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Around The World

I started riding several different times.

I've always been fascinated by horses, though I spent a while when I was young trying to figure out what about them is so enchanting. They're not soft and fuzzy like dogs, and they're not overtly affectionate like dogs are, either. What makes them such neat creatures? Of course, now that I've had experiences with horses other than plodding school horses, I realize that they can, in fact, be VERY overtly affectionate.

I couldn't get real lessons when I was young. I don't think I ever stopped begging for lessons. Every so often I'd get a series of about 6 every-two-week plod lessons; they didn't really count but at least it was a "horse fix."

When I was in middle school, one of my teachers turned out to be an instructor/trainer in her spare time. She was willing to drive me from school to the barn, then back to her house, and I would be picked up at her house. As a result, I managed to get into a regular program of riding and lessons. That instructor helped me more than I could ever express; she was generous. We didn't always agree, and some of our life philosophies were very different; but she gave us a tremendous amount of her time, and I learned an astonishing amount. In addition to lessons, she taught us how to take care of the horses. She bought green ex-racers off the track, and taught them dressage and jumping. In the process, she taught us to train them. It was a very rich and productive experience.


I went about buying my first horse the WRONG WAY

I was looking online for the perfect horse. I found a gorgeous stallion, supposedly of excellent temperament and a little more than green. Before I could get there to see him and have him vet checked, he was sold. I was tremendously disappointed.

I didn't want the next horse I found to be sold out from under me like that...so I put a deposit down without ever seeing more than her picture! Very, very unwise. This one was a long distance away, and I agreed to simply meet them halfway and buy her, sight unseen. I was lucky--she was just as they described her--but I knew I was taking a risk. They had another mare they'd brought with the one I wanted; they were selling their other mare too, and wanted them to go together if possible. They offered me a deal I couldn't refuse, and so I bought two mares instead of one.

My Katherine is a shining star of a horse, just lovely and so talented. I adore her, and I think it's mutual. She's a high-strung, sensitive horse, though; not for a novice. The second mare is the sort worth her weight in gold. Duchess is a "babysitter" or "husband horse." I can put anyone on her back, and know that she will take good care of them. I've taught lessons with her, and visitors ride her. She claims my husband as her very own person, and has bonded nicely with him. Overall, the purchase worked out quite well.

But I could have been buying myself a couple of navicular cases, or broken down emotionally scarred horses, etc. I was lucky to be dealing with honest people.


My area is fairly horsey

I live about an hour north of Ocala, which has the most dense horse population in the world. In my area, land is pretty inexpensive compared to larger cities. We have 6 acres here, and the horses are in our backyard. It's wonderful. We are only about 30 minutes outside of the small city closest to us.

There are also a lot of horse facilities locally and within a tolerable driving distance. This is a great benefit for someone who wants to compete, or attend clinics, or even just to be involved in the local equine community.


There's a lot going on here

Ocala is a racing Thoroughbred breeding center, of course. I think there's also a significant racing Quarter Horse contingent there. There are also some Warmblood breeding farms around here.

With there being so much equine activity around here, there are lots of places set up for shows and such. The ones I've been most interested in have been the Combined Training farms (places to school and compete). There's a lot more than CT locally though; I think there's at least one show of some kind every weekend, somewhere within an hour's drive. There's hunter/jumper, dressage, lots of Western varieties, Arabian-specific, Andalusian-specific, and so on.

And of course Florida is the winter base for many different major-league competers and trainers. There are major shows of all kinds here when other parts of the country are too cold for training and competing. "Hunters in the Sun," for example, is a huge wintertime show lasting weeks, and which is nationally known.
 

My horses stay with me

Thanks to the real estate market around here, land is affordable. The horses have a barn, but live out 24/7. With the mild climate, I'd have built a fairly open pole barn, but that's there was already a tall enclosed barn with a concrete floor (but dirt floors in the stalls) on the property when we bought. It's oddly designed and not really built for horses.

Since winters here don't get terrible, I'll be pushing myself to leave the horses naked this winter. I do have sheets and blankets, but they won't really need them and I have to keep in mind that they feel cold differently from humans.

The typical equipment I keep around and use are, for the horses:

• 
  halter and lead rope, cross ties

• flymasks

• English saddle (AP) and pad and girth

• breastplate on the very uphill/withery horse when we are doing things like jumping

• snaffle bit and bridle (simple cavesson) on one horse, jumping hackamore or just halter and reins on the other

• protective boots when necessary, though I will be trying to build up their leg strength so that "necessary" is less of the time

• shoes all around fon the one with soft flakey hooves, and front shoes on the other.
  
   

For the property

• Steel barrel to hold feed

• smaller sealable bucket for Apple Wafer treats

• several racks for the saddles, a portable rack for bridles, and halters and flymasks are hung on nails in the wall

• set of shelves with grooming equipment, first aid supplies, farrier tools, and boots

• I need to build some jumps for home. I keep looking covetously at fallen trees.
  
   

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