Peace & Carrots Visit from Forever Ago

Continuing my overdue posts from this summer/fall...

I had some fun adventures between my rides at the Cochrane Dressage Show. One was my cross country trail ride that I already wrote about in my main post, the other was a blogger visit!

On Saturday KateRose from Peace & Carrots picked me up from the show between two of my classes and we went to visit her horses! I've met Kate a couple times now, but this was the first time I got to officially meet Apollo, Henry, and Mystic!

The barn she boards at wasn't too far from the show grounds but it was an area I hadn't been to before. I love driving through some of the horse pockets surrounding Calgary and passing different facilities. Once we got to her barn I insisted she give me the grand tour because I'm snoopy like that and love seeing other stable set ups. I think it's always hard to get a proper feel for a place from limited blog photos so it was cool to get the complete picture. It was a nice and also quiet facility.

All of Kate's horses were out in the big pasture that had a very diverse herd of horses in it. There was plenty of room for everyone but it surprised me that they didn't really act like a cohesive herd and had different groupings of horses scattered around, some playing, some grazing, some just chilling by themselves. I've heard that Apollo can be hard to catch but he belied that by walking right up to us. Apollo is a big dude! He's not all that tall but just every part of him is big from his head to his neck to his feet. He definitely looks like more than 1/4 draft. I led him while Kate rounded up Mystic and Henry and he walked very politely beside me. While I knew Apollo was the big guy, Mystic and Henry were surprisingly tall to me. Kate is so tall that any of the photos of her with her horses makes them seem to shrink in comparison. All 3 horses seemed friendly and well mannered, though Mystic did not love being so close to Henry and had mare feelings.

Hanging out in the pasture

I only had about an hour and a half that I could be gone from the show grounds before I had to get back to prep for my next ride. The limited time plus the fact that Kate had already ridden all 3 horses earlier in the morning (what an overachiever ;-) ), meant that we didn't really do a lot with them, just brought them in, said hi, and let them graze.

Horses snacking while we snacked

Because of the schedule, Kate kindly offered to bring snacks so I could eat while we visited. Offering me snacks is a generous offer to start, especially because my celiac disease makes finding options a pain, but Kate went all out and provided a feast! She brought homemade bean and avocado salad, a bag of tortilla chips, a huge bag of fresh cut veggies, and even canned mimosas! It was the best horse show lunch I have ever had, thanks Kate!

Next visit I will definitely have to see her ride!