Barn tales – Page 9 – My Ex Racers

29Jan 2014 by myexracer

Hurry up and wait

Barn tales

[caption id="attachment_859" align="alignleft" width="300"] Bridle path behind the farm[/caption] Its been too frozen to ride. The ground is covered in snow and beneath that the ground is frozen. I had a glimmer of hope yesterday when it got above 32 and the snow in my backyard melted. Of course its colder at the barn so ...no melt. Were supposed to get another inch tonight sticking. I know others have it worse but im really over this whole snow thing. I'm hopeful that it will warm up end of the week and the snow will melt and i can get my ponies back on a schedule. They are in the process of forgetting they are riding horses. Enough time with no work and my girls begin to think they are ornaments.…

23Jan 2014 by myexracer

Old man winter

Barn tales, Life with Circe, Life with Jezebel

[caption id="attachment_844" align="alignleft" width="225"] That looks delicious[/caption] It snowed again the other day. About 6 inches at home stuck and about 8 inches at the barn. It has been very cold out, highs in the low 20's or teens and wind chill factors making it feel at times below zero. Which of course means that the ground's covered in snow, under the snow the ground is frozen, i can't ride, i cant have my trainer out to ride, I don't want to get out of bed, i cant get motivated to do anything, my broken hand hurts like a motherfucker, i'm a bitch to be around and i miss California.. blah, blah, blah. Yanno the usual winter complaining bullshit. I read somewhere that this is the worst winter in this…

21Jan 2014 by myexracer

The good one

Barn tales, Life with Circe, OTTB

[caption id="attachment_827" align="alignleft" width="225"] The Circe Effect[/caption] It was Circe's turn to get clipped. I had done Jezebel the day before and was really happy with how successful it was. Circe is a pretty fuzzy and furry horse. The plan was to give her a little relief when it came to getting too heated up and to shorten the time frame it took to cool her down since she is in actual work (weather permitting) over this winter. Circe is supposed to be the easy one out of my two OTTB mares. Shes the one that wasn't phased by moving to a new place, she walked right into the confined scary wash-stall for a bath and stood for it with no complaints straight away. Circe has been easy to handle…

20Jan 2014 by myexracer

Life lessons by Bess

Barn tales

[caption id="attachment_822" align="alignright" width="134"] My first barn.[/caption] I know how to barrel race... sorta. I was taught how when i was just barely a teenager. I can do a clover hitch pattern and i always knock my barrels down when entering a ring to just ride on the flat. Its a habit or rather a custom i was taught. I'm sure i suck and i haven't attempted to run barrels since those teen-aged days. Though i bet it never leaves you, i suppose id still remember a little about it if i gave it a shot for fun today. [caption id="attachment_820" align="alignleft" width="240"] Bess and Mamma[/caption] I was taught by my barn manager Bess Chaney a barrel racer with some notoriety in CA before I even owned a horse. When…

17Jan 2014 by myexracer

Show Me Your Barn Blog Hop

Barn tales

I got this from Lauren from She Moved to Texas. I loved the idea and I really love seeing everyones barns and horse living spaces! So here's mine... Number One: A view of the barn. [caption id="attachment_778" align="alignleft" width="300"] Pulling into the driveway[/caption] We actually have two barns the main barn and the upper barn. The main barn has 10 stalls, the wash stall, a tack room, feed room and a barn apartment. She upper barn is L shaped and has 13 stalls, a tack room and a feed room. There's another apartment attached to the upper barn. Both my horses are boarded in the upper barn. They live next to each other (which i love) and all the stalls have multiple fans in the summer and there's a automatic…

10Jan 2014 by myexracer

Bird Flu, Ebola and the Plague

Barn tales, Life with Circe, Life with Jezebel

[caption id="attachment_766" align="alignleft" width="171"] Damn It Jim, I have the flu[/caption] I did get sick, even though i willed myself not to, yeah that didn't work. I think its the plague or maybe the bird flu. I've been home in bed unable to see the girls for days and really unable to do much of anything but lay in bed in a stupor and read Facebook on my phone. Good times. I feel lucky though that i have a great farm owner and friends down at the barn to keep their eye balls on my girls. At least i don't have to worry about them while I suffer from Ebola, or rabies or whatever debilitating bug i'm suffering from is. I was laying in bed, under the covers, unable to…

07Jan 2014 by myexracer

The wind chill factor

Barn tales, Life with Circe, Life with Jezebel

[caption id="attachment_750" align="alignleft" width="251"] I'm wearing ALL the clothes[/caption] When I got up it was zero degrees out. ZERO. Zero's not even funny, as a friend of mine says. One is funny but zero? Zero is nothing. With the wind-chill factor according to my weather app it felt like -17 yep, thats with a negative in front of it. My god. Around noon i got my ass going and went to the barn. It had warmed up to 6 by then with a wind chill of -5 improvement of sorts. I was bundled up as warm as i was going to get. Smartpak base layer pants, fleece lined breeches, Smartpak base layer top, t-shirt, red mid-weight Dickies hoodie, black sherpa lined Dickies hoodie, sock liners, smart wool socks, paddock boots,…

06Jan 2014 by myexracer

Gooooooal!

Barn tales, Life with Circe, Life with Jezebel

This should probably be an actual page not a post. Yanno so i can look at it all the time with it starring me back in the face every time I see my site, for motivation. Not that I need a ton, im a self motivated person. I've been a freelancer for the last 12 years. When I was a fancy shmancy art director in La La land I learned right quick to hit your motherfucking deadline. Of course that means you have to manage your workload, your clients expectations and make sure you buffer in for the unexpected. Setting goals is no different. The expectations you are managing are your own, the unexpected buffers you need to build in could be injury's and changes to your time-line. This is…

05Jan 2014 by myexracer

The weather outside is frightful

Barn tales, Off Farm

Sunday is my regular day with my trainer, its the day she works with both horses, yanno providing the weather agrees. Today it did not. Everything was still, snowy, frozen and for a little added bonus we had off and on again freezing rain. Training was canceled, well try again mid week. Sunday is also the day my better half takes his riding lesson. They have an indoor so if the roads are clear class is on. The roads were clear. I like hanging out at his lessons, the last two sessions (they go on 10 week sessions) i met people i really liked and keep in touch with. One is using my trainer to work with her 11 year old daughter and the appendix she keeps at home. I…

04Jan 2014 by myexracer

Snow day on the farm

Barn tales, Life with Circe, Life with Jezebel

[caption id="attachment_725" align="alignleft" width="300"] Snow day[/caption] When I got the the barn it was all covered in a soft white layer of fluffy snow. It looked beautiful but I know better it was cold out there. My car temperature gage read 23 degrees. Thats cold for this Southern California girl. I was prepared, I had all the clothes on. I thought maybe I'd ride Jez as Circe hasn't been ridden in a bit due to her sore hoof. Tina was working so the trail was out. She's my trail buddy and Jezebel isn't ready to hit the trail alone, we'll get there eventually but right now its just not possible. I checked out the ring and it looked usable. They snow hadn't turned to ice yet and it was all…

Category: Barn tales