Well, it's been a couple weeks since I posted. Lots of things have happened since then, I went up to Ohio for my Grandma's funeral. It was a good trip and I got to see my entire family (all 44 of us!) But of course, it was also very sad as we said good bye to a great woman. I learned some interesting things about my Grandmother while I was there, some stuff I already knew, but never put all the pieces together on. Suffice to say, she was and would be extremely supportive of me trying to make a go of this thing I love even though many smart people think it's a little crazy!
I was also thrilled to talk to my aunts and uncles about what I'm doing down here and find out how supportive they were of trying to do what I love. So, it was an exhausting weekend, but big thumbs up to my awesome family!
Back here on the farm, I'm finally getting into a groove every day. One of the working students left unexpectedly a couple days after I got back from Ohio, so now we are 4. One of the other girls is scheduled to leave in about a week, so then we will be 3 unless another girl gets hired. So, send some good thoughts our way that we can get another person hired! We have a local girl who is helping 4 days a week during the summer, so that is a little help to us.
So I thought I would put together some pictures of where I'm at and some of the stuff I get to do. I took my camera on a hack (trail ride for you non-horsey types) and took some pics along the way. The farm is 700 acres of woods and fields, and we can hack out all over the property just across the street. Galloping, a jump field, cross country jumps, trail ride through the woods, you name it, we've got it. Heaven!
So...this is the first time I've tried pics so hopefully it works ok!
This is the view down our driveway, the owner's house is on the left and we walk across the road to go out to the riding fields.
This is the view looking back from the entrance to the farm, the barns are on the left and that is someone who came to interview for a working student position.
Another view looking back at the farm, from across the street...
Looking forward now, these are the yearling boys that live on the left side of the path, they hang in that field all the time and we feed them in that shed thing.
These are Mistro's cute grey ears :)
The back side of the yearling boy field and a little cross country jump, we are riding around the perimeter of this fenceline.
At the back side of that fenceline, heading through the woods to the 40 acre field where we gallop around!
Looking back to the bottom of that fenceline...there's the girl interviewing (Taylor) and one of the other working students (Hannah) on the big grey mare.
The 40 acre field!! This is the field of coastal hay that the farm grows for our horses, we can ride around the perimeter or through the middle as we please! It's really nice for galloping or just working in big circles. You can't really tell from this picture but there's a nice swale through the field where it goes up and down and you can do some lovely hill work.
And to the right, where it gets greener, is the other half of the field, this is planted in peanut hay. Peanut hay is modified to grow without actual peanuts and it's comparable to alfalfa for horses in nutrition. Alfalfa can't grow in the heat down here, but peanut hay does. We can ride the perimeter of the peanut hay, but not through it.
Some more cross country jumps on the edge of the field...
My silly riding buds...you can see the far edge of the peanut field at that tree line.
The Tree House! This was built by the owner's husband for her, and it's very cool! Inside is a wood stove and two bunks built into the wall, there's a porch complete with swing on the front and a fire pit underneath. A neat place to spend an evening...it overlooks the whole field.
And all the way across both the coastal and the peanut, it's such a nice loop around...
Finally, a silly shot of Hannah!
So...if you've made it this far...this is the hacking loop we take almost everyday! And that's only about 1/3 of the available property! Pretty awesome place, this!Back here on the farm, I'm finally getting into a groove every day. One of the working students left unexpectedly a couple days after I got back from Ohio, so now we are 4. One of the other girls is scheduled to leave in about a week, so then we will be 3 unless another girl gets hired. So, send some good thoughts our way that we can get another person hired! We have a local girl who is helping 4 days a week during the summer, so that is a little help to us.
So I thought I would put together some pictures of where I'm at and some of the stuff I get to do. I took my camera on a hack (trail ride for you non-horsey types) and took some pics along the way. The farm is 700 acres of woods and fields, and we can hack out all over the property just across the street. Galloping, a jump field, cross country jumps, trail ride through the woods, you name it, we've got it. Heaven!
So...this is the first time I've tried pics so hopefully it works ok!
This is the view down our driveway, the owner's house is on the left and we walk across the road to go out to the riding fields.
This is the view looking back from the entrance to the farm, the barns are on the left and that is someone who came to interview for a working student position.
Another view looking back at the farm, from across the street...
Looking forward now, these are the yearling boys that live on the left side of the path, they hang in that field all the time and we feed them in that shed thing.
These are Mistro's cute grey ears :)
The back side of the yearling boy field and a little cross country jump, we are riding around the perimeter of this fenceline.
Looking back to the bottom of that fenceline...there's the girl interviewing (Taylor) and one of the other working students (Hannah) on the big grey mare.
The 40 acre field!! This is the field of coastal hay that the farm grows for our horses, we can ride around the perimeter or through the middle as we please! It's really nice for galloping or just working in big circles. You can't really tell from this picture but there's a nice swale through the field where it goes up and down and you can do some lovely hill work.
And to the right, where it gets greener, is the other half of the field, this is planted in peanut hay. Peanut hay is modified to grow without actual peanuts and it's comparable to alfalfa for horses in nutrition. Alfalfa can't grow in the heat down here, but peanut hay does. We can ride the perimeter of the peanut hay, but not through it.
Some more cross country jumps on the edge of the field...
My silly riding buds...you can see the far edge of the peanut field at that tree line.
The Tree House! This was built by the owner's husband for her, and it's very cool! Inside is a wood stove and two bunks built into the wall, there's a porch complete with swing on the front and a fire pit underneath. A neat place to spend an evening...it overlooks the whole field.
The view from the top of the 40 acre field, that's a herd of our neighbor's horses, he also breeds Trakehners...
Finally, a silly shot of Hannah!
More later...
Erin and Mari
