A few things have come together lately to make me feel like we are about to go through a blogging renaissance. And I have decided I'm going to say that out loud so that I can will it into existence. I mean, first of all, Google finally fixed the "Insert Photos from Google Photos" UI, which, to be honest, I thought would never happen. I thought they'd let Blogger die on the vine like so many Google products before it, and they would leave it almost unusably broken forever until they killed off Blogger. But no! It's fixed! And it's not only fixed, but improved! Better than ever! For thos ..read more

Eva is getting a quiet first week at the barn. I've groomed her a little, taken her out into the indoor a little, but mainly I've been taking the time to get to know her, be curious about her, and to let her get to know me. We read a book together on Monday night I am constantly jaw-on-the-floor amazed at her brain. She is so smart and so people-oriented. For one example, she has continued to meet the morning feeder at her Dutch door and walk herself in.   (Do you know which of our other five horses that have lived here for months/years do that? Exactly none of them, lol ..read more

"Jesus take the wheeeeeeeeeellllllllll," I yelled as Connor absolutely bombed down the grid Mary had set up the weekend before. You could practically hear him yell "Cannonballlllllllllll!" right back as he ignored me completely and just Did The Thing. His way. Thank you for flying Air Connor, shut up and hold on Connor had more impulsion than either of us knew what to do with that day, so even though I was in a Dressage saddle and had my leathers Dressage-length, I sent him down the grid anyway. Homie needed to burn some energy, and he's schooled enough that I knew I could let that g ..read more

*chuckles* I'm in danger. Meet Castleberrys Ebony Everlasting, or Eva (pronounced "Eh-vah"), Castleberrys Ffafr ap Culhwch x *Rhosyr Ebony by Gwenllan Brenin Mon. She's just turned 5, and, somewhat unbelievably, is a full (younger) sibling to Encore, because she's absolutely nothing like him in terms of color, build, height or personality. CobJockey-for-scale photo: she's barely 14hh, so an inch shorter than Connor and almost a full hand shorter than Encore. She may still grow some, Connor grew over an inch between 5-6. In all my fourteen years of knowing Lisa, I have never known he ..read more

As if moving out of my house wasn't enough to do right now, Connor and I did our first intro endurance ride last weekend. I've always wanted to try endurance - I ran competitively myself from third grade through my senior year of college, so human conditioning for long distance stuff is second nature to me. But there seemed like so many mental barriers to entry - time and effort spent conditioning, learning how/when to do vet checks and ride meetings and all that, and the fact that I 0% trust my hard-to-catch and mischievous pony to still be there the next morning if I tied him out or put h ..read more

Who knew mirrors could make you so full of feelings? Mirrors in the indoor have always felt like an unattainable equestrian luxury to me, much like having a truck and trailer once did. Do I have the money for them, yes, can I part with the money for such a nice-to-have, especially as I face actually buying this facility, hard no.  But when I came across a Facebook Marketplace ad for 256 square feet of 4x8 foot arena mirrors for $1,200 obo a couple days after Christmas last year, I said, "Oh no." I texted my barnmate and partner in crime: "Tell me this is a bad idea," and she replied "O ..read more

It seems hard to believe, but we are coming up on the co-op's third anniversary. "You know," my barn owner said on the second anniversary, "I didn't say this at the time, but I had some real doubts about whether this arrangement would work or not. To my surprise, it really has worked out well for everyone."   He wasn't the only one with doubts. For a panicked month that year after my trainer announced she was getting out of the business, I wracked my brain for a solution - we had a facility, we had a non-horsey BO, we had a group of ladies who had only ever full boarded, we had no traine ..read more

After a long winter of having three horses and just two of us in the co-op, Leah and I were certainly ready for some extra sets of hands. But that didn't mean we just wanted anyone off the street to join the co-op. This boarding model isn't for everyone, and we have to really know and trust those we entrust with our horses. So I was delighted when within the span of two weeks, we suddenly found ourselves with five horses and four humans, which is a sweet spot for us. And not only that, they were humans we know and trust: Deb, and my college friend, Tricia. She, uh, LOVES orange, lol ..read more

On the one hand, I'm still not riding super regularly and life is crazy, so I think I have nothing to blog about. On the other hand, I'm neck-deep in buying a horse facility and welcoming new boarders to the co-op, and that's almost a more interesting adventure than whatever Connor is up to these days. Shedding. He's up to shedding. So let's catch up, shall we? Meet Deb and Ivan. Ivan is only in my life because of this blog, and it's a beautiful story. Deb has been a fixture at this barn for over 15 years, often being in sole charge of both her horse and the BO's horses for long str ..read more

I don't even know where to start with this post, but I have to start. I've been witnessing an incredible transformation in my barn and learning a lot about horsemanship through it, and it deserves to be written down. A couple of weeks ago I was videoing my barnmate's virtual Dressage lesson, watching her futilely trying to pony kick her 5 year old around a big psuedo-turn on the forehand at our Dressage trainer's instruction, and I realized it looked a lot like a groundwork exercise Kate had me do with Connor. I asked my barnmate if I could borrow Pyro for a Kate lesson, and she agreed ..read more