Baby Watch

This is the time of year when breeding farms and vets are on high alert and getting very little sleep. Foal monitors are constantly being watched, and people get anxious when mares are late especially veteran mares. Well, it's the same situation here, except the veteran mare is me. My midwife even asked me why I was still pregnant the other day. At least we can leave the house without the fear of a chestnut mare going into labor and missing it. 

Jason has been on high alert and not made any specific plans at work. I, however, have made some plans in the hope that Oliver may take exception to them and decide to make an appearance. Unfortunately for me at this moment, he seems to have already accepted that the horses come first and he shouldn't interrupt that. I scheduled the vet for Monday afternoon to do coggins and rabies; looks like I'll make that appointment. 

I have not let being pregnant get in the way of my horsey lifestyle. I hunted the entire last season until we were shut out by the cold and ice at nearly seven months pregnant. At six months pregnant, I got on the three year old little chestnut mare who was just nineteen days past her last race (I also decided to go for a supervised hack with Gena at eight months and an unsupervised hack at nine months; thankfully some chestnut mares have more sense than others). At five months pregnant, I took the big red mare to her first schooling trial. That was not my best idea given that I apparently did not have the mental capacity to read the dressage test correctly (even after discussing it with the judge), I almost forgot the last fence on the cross country course, couldn't find the start cones for stadium resulting in a round that I was super proud of and a technical elimination, and forgot to wrap for the trip home after making a big deal of borrowing wraps to ship in. I have finally had to give in to being pregnant, though, in the last couple weeks. (I rode both mares last weekend and could barely walk the fifteen feet from the living room to the bathtub.) Despite good road conditions and lovely weather this weekend, I declined to get on a horse. Instead, we focused on ground driving down the road and back. I even decided to leave Gena alone on Sunday feeling my body was just not up to dealing with the antics of a very green horse on her second trip with long lines. But this did give Charles a chance to go for his first real hack (outside the barn yard and down the road) on The Pony; his balance has improved dramatically over the winter. 

The down time I've had for the last couple weeks (I even had to stop running on the elliptical) has given me plenty of time to move my nesting tendencies from the house into the barn and think about our goals and how to achieve them this season. Being bored has given me plenty of mental space to think about pursuing lofty goals. This year, Grace and I will focus on our dressage goals.  Originally, I had just planned on doing the schooling show series of our local Central Vermont Dressage Association (CVDA) and maybe a schooling trial. Now, however, I'm thinking we should shoot for at least qualifying for USDF Regionals. The big hurdle to this lofty goal is finances. 

My horsey plans and goals exist on a shoestring budget. That means that between the saddle I had to buy last fall and the upcoming round of spring shots, farrier, and a very-much-needed-or-don't-even-bother-doing-anything-other-than-hacking-and-letting-the-issue-become-worse chiro session for Grace, plus two schooling shows, all the money I managed to save from a lot of clipping last fall and hostessing at a restaurant all fall/winter a few days a week is about to go bye-bye. A toddler, a newborn, and husband with long, inflexible work hours means that my hostessing job is a thing of the past, and there's very little clipping to be done outside of mid-September to mid-December around here. I am left trying to figure out how to keep shoes on my horse after May 1 let alone how to pay for all the memberships, registration fees, show fees, and lessons required to even attempt my goal of attempting to qualify for Regionals. Hmmmm... 

And now my return to foal, I mean baby, watch. Hurry up Oliver, there's only a few weeks left until the first show of the year. 

Go ride a chestnut mare. 

Meet the mares

Welcome. I have created this blog to share my crazy journey of trying to have it all. On a tiny budget. I live in one of the horsey-est parts of Vermont with my wonderful husband Jason, a two year old son Charles, another baby boy on the way, and two young chestnut, thoroughbred mares. I am a stay at home mum with goals of running a boarding stable and remaking OTTBs into sport horses. I'm also a chestnut mare myself.

Miss Grace is my main horse. Around here, she's known as the Big Red Mare. She's 16.2hh and a little weird. (My husband would be giving me the hairy eyeball right now while saying, "A little weird, honey!?") Okay, she and I might be birds of a feather who come across as somewhat normal and sane during the summer but completely nuts and neurotic during the long winters up here. She was essentially a freebie who I bought sight unseen last year as a five year old. The only back story I had on her was that she'd been seized from a trainer who was banned from Suffolk Downs. She's not tattooed. After coming off the track, she went to be a mount for some professional hunt staff but was almost immediately sent south for the winter with the other hunt horses to gain weight. Weight is a constant struggle with her.  We spent the summer working with Peter Atkins who just happened to be spending the summer in the barn directly across the street from our tiny cottage. She progressed beautifully from a horse who had difficulty with the idea of walking past the barn into a horse with incredible brain and heart. She has a willingness to do anything I ask of her. She fox hunted a number of times when I could manage to get her out (not having a trailer or truck of my own limits me a bit). I took her to her first schooling trial when I was five months pregnant. We won't discuss results because my pregnant brain couldn't manage to even read the dressage test correctly, focus on parts of the cross country course, or actually make it through the start flags for stadium. Grace is truly one of a kind.

Then there's the Little Red Mare. Mum and I picked Get Behind Me, or Gena, up at Suffolk Downs last fall just hours after her last race. She is a tiny, little thing with more personality than body. She hasn't quite hit 15hh; I'm really hoping for at least that last quarter inch. At barely four, I may still get my wish. She's mostly just hung out since coming off the track at the tail of the last race season, but is so far proving to have all the great qualities of a chestnut mare: excellent brain and a willingness to try everything. I have gotten on her three times to just walk down the road this winter. Each time being significantly more pregnant than the last. Thankfully, some chestnut mares have more sense than others, and she has just marched down the road and back politely without incident.

There's also The Pony. Snickers is a 13hh, 14 year old liver chestnut gelding. He is the absolute boss of the herd. It's not a difficult position to achieve in our little herd, but he's quite proud of it. There's no doubt of his being a pony. While he is good under saddle and excellent with Charles, he also has a knack for finding the weakest point in the fence, or knowing when the fence charger isn't set to "fry pony" level. He's also quite aware that barriers such as stall guards and people openings in the new fence are not intended for ponies of his size.