more leaving early

[Samm C Bartee <bartesc@mail.auburn.edu>]

*average of 5hrs to go to rides.  I think that's too far to haul home.  I
*also stayed overnight at a ride 15 miles from home.  One thing about
*staying at ride camp.  When I go home, my horse goes out in the field and
*I'm in the house.  No way I'll know if anything starts going wrong.  When
*I camp, he's on the picket line right beside me.  I peek out at him all
*through the night.  I just feel like I can keep better tabs on his
*condition.  As far as hauling to a fairgrounds.  Maybe that suits some
*horses, but mine HATES strange stalls, (as a matter of fact he hates
*familiar stalls)  He's more relaxed on his line.
I agree with Angie here. My pasture is 28 acres, my barn is a good ways
from my house. If I haul home with my horse and turn him out, he is
NOwhere near me the rest of the night, unless I put him in the
barn--something none of my horses are used to--and then sleep out in the
open.  I think that *my* horses at least get more eyeballs laid on them
during the night if I stay overnight at the ride vs. going home. Very few
people have their bedroom right next to where teh horse lives.  I envy the
ones that do, but I don't and am not likely to for a few years yet.:-)


* I can understand what Dee said about being afraid she'd be the only one
*there if she stayed.  Here lately, it's been kinda lonesome on Sunday
*morning, and it made me a little nervous last year at Alabama when only
*about 3 groups from the Endurance Ride stayed Saturday night, and some
*drinking, partying locals pulled in.  I prefer to have them outnumbered. 
It's ok Angie, we scare them as bad as they scare us!!!  Sort of like the
wild animal/person thing.  We are each just as afraid and unsure of each
other. I have made some good friends with the locals and they have pretty
good Moonshine...er...tales to tell about riding on that particular trail,
so I have learned a lot from those that I used to be afraid of!!:-))


samm