For Columbus Day weekend, I took a quick trip to New Hampshire to visit a great friend–and visit my horse (!), who lives with her in New Hampshire. I flew into Boston and out of Manchester, New Hampshire, where the metal detectors decided to eat me alive. Seriously, what is with tiny airports having the most sensitive metal detectors and the big airports have the ones that I can waltz through with keys in my pocket? I don’t get it.
I haven’t been to New Hampshire for probably 7 years, and I had truly forgotten how beautiful New England is in the fall. Can’t say I really miss the cold…or the snow that will surely be coming soon…but the quaint New England farmhouses, windy gravel roads, and beautiful leaves are quite enjoyable. I just missed the peak foliage season, but the leaves were still absolutely beautiful. I love the bright, bright reds that you can find in New England.
My friend is building her own barn and indoor, which is an amazing accomplishment and it’s progressing quickly so it’s ready for winter. The property has been in her family since the late 1950’s, and she and her husband purchased the property from her grandmother. With the exception of this property and one other on the road which were grandfathered in before the zoning laws changed, the rest are zoned as “seasonal” properties, where people can only live during the warmer months.
She has 80 acres, of which they cleared a tiny portion of it to make room for the indoor and barn with stalls. Amazingly…they didn’t know they had this incredible view until it was cleared. How much fun would it be to wake up to this every morning? Excuse the crappy iphone shot…way better in person.
I spent quite a lot of time in Vermont (which is about 20 minutes away from her house) when I was riding, as I took a gap year after high school to ride horses full time and went back lots during college. It was great fun to visit the farm where I used to work; it’s just as beautiful and quiet as I remember. I can’t believe I was so lucky as to ride through the Vermont mountains at least a few times a week for so many years.
Without a doubt, my horse now lives in total luxury. She has an enormous field, where she can gallop and frolic as much as she likes. My friend takes great care of her, and found her a new rider, that loves her to death (the feeling is mutual–my horse loves her too). She has lots of grass, and as many blanket changes as she wants in a day.
Besides realizing that my body is not acclimatized to 30-40 degrees in the morning, I had a fantastic weekend in a beautiful place. There is something special about going outside in the morning and enjoying peace, quiet, and smell of horses.
