Back into the world of boarding
I rode the spoon in the dark and scary round pit of death tonight. Yes, I’m being slightly dramatic but I’ve decided to dub it the D&SRPoD for the following reasons:
- At night, it’s really dark (see yesterday’s video, but the video camera picks up much less light than your eyes do so…) One of the reasons I chose my current barn is because they have lights for night riding, and the round pen is well lit except for one corner where a tree covers up the light and it’s a little pit of blackness
- The footing is really deep around the edges of the round pen, and needs a dragging like there’s no tomorrow
- The round pen is in the mare pasture, and tonight several mares came up with a “Hey there big boy” attitude while I was riding… Naturally, the Spoon was interested.
It sounds like I’m complaining about the barn, but I do like it out there. Everyone is super friendly and laid back. They all love the TSP and compliment me on him almost endlessly. I’m sure it’s just because he’s adorable and we’re new, but it’s nice to hear. There are plenty of people to go trail riding with on the weekends if I co-ordinate in time. The facilities are very safe, and the owners and boarders care and look out for all the horses on the property. So that being said, it’s a great place and I’m glad to have found it. I’ve never chosen a boarding barn “blind” without knowing any horse people in the area, so I feel pretty lucky to have found a good place.
The downside is, I’m just a bit spoiled from from my last awesome establishment and I’m not used to how most western/Texas boarding barns work. Tsp is the first horse I’ve ever pasture boarded, which so far I really like. Tonight I was told that I needed to buy my own feed, something I’ve never had to do and wasn’t really prepared for. The good news is I’m not going to be giving him a lot, just enough to give him some supplements and some extra roughage (beet pulp). I’ve also never been at a primarily trail riding barn, so finding a place to ride is sometimes challenging. On the week nights i stick to lunging or riding in the round pen because it’s the most well lit area. On the weekends I’ve wanted to try a big grassy field with a few jumps (won’t be jumping, but would like to ride in the field) but they turn horses out there on rotations because it’s … well, a nice grassy field. So that I understand. The other riding area occasionally has a horse or two in it as well, so that’s an interesting riding situation even though the other horse was really well behaved and didn’t bother us.
So good place, just getting used to the differences. One thing I am wary of is the laid back attitude of the place. I don’t consider myself a stuffy or snobby equestrian by any means, but I was told flat out that they didn’t like high maintenance people at the barn and those kind of people weren’t allowed to stay. So I have been trying to walk the line of making sure I have everything me and my horse needs, and not being high maintenace – haha.
On the spoon front, we rode int he round pen tonight and he was pretty good. Not nearly as spooky as I thought he might be, which was great. He’s the most evasive horse I’ve ever ridden, and I really have to push him but tonight we did some trotting and walk/trot transitions. I had better luck keeping a forward trot with him than I did last weekend in the ring. Just gotta keep at it, and keep shoving Tsp full of treats so he thinks this is all a good idea after all.
