All About Me

As the heading of this blog states, I am in fact a barn manager. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, I am the person who takes care of other people’s horses night and day, through sleet and sunshine, and every holiday you can think of. I get fifty two full days off a year (at least that’s what it says in my contract). I’m the first one at the barn in the morning and the last one to leave at night. I own more boots than I do purses, I don’t wear makeup, and I consider “dressing up” to be a clean shirt and semi-clean jeans.

I live on the farm that I manage in a one hundred year old three bedroom farmhouse with my boyfriend of six years. He’s a math teacher and knows next to nothing about horses (thank God). We have two dogs: a fifty pound mutt and a twenty pound mutt. I’m sure you will be hearing lots about them later on.

I have two of my own horses. Darwin, an eight year old thoroughbred gelding, has been with me since I was a sophomore in college. He is 17.1 hands of pure teddy bear and hates the color white (along with ponies, trailers, indoor arenas, new places, the trail, puddles, anything that resembles a jump, and the wind). I bought my second horse, a belgian halflinger cross that I named Poppy, four months ago from a dealer who most likely bought her at an auction for the price of slaughter (unfortunately, I didn’t get to pay that price when I bought her). She is 1400lbs pounds of pure beast and is adjusting very well to eating four times a day, being blanketed on cold nights, and having her very own stall to call home.

I am not a spectacular rider, but I can hold my own. I am a good riding instructor and have just around forty clients that I teach on a weekly basis (in addition to caring for the farm’s twenty horses).

So that’s me in a nutshell. I also enjoy reading, going to the movies, and I love Applebees. Chinese takeout is also high on the list. Pizza too. Hey, when you’re running a farm and a lesson program 24/7, who has time to cook?