Who knew William Shatner was a horseman?

Although, really that quote should be:

Never. Buy. Anything. That. Eats. While. You. Sleep.

This seems like a really good idea, but a cup holder on the horse might be more practical

We moved Skip to a new farm over the weekend. This is allegedly a very stressful thing for horses, but Skip seems to take it all in stride., I think we could board him in the median on I-95 and as long as he had ample grass and hay he’d be perfectly happy. The new place is closer to home which is nice, and on the way to 4H. It’s about as convenient as it can be, short of boarding him somewhere within bicycle distance of the home.

This blog used to be a lot more exciting when we were new at this horse ownership thing. Maybe I should start making stuff up

When you daughter is jumping on a horse a lack of exciting news to report is a good thing. Skip turned 9 this Spring and with that seems to be settling into horse adulthood just fine. He is much less likely to exhibit displays of “exuberance” when in the show ring. His canter has come along nicely and he is becoming a nice dressage horse, which is saying something for a horse that has a classic western stock horse build! We’ve only done a handful of shows this year, with the maturation of Skip and Delaney’s relationship we feel less pressure to go to every show we can just for the sake of the experience. She is being somewhat selective this summer. Also, with her doing dressage and aging up in the hunter classes, she isn’t in the first class of the day, which means we have been able to get up at a reasonable time for shows. All of which is just fine by me.

In February we made a trip to the Block & Bridle contest at Virginia Tech. Delaney was awarded Junior 4-H High Individual Overall in Hippology, 1st in junior ID and judging, and 1st place junior exam. In Horse Judging, she received 5th place individual. Her team was 1st place junior team performance and 4th place junior team overall.

Delaney won first place in Junior Slides, Junior Written Test and first place in Junior Hippology overall. Her team got a third place in the team problem. Her Horse Bowl team placed 5th.

All the snow here in Virginia this winter has put a damper in Delaney’s riding routine with Skip. She hasn’t ridden Skip in six weeks, but Spring is now on the horizon.

Apparently, tying magic knots in a horse’s mane can help improve the potency of your magical spells.

Who knew? Well, other than the witches and warlocks!

Delaney and Skip had a great time at the District Horse Show. They got a 5th in Junior Hunter Horse GAYP and a 2nd in Junior Trail. It was a beautiful day for a horse show.

One of the babies that was adopted from Annie Delp’s Eagle Hill farm has been transitioned into Skip’s pasture. Ty has decided that Skip makes a good big brother to show him the ropes. Skip has always been good with babies, but especially the paint babies! We think they’re adorable together.