Sunday, December 4, 2016

adventures await!!

Happy weekend everyone!! Just a quickie post today featuring pictures of the horse world's newest power couple: Charlie and Bella!!!

"we want to be one of those adorably sweet couples that always match. like here, where we're wearing the same facial expressions!" - Charlie
Charlie and I headed over to OF yesterday for our weekly lesson.... except I was super late and didn't get to jump, womp womp, my bad. It was still a good ride tho and really at this point it's more about going through the motions and getting that mileage on the horse anyway. There's plenty of time to learn the finer points of jumping eventually lol.

charlie is relaxed and happy with company
Mostly tho it was just fun to get out and ride with my friends and get media of some of Charlie's progress (details forthcoming later!!).

obviously stuffing them with carrots helps bolster equine satisfaction lol
And while I was there with the truck and trailer, Brita and I planned to get in a little trailer practice with her new lease horse Bella. Bella's been on trailers before so we expected her to be fine. And she was. So we took it a step further and practiced with both horses on. Didn't drive anywhere - just chucked 'em both on to see how they'd react.

happy campers!
Verdict? They were great! Not a single pinned ear or squeal. Both were super quiet and actually seemed more relaxed and at ease with company than either had been alone. Methinks this bodes well for all the grand schemes and adventures Brita and I are dreaming up for the coming year!!

twu wuv!!!!
and obvi brita declared that bella's trailer tie be bright pink. i couldn't agree more!!!! just wish it was a tad longer... 
It's kinda funny - I got the same questions from an onlooker that I occasionally get here on the blog: Why bother? She didn't understand why Brita and I went through this whole little theatrical rehearsal, why we bothered practicing. Because she'd never had problems before and doesn't really think it's a big deal.

d'aww
Which I guess is totally fair. Tho I would point out that I've never had problems trailering before either, have never been in a situation where we were stuck or in trouble or needed help. And personally I'd like to keep it that way haha!

I turned the tables on her and asked if she ever regretted practicing anything with horses ahead of time. She kinda shrugged at this, but for me it counts for something. Brita and I assumed that Bella would be fine on the trailer, and she was. We figured that having both horses on together would be also be fine, and it was.

But.... Now we know. We don't have to guess. It'll be one less thing to think about, one less unknown, when we're scheduling some outing for which I'll pick Brita and Bella up and hit the road. And that's reassuring to me (and Brita), and makes this little extra effort of practicing totally worth it.

Especially since.... well. We've got plans, y'all!! Not this week, and not next week either. But soon!!!

28 comments:

  1. I agree- it's better to practice and know. I'm glad that the trailer is working out for you.

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    1. Thanks! I'm just thrilled with the new trailer. The extra space makes all the difference!

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  2. oh my goodness this post makes me so happy.
    "Your hay is mine" -Bella
    "Okay just don't leave me in the trailer alone" -Charlie

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    1. Ha Bella probably could have eaten the hay right out of Charlie's mouth - she's already got him wrapped around her little finger!!

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  3. Way better to practice! If I had a trailer Stinker would be getting on it daily until it was NBD

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    1. Yep I did that for a while with Isabel before we started traveling. Charlie is getting his experience now through our actual travels (since we tend to go places on weekends and it's dark when I'm there during the week so no practice) but I can tell that he would benefit from a purely practice session too.

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  4. As someone who has two horses that are questionable about going in the trailer, I don't think it's a bad idea to get practice time in prior to the day you actually need to trailer them somewhere. Because my guys always pick the day of to decide maybe they don't want to trailer anywhere. And then you're rushed and stressed which makes the situation worse!

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  5. You can never work on basics enough. As someone who ignored that and found myself stuck at a trail head with a horse who refused to load, I'll never judge anyone practicing the skill.

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    1. ugh i live in fear of getting stuck unexpectedly

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  6. Motion to hereby refer to the trailer as the 'Chuck Wagon'...
    I think I'm a lot funnier than I am.

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  7. baww, sounds like a great practice session!

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  8. Sounds like a great idea to me! Glad Charlie likes his new ride!

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  9. I can say with certainty that its always a good idea to make sure loading (for all parties involved) is 100% going to work. Otherwise you arrive at the show 10 minutes before your class is supposed to start. No fun!

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  10. We always practise loading and unloading with new horses! I think not knowing how the horse is going to behave is just too stressful. Charlie and Bella are super cute!

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    1. it's definitely way too stressful imo too!!

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  11. I'm definitely a plan of practicing, too.

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  12. They look like they enjoy each others' company and it's always good to know how horses will travel before you're actually (in a rush) going somewhere - good on y'all for practicing

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  13. YAY CONTINUING ADVENTURES WITH BRITA.

    Good horse buddies are hard to replace.

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  14. Always better to know then to have to spend 20 minutes with 5 people, 2 lunge lines, and ultimately a brandished pick fork before a show to get one of them on.

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  15. Charlie looks so small in that trailer!!

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