It's happened. Your daughter wants to ride horses. Maybe she saw someone in a movie, or she found some old copies of The Saddle Club, but there's no escaping it now. She needs to ride a horse, and she might literally die if she doesn't. My brother just went through this, forced to enter the world of horses, with me screaming advice and c[...]
With Vintage now gone, my Pony Man was alone. He had moments were he seemed fine, and others were he was very upset. There was no way I was going to leave him by himself, so I weighed my options. I could sell Pony and have no equines on the property. I could bring Stu home, and worry about him jumping the fence, and also not really havi[...]
I thought about starting this post with the most stereotypical "French" thing I could think of, but it made me uncomfortable to joke about mimes stealing the Eiffel Tower. Or whatever it is they do, I haven't been to France. But I'll add that while I haven't been, it's only because I'm currently planning my trip now. Eventually, I'll b[...]
I really thought she would be one of those horses that lived forever. If she hadn't hurt her hind fetlock, we would have still be having rides. But as I was pulled in so many directions, I was too busy to ride anyway, so she was my beautiful pasture ornament, hanging out with my one remaining equine on the property, Pony. It was hard[...]
New riders being enthused about getting a horse isn't a new thing. When someone takes up riding, the all-consuming question on their mind is, "When should I get a horse?" If they are at all familiar with horses, they probably have some idea of what kind of horse they want. Maybe it's a pure white Andalusian, with a mane down to its knees.[...]
With a foot of snow dropping in Virginia, it's official. It's winter, my least favorite time of year. I don't like being cold, I don't like the wind, and I hate emerging from my carefully crafted nest (I'm part hamster.) I do like cute winter clothes though, so I guess there is a positive. Winter is not fun for horseback riding. Hors[...]
I've had these kids going on 6 years now, which is quite a long time. Although it really is true what they say, the days are slow but the years are fast. It went by at lightning speed. In the beginning, my brain was total mush from the lack of sleep, and constant, ever changing needs of the kids. It was survival mode. Now, years on, I'[...]
Very, very long time readers will remember that once upon a time, I had chickens. They were mentioned a lot, I even wrote down the history of their colony, admittedly, I did exaggerate slightly. Reading over that again, I really have no idea why I wrote that, but what's done is done. Chickens are pretty funny though. It's easy to wat[...]
I haven't been able to ride much over the past few years. It's been sporadic at best. This is the life of a parent though, kids take a lot of attention that may otherwise be used for riding. Now that my kids are old enough to function and do their own taxes, I decided I'm going to make riding work again. I've been detailing it a lot[...]
Horses in other countries fascinate me. Growing up in the US, even in my specific region on the east coast has given me very specific ideas of how horses should be raised. But even in different areas of the USA, which is huge, by the way, horse keeping varies widely. For example, I've seen maybe examples in California of horses being k[...]