We went to look at a horse for my trainer.

Since my trainer doesn't have a horse anymore since she left the barn. She needs a good lesson horse, so we're horse hunting. Lorena took me with her so I could ride him and she could see what he looked like from the ground.

The gelding we went to look at was pretty nice. He was only 15.1, though, and I looked like a giant on him when I was riding the poor guy. XD His name was Caspar and he was a solid gray paint, very pretty, and Mexican broke. I wasn't sure what Mexican broke meant until I saw him.

I knew that Mexicans are really hard on their horses, but this guy looked like he'd had the shit beaten out of him at some point. He had scars all over and had a dent in his nose because they rode him in a tie down that was way too tight. You could tell he was just expecting us to get on him, ride him down to nothing and then leave. He looked rather confused when I was loving on him. Even though he definitely wouldn't have been a suitable horse for me, I wanted to take him home and show him what it's like to be spoiled rotten. ;) I totally would have, but he was waayy overpriced. We ended up passing on this one because of his size and his price. I hope someone really nice buys him.

A glimmer of hope...

You know those three new horses who had bots? Well, their owners turned out completely different than what I thought they would be like. I honestly did not think I was going to like them. But I was wrong, and they're actually very nice, they know how to ride, and they baby their horses. I'm not sure why they didn't take care of the bots before they came to the farm, but that issue has been resolved, so I'm forgetting about it. They're a couple who have no children, so their horses are their children. (We'll call them Wendy and Eddie).

Anyway, they've been here for only a month, and they're already not very happy with the management. And they're not happy with the way Mariah is treated. Wendy was appalled at the hay situation. And that could be a good thing. You see, Wendy and Eddie pay full board for all three of their horses (whereas my mom and I board in exchange for labor), which means they're forking over almost a thousand dollars a month. Which also means that they're very important to the BO. And if they start complaining to the BO, the BO will listen. That could be a very good thing to help our cause. There's already very heavy talk of Mitch getting kicked out, which would be a step in the right direction. I have no idea when it's going to happen, but I have a feeling that Wendy and Eddie will be complaining about him.

The two of them want to hire me to take care of their horses while they go out of town because they don't trust anyone else there. That's sad and flattering at the same time.

We'll just wait and see what happens.

You're probably wondering why we don't just leave. Well, a lot of it is the fact that we board there in exchange for labor, and we also provide our own grain, hay, and shavings. I don't know if we could find a deal like that anywhere else and we can't afford to spend upwards of $350 a month per horse. And most other barns around here are at least 45 minutes away, whereas this one is 4 miles away. I'm also afraid of falling into an even worse situation if we did leave the current barn. Nevertheless, I'm still keeping an eye out for a new barn. If we find one, we are moving.

On a side note, we might be getting a trailer. ;D It's an '07 two horse slant, and looks like it was only used a few times. I could go to shows left and right if I had my own trailer. That would be pretty awesome.

*screams*

I guess Cynthia is now being all buddy-buddy with the BO and kissing her ass like there's no tomorrow. I think she's trying to get the rest of us kicked out.

A few weeks ago, Cynthia trucked in a load of hay that was all brown and moldy and it stunk up the whole section of the barn. My mom (and a few other people) pointed it out to her and suggested that she take it back. She refuses to believe that there's anything wrong with the hay and she plans on feeding it to her pony and Mitch's two mares. Which everyone advised them not to do, but of course they don't listen.

My trainer was there yesterday, and she noticed that Mariah (Mitch's 30+ year old Arab mare who is foundered and arthritic) was dragging her feet and seemed stiffer than usual. You could tell she was uncomfortable. My trainer asked Cynthia if Mariah was eating that bad hay, and Cynthia goes, "no, absolutely not."

Lorena went into her stall and reached into her feeder. The hay was black.

Not only did Cynthia lie straight to my trainer's face, but that poor horse is eating garbage.

Earlier, Lorena pointed out that there was white fuzzy mold all over the hay as well. Cynthia's excuse was, and I quote, "It's thistle. That's just how thistle dries."

Obviously, it got rained on at some point and I don't think it's even this year's hay. It looks more like straw and stinks to high heaven. And Mitch and Cynthia can't find anything wrong with it. Their horses are going to end up sick or worse.

*headconcretewall*

I'm juggling with more than one issue here.

As you know, Victor is more "my" horse and Norman is more "my mom's" horse. My mom has been implying that she wants to sell Norman and possibly buy a Fjord. She also wants a miniature horse and donkey, but we won't go there because I've told her "no" a thousand times.

Anyway, my mom doesn't feel comfortable on Norman. She wants a bombproof horse that she can just go out on trails with and not have to worry about anything. She claims she doesn't trust Norman because he's green and not perfectly bombproof and yadda, yadda, yadda.

The real issue isn't the horse, and she doesn't want to admit it. She doesn't trust herself. She had a bad fall off a horse a couple summers ago and tore a ligament in her leg. She's been really nervous about riding horses ever since. It's a confidence issue, and I don't think it has anything to do with Norman. I don't even think she'd be completely comfortable on a 30 year old lesson horse.

I'm really worried about what she's going to do. Norman has never done anything over-the-top naughty and he has the mind to be a schoolmaster someday. He's never hesitated at trot poles and he walks right over tarps, feed bags, logs, everything. He's not perfect yet, but he has so much potential. I just need to get my trainer out there to work with him. He's come so far since we first got him as a two year old and it would make me sick to give up on him now. It scares me to death what could happen if one of them was ever sold. You have no control once money is exchanged and I hear too many horror stories about horses supposedly going to good homes and ending up starved or slaughtered. I have nightmares about things like that. Yes, I might be paranoid, but it's better than not caring at all. My mom doesn't want to think that a horse she knows could end up in a kill pen. It could happen to any horse. It's not just fuglies that you see in feedlots.

I don't know why she's so uncomfortable with Norman. I understand she had a bad fall, but I've had my share of falls, too. I'm over the moon for my boys and I don't understand why she's not happy with him. She needs to get over it. He tends to behave better for me, but that's because he picks up on her insecurity and it transfers to him. Any horse would be like that. I've told her that many times. It never seems to get through, though. Then there's the fact that she treats him like a baby and lets him walk all over her. That needs to stop. I feel bad because she doesn't enjoy riding as much as she used to, but it's not the horse's fault. It's all in her head.

I should have her take a few lessons on him with Lorena. She just needs to get some more good experiences under her belt so she can move on.

... It's giving me a headache.

Has your horse changed since you first got him?

I thought this would be an interesting thing to think about. A lot of times, horses are sold from one lifestyle into another. For example, they were a lesson horse but they became someone's one-on-one trail companion. That's a pretty big change from a horse's standpoint. Lesson horses in particular (depending on how much they're ridden) don't really get close to anybody because so many riders come and go. And a lot of them are ridden so much that you never get to know their personalities because they're so tired and bored all the time (and probably sick of people by the end of the day). I took lessons at a barn years ago where the horses were saddled all day, and ridden at least three times a day by rank beginners. I would be tired and bored, too, if I was a horse.

When I first brought Victor home, he was passive and stand-offish. He would accept my companionship, but he would never seek it. He was also extremely selfish and lazy. It took months for him to warm up to me. I don't think he had one-on-one attention before, although I'm not sure. It was like he put up a six foot wall of crap between us like he thought I was going to up and leave sooner or later. But once he figured out that I was there to stay, he really changed. He used to dislike men a lot (no idea why), and now he doesn't. And he doesn't run from me in the pasture like he used to. He even comes to me all by himself sometimes. He doesn't pout after workouts anymore, either. Thank God. I used to feel like a total asshole when he did that. Even though he was just being a wimp.

When I was out of town for a week, I came back and both horses came right up to me. I was touched. =D I knew Norman would, but I wasn't sure about Victor. (Hah, you missed me Victor, I know you did.) He's still the eccentric, independent, British aristocrat he's always been, but in a nicer way.

So tell me- have any of you guys had similar experiences with your horses? Did your horse have a different lifestyle before you bought him? And how has it changed him, if he's changed at all?

Are you getting tired of me snarking on Cynthia?

I hope not, because her stupidity never ends. As long as she's at the barn, I will NEVER run out of fodder.

Last week when I was out of town, Cynthia bought some hay that my mom found out was moldy. My mom confronts her, and Cynthia goes, "Where's the mold? Show me the mold."

o_O She acts like she knows so much and she can't tell when hay is bad? Even if you can't see the mold, you can always smell it. My mom doesn't even know much about horses, and she found it right away.

I really feel bad for the poor newbies who take lessons from her. I don't know if I mentioned this, but I let her ride Norman once just for kicks. He completely ignored her and she bounced around like a fatass sack of feed when she asked him to trot. And Norman has a fantastic sitting trot. I almost keeled over laughing.

I really wish I had a video of one of her lessons. You would all be pissing yourselves. It's that bad.

I just ignore her now. She knows I don't like her. It's aggravating because my trainer and I were there long before she was, and suddenly she and Mitch come in and invade "our place". They chased my trainer away and annoy the living daylights out of me on a regular basis. It's frustrating, infuriating, and oddly hilarious all at the same time. She just doesn't realize how much of a moron she is. My friends and I have tried to help her. Plenty of people have given her advice, but God forbid that Cynthia is ever wrong about anything. She hates being wrong.

Hehe...

Some new pictures

Just thought I'd share. The little goobers stopped running around as soon as I broke out the camera. Go figure. They just had baths and look pretty nonetheless. :) Click for larger view.