Jewel Pictures- As Per Your Request

I was able to get out today and ride Jewel, my lease horse. It was the first time all week (and in the five rides (yay!!)) that I've been alone at the barn. While I've really enjoyed all of the people I've met and have relished in being able to talk horses for hours on end, I have to say it was really nice to just spend some one on one time with a horse.


And I cant think of another horse (besides my mare Abby) that I'd rather spend time with right now than Jewel- she is a genuine sweetheart and every bit a mare- perpetually hungry, has "something to say" and avoids hard work but ultimately very willing to please and a love bug.

Look at that face! How can you not want to lay your cheek against that muzzle?

I love that Jewel has such expressive eyes.

Jewel is about twice as chunky as she appears in the above photo. I was surprised at how little she looked in the pictures when I uploaded them.

That eye really won me over. I am going to have to work really hard not to fall head-over-heels in love this one...

She's a gem.

It's Raining Horses!!!

I signed a lease today on a mare named Jewel!!!! I am SO excited!!! AND I've ridden two times in as many days and I'll be three for three tomorrow! How happy am I? THRILLED.

Pictures will be soon to come on Jewel. She is about 14.2, bay with a bright white star, built like a brick shite-house and as cute as a button. My English lesson is tomorrow AND I was offered another horse to ride last night.

When it rains, it pours.... It's rainin' horses baby!!!

Head Case

(Pictures from my hike with my sister yesterday)

I'm a freakin' head case. A crazy horse person! This blog is aptly named "horse crazed mind"... though maybe it should read "crazed horse mind"... only that doesn't sound nearly as good:)

So... that impossible to find leasing situation? Not so impossible after all. In fact, two days ago I was offered the chance to ride a beautiful, sweet, great minded, well trained (English jumper) mare at a really nice (indoor) facility, not 20 minutes from home by a lady I know takes amazing care of her horses and is a warm, friendly and (bless her heart) even sane!

Not a single fly in the ointment except one...

Leasing is not the right option for me.

I heard you sigh! I know, I know! Hear me out...

It was not until that such an ideal situation came along that I realized I had inadvertently created the same situation for myself as I had so carefully crafted for my mare Abby.

You see, in 2008 Abby and I both worked damn hard in a training program. We both came a long way in learning the fine art of reining. A lot of money... (that is an understatement) was spent getting her and I to the point where our old bad habits were broken down and replaced with new, supple, and better ways of riding.

In New Years of 09 I sent Abby out on a two year breeding lease. I did so because I could no longer afford to keep her (or I) in training and I felt it was better to have her sit unused (from a riding perspective) than to bring her home and have her used casually where she could potentially loose her training and redevelop those old bad habits. I was so focused on my horse that I never stopped to recognize that the same could be said of me... not until a year later (and a year away from horses) - when I was offered the chance to ride a well trained English horse- did I think of all the time, effort and money I put into MY OWN training and how perhaps the year away from riding was a saving grace... allowing me, like Abby, to preserve the foundation I put on my self and avoid the casually and subconscious relearning of bad habits that can develop through casual riding.

I am going to go back to reining lessons. I will need a tune up, to be sure... but I hope that once I regain my strength and co-ordination, once the proverbial dust has been blown off my mind, I will find that most of what I learned in 08 will be there, in tact and ready to be built upon.

Now, at this time I cant go back to my trainer, Kari, no matter how much I love her. It takes an hour and half one way to get to her barn and the gas, plus cost of lesson would come out to about $75 a lesson. WAY out of my budget. I'm going to look local and see if I cant book a lesson for this week! I have some reservations about the style, ethics, and training methods of a new instructor... but still, I'm really excited to get started again!

The Ride is the Reward

I am looking for a horse to lease. *sigh* Here we go again! Over and over again I've gone through the pros and cons in my head... weighing the benifits of ownerships against the problems with free leasing, the cost of lessons vs. the issues of sharing a horse in a semi-lease agreement... and have come to back time and again to the same conclusion...

At this stage of my life the responsibility of horse ownership- both the time, money, stress and attention is too great of a commitment to take on given that I need to focus on advancing my education, career and other interests.

Which leaves me with leasons or leasing...

And...

Lessons do not afford me enough time on a horse for the cost.

Free leasing isnt much less of a commitment than ownerships.

Semi-Leasing (shared riding) often leads to schedule/overuse issues.

Which leaves me with my own idea of leasing. It's simple. Straight forward. And hopelessly unobtainable.

To find some person who keeps their horse in above average condition, at an excellent facility with an indoor and close to trails, who never has times to ride, is opinionated about training methods/handling, and reasonable to deal and who just happens to own a nice, broke, sound, no-nonsense horse that they'd like to have ridden by a complete stranger (where, when and how she prefers and on her schedule.) Oh, and within a half hour drive of my house...

I want to ...

Drive to barn, groom, tack, ride, put away and drive home. End of story. I'll pay a flat monthly rate- consistent, predictable, and non-obligatory for the privilege and leave the for the owner to worry about the rest. Like a gym membership.

Thanks.

*hangs head in defeat*

To make matters worse...

I feel so selfish for admitting that as I've never owned a horse for the sole objective of riding- ever. In fact, I've looked down on people who seem to care nothing of their horses but of the use and enjoyment that can be derived from them... those who don't even know how to saddle their own horse, let alone care, feed or train one.

And yet still, I want to use a horse!


Bleh!

The choices all suck!

To own a horse is to be consumed- with the constant worry over their health and safety, of farrier appointments, worming, vetting,and the inevitable and unexpected financial costs... For me it is to stress over the where/who/what/when dynamics of boarding, of where to buy hay, or find a decent farrier. It is spending $180 on iron shoes instead of those Jessica Simpson silver pumps, buying Big D blankets instead of a fabulous purple Guess pea coat, and covering the cost of a vet bill that would have paid for a trip to New York city. It is sacrificing and reaping the reward... it is living a way of life I miss every. single. day but one that comes at a price I'm no longer willing to pay- not until I can afford both the school, the pea coat, the pumps and the hay, blankets and board.

To lease is to have to bite your tongue, to refrain from training, to mind your own business- just shut up and ride. To lease is to always remember that the horse you are riding is not your own and to respect the owners wishes. To doing things their way and having to always stress over just what their way is. Leasing is not being able to discipline, to not ride as long or as often as you see fit...

Leasing is like driving your mother-in-laws car... you have to remember just how the seat was petitioned, to park at the back of the lot, to wash it before you drive it back, to not drink or eat for fear of dropping a crumb and to expect that, no matter how consciencious you were, if there is even the smallest scratch to paint that she didnt notice before you left, you will be held to blame! And there will be hell to pay!

That is leasing a horse.

I just want to ride.

I dont want to lease. Or to buy. But I want horses in my life.

And to make things worse, I feel guilty for it. Maybe because for me having horses has always been about the my emotional attachment to an individual, my deep rooted commitment to providing for their mental and physical well being and to the process of developing a better animal. Riding has always been, for me, a byproduct of horse ownership- a reward for having succeeded in meeting my horses needs.



I do not ride my horse if he has not been fed. If he is sore. If he is wet or cold. If he is in need of shoeing. I do not ride my horse if his condition or the condition of his environment is poor. I do not ride if his stall needs cleaned, if hay needs hauled out or a fence needs fixing. I do not ride if I do not have time to put him away dry, cool,and clean. The responsibility of providing for my horse has always has come before the ride. The ride has always been the reward.



More on this next post....