Taking My Wife Away

My wife left yesterday for California. She’s going to be gone for eight days, which is a double whammy. I not only get to be alone, but I also get to manage hay, water, and shoveling duties by myself for that time.

She didn’t go for work, or for vacation, but for horse training.

I suppose it would be no different than if I went somewhere to learn how to better work with wood, or drive a car, or something like that. I haven’t done those things yet, but they are on my mind. That’s if I can get the time and money given this horsey habit my wife has.

I’m glad she gets to go, since she was excited to go out there. I know she’s excited because even though she likes traveling, she doesn’t like wasting time. And the drive from CO to CA is a pretty big waste of time. Can’t get much done on a horse when it’s in the trailer and you’re 25 ft ahead of them behind the wheel. She could have flown in a few hours and borrowed a horse, but that wasn’t in the plan. She has an Arab she’s working with and a young horse she’s training, both of which she wanted specific help on.

Me, I would have left my 911 at home and borrowed one at a track if I went to learn, but that’s me. I figure anything I learn can be applied at home. I started to argue that with her, but realized that it might no go over as logic. Likely I would have been called a few names and I’d have missed spending another day with my wife after an argument.

She did think about it, but in the end decided the 16 or so hours in the truck were worth it, so she left at 5am in the morning, me helping load hay in the trailer and waving good-bye as she pulled away.

I’m happy that my wife has something that she enjoys so much, but sad at the same time.

9 and 9

It’s 9pm on the clock. I glance over at the weather station on the wall and it shows 9F outside. Kids are in bed and it’s time for chores.

I pull in ski pants, my winter boots, don the ski jacket and grab a knit hat and gloves as I head out the back door. It’s not a bad night, calm, crisp, a dry night as I walk across to the barn.

It’s a peaceful time, and I move around, filling the wagon with hay and getting it out to the horses. The cats get food in the middle as they and the dogs scurry around the barn. It’s doesn’t take much time, but it’s quiet, relaxing time to myself. No thinking required, just a little hard work.

Fifteen minutes later my fingers are getting cold. The single digits are having an effect. I lock the cats in the tack room to stay warm and head back to the house. The dogs wander around, and I stop to look up at the sky, waiting for them at the door.

Not my choice of how to spend a cold winter night, but it’s one I enjoy.

Man on a Horse

Funny how people work horses into ads. Check this one out on YouTube from Old Spice.

This isn’t necessarily for me, despite the fact I like Old Spice. I don’t want to “be on a horse” anytime soon.

They’re All Good Horses

My wife told me the other day that one of her boarders wants to sell her horse. It’s a nice horse, well bred and purchased for about $12k.

My heart skipped a beat or two thinking about spending $12k on a beast, especially when we have more than a couple already. I suspect that my question of whether or not I could spend $12k on another automobile might elicit a slightly different reaction.

Our boarder was offering the horse at cost, ignoring the board and training the horse has received in the last two years.  On the open market, the horse would likely go for $20k+. Now I might be open to an investment of sorts, but we don’t necessarily have the contacts to sell the horse. That, along with one other fact, makes me think this isn’t a good idea.

My wife doesn’t like selling horses.

She tells me this is a “good horse” and would be great to show. Having lived with my wife for many years, and seen her work with many horses, I’ve come to one conclusion: they’re all good horses.

That argument didn’t exactly win me any points, and started another argument. Women and horses are certainly hard to live with.

It's the women in our lives

I don't really like horses. I never really had much of a desire to ride them, own them, care for them, or really much of anything else. My memories as a kid of trail rides were these hot, boring, dusty adventures that ended well with a bar-b-que meal. I could just have soon skipped the ride and gone straight to the BBQ. These days I feel the same, though I'd have a beer with my BBQ.

Why do I have horses?

It's a simple answer. My wife loves horses, trains them, and so I have horses. I love my wife, so I have horses. My daughter loves them as well, though I'm glad she has stopped pretending she's a horse on a daily basis.

I help take care of the, have learned a few things, but mostly seem to alternate with some funny and frustrating situations as a non-horse horse owner. I thought I'd start a blog and keep track of some of the more interesting adventures I've had and share some information with others that might be in a similar situation.