Jasper Turns Four

Good grief, I have not posted in awhile so I thought I would give an update on Jasper. He’s been in training for about 5 months now. We’ve had some ups and downs but things are definitely on track now and he is doing well.  I’ve started lightly riding him myself and he has been great. He is filling out nicely and is in much better shape than when we started. He turned 4 last week. I cannot believe it, time has flown. He certainly has turned into one stunning looking horse and a sweet one to boot. Everyone at the ranch just loves him, it’s really quite comical. Oh, but can he be stubborn. Anyone of you Parelli-ites with a left brained introvert horse knows what I mean! But his spirit is what I love about him, too. Here are some recent shots with his trainer riding him.

 

Back from Aiken

Actually, we’ve been back for awhile, but like everything I am behind on updating. Aiken, South Carolina was really nice. This is the Willcox hotel, where we stayed. It was really beautiful and the rooms were so cute, complete with a 4 poster bed!

The Willcox

Wow, we could not believe the properties we could get for the price! Our realtor was top notch! When we arrived at the Willcox, there was a welcome packet waiting for us and an intinerary of our next couple days of viewing homes. Our first day, we viewed NINE properties! We narrowed it down to 3 that we liked. My personal favorite was this one: Check out this pasture – ahh!

Pasturepolooza!

Oh yeah, the house and barn were nice, too – lol

 

The Barn

 Oh wow, compared to California, these places made my head hurt! And this place is going for a song because it is bank owned. Okay, it needs some work, but – those pastures – ahhhhh!

Actually moving would be tough when we actually thought about it. This canuck has gotten a little used to the California lifestyle. Can you blame me? I live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Which, of course, is why it is so fabulously expensive! So we are still continuing the search, but Aiken was sure an eye opener. One day, I WILL be looking out my bedroom window and waving to Jasper!

 

New Year, Big Plans!

Happy New Year to all my blogging horsey buddies!!!

I’m looking forward to what this year has in store. Yes, the economy is tanking, but I still have a smile on my face (and I’ve stopped reading the newspaper!) My husband and I have been thinking about a change for awhile now. I love California but it is getting ridiculously expensive to live here. And since we both run our own businesses from home, with no kidlets, we can transplant fairly easily. So next week we are heading on a short trip to Aiken, South Carolina to check out real estate. If you haven’t heard of Aiken (no relation to Clay), it is MAJOR horse country. 
Some interesting things about Aiken:

• It’s located between Augusta, Georgia and Columbia, SC
• It is home to polo events, steeplechasing, fox hunting and every other discipline you can think of!
• Hitchcock Woods is just outside of downtown, it is the largest urban forest in the United States. This nearly 2,100-acre longleaf pine forest has 65 miles of marked trails available to hikers, runners, equestrians, and carriage drivers. And has 130 jumps throughout the trails.

Owning a home with some acreage and a barn and pastures would be a dream come true. Looking out my window and seeing Jasper frolicking in a pasture would truly be wonderful. And he would of course have to have some friends…

If anyone knows lives in the area or has some insights, I would love to hear them!

 

Best Xmas Present – Ever!

Me riding Jasper

 

Jasper’s New Home

Right by the front so he will see everyone walking by…

 

Back from Equine Affaire

Just got back from EA in Pomona, Ca and it was really great. I wish I had more time to see more clinicians. I will be blogging about what I saw and learned shortly!

 

It’s been a long month and a half….

I have not written in quite some time. The reason being that we have been through so much.

Firstly, Jasper did arrive safe and sound….and scared out of his wits. The hauler did not make frequent stops as he was supposed to and only came by himself. Poor Jasper didn’t know what was going on. Then the place where I was to board him turned out to be run by someone who labelled Jasper as untrained and dangerous as soon as he got off of the trailer.

I was devastated…and worried about Jaspers care.

The long version of this story involves me running around a pasture with a cross dressing hauler(not kidding) – the short version is we moved him out of there quickly and

Jasper in the willows with his butt to me, a view
I was becoming very accustomed to.

to a much nicer place further north. A bit more of a drive but worth the peace of mind knowing he was going to get great care. The owner has a number of rescues and trains with natural horsemanship. The one disadvantage was he would not have a large pasture to roam around in but he did have a nice large paddock.

Now I was left with a very sad horse who had not had as much training as I was led to believe and had come to equate a halter and myself with something scary. I could barely touch him without him running away. My lifelong dream of owning a horse was starting to look like a complete disaster. Over the next several weeks, I spent almost every day coming to the ranch and just sitting in the paddock reading a book, minding my own business. The goal was to let him know that I wasn’t there to do anything to him and to let him come up to me. Curiosity would eventually win out and he would approach and give me a good sniff, then walk off again. During this time, I got my hands on any video and books on natural horsemanship I could find to educate myself as much as I could. I am so used to being the best at everything I do – programming, sewing….but this horse had me flummoxed. I would go home feeling so dejected because no matter how much I tried to be non-threatening he was still very much afraid of me.

At the point I was feeling utterly despondent about the situation, I saw a glimmer of hope.

I went to the ranch with my regular pail of beet pulp as an afternoon treat for Jasper. As I got out of my car Jasper put his head over the fenceline and let out a large whinny. Could he be happy to see me? That day, Jasper actually came up to me and we played in the water trough together. He loves to splash the water so I would lean down and do the same, which he seemed to like. As I left that day as my car wheeled out of the driveway and past Jaspers paddock, he saw me and walked down to the end to watch me leave. Right then and there, I knew there was some hope and maybe we could make it down this long road together….

 

Hauling – it’s never easy

The owner had already gone through several haulers when she tried to transport several sold yearlings to the U.S. . One hauler from the US who was turned back at the border because he tried to bring a gun into Canada! DUH! Another who turned up with one driver (they had specified there must be two) and the wrong size truck.
I knew what I would be faced with. But as luck would have it one hauler had worked out well and he just happened to be going on a haul to California on the 20th – yippee! The problem was, the price tag was a little steep. We decided to shop around before we booked. This is probably different than most horse sales, because rather than allowing the new owner to sort out their hauling, my seller was to choose the hauler and they had to meet certain criteria. I could understand this because I knew her main concern was a smooth journey. They had to have a box stall and make frequent stops.
I learned that larger commercial horse haulers make frequent stops, to pick up and drop off horses and most do not offer box stalls. We thought we might have better luck if we could haul Jasper across the border ourselves and have him picked up in Butte, Montana as a lot of U.S. haulers are not licensed to cross the border. When I started calling around I also discovered that most haulers do not do North – South trips, but rather East – West.
Time was starting to run out so we decided to go with the original hauler. I was a little frustrated because he would not come down in price AT ALL…and he was going to California anyway. I think he knew he had us between a rock and a hard place. It turned out Jasper would be arriving on the 19th – a day after my birthday!
Then the news came this week that the hauler had just come back from a haul to Texas and the truck needed to be ’serviced’ so they would not be able to leave until Thursday. Urrrrrrrrr. I have learned enough about haulers to know that this sort of stuff happens all the time and haulings get delayed. What can you do. At least I know that Jasper will be comfortable in a box stall and will get taken off frequently on his long journey.
But I am getting impatient to see him!

 

Insurance – Shop Around

I finally settled on an insurance carrier for Jasper. I decided to not take any risks my first year owning him. No matter how healthy he is, something can always go wrong, and vet bills cost the same no matter how much you paid for your horse. Hallmark Equine seemed to me to be the most straightforward and they advertise in Dressage Today. I shopped around enough to realize that all policies are basically the same – you purchase a mortality policy for your horse and, if you desire, purchase add-ons to it – such as medical.
I learned that most policies only cover one colic surgery and your horse will be difficult to insure after that. Which is why diet and GOOD hay is so important. Another criteria of selecting a boarding facility was – do they feed good quality hay? Believe me, about a month ago hay was hay to me. I learned quickly that there are different types and different mixtures – oat, alfalfa, first cut – what the hell? Timothy hay is about the best quality hay you can get and if you can get other grass mixtures thrown in, such as rye,that is doubly great. Another new thing I have learned!

 

Bill of Sale and Presto!

I own a horse!!!!!!!! Make sure you review the terms of the bill of sale, especially for a horse that needs to be hauled a long distance. As soon as Jasper is loaded onto the trailer, he becomes my responsibility. That means if anything happens to him in transit, (god forbid!) I foot the bill.