Feel the Fear - Do it Anyway

She's coming.

Today.

I'm freaking out.

Scared.

Thrilled.

Hopeful.

I took this chance, please let this be wonderful.

Welcome "Little Bear".

WarHorse - a refresher

After my post yesterday mentioning the play WarHorse, I went back and I found my blog post from almost 2 years ago when I first heard about this production. Reposting it here with links (which hopefully still work) to keep everyone up to date!
SolitaireMare's blog post about WarHorse

WarHorse and the mare

I had the pleasure of seeing WarHorse a week ago on the first night of previews of it's run on Broadway at Lincoln Center. If you love animals and in particular if you love horses you can't help but be moved by this drama. The music is beautiful and stirring and the equine puppetry is more breathtaking in person. It was a full house and I had gotten great orchestra seats. We were sitting close to the aisle. At one point in the play, the horse Joey is led up the aisle and away from the stage - he walked right past our seats! How cool to see him so close!

By the end I was crying. I was one of the first in our section to stand up for the ovation and here I am clapping and tears are streaming down my face. I had dreamed of seeing this show from the very first times I'd heard about it. It was magical to finally have that wish come true! I'm planning on buying tickets for after the show officially opens to compare what I saw in previews to the "official" performance.

And the mare that On The Bit and I checked out? She's getting her spring shots and a coggins pulled. As soon as all that is cleared from her vet, she will be coming here for a pre-purchase trial. I am happy and yet scared, too. It's getting closer...

When Horse Bloggers Meet!

This weekend had the potential for yet another depressing blog post. On Saturday, my labrador puppy was hit and killed by a car when he escaped our fenced back yard. The poor goofy guy never made it to his first birthday, which is this upcoming Wednesday. My husband was devastated and I can tell he's still feeling very bad. My kids are sad and asking too many questions. My parents are upset.

I'm numb.

I had a "go see" meeting scheduled for Sunday in NJ to check out a young horse. I didn't know if I should cancel, or just go anyway. The ad for this horse was sent to me from On The Bit over at "A Horse and a Half ". She's sent me ads for horses before and this time I asked her to come on over and help me check out this horse. I figured having her there and getting to actually meet her was worth the trip, even if the horse wasn't suitable for me.

It was a pleasure meeting her! She's said before it feels like we've already met and know each other and in a sense, that's true. She writes so often and so well, I completely relate to her involvement with horses and it was so comfortable and familiar talking with her about this prospect. It felt as if we'd checked horses out before. She has a good, critical eye and we agreed on things we saw. She took video of me riding the horse and we critiqued it together.

As for the horse? She was cute, green and a definite maybe. It seems I've been offered a chance to bring this one in on a trial basis. I am working towards that, now. So many things to coordinate to bring a horse into your life and it still may not be "the one"!

Riding Lesson Tonight

The end of another week and it's time for my children's riding lessons. However, one of them is having a sticky point in his riding. Two weeks ago the pony he was riding in his lesson got a little spooky. Though my son wasn't hurt and in fact did a good job of controlling the pony and getting him to settle down, he did get a little rattled by it and has now insisted on going back on the lunge line to do anything faster than a walk.

His brother will canter for the first time tonight. Their trainer (who I call "the Master" in case you have forgotten or didn't know due to my erratic posting schedule) thinks it would be good for the suddenly timid brother to have a few weeks off from lessons, and then to return to the saddle as the weather warms up. He's also counting on the competitiveness between the two of them as an extra push to get Mr. Scaredy pants back on track. I agreed. So in the meantime, I asked to take his time slot and have a lesson myself with Ruby, my half-boarding horse.

I'm tired of going in circles. I need to jump around and as long as Ruby is feeling up to it we'll do some work over fences tonight. I've been sliding into that emotional ditch again lately where the horses are concerned and need something to divert me. I hope the Master gives me a good challenge tonight.

Rescue? Maybe not for me

At the moment I respectfully passed on the rescue/rehoming horse. I met the horse. He was very sweet and walked right up to me and nuzzled me as if he'd known me his whole life. I met his owner and the woman handling the adoption. I couldn't try riding the horse because of all the ice and snow in her paddock but she was willing to send the horse out on trial to see if we were a good match.

Sounds pretty good I know, but after reading through the adoption restrictions and finding out more about this particular arrangement I decided it just wasn't something I was comfortable with. I guess I didn't realize that adoption is a form of leasing a horse. You don't actually own the horse. The person who adopted the horse to you does. You are paying for everything but ultimately, you are under the control of the person who allowed you to adopt the horse.

I have been a responsible horse owner for over 30 years. I am not comfortable with having to run my decisions past someone any time I need to do something with the horse. I started to envision what that might entail and began to realize that it could be a very frustrating arrangement for me;

For example - say I wanted to change boarding barns to one that is closer to my home, and I've known the place for years and I trust the management. Before I can do that, the adoptor must approve of the place. Now, maybe the adoptor of the horse has a poor opinion of that barn, for whatever reason. Technically, she can say "no" and I can't do anything about it, even though it may be a better situation for me.

So I'm back to zero again. I am just so bitter and mistrusting of all of this. This is the 3rd or 4th time I've backed away from something that I initially had optimism about.

My greatest sadness is to be sitting here in July, a year after losing Rugby and still nothing. A year without a horse of my own? I never imagined...

Hug your Horsey Valentine

If you are lucky enough to have a horse to love, give him or her a hug for Valentine's Day. And another hug from me.

Rescue/rehoming horse may or may not be the thing for me. Not sure I'm settled with the details of the situation. The search may go on...