New Year, New View (of a Green Pasture)

Moving is always stressful. The boxes, packing, transferring utilities and going to the Post Office to forward the mail, saying goodbye to old friends and then being the new person. Well, should I ever move homes in the future, I need to take it all in stride like Knight did a few days ago when he left his R & R boarding facility and touched down in his new home. He walked off the trailer like he was meant to be there, and promptly found some scraps of hay on the ground and a nearby patch of grass.

There were no shrill whinnies, no head up in the air, no nervous number two. I overheard someone use the word “gentleman” to describe him. Later when he was turned out in the pasture which doubles as a cross country field, he befriended a Friesian. Knight clearly loves his new home.

Over the weekend (Saturday) there was a torrential downpour and, I had anxiety that my poor baby outside with no roof over his head would be sad and dejected and cold. When I caught him (Sunday), he looked as happy as could be, his left side was crusty mud. (He walked right over to me too which is fabulous because it’s an eight acre field!)

Green Pastures

In case you missed it, over the last few months I have been wooed by the scenic vistas of mountains and vineyards, pastures, and good, old-fashioned horse keeping that I’ve become re-aquainted with thanks to my experiences going out with the local fox hunt several times.

Coming from the Midwest to California, I have never felt comfortable with the common lifestyle for most horses near where I live–a lifestyle that generally means 23 hours per day standing in a stall.

Over the last year I’ve thought about writing a blog post titled “Open Letter to All the Owners of ‘Horse’ Property With No Turnout in SoCal.” In it, I would rail on “them” (same people as “they”) for cramming horses into too-small spaces. It reminds me of the airlines trying to fit more seats on a plane–those horse property owners who cram more stalls or pipe corrals together rather than reserving open space for horses to frolic and play.

A Major Tangent Illustrating How Too Many Stalls is Like the Airlines Getting Greedy

By the way, have you flown on a 737 recently? I traveled to Chicago and back on one (about a 3.5-4 hour flight) for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. I could not get over how cramped it was! I told a flight attendant on the Thanksgiving flight that I did not remember there being so little leg room and such a narrow bathroom. She said the plane was older, but had been remodeled and agreed it was tight. She even admitted wondering why the 737 was being used for a longer flight like CA to IL. For example, when I took my laptop out and set it on the tray table, I could not even type because I was essentially on top of it and the angle was terrible! And the bathroom is so narrow. If you’ve had too much dessert, don’t even try to squeeze in.

Back to Knight, at any rate, it didn’t really occur to me that I could board Knight somewhere so far out in the country until. . . I began talking to different people from the hunt. A number of them live an hour or more away (Knight’s new digs are 66 miles from my house–about an hour and 5 minutes to an hour and 20–and, of course, it’s not at all near my school-it’s the opposite direction, 40 miles from my house–glad I have a plug-in electric hybrid).

I know horses are adaptable creatures, and many of them thrive in a highly-structured equestrian center type environments. I just don’t think Knight is that type of horse. I’ve had more health concerns with him that my three previous horses combined (too thin even though I’m feeding him a ton, ongoing ulcers, narcolepsy in the cross ties, mild colic more times than I can count, getting cast a handful of times, and that 10-day hospital stay for colic that freaked me out and was $$$$$.) Speaking of dollar signs, paying for pasture board is significantly less $. And for that I’m super grateful. (I’m happy to share the going rate of things out here in CA if you want to send me a message and ask.)

Hey Good Looking

Knight has never looked as good as he does now, having been about half on pasture and half in a stall for the last several months. The throat muscle that was really developed when he was 23/7 in a more traditional stall or pipe corral has receded. I can’t say he’s stopped cribbing because I’m not monitoring him at all times, but he had this demeanor before of like an addict getting a hit when he’d crib. Now he doesn’t have that vibe.

So 2019 is going to be an interesting year. My goal is to learn as much as I can in this new sport and spot and to have a happy horse. We’re on the first page of Chapter One and boy it feels good.

Share your comment (scroll down): What are your thoughts on horses in a pasture v. in a stall with limited turnout? What is your 2019 Chapter One going to be about?

Do you hang out on social media? Yasss!!! Come find Knight and me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Trot along with us!