horsing around

You know how sometimes you have days where all you want to do is sit around with a Dr. Pepper 10 and study horse classifieds from across the world? This is that day.

Since we are moving to Vegas next year and will hopefully–someday–in the next ten years or less–move home to what we affectionately refer to as The Back 10 because we can’t think of a fancier name for our Someday Farm in Washington, we have decided it’s probably wise for us to start schooling our kids (and Jason) in Farmish type stuff.

Like horses. Oh yes, we are going to have horses.

This comes as quite a shock to me since as a kid I was potentially the worst horse owner on the face of the planet. My horse kind of hated me. I can’t blame him, you would too if your chubby 13-year-old owner would make you stand still while she took running pot shots at you to try and “master” the art of jumping on your bare back. He was old, he was crotchety, and while he was lovely to look at we made a really, really terrible pair.

This did not stop me from riding him when it suited my social life, but it did stop me from riding him because we loved each other.

But I did get a nice background in basic horsemanship and 4H, something we want our kids to learn. Of course, I paid far more attention to my show outfits than I did to learning to ride my horse (I might have almost plowed down a judge one year in my bareback class but my green pants were wicked). We didn’t get a whole lot of parental support or supervision in the horse department (the costumes, yes) although I’m eternally grateful we were allowed to have the opportunity even if it wasn’t something our parents particularly enjoyed or paid attention to. Their support came in “go feed the horses” lectures and really great western show wear.

But I have recently discovered a secret about my husband: he is dying to learn about horses. This might have something to do with our really cool German neighbor and his horse or the fact that Jason should have been born in a barn. Either way the man is a natural with animal husbandry (he did marry me) and such a worker bee. He is fascinated by just about every aspect of hobby farming that comes up, particularly horses.

And so we are going to start riding lessons at the end of the month for Rex and Jason. We’ve been looking for a good sport for Rex that doesn’t involve balls or running or other people, and when Jason suggested this it was an instant light bulb for both of us. Jason found an excellent barn with an American riding instructor my girlfriend has been using for the past year so we’re going to give it a go and rotate the kids through.

Let me tell you, it’s the perfect distraction from dishes and laundry. I could watch jumper ponies on youtube for hours.