Author: Amanda

blog hop

TOABH: Ermahgerd!

Amanda4 Comments
Ermahgerd.
What is your pony’s absolute favorite riding activity? What makes those little ears perk and causes the knees to lift?

First things first, please raise your hand if you said “ermahgerd!” out loud in various funny voices and at different volume levels while pondering the answer to this question.
…just me then? well, okay, fine.
I think we’ve already established that Tristan’s absolute favorite activity is eating, preferably by himself, preferably in a large field outside.
If I had to pick something he loves under saddle, though? Cross country.
He takes a while to warm up but when the lights come on upstairs and he realizes he can go FAST and JUMP and then the adrenaline rush hits and it is the BEST DAY EVER.
EVER.
EVERRRRRRR.

farm hunters

Farm Hunters: Would You Buy or Rent This Property? Part Two

Amanda4 Comments

Yesterday, I wrote about my cousin and his potential investment in a horse property. He wanted to know if it was a good horse property, and in particular whether it was realistic to lease out the barn + pasture to a horse owner in the area.

Here’s what I told him.

– At 1.32 acres, and only .75 acres fenced in, it’s extremely small as a horse property. The pasture would always be a dry lot, and manure removal would be constant. Soil remediation would be necessary on a semi-regular basis.
– If he were to find someone to lease the barn, he’d have to write up a fairly strong contract and I’d help him work on that, but it would have to include things like who’s calling the vet, what their obligations are as owners/lessors, who’s responsible for what maintenance, and he’d probably have to provide a space for trailer parking.
– I ballparked a guess at $100/month per horse for the lease, based on what I knew of the area and what he was offering. I gave him the information for the tack shop, where he could both advertise the space and get good local market advice.
– In short, he’d have to be really careful at screening whoever he got, if he could get anyone interested. I explained to him in the strongest possible terms that horse people are crazy, and that he’d have to be prepared for that. He’s a longtime landlord, but I said to him, no, think way crazier.
– I also told him that I was far from an expert, but he’d have to seriously explore changing or increasing his homeowner’s and/or liability insurance with all possible contingencies covered.
– That said, I DO think he’d find someone to lease it.

In conclusion, however: I don’t think the time, expense, and worry would be worth it unless everything worked out perfectly, and, well, horses. No such thing as working out perfectly. I advised him against leasing the barn and pasture out on a longterm basis.

However, here’s what I think has real potential: I think this could be a really ideal rehab or short-term situation. If he made the right contacts at the tack store (and actually I’d be happy to do that for him, as it’s an awesome tack store with good people) he could be in a great place to provide a space for someone whose horse needed 3 months of inexpensive stall rest, or limited turnout, or someone who was in a bad place and loved their horse but needed a place to put them for a month or two.

The absolute least hassle solution is simply to maintain the barn, pasture, and fence. Use the barn as storage – and as a real estate guy, he’s always got a ton of extra stuff that’s going in and out of new apartments – and spend some real quality time remediating the pasture, planting good grass to revitalize the turf. Keep it looking sharp, and yeah, down the road, someone probably would buy it as a horse property.

How do you think I did? Agree, disagree?

winter

See, I wasn’t just whining: coldest winter EVER.

Amanda1 Comment
I would just like to leave this here, as evidence that I am not simply a whiner who can’t cope with winter. While Boston was getting record snowfall, Vermont experienced literally the coldest winter in recorded history. I have never sacrificed so many riding days to the extreme cold.
From Eye on the Sky, our local non-hysterical and actually-meteorological weather guys:

The February 2015 Summary: 

This was one of the coldest months on record for several stations. 

For Burlington, it was the 3rd coldest February, and the 7th coldest of any month, with an average of 7.6°F. 

In St. Johnsbury, this was the 2nd coldest February, and ties the 6th coldest month, with an average of 7.7°F. 

In addition, this was the coldest January-February period since 1904, and includes 41 days (so far) with temperatures consecutively at 32°F or colder, the second longest stretch at the Museum (the longest, 51 days, ran from late December 1976 through early February 1977) 

This is the only February on the Museum records with no above freezing temperatures.
Southern areas also received heavy snowfall, with 45.6 inches reported in Marlboro, VT, and Hillsboro Upper Village, NH had 56.5 inches. 

To get an idea how extraordinary the cold was, the image shows the average February temperature in St. Johnsbury since 1895 (the dark blue line), with the red line a 7-year running mean to show a trend over the years. It is only the 2nd February to average less than 10°F since 1934. This was NOT just an “old-fashioned” February!

They do not report on my area, but did in a previous post: my city averaged 4°F for the month of February, which was officially its coldest ever.

farm hunters

Farm Hunters: Would You Buy or Rent This Property? Part One

Amanda9 Comments

Not for me – sorry! Our own house/farm search is continuing apace, and I hope to have an update soon. In the meantime, I present to you this quandary.

I have a cousin who has an extraordinary head for business. He’s been pursuing various lines of moneymaking since we were kids. He works incredibly hard at his very lucrative day job, and in his spare time is always looking for investments. Lately, he’s been doing a lot of real estate. I think he’s up to four or five rental properties. He does the work himself to make them nice and he’s a really thorough landlord.

Last week, he called me for my opinion on a property he’s looking at purchasing – for himself, this time. It’s a foreclosure in a semi-rural area but still quite close to the Boston metropolitan area. The house is huge and gorgeous, but what he called me for my opinion on is the horse potential of the property. He has zero interest in horses himself – well, at this point in his life he does, anyway. When we were kids we totally had a plan to adopt a black mustang stallion named Midnight and keep it behind my house and have adventures together. But I digress.

What he was wondering was whether it would make sense to lease out the barn and pasture to someone who wanted to keep their own horses there. So, here’s what I’ll do: I’ll set up the situation as he described it to me, and as I’ve researched it on my own, and I’ll ask you what you would choose. Tomorrow, I’ll write up what I advised him.

The basics: The entire property, house + barn + pasture, is 1.32 acres. Approximately .75 acres of that is fenced with high-quality board fencing that has been well-maintained. The 2 stall barn (visible in this picture) was built in 2008 and has an overhang, hay loft, tack/grain room area. There is electricity and running cold water in the barn, which opens to the pasture. The previous owners kept two horses on the property.
The surroundings: The lot is on a slight incline, but nothing too dramatic. Most of the pasture is flattish. Soil quality appears to be pretty decent, with good drainage. The lot is a corner one on a larger, but not too busy, road. The town itself is VERY horsey; one of the better tack shops for 50 miles is within 10 minutes, and there are multiple state parks and conservation areas with extensive trail systems in the town itself, with quite a bit more accessible just a little further away.
There is significant land across the street, and it connects to the trail systems of one of the largest parks. However, there is an open question of whether there are any right-of-way paths through that land, or whether it is private and posted against trespassing. 
So, with all of that in mind: would you lease the barn + pasture for your own horses, for self-care board? Would you buy this property someday as a horse owner? What would you recommend he do if he were to buy this property?
physical fitness (horse)

Getting Back in Shape

Amanda4 Comments

I checked the forecast for this week and I don’t mean to alarm anyone but it might hit 20 degrees. On one day, it might hit 37. 37!!!!!!!!! I have actual literal tears in my eyes, tears of joy, at the idea of feeling the warmth of a 37 degree day.

(All of you in sunny climates can stop snickering now.)

So, I have a horse who has not been ridden in any real, substantial way for two months. Whenever I can I would go out and ride, but that amounted to once, maybe twice, on really rare occasions three times a week. Followed by a week of nothing. Lather, rinse, repeat. On such an intermittent schedule, I couldn’t get anything really significant done for risk of injury; full blast then back to sedentary does not a sound, happy horse make.

So: walking. When I could. That’s been about it. He’s been turned out, obviously, and in snow, but he’s also been eating his head off on free-choice hay to try and stay warm.

I’ve been reading and thinking about our back-to-work plan. I want to ride, really ride, all summer, none of this back and forth crap. I want a fit horse that can do canter sets. I want him to have a proper topline again. He was doing so well late this fall and earlier in the winter!

Here are a couple of good things I’ve been reading:

Bringing a Horse Back Into Work from Equisearch
Our Guidelines for Bringing a Horse Back Into Work from Grey Horse Matters
How long to go from winter flab to eventing fab? from COTH Forums

first aid

Do you have a horse emergency kit in the car?

Amanda5 Comments

A recent post on A Filly’s Best Friend about catching loose horses got me thinking about a similar incident in my own life about 10 years ago. I was driving to my barn in a not-terribly-rural part of Vermont, and a horse came out of what seemed like nowhere to gallop in front of my car. I slammed on the brakes, pulled over, and luckily the horse was so wigged out by everything he came right to me. I grabbed his halter with my hand and led him over to the nearby barn that I knew he’d come from. They had only just realized he was gone and were relieved and grateful.

A few days later, I bought a cheap nylon halter and an extra cotton lead rope and added them to my car’s emergency kit. I keep a few basic supplies in a milk crate in my trunk at all times: a jug of water, extra windshield wiper fluid, a quart of oil, jumper cables, some old hand towels, a human first aid kit, an extra winter hat and gloves, and some reflective blankets. I added the halter and lead rope to it. Of course, now that I’m prepared, I’ve never since needed it.

But reading that post got me to thinking: should I add to that kit? Maybe some gauze and vetwrap? I’ve posted before about my fairly obsessive trailering first aid kit, and I’m wondering if that needs to be expanded.

Do you keep any horse rescuing supplies in your car at all times? What kinds of things do you have?

blog roundup

Weekly Blog Roundup

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Here are some posts from the wide world of horse blogging!

Non-Judgment Day from Confessions of an AA Eventer
What a horrible, horrible winter. Suzanne’s barn lost their indoor, and this was posted on a day when another barn in MA lost their indoor. I know the people at the second barn, and in fact nearly boarded Tristan with them a few years ago. This winter fucking sucks.

The Many Sleeps of Harley from Dandyism
omfg, cute overload.

Cute Overload from No Hour Wasted
omfg, part 2.

My Favorite Mug from Pony’tude
I love this story! Such a nice IHSA memory. I’m a sucker for good IHSA stories.

3 Winter Items I Wear from Work to the Barn from The Maggie Memoirs
I admit, I work really hard to keep my barn clothes separate from everything else in my life, and most especially my winter clothes. There’s nothing like a barn to ruin a piece of clothing, and I am protective of my work wardrobe. Separate coats, boots, the whole nine yards. But I love the look of everything highlighted in this post!

Twelve Money-Saving Strategies My Family Uses from The Simple Dollar
I use all of these strategies on a regular basis, except maybe the haggling over soon-to-expire items. (I hunt the clearance and day-old racks instead.) I spend $50 per week on groceries for two people. It’s a major part of how I’m able to keep overall household expenses affordable.

Breed Showing Encyclopedia Part One from Hey Hey Holly
Thorough, comprehensive, and fascinating overview of AQHA and APHA hunter showing, about which I knew precisely nothing beforehand. Great read & well-illustrated.

A Review: Complete Printable Horse Binder from Wilbur, Ellie, and Emily
LOVE this idea for a product, and this is a great overview.

Exercise vs. Turnout from Equinpilot
I really like this. I wish Tris were on 24/7 turnout, but it’s just not possible for him right now for a variety of reasons. Honestly, if I were ever to move him, as much as I love my current barn, it would be to somewhere with more turnout. Seeing the data laid out like that is really compelling.

blog roundup · follow friday

[Help Me] Follow Friday!

Amanda9 Comments

I am a fairly obsessive blog reader. I just checked the RSS feeder I use, The Old Reader, [insert obligatory moment of silence for Google Reader] and it tells me that I follow 262 blogs on a daily basis. Some of those are dead, and I need to do some cleaning; some of them post multiple times a day. It averages out to about 180-225 blog posts a day. Do I read every single word of every post? No. I do some serious skimming for some of them – I’m looking at you, Harvard Business Review. (the signal to noise ratio of useful thought leadership to pure assholery is…less than ideal.)

I held steady for a long time, but I’m now at a point where I’d like to add new subscriptions. Over the next few days, I’m going to add a “horse blogs I read” function to this blog – possibly to the sidebar, possibly as a separate page.

I’m looking to expand my reading. I love finding fun new blogs to feature in my weekly blog roundups. I want to go out of my comfort zone and read different blogs, different point of views.

SO. I’m going to do a sort of reverse Follow Friday.

Please comment and tell me one (or two, or three) blogs that I should be following. Please include the URL and if you have an extra moment, a sentence or two about why you like that blog. I’d really appreciate it.

Thank you in advance!

blogging ethics

Filtering and Blog Honesty

Amanda8 Comments

One of the many (many, many) reasons Lauren at She Moved to Texas is a great read is that she so often posts really thoughtful statements about horses and blogging.

Today, she wrote about “filtering” your blog, ie, how does your blog reflect your life? should it?

I’ve been thinking about what she said on and off for a little while and trying to honestly reflect on how I approach writing about my horse and my life in this space, and here’s what I’ve come up with.

I always write openly and honestly about my own experiences and feelings. I can’t think of a single time I’ve left something out for fear of the internet comments. I started a hoof thread on the COTH forums, for crying out loud. I have a (perhaps unusually) thick skin. (Or I just don’t give a damn, which can be both a good and a bad thing…)

What I do make deliberate choices about filtering are other people’s experiences and feelings. This is my blog and my space. I’m not going to use it to intrude, speculate, or otherwise impinge upon someone else’s life. I will write all day about my own lessons, but I don’t feel the need to write in detail about other lessons around the barn, or horses in training. They’re not my experiences, and my interpretation of them would at best be sketchy and presumptuous. I don’t post openly about my trainer, her horses, or her actions and statements that don’t have anything to do with me. I haven’t about any of my previous trainers, either.

The most obvious example of this is the Vermont Moonlight 50 ride I went to last year. I crewed for Hannah. Here’s my recap of that ride. It’s entirely my point of view, but it is not everything that I did at that ride. While I was intimately involved throughout the ride, it wasn’t my story to tell.

Hannah later wrote about the ride (which ended in a completion but her horse, Tucker, on fluids for a dehydration colic) and after she did, I posted again here to let people know where to find the rest of the story.

I’m not going to say I wasn’t impatient to see her story, but I never had the slightest temptation to blog about it myself. I am not the center of attention of everything! Very far from.

Of course, I write this from the perspective of a fairly small-time blogger, with a relatively limited audience, and I blog for reasons that tend to fall more on the personal side than the public. Would I change my tune if more people actually read my blog? Lauren probably gets 10x as much traffic as I do (and deservedly so!) and anytime you increase your attention on the internet, you increase your chances of attracting assholes.

So, there’s my point of view. I’d love to read more about what others think, though, and how they approach this question. I think it gets at a lot of the fundamentals about why we blog.