P1 Update

I know I (sorta) swore that I would respect P's new mom and their new lives and privacy together, but I'm just too thrilled with how things are going to stay totally silent.

P's New Mom is really friendly and totally gracious and sending me random pictures of them on trail rides, or horse nose selfies, or pictures of P rolling happily in a big, green pasture.. all of which I proudly show off to The Boy (or whoever else is within picture-sharing reach) while I ooooohhh and ahhhhh over how pleased I am to see her being a happy horse.

But when I got the latest pic of P and her New Mom, I decided I just can't-not share it with you guys.

Yaaaaaayyyyy!!!!!!!!

They Jump!

They jump happily! with soft ears and on uneven ground and... happily!

It sounds like they have a good thing going and are enjoying their lessons (both on the flat and over fences) with no sign of the anger or unwillingness that P had years ago.

I firmly believe that all the time at Summer Camp served P well, and that the set up at her new home (outside, lives with other horses...) is keeping P happy and healthy and setting her up as a good partner.

I'm so thrilled to see them clicking.  For all the angst I had about losing control over this mare, it seems to be for naught - as it looks like they are already a happy, relaxed pair who are getting to explore new things together.

LOVE.  IT.

For all of you who have watched P go through her (many) metamorphoses - How cool is it to see her here now!?

Love that mare!

A New Home for Pia

I've been totally silent on the blog about Miss Pia for the last couple weeks mostly because I didn't want to jinx anything, but I think it's time for an update.

The Boy and I mentally committed to finding P a new home before the baby arrived in an attempt to curtail some of the horsey expenditures since people keep telling us that kids are spendy too... (what?)

The fact is, re-homing P is a hard thing.  The control freak in me had a hard time even writing that dreamhorse ad and contemplating someone else being in charge of her.  But one cannot collect all the horses all the time (damn), so the ad went up and I got LOTS of responses.  Most of them were not great for one reason or another (one lady wanted P for her 6 year old grand kids to ride..) but a few sounded like good homes capable of working with a Pia.

One in particular jumped out at me and seemed like a good match.  An Adult Ammy, looking for their next low level eventing partner, who has her horses at home, in a pasture all together, no stalls... She trail rides, hauls out a couple times a week and all in all sounded like a good amount of variety for a mare with a clever brain.

She came to try P (P was good) and we loaded her up for a trial.  I agreed to a three week trial because a) she lives 4 hours away and it seemed mean to make someone haul back and forth for anything shorter.. and more importantly b) I really wanted a long enough trial that someone would get to know the mare and have a chance to see her be good, but also maybe deal with some of the challenges.

P settled in great, and in during her trial was able to haul out for all sorts of lessons (including some jumping) and the only misbehavior that I heard about was the mare pulling the lead and running away on the ground a couple times (a trick she tries on EVERY new person).

Anyway, long story short, it was a good match and P has officially found her new person!  They had another jumping lesson this past weekend, and it sounds like her Eventing trainer thinks that they are a good march and will enjoy each other.

Honestly, I'm so relieved to have found her a home I think she can succeed in, and I'm so thrilled to see her being a good mare and getting to work.  I know how quickly P can get sour if she's in a bad environment, so I think that if she weren't happy (or relaxed) we'd know it by now.

So, congrats P.  I'll miss your pretty red face and your clever brain.  You brought me back to horses as an adult and taught me how to trust my gut again, ask for second opinions and adjust my expectations.  I'm a better owner, rider and person for having had the last four years with you and I can't wait to see what you do next.

And because I don't want to post pics of her new owner without asking, I'll leave you with some of my all time favorite Pia pictures.

Pretty bird (before I got her)

First ride! March 2010

When supermom delivered her

first ride at the Dressage Barn

Mare love

stoic black and white :)

such a pretty face

Valentines 2011

Grumpy face

Summer Camp Snack

My favorite face!

Mountain Trail 

Field Gallops

Tackling the teeter totter at Mountain Trail

Our First/Only Beach Ride

Mountain Trail 2012 with Prair too!

Summer Camp :)

Cowboy Man and Summer Camp

(heart)

mares!

Back to work (briefly)

Up north at D's

Such a brilliant mare.  I hope I continue to get updates from her new person and that they stay on the happy, positive path they started on!

Gus & P's Big Day Out

Prair has been hogging the bloggy spotlight for a while, so I thought it might be nice to shift our attention to the other two beasts and give their cute beaks the attention they deserve.

Gus and P went for a big trail ride last week and after polite requests pleading for photos... D obliged and sent me lots of snaps from their ride.  They both behaved wonderfully (ish), although when they got to a puddle/pond of doom, both turned into wimpies and refused to lead.

Gus was deemed suitable for D's not-very-horsey SO, and I was glad to hear that he lived up to his "husband safe" label.  That horse, man - so stinkin cute.  Though P's little red ears are pretty adorable too :)

buddies

Gus looking distinctly less interested in this adventure than P

Gus and D's guy looking like a handsome pair

Headed into the woods

scary bridge of doom

scarier water

a very good P

Gus Ears

cutest.

What good beasts they are.  Gus had another trail adventure with some of D's friends later in the week and if the weather holds (and the mud stops sliding all over the place) I'm going to head up for some low-key prenatal "trail riding."

Blog Hop - What's In Your Name?

Back in 2007 when I returned to the PNW from NYC, I found myself with all sorts of time on my hands.  I was no longer working a ga-zillion hours a week in a weird blur of finance/politics and media but instead found myself at my happy little family business which looks at you funny if you're still in the office after 5:07pm.

I could only fill so much time with Happy Hours and concerts, so it probably took me about 25 seconds to let horses back into my brain and begin percolating on how to get a regular ride again.  I stumbled onto some good horsey blogs during lunch hours (Andrea's being an early favorite) and loved getting to follow along with other people's journeys.  I quickly vowed that when I had a regular horse to ride again I would absolutely blog and enjoy the process of sharing and stewing on my own adventures.

This is actually my second blog.  The first was called "bumbling along with belle" and was named for a glass-legged tb who I leased for a while and was planning to own. (in hindsight it was probably a-ok to not get the horse who had already fractured two legs..).

Belle, she was definitely pretty and had an enviable forelock...

When things fell through with Belle I was crushed, but realized I really was ready for a horse of my own so I began a not so long, or all that arduous, search.  The Boy and I spent a couple weekends driving all.over.the.place and looked at some really nice young-ish prospects when we found Pia.  I loved her from the moment I saw her dreamhorse ad and was pretty sure I was going to end up with her.

from my very first ride on the mare.

Apparently I was stuck in a remedial alliteration phase because when I abandoned Bumbling Along with Belle, the only (literally only) title I could come up with was "Pia's Parade."  It stuck, and we were off.  I tried to be as honest as possible in our ups and downs (oh were there plenty) and really enjoyed the process.  For the first couple years I had only a handful of followers so there wasn't much affirmation in terms of traffic or comments, but I loved the process of thinking about our days together and organizing my thoughts.

I'm not a very savvy blogger.  I don't have my own hosted URL, I don't have ads, I don't bother with any formatting that isn't immediately obvious on my "layout" tab... but I do really enjoy the act of stringing my thoughts together and feeling like I'm part of some weird horsey-blog-internet-community.

It's just plain fun.

I haven't ever changed the name to really include Prairie or Gus - and I guess like everyone else I worry I'd lose readership if I did.  But I also don't care too much. P is still what got me on this path and she's a good little red mare.  Even if she finds a new home I suppose she can still lay claim to this blog and all my other horsey ventures that ensue.

Meanwhile... Back in the Mud

Gus and Pia are having a grand ol time.  They would both like you to know that there is more to being a horse than getting fancy braids and prancing around in the desert heat.

There is also the important grazing, rolling and general mud-monster-making to be done.

And these two are just the ones to do it.

Gus' Great Adventure (or moving to a new barn)

Saturday it was Gus' turn to head to a new home, and although he will only be there temporarily, it was more excitement than the old man is used to so as you can imagine he.... didn't really care at all.

The Boy was a trooper and went with me to the barn to clear out my locker (which was a big mish-mash of Gus' stuff plus everything from Prairie's locker that didn't make it to the new place). You truly don't know how many saddle pads you have until your husband looks at you and asks if "this pile should go with the other two piles, or somewhere else."

I like saddle pads.  Colors are fun... and they are cheap enough it never feels like a big expenditure? Good news is we can literally carpet/wallpaper a nursery with the extra pads for cushioning if need be...

Anyway, the whole packing/organizing ordeal went much faster than expected so after we scraped off the outer layer of mud on Mister Gus, we were on the road.

One of the (many) things I love this horse for is the fact that he runs on the trailer.  He doesn't stop, he doesn't sniff, he doesn't do anything except prick his ears, charge onto the trailer and stick his head out the window wondering why we aren't on the road yet.

"why aren't we on the road yet"

Such.  A.  Gem.

Which is why I was slightly alarmed to hear some serious scrambling after being on the road for only a mile or so.

I pulled over, The Boy hopped out and took a peek and confirmed that Gus was in fact upright and on the correct side of the trailer (we no longer assume this to always be the case), but said he was shaking a bit.

Gus doesn't stress out in the trailer so when we got to a better spot I pulled over and checked on him myself.  Apparently the extra two minutes of driving was all it took for him to calm down, but I did see a couple hoof skid marks on the mats so I'm thinking he slipped a little?  No dents or bangs or bodily damage so I patted him on the nose, moved his haybag a little closer (Gus' preferred mode of travel is to sit on the buttbar) and we hit the road.

90 minutes later we pulled into D's place.  Not knowing if she was in the house or in the barn, I opened Gus' window and went off searching.

Great Gus Quality #345:  Stands in trailer while you forget all about him and gossip/catch up/pat noses of other ponies.

When we finally remembered who the star of the day was, we went back to the trailer where Gus was still happily looking out his window and slowly munching hay.

He unloaded like the good boy he is, ate some grass and walked to his new stall totally calm and happy.

Pia on the other hand was none too pleased that someone else was getting attention.  While Gus sat calmly in his stall, the Red Mare proceeded to become more and more agitated (maybe because he was ignoring her?) and threw a bit of a fit.

nose intrusion

Small fit aside, she looks great.  She's kept her weight really nicely this winter and is behaving herself.

Anyway, Gus is joining the herd temporarily.  Since D's own horses have shifted a bit that leaves Pia, another wb mare who she has fallen madly in love with, a charming Haffie gelding and Mr. Gus.

Quite the entertaining bunch.

couldn't take a picture without someone's nose in my face

Gus nose-blocking my shot of the barn...

Finally out of nose range

After a nice dinner out, more catching up and a final check on the ponies, The Boy and I headed back home and literally rolled into bed at 8:45pm (I swear to god it felt like 2am).

I woke up to a series of great texts saying the Gus had a quiet night (slept, drank, ate lots) and had already located the muddiest spot in the pasture to roll in (why do I even wash his blankets..).

Mr Man enjoying his new turf

I probably won't get to go visit again before Thermal, but I'm hoping to squeeze in a trail ride with the big guy before he moves back down here in April.  D's place backs up into all sorts of logging roads and trails and I'd love to get out for a nice spring hack.