A Chaotic, Fun Weekend!

I had a really busy weekend... you'll be getting the photos from it soon enough!

It started out on Friday, when a friend and I had to give Sarge a bath. This was exciting on a few levels... for one thing, he doesn't like water on his hindquarters (we're working on that and he's gotten better, at least!) and there was a troupe of screaming Girl Scouts at the barn to help Mike (one of the others we board with, he has a trailering business) shed out & groom a bunch of ponies that he'll be transporting for the Personal Ponies nonprofit organization. (The program gives ill & disabled children a pony; it's a wonderful program to look into and these ponies were absolute saints around the excited scouts!)

I was so thankful to have such a calm horse; at one point a girl came whizzing by about a foot behind Sarge. If you know horses, you know never to run that close to them, particularly where they can't see you well! But Sarge just cocked an ear, didn't move an inch, and went back to dozing in the sun. Such a good boy.

We got him clean, and I put a sheet on him in the hopes that he wouldn't get filthy.

Then Lisa (my trusty assistant!) and I went back to my apartment and briefly parted ways. I baked a batch of my famous bacon cheddar muffins and headed over to a Renaissance Faire event. My muffins were recieved with a hearty cheer (seriously! I felt so loved) and I hung out around the campfire for a bit. Lisa crashed at my apartment when we finally left (around 1am...) and then we were up at 5am to head back down to the barn. My former-roommate, Laura, met us there to braid Sarge's rather impressive mane. My friend Kate and her mom (who's horses- Lefty, Scotch & War- live with Sarge) have a trailer, and Kat (the mom!) offered to bring Sarge to our destination-- the American Warmblood Society Inspection. I'll be doing a whole photoessay on the Inspection, so I won't go into too much detail here, but it basically 'grades' the horses on their potential to do well within certain sports & it assesses their conformation and such.

Here's a photo from it, to whet your appetites (though sorry for the grainyness, it was horrible lighting!)

The horse is RU Hermes, who was a part of the Rutgers Young Horse Teaching & Research program a few years before Sarge.

After that, we got Sarge back to the barn and turned out with his buddies, then Lisa and I went back to my apartment. Her boyfriend came over to grab a quick shower. (The Renaissance event involves camping, and fighting in armor-- see the Markland Fighting videos I've posted!-- and there isn't really a good opportunity for showering while you're there. Luckily, I only live about 12 minutes from the place.)

I baked more muffins, then headed back to the event. I had a great time, mostly just socializing and hanging out around the fire. I'll admit, there's a lot of drunken debauchery (though I personally don't drink, so I get to remind all the others what silly things they don't remember doing! haha) but it's good entertainment and good people, and I really enjoy the events.

My tent-mate and I crashed early-ish but were awakened multiple times by the chaos outside. It was like trying to sleep in the midst of a drunken circus. At one point, people nearly crashed into the tent... there was apparently a pirate marshmallow war in progess. (Don't ask, because I was pretty confused as to what was going on!) Minutes later, the tent walls lit up as someone outside started fire-breathing, which was pretty cool to watch. I didn't mind the wake-ups, since it was pretty expected given the circumstances!

The next day I wanted the Faire a bit and saw the joust, but then headed out to come home and crash. Of course, Portia decided not to let me nap and insisted upon screaming in my face... but hey! Overall, the weekend was well-worth the exhaustion.

Look for photos... unfortunately, I forgot to take any during the Faire, but ah, well.