I've been spending time lately with Freebee, Scott's legendary retiree. This horse is freakin
cool.
Freebee is a Sally Cousins dropout, turned fox hunting staff horse, turned prelim eventer, turned 3rd / 4th level dressage horse, turned haughty retiree.
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| riding the neighborhood, me with freebee, scott with the black horse |
He's a class act, and he fricken
knows it.
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| more neighborhood, this time with scott on the red horse |
Unfortunately, Freebee had some pretty terrifying struggles with both cellulitis AND cankers in recent years. For a hot minute there, it almost looked like he wouldn't make it.
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| neighborhood again, still me with freebee and scott with red horse |
BUT. He's a tough sonuvagun, and make it he did. And finally, he's getting back under saddle again. With yours truly absolutely privileged to do the honors.
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| pictured: freebee hiding his teeth from the camera |
There's something else about Freebee, tho. He's..... Well. Freebee is very secure in knowing his place in this world. He has opinions and shares them, ahem, freely.
Considering Freebee is 17hh, his opinions.... carry weight haha.
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| SHARK ATTAAAAACK!!! i swear there are teeth involved haha |
Including with his teeth. And actually, hind legs too haha. Grooming this animal is like some sort of epic dance form --- trying to find that sweet safe spot between his teeth and hooves LOL.
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| finally, tho: PROOF |
It's funny tho --- bc all this time I've been trying to capture exactly how terrifying Freebee can appear lol, but he's carefully put his teeth away whenever the camera comes out. That is, until
now. Gotcha, you cantankerous SOB!! <3
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| it's all a show tho, this horse is sweet <3 |
Lol for real tho, don't let those mean faces fool you. Freebee is a gentleman. He's a good sweet and personal boy <3 <3 <3
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| he's a playful sort, ya know? |
I like to think that he and I have come to a sort of agreement during these recent weeks. Sure, he threatens me with teeth and hooves literally any time I show him a brush. But.... He also never uses them.
And actually, I think he secretly really enjoys our grooming sessions. There's an awful lot of blinking, sniffing, and yawning haha.
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| guys freebee is something special -- honestly wish i could ride him for serious tho |
The riding tho, well. It's hard to say how excited Freebee is to be under saddle again. He's happy to go places and do things, but maybe a little peeved when I ask him to trot a 20m circle LOL. He does it tho <3
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| omg emma canters a horse! |
Awww and he cantered for me too!! My first canter on a horse in WEEKS ((
this ride preceded the awesomesauce pony ride from my last post)).
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| serious riding involves observing the barn cat shenanigans haha |
So ya know. We're having a good time. It's strange times right now, but we do our best.
What I really want right now is access to my own goofy awkward OTTB. But... something tells me that years down the line, I'll be grateful for this unexpected opportunity to hang out with a horse like Freebee.
Didn't read the title at first and saw bay ears on my feedly and was so excited to see you back on Charlie that I clicked immediately. But I guess Freebee is a pretty cool consolation prize! ;-)
ReplyDeleteaw i wish those were charlie's ears :(
DeleteI was like Emily thinking it was Charlie. However, Freebee is an awesome subsititute (fun fact, I keep reading his name as FRISBEE, which I think is a cool name too...).
ReplyDeletelolol @ "Frisbee" -- that would be a cute name for a horse haha. this guy actually got his name bc sally gave him to scott for free -- thus "freebee" (his show name was personal boy, jc name floraspersonalboy). and yup - definitely a pretty excellent substitute from my other favorite bay, all things considered <3
DeleteFun that you are getting to ride, sad that it isn't Charlie... I had to lol at his teeth/hooves flying all the time. Obvs. not a fan of a dangerous horses, but doesn't sound like this is the case with Freebee. Fred is similar - I do have to dodge the chompers a bit and he is a big lad, but luckily no hooves fly with him... ;-)
ReplyDeletelol yea, i've definitely had to deal with scarier horses (one who had a lyme titer practically off the charts.... reeeeeeally had to watch your back with that poor guy) but freebee is just funny lol - lots of personality. sounds like Fred is similar! ;)
DeleteI hope your last sentence isn't true :( I hope you get back on your own goofy bay horse soon!
ReplyDeletegosh i hope so. the maryland governor yesterday announced that our shelter in place order now allows exceptions for "safe outdoor activities" specifically including horseback riding, provided the activity remains compliant with social distancing. different barns are interpreting that differently, and so far my barn has trended toward the conservative end of the spectrum by continuing to disallow any visits other than supply runs every two weeks.
DeleteI hope you get back to Charlie soon! Restrictions are slowly relaxing here in CT so hopefully they will in your area too.
ReplyDeleteGlad you're having some pony time in the meantime though!
state restrictions are relaxing here too -- tho at present all discretion is left to barn owners to decide how manage a boarding facility in a way that complies with social distancing. in the case of charlie's barn, the owners still do not want boarders on the premises at all.
DeleteDude, you're scoring with all these awesome rides! I know it's awful to not ride your own awesome horse, but for realz, what a great chance to ride something else (some really nice something elses), focus on different things while you're riding, and come back to your rides with Charlie with all of that.
ReplyDeletedefinitely - i'm so so so immensely grateful to have these opportunities. even tho these aren't *my* horse, the time spent with them has been so so so helpful for my mental health and overall attitude haha
DeleteI too kept thinking at first you were on CHarlie and then that his name was Frisbee :) Now i want a horse named Frisbee! Hope you get to ride Charlie soon! I have slowly been back to riding Remus after about a 3-4 week hiatus. I know how you must feel!!
ReplyDeleteaw that's great that you're riding again!! honestly at this point i'd settle for just getting to visit more often. i think i've seen charlie like 3, maybe 4 times since mid march :'(
DeleteOK, I totally laughed at the flappy tongue and lips on your shoulder. That's too cute.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite is how affronted he looks when I smooched his nose lol, like “um excuse me but this is not a two way street!”
DeleteLook at that face!!! What a turd but when you are that good I guess you get away with it
ReplyDeleteLol yup. And it’s all relative right? Like freebees owner has done volunteer fire rescue etc and has pretty strong feelings about what horses must know and be able to do in case of an emergency. Like, horse won’t be caught by a stranger? Won’t let a stranger put a halter on? Won’t go on the trailer? Horse could end up getting left behind in a large scale type emergency. So all his horses are extremely reliable and easy to handle. Biting the wall during grooming? Less likely to have any meaningful sort of long term impact haha, and therefore not the training priority lol
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