning young cremello warmblood stallion from Canada at Blazing Colours Farm will be joining us later in the summer, and he will complete our barn for 2022!
I'll have an arena, fields, fenced pastures (with actual grass for them to eat!), and a lovely barn to accommodate us in the new place. We have trails through the woods on the property, nearby open space to gallop, and Staunton River State Park is just twenty minutes away with over 17 miles of trails. I'll be building a cross country course on the property with jumps in and out of the water as we have large ponds, as well as jumps throughout the woods and in the open fields. It will be an amazing combined training facility in short order!
Once we get settled and established in the area I'll resume teaching clinics. Several of the riders here in Colorado have asked to be included in the email list for clinics, as there will be plenty of room for out of town guests in the blue cabin/guest house near the barn. That way anyone flying in can stay right there on the property, and those who are coming with their horses can be near them.
Not to mention the main house where I'll be living with my husband and house dog is pretty nice, too!
It's a big job to move across the country, made bigger by the fact that I'm still recovering from the back surgery from just before Christmas. I'm at a ten pound weight limit for what I can lift until mid-March, and then I can very gradually increase my activity and the weight I lift. Because of this we're calling in all favors from friends and family in the area to help with the move, and I'll be pointing and directing rather than doing anything physical for the move.
In the meantime, the neurologist and physical therapist gave me the green light to walk as much as I want, so I continue my daily parade around the back forty with the dogs. Despite it being over 60 degrees yesterday, we still have a little bit of snow pack where the snow had drifted by the west fenceline here. It makes for a great dog racing track!
Here is the video of the dogs running and playing this morning. It's as hard for the border collies to take it easy as it is for me, so I feel grateful that at least we can walk (and they can run) as much as we want!
Recently I've started walking around a little with Daisy to help with my core recovery. She is the shortest in my herd and also the laziest, so least likely to do anything unexpected, quick, or sideways. Her 14.3h height means she's the easiest to get on. I mount from an upside down water tank so it's more like rest my leg on her far side and then slide into a sitting position on the bareback pad. She also is perfectly content to walk a few laps in the arena and then go back to the barn.
I've been walking for some time now post-op, and it's interesting how differently I use my core when mounted versus walking on my own feet. My body just settles into straight and tall while on Daisy, versus having to frequently remind myself to look up and engage my core when I'm walking. We go around until odd nerve sensations begin in my left leg, then I dismount and put her away. Today I was able to stay mounted a while longer, so we went a little farther and did one lap in the back fields with the dogs.
When I get off of Daisy I feel significantly taller, and straighter through my torso. I think I'm getting the hippotherapeutic benefits of riding her and activating my core differently than when I'm on the ground. The dogs are also very pleased to be out and running around, my recovery has been hard on these workaholic border collies so they're making the most of their structured freedom.
There is something about my winter hats that is extremely appealing to the geldings. In the evenings Highboy gets mash, and so I often find myself sitting on the edge of his water tank waiting for him to finish dinner. His pen shares a fence line with Note's pen, so frequently Note will come over to visit with me. This nearly always involves furtive nuzzling of my knit hats, with the occasional attempt at snatching it in thievery.
I will usually ask him, "Oh silly horse, are you SURE you want to steal my hat...?" since I have rules about horse teeth being involved with our interactions. Generally I tolerate gentle nuzzling, but if the horse brings out his teeth he is quickly reprimanded, and I immediately walk away.
With some horses (for example Highboy when he was a mouthy youngster) reprimanding the gelding would simply initiate heavy duty horseplay as he thought I was agreeing to wrestle with him and interact like another horse would. In those situations the best way to handle it was to instantly walk away, totally and completely ignoring him. Being ignored was truly the worst punishment Highboy could imagine as a youngster. He always always wanted to wrestle and play with everyone, and saw any yelling, hand waving, or even smacking his face away as acceptance of his bid for attention.
In response to teeth I would go totally silent, turn, and walk away from Highboy with no reaction whatsoever. This made young Highboy jump up and down in his pen by the gate, waving his head and baring his teeth in frustration demanding I come back and play with him. We went through the scene repetitively for ages, and he did eventually make the connection that teeth equaled humans walking away. After he figured that out he realized if he was better behaved his playmates would hang around longer.
Highboy still likes to push the limits occasionally, but you'll notice he doesn't actually touch me with his teeth. they are fun photos since in the human world of selfies he even looks like he's smiling.
My suspicion is that the horses like the smell of my mango scented shampoo and conditioner. I wear these hats over all my hair mostly to keep it relatively clean when I have to spend some time in the dusty barn. These two just don't seem to be able to resist the giant ball of fruity smelling hair sequestered beneath the knit cap.
Everyone asked for pajamas tonight, so they all got blankets for the snowstorm.
How do they ask for pajamas? The horses here each have been trained to stand by the gate and stare at me if they would like a wardrobe change. If I see a horse waiting, I’ll put on/take off their blankets as needed. Even new horses figure this out really quickly by watching the others.
Tonight they all lined up by their gates and stood quietly for me to carefully place winter jammies on them. They seem to understand that I’m still kind of fragile post-surgery, so they each lowered their necks politely so I could get the blankets on over their heads, then swing blankets onto their backs to do straps and buckles.
After each horse was appropriately attired he would go back to eating hay. I’m grateful for well behaved creatures who clearly tell me what they need!
I made it out to the barn this evening while Owen was feeding to visit the horses. I took my phone because I've recently become jealous of all the many many cute selfies Jasi seems to get with the animals. It took me far too many tries to get decent ones, but as usual my geldings provided comic relief.
We start with me giving Dewey a smooch, then he returns the affection
Next things got silly with Dewey making his move....
Dewey didn't want to be left out of any photography so kept sneaking his nose into Raven's pics.
Raven is pretty photogenic and doesn't require quite as many tries to get a decent shot.
This next one I can only designate as our future band album cover, "Four Chins"
Highboy is pretty good too, when we're not making exactly the same ridiculous faces.
He does love sniffing my hair if I've recently shampooed it!
It's just nice to be outside with my horses who miss me.
