No big surprise.

 

And we’re back to this again.  I’m going to sell Joey.  For real this time. 

Previously when I have talked about making this move, my reasons have revolved around doubts of my ability to train him and work out our issues.  This time however, my reason for selling is a little more than that – I now have no doubts that, in time, I could train him.  Sure, I might need advice from professionals every once in a while – I might even have to pay for that advice (sending him to a trainer or something) – but I could do it.

The million dollar question is: how long is that going to take?

I guess it’s really hit home to me that Joey is a lot further away from being the horse I want than what I originally thought he was.  He’s been semi-reliable in the arena, but any thing more than that; and I do mean anything – add another horse for example – and I just don’t know what I am going to get from him.

I just don’t have time to work all of that out with him.  And frankly, at this point in my life, I don’t want to either.  I do really enjoy the challenges of training horses, and it’s been a fantastic learning experience training my first young horse.

But when I get to ride one, two – maybe three times a week if I’m lucky, you can bet your shorts that I want every ride to be a good one (within reason of course!).  I don’t want to have to wonder what I’m going to get, I just want to get on. and. ride.  

No drama, no fuss, no hassle.

And that’s definitely not Joey’s descriptor at the moment!  So our journey together comes to an end, and I’m looking forwards to my elbow healing so that I can move onto the next chapter. 

See ya,

bonita

Rain, rain go away.

As you can guess from the title, not much has been happening around here. The radio silence has pretty much been due to some heavy rains for the last two weeks.  Which brings me to the topic of my agistment. 

One thing I really dislike about keeping my horses at a government paddock is the fact that I don’t have access to an indoor arena.  I will go out and visit the ponies when it is windy, dark, hot or foggy; pretty much any weather but rain. 

Not only does the ground get really soggy and slippery which is pretty challenging in itself, but I don’t have any where dry to put Joey while I groom or tack up either.  It's basically all open paddocks.  

Which is very budget friendly, so the price is right, but also, again, a pain in bad weather.  Or when you have a lame/sick horse and you have to pen him up in the yards in the middle of summer with no shade…  Yeah, that’s not good either. 

Not that it’s been a real problem for me yet, but I know it has been for other horse owners at my yards.  In fact, one of the owners had to put up some shade cloth to shade her horse when he was being kept in everyday because of a bout of impaction colic.  Thankfully, the sails are still up, so if we do ever need to use them, we can.  They aren’t the best form of shade out there – I think well a ventilated stable or a great big shady tree would be better, but they certainly are the best thing for the set up we have. 

One day I am dreaming of my own property with a big barn with all the niceties, an indoor arena, an outdoor riding ring, a round pen, jumping paddock and perfectly fenced paddocks for the horses.   I don’t want much do I?  In the mean time, you can see some of the set up we have. 

Our arena.  It’s not a very clear shot, but you can see the crazy amounts of grass growing all through our riding area.  It’s nuts!

Joey, grazing in Paddock 1, up the top end near the gate.  The rest of the herd is hiding down by the dam as it’s the only dry ground in the paddock.  The field is literally a swamp at the moment; most of it is under a couple of inches of water.

Rusty, my sister’s horse, in the metal pens/yards that is the main holding area.

Another view of the yards – we have two small pens that share a water trough and a larger pen on the end that is usually where I tie up Joey to tack up and feed.  You can see the sail cloth that’s on the end, shading that pen. 

See ya,

bonita