124 Warmbloods and Valentines!

This beauty came all the way from Poland!

February 2015
      It was Friday the 13th and the semis started to arrive with the Warmbloods and their entourage.   We knew they were coming however we weren't prepared for the conflict their presence caused between "Bobbie and The Don".    I'm almost glad we will be heading to Glendale later today for another session with Jamie and her horses.     Even though I was raised around horses (reread, does that sound weird?)  Lets try this, I have been around horses since I was very young and have only heard the term "warmblood" a few times in my life.   I knew the horses arriving were jumping horses.  Having never been close to a professional jumping horse I was surprised at how large they were.   Not only were they tall there entire frame including there legs and hooves were heavier.   A little research tells me there are two "hot blooded" horses, the Arabian and the thoroughbred.    The "cold blooded"  line consists of heavy draft "work" horses.   Both the hot and cold blood lines have a registry and pedigree that require both sire and dam to be purebred when done properly the resulting off spring is then registered.   Its all about the paper trail.   Warm bloods started out in Europe  with heavy agricultural type (draft) horses systematically up graded with hot blood type with a specific goal.  To produce foals that would excel in the jumping and dressage world.   Where it seems to differ from the hot and cold is that as long as you do the paperwork and breeding properly the resulting hot or cold blood is purebred regardless of the conformity or quality of the foal.   On the other hand warm blood registry requires inspection of conformation and movement, resulting in culling to insure that the off springs are able to compete as modern sport horses.  Sorry for all that, however I wanted to know myself. 
    Well I'm going to clear my head and head for Glendale and another training session.  They will be here for six weeks and I'm sure I will learn more.  
    The trip to Glendale was uneventful and the training sessions proved to be to short to warrant the drive time to come from California.  It was becoming more and more obvious that Jamie just didn't have the stamina to train horses, and unfortunately didn't have the willingness to step aside and let others preform the task.  I again suggested that if she wasn't enjoying horse ownership and because of the danger involved it would be better to sell them. 

     The highlight of the trip was it was Valentines day, Ruthie was with me and we were able to meet and dine with our daughter Michelle.  (Bandanas by Michelle).    She is continuing her life living on her motorcycle and selling her Swarovski encrusted bandanas on line and at rally's I believe she is in her third year now.   After dinner we ended up at a golf Course club house that was having Karaoke,  Michelle treated her mother and father with the Etta James classic "At last" one of my favorites the other is Patsy Clines "Sweet Dreams" .
     By Sunday afternoon we had said our goodbyes and were on the way back to California.  This time towing our little storage/camper behind us with all of our belongings.  We had accepted the offer to live at the ranch for the remainder of the winter.   On the way Ruthie shared some of the difficulties she was having with staff and owners at the ranch.  From unreasonable expectations to problems satisfying them at lunch.  "Bobbies declaration that they would eat anything and would like it proved false as they turned up there nose or picked at the food she prepared for lunch.   Her comment "how can someone that claims to be a vegetarian not eat vegetables"  seemed to capture her frustration.   It seems we both have our problems at the ranch.   We had plenty of time to think and talk as we rode, after all its only two and a half months, how bad can it be?? 

     By the time we arrived back at the ranch the warm bloods were settled in.   They were here for hunter jumper competition held in Thermal California a short three miles from the ranch.  A yearly event there will be a six week jumping competition and events leading up to a million dollar jump off in March.   All the way from Canada they brought along with them the owners, jumping standards, poles, trainers, riders, dogs, golf cart, grooming supplies, horse tack, and oh yes a Ferrari and a 500 horse powered Audi.  Knowing that the ranchhouse may rent for as much as 20 to $30,000 for a long weekend it is hard to imagine what the price of this stay would be, especially with the horses along.  
     The guests seemed very nice to us however our employers seemed to find fault (behind their back) with everything about them including their country of origin.  Hard for us to understand you are in the people business but you don't seem to like people.    One of the big contentions were the horses themselves.   Evidently Bobbie was the one that negotiated the booking and the warm bloods now occupied the stalls that "the Dons" horses called home sending them out to the paddocks to live.   Yup, not a happy camper, they referred to them as "dumb bloods".   And any thing they did caused an uproar.   The day one of them reared and bent the wash rack hitching post was not a happy day.  Contention flowed between "Bobbie and the Don" like a raging river.   Did we make a mistake?  We knew it wasn't paradise but we hoped the ranch wasn't hell!   Our theory was even though it wasn't perfect we would be able to see things we may not ever have the opportunity to be exposed to. 
     Before their events the warm bloods had a braider that flew in from Washington to braid their manes, yes there are jobs out there if you look for them.   She worked very hard and had even done the manes of Bill Gates horses.   Used to working all thru the night going from stable to stable getting the horses dolled up for the next days competition she ran into a problem at the ranch as "Bobbie and The Don" had imposed a curfew on how late she could work in the stable.   You will notice the picture where she is braiding, she is standing on a stool and show horses are almost shaved except where the saddle goes.  I was surprised how it changes their color. 

     I like these pictures of "Yoda" the office manager here.   At times she was a calming influence on the ranch owners.   When she arrived for work in the morning she would stroll thru the stable talking to the young horses and at times laying her hands on them.  Yes it wasn't like she was petting them, it was more like she was communicating with them.  I liked her and so did the horses. 
This young fella liked it so much he would swing his rear around so she could scratch his back.   You can see he gives the stretch similar to a little puppy, oh please more, just a little more, ahhh there you got it.  Thanks Yoda!
     One of the things I will always remember about her.  When I was working on a project she would come up innocently ( I thought)  and ask "watchya doing Vern?  I would give her an explanation.  Her next breath would be "now watchya doing?   I don't think its fair to me to tell how long It took me to not fall for it.   And then out of the blue I would fall for it again.    I still like her.