Author: Amanda

farm hunters

Farm Hunters: Property #2

Amanda5 Comments

Again, stock photo of the house (though I tried to find something approximating the style of the actual house), and some obscured details, but here we go!

Property #2 

The basics: 3 bed, 1.5 bath, 1908 farmhouse with quite a few renovations but not 100% done, 1850 square feet with 6 acres, garage, two outbuildings/farm buildings (not clear from pictures whether they’re barns or storage buildings). Water unknown, oil + baseboard heat, wood stove. Zoned appropriately for agriculture, not in a flood zone.

The budget (1 being bottom, 5 being top): Let’s say 3. Decent price, and it’s been on the market long enough that we can get it for an even better price.

The pros: 6 acres should be plenty of land, assuming it’s all usable, and it backs up to hundreds of acres of land that might be rideable. I like that it has outbuildings. The interior is nice but not so nice that I’d feel guilty about doing anything – plenty of room for personal touches. It’s across the street from a large pond that freezes in the winter and is big enough for canoeing in the summer, though we’d have to go through a neighbor’s yard for it.

School district, taxes, relative location (just off a paved road) all check out and are good though not spectacular. Rooms are decent sized and it has those three bedrooms – a definite must.

It has a garage and large 3 season porch, new roof, new siding, and has some measure of curb appeal and charm.

The cons: It’s a little far from the highway for the fiance’s commute. Land might not be level/entirely usable. Outbuildings would require some work to be usable for anything but storage. I like but don’t love the house, and the kitchen in particular gives me pain – so very, very 80s/early 90s, and not a ton of space.

The maybes: Might be too close to neighbors for my comfort. It’s also been on the market long enough that I wonder if something is lurking in inspection.

We’re going to look at it this afternoon, cross your fingers!

blog roundup

Weekly Blog Roundup

Amanda2 Comments

Strictly speaking some of these are from two weeks ago, since I am behind in my blog reading, but here you go: interesting horse blog posts!

Expert Opinion: Shoulder In from Incidents of Guidance
I would like to draw sparkly hearts around this. Nothing soothes my soul quite like diving really deep into the books and seeing what the greats have to say about something.

Peak & Recover from Boots and Saddles
Nobody writes conditioning theory like Mel, and this is a really thoughtful take on what we’re accomplishing by changing the tempo of our work.

Do You Walk the Walk from Daryl Kinney Eventing
Looooooove this. The walk is such an underestimated gait. Walk for muscle, gallop for wind. Reading this helped inspire me to add even more walking to my winter routine (which was already walk-heavy).

Jumping exercises with only a few jumps from Hand Gallop
These are terrific, and thoughtful, and aimed at those of us who have to lug our own $#@$@# standards everywhere.

Face Off: Rambo Micklem vs PS of Sweden High Jump Bridle from SprinklerBandit
Thoughtful, comprehensive review of two of the major “anatomical” bridles currently on the market. Everything you ever wondered about either bridle is answered here. I’ve always wondered whether one of these would be right for Tristan, especially after some trainers I really respect started working in them. Had I any spare cash, I might consider it, especially after the arguments here!

What It’s Like On The Inside: Kim Severson Eventing from Eventing Nation
Taylor and I rode at the same barn together in Boston, and she is a genuinely lovely person who is a wonderful rider. This is a great interview with her about what it’s like being a working student for Kim Severson, who might be my personal favorite upper level event rider. (Winsome Adante is absolutely still, always, forever my favorite upper level event horse.)

blog hop · winter

TOABH: Wish We Could

Amanda5 Comments

Had I but worlds enough and time…I’d create a tropical bubble around the barn. Predicted temperatures last night: high teens, low 20s. I confidently set out riding clothes, texted the barn manager to hold his evening grain, blazed through my end of day stuff at work, and got to the barn…to look down at my car’s temperature gauge: 7 degrees and falling. #$@$R#@$@^&%$.

sigh.


Let’s pretend that financial restrictions don’t exist and logistics isn’t a nightmare. If you could do anything with your Ponykins, what would you do?

I’d buy a farm – not the small budget ones we’re looking at right now, but the big, fancy, sprawling ones in the mountains near Woodstock, hundreds of green acres, 19th century stone houses, barns appointed to the nines, staff quarters, the whole nine yards.
Then I’d retire him to be my trail/LD horse. We’d do dressage lessons once a week with the goal of getting us both flexible and happy. We’d ride and ride around our property, and haul over to GMHA on member days, and open our land up for their endurance rides. We’d do that indefinitely.
Then I’d buy a fancypants Morgan that could take me eventing and doing dressage, and a fat pony for my nieces and nephews, and call some rescues and take a few horses that needed a soft landing.
I’d research and write about whatever history topics interested me in my spare time, and host visiting scholars and horsey friends and evening benefit receptions for local history organizations.
sigh, again.
bareback · winter

After a month of riding bareback…

Amanda6 Comments

In the past few days, the temperature, weather, and my free time have finally coincided again and I’ve had a few good schooling rides. I did not ride with a saddle from December through the first week of January, and I’m pretty pleased with myself for sticking to that. This week, the saddle went back on.

(Taken some years ago, at a different barn. We have 12″ of snow on the ground, sigh.)

I immediately noticed some good things and some bad things about the transition back to a saddle.

Pros

After a month of riding bareback, my hips were much looser, and I had a more instinctive following flexibility than I’d possessed before. It was immediately clear how much more supple my lower back was in following him at the walk, and how much smoother my posting was because I was more attentive to the thrust of his hind legs.

My legs were much stronger and steadier as well, particularly in the canter. I was able to really hold him with my outside leg – and yes, ideally he would not NEED me to hold him through my outside leg, but that is a longer term project!

I was more effective and efficient with my aids in the saddle, which I’d always known. The added security meant I could push a little harder in the lateral work, get him a little stronger and deeper in the trot, and generally take more risks. The difference between a true schooling ride and a conditioning/loosening ride, which is all I was capable of while bareback.

He’s definitely more fit. The interval work for him while I concentrated on my seat paid off.

That’s much more like reality…

Cons

SO COLD. So fricking cold. Whereas before, as we worked and he warmed up, he communicated that warmth right through to my legs and core, now I had a big piece of leather and wood and saddle pad and half pad between me and his warm, warm back. I lost all feeling in the surface of my legs almost immediately, and shivered under my coat until well into the warmup.

It’s more boring, in a way. The 15 minute walk warmup that I do during the winter wasn’t nearly as interesting under saddle, when I couldn’t feel every minute move of his back and hid end. Some people are way more sensitive than I and don’t have that problem, but I’ve never been an intuitive rider in that way.

The girth! Some of this, ok, was the harder level of work + the warmer temps (into the 20s, you guys! HEAT WAVE!), but he was damp around the girth area. Going forward, we’ll see if he sweats when he gets fitter or if I need to extend his clip a bit. I’m actually leaning toward clipping a bit more.

God damn it is a lot of extra steps to put a saddle on. Yes, I’m that lazy sometimes. Up and down the tack room stairs, up and down the barn aisle, all the buckles, the progressive tightening of the girth, on and on. With bareback, I grabbed a bridle and a quarter sheet and we were off.

farm hunters · someday farm

Farm Hunters: Property #1

Amanda9 Comments

First in an occasional series! I’ll obscure some things and use stock photos for the houses, but will try to faithfully represent what’s going into the decision making process

Property #1

The basics: 4 bed, 2.5 bath 1904 farmhouse renovated top to bottom, 2,500 square feet with 1.25 acres, new 20×40 barn on the property. Public water, septic, oil heat + wood stove.

The budget (1 being bottom, 5 being top): 3.5 – on the expensive end but well within our maximum (which is way less than the bank’s maximum)

The pros: Every single interior of this house is to die for. It looks like it came off the screen of HGTV. Droolworthy kitchen (and I do not say that lightly), ridiculous bathroom, spacious master suite, walk in closets, you name it.

The 20×40 barn is new, in excellent shape, and has never been used for horses. The acreage is behind the house and could probably fence in 1 full acre of pasture. It’s zoned appropriately for agriculture, and the lot is of sufficient size. Land is open, relatively level, and backs up to open land.

Not that this is a concern for me right now, really, but the school district is outstanding – one of the best in the county. The location is definitely closer to town than many other places and would keep my commute to a minimum.

The cons: It’s definitely as small as a horse property could possibly be. There’s no chance of rolling grass pasture here; at best, I’d plant hardy grass and basically create a dry lot.

The house itself is right up against the neighbors on both sides, and is on a busy road close to a busy intersection, set maybe 50′-75′ back.

Having the house done to the nines is maybe not so much a good thing? It’s actually done more or less to my taste, but there’s no room for me to put my stamp anywhere, unless I take out something in perfectly good condition.

The maybes: The realtor is figuring out whether it’s possible to purchase additional acreage out back. If anything could be added or purchased for a reasonable price, this jumps way up. Need soil analysis, and some fencing cost estimates, as well as a lot more in-depth thinking about how I want to keep horses going forward, which applies to all properties, basically!

2015 goals

New Year’s Resolutions: Horse-Related

Amanda3 Comments



1. Keep him happy and healthy

My goal before and above all else. Here’s hoping 2015 proves more stable in this area than 2014!

2. Go farm shopping!

Exciting! And also terrifying. And also we might not buy anything. But I’ll be throwing myself into this wholeheartedly, learning an awful lot about flood plains and zoning and so many other things.

3. Haul out 3-5x

Probably just to Groton State Forest, which really was a terrific place to ride, but I need to get using that trailer.

4. Take lessons

Realistically, I don’t know how many of these I’ll be able to do, but I need to get back into a program, if only to have goals to work toward.

5. Purge stuff

Or at the very least organize. Ugh. I know this was on 2014 too, and I actually did make progress – but I need to do way more.

conformation

Conformation Photos: Senior Horse in Vermont Winter

Amanda1 Comment

I put Tris on the longe line on Friday night because a) it was freezing, b) the new winter breeches I packed to wear – that I bought on clearance – didn’t fit despite being precisely the same size as my previous winter breeches, wtf, c) I wanted to see if he was sound again after the stomach muscle incident.

He was! Swelling 100% gone, sound as a bell. Huzzah! So I basically just loosened him up, walk-trot on the longe, kept him moving and got him to soften a bit.

Then I figured I had him nekkid so I might as well do some conformation shots!

Sorry the picture quality is terrible but there’s a lot to like here. He’s in a great weight, right around a 6 or maybe a smidge higher. His muscling is coming back nicely, as you can see primarily in his hindquarters and his neck.
He still has his usual conformation flaws, granted, but there’s nothing I can do about those!

blog roundup

Weekly Blog Roundup

Amanda1 Comment

Here are a few great posts from the horse blogging world!

Stories from Spin Class from The $900 Facebook Pony
I laughed and laughed and laughed. I have never been gym-goer, and apparently I am missing some excellent people-watching!

Dover’s Outstanding Service from Guinness on Tap
I’ve never understood the Dover hate, and this is a great follow up to Austen’s frightening trailer accident story a little while ago.

New First tests from Poor Woman Showing
Carly’s conversations with Bobby are always hilarious. This one is particularly good. I’m still grinning ear to ear writing this summary!

First Time Saddle Shopping Tips from Topaz Dreams
It literally never occurred to me until I read this that there are so many things we take for granted when we shop for a saddle. I love the way this is all written out! I bought my first saddle for $50 from a rescue I was working at. They had gotten it at an auction for about that much. Yeah. Needless to say, I never really rode in it. It made a good first saddle for a series of mustangs, though – sometimes it’s nice to have something you don’t care about!