Blog Hop: Location, Location, Location

I stole this  blog hop from "A soft spot for stars." I am always amazed at what is needed to own a horse depending on location. So here goes!


My horses and I are located right smack dab in the middle of the country; Kansas! Now, many think of Kansas as a state they hate to drive through because it is ugly and boring. But I call it home, and I LOVE it here. I have no plans to move anywhere else. There are many farms, and many other people own enough land to at least keep their horses at home. That being said, there are still the few larger boarding barns in the "big" cities!

• Trim: $25-$35 depending on who you use

• Shoes: $50-75 for front shoes. $80-120 for all around

• Average cost of a month of full training: : If training includes board the average is about $750-900

• Average monthly pasture board: $150-$275

• Average monthly stall board: $450 if there is an indoor arena. $300-350 if not

• Hay:

• Round bale - It depends... $60 for brome, $30-40 for prairie

• Square bales - Brome is about $7 a bale, Prairie is $5. I feed brome most of the time.

• Mountain Views? : What!? HAHAHA! No

• Weather? - Summers tend to stay in the upper 80's and 90's, but some summers can stay around the 100 degree mark for weeks. We also have very high humidity some summers which makes for extremely miserable days. Winters can be mild with upper 30's/lower 40's, with the occasional below 0 day. There is no normal with snowfall, one year we will get 30 inches, the next we get 2. Spring can be very wet, and of course we do have to deal with the threat of severe storms or maybe even the tornado threat. But the temperatures are usually very nice. Fall... we tend to go from summer to winter with what feels like three days of fall. This year however, we have had a GREAT fall in the 60's and 70's. I loved that.

• Riding demographic for the area?  - The vast majority is western and trail. Three hours north or south and you can find some large english barns. There are NO tack stores within three hours (other than Atwoods, for a western saddle pad or something.) 

• Other notes? - Lots of hunting here, so our horses are used to it. There are also always wild animals running around, so my horses are not really afraid of deer. Even the barn I work at, which is smack dab in the middle of the city, always has deer or coyotes running around. I love Kansas because it is so open, the very reason a lot of people do not like it. I LOVE to be able to go ride on a 10,000 acre ranch and be able to see for miles when I get up on a large hill, it's amazing to see no roads, buildings or any other sign of what humans have done to the world.... I wouldn't trade it for the world. And just because it is known as the flat state doesn't mean there aren't great places to ride!

Frustrating things about your area?

• My biggest issue? I am an English rider in a Western dominated area. But that's okay! Even though it can be a challenge you can find a good trainer. It has given me the oppurtunity to branch out and learn how to ride disciplines that I probably never would have otherwise. 
• No tack stores... I always love how tack stores have special sales, etc.. With the closest English Tack store being 4 hours away I just make the most of it when I can get there!

Since I can't seem to keep up with my blog at all I figured I would get myself motivated by joining this blog hop, which was started by Aarene over at Haiku Farm.

Here's the directions:

Answer the questions (below) on your own blog, and leave a link to that post in the comments here.
In your post, invite readers to answer the questions on THEIR blogs, and link those blogs to yours AND to here.
Let's see how far this can travel!
Pictures!  Let's see lots of pictures of people and horses!

*  Introduce yourself!

*  Introduce your horse(s)!

*  What's your favorite horse sport?  Do you cross train in other activities?

*  Who else in your family rides?

*  What's your proudest equestrian accomplishment?

*  What was your lowest moment as a horse owner/rider?

*  What's the most important small thing you ever learned in a lesson?

*  Do you have any riding rituals or superstitions?

*  What are your short term goals for yourself/your horse?

*  Long term goals?

*  If time and money were no object, what is your dream equestrian vacation?

*  What kind of horse activities were you doing 10 years ago?

*  What kind of horse activities do you think you'll be doing 10 years from now?

*  What is the quirk about your horse that you like most?

Introduce yourself!
The short version? I am a 23 year old  who works with horses and kids all day, every day. I love my job and enjoy doing it, but it does cause me some extra stress! I live in the great plains and LOVE it, even though so many would rather live in the mountains or by the ocean. 
Introduce your horses!
I own 2 horses and my sister little guy lives with them. I own two mares, both of them are chestnuts which I laugh about now. I always swore I would never own another chestnut, but here I am!

Addie is my 18 year old OTTB mare. We did some eventing in the past, but a neighbors dog ruined her chance to ever jump again. I hope that she will be 100% sound again one day, but at this point we can do some walk/trot dressage work. She is by far my most expensive horse, and I do what I can to make her comfortable. Her early years weren't the best and even if she is a pasture puff she will be with me for the rest of her life. 

Pepsi (Fancy Time Chic) is my 10 year old AQHA mare. Addie is a great mare but has never been great for a relaxed trail ride, so I wanted a horse that I could have a nice relaxing ride with some friends. I swore it wouldn't be another chestnut mare... but you know how it goes! I love this horse. She is willing to do just about anything, and I have learned so much from her. 

Java is really my sisters horse, but I ride him more than she does due to his tendency to be quite... fresh. Java is a Hackney Pony cross around 7 years old. I have no idea what his past was like, the people we got him from tried to use him for their 5 year old. He was not broke at all and they pretty much gave him away. Java is a spitfire, but he is a blast. I wish I had more time to bring out his full potential, but I hope to someday show him!

What's your favorite horse sport? Do you cross train in other activities?

I have always had a great love for dressage. I think it's an amazing sport and I think it will always be my favorite riding style. Of course, I also enjoy jumping. 

I work at a barn that is almost solely western pleasure and hunt seat pleasure horses. It has been a huge challenge for me to get used to, they are almost all spur broke, which goes against all that I have ever been taught. The riding style is also different. I showed a season with them, and while I really enjoyed it, but I have recently gotten back into dressage and I still think the others do not compare!

Who else in your family rides?

My sister rides occasionally, but not as often as I am sure she would like. My mom used to ride with her mother when she was younger, but doesn't really ride anymore. My dad has never even liked horses. 

What's your proudest equestrian accomplishment?

I tend to be proud of even the smallest of accomplishments, but I think my favorite was last year. I showed a palomino from work in halter, and hunt seat pleasure, I have never shown either before and it caused me a lot of anxiety. He is a halter horse, not really built for riding and was so lazy and explosive that I really struggled at first. By a couple of shows in we really hit our nitch! We ended the year with high point in AQHA and Palomino Halter, Hunt Seat Pleasure Senior horse, AQHA and Palomino, and did well in most other events. I think I was so proud of him, just because I know how challenging it was for him to work correctly even a little. 

What is your lowest moment as a horse owner/rider?

I always hate when I get super frustrated with a horse. But I think the one on my mind right now is a situation at work. We have a really nice 11 year old AQHA that has such a great mind. He began showing lameness late spring and we were unable to really pinpoint where it was coming from. Months later, MANY vet visits (numerous vets) and we are still unable to find the exact cause. He is arthritic in his neck, fetlocks, and hocks and he has graduated to powder puff for the time being. I am sure that he will not be comfortable even in pasture forever. I feel like I haven't done enough for him, even though I know this isn't true... that really sucked. 

He is sooo handsome!

What is the most important small thing you learned in a lesson?

Oh boy... I have learned so much that I think of as important that this is a challenge for me. I think the one thing I think has impacted me the most is the lesson I learned about my own mindset. I used to get so frustrated if things did not go the way I though they should. It took me a long time to just go with the flow and to know when it was time to just get off. 

Do you have any riding rituals or superstitions?

No, not really. 

What are your short term goals for your horse/ you?

My main goal for myself right now is to take a couple of lessons to get my excitement about riding up again. My goal for Addie is to get her going well enough that she can doing even training level Dressage again. (She used to be doing well thrid level, but I do not expect this at all.) Pepsi... I want to get her carrying herself better undersaddle, and wouldn't mind doing some low level showing with her and Java!

Long Term goals?

I want to own my own horse property, and be showing at least one of my horses at least first level. 

If time and money were no object, what is your dream horse vacation?

I am a homebody... my dream vacation would be time off to ride my own horses!

What kind of horse activities were you doing 10 years ago?

I was taking lessons twice a week, and riding my own horses a whole lot more than I do now!

What kind of horse actitivites do you see yourself doing 10 years from now?

I hope to just be happy with my horses, but I would be so happy to own a horse I can show again without worrying about lameness. I would also love to be working with horses more often than I do now to help afford my own!

What is the quirk about your horse that you like the most?

I love that Pepsi is so people oriented, she sticks her nose out for kisses, and sticks her head on your shoulder. Java has an awful head toss out in the pasture... he does it when you lunge him and he doesn't like what he is being asked to do. I think it is hilarious. 

Sometimes I think that my life is to busy to even own my horses. But I really don't know what my life would be without them.
Work this year has been so busy and exhausting that I don't even know how many times I have been able to ride my own horses. I have been riding a bit at work, and I have attempted to ride my quarter horse as much as I can. The other two have unfortunately been sitting for a bit, and I really can't wait until that changes.
I went to another show this weekend and of course not riding does affect how well we do.... We actually got 3rd in four classes, with a 4th in another. I couldn't have asked more of Pepsi, she did everything I asked her to do, but nothing can make up for a lack of time in the saddle.
I really hope to change this soon, I want to ride my own horses more often, and just need to work hard to make that happen.

Spring has officially arrived!

Really spring has been here for quite awhile. Kansas didn't really get a very great winter. There is already a bit of a bug issue so no one is really looking forward to summer when they are here in full force!
We had our first show of the year. I am showing Pepsi this year, and we have never shown more than a fun show here and there. She was a bit of a mess at her first show, not doing anything bad, but she had a hard time settling. I was proud of her though and we met my goals for the show. (No bucking, and just getting our leads.) She really impressed me in our first equitation class together. I was a bit worried because we haven't practiced patterns to much this year, but somehow we managed 2nd in a class of 15! I was so proud of her.

Something else new for me this spring... I invested in chickens for the first time. I have really enjoyed the chicks so far, but I am anxious about making sure their pen is completely predator proof. This is something I have done a lot of research about, but since I live in an area with many trees I am still slightly worried about it.

It's been awhile since I have been here! I'll try to recap the last few months as briefly as I can.
In January we had our year end awards ceremony for our 2015 show season. I was so impressed with how well Dazzle had done, and how our hard work had paid off. A, who had shown Dazzle in some of the approved walk/trot classes and they had also done very well.
We finished with a 1st in AQHA halter. I could have cried at this one. I had really stressed about this class all, as I had never shown halter before! We never really did to bad in any of the classes and I knew that we would likely place in the top three, but I never expected 1st!
We also got 1st in Palamino halter, but there was not near as much competition in this class!
Now I am bias, but I do think Dazzle is a super handsome horse. The hardest thing for me has been getting used to the halter horse judging. I love performance horses, and I had a tough time thinking of Dazzle as something that people strive to breed for. But his personality is definitely the best!
When it came to riding I wasn't expecting much at all. We placed 1st in Palomino Hunter Under Saddle. Again, while there were always horses in the classes with us, I wasn't surprised with this placing.
I also got 1st in Hunt Seat Equitation, 2nd in Bareback Equitation, 2nd in Hunt Seat Pleasure 19 and over, 3rd in Hunt Seat Pleasure, and 2nd in Walk/ Trot equitation. I am forgetting a couple of placings, but overall I was very pleased with how our year ended.
A and Dazzle also did very well. A didn't show  in all of the shows during the year, so I think she was pleased to be getting an award. They did awesome!

I keep getting the question... are you going to show Dazzle again for 2016? I'm not. I didn't particularly love riding him in shows, Sure, I came out of it a much better and more affective rider. And I am sure that he would be awesome this year now that he has it all figured out. But the truth is... He was never bred to be a riding horse... he will always be a halter horse, and this works against him every ride. He will never be able to progress in the show ring, and I really want to show one of my horses this year so I keep growing as well. But no worries! I am still able to see and work with Dazzle everyday!

So my plan had been to show Addie, and I worked towards this for a few weeks before realizing that she is just not going to be ready. Addie has a reputation as being a bit explosive at the canter, and that hasn't changed even though she is 18 this year. I DO want to show her but maybe it will have to be next year. My year is already looking to be so busy, I knew it wouldn't be fair for her or I to expect to do well. 

So Pepsi is my next choice! And I am going to make myself do this! I am also going to dip my toes into Western Pleasure with her. And I am going to help A, who is going to show a horse we both work with this year. She is going to show Rascal in hunt seat (walk/trot) and Halter.

He used to be a roping horse, so we have had quite the challenge getting his head down, but he is coming along. I'm looking forward to this year.

This last few weeks has been vet filled! I always hate when that happens, because it seems to be one thing after another. 

At work one of our horses has been diagnosed with Navicular, and she already has DSLD. Poor girl was pretty sore, but we have her in a full set of shoes, and on pain management and she is as happy as she could be. That was pretty disappointing to us though. 

Dazzle this week actually had a pretty sever Tying Up episode. No one was with him when it happened, but when we found him he was dripping sweat and could barely walk. We had the vet out, he was giving something to make him feel better, but he struggled to walk for a few days. He seems to finally be feeling better and we hope that it was an isolated incident since we have never seen him have an episode before. 

Rascal also had to have a hock injection, which was not really a stressful thing for me, but he hates it because it means he had to be stall confined for a few days. 

And another one of the horses had to have a neurological exam, since she does have some obvious symptoms. Turns out a lot of her problem is age and arthritis in her neck. She has no clue she is limited though!

My own horses all had their vaccinations and teeth done this week. So I gave them most of the week off, and then we had some snow so that bought them a few more days. =]