Last week I met with my neighbor, the one who I thought owned the house Trip and I reside in. As it turns out he doesn't own my house, but he does own 20 horses. That's right, 20 horses, for me to use and ride at my fancy. And yes, he is technically my next-door neighbor. He's the next house on my (left) side of the road. You can't see it, but it's a decent bike ride there, like a whole 3 minutes and up that ball-bustin' hill in the distance.
Yeah that's right. My ride is creepin' in on his Escalade's space.
He's got everything in the equine spectrum from a miniature donkey...
to two Belgian drafts.
Larry, the actual owner of the house is a very busy business man, and basically owns half of Blacksburg. His brother, Leon, is the one who actually takes care of the horses each day. He is retired from Virginia Tech and is a very sweet and funny old man. I think we'll be great friends.
Anyway, there are a lot of ugly horses in the pasture, lots of appaloosa crosses. Some people say there are no ugly horses, but they haven't walked this guy's pasture. It looks like the horse gods threw up.
Apparently they had an appaloosa stud and basically just bred him with all the mares they owned. Ugh. Anyway, after Leon and I met Friday and he told me which horses have been ridden before and all that good stuff, I grabbed the prettiest one on Saturday afternoon. He's a VERY big, muscular, QH-type. Solid bay gelding. Pretty. huh?
He remained very, very calm and quiet throughout me leading him away from his 19 friends (for the first time since probably fall), tying in the big barn, grooming, and saddling process. I put him into the makeshift round pen for a few minuets with my saddle and bitless bridle on him to see if he would object by bucking or anything silly. Nothing at all, just kind of looked around to see where his friends were and nibbled on some weeds. Great, I thought! This will be a piece of cake and we'll be flying around barrels and shooting cans with my six shooter in no time! Well, I hopped atop his very high back with no objection from him whatsoever, no moving around under me or jigging. Perfect, right? Well we sat for a moment, I just wanted him to stand and relax with me on his back, rubbing his massive neck. Which he did. After a minute or two, I bent his head to the left and to the right to flex him a bit, he did wonderfully! So I kissed and applied a small amount of pressure to his sides to encourage a move forward. Nothing. Very tense pony under me. Uhhh-oh. Turn his head, Natalie, so he doesn't bolt into the fence, you never know what a horse is going to do when they freeze like this... but it's usually never good. I continued to bend his head until I felt him relax for just a second. I released and tried again for a move forward. BOOM. Outta nowhere, this horse went straight up in the air. The biggest rear I have ever sat through. Abort! Abort! Usually after a rear like that is a mad bucking session and I don't want it. Finally, after an issue with my stirrup, I jumped off. Horse was nervous, but stood still, like he didn't even know what happened. Not cool, pony, not cool! So I jumped on him again and sat. We eventually did a couple tiny circles, but I hopped off after that.
Moral of the story: Groundwork first, until I know where that horse's head is.
But that's what I'm buzzing about these days, it's the most ideal situation ever. Also, about the people who own my house. Remember when I took a picture of Woodford playing with the two horses? That's them. And apparently the wife is the head riding instructor at Virginia Tech. Damn, I'm so full of connect-ive tissue I don't have any more room for my muscles!
But anyway, in other news, Woodford has Lyme disease. Poor goggie! Now all he wants to do is sleep all day and refuse his expensive food. He's on some good antibiotics, and he should be feeling better. He seems to be a little rambunctious every so often.
When he is feeling rowdy, I saddle him up and take him for a ride down the other side of the road to the grocery store. He's great at running alongside my bike, and I figure I can exercise him, myself, and fill my bike basket with groceries all at the same time. Badabing! We're being green and healthy. He's not a huge fan of being tied up outside to a light post, but whatev.
Also, I finally did something that I've been wanting to do forever... I painted the kitchen yellow! There was one place I lived in Charleston that was so terrible, the only redeeming quality it had was the little yellow kitchen. I loved it so, and have since wanted to make another one. It's such a warm, friendly, and inviting color. Now if I can just get Trip to spend a little more time in there....
