Category: blog hop

blog hop

FOO Blog Hop: A Day in the Life

Amanda1 Comment

Thanks to Tracy from Fly On Over for what’s become a really fun little blog hop to read and think about. I thought I’d give it a try.

One of the good and bad things about my job is that it changes practically every single day, so there’s really no “typical” day. I’ll try to aim for an average day. We’ll also assume this is a riding day, and not a day where every 15 minutes from 1pm onward I check the temperatures and sulk.

So, here we go!

7:00 am – alarm goes off; I roll over as best I can around the dog, who has probably returned from her morning walk to settle between my legs with her head on my stomach. Check email, check work social media accounts.

7:20 am – shower

7:35 am – what the hell am I going to wear today? ugh.

7:45 am – breakfast and a cup of tea and a few minutes of reading

8:10 am – how on earth is the living room so cluttered and what will the puppy destroy today? Just to be safe, better tidy up everything, ever. Typical setup also includes locking the cat upstairs (they get along fine, but the puppy loooooooves the litter box), locking the trash in the bathroom, locking the bedroom door.

8:20 am – leave to walk to work

8:30 am – arrive at work, start sorting through more email, check to-do list for the day. On a perfect day, I’ve written it the night before.

11:30 am – lead a school tour

12:45 pm – lunch, maybe, if I’m lucky, while sorting through what’s happened while I was on a school tour. On a really good day, I read during lunch.

1:30 pm – cover the front desk

2:30 pm – put out fires

4:30 pm – leave work and walk home

4:45 pm – arrive home, let puppy out, walk her around the block. On a sunny day, take her down to the ball field to run like a lunatic for 30 minutes; on a day below zero, a quick trip around the backyard for her business

5:00 pm – change & leave for the barn

5:30 pm – arrive at the barn, tack up if I’m feeling really motivated

5:45 pm – ride! or longe, some nights.

6:45 pm – get off, toss on a cooler or straight to a blanket, tidy up his things; in winter, heat some water to add to his bucket

7:00 pm – head home, usually stopping somewhere on the way for a quick errand; figure out dinner on the way

7:45 pm – arrive home, change, start making dinner, tidy kitchen and clean up any dishes from breakfast or soaking dishes from the night before while it’s cooking

8:30 pm – sit down with fiance to eat dinner, usually while watching TV of some description

9:30 pm – take puppy out one last time

9:45 pm – in bed to read for another ~45 minutes, or as long as I can before passing out; some nights it’s until midnight

I admit, I’m envious of those of you who can get up early and get to the barn. I have tried many variations over the years, and find it nearly physically impossible to get up earlier than 6:30 am. I’d always rather eat dinner at 9 pm than wake up that early. Just. Can’t.

blog hop

TOABH: Self-Actualization

Amanda1 Comment

Assuming that your horse has absolutely everything he needs (food, bedding, a warm stall, plenty of blankets, and a pasture mate he neither humps, maims nor gets abused by), what does your horse need to be the best version of himself?
Time off.

When the assistant trainer was riding Tristan last summer, I told her that he is a horse who needs processing time. He functions best and happiest when he has a day in between intense rides. He is not a horse who needs or wants work seven days a week.

AT remarked that she’d often heard people say that about their horses and had never found it true, and then a few days later she came back to me and said “Wow, it’s true!” Giving Tristan a day completely to himself in between training rides resulted in a totally different horse: more forward, more willing, and he had clearly digested the mental lessons and come out better for it.

Granted, my current once-every-ten-days schedule is not ideal either! But Tris would do very well on a solid, consistent, 4-5 day a week schedule with two, mayyyyybe three, of those days as a hard drill. The others would be non-brain work: trot sets, hacking out, you name it.

It works well for me, since I’m not in a position in life (or quite frankly, a desiring frame of mind) to have a horse that NEEEEEDS that 7 days of work a week.

blog hop

TOABH: Sugar Mama

Amanda2 Comments

Let’s continue pretending that horse poop magically transforms into money instead of the other way. So money doesn’t matter. If you could buy anything for your horse, what would you buy?
I mean, beyond the small hobby farm + live-in help, of course!

I’d buy a new truck and trailer, first off.

Trailer: custom Hawk 2h straight load goose neck. I’d expand the dressing room a bit so there was plenty of room for tack trunk as well as my own stuff. I’d make sure it had a water source underneath the goose neck, and would plan the high portion so that it made a comfortable bed.

Then I’d replace my truck, which would go in honorable retirement to my parents where it could live out life as a weekender truck.
I’d get a brand-new, kitted for towing 3/4 ton GMC Sierra. I like GM trucks for towing. I’d get the extended bed, and not the full extended cab – just the king cab. Seats in the back, but not separate doors. 4WD, without question. Honestly? I want exactly my same truck, brand new, with 4WD. I love my truck.
I’d find a reputable storage place to garage them both over the winter so they don’t get wear and tear.
Other than that…?
Both of Tristan’s saddles fit him and me, and I love them. Ditto his bridles. His blankets are all in good working order. He gets the food, supplements, and medication he needs. I might consider doing blood work quarterly, instead of bi-annually.
If he pooped money, I’d pay down my mortgage faster and build up his emergency fund. I’d increase my cash flow so that I could take lessons weekly over the spring, summer, and fall.
I’d probably seriously consider investing money into my current barn. Maybe I’d be some kind of partner in the business so that they could do some major capital improvements. I honestly think the property is marvelous as it is, and they do a nice job maintaining it – but I also know that more money in a horse property is never a bad thing! Or maybe I’d invest in a fancy horse for my trainer, and fly down to Florida to see it in the big classes. Who knows?
Finally, I’d sink some money into improving equestrian sport. I’d either establish a regular fund or regular donations for a couple of horse rescues, and I’d set up a decent sized scholarship for young riders. Probably through Pony Club, aimed at New Englanders.

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.
blog hop

TOAH Blog Hop: Faves

Amanda2 Comments


What is your horse’s absolute favorite thing? Outside of riding! Are there treats that instantly convert your pony into an addict or liniments that leave him yawning and chewing? What does your horse just love to have?


Tristan’s very, very favorite thing is doing nothing.
He would summarize doing nothing as eating all alone in a big field. Maybe taking a nap. Maybe walking to a new pile of hay or a new patch of grass from time to time. But mostly foraging without interruption.
He’s not a social horse – in fact, he’s one of those rare horses that I think would be perfectly happy alone. He’s never been a horse to introduce himself to new horses, or hang out with a buddy in the field. He’s not a workaholic, and doesn’t particularly enjoy work, beyond getting occasionally excited while going XC, or settling into a comfortable sense of mission on a trail ride.
Tristan’s idea of the best day ever.
blog hop

TOABH: I’m A Loser, Baby

Amanda3 Comments

Let’s talk about your horse’s biggest fail. What did Thunderhooves do that embarrassed you, scared you, shocked you or just annoyed the hell out of you?


Whoo boy. You guys, Tristan was the biggest asshole in the barn for so long. Surprise!
I know, he’s an angel today, but holy mackerel did he take a while to get there. When I got him he was wholly untouched – he had to be put into a squeeze chute to have his feet done and get his vaccines. Not wild anymore, but not domestic by any stretch of the imagination.
Things Tristan used to be bad at: standing to be groomed, getting his halter on and off, picking up his feet, being longed, getting on the trailer, getting caught in the field, standing for a bath, standing in the cross ties, being ridden in the open, being ridden on trails, being ridden in the outdoor arena, being bridled.
Of that whole list, the absolute worst was probably getting bridled. Once he got over having his head handled, which was ~3 months of constant work, we would take a bridle completely apart and re-assemble it on his head, slowly, over the halter. Then, with the bit dangling from one cheekpiece, I would wrap my right hand in the right side of his halter and hold on tight. Then I would cup the bit in my left hand and bring it inch by inch toward his mouth.
The first few weeks (yes, weeks), as soon as the bit touched his lips he would lose his everloving MIND. We would usually do this in a stall, and as soon as the bit touched his lips, he would rear. High. Fast. Hard.
Remember that I had my hand twisted in his halter? Yeah. For a reason. Up I would go with him. WHAM, I would go into the side of the stall. Over and over. Some days as long as an hour or a little bit longer. If I lost my grip, he wouldn’t let me touch his face again, so I had to hold on for dear life and keep the bit near his face no matter what. I would show up at work moving like an old lady, two black eyes, having cried myself to sleep the night before.
The next few weeks, we could get the bit against his lips, but getting it into his mouth involved just as much drama. Up. High. WHAM.
Finally, when I couldn’t take anymore, I squared my shoulders, walked into the stall, twisted my hand in the halter, and got ready.
He dropped his head, opened his mouth, and waited.
Ever since, he has been absolutely perfect to bridle. He lowers his head. He waits. He reaches for the bit and settles it where he wants it. A toddler could put a bridle on his head while he’s ground-tied.
I wish it hadn’t been so awful to start, and I wish anything else had worked (believe me, we were committed to patient, gentle methods with him, and nearly everything else eventually worked out with time and positive reinforcement). But I’m glad it did.

blog hop

10 Questions

Amanda3 Comments

I can move my head again, guys! Hooray! Thank you for all your sympathy yesterday. I may be going back to my doctor to try some other migraine meds in the new year – I don’t want to be caught out like that again. Hopefully it’s not the start of a new trend.

Since I haven’t seen my horse in a few days, have some blog hop questions from Viva Carlos!

1. What size horse do you prefer to ride?


I like them on the small side. Tristan at 15 hands (15.1 in shoes) is a bit too small for me, though he does take up most of my leg. But 16 hands is about my max, even though I’m 5’9″ and by fashionable standards ought to be riding something much taller. I’ve done it, but I prefer the movement and cattiness of a smaller horse. I also like them more solid-built than average; not drafty, but lots of bone and a nice well-sprung barrel. Think Cob or Morgan rather than draft cross.

2. Do you school in tall boots or half chaps and paddock boots?


Tall boots. Always. This year I started riding occasionally in half chaps and Ariat sneakers, but only for hacks, never for actual schooling. I’ll also ride in straight up winter boots for bareback hacks, but again, not for schooling.

3. What do you do with your ribbons after shows?


Ummmm, throw them in my trailer’s tack trunk or the back seat of the truck and forget about them for months, then re-discover them while cleaning out and cuss because they’re all creased and I can’t actually remember what class they were for and wow, I am such a failure at the ribbons game. 
At one point I tacked them up on a corkboard, then I moved and forgot to do that again. Right now, my best ones with Tristan are all arranged on the outside of a lampshade because that’s where I put them when I unpacked that box and it looks surprisingly not-awful, even if it was 95% unintentional.

4. Do you ride/board at a large show barn or a small private barn?


Is it weird that it’s kind of both? In the late spring, summer, and early fall, it’s a super-fancy fairly large (~45 horses with lots of haul-ins) dressage show barn, like Grand Prix schooling every day. In the late fall, winter, and early spring it’s half empty (maybe 20 horses), very quiet, and has the feel of a small private barn. There are only a handful of other boarders; most of the horses are schoolies, retired competition horses, or babies growing up. I pick barns for the care first and foremost, and I think you can find quality care at all sorts of different barns. I could rave all day about the care at my barn, and the people behind it. I feel really lucky that it’s also such a nice place.

5. Have you ever seen a horse give birth?


I mean, on TV, but not in person. Kittens once. I’ve met foals that were a handful of hours old. I have no ambition whatsoever to breed or to observe that.

6. What is your favorite breed?


Morgans, hands-down. Love ’em. I always have. 

7. Favorite tack brand?


Ummm…the cheap kind? I don’t think I own two pieces of tack from the same maker. I buy what fits, is quality, and I like at the moment. Right now I have: a Passier saddle, an Albion saddle, a Nunn Finer breastplate, a Stuebben bridle, a Circuit bridle, a true no-name auction bridle, Smartpak leathers, and so on. No, wait! I also have some Passier leathers, so I guess I technically have two Passier things. Oh, and my rubber reins are Nunn Finer, so there, two pieces from them too. I am terrible consumer, apparently.

8. Would you ever buy used tack?


Yeah so that list above? Only the Stuebben bridle was new. Literally every single piece of tack I own I got used. I never really thought about that before. And the Stuebben was last year’s model on clearance at Equine Affaire. REALLY nice bridle but I paid $175 for it at a steeeeeep discount and I’m sure it’s nobody’s idea of stylish. Also, it has dog tooth marks on the noseband from an asshole German Shepherd from three barns ago.

9. Ever been on a carriage ride?


YES! Actually one of my very favorite memories is from a “carriage” ride.
I did my graduate internship at Old Sturbridge Village, where for several weeks I did a variety of museum-y things around. Two days a week I was in costume doing interpretation, one day at the farm and one day at another house. (OSV doesn’t do first-person, so I didn’t have to pretend to be from the 1830s, thank God, just be in costume and demonstrate and talk to people.) I totally stalked the stagecoach driver and his horses, who were the loveliest, most well-trained animals. On my last day in costume, I got to ride up next to the driver, wearing my complete 1830s dress & bonnet, all around the village. So awesome.
On my very very last day before leaving, I brought Tristan down and rode through the village as part of an organized trail ride. That was awesome too. I’m just now realizing I didn’t blog about it, apparently? Hm. I’ll dig up the pictures and save that one for a rainy day.
I’ve been in a carriage lots of other times, but that experience really stands out.

10. How often do you go to the tack store?


I go to the farm store (ie, feed store) for miscellaneous things maybe every two or three weeks. The closest proper tack store is a ways away in Vermont, so I tend to save those trips for when I’m visiting family in Massachusetts. Dover & Smartpak are equidistant from my parents’ house, and I’ve been to both many, many times over the years. So maybe every 6 months or so? I do a lot of ordering horsey things online right now, especially with the Smartpak free shipping to my barn.

blog hop · puppy
Amanda4 Comments
Other than your horse, what other pets do you have?
Just the two, thankfully!
The boyfriend-now-fiance came with a cat. I am NOT a cat person. I am allergic to them (though thankfully have gotten used to this one) and our brains just don’t seem to mesh. It’s like we’re at total opposite ends of understanding.
I have gotten used to this guy, though, and I think because 9 times out of 10 I will offer a quiet warm lap with no petting fussing or other indignities the boy inflicts on his cat (like pretending he’s a bazooka, or singing and dancing around the room, or putting him on his head, or…well, I could go on all day) — anyway, many times the cat chooses to come and snuggle with me instead of his actual owner. That includes sleeping on the bed on my side, too.
His name is Buddy, and he’s a 10 year old Maine Coon. He weighs about 18lbs and is longhaired. In the picture above he is modeling his Halloween costume shortly after being shaved at the groomer. That was the fall we (by we I mean the boy) figured out that shaving a longhaired animal in late fall is a terrible idea because they will be very very cold. So now he goes longhaired for the winter and trimmed through the summer and we are all much happier. (Thankfully he does not mat at all.)
Then there’s puppy.

Any excuse for more pictures of puppy! She is a joint pet between myself and the boy. Her name is Arya, and she’s a 13 month old mutt transported up from the south. The rescue said Boxer/Labrador, and we think there’s hound in there somewhere – possibly Tennessee Treeing Brindle?
She seems to have settled at an adult weight of about 43 pounds now, loves her people, is a ball of greased lightning energy when she’s loose at the baseball field and snores on the couch the rest of the time. She also loves squeaky toys, playing with other dogs, trying to talk the cat into playing with her, and oh yeah, sleeping.
Also pretending she’s a lap dog.
blog hop · book review · marguerite henry

Readalong Blog Hop & Book Review: King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry

Amanda3 Comments

Welcome to the Marguerite Henry Readalong Blog Hop! Here’s my review of King of the Wind, and you’ll find the blog hop code at the bottom of the post. I’m excited to read everyone else’s thoughts. 🙂

King of the Wind
by Marguerite Henry

I’m glad this was the book we voted on for this blog hop, because in some objective ways it’s the best of Henry’s work. It has everything that’s typical of her books – boy + horse, hardship, loving homes after a lifetime of difficulty, a truly special horse, Wesley Dennis illustrations, and quirky animals – and add to that some really compelling history.

If you haven’t read it, here’s the gist: a slave boy named Agba raises an orphaned colt, named Sham, in the stables of the sultan of Morocco. That colt grows to a stallion who is sent to France, and then to England, encountering hardships along the way. Agba stays with Sham throughout his life and eventually sees him become the pride of the Earl of Godolphin’s stables, passing on his speed to his offspring and becoming a founding sire of the Thoroughbred breed.

I do love this book. Reading it is an intensely nostalgic experience, and I can almost remember all the many places I read and re-read it as a child when I am in the midst of my favorite scenes. It’s an intensely sensory book: I’ll never forget the breaking of the fast of Ramadan in the opening scene.

There are some really fantastic things about this book, and one thing I noticed on this re-read was how well Henry portrays a Muslim culture. It’s dated, yes, and has a bit too much “mystery of the East” going on (see also, Orientalism, but honestly it was written in 1949 so for its time it’s pretty grat), but it’s a sensitive, forthright portrayal of a hero who is a) a person of color and b) a devout Muslim. The world needs more of that!

The cast of secondary characters are also really wonderful, and support the main narrative in note-perfect ways, from the French court to the streets of London. One character that stood out in particular was Jethro Coke, the Quaker who rescues Sham and Agba from Paris, but who caves to his daughter’s demands and gets rid of Sham after his son-in-law turns out to be a foppish, useless idiot who can’t ride. That’s so human – so often in stories like this people are wholly good or wholly bad, and the people in this book are often mixed up and acting in unexpectedly disappointing ways.

That said, there are a few things I really don’t like about this book. First and foremost, it plays way too much into the “specialest horse of all” trope. If I were presented with a horse who behaved as Sham does throughout this book, I would not think he was a magical horse. I would think he was an utter shit who needed to lose his testicles pronto. (Seriously, though, how did he make it to the end of the book ungelded? HOW?) He only answers to Agba. He routinely misbehaves. To be fair – no one actually takes the time to train him (including Agba…) so it is not entirely his fault but the book would also have us believe that he behaves when he wants to, and he doesn’t when he doesn’t, and that’s part of his charm, amirite? (NO.)

There’s also some of the usual stretching of equine physiology: are you telling me that someone thought it would be a good idea to have horses fast for Ramadan? No one colicked? In the desert? (I wonder how historically accurate that is?) All the crazy things that Sham has to do and put up with. The fact that a series of experienced horsemen look at Sham and think he’s not a quality horse, when any half-decent horseperson can look even at a starved horse and get an idea for its quality. Yes, it’s harder; no, it’s not impossible.

All in all, though, this is a wonderful book. I read it in one big gulp, and have easily read it two dozen times over the years. It’s nearly a perfect horse story, and it certainly hits all its emotional moments squarely on the head. Henry knows her horses, and the horse behavior is – naughtiness notwithstanding – compellingly described. Anyone could sympathize with Agba’s plight and his devotion to his horse. I love it. I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a good horse book to read, and especially to kids who are ready to get sucked into the horse world.

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