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Post by Sarah J on Apr 15, 2007 11:57:15 GMT -5
I just moved about 3 years ago and my horses have been home for about a year and a half, so I know where you're coming from when you say it's a lot of work. I'm up at 4:45 every school morning to do my barn chores. My school is about an hour from my house, so I don't get home til 4:20, and then I ride, everyday. My guys have to work alot. I have to rotate though, with all of my homework, I can usually only ride one a night, or if I knock all of my homework out during study hall I can ride more. But it's definately stressful. I'm lucky, in that, my little sister does the evening chores, and when I'm away for the weekend showing, my dad is great at helping out. Sometimes I miss boarding, but the realationships I have built up with my guys are WELL worth it. I have an 8 stall. Many many people told us that we would get empty stall syndrome, but nooope. I have 5 at home and 2 at my trainers, and we use one stall for hay (we have a hay/shavings barn, but we bring in a few bales at a time, for safety ;D )Occationally my show horses will spend a few weeks at the trainer's for a tune up, and it's nice to only have 4 stalls to do!!
I'm not discouraging anyone from living on a farm, but just know that it is a lot of work involved, adn there is no day off, not even Christmas or your birthday. haha. I hope Georgia has a nice birthday. My horses aren't fond of party hats, but they love the bran mash and cookies I make for them ;D
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Post by brooke on Apr 15, 2007 12:52:31 GMT -5
YAY! You know exactly what I'm talking about! I love having my barn, but the work sucks! And unless you do the work day after day yourself, you can't quite understand how much work is involved.
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Post by Rachel C. on Apr 15, 2007 13:15:14 GMT -5
yeah a barn is a lot of work!!! i mean i dont have one, but its a lot of work lol
thanks for saying happy bday to georgia! lol
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kerry
Short Stirrup
Posts: 226
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Post by kerry on Apr 15, 2007 13:49:53 GMT -5
it's really interesting to hear your points of view. i've considered all that, of course, but never actually talked to a whole lot of people who have barns at their houses....i've always been at level green because my sister started riding there first, and since i lease there's never been the question of where to put my pony. that was probably a better deal for me, though, because in middle school i was not exactly the friendliest person so my friends at the barn were that much more important.
as for not having you in the pony ring, brooke...wow. that'll lessen the competition! hahah. i'm sorry you have to move off of ponies, though. i absolutely love ponies...they have so much personality. i'm a shorty so i'll be able to show ponies till my last junior year, too (unless i'm leasing a horse...i have no idea). i just haven't thought about how weird it'll be to move on yet.
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Post by brooke on Apr 15, 2007 14:23:57 GMT -5
Yeah- if I could go back in time, I would make sure I never had more than one pony at a time, and I would only lease. So, I would say you have a pretty good situation right now.
As for not being in the pony ring....... I might not be able to show in the pony hunter after this, but I will still show my ponies in something. So, I will still be in the pony ring-lol (But this year isn't over yet!! LOL!!)
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kerry
Short Stirrup
Posts: 226
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Post by kerry on Apr 15, 2007 14:35:03 GMT -5
that's funny, because i always see you and the others at shows who ride more than one pony there and think "man, that looks fun." but that's not to say i want more and more...i'm quite incredibly happy on cookie, of course. ;D
ahh, so special hunter will still be a perilous place? (i would like to point out my amazing alliteration...there it goes again!) beware of brooke and her fantabulous ponies!
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Post by Sarah J on Apr 15, 2007 14:56:44 GMT -5
haha Kerry, sometimes it's hard to show more than one. My first show with two, I was constantly going! I'm taking two up to Culpeper, which....should be interesting haha. I have to get up REALLY early sunday to braid both of them! And, I have both my jumper classic and my hunter classic, so I'm going to be changing from my shad to my white breeches or vice versa. haha I just hope my hunter/eq and jumper classes don't run at the same time, wouldn't that be fun...
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kerry
Short Stirrup
Posts: 226
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Post by kerry on Apr 15, 2007 15:22:09 GMT -5
ahahah, good point. not sure how well i'd be able to do that...i'm a little disorganized, hahah. good luck, though!
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Post by Maggie on Apr 15, 2007 17:51:38 GMT -5
i sometimes wish i had my own barn, but i would only do that if my whole family is horse crazed. my mom and i are the only ones who adore horses and my sister and brother frown upon it. they hate the smell or worse the idea...can you believe my sister!?! she said why do you do it?? all you do is get on them and sit there, you dont do anything...she took two lessons and i bet she thought it was hard!! of course my mom and i never stop talking about it...so...plus my mom is (no offense to her) not really educated enough about horses to own a barn, and im glad we dont because that would be scary!!! she scares me when she drives the trailer, but ive learned to accept that.
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Post by brooke on Apr 15, 2007 18:19:44 GMT -5
Oh, don't get me wrong Kerry, I LOVE riding multiples at the shows! It's so much fun!! I just meant when it comes to owning them, I would have liked to have just leased one at a time and boarded it with someone. Instead, I have six horses and I am having to take care of them myself- LOL! Trust me, riding multiples is great!! I love it!!
Haha- have fun at culpeper Sarah. It sounds like you're going to be busy-lol. Good luck!
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Post by caitlin on Apr 15, 2007 18:31:03 GMT -5
who else is going to culpeper? i ammm (:
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kerry
Short Stirrup
Posts: 226
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Post by kerry on Apr 15, 2007 18:40:41 GMT -5
i bet...how could someone not love riding a bunch of different wonderful ponies at a show?! maybe when cookie's better i'll be showing both her & gabby...that would be fun! hahah. nothing compared to the amount some people do, but still. i can't wait to shooooow!
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Post by brooke on Apr 15, 2007 18:58:49 GMT -5
That would be so cool if you got to do both Kerry! You would have so much fun! I hope you start showing them soon.
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Post by rachel15 on Apr 15, 2007 19:38:57 GMT -5
hahah that was interesting reading all that ! brooke, i DEFINITLEY know what you mean cuz when i spent the night at your house and stuff we had to wake up early and do all that and even after 2 days it got tiring ! hahah i definitley am grateful that my horse is at an amazing barn and i never have to worry about him....i stayed at my trainers house this weekend in her basement and on saturday i had to ride this horse named fred, and i swear to you he pulls SO MUCH. and one of the girls in our lesson talked back to elizabeth, and we had to do an hour and a half ( NO LIE AND I TIMED IT ON MY PHONE ) lesson WITHOUT stirrups. we didnt walk once. it SUCKED. but in the end it helps. haha i had such a fun spring break
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Post by mynamescatherine on Apr 15, 2007 20:12:04 GMT -5
We have our own place and we have now for about a year. My mom, my sister, and I do ALL of the work and my dad will do it when we go to away shows. For the most part I dont mind doing the work but it definitely takes a lot of time. We have a 7 stall barn and 3 of the horses are mine, the rest are borders. During the week my mom does the stalls and my sister and I take turns on the weekend, but we all do the evening work and I ride everyday after school. It is a huge commitment because you never get a day off, even if you're sick or its a holiday. But I think its totally worth it. It really makes you understand what goes into caring for horses and you learn so much. We borded for several years until we had 4 horses and then we built our barn and I love it. Its def. worth the time and effort!!
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