31 – Kentucky!!!

The horses left three days before us.  They had two days quarantine in LA then flew to Chicago and from there to Lexington by truck, that was probably the hardest part for them.

We arrived in Lexington after midnight, the horses were due to arrive the next evening – we had a lot to do!  And at this stage there were only five of us to do it all.

Locate the stables the horses were at for the first three weeks.

Find somewhere nearby for us to stay for the first week.

Buy lots of stuff – Buckets, feed bins etc.

Feed for horses – organized by Joe Pagan of Kentucky Equine Research – so just make sure it got here.

Food for us

And learn to drive on the wrong side of the road!

The barn was on only ten acres, so we also needed to find somewhere to ride.

So we did most of that on the first day. No time for jet lag!

We discovered Walmart – the people there were so helpful and excited to learn we were the NZ team. Later we also discovered dollar shops where everything really was just $1.

Starbucks for Internet, cheap motel for a week, two rooms plus our first Walmart air bed.

On that first day driving to and from the stables we saw two car accidents! The second one had just happened, car upside down, fence smashed, woman crawling out through broken back window!! Not an encouraging thing when you’re about to start driving in a new country.  A friend of Alison’s had picked us up at the airport, given us beds and was now lending us a spare car for the duration.  Here it is a Terrano, had some other name there. Pretty old and tired, but Richard managed to keep it going for the duration of our stay.

The horses arrived on schedule. It was so good to see them, so amazing to reconnect on the other side of the world!  Taking them for a lead the next day Lace kept nosing my hand as if she couldn’t quite believe it either. That is quite something from her, she’s not one for demonstrations of affection.

The rest of the team was due to start arriving in about a week, starting with Nick, the vet. We needed to find somewhere for everyone to stay, preferably without it costing the earth.  After the first week there was some accommodation available at the stables. A “bus” (among other things it had three TVs!) and a small flat – enough to sleep five – the team was going to be 15 once everyone arrived.  So we were looking around for somewhere close, cheap and large.

On the way into Walmart and Starbucks there was a house advertised to rent, Nicki arranged for us to have a look. It turned out it had belonged to the guys mother who had died recently, it was her home.  And if that wasn’t enough on its own to put you off, then…. it was untouched from when she was living there! Stuff all over the table, food still in the fridge!!! Ugh! He kept assuring us he would have it tidy for us – yeah, right.  And if that still wasn’t bad enough one side bedroom had had a tree fall through the roof and it had not been repaired, just covered with a tarp and the floor had rotted! Needless to say we didn’t rent it, it wasn’t even super cheap. I reckon he would have had to pay us to convince us stay there!  Definitely a memorable experience though.

But Alison managed to solve two problems at once.  The farm next door not only had over 200 acres we could ride on but also an empty house we could rent. It was mainly unfurnished so we bought all the air beds from two Walmarts as well as sleeping bags, pillows, sheets, towels etc for everyone.

Riders were to stay in the bus, Nick and Ray in the flat. Everyone else in the house which was within walking distance.

One of the bonuses of our horses accommodation was meeting the show jumpers that had their horses at the barn too.  A lovely couple who made a living buying expensive horses, bringing them on in top show jumping and selling them for huge amounts. Becky, Conan and their Irish groom Paul.  And the other guy there who we did not get to know so well, he had Mexican stable-hands, it was interesting and sad to see how people treat the Mexicans and how surprised they were when we just wanted to chat to them like they were normal people.                            

America is very big and Kentucky has a lot of grass.  Now if a Kiwi (New Zealander – by the way Kiwi is the bird or the person, never the fruit. If referring to the fruit it is always kiwifruit) has too much grass then they get more mouths to eat it, or cut it and save it  for later. In Kentucky they mow the paddocks, it wouldn’t do for them to get untidy!  It also keeps grass quality better too I guess.  Around the barns there are small paddocks but then there are also really big paddocks… The 200 acres we rode in was just two paddocks and was all mowed as the fences were wire and so not safe for horses! There was some tobacco planted on a few acres in the middle but that’s all.

We were on a mission to see wildlife…. Coyote, deer, skunk, chipmunk, buzzards, eagle, raccoon, squirrels, hummingbird, woodpecker (at least I heard one) and a turtle.  Lace wasn’t at all sure about the squirrels, I think she categorized them as rabbits and then one climbed up and ran along the top of the fence! She was a little astounded and unimpressed.

Our kiwi farrier and his wife had been living in Lexington for three years – awesome couple – and they introduced us to a local pub, “Rose and Jims” and the local game “corn hole.” This involves throwing small bags of corn about 10 metres and trying to get it on a board and through a hole in the board. Fun.  Meeting the locals was great, really felt like we were in a movie set for red-neck USA!

32 – More Kentucky stuff