Our First Horse

It’s been 2 weeks since Moonshine left on a “training vacation.” Saturday we headed to the training farm to see how she’s doing. She seemed happy to see us and as if to receive some comfort from it, buried her face in Mikki’s chest. Sure, she’s a sweetie on the ground but riding has been a different story, which is why she’s off to be trained. Lance, our horse trainer, rode her around his pasture for us and I managed to snap photo proof (albeit blurry) that she’s not always willing to go for a ride. Lance informed us she doesn’t seem to want to buck if he longes her first but he wants her to be ridable straight from the barn. We want that, too.

It’s funny to watch but not so fun when you’re sitting on her back while she’s doing it. She doesn’t buck much and Lance thinks that’s because her previous owners probably jumped off when she started and didn’t get back on. Part of this training exercise is also to train me as her rider how to deal with bucking, such as paying attention to her body language and pulling her head to one side if she does it. Next week we plan on taking a trail ride. I’ll be sure to wear a helmet!

Interestingly, she only wants to buck on canter. She walks, trots and runs just fine. She just doesn’t seem to want to canter. So basically I have a faulty transmission: first, second and fourth gear work but watch out for third!

I miss having her up at the barn and look forward to her returning. Obviously I’m going to need to make a time commitment to work with her and ride her regularly from now on and I should look into some more training for myself, as well.

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There are a lot of factors to consider when choosing a horse, and one that people don’t always think of is gender. We have two geldings and a mare, and I’m happy to share our inexpert opinion with you. We love our mare, but I would say this: if you don’t want a lot of headaches, chose a gelding.

Stallions, of course, are notoriously difficult. Without doing a lot of research on why, I’m guessing it’s the testosterone. Having a stallion in your barn, especially if he will be around mares (either at home or at trails, shows, etc.), is a challenge for even an experienced horse owner. They can be aggressive, domineering and hard to control. It takes a firm hand to keep a stallion under control.

Mares…I know people who won’t own a mare because they are such a pain. What makes them such a pain? The months of March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October…longer if you live somewhere warm. Warm weather brings a mare into season. And if you think women can be moody and B I _ _ _ Y (well, this is a family show, let’s say “cranky”); a female horse can teach most women a thing or two about moody and cranky. Like women, mares vary in how they react to their “time of the month.” With some, you can hardly tell. With others (Moonshine!), you wonder where your sweet little horse went. Moonshine is irritable, doesn’t like to be touched and if there are male horses around, she has only one thing on her mind, and it’s not trail riding. Our poor geldings: when she met each of them, she had high hopes. She acted a coquette for days, being as sweet as could be. That is, until she figured out they weren’t going to be able to help her. Then she was just a witchy thing, snapping and kicking and bossing them around. Of course, she goes through the same thing whenever she encounters a new male. The last time we tried to ride her, she was in season and there was a new potential suitor in the vicinity; her mind was elsewhere. So mares can be very sweet, but sometimes not. Both in the same horse. Sometimes in the same day.

And that leaves geldings. Life is so much easier without all those hormones. (As the mother of a former teenager and one about to enter his teenage years, I know what I’m talking about.) That’s a very simplistic view, of course; all horses are different and they can have many, many issues separate from the chemicals that may or may not be racing through their bodies. But starting with a blank slate, so to speak, can sure make things easier.

That’s my two cents. What do you all think? Mares, geldings, stallions, no preference?

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Don’t worry, it’s not forever!

I’m not sure how much we’ve shared about Moonshine, but to make a long story short, she hasn’t been fit for us to ride since we got her. Our horse friend, Shari, says she’s “green-broke” - she got only so far in her training, and then somebody stopped training her. Not far enough for someone who’s a green rider to feel safe on her. We have Sinbad for Bill to ride now, but he won’t be with us forever, given that he’s (1) not ours and (2) 26 years old. We’ve been going back and forth about getting another horse - namely Champ, the neighbor horse - but Shari is pretty adamant that we should not invest in another old horse who may , in addition, be arthritic. So she came up with an alternate plan.

Shari knows that even if we can never ride Moonshine, we can’t bear to get rid of her, so we’ll have a horse we have to pay to keep for no reason. She suggested that we take the money we were going to use to buy Champ and invest it in training Moonshine. She knows a trainer, Lance, who she highly recommends - he’s going to train her filly too. So Lance came over last Wednesday and worked with Moonshine for an hour. He suggested that it might be best for her to stay at his farm where he can ride her every day. We agreed, so today Moonshine left for boarding school for a month. We’ll miss her, but Lance has high hopes that after a month of intensive training she’ll be a fine horse.

So wish our Moonshine good luck! We hope she studies hard and comes back a new horse - one that doesn’t want to dump Bill off every time he gets in the saddle.

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