That Warm, Fuzzy Feeling

I have always been an animal-lover and grew up with them pretty much my entire life. When I became a mom, I could only hope that at least one of my kids loved animals as much as I did. 

Hmm... is there an extra member in the family?

For the past month, since we moved into the new house, my child has been telling everyone that we have dog...which we don't. 

Currently. 

I have been working on that with my husband though. He, unlike me, did not grow up with animals at home. However he knew what he was getting himself into when he married me. Quest was just the beginning and he knows very well that I love dogs. 

For forever, I've had my heart set on adopting a retired racing greyhound. I still would like one but for the sake of my marriage, I kept my eye on short-term arrangements (e.g.; fostering a shelter animal) to ease DH into the idea of longer commitment. 

After attending the 4-H Fair, I re-discovered the Seeing Eye Puppy Raising Program. In order to become an official Puppy Raiser, everyone has to start off by Puppy Sitting. This helps the Raiser if they are traveling away and unable to take the puppy with them and people who are new to the program can get valuable hands-on experience taking care of a program puppy. Win-win. 

We attended our very first 4-H Puppy Club meeting last night and it was a great experience for the whole family. The training was an hour long and went through all the basics. My kids were actually very well behaved for a 4yo and 2yo toddlers...but eventually got antsy. Thankfully halfway through the club leader allowed all of us, kids and other adults, to come and pet the dogs all over as part of the socialization training.  My kids loved that part the most.

For what I could observe so far, it seems to be a nice, low-key community. Folks in this club were all ages from different walks of life. Some of them were new, very new like us. A few of them were on their 4th, 10th puppy. Everyone was very welcoming and generous with help and encouragement.  

My son was sad we had to leave Puppy Club without a puppy.

Barn Days = Best Days

The house still has areas that look like cardboard explosions went off, but the whole family needed a break from unpacking. Couple that with the multiple birthday parties and weddings we attended this past month, we all barely had any time to relax. 

We somehow managed to have a rare free day this past weekend though and decided to spend a slow Saturday morning at the barn. 

The kids love doting on Quest. They make it a personal mission to find her the best patches of grass and love to brush her shoulder and legs. 

I also pulled out the nippers and rasp to do a quick maintenance trim. The mixed terrain of the pasture has helped keep her feet in decent shape. I rarely have a ton to do asides from heel height (pesky clubfoot) and cleaning up overgrown areas to rebalance.

The gelding posse awaits her return. 
Her most loyal follower, golden boy Atlas, is in first photo. 

We finished up the barn visit with a quick bath. The temperature was rising quickly, so I wanted to leave Quest feeling a little more comfortable. Mareface expressed her appreciation promptly with a nice roll in the dust. 

Our family then headed over to the local 4-H fair. We try to support the organization each year by attending their events and plus the kids love all the sights and sounds!

On the Move

 As promised, here is the big news...! 

After almost a year of searching, we found THE ONE. My husband and I were very particular about where and what we wanted. There were a few times it would have been easier, so much easier, to compromise but I'm glad we held out for the right family home to finally come along. 

The full story about our house-hunting adventure is a lot. I'll save that saga for a late night fireside/backyard firepit chat someday later. 

We have been very busy packing up and will officially start moving in our things this upcoming weekend. I'm very excited to re-organize my horse tack and art desk and will share photos when things are mostly set up. 

With the move/new home location, I now have most of mid-NJ accessible to me via major highways. As a result, I have been searching for a new place for Quest as well and have reached out to several barns. Most of the places I've found so far only have stalls with day turnout though so it might be tough finding a place with just pasture. It would be wonderful to have her close to home again. I miss our evening trail rides together. 

Keeping all fingers crossed that something good turns up!

Core Memories

Wow, it's been quite a while since I've updated here in blogger-verse. The year is already halfway over and this is my first post of 2025. There is very good reason for that though and hopefully things in my little slice of life are finally settling down after a very chaotic and crazy eight, nine months. But more on that later...

As for other news, time is moving right along. The kiddos are growing like weeds every day and Quest is doing well as ever with her herd buddies and pasture. We do trail ride from time to time but mostly, it has been little family bareback tandem rides in the arena and around the barn property. My best mareface has never set a foot wrong with the kids. I'm so very grateful to be able to share her and this very important part of my life with my children. 

I admit, I can't help trying to guess which one of them would catch the horse bug like I did. At the moment, my bet is on my daughter. 

During our last barn visit, my son was more interested in just hanging out with the horses by the fence. My baby girl, on the other hand, was so excited to help get Quest ready for our ride. She took out each grooming tool and was systematically using them on mareface. Seeing my 2-year old loving on her mommy's horse is forever now a core memory. 

I still have riding goals and things that I want to do, though now I get to look forward to those adventures together with my family. It is really a feeling like no other.

Baby T's First Ride

Summer is flying by much too quickly. We have been so very busy, and thankfully...it's the good kind of busy.

I have been meaning to get T riding months ago but the drive to the barn is long enough that she was always completely out for her mid-morning nap. Now that T is older, she's also awake for longer stretches. A few weeks ago, we had a (rare) free weekend morning and it turned out to be a perfect family time at the barn. 

After grabbing Quest from the field and getting her groomed and tacked up in the little S-hackmore and bareback pad, we headed over to the outdoor. I hopped on first to knock the rust off and then C got his tandem pony ride in first. He really enjoyed telling me where to put Quest's feet. As we serpentined and wound our way around the barrels and traffic cones, C kept asking if we could go over the small jumps that were already set up in the outdoor arena. Maybe one day haha 

During this entire time, my husband was having quite a time keeping T from trying to climb the fence into the arena. It was such a magical moment to see her face light up when she finally got on Quest, nothing but smiles and happy baby laughs. 

I guess I can finally officially say that both my kids have ridden Quest now. Words don't express how grateful I am to have a rock-steady and sane mare like her. She just knows what is needed from her in the moment and goes right into babysitting mode when the kids are around. She's truly my once-in-a-lifetime horse.