Fair Hill Freebee: A Legend

The night we confirmed that Charlie would, in fact, require surgery, I was sitting at home in the dark (oh did I mention my house lost power for a couple days bc of a bad service line? that was fun) drinking warm beer (see aforementioned "no power" comment) when an occasional ship-in OF lesson mate texted me.

boyd is scott's young dufus special snowflake competition horse

Scott happens to be, among other things, a volunteer mounted park ranger. He's got a certified horse for this purpose, and also his younger up and coming show horse.

freebee, meanwhile, looks like he's seen the light and found god

This nascent event horse Boyd.... Well. He needs some mileage lol. So Scott is hoping to get him out more and more often, exposing him to all that the local parks have to offer.

fox hunting and old school eventing. these stickers basically define freebee in a nutshell

The park of choice, naturally, being Fair Hill. A GIANT park filled with trails of all sorts - from broad smooth blue stone lanes, carriage trails, and single tracks in the woods. Plus bridges, tunnels, water crossings, and sights of all sorts.

omg these horses tho lol

I've only ever trail ridden at Fair Hill once before for a hunter pace -- and we got hopelessly lost lol. But it's a gorgeous venue, home to all sorts of events from endurance rides and combined driving events, as well as being home to the upcoming Fair Hill International CCI 3* and 2* events (and omg the future 4*!!).

it was constant. constantly adorable too

So there I was sitting in the dark drinking warm beer when Scott texted me to ask if I'd accompany him on a ride to get his young horse out. During which, naturally, Scott offered me the ride on his other horse, 22yo OTTB Freebee.

freebee. dude. plz do not lock onto any advanced jumps during our hack!!

Freebee. Yes, let's talk about this horse for a moment. He is a special horse.

giant corner

Many years ago, after finishing his career on the track (with something like 39 starts) Freebee ended up a Sally Cousins reject. She was not optimistic about his prospects and after not being able to get him through training level, Sally told Scott he could have the horse. Gave the horse to him for free. Thus, Freebee.

table house-y things!

What unfolded next turned out to be somewhat legendary for the partnership. They stepped back from eventing to instead ride with basically all the local hunts in Maryland. Freebee dutifully stood in as Scott's whipper in staff horse when his other fox hunters needed breaks. The stories Scott told me about some of what they did together while hunting.... fucking bad. ass.

we spent a while cogitating this line

After a while tho, Scott decided to test the eventing waters again with Freebee after so much time away hunting. The time off proved to be exactly what the doctor ordered, and the pair clicked as eventing partners.

apparently the water elements are kept as dry as possible in between events - who knew??

They quickly reached prelim, with at least one 1* run thrown in there. (naturally, with the occasional school over something massive from the intermediate and advanced courses at Fair Hill bc why not).

those little log arrow skinny wedge thingys are mind boggling to me

Eventually Freebee's career as a jumping horse came to an end, so he moved right on along to being a dressage school master - showing competitively at 3rd level and schooling 4th (tho sadly they just missed out on getting Scott's bronze medal).

ducks!!!

Leading us to present time, where Freebee is mostly retired with occasional mounted park ranger duties. And, apparently, the occasional duty to haul one Emma around Fair Hill while his brother learns how to not spaz out about bridges.

fair hill ruins!

And guys - it was awesome. Freebee is hot shit and he knows it.

we crossed many many bridges of all flavors. you can see two in this pic alone

I haven't really ridden many horses with advanced training or experience. Actually - I can count on one hand the number of seriously schooled or accomplished horses I've had the privilege of sitting on:
- Pig, Austen's 4th level dressage horse
- Rico, Megan's Grand Prix dressage horse
- Lion, trainer Dan's 1* event horse

das wata!

And Freebee just oozed class. At 22 years young, he was bouncy and jiggy (but with oh-so-much suspension, Isabel's jig ain't got shit on Freebee's!) and spooking at teensy yellow butterflies when we first set out. But ever the gentleman, he would halt like a statue if I asked.

this moment immediately preceded boyd tripping, spooking himself, and nearly eating shit. ahh memories!

And so we proceeded to basically float and flit (and occasionally spook sideways or jig in place) across the grounds of Fair Hill.

another bridge!

This horse was so cool - he was clearly SO HAPPY OMG to be out doing things. And especially to be the brave experienced horse leading the way over hill and dale, bridge and tunnel, stream and wooded path.

i actually crossed this one with isabel back during our ill-fated fair hill hunter pace last year

And it was honestly soooo refreshing to ride a horse acutely aware of each of his feet at every passing moment - a horse who knew how to read the ground at speed and place his feet accordingly.

sometimes boyd led too

Actually - more than anything else, it reminded me of riding Isabel again. At least in how he handled and moved. Emotionally he was maybe more Pig than Isabel lol (and I may or may not have texted Austen immediately after to let her know I had just ridden the bay version of her horse haha), but damn what a cool horse.

oooh more advanced jumps!

Additionally, it was pretty freaking cool to see the Fair Hill grounds with the eyes and guidance of an actual park ranger. Scott knows these grounds inside and out, and everything in between.

here scott casually discusses proper strategy for approaching this style fence

Not only did he know all the current trail systems and how they crissed and crossed (including where every single bridge, tunnel and water crossing lay), but also knew where the older versions were too, and which storms or natural disasters took them out.

arena jumps set for FHI!

Including riding through wide open fields where he could point out otherwise easily missed variations in the topography that had been used for 3* events long past. Pointing out swales where once big combinations used to be, or the ruins of some other jump complex. Plus naturally all the stories of which riders had wrecked there lol.

a tunnel!!!

Actually - the company for this ride was just as awesome as the horse (probably not a coincidence lol) and I drove home texting Brita and Rachael that 10/10 we must do this again. Preferably with all our horses (tho obvi I'll take a ride on Freebee any day if the opportunity arises while Charlie recovers).

then another tunnel!

For as much as I love the rigors of training and competing, days like this spent hacking out over whatever the ground may put in front of us are so so so fun.

what a day :)

And getting to hack out on such a cool horse... well. It definitely helps make me feel a little better about where things stand with my own leading unicorn.

On one hand, I'm heavy hearted about Charlie's injury, treatment and recovery. But... on the other, I'm seriously excited by the idea of looking forward to getting him out onto these trails eventually! All in good time, right?