Packing Connor up and dropping him off at "boarding school" (as my husband has been gleefully calling it to our friends) felt very surreal. It honestly did feel like I was packing a kid up for school. Did I get everything on the list? Did I remember to put his name on all of it?
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| Who am I kidding, I'm the queen of the organized and the labeled, of course I remembered that part |
I haven't been going to the barn much lately, since I was in a desperate push to finish the laundry room before Connor left so that I could visit him guilt-free on the weekends. But I spent several hours out there on Sunday afternoon packing and getting him presentable.
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| Didn't have time for a bath, but did a quick clip, pull, detangle and bang |
For the first time in...six?...years, I got to put my tack trunk into service for something more than overflow blanket storage. Not sure if I've ever shared this story, but my Aunt Dawn (my mom's childhood best friend and horsey partner in crime) found this tack trunk at a garage sale in a wealthy Chicago suburb the summer I left for horse college. The woman was getting out of riding and put all of the horse stuff she owned into the tack trunk and asked $10 for the whole thing!
I've asked for drylot turnout, at least at first, for several reasons. First, I strongly suspect he would go back to being hard to catch with such a dramatic routine change and in their big pastures, and I know he'll be a good boy in the drylot. Second, he's been on full-time drylot turnout for years at a time in the past and was fine. Third, it will allow him muzzle-free turnout time, not that the muzzle would be an issue, but it's one less thing to worry about.
(A very distant fourth, although this didn't factor into my decision AT ALL: drylot board is $75/month cheaper, which I do appreciate a barn that recognizes that the amount of wear and tear a drylot vs a pasture-kept horse inflict on the facility isn't equal.)
They feed the same feed that we do, which makes that super easy, and for the first time, he'll be getting FOUR meals a day of hay, which I love (7am, 11am, 4pm and 9pm). The barn staff lives on the property in apartments above the stalls, so night check is no big deal.
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| #essential |
I got him settled, and then just stood there like...now what. It was just time to leave him. I know horses aren't kids, but I did have this moment where I was like "Okay now I understand how my mom felt when she dropped me off at Murray State University's dorms for running camp in 6th grade" (which ended up being more traumatic for her than when she dropped me off at SMWC as an actual freshman - guess we got the hard part out of the way early!). I didn't want to leave him. But I did. And now the adventure begins - he has his first trainer rides today through Thursday and then I have a lesson Friday afternoon!
Having done this myself, it's a bit odd to drop your "kid" off for "boarding school". But SO EXCITING! And you'll be visiting regularly. And no doubt getting reports on him all the time. Woohoo!
ReplyDeleteI hope so! I'm on pins and needles waiting on reports although I'm also trying not to be a helicopter parent.
DeleteExciting! Is there anything specifically that you/GP trainer have discussed working on with him? Curious if flying lead changes are going to be introduced. :)
ReplyDeleteI mean yeah I am definitely not putting those on myself, lol. That sounds like absolute torture when I've never done it before. I kept my asks pretty vague, I don't know what I don't know and I trust her. So I said my goals are for him to have a more educated understanding of the connection and improved collection to the point that the canter-walks are solid. I feel like those are very attainable for her, and she's shown me she's not afraid to ask him for more if he's teetering on the edge of something anyway, like with piaffe, so changes will happen if he's ready for them I'm sure. A lot depends on whether I keep there for four months or two as well, which I won't make a decision on that til next month.
DeleteIt would feel strange. I'm excited to read about how he's doing.
ReplyDeleteAww I hope he enjoys his time at school!
ReplyDeleteIt's so hard to drop them off! I hope it's an easy transition though, and I can't wait to hear how training rides go!
ReplyDeleteI hope he (and you) enjoy his time at school and learn a lot. :D
ReplyDeleteI hope it goes super well and you both learn all kinds of cool dressage-y things!
ReplyDeleteThat would be so weird, I can't imagine that feeling either from a parent or horse at a trainer perspective.
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