I have a problem to throw out to this wonderful Morgan community.  If you can help or offer constructive advice, please do so.  In mid-July I moved one of my Morgans out of a full-service show barn (where my other horse trains) to a boarding barn closer to home—or so I thought. 

 The woman, a friend and horseperson whom I greatly respect, gave me a monthly rate of $750. plus tax with wormers and supplements extra.  This seemed expensive to me but I like the lady’s reputation, would have a stall for my horse, and have access to lovely trails.  At the same time, I inquired about training.  She told me there wasn’t any “real” training—that she just charged by the ride ($40./ride) every time I wanted her to ride my horse—or so I thought—, OR asked boarders to take lessons from her to fill in the gap.  I was all excited thinking I was going to get some good jumping and dressage lessons on the side.

  Well, I called her today to ask her how my horse was doing.  She said, “Wonderful!  We’ve been riding him!”  I said, “You’ve been…what?!”  I hadn’t asked or contracted her to ride him.  Now I owe an EXTRA $300+ in addition to my upscale ”board” bill.  I said something to her about the rides—since she said there wasn’t “training” (yeah, right)—and she told me, after the fact, that horses can’t stay at her barn unless they’re in some kind of program.  Sounds an awful lot like training to me and more than I want to spend on this particular horse. 

 Okay, so I failed Business 101.  I have nothing in writing, she has nothing in writing, and I obviously misunderstood her.   Here’s my question: What is a reasonable fee for board?  I live in upstate NY.  I’m wondering what alternate situation I can work out.  Does anyone know of any reputable Morgan stables in upstate NY that board (not train exclusively)  Morgans but might have a trainer on site that can help me with the riding part too?  Thanks for listening.

Does anyone know if spurs are allowed in carry-on luggage?

Just got a call from the trainer that the spurs need to fly to Illinois with me!

I am leaving this afternoon, with dogs in tow, to make my journey to Springfield, IL.  Our horses made it safely to the grounds last night but given that my kids started school this morning, I had to be a good mom and stay home at least for today. 

Since I am not showing (I just wasn’t quite ready to show my mare in her full bridle-surprise, surprise…), I will hopefully be able to spend some time up at the ring to video some classes and maybe get a picture or two to post.  So, if you are at the show, I will be lurking around with video camera in hand if you want to catch a glimpse of the infamous terrible rider!  I am sort of a quiet person (believe it or not) but feel free to give me a “hey” or hit me with any blog suggestions if you see me. 

So I was the one who started the popular New England Post about the judging, and despite the controversy, I have survived. I am now going to stretch my neck again and bring up another very taboo topic…Money. I am feeding off from a very frustrated horse owner (see her comment on the Going To OKC post), about how her trainers up the costs constantly and how her show bills are roughly triple what a monthly bill is.  I know what everyone pays and what everyone charges is supposed to be kept some big secret, but I am not forcing anyone to give out any info, so participate at your own will. What is the gong rate for training and boarding at a show barn? How about Lessons? Show Fees? Maybe some compare and contrast will put some of our minds at ease, and maybe you’ll find that you are really being taken for a ride! I would guess the former judging by the way a majority of trainers live, but there is only one way to know for certain, and this is a customer based business.

Hi, I have a mare that I would like to breed. She is a Promise, Beamington, and Superman bred mare and I would like to cross her to a Serenity or Flaire bred horse. My question is which would be better or is there any “loud” difference between the types? From what I’ve seen both cross very nicely I would just like to be sure because this cross is something I would like to keep. Thank you all for your input! If anyone thinks of any other crosses that might be nice I would love to know. Thanks!

I ride in the hunter pleasure division and in the show ring you see so many different hunt coats and show shirts.  I have a couple nice jackets but they aren’t anything amazing. Sometimes I wonder where people buy all of these nice clothes. I know that some people get custom stuff but a lot of it is also store bought. I like the Elite by Grand Prix and for showshirts I like Essex Classics. I know R.J. classics has some nice jackets/shirts but not anything too far off from what I already have.

I wanted to know if you guys knew of any places that specialize in or sell hunt coats and/or show shirts. Preferably with websites but I’m interested in all suggestions. I’m talking about places besides the ones everyone knows like Dover, SLT, rj classics… I just want to know of any good places to buy

Going to certain stores with my husband can be one of the painful things in my life.  If the car turns into a Home Depot or Lowe’s parking lot I always cringe because I know I am in for hours of walking up and down aisles looking at tools, wood, lightbulbs and bathroom fixtures.  It always amazes me that he can linger so long over bolts.  This always happens at camping stores, too.  We have so much camping stuff at our house that we now refer to the basement room that houses it all as the “Camp Store” (yes, it is that bad!).

I found out today that I have been “the pot calling the kettle black”.  A few months ago my daughter was in the car with me and I mentioned to her that I needed to run into the local Tractor Supply Store to buy some wormer.  Much to my surprise, she groaned with dismay and said that I always spend too much time in that store.  Me?  No, she must be mistaken.  I always just run in and grab what I need. 

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Hey, all:

I’ve been taking lessons since January at a great Morgan farm and fell in love with this breed the first time up. After a few scary rides as a kid and a long gap from when I started riding again  (I’m 34), I was just wondering what is a good timeframe for progression.  Should I be cantering by now?  I’m close on the lesson horses, but on the sweet horse that will be my lifelong mount, we’re basically at a walk, with a bit of trot when we’re in sync. He’s a young boy of 4 and has a great disposition, but when he jumps, as a young horse sometimes will, so do I.  He proved to me that he is not going to run off, though, so the fear  is going away, and now I feel we can get to the business at hand.  Learning each other. Any thoughts would be appreciated, and any stories of your first owning experiences, too.  Thanks to all and glad to see so many people love Morgans!

With OKC coming, I thought it would be interesting to see how many of the viewers of AboveLevel.com are going to make the trip.  Please vote and if you have anything to add, comment on this post.

 ***The results from the last poll look very promising for the judging at OKC this year.  Of the 70 people that voted 56% (39 votes) said that they thought the judging would be fair and impartial, while  27% (19 votes) said that they did not think it would be fair.  17% of the voters (12 votes) were not familiar with the panel.

Can anyone explain the finer point differences between classic pleasure driving and pleasure driving?  It looks the same to me?  How would you know which classes to put your horse in?