Back again...and trying to stay that way!

Here I am, back again with an update following the end of summer and they start of fall. I hope this time to come back to this blog more consistently now that I have some time on my hands.

I got Johnny back for about 3 weeks this summer when the people who had taken him on loan decided that they couldn't keep him. It was a glorious three weeks and it made me realize just how much I really did miss him! Unfortunately, sometimes money confines what it is that we really want...and with Emmy's expenses being totally covered by me (no more half lease) I just couldn't afford to keep him.

My boyfriend put a stall up in our barn basically overnight in order to give Johnny a place to stay, at least for a little while. It would be one thing if our horses could just live here at home year round, but our barn is no where near ready for winter (we brought the horses here this spring and before then the barn was never made to house horses) seeing as that we still have hoses run out to it from the house for water (no water line) and really no good place to store enough hay or bedding. The other problem is that BF refuses to drive his truck in the winter on the salted roads. His baby (the truck) came from South Carolina originally so there isn't a spot of rust on it and he wants to keep it that way. Geez...boys. So that would mean that we would need to get shavings and bedding delivered...which our driveway isn't entirely conducive for either. See? It's kind of a mess.

BF and I had previously decided that we would solve this problem by just boarding the horses out at a local farm November through May, just to make our lives easier and give us an actual place to ride. If we could keep the horses at home, Johnny could have stayed here forever, but I can't afford to board him and Emmy and neither can BF. I toyed with the idea of leasing one of them out, and then advertised both him and Emmy for half lease, but we live so far from my college (my main pool of horseback riders!) that no one wanted to drive almost 40 minutes to go ride a horse. During that time, a woman with a little lesson barn contacted me, having seen one of my ads for Johnny, and asked if she could try him.

I rode Johnny twice before he left, enjoying the feeling of being back on his back again. Cool warmed up to him eventually, but Johnny and Emmy's relationship was never quite the same. They used to be inseparable, but with Cool in the equation now, Emmy barely wanted anything to do with John. It was really a little sad.

My best friend and I dropped Johnny off at his new home late at night on a Thursday for a two week trial. I kept in touch with the woman every day, drove down there twice myself (announced and unannounced) to check on him. He actually settled right in and seemed happy as a clam! They started him in lessons the second week he was there and he took to it immediately! The barn owner updates her facebook almost every day with pictures and videos of him taking young riders around the arena over jumps. They have promised to never jump him higher than 2'3." I stop at the barn to see him once a week while I'm out that way doing my internship for school. He seems to really be content and I'm super happy with the care he's been getting!

Peace.Love.Ponies. 

Johnny at his new home.