When You Take the Crazy Leap

 

Sometimes taking the crazy leap doesn't end like you expect it to.  Your daughter who is hell on wheels for every other sport is very timid when it comes to riding. So the sensitive pony you bought doesn't end up being the right fit and now you have to start marketing her for sale. The pony not the child. 

Yet there are other jumps that end up taking you places you didn't envision and they feel like you were always meant to take that path. Years ago when my heart was hurting over my mare who had been diagnosed with cancer, I had a knee jerk reaction and brought home an OTTB who seemed perfect and for awhile he was. I really did love Fox but ultimately he was not the right fit for me so I sent him off to new adventures. 

Then came my giant golden retriever of a mare who absolutely identifies as a gelding. She's big and goofy and I love her more than I thought I'd ever love another horse after my heart horse (a tiny red AQHA mare) left my life. I loved Seneca dearly but she was not my heart horse. I grieved for her but when she left me it didn't tear me apart like losing Lady did.  I'm hoping the growing love I have for Roo will at least equal how I felt for Lady. I hope that we learn to trust each other at the heart deep level that Lady and I did. 

Roo, or searching for a Welsh Section D Cob sent me to Lisa Schultz Brezzina, a fantastic breeder who breeds Section D's and Section D Warmblood crosses under the Castleberry prefix in Indiana.  If you are looking for a well bred, athletic, smart, ridable horse, she is your person.  She sold me Roo and now she is selling me Roo's mom, Reminisce.   

When I knew my daughter's pony wasn't going to be a match and my daughter was going to need several more years of riding saintly lesson horses before she gained the confidence she would need for her own horse I went about looking for a horse that I could play with until Roo is old enough to be ridden consistently.  That's another year away at least.  The problem was I had champagne tastes and a beer budget.  I really wanted something that was already going or at least W/T/C.  Honestly I wanted a fancy Warmblood hunter but there was no way I was going to afford that.  Have you seen the horse market these days?  It's insane!  So I started looking at  OTTB's and Appendix AQHA's, even some paints but nothing I looked at was what I wanted. I wanted lovely movement, with lofty gaits and a sweet personality.  I wanted Roo, just older. 

Which is when Roo's breeder, Lisa offered to let me buy Remmy. I said yes without a second thought.  Remmy is an enormous Belgian Warmblood from the award winning breeding farm BannockBurn.  She has some of the best sporthorse blood in the world and she will be my new riding horse.  I may even breed a foal from her someday because I've always wanted to raise a foal from birth and Remmy has the bloodlines, the atheleticism and the good brain to make a phenominal baby.  I already know she can because Roo shows me everyday.

It will be a couple months before Remmy arrives but I am so very excited! Until the next step, keep it between the flags everyone!

Just Trucking Along

So another year has gone by or maybe two, okay a few. Life has gotten a little away from me and yet some things haven’t changed at all. Roo is still a giant Golden Retriever, sweet, goofy and well out of large pony size and in to the 15 hands range.  I’m thinking she might stop at 16 hands, which is kind of a relief.  Her half brother from last year is already 14.2 hands at 5 months.  I mean he is going to be HUGE!  Roo’s breeder offered to sell him to me and if I already had a going older, schoolmaster type and the room for it I would have definitely bought him.  

Roo is still the best baby horse ever.  She will be three at the end of April and I’m hoping to be able to take her to a couple of shows and just maybe do a walk trot class with her.  I don’t know yet.  My original plan was to have her started by someone I trust but I might just be able to do it myself.  My only goal this winter was to be the very first person to sit on Roo.  I bought her as a gangly, fuzzy weanling and I’ve loved every minute of watching her grow up the past two years. Despite not being a professional trainer or having really started any of the other babies I’ve had over the years I wanted to be the first person to sit on my girl.  And I did it!

Perhaps not in the most sane way.  I had planned to have my husband home while I did it but decided later I didn’t want an audience.  So when he was a work and my daughter was at her after school activities I brought Roo in to the barn, tacked her up (she’s been tacked, lunged and done all the ground work, I’m not completely nuts) and then I brought her in to her stall and just went through all the things we already done before I assessed where her mental state was and then swung my leg over.   It was amazing!   She didn’t flick an ear and I was just so proud of her.

So next, the pony.  Tara is still at my farm. I want to sell her and yet I don’t.  If she was a large or even a bigger medium pony I’d just keep her for myself but as a small she just isn’t super fun for me to ride.  So this spring I’ll be taking her to some breed shows, some local hunter/jumper shows and starting to market her for sale. I hate it because I am so very afraid she will end up in a bad situation that isn’t as understanding of her quirks as I am.  She is not a beginner child’s pony.  She’s a super brave, trainer kids pony or one of those really talented A circuit junior riders.  So I’m trying to find her the right person, a person who will love her and laugh at her quirks rather than punish her for them. 

My daughter is still riding, though I take her over to my friend’s hunter/jumper barn where she rides a pair of saintly lesson horses.  Someday I will get her another horse but for now she’s learning from the lesson horses.   As for me, aside from tuning up the pony and bringing along Roo I haven’t really been riding much.  Thief had to retire last winter due to some injuries and my friend’s other hunter gelding is not my cup of tea to ride.  So I’m sort of a riding horseless.  I’ll start looking for a schoolmaster of my own later this year when I have the budget for it.  

The problem is that I want a lovely, well schooled, saintly Warmblood and I can’t afford that.  A nice OTTB would be good too but the ones I need are all really expensive too.  I mean the horse market the last few years has just gone insane! 

Anyway, until I pick up the keyboard again, keep it between the flags my friends. 

The Chaos Wrap-Up and a Return to Hunter Land

 The last year has been a continual study in change and chaos. I started a new job, that I love so much my husband and I decided to stay in VA for another few years. Despite me hating my current house with every fiber of my being, seriously I detest it.  Despite not having enough room for all the horses I really want but then who does?  But I love the job I’m doing and the freedom it allows me.  

My daughter is starting Kindergarten this year.  There is a sentence I NEVER thought would come out of my mouth. And we’ve decided to find a new home for her pony.  My daughter loves her pony but doesn’t love riding and it’s not fair to the pony when the pony really, really loves to work. Sporadic lead line rides just aren’t enough for her.  So little Miss Tara will be marketed soon to find her a new perfect home. 

Earlier in the spring I started riding at a friend’s hunter/jumper barn.  I was the epitome of nervous adult amateur but Thief, the massive, red OTTB gelding was a perfect babysitter and even helped me start to love jumping again.  I don’t know where this will take me but it’s nice to be able to ride while Roo is still turning in to the monster Warmblood she seems to moving towards.  Seriously she’s 13 months old and already 14.2 hands.   I’m starting to wonder if she’ll be as tall as her mom.  A daunting thought but she’s so lovely and sweet I can’t imagine it being an issue. 

With the pony leaving I will have a spot open for a new horse. I’m trying to find something very laid back and sweet so that if my daughter really does decide she wants to ride later on that I’ll have something suitable that she can just hack around.   

That is all the update I have right now. Keep it between the flags everyone!

Change Brings Change

 There has been so much change in my life this year. The new job is pretty great. I got over my first day jitters and found an introverts dream job. I only really interact with about ten people on a weekly basis. I'm quietly left to do my job and no one wonders where I am if I happen to take a break to walk outside in the sunshine or go to the break room to facetime with my daughter because I leave for work before she gets up. 

Roo is still just as sweet as ever. I swear she's a giant Golden Retriever in a horse shape. She has the cutest crimped curly hair in her forelock and tail. Her breeder says that's from her dad Favor.  Roo has been learning all the good horsey citizen things like picking up her feet, having them trimmed by the farrier, tying quietly and just all around learning to be well behaved. Everything is just so easy with her.

Not to be outdone my daughter's little Welsh pony Tara is still a lovely, haughty princess of a pony.  But over the last two years she has grown to love me. She calls to me every time I leave the house, she willingly lets me hug her, rub her soft red coat and doesn't flee when I come bearing a leadline.  She still has her moments of snobby princess where she doesn't want to be caught but now I can entice her in with a treat, where before even that wouldn't convince her to come near me.  She's still a bit spooky, but we are working on that with ground work. 

The biggest change came unexpectedly. I convinced my husband to send Cowboy off to a trainer friend of mine. She is an advanced level eventer and used to quirky horses. So off he went for almost 90 days of training.  We went to visit him towards the end of 60 days and afterwards, seeing how very happy Cowboy was with a true job my husband made the decision to find Cowboy a new partner. My husband also took on a new job this past year, which he loves. He's working towards his degree in Early Childhood Development and due to that taking up so much of his time he's decided that it would be in the best interest of Cowboy to find him a new partner. 

We let my trainer friend know to start marketing him.  I know the horse market is crazy right now. I watched an online auction and saw a Draft cross mare sell for $90,000.  This wasn't some spectacular dressage horse or money earning cutting horse or even a jumper. This was a ranch bred Draft cross.  I just could not even wrap my head around that.  Until Cowboy sold in maybe three weeks.  Granted my trainer friend has tons of connections but still it was a little crazy how quickly he was sold.  He will be leaving for his new home next week to become the next Appy partner for a lady who wants an all around Appaloosa.  I think Cowboy is going to be really happy.  He will have a person who loves him for himself.

Is there another riding age horse in my future while I wait for Roo to grow up? Probably.  But most likely it will be next year when my family finally moves home to North Carolina so I can be closer to my mom and sisters. 

Until then keep it between the flags everyone!

New Journeys

 This fall has been my season of change.  Today I started the first new job I’ve had in over twenty years.  I sat in my car before I was scheduled to go in for a full five minutes, trembling and heart hammering until I told myself that this was a good thing and to get a move on. 

I sent Fox off to his new adventures. I was sad for a little while but not once did I think I had made a mistake.  I always want my animals to be happy and if they aren’t I try to figure out why. For Fox that meant letting him go find his own joy with someone who would love him for himself and only himself. 

So then there was this horse shaped hole in my heart. And as every equestrian knows that hole will suck down your soul until it is filled.  So I went about trying to find what I wanted within the budget I could muster.  I really wanted a sweet, old schoolmaster but those are seriously hard to find in my budget. 

The next option was a very young horse.  I sifted, I hunted, I searched. I really wanted a Section D Welsh Cob, one with dressage movement.  Those are seriously hard to find, even rarer are cobs that nice within my budget.  Yet I managed, somehow to find a very special girl. I now realize that I absolutely have a type. As I looked back on it I saw that all the horses I’ve truly loved were chestnut mares.  My first heart horse, hopefully not my last, was a small, deep red, AQHA mare. I’d give almost anything to have that mare back. But she is long in the grave. So in her well loved footsteps comes the new redhead in my life. 

Castleberry Reverie (Roo) is a Welsh Cob x Belgian Warmblood.  I flew out to Indiana a couple of weeks ago and got to meet not just Roo but both of her parents and a lot of her siblings.  Roo’s dam, Reminisce is a huge, Belgian Warmblood mare.  Seriously she was every bit of 17+ hands and her withers were at least a foot over my head.  I stepped in to a pasture with three breeding stallions and had not one reservation about my safety as they were some of the sweetest boys I’d ever met.  Roo is quiet, snuggly and so very very smart. 

She had never stepped on a trailer before she got on to the shippers and she walked right in.  After staying at a farm in Maryland for three days, she then stepped right in to my trailer and behaved liked a seasoned traveler.  Roo then stepped off my trailer and settled in to her stall without a single issue. 

Roo is quickly curling her red nose in against my heart and I’m happy to let her. I fully admit it I LOVE CHESTNUT MARES!

When the Romance is Over, You Begin a New Journey

 There are lots of changes in store for me this year. I am finally, FINALLY retiring from the Navy and will have more control over my own life.  Purple hair dye here I come!  My husband also changed jobs and now has more time to spend at home and is actually doing a job that he enjoys.  I am trying to get my photography business off the ground and do other things to try and arrange my life so that I can work from home. 

In my equestrian life I haven’t really done much. I have a lesson scheduled for next week with a new dressage trainer.  I have decided to leave jumping behind for awhile and study dressage as I find I am too anxious jumping these days. I still love the pony. She’s sassy and quirky sometimes, but I love that red Welsh mare.  Now that Superhubs has more time to spend with Cowboy he’s becoming less of a menace and I will be taking him to my dressage lesson next week. 

I’m taking Cowboy because Fox will be leaving me soon.  I have a realized, yes it took me seven years,  that my knee jerk reaction to retiring Seneca has landed me with a partner that isn’t a good fit. He doesn’t fully trust me and I feel the same.  This never makes for a harmonious partnership.  This combined with Fox’s terrible feet mean that I can’t even really dream about competing again.  So I made the extremely difficult but necessary decision to return Fox to his adoption program so that they can find him his perfect home.  I will probably take some flack for this but it was the right choice.   I’m a little sad, a lot guilty, but mostly I’m relieved.  I want both of us to be happy and I don’t think Fox is and I know that I’m not.

So with that on the horizon I am indulging in the ultimate equestrian past time, haunting every possible nook and cranny of the internet to find my next partner.  I have my eye on and am discussing a Warmblood Welsh Cob Cross filly, she seems like a lovely meshing of my two favorites types and her siblings all move extraordinarily well. But we’ll see.  I’d love something a little older, closer to backing but I can only afford what I can afford.  

Until next time, keep it between the flags everyone. 

A Christmas Present 40 Years in the Making

 

Like most little girls, every Christmas I asked for a real, live pony.  I would race to the Christmas tree with hope but there was never a pony under the tree.  It took years before I got my first horse but I never stopped wanting that perfect, adorable pony.

When my daughter was born my husband agreed to help me fulfill my pony tree someday when my little girl was ready for one. Late last year I as casually looking and found a great little pony, a well bred Welsh, older, been there done that, even went to Pony Finals. But it took me too long to try to convince Superhubs that she was the one and she was sold.

So I kept an eye out for a pony. And then I saw her.  A gorgeous little, chestnut Welsh mare, broke to ride, sweet and well bred.  She’s been with us a couple of weeks now and I am more in love with her each day.

My daughter loves that she can get on and off of her with just the mounting block, loves that she can get the saddle off on her own. Her barn name is Tara. She has a fancy registered name but we call her Tara. She terrorizes Cowboy and hangs out with Fox.  My daughter has already fallen off of her once, totally not Tara or Alex’s fault, just an accident. 

I hope we can do some lead line classes at some point and maybe some walk trot next year.  I already have dreams of pony foals dancing in my head.  

Keep it between the flags everyone.