Diary of a Transplant: Horsing Around

  |  May 9, 2013

Another installment from writer Larissa Phillips, who left Brooklyn for Greene County and shares her tales of bucolic life.

When we lived in Brooklyn, we barely had enough room in our tiny row house apartment for a dinner party. Now that we live in the country, we have horses and can invite friends over for riding.

Every Saturday morning, two friends come over with their kids, saddle up our sweetheart pony Bugsy, and have lessons with our awesome trainer Mia Ferraro from Free Rein Farm in Catskill.

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The kids and their moms take care of catching and saddling up Bugsy, and then they head out to the ring with Mia. (Did I know we would need a riding ring when we were house-hunting? No. Make sure you put “riding ring” in your MLS searches!)

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This young Fancy Nancy usually shows up for her lesson in pink cowboy boots and sparkly mini-skirts (today was a quiet day, what with the winter jacket and all). Someday I imagine her switching to Western and wearing all the Western bling she can pile on. For now we get to enjoy watching her breaking down the English riding establishment, one outfit at a time.

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This sweet young lady goes next. She has made great progress, and will be showing Bugsy in the Greene County Youth Fair this summer, costume class included! Can’t wait to see what they come up with (suggestions welcome!).

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This little man is only on his second lesson ever, and looking very much at home on horseback. Watching Bugsy and him together, it seems like they were both shrunk down to mini size. They are just the perfect scale for each other. I think they will be barrel-racing by the end of the summer…

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My daughter Megan goes next, with her pony Jasmine.

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Jasmine was a naughty pony who bucked, kicked, dropped-and-rolled with kids on her, went backwards when you told her to go forward, and just pulled out every trick in the book. But she was friendly and sweet, and when Megan outgrew Bugsy, we decided to work on her. Mia took her to Free Rein Farm for a couple of months, and Jasmine came home a reformed girl. (Well, mostly. A grassy ring offered some extra challenges this time.)

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But they worked it out. Now these two are in training for the 4H shows this summer. I love that Megan and Jasmine work with Mia, because Megan is learning not only how to ride better, but also how to train a horse on the ground. They are making amazing progress.

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When the kids are done, I have a lesson with Jinx.

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Jinx is a rescue horse we are fostering, and possibly going to adopt. Once I started becoming aware of the heartbreaking issue of unwanted horses, I knew I wanted my next horse to be a rescue. Jinx came to us in February from Rosemary Farm in South Kortright, over in Delaware County. She was rescued from a starvation situation. She’s not a deeply damaged horse, just a little neglected, and with a few… quirks. I figured she’d be a reasonable prospect for me to work on, and to learn from. She knows how to take a rider, but she has some trust issues, and she doesn’t like her back feet handled. (Like, REALLY doesn’t like her back feet handled.)

Look how sweet and trusting she looks here. This is a new look for us.

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On Saturday, Mia showed me how to lift her back feet with a rope. We don’t want to get kicked, so we’re practicing first with a rope.

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And here’s Jinx free-lunging around the ring. I was trying to show Mia how I couldn’t get her to free lunge properly, and lo and behold she walked and trotted and, with a bit of coaxing, cantered in a perfect wide circle around me.

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When I stopped asking her to move around the ring, Jinx stopped too, and then came right into the center where I was standing, and followed me across the ring as I came in closer to the gate. What a sweet girl!

 

If you want to stay in touch with how our progress with Jinx comes along, check out my blog, HoneyHollowFarmStay.com.

And if you are interested knowing more about Rosemary Farm, or the brave and beautiful world of horse rescue, go to RosemaryFarm.org, or look for them on Facebook.

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