Current Horse Status: Quota Filled

When first moving to Arkansas, I had no access to any horses whatsoever (other than peering mournfully at them while driving past--then remembering to watch the road and trying not to hit anybody). Within two months I was about to go crazy.

 

I know that to be obsessed with horses is something of a stereotype for girls. (Just look at the hugely disproportionate ratio of girls to guys in any equine sport. Except maybe steer wrestling. Or team roping. But I digress.) I also know that it's a terrible thing to be horse-crazed and horse-less. It's like being homesick, or being hungry for a food that you can't find, or missing a friend who lives a thousand miles away.

 

In other words, it's a terrible feeling.

 

Around December, I took it upon myself to fix this quandary, and turned to the first thing that I could think of: Google.

 

(Before you hate on Google: through it I found the ranch, the salon where I chopped my hair off last summer, and it has assisted me in countless measure in the past. But I digress again.)

 

I Googled horse barns in northwest Arkansas, put together a list that seemed likely, and made a few phone calls. For brevity, let's just say that the first place was all right, but too far away. The second place wasn't quite as far, but still a fair distance (especially since I wanted to avoid having to drive much). The lady there, Diane, was super nice--I had called and asked a few questions, and she invited me out on a Saturday to help feed and get the feel of the place.

 

After a couple of hours opening gates and meeting horses and traveling hither and yon on the back of a 4-wheeler, Diane mentioned that one of her students might appreciate having a riding buddy. She gave me the name and the address for where she worked, and the next week I made a little side trip to meet Sabrina.

 

Again, for brevity: I met Sabrina and her husband Danny, we chatted for a while about what I was looking for in a place to ride, and I went out the next day to meet the horses. She and her husband had just gotten a few young horses back from the trainer, and that first evening I rode a colt named Peanut. (He only bucked twice. XD) The next time I rode an older horse, then a younger one, then the older one again...and before I knew it, Sabrina,  Danny, and I were riding horses several times a week. In addition, the second time I was over Sabrina invited me to supper. The third time I was invited to Danny's mother's for supper (she lives on the same property, in a different house). The fourth time, it was assumed that I would join them for supper.

 

Now I'm over there a few times a week and usually end up eating there at least twice a week. It blows my mind to see famous Southern hospitality in action, in addition to their generosity in allowing me to come whenever I want to play with their horses.

 

Speaking of which, it's time to introduce the four-legged characters that I see regularly. (Most of them, anyway.)

 

Socks

 

Socks is 15, mostly quarter horse, and while he's probably had the most training out of all of the horses, he's more reactive and twitchy than the others. By 'reactive' I mean that if I'm using leg pressure to get him to move faster, and thump him harder than he's expecting, he'll dart off to the side rather than just speed up. He also has this thing about zig-zagging, especially when one is trying to slow him down.

 

These quirks aside, he's actually pretty fun to ride. Even though sometimes he's a twerp. XD

Peanut

Peanut is the kind of horse who seems to think he's a dog. He's gregarious, loves people, is tremendously curious about EVERYTHING, and loves to run and play. The first few times I rode him he like to throw in a little buck here and there, with the occasional attempt to bolt, but lately he's calmed down a lot. The only issue now is that he has two levels of activity: "go as fast as possible" or "dead stop and don't move". But we're working on it.

 



Eve (or Sugah)

Then there's Eve. (Or Sugah, depending on how sweet she is that day.) She really is sweet--though extremely lazy. I used to ride her with a lead rope tied around the horn, so I could whack her with the end when her flanks of steel refused to acknowledge my heels pounding her sides. She's started waking up, though, and is usually ridden by Sabrina's friend Carla. Carla is getting older and doesn't want to ride anything that would buck her off or give her trouble...so Eve is perfect for her.

 

Biscuit

This is Sabrina's personal horse. And he has a topline to die for. (Even if he can have a bit of an attitude. XD)

 



Louie

Louie was gorgeous, athletic, and dangerous. (Sounds like a description from a bad romance. O.e) But seriously: they think that the trainer had done something to him, and the result was a horse that couldn't be touched, much less caught, and he had a disconcerting tendency to rear up and strike at anyone who tried to work with him. He would also rush at said person working with him, and kicked the new trainer in the hip after seeming perfectly calm and quiet.

 

Needless to say, Louie is no longer there.

 

(Honestly, though, I felt bad for the poor guy: he'd been put through the wringer, then brought to a strange place, ran in circles with a makeshift lasso halter on his head, made to do things that he wasn't comfortable with, and responded in the only way he knew how. I'm not saying that it was a good way, but I also think that his 'training' could have been handled in a much better way.)

 



Grace

This is one of the blue roan mares on property--they arrived with Louie, and are equally skittish with less violence.

 



Brix

The second blue roan mare. They have nice eyes, but as I said earlier: they're quite skittish and it's difficult to do anything with them.

I didn't get any pictures of the two new geldings either--they're older and untrained, but have awesome, quiet, mature personalities. I can't wait until they get back and we're able to actually do something with them.

And that's the herd so far...the only issue I've run into is the fact that there's so many horses to choose from. Terrible problem, right? But that means that each horse has something specific that needs work. By switching around from day to day or week to week, each issue is never fully addressed because I'm not spending enough time with each one. And then instead of being enjoyable it becomes something of a job because I have goals that aren't being met, and artificial stress is created due to the lack of goal-meeting....sigh.

In other words, I need to get my act together. This seems to be my mantra for life anymore, except for when it comes to work.