Has a bad ride ever stuck with you afterwards?

Think back a bit to the last time you had a bad ride.

Sure, a bad day at the barn is better than the best day almost anywhere else. I get that. But we all have less-than-ideal rides once in a while. I’m not even talking about those dreaded times we land in the dirt. I mean those times when the horse acts up, things don’t go so well, or we simply aren’t up to snuff in the saddle.

C’mon. ‘Fess up. You know what it feels like, even if it’s been awhile.

This happens every now and then for me. I gotta admit it. 

Mousepad: http://www.cafepress.com/dd/87953601

A large part of the problem is the fact that I am fighting a lifelong medical condition that can assail me unpredictably and viciously with balance issues, bouts of vertigo, muscle spasms, exaggerated startle reflexes, vision problems, and some serious sudden-onset fatigue. Those symptoms can challenge my ability to ride as well as I want to.

It’s a good thing I have a seasoned, sensible, and (OK, I’ll say it.) somewhat lazy horse these days. I sold the young and crazy, but beautiful, ones after I came to terms with the reality of my health issues. My current mount is adorable, but not flashy. She’s fun, but not fancy. And she’s low key, rather than high-maintenance. I guess we are sort of perfect for one another.

But I still have bad rides. And mostly, they’re on me, although the horse can pretty much tell when she’s gonna get off easy. She’s sort of smart that way. She knows when it’s time to quit, even if I’m still trying to figure that out.

So my bad rides are no longer the hold-on-for-dear-life, whoa-crazy-horse, we’re-all-gonna-die kinds of nightmares than I occasionally had with my fiery young horses. They’re more the fifteen-minutes-is-enough-today, let’s-not-even-try-the-hard-stuff, and thank-God-horses-can’t-tell-time kind of thing.

Hoodie: http://www.cafepress.com/dd/87953601

Recently, I picked up a cozy hooded sweatshirt with this design on it: “Never let yesterday’s bad ride spoil today’s good one.” It’s become my go-to riding pick, because it sort of says it all for me, with my ups and downs. I wore it today, and had a really sweet ride. So maybe it works!

Little by little, I’m trying to let go of bad rides when they happen and start each new ride fresh. Just because my last jaunt was a little disappointing doesn’t mean I have to bring that baggage aboard this time. My little horse has already forgiven and forgotten. Maybe I can too.

Know the feeling?

Baseball Tee: http://www.cafepress.com/dd/87953601

 Image/s:

Product photo/s – fair use

Feel free to follow on GooglePlus and Twitter. Please visit my Amazon author page as well.

New Year's: Got horsey resolutions?

A brand-new year is upon us. Raise your hoof (so to speak), if you’re making any horse-related New Year’s resolutions.

Do you plan to:

• Ride longer – or more often
  
• Visit your horse more frequently
• Enter more horse shows
• Log lots of trail miles
• Read more horse books
• Schedule a professional horse portrait session
• Ride bareback and bridle-less for the first time
• Participate in more equestrian training clinics
• Keep a horse journal
• Add a fitness regimen to improve your body condition
• Start saving for a new horse trailer
• Polish your horse’s saddle and tack more often
• Train at a higher level than last year
• Come up with a way to display all those horse show ribbons
• Clean out the tack room before Labor Day
• Or something else?

What is your horsey New Year’s resolution?

Image/s

New Year’s: Got horsey resolutions?

Created by this user –

including public domain clipart

Feel free to follow on GooglePlus and Twitter.

Can a barn change boost the horse-human relationship?

Sometimes things really do work out for the best, even when they seem to start out a little rocky.

We just spent several super years in a wonderful equestrian community of horses and humans. The facility was beautiful and well-managed. The clientele was pleasant and fun. And the barn offered on-site horse shows and training clinics, in which we happily participated. We made lots of fine friends and merry memories.

Moving to a new barn means leaving the familiar herd.

It was all good.

Overnight, our horsey world turned upside-down. The barn owners sent an email to all of the boarders, announcing that the facility would be offered for sale immediately and that they would be closing their business within a few months.

With winter just over the horizon, dozens of horse owners began searching for stalls in other barns. We asked around in our horsey network of friends and contacts. We visited lots of equestrian facilities.

Stepping into new stables can be a horse-human adventure.

We packed up the ponies and moved.

Fairly quickly, we were able to find a suitable and reasonably affordable spot for our own herd. We acted promptly, as stables with indoor arenas tend to fill fairly fast in this region in the fall.

Heck, we had four horses to place.

Although we already miss many friends from the old barn, we are happy to report that our horses are settling in nicely in their new home. We are making lots of new horse-world friends and reuniting with some long-time pals as well.

We are even saving a few hundred dollars a month, while enjoying excellent horse care and fine facilities.

But here’s the best part.

LAN photo by L. Davis. Used by permission.

I am re-discovering the preciousness of the horse-human bond, which seems only to be enhanced by settling in together in unfamiliar surroundings.

As horse owners, we know that our equine companions look to us for their care and advocacy. When we move them to new, unknown spots, they depend on us more than ever for consistency and assurance.

My young sport horse mare and older Thoroughbred gelding (along with my daughter’s Morgan mare and Quarter Horse gelding) had to leave the herds they knew. They were loaded onto trailers, carted several miles away, and led off into strange stalls and pastures. Horses they’d never seen gaped at them.

I don’t want to personify my equines, but I could swear each of my horses gave me the same look, as if to ask:

Where are we?

Will I be fed and watered in this strange place?

Will you still spend time with me?

How will my life change?

Is everything gonna be OK?

Within a few days, after experiencing their new care, turnout, grooming, and schooling routines, our horses quickly grew accustomed to their new residence.

Here’s another intriguing development we have noticed.

Sometimes sharing a new spot brings familiar equines closer.

Although our horses were never pastured together at the former location, and they did not occupy adjacent stalls, they surely knew one another. Now, in their new home, they get along famously. We even placed my daughter’s mare with the two geldings for the first few days, until they settled in enough to assimilate into other turnout groups.

And my mare has grown very fond of a two-year-old Quarter Horse filly, pastured next to her. She even tosses hay over the fence to share with the youngster.

I’m not a barn-hopper, and I do not recommend relocating horses often.

But, when the need becomes pressing, it can turn out to be an opportunity to build an even deeper relationship between horse and human.

You don’t belong to the herd. 

You belong to me.
And that's magic.

Image/s

Unless specified otherwise, 

all photos by LAN/The Mane Point

All rights reserved.

Feel free to follow on GooglePlus and Twitter.

Watching and Waiting for Wonder

Watching and Waiting for Wonder
(posted for the A to Z Challenge)

W is for Watching … and Waiting … and Wonder.

Have you ever marveled at the miraculous and magnificent ways God expresses Himself, quietly painting images of His love in the details of our lives?

Take a look at the newest arrival at the barn.

This sweet foal was born this week to a prime Thoroughbred dam, sired by a pedigreed racer. Sadly, the owner did not live to see the latest addition to his string. An avid Midwestern racing fan, horse breeder and dressage show host, this respected horseman succumbed to cancer two weeks before this lovely little one arrived.

 

Steal a peek at this beautiful baby. 

Think perhaps God is trying to tell us something? Born during the Christian Holy Week, this little one looks to be a gift from above with a message of love.

Having bred and raised my own horses, I admit I tend to be partial to my own foals. But this newcomer may be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.  

(I snapped these photos with my cell phone, so the resolution is not fabulous, but the foal surely is.)

Certainly, this foal was worth the watching and waiting … just for the wonder!

Image/s

Photos copyrighted by

Linda Ann Nickerson

Nickers and Ink Creative Communications

Here's a video the owner posted:
 .

 .
Watch it, and try not to be touched by the beauty of this dam and her foal.