Back to the Barn

I have been trying for over 2 years to get back to the barn on a regular basis. During a very difficult pregnancy, with my youngest child, I was put on bed rest, and was threatened with hospitalization, if I didn't be a good girl and stay out of my barn. After she was delivered, she was a very high needs baby that ended up with colic and reflux, she also was so overly attached to me that it made it very difficult for me to even do household tasks.

She is now 2 years old and is still high needs, but it is more emotional than anything else, these days. I try to get to the barn, but she would scream the whole time I worked with the horses and it really wore on me, making me choose not to hear her scream, so I stayed in the house, letting my wonderful husband do most of the horse work.

It has depressed me not to get to be with my horses, so I am now pushing the issue and thankfully, so far, she seems more receptive to being at the barn. Now old enough to communicate more, she can talk to me, from her stroller, as I work, and she can talk to her sister, or the horses.

On Sunday, as a family, we all went out to the barn. My oldest daughter, now 6 years old, got a set of kid sized horse brushes for her Birthday and it was time to truly teach her how to properly groom, versus just taking a bristle brush to the horse's coat for a few minutes.

My husband took the camera out and snapped pictures of the two of us, as I taught her how to use the curry and a more proper use of the stiff brush. He also kept an eye on our younger daughter.

Our oldest suffers from allergies, which unfortunately, does include a mild allergy to horses, so after about 15 minutes, she started to sniffle a bit, so I let her go play, while I finished grooming Belle.

Belle, who has been featured in some of my recent stories, is now 8 years old, and despite being 3/4 Arabian and 1/4 Thoroughbred, is one of the calmest horses on the farm, totally blowing the theory that some people have that "all Arabians are crazy" or "All Thoroughbreds are hot." She stood so calmly for my daughter's grooming lesson, I was so proud of her.

After I was done grooming her, I took her out of the barn and stood her up for a conformation picture, something we hadn't done with her in years. It took only one take, to get the above picture. Belle is the bay, you can't see it, but she has a huge blaze on her face, to go with the 4 white socks.

After I put Belle back in the stall, I pulled out her half sister, Myra, who is a 6 year old Half Welsh Pony. They are both daughters of Bunny. I have not gotten to Myra's story, yet, and I will, trying to go in order, somewhat, in my horse stories, unless something just comes to me.

I groomed Myra and then took her out for her photo shoot. Like Belle, I had not taken any conformation pictures of Myra in years. I cleaned them up as best as I could, but there are some mud stains on them, due to all the rain we've had. Myra is a grey, now almost white, so I did as much as I could, luckily, she wasn't too stained.

While Gordon continued to watch our girls and take pictures of them, I put Myra back in the barn and then fed the horses. It felt so great to be out there and working with them. I felt so lifted and energized, that not only did I go in and make 2 pizzas for dinner, I added brownies as a dessert!

Today, I took both girls out, before my husband got home and fed the horses and was so happy that my youngest didn't fuss one bit! She just talked to me as I came near her and talked to her sister and to the nearest horse to her, Mayo. She was so good and it makes me so enthused that I can actually now start going out to the barn, again! I can really truly start working with the horses, training Myra and Belle, grooming everyone on a regular basis, and just getting to know them all again. I can't tell you how happy I feel right now.