Pony Time!!!

Guess which girl was able to see her own horses in person last week?!?!?!

This one, of course!

Due to previous circumstances, I was able to get almost all of last week off from work and go back to East Texas to spend time with my family and, obviously, the lovely little mare that I am privileged to call mine!

There's not a whole lot to say about it, really. I played with her a little bit, brushed up on her manners, and mostly just spend as much time hanging out with her as I could. A neighbor recently put two horses in the pasture next to the property, so both Lady and The Pony were quite excited about that, but it was more or less cute than anything else.

The silly horse, however, has put on a whole lot of weight in the few months since I saw her last, which both amused and kind of worried me. We have some work to do once she gets out here if I want to show her at all this fall!!

/Also got to see my favorite dog again!  That was great :)

Something is Missing

I've lived in West Texas for 7.5 months now, but its just now starting to sink in just how much I miss my horse.

The first month I was busy finding a job, settling into my new home, and just overall getting everything set up. The next month, I started taking lessons at a barn and looked around casually for a lease. Then started the craziness of getting registered for classes, finding the funds to pay for tuition, and scouring the internet for textbook deals. The month after that, I started leasing Missy, and then school started. So for most of 2016 thus far, I've had a horse on lease and I've been very very busy with school. It didn't really hit me until these last few weeks since school let out and I stopped leasing Missy in order to save money to move my own horse.

In many ways, Lady isn't all that special. She's 17 years old and shows her age a bit. She's a grade horse of some kind, mostly Arab and Quarter Horse. She definitely has her share of attitude and behavioral quirks that make it tough to deal with her sometimes. She was the horse that my trainer raised an eyebrow at and said was too difficult and that I should keep looking.

But this December will mark 9 years that she's been in my life. I was 13 years old when we brought her home and I could not imagine my life without her in it. We've been through so much together. People have asked me why I don't just leave her at my parents' farm while I'm in college. She's not costing me much at all just being there and she's happy to live outside and graze all day.

So, am I selfish for wanting to bring her here to live in an environment that will require stall time and far less turnout than she is used to?  I could build a fence on some family land about 20 minutes away from where I live and keep her there, but that would make it harder for me to achieve the show goals that I want. On the other hand, I love the college equestrian center where I take lessons and would love to keep her there.

All in all, something is missing from my life right now, and that something is my favorite ordinary mare.

Next week, I make the trek back across Texas and I'll get to see Lady in person again. The vet is coming out for her Coggins and shots, and I'll make decisions then. In the meantime, the thought of getting to hug and take care of my girl again is tiding me over.

Three Months...

It's been three months, to the day, since my last post here. Sadly, the biggest reason for the absence has been my absence from the horse world in general. <sad face + tears>

I gave up my lease on Missy at the end of April after having ridden approximately four times in March and April combined. School got the better of me, I was having trouble with my priorities, and work was quite busy, which never helps at all, does it?

Anyways, as of right now, I'm slowly moving towards getting Lady out here to live with me. I'm 85% certain that I will be trying out for Texas Tech's equestrian team in the fall. I still take almost weekly lessons with the coach of said team on a cute bay gelding named Fuego and we've jumped several times in the past month (we won't talk about how terrified I was the first time we went over an 18 inch crossrail. It was bad.).

My writing focus is over at L'Art Classique, where I talk about mystical dreams, college life, and various other aspects of being a unique and strange person. You can join me there. I try to keep my equine obsession away from that platform, so hopefully I can slowly get back to regularly scheduled  posting over here.

I'm still religiously reading all the other blogs in the equine blogosphere, and I should probably start commenting again too instead of stalking.

Love, Kit.