Snowy Arrivals and Indoor Antics

This weekend marks a new change for Factor and me: we have moved to a new farm!

Let it first be said that where we were was a wonderful home, and a perfect place for Factor to land coming off the track. The people are warm, real, and genuinely love horses. They took excellent care of him, and it was not a choice easily made (can you tell?) to make this move.

But, when all was said and done - my pro / con list came in handy - the biggest thing giving me heartburn about moving was (a) Factor might not like the new place and (b) losing the people.

So we packed our brush box, found someone to ship us the 7 miles down the road, and arrived at our new digs early afternoon on Friday.

Up here in New England, it was a balmy 16 degrees when we loaded up. He was a little hesitant to load at first, but didn’t take much convincing to ascend into the trailer. There was a call or two, and I had to pause and try to identify with the psychology for him.

As far as I know, this was the first farm (save his immediate spot off the track, which is where I bought him from) where he got to be a horse since his yearling days. He was relearning how to be a horse at that farm, making some equine friends, and spending hours every day in a big turnout. Now here we are getting on another trailer, and the last time this happened, he didn’t see the same person again on the other side. It could mean a lot of changes, maybe going to the racetrack again. Or he could have just been worried about being alone and talking about it. (Clearly I prefer to think of him with intellect.)

Anyway, the drive was a short one, and when we arrived, the farm was quiet. Lessons had all been cancelled with the brisk weather, so it was just me and the shipper unloading.

A little blurry, but gives you some sense of his palatial accomodations!

I really cannot express how fabulous this horse’s brain is.

Factor was sensible, if a little alert to the fact that this was all new. Each time I talked to him, he seemed to relax a moment. We unloaded with only a pause to not rush at the top of the ramp. He walked into the new barn without issue and immediately began assessing his stall, which is fully 16 x 16 and fit for a king.

He settled in quickly after a few circles, sipping a bit of the frigid water and munching hay while I got to work stringing horse-and-accident-safe electrical for his heated water bucket.

Before I left for the evening, Factor and I toured the indoor arena, where I made a point to let the boy have some time to stretch his legs and explore. He cruised around between jumps, clearly enjoying himself and the footing.

Saturdays are working days for me at the farm, which provided me every excuse to check on him in between other chores. He greeted me each time with a nicker hello and pricked ears from his stall, which put me in good spirits that he wasn’t feeling too bitter about the move and acting standoffish because of it. He was introduced to the working students, showing off his excellent attitude and quiet demeanor.

That is, until we decided to go watch a lesson in the indoor.

A group lesson with four riders was going on, and with morning chores done, I wanted to give Factor the opportunity to see the indoor with other horses. I’m pretty certain he has not seen an indoor before, and even if he has, I’d guarantee nobody was jumping courses in it. He was fairly sensible while the girls jumped in turn, and we worked on politely yielding his hindquarters whenever he was anxious.

But then the lesson was over, and all four horses turned up the indoor and walked around him to the dismount area. Whatever went off in his brain, the poor guy just went straight up, straight down, and then went in a small trot circle around me, yielding his hindquarters as I was asking.

After that was docile as a lamb (I mean, even during, he didn’t actually lash out or act violent, he just…went up), and we trotted in hand down the long side of the ring to get some movement in.

Despite the momentary antics, I was delighted to find he was paying enough attention to me to stop on a dime when I halted.

After lessons ended for the day, I was able to get some time in the indoor to let him loose and get some movement. At first, when I unclipped him, he stayed right with me. I started “trotting” down the long side, and he trotted along right behind me, keeping in step. We did a whole big twenty meter circle like this, tracking right, and then I hopped over a little cross-rail. He jumped right with me, and as I turned to look at him, both ears were pricked forward, his eyes watching me. We halted, and then picked up trotting around again.

He started to gain more confidence, and took bigger and bigger circuits away from me as I settled on the mounting block to watch his fun. It became a little bit of a yo-yo game, where he would dart around and get a few feel good bucks in, and then he’d dart back to me, seeing if maybe I’d join him again.