What Came After, Pt. 1

So obviously I’ve been missing a bit. Life has been a bit difficult – a bit sad, a bit crazy. I’ve still posted on Instragram a fair amount, so if you’ve been following along there you have some idea of what I’ve been up to.

When I made plans to take Stampede up to MSU I didn’t want Phoenix to be alone, and I also wanted the horse coming to be a possible long term option to live with us. Luckily, a barn friend had a horse who she was paying board on and riding very lightly because he has some significant physical issues. So Cabby came off the trailer and Stampede hopped on and P was never alone.

Having a different horse take Stampede’s stall was hard, and my husband thankfully understood that I needed to put a wall up fast to make two 12 by 12 stalls and not Stampede’s stall. Not to mention how much that sucked to clean because Cabby is not as cleanly. From the start the two horses have gotten along a lot differently, but pretty well. They have a shared interest in eating as much food as they can, lol. The only issue so far has been a little bit of a power struggle, which has gotten more noticeable as the grass has been preparing for winter and we move to hay. It’s not dramatic, but as Cabby has grown more comfortable he’s wanted to take over. Phoenix is closer to 31 than 30 at this point, and while he stands up for himself he’s just not going to fight. So P has gotten some bite marks on his butt, and I’ve noticed sometimes he moves out of Cabby’s way, something I’ve literally never seen him do for another horse. That said, he will not allow Cabby to push him away from me, and that doesn’t seem to be up for debate somehow. Herd dynamics are interesting.

Otherwise we have all of our hay for the winter, we added more stone to the sacrifice area and expanded it a little, and my husband built me a poo road. Yes, a road to get to the poop pile. I’m not sure how I got so lucky that someone is willing to spend their free time doing things like building a poo road, driving poo to the poo pile, and helping with all the random barn chores like taking down fans and putting out hay feeders. He’s the best. Hmm, or maybe tied with Mr. P…

Especially with Stampede gone, I’m a bit extra paranoid about Phoenix these days. Last winter was rough for him, especially with the whole sand issue, and I know he doesn’t do as well on hay anymore, so I made sure to get him some softer hay for this winter and I check his butt and hind legs daily to monitor any changes. Hopefully we can keep him happy and healthy for another winter.

I plan to do a post in the future about the awesome Stampede memorial gifts some of you bloggers put together for me, but I want to get everything together! I appreciate it so much. The support I’ve received (and continue to receive – thanks to those of you who deal with my many messages) is so amazing and inspiring.

Coming up next, a riding and Maestro update.