My Teammate.

I miss Jingle.

A lot.

Leaving him behind was pretty hard on me. For a year he's pretty much all I focused and devoted my passion too. I'm obviously getting more than enough horse-time down here, but it's not quite the same. Jingle is, first and foremost, mine, so I could do with him whatever I pleased. Work on something in the arena today - done, go for a trail ride - perfect, spend hours grooming him and playing with him but never getting any actual work done - let's do it. I'm really missing heading to the barn and having that "alone" time, in my own head, working on something with my most favourite teammate. Jingle is the experiment horse, much to his chagrin, when I hear about a training technique, or think up a new thing we should learn, we both go to plodding through it. I miss my lazy days, and my plodding days, I even miss our bad days. I am very excited to go home and see him, even if I might not get a chance to ride him.

Taken on one of our last days at the barn before I moved him. We played the "chase" game, which is where I run through and over obstacles and he follows me around. I love to turn around and watch him pole-bend with me. haha.

Saying goodbye to my baby for the next few months

I don't even think I blogged about jingle's "new home", because it made me so sad. In fact he got a massage done right before I moved him and left, and the masseuse was so in-tuned to me and my ponyboy that she looked me right in the eye and said, "This may seem weird but sometimes I feel like horses "talk" to me subconsciously, have you told him you are leaving yet? I think you need to have that conversation with him... he knows you'll come back." I instantly, without any warning from my own body, burst into some real-time Oprah ugly crying. She went on to ask me if I ever "talk" to him subconsciously and I admitted that I do, quite a bit. I then went on to explain how hard it was for me to leave him, because I had once promised him that I would never leave him again. Once upon a time he went missing for two months at the ranch he was born and raised on, I had already planned to buy him, and once he was located and came home, I made that promise - that he would always be mine and always be safe, and that I would never leave him. We had a good talk, and the next day I had a good "talk" with my horse. It's all a little woo-woo and airy-fairy, and if you know me you know I'm neither, but in the end I felt comfortable in my decision to leave him for a short time.

 However, there is a positive, I was really lucky and found him an amazing place. A co-worker of my moms has land and three daughters and a wife that show competitively in the breed circuit. I've known him for a long time as well because I also worked at her office on and off for the past couple years. I couldn't keep Jingle at the barn we were boarding at because it was just too expensive. Luckily, they offered to take him for quite a reduced price. It's a nice place, big and well-fenced, and also really well taken care of. Jingle is out with some other horses and is checked up on everyday. I pester them with emails every couple weeks and now that it's gotten cold he's in the blanket I wanted him in, and seems to be happy. The other day, through email, they said he could stay as long as I needed and that he isn't a bother at all - which is wonderful, and a huge weight off my shoulders.

Jingle at his temporary home, on his Fall/Winter break. "Semi-retirement" as he likes to call it, is suiting him nicely.

I even sent Brigitte out to go see him, and bring our cantankerous farrier with her to trim his feet. (I also pulled his shoes before I left... serious new life for ponyboy.) Brig snapped some photos for me, and true to form he is very fuzzy, has lost all that beautiful muscle to some big time pudginess, and his mane is an every-which-way mess. As many of you will remember, Jingle was always groomed and braided to the nines... his mother is a little psychotic. However, he seemed very happy (she reports), and to me that is all that matters.

Can't be too happy though... that's only reserved for when we are together ;)

Anyways, this nostalgic, sad, I miss and love my horse post was spurred on by this article a friend posted from Horse.com about a study that proves that some horses and riders have a co-being relationship. "Study: Some horses and riders have co-being relationship". In short, "Co-being refers to a state of relationship in which each partner evolves to “fit” better with each other, both physically and mentally." I think this is something that most riders know already, and as this blog post shows, I am a firm believer that Jingle is my co-being... but interesting that a study has now proven it - give it a read if you're interested!