Travels of an Animal Lover

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

The Ones That Got Away

By Kristin Pitzer 2:00 PM // No comments

Before you judge me for the title of this post ("Kristin! You've only been married a month, and you're already reminiscing about old flames?"), rest assured that, like most things in my life, I'm talking about horses. Not men. Or babies (as in when I tell Philip to "look at this cute baby" and after seeing the picture he always responds with "of course you're talking about a horse"). I digress. This morning in the office, a co-worker and I were talking about clicking with horses that did not belong to us. It got me thinking about a few special horses that I got along with really well and would have loved to own but was unable to purchase at the time I knew them.

1. Chico (Steppin It Up)

Chico was a grey Quarter Horse that belonged to the owner of the barn I was keeping Chica (cute coincidence, no?) at during high school. I rode a lot of horses for her and people who boarded at the barn back then, and Chico was a new horse she had bought. He was about three years old at the time. I fell head over heels for him between his pretty coloring and his super sweet disposition. I think I rode him more than I rode my own horse during my senior year--I would ride him during my lessons and my sister would ride Chica. He was for sale, which of course didn't help my obsession with him, and I tried so hard to convince my parents to let me buy him with my FFA money. They (rightly) advocated against it since I was about to go to college and wouldn't have the money to keep two horses. This was the point in my life that I thought I wanted to be a horse trainer, and I was so stubborn about wanting to buy him that I seriously (secretly) considered not going to college. All for the love of a horse. One day I arrived at the barn and went searching for him to ride him, but couldn't find him. I called the barn owner to see where he was, and she told me she had sold him. I didn't get to tell him goodbye. I was devastated.

Fast forward a couple of years, and the barn owner heard through the grapevine that Chico had been struck by lightning and killed while out in the pasture. She didn't want to tell me, so she told my mom instead, who told me. I think I cried for three days straight.

A couple years past that, I received a call from the barn owner. Apparently it was a misunderstanding; Chico was still alive, and he was for sale again! I immediately called his current owner and made plans to come see him. I didn't know how I was going to afford him, but there was no way I was letting him slip through my fingers again, especially after he came back from the "dead." If nothing else, I just wanted to see him and give him a hug. It wasn't to be, however. The owner called me the day I was supposed to go see him and told me he had sold. When I asked if I could come see him anyway before he left, she told me that she didn't think it was a good idea, but guess what, she had several other nice horses for sale instead! I told her thanks anyway and cried, again, the rest of the day.

I had wondered about that boy ever since. A few months ago, I logged into my American Quarter Horse Association account and looked him up, just on the off chance that his current owner had transferred him into his or her name (people aren't always on top of that). I noticed a new name on his record, and I (perhaps creepily) looked it up on Facebook. There she was, and not only that, but there were pictures of an almost white horse on there too! I debated messaging her and finally went for it, and she confirmed that Chico, now named Blue, was in her possession. She was happy to talk to me about him, especially when I sent her an old photo of him. And it was such closure for me to know that he is in a fabulous home with someone who loves him very much.

Chico and half of me, for some reason.

2. Reyolena (TAMU Reyolena)

During college, I took an advanced horse training class. Our first day, we talked with the instructor about our experiences and he assigned us to horses based on our abilities. I was assigned to Reyolena, a cute little bay gelding. Originally I was disappointed; I wanted one of the few non-bay or chestnut horses in the class. But by the end of the semester, I was happy to have been picked for him.

Reyolena was a character. If I was longing him and it started thundering, he'd run faster and faster, screaming at the other horses. The first time I rode him, he bucked with me while I laughed. But otherwise, for a two-year old, he was so amazingly calm and sane-minded. Trust me, when you ride in an arena with 15-20 other two and three year old horses of varying training levels, you really appreciate a horse that can keep its cool. Outside of the arena, I taught him to drink out of the barn's water fountain. And he loved the smell of my hair. Any chance he got, he would stick his nose in my hair and just inhale for minutes if I let him.

We did an auction at the end of the semester and sold off a lot of the horses. Reyolena is one that the school decided to keep for their stock team. I've tried to find out how he's doing but have been unsuccessful thus far. Perhaps one day I'll run across him in my new line of work.

Sniffing my hair, how he do.

3. Annie (Siani)

All of my life, I've loved Friesians. I mean, who doesn't, right? With their flowing hair and jet black coats, they look like something straight out of a medieval fairy tale. So when one came into my barn, I fell immediately in love with her. When I was given the chance to ride her, I was over-the-top excited.

Annie belonged to a couple who were friends of my barn owner. She was the baby of the wife's Friesian mare. The wife couldn't do anything with her, so she sent her to a trainer. The trainer, however, kind of put her on the backburner. She had done a little riding on her, getting her to where she was broke, but that was really it. Even her care of the mare was lacking. When I saw Annie, her feathers were tangled, her tail was a mess, and I thought she was one of the most beautiful horses I had ever seen.

Annie learned quickly that either she and I could be enemies, or we could be friends. When I went to get on her the first time, she did not want to stand still. We had a discussion about it, and she never moved again anytime after that when I rode her. She had a huge trot, a huge canter, and was just so much fun to ride, even if she didn't know much.

Annie was for sale, too. She was just way out of my price range. Her owner talked about wanting to give her to me, since I was the only one putting any effort into her, but her husband said no. I was still hopeful he'd come around, however. They wouldn't have wanted to pay the board on her forever for me to come out and ride her, since she wasn't selling.

But then one day, she did sell. The new owner didn't even come see her, he just bought her based on photos and video of me riding her. She was to leave on a Saturday, so I drove in from College Station to tell her bye. I brushed her, combed out the feathers on her feet, and made her look as nice as I could so that he knew that someone had loved her.

Maybe one day I'll own a Friesian, but even if I don't, I'm so glad to have been able to have the experience of working with Annie.

Me riding Annie with a patient Chica waiting in the background.

I still miss each of these horses, in their own way. I know it was for the best that they didn't work out at the times I knew them, mostly because of financial reasons, and I know there will be other horses in the future. Hopefully horses I'll be able to afford and purchase. But I want to give a shout-out to Chico, Reyolena, and Annie, for the large parts they had in my life.

The end of the beginning...

By Kristin Pitzer 5:58 PM // No comments

Here we are at April 6th, 2015, 9 days post wedding. That means I've been married a little over a week now! So crazy!

The wedding was wonderful but went by too quickly. I'm excited to get photos from our photographer so that I can remember everything that happened. Some moments of note that I laugh at now:

*Philip's car overheated somewhere between College Station and Brenham the morning of the wedding, so he had to transfer everything over to one of his groomsmen's vehicles and leave his car on the side of the road with a groomsman until it cooled off. The groomsman then attempted to drive it, only to have it overheat again, so it spent our honeymoon at a dealership in Brenham instead of in a parking lot at Hobby airport.

*My dad and I didn't have any time to practice a dance, so I picked the song the night before and we improvised. The song I chose was Guns N Roses' Sweet Child O Mine. The dance we did involved moves like The Lawnmower and The Shopping Cart. Somewhere someone has video of this, and I can't wait to see.

*When it came time for the cake cutting, Philip and I were standing behind the cakes with everyone staring at us only for us to realize that we had no idea how we were supposed to cut the beautiful cake before us. I had to pull someone out from the crowd who had been married to show us what to do.

*After the reception was over, we ran through our friends as they threw rose petals at us and climbed into the get-away car (after knocking out hundreds of balloons), which was one of my parents' cars since our original car was out of commission. Philip turned the key in the ignition, and it did the dreaded click-click-click. The battery was totally dead. My brother had to bring the truck around and jump it, and then we had to cross our fingers it didn't die again while we were at my grandparents' house changing. Fortunately, it lived.

Fortunately all of the important stuff worked out and we were married anyway :) We may have misplaced the aisle runner the morning before and maybe I couldn't get the ring on Philip's finger during the ceremony--he had to shove it on himself, and it will probably never come off again--but I still had fun, he had fun, and our families and friends enjoyed the day, and that's all that mattered.

A friend asked me what my favorite part of the wedding was. After thinking about it a bit, I told her that the best thing about my wedding was the fact that my grandparents (and, yes, my parents and siblings) were there. That's the number one thing I've ever wanted--for my grandparents, who helped raise me when I was younger, to be at my wedding. And not only were they there, but my grandfather and my dad walked me down the aisle together. It was so, so special to me.

Just keep swimming...

By Kristin Pitzer 11:26 AM // No comments

Here we are, with four days to go. As far as the wedding goes, I'm not really stressed out. I'm excited for it and getting all fancied up and going on a week-long vacation with my new husband. But it's the other things that are really trying me right now.

For one, when I started my new job, I obviously had to change over health insurance. And trying to fill my one prescription afterwards was one of the most daunting tasks I've ever taken on. It literally took me weeks, only for the doctor to give me three months worth of samples for free in the end since it was such a problem. And the new insurance company wants to charge me a 100% markup from what the old insurance company was charging me, which is complete and total BS (but they don't seem to look at it that way). But anyway. It's resolved for now.

The other thing is that over the weekend, while I was at my bachelorette party and Philip was hanging out at my parents' house, someone broke into his apartment. Let me rephrase that. Some mother-effing jackass threw a rock through a window then reached through and unlatched the window, came in, realized that most of Philip's stuff was gone (Philip had moved a lot of it to my house the Friday before we drove to Houston), and in apparent desperation pulled whatever was left off shelves, dumped it on the floor, and rifled through everything he/she/they could find, including the silverware drawer (?).

They ended up taking several bottles of change Philip had been saving, including change that he was going to donate to the Pregnancy Help Center, a small tool kit, probably around $200 worth of liquor, possibly a phone charger and a large cooking pot (he wasn't sure if they were packed away somewhere already), and worst of all, my favorite wine bottle opener. It was one of those big contraptions where you screw it onto the cork and it raises its arms like it's excited for you, then you press the arms down and the cork comes right out, so easily. I was very excited to finally have it at the house, as I just have the cheap corkscrews you have to wrestle with, and he kept meaning to bring it over, but he never did before this happened.

We are very fortunate that all of his really valuable things--including my wedding band--were already at my house. The most sinister aspect of this is that he had important documents, like his social security card and passport and etc, laying in a file on the floor with some other stuff, and we're not sure if they were rifled through or not. Nothing appears to be missing, but who knows if they took photos of his stuff.

So now on top of all of the final wedding tasks he's going to have to call the Social Security office and credit agencies and his bank and deal with all of that. I am absolutely livid that this person did this and got away with it. The stuff they took can be replaced, but it's the principle of it, as I'm sure anyone can understand (except the piece of shit who did this along with the rest of his breed).

But on a happy note, the bachelorette party was a lot of fun, and the girls that put it on did a fabulous job. I'm lucky to have such great friends!

"Some day, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me. But until that day, consider this justice a gift on my bachelorette party day."

My Maid of Honor and favorite sister!

Omgosh!!!

By Kristin Pitzer 5:06 PM // No comments

So the second post down says 67 days to go...and here we are at 18 days! I'm probably starting to sound like a broken record, but I feel like the wedding is hurtling at me like a bullet. And everything about that analogy is yes. Am I stressing out? Maybe. Definitely.

There's really no reason. Everything is coming together very well. We are down to the little, final things that need to be done. There's only 15 more things to do on my theknot.com checklist. I've received RSVP returns from about 70% of the people whom we invited. Bridesmaid and groomsmen gifts are purchased, flowers are decided on, schedules are worked out.

It's just that these last few months would have been incredibly trying even if I wasn't getting married this month. I moved to a new city and started a new job after being at my old job for five and a half years. I love my new job and I've made some new friends here, but I still had to adjust. It's colder in Fort Worth and I've had to deal (not very well) with driving in ice, which is not something me or my truck are good at. I don't know where much is up here and have been traveling basically by GPS. Plus I didn't know anyone when I moved up here besides Philip, which made for some lonely times.

On top of all of that, my grandfather, who I am very close to, as he and my grandmother helped my mom raise me for the first 5 years of my life, was found to have Stage 5 skin cancer. It's a rare kind that can jump from nerve to nerve, so it's hard to find. Fortunately they found it before it made it's way into his optical nerve--it was very close--so they think they were able to remove all of it. This required removing all of his upper lip and some of the skin around his eye, so he had to have reconstructive plastic surgery. There were some problems after the surgery--he suddenly started swelling and needed an emergency surgery for that, then he had to have another surgery to try to find why he wouldn't stop bleeding--so he has been in the hospital longer than anyone, especially he, wanted--but he was able to go home yesterday. Hopefully he can start really healing now. All of my life the number one thing I ever wanted was for my grandparents to be able to attend my wedding and to meet my future husband so that he could understand how important they are in my life. Now that Philip knows them and has a relationship with them, I'm very happy, but for a while there I wasn't sure that the first part was going to come true, and so close to the big day. I'm hoping Gran'dad feels better in time for the wedding to be able to enjoy it.

I know the wedding is going to work out. Everyone says it will. I'm really looking forward to eating my cake, and of course I'm so excited to marry my wonderful fiance. That's the important part. I just have to keep reminding myself that this event is about God, not about what kind of flowers are on the tables or what kind of favors I give out. And I am very blessed to be able to share this big day with my family and my friends. I am excited, but I am trying to enjoy the 18 days laying between now and then rather than wishing them away. After all, my birthday is this upcoming Sunday, my bachelorette party is next weekend, and then there's lots of stuff to do the Thursday and Friday before the wedding...not to mention my deadlines at work!

Hopefully after we get back from the honeymoon I can get back to regularly riding Rosa again. She and Chica have been kind of neglected lately, and I really miss them. I am eternally grateful for full care board, but I hope to again one day have them at my house with me. In the meanwhile, I just need to set some goals for us, especially since I'll suddenly have one less huge project to work on after March 28th!

One day I'll upload pics again. These posts are too wordy without them. Maybe my next post will be just pictures. Wouldn't that be nice?

Howdy from Fort Worth!

By Kristin Pitzer 2:31 PM // No comments

As of tomorrow, I'll have lived here a whole week. Where has the time gone? College Station already feels like forever ago, when in reality this time last week I was panicking over how much I still had to pack.

My house is coming along. There are still several boxes that I need to unpack (that I've mostly been stepping over and moving out of the way the last week), but it looks like a home now. And Romeo, Ramses, and Fiona are adjusting well. Romeo has just about gotten over his fear of the kitchen floor (he wouldn't walk on it when we first moved in because he thought he was going to slip and fall), and Ramses has apparently already made friends. Last night I was sitting on the couch when suddenly there was a loud thump outside. Ramses immediately flew off the couch and over to the window, where he stood up and pushed through the blinds. Fiona went running over too while growling. I was sitting with a "deer in the headlights" expression on my face when there came the sound of meows from outside. I crept over and peeped out the window, and a fluffy black and white cat was sitting out there, I guess hoping to have a late night chat with Ramses.

The ponies seem to have settled into their new stables too. Chica and Rosa share a paddock that has stalls in it so they can be separated out for feeding, as Chica is a vacuum and Rosa likes to take breaks while eating. I haven't gotten a chance to ride Rosa yet as it has been too dang cold, but I did hop on Chica bareback the other day and ride her at the walk and trot a little bit. She felt pretty good, which made me happy.

I'm really enjoying my new job so far. It has started off a bit slowly as new jobs tend to, but I've been amassing more responsibilities over the last couple of days. Next week I am co-covering the Aaron Ranch Cow Horse Classic Derby and the NRCHA World Championship Show. I am really excited; I have already learned so much about cutting, reining, and reined cow horse. Maybe I've found something Rosa and I can aspire to!

I have lots of pictures to share later, I'll try to get on that this weekend. Have a great day!

Sixty-seven days to go!

By Kristin Pitzer 3:28 PM // No comments

Today marks the beginning of my last week at my current job, which I've been in for almost five and a half years. Let me tell you, it's a strange feeling. My coworkers have become like family. One of them has babysat my dogs for me several times at her home. I know the family of the other one almost as well as I know her. I've seen these ladies go through cancer, divorce, marriage, births of grandchildren, etc. And they've known me since I was a freshly graduated 22 year old living on a salary of beans, through my reptile phase (when I had 4 snakes and a bearded dragon), through the loss of my beloved Penny, through several horses, through grad school, and now through my dating and engaged months with Philip.

I used to complain about being stuck in College Station. I was bored living here, I wanted out, I wanted a job where I actually made a difference, etc. And while those things are still true, I'm very grateful for the opportunity I've had to make the relationships I have. I felt like God wanted me to stay in College Station for a reason, and I suspect that the reason has something to do with the human side of things more so than any other reason. I will very much miss these women.

Friday is my last day, and then I'll have the following week to pack up my place. I've been packing little by little, but the prospect of packing everything is pretty daunting. I'm pretty sad to be leaving my little house in the country, scorpions or not (although not gonna lie, I'm pretty excited about not having to worry as much about scorpions in the future). It's so nice to have my ponies right there. It's also nice to have total control over their diets, turn-out, blanketing, etc. But it's going to be nice to board again, too. I won't have to worry about who will feed the horses while I'm out of town, and I'll have people to ride with. Since I'll be moving to a place where I don't know anyone except Philip, I have pretty high hopes that I'll make some new horsey friends at the barn.

The barn is in Arlington, where we thought we were going to end up living, but the house we ended up liking is in Fort Worth. Philip will have a longer commute, but he wanted me to be closer to the barn so that I could get out to the ponies more easily. He's a sweet guy.

I start my new job February 4th! I'm going to be an associate editor for a publication that is stationed in Fort Worth. And I am so excited/nervous about it. I'm hoping that securing the house and getting my stuff moved will take my anxiety level down a few notches, but I know that until I get started and settled in my new job, I'll be boiling pretty high. And then there will be the wedding!

Like the title of this post says, we are only sixty-seven days away. That's only a little over two months. My bridal shower is this upcoming weekend, and I am so excited. My bridesmaids have been working really hard on it, and I know it's going to be fantastic.

So, that's my life right now. Since I dislike writing text-only posts, here is a photo of Chica and the sunset from last week that is pretty terribly quality-wise (I have a new phone and am still learning how to use several features of it):

And here is a photo of my little bear, Ramses, who was looking so cuddly that I just had to cover him up with a fresh-from the dryer hoodie. He was obviously super bothered by it.

Seventy-nine days and counting!

By Kristin Pitzer 3:14 PM // No comments

Phew. I feel like just a couple weeks ago I was posting about it being 5 months until our wedding, and here we are, less than 3 months away! Where has all the time gone?

There is still so much to be done that it makes my head spin. I'll think of one thing that needs to be done and start working on it, but inevitably it will lead to something else, and then something else...I need like 5 of me right now to work on the various tasks.

In exciting news, my bridesmaids' dresses should start arriving in the next couple of weeks! And the groomsmen have already started purchasing their suits! Since I last posted, I've picked out all the flowers, hired a DJ, Philip has his suit accessories, the wedding shower is planned for January 24th, we're working on centerpieces and decorations...everything is moving! My next orders of business include figuring out how to decorate and arrange the reception space, figuring out and purchasing or making wedding favors, getting my invitations addressed, and ordering rental items.

...

There is seriously too much involved in weddings. On the bright side, I've gotten several new dresses for the various events I am to attend! Thank you, modcloth.com. Is it too girly to be excited about new clothes? Oh well.

But to top it all off...yesterday I received a job offer in Fort Worth, which I have accepted. More on it later, for we are still ironing out the details. But I'm excited! So now, on top of everything else, I'm looking for a place to move and a place to board my ponies and I'll probably be moving at the end of the month.

Go large or go home. That's my motto (apparently).

Since I've stressed myself out writing about everything there is to be done, let's calm things down with animal updates. During the holidays I took Rosa home with me and boarded her at my old stable. We got lots of good rides in, and I was very pleased with how she worked. I even had someone tell me to let them know if I decided to sell her, they liked her so much (and so now I'm like, hmm, maybe I should).

At the barn, Philip made friends with Bentley, a Saint Bernard that I had to force myself not to steal when I left.