Meeting Quest

I finally got to meet my horse yesterday, exactly a month since I bought her.

Quest got moved to the barn last week while I was on vacation with my family. My friends kept an eye on things while I was away and turned her out in the round pen for some exercise but didn't do much with her other than that. So I set out yesterday after work to finally meet my girl, still not exactly sure of what I would find but hoping for the best.

When I arrived at the barn, I finally allowed myself to feel the rush of excitement I had been trying to keep down all day long. Lead line in hand, I walked up to Quest's stall and was immediately greeted by dainty muzzle and expressive doe-like eyes. She breathed me in and I said hello in turn, talking quietly and softly as the biggest smile spread over my face. I worked the latch open on her stall door and stepped inside. Quest politely backed up to make room for me and I scratched her neck as I fastened the lead line and walked outside to see her in better light. Everything about Quest screams Arab. Her size is best described as petite but she is SO solidly built.

Asides from turnout and her stall, she didn't get much of a chance to see the rest of facility so we went on a small tour. We first checked out the indoor/outdoor arena which gave me a chance to see how she reacts to new environments with me by her side. I was glad to see that she is curious but not fearful. I showed her the corners, the sticky parts by the fences outside- she took all in stride and moved on without a second hesitation. Since we had more room to work, we did some simple groundwork- yield at the hunches, backing up, whoa, etc. The latter needs some work but the basics are definitely there. My friends who were watching the entire time commented that she tracks beautifully. Next we went out to the round pen so I could see her move at liberty. She was much more interested in hanging out with the neighbors' horses than running around but when she did move, it was with athletic grace. It started to get dark so the last thing of the day was cross-ties. Quest had never been in the main barn before and she behaved reasonably well. I did have quite the time re-instilling in her how to stand still in the cross ties (someone was very interested in showing the geldings in the stalls on either side that she was a pretty lady...) but we finally got it.

I was able to groom her and even pick up feet, and omg she's got such SOLID barefoot hooves. She has a chip in her LH which can be addressed in a couple of trims. It'll be something for me to learn and observe.

Still need to evaluate how she is undersaddle of course but wow, I can't be more pleased with how lucky I got with her. While I wait for my saddle to arrive, it's going to be ground work and lots of handwalking. So much to learn, I can't wait.

Ownership

I found my first horse, a horse I can call my very own.

As some of you may know, I've been looking at endurance prospects for quite awhile. I found a few I liked, but nothing in the end worked out. I was browsing my usual websites and links last week when this girl caught my eye.

Hip #62 was a 15hh 2004 registered National Show Horse mare. The volunteers who handled her at auction could not stop raving about how awesome she was- solid W/T/C, floaty trot, and even tried a jump. She said to have been a lesson horse at one point in her life. One volunteer watched her being ridden for 20 minutes and was tempted to buy her for herself. Her temperament was friendly and her breeding impeccable with proven endurance horses that had lots of heart.

I spent a few more minutes wistfully looking at her pictures before I went to bed that evening, telling myself she sounded perfect but it wasn't prudent to buy a horse, especially my first horse, sight unseen. I had a very restless night and barely got any sleep...I just could NOT get her out of my mind. I checked the mare's ad again the next morning while at work. She still had not been sold but her page was flooded with comments from people who were interested in her. I felt like I had no chance but I needed to try so I called, the phone rang. No one picked up and the call went to voice mail. I felt my stomach drop. Trying to steady my voice, I left a message with my name and call back number asking if #62 was still available. I hung up and of course, I could not concentrate on anything work-related. My head was reeling partly at the fact that I had just worked up the nerve to purchase a horse and partly in slight panic that she could have been bought right from under my nose.

Couple minutes later my voice mail alert chimed. I hadn't received any phone calls though. Bewildered, I checked the caller id and saw it was the feedlot returning my call. I quickly called back and a lady on the other end answered. She was told me that yes #62 was still available and in fact she had just gotten off of the phone with someone else who asked about her but kept hemming and hawing and decided to think about it more. I bluntly told her that I was really nervous about buying a horse that I've never seen before but I felt like I needed to call. The lady was very understanding and took the time to answer my questions. She started working at the feedlot because that's where her own daughter found her horse. The purchase would be a leap of faith but the girls that worked with the mare really took a shine to her and she was everyone's favorite. I took a deep breath, and said "Let's do it." Five minutes later, Hip #62 was mine.

The rest of the day was a blur and flurry of activity as I called all my horse friend contacts and got set up with boarding and arranged for transportation and quarantine. The next day, the lady called me back for additional details and then she was like "Oh I forgot to tell you her name, I figured you'd might like to know."

The feedlot has rule about not letting releasing identifying information like registered names or tattoos about horses during the auction. As her new owner, I was entitled to know her registered name since she came with her papers but I had forgot to ask when I bought her. The handful of people that I had shared the news with had been helping me come up with barn names for her. I'm usually VERY good at coming up with fitting names but for some odd reason nothing came to mind when I thought of this mare. Nothing seemed to fit.

"Her name is Quest....Liberty Quest." It sounded perfect to me.

Riding Gig & Watercolors

Things have been quiet the past couple of months. Since no more Rori, I’ve been putting my time (and money) towards lessons which seemed to have paid off tremendously. Couple weeks ago I had a schedule conflict so did the lesson with another instructor who was 100% new to me. Within 10 minutes, she complimented me on my seat, high praise all around, and said that I was going to become very good rider- Cue biggest smile on my face for the rest of the night. The lessons have been great but I needed more saddle time. Plus I still missed Rori a lot and I needed a distraction. My friend has been trying to set me up with horses at the barn she rides at but very long story short, it’s been one set back after the other. It has been so frustrating to the point that I’ve decided to hell with leasing and I’m going to get my own horse instead. So I started looking at endurance prospects. I looked everywhere and had all of my local FB endurance friends keeping an eye out for me. Finally I found her. A 15yo gray mare that I was smitten with, pretty much 100% ready to buy and literally pending a test ride.  She was set to do her first 50 this past weekend with one of my friends piloting so I decided to wait until the mare got back before I went to go visit. Well just my luck, I find out (albeit indirectly) this weekend that the horse was taken off the market as the owner decided to keep her for herself. I was (and still am) disappointed but I guess it wasn’t meant to happen.

But maybe fate knew that the mare wasn’t going to be and consoled with some better news. One of my endurance friends contacted me on FB last week asking if I was interested in a riding gig. She gave me a number and name and next thing I knew I was on my way to meet H at his property. He had been injured last year and was still on the mend. In the meantime, he was interested in having someone ride his two pinto gelding trail horses for free. He didn’t want any money, just wanted them loved on and exercised. I met his horses, the boarders, and we chatted for nearly 2 hours. Turns out we knew a lot of…mutual acquaintances which we both had similar opinions about (that’s a story for later).  H seems like a true horse lover, loves trail riding/hunter paces, and has a down-to-earth attitude. So tomorrow I start my first horse riding “job”, the first few rides are going to be supervised which is fine with me. I’ve only been doing this about a year (November marks my first full year of riding) so all the eyes the better to learn from. Fingers crossed this works out. 

As for other news, I was recently inspired by one of my all-time favorite artists, James Gurney, to try my hand at plein air sketching so I splurged on a travel-sized watercolor set, water soluble color pencils, and small 140lb paper sketchbook. Of course after ordering the latter, I found a great tutorial online for a DIY watercolor sketchbook…oops. I’m still going to make one (or several) because I’ve got REAMS of watercolor paper in big blocks that aren’t very travel friendly. Keep your eyes peeled for more art because autumn will be here before you know it, along with all the colors! I’ve got a family vacation coming up next month to Acadia National Park in Maine, which I’m really looking forward to. We’ve been there once a few years ago and it’s been ingrained in my mom’s mind as one of her favorite places so we’re going again- no problem with me. I love vacations that involve hiking and trails, plus any an opportunity to do some painting in a new environment.

Reunion

I stopped by to visit Aurora this past weekend. It's been a month since we last saw each other and to be honest, I wasn't sure how she'd react. When I arrived, she was standing on the opposite end of the pasture grazing with Gigi (who is also an OTT Standardbred mare!) across the fence. I called to her from the gate. For a moment I thought she decided to ignore me, then suddenly she lifted her head and BEE LINED across the field to where I was.

I miss her so much. Not sure if its coincidence or not, but her owner just listed up her for adoption/sale this past weekend too. I hope she lands somewhere safe, happy, and loved.

In Parting

This was a tough post to write. But after a lot of careful thought, I decided to end my lease with Rori this month. There were a few big things that happened led up to this decision obviously and I had wanted to give certain people a benefit of a doubt at first. 

None of this has to do with Rori at all. She was never at fault and was just as steady from our test ride on Day 1. I'm sad that we had to part ways but she was an amazingly fun mare to learn the ropes with and I'm honored to have been a part of her life for a nearly half a year.