4 years ago, I decided to sell my long-time partner, Ivan, since I was a lowly recent college grad without a full time job and a way to fund my expensive hobby. Ivan sold, and then the sky brightened, I got my job offer, and officially started the time consuming hunt for my next horse. It became an obsession, scouring every sale site known to man, every day, sometimes multiple times a day. Nothing fit my tastes. Or at least, nothing fit my taste that also fit my budget 😉

Foster’s Sale Photo

When I saw Foster’s ad online, I wasn’t exactly looking for a young horse, but he had everything else I wanted in my next partner- brains (most importantly), an uphill build, decent movement, and hey, it didn’t hurt that he was easy on the eyes.

Laying eyes on the spotted pony for the first time

I made a phone call and hopped in my car and made the 4+ hr trek to Maryland to scope out the situation. I sat on this gangly, unbalanced young thing (then named Pilgrim- having read The Horse Whisperer, that had to go) while a giant 3 year old Percheron jumped (thunderously) in the other end of the small indoor arena. His sweet disposition and forward way of going had me sold. January 29th, 2011, I wrote a hasty bill of sale on the back of my non-compete agreement for my new job.

First day in NC

Our grand adventure started after Foster arrived in North Carolina, obviously nonplussed as usual by his new surroundings. Up until Foster, my mother and I had always bought horses together, and I always put her experienced eye above mine. Foster is the first horse I bought all by myself (granted, with a couple phone calls to her for reassurance), and I feel I’ve been lucky in many regards. To say I am proud of how far he has come in an understatement. This horse has changed my life, and made me a more understanding horsewoman, and I can’t wait to celebrate more years together in the future.

First ride on the baby horse in the dark

Happy Gotcha day, buddy!

Baby Foster looking awkward

No real news here, except that I wanted to say thanks for not shunning me for writing weird posts about my horse’s habits in the stall.

I hopped on Foster again last night, marking our second ride back to work. Admittedly I didn’t do a whole lot, just 20-25 minutes of actual work, but at least it was saddle time. He was a little grumpy, a little pokey, but we ended on a good note and a nice amount of foamy lipstick to boot. Also, I finally remembered to put on gloves and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

J took some video from Foster’s first ride back, which started with lunging Foster over a canter pole. At least I’m not the only one that can’t find the distance sometimes 🙂

And then after I got in the saddle, and working on a hella lot of stretchy trot to get him loosened up after having some time off.

I’m planning on tonight actually getting in a solid dressage schooling, at least Training level (dressage) work. Depending on the lesson schedule, which can make our covered arena rather too busy to get anything worthwhile accomplished. Hey, we’ll see.

That’s right- I want to talk about poo.

Before you see visions of Southpark characters and goodness knows what else, settle down. What I’m interested in is stable habits.

As I’ve mentioned time and time again, Foster is a pig. This is of course all the more tragic considering that he is half white, but hey, I’ve complained about that before (and definitely probably will again in the future). Unfortunately, Foster’s piggy habits do not stop at the mud pit. He’s also quite a messy stablemate.

The elusive rainbow pooping horse

This horse has the amazing habit of pooing right in the center of his stall, then trampling it to bits before making dead sure there’s not a single square foot of clean shavings left. This is no doubt the first step of many, which culminates in his laying down for the night in his poo-ridden bedding.

Awkward post demands awkward gifs

Horses of the past were much tidier. Ivan went stir crazy if in a stall at all, so I can’t speak for him. Merry was definitely a princess in her stall, and tidily used a corner to do her business. Mac the Haflinger stallion also used the corner approach.

At least there’s a pony in this one

After reading this article (chalk this one up to another bizarre thing pet owners do/read/google), some light was shed on these differences. It turns out there are behavioral patterns to this madness, in that stallions use ‘stud piles’ as ways of marking territory. While I don’t know how this translates to mares, it’s interesting to think there is a reason for the stall habits. So either my horse is completely neutral to mares (which he seems to be, not giving a damn about sharing fences lines/stall windows with mares), or he’s given up on life and is determined to become a slob.

What do you think? Is your horse a slob, or a tidy stablemate? Is there a method to your horse’s madness? 

Those times when you fail at trot poles in the most elegant way. Good job Foster!

Feeling a bit burnt out today after I realized yesterday- I have been to the barn for one thing or another for 21 out of the last 24 days. Not that I don’t love barn time, but the extra hour of driving and relentless monitoring has left me a little tired feeling. Giving Foster an extra day off and hoping to get back in the saddle tomorrow. Have a great weekend, y’all.