So remember this post? Or this one? Well this summer I am like the vacation queen. From going to the shore to flying down to Florida I am all over the place and loving it! What makes it even sweeter is the fact that since I got Gennyral over 5 years ago I have hardly gone away, and if I did it had to be for under 5 days because Gen couldn’t handle not seeing me. My horse would literally cut his face open if he did not see my mug for 6 days. It happened 2 times before I learned to just not go away. Clearly Gennyral needed me more than I needed to see my family.
Since moving to Hill Farm over 2 year ago things have slowly but surely begun to change. After only a few months there I went away for 4 days, but I still had the Young Rider check in on him. Eventually as the months went on I would go away for 5 days and cut the Young Rider’s visits to Gen down to every other day. This summer I had planned to be a total show queen. I had planned to be bringing Phoenix to a show every other weekend and some times more. This summer was supposed to be my summer of horses! When that fell apart (and I did too) I started to reevaluate things and decided that it was time to go away and have some fun.
Just the way things worked out I planned my vacations for 3 weeks in a row. They were 4 days, then 5 days and then 6 days. Just the thought of that a few years ago would have sent me in to a tizzy. This year not so much. The old Gennyral would hurt himself when I went away because he craved attention. My new Gennyral is spoiled and loved by everyone at the barn so he gets lots of attention…and cookies…when his Mommy is away.
Because it is so hot and my horse is a giant ball of fungus I needed someone to hose him off. One of the Barn Owner’s kids is home for the summer and said that he would do it. I told him to just hose Gen off and to keep an eye out for fungus. Well, my Gen was extra spoiled because the kid groomed Gen before he would hose him off and then would take him out to hand graze so he wouldn’t be put away dripping wet. I got texted a picture while I was away of my precious pony taking a nap while the son doted on him. It was adorable!
I feel so lucky that I can trust my barn to take complete care of my horse when I am gone. I know that not a lot of people can say that! How are all of you about going away with horses at home? I don’t think a lot of horse people go away because vacations tend to be pricey and most of our spare change goes in to horses. What is the longest you have been away and felt comfortable about?
A Horse and a Half 