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.