The lovely and talented Lauren Sprieser, my fellow blogger and online friend, is trying to tell us all that the seasonal relocation of her barn to Florida ain’t all that it’s cracked up to be.
Greetings sports fans from the frozen tundra that is Vermont. I continue to hibernate, coffee cup in hand, looking out the window, thinking about going to the barn to watch the girl ride, but it’s really cold!
The girl continues to put in long hours at the barn, ever the faithful and committed young horseperson. I shamefully admit that over the past several weeks, I have only done drive-bys—picking the girl up at the end of the day, not even getting out of the car. The only real barn time I’ve put in is my regular Saturday afternoon barn chore shift.
The holidays are over and we’re settling in for our remaining five months of winter. As I read about Lauren’s seasonal relocation to Florida, I assessed my own state of mind and find that I am (surprisingly) OK. There will be no trip to Ocala this year. There are no business trips on the horizon to warm weather locales. It’s just winter as far as the eye can see. It’s cool. I can handle it. Just check on me every couple of weeks, OK?
‘Tis the time of year when people give you a gift, and you don’t have one to give to them. When you receive a pink fuzzy sweater that you’d like to exchange. And perhaps there’s a coffee maker, a box of chocolates or a bottle of wine you’re thinking of regifting.
How’s a polite barn girl to handle these situations? It’s also the time of year when we want to thank the folks who work hard all year to care for our beasts—the barn workers, the trainer, the farrier, the vet. What’s an appropriate gift?
Pink’s not really my color…..
Greetings from Northampton, Mass. We’re here for the 24th Annual Northeast Benefit Horse Show. This is Samantha and Mondavi’s first “A” rated show. The schedule is somewhat unusual—it’s a Monday-Friday horse show, leaving horse people in New England free to participate in “normal people” summer holiday-weekend activities. That is, of course, assuming they can remember what normal people do on the weekend.
What’s your favorite horse show? I bet you can tell me in five seconds flat. Why is it your favorite? Some of you will say it’s the food—the caramel apples at the New England Equitation Finals! Others might say Lake Placid because of the super intense grand prix, and the fact that there’s so much to do, see and eat in the lovely town.
This week, I returned to my weekly barn shift. My broken hand is now almost healed. I was practically euphoric picking stalls, sweeping, haying, etc. Why? Because I hadn’t moved like that in nearly two months. For four hours, I never stopped or sat down. Eight weeks away from barn chores had not done good things for me. While I did enjoy a little more freedom on Saturday afternoons, the bad far outweighed the good.
Oh my. I know it’s just about the most boring, lame thing to complain about the weather, especially in a blog, but I’m going to do it anyway. On Sunday we did a local show right down the road at the fairgrounds.
Relationships between children and animals are fascinating. There’s a young rider at our barn named Megan, age 8. Her big sister Rachel rides too. The family owns a mustang pony named Misty who has turned into a champion pony hunter and jumper. Sometimes when two girls in the family ride, they share a pony or horse.
But Megan is not quite ready for Misty. She prefers Stormy, and, without a doubt, Megan is the person that Stormy prefers above all others.
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