Yesterday marked one year with Cash. Since we got him he has moved 3 times, gotten a brother, and met some crazy looking creatures (goats). It’s been quite the journey.
I don’t remember how many people I called and emailed about various horse ads. I knew I wanted a good sized horse that had English riding experience. I don’t know what in particular led us to Cash other than fate. He had lived at the same place since he was just a few months old, so about 11 years without moving, new NEIGHbors (see what I did there), etc.
The people we bought him from were an older couple who had showed and bred Rocky Mountain horses and they were selling their farm to move to be close to their grandkids. They sold off all 50 of their horses off and Cash was one they kept til near the end; one of five when we visited and the only one remotely in our price range besides a young horse that had never been ridden. Cash was advertised as one of the horses they personally rode and he’d had both English and Western experience.
No jumping, but then again, Rockies aren’t made for that.
Unfortunately, he’d had someone ride him a lot who had taught him to trot so he lost the natural gaiting that Rockies are known to have, which feels like you’re sitting in a rocking chair when they move quickly rather than, you know, a horse. Supposedly they are gentler for the rider which makes them ideal for someone like us with back pain.
So you’d think we would have passed him by, but he is gorgeous and has such a fun personality (we were told he was quite a prankster, having learned to opened gates and let the other horses out as well as carrying off power tools when he felt he wasn’t getting enough attention).
We moved him to a boarding facility about 20 minutes from our house and because I’m the person I am, I insisted we feed him ourselves twice a day instead of paying the boarding facility owner to feed him.
Yes, we were in the car 80 minutes a day because of a horse.
And yes, it was worth it.
It helped the bond and it helped us become better horse people. We would ride him, take him for long walks (by foot), and work on his hip that turned out to be a bit problematic due to an injury when he was just a few days old.
About 3 weeks or so into our horse experience we were kicked out of the boarding facility. There was tons of drama there and one woman who seemed a little…difficult… and accused our horse of breaking a fence trying to get out. Not something we had ever seen or experienced. In the end it was us asked to leave since we were the newest boarders.
It’s HARD to find places to board around here. I mean, the good places often having 2 year waits. I’m still on a few waiting lists, now that I think of it, and haven’t heard that I’m next in line yet.
We somehow stumbled upon a cowboy riding place 12 minutes from our house that had space for us and seemed like so much less drama (I ride English but I’ve definitely noticed less drama in the western horse world!) This place didn’t have the sand arenas I prefer, but they did have miles and miles of trails. That made Christine happy. And we didn’t have another choice anyway, so we moved him there and hoped for the best.
Moving horses is also no easy task when you own neither trailer nor truck. Eek. But it all worked out and we were all happy at this new facility. So happy that a couple months in we decided to add a second horse to our family on December 31st.
When we moved the boys in May we noticed how much easier the adjustment was now that they had each other. They may not always love each other but they stick together and who can blame them; loneliness is the pits.
We have not ridden Cash since he moved in with us. Funny enough when we did end up getting a trainer we learned that he is much greener than the old owners led us to believe. Finding that out made me nervous about riding him, and then when we did take the horses for a walk on our property, something we did a lot before, he acted really energetic in a way that made me fearful. Our trainer has been out 3-4 times since we’ve moved and only ridden him once, recognizing that he’s got a lot of energy right now and needs more ground work before he’s ridden.
Unfortunately we had to take the round pen down when the goat pen was built so there’s not a great safe place to run him, so he just hasn’t gotten a lot of training in this year. He gets tons of attention, don’t get me wrong; we feed him three times a day and hang out with him, pet him, talk to him.
In a way I think both the horses think they’ve moved to a retirement home which makes them happy. No work? All play? Who wouldn’t love that.
My goals have been so goat focused that I just typed “goats” instead of “goals.” And I just did it again. I made an appointment and told someone they needed my goat code instead of my gate code. Goats are clearly taking up all my brain space right now. I had hoped they would be a good way for me to earn extra income since my old business and country living are not congruent. So they were my focus and the horses slid down a notch.
But I’d like the horses to be useful. I’d like them to use their brains. I’d like the trainer out again with goals of having both of them be rider friendly again. Cash is not the kind of horse we would lend out for visitors to ride. He’s just not. But to have him be rideable for us so that we could go on evening trail rides together would be amazing. So that’s my goal in the next year.
It’s been a good year, Cash. We would not have a farm had it not been for you. <3 You started it all, along with Barbara Kingsolver’s book “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.” We owe you one.
