GOOSEGIVING 2017




Day 1

When I moved to Charlotte last February, I told my family not to expect me to attend any holidays but Christmas. Traveling during holidays is often cost and time prohibitive: I have a 10 hour drive or have to pay for a flight, and if I fly I have to have someone watch Zuzu. Sorry dear family, I love you all but I’d rather come home on my own time at some point over the summer and then again at Christmas. I’m perfectly happy to spend most holidays at home with Zu and Goose.

Back in September Marissa and I had been chatting about her finding time to come visit me again. She had been down once for a quick weekend on the voyage of the SMS Valium to bring Goober to SC, but that was back in May and was a very quick trip. I casually mentioned she should come for Thanksgiving, and next thing we knew her flight was booked. GOOSEGIVING 2017 was a go!

Now, in case you didn’t know, I am a crazy person who makes up words for everything. Goosebackriding is a prime example followed by Goosemas, Beansmas (this is my first Christmas in 10 years that I can’t use Beansmas, RIP), Zuzumas, you get the picture. This year was the first time GOOSEGIVING came into play and before you ask, yes, it does have to be in shouty capitals. The explanation? When discussing GOOSEGIVING via text, our iPhones picked up the all caps version so autocorrect fixes it to GOOSEGIVING.

We’d been planning our GOOSEGIVING menu for weeks and it looked something like this:

Appetizers
Apple cider mimosas
Assorted snacks as needed while cooking

Main Course
Roast chicken
Wine

Sides
Green beans
Sweet potato gratin
Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Corn
Cranberry Sauce

Dessert
Pumpkin Pie

Thanksgiving day dawned bright and clear (I honestly don’t remember if it did but it sounds good written down) and I woke early to finish cleaning the apartment and to make the sweet potato gratin. This is my favorite Thanksgiving side and my aunt was kind enough to send me the recipe in advance. It was simple to make and would be one less thing we had to prep that afternoon when assembling our meal. Marissa’s plane landed right on time and I was soon hopping in the car to go pick her up from the airport. Traffic was delightfully light so she and her bag were quickly collected and deposited back to my apartment where a wriggling Zuzu lost her fool mind. She has known Marissa pretty much since the day we brought her home, and she LOVES her auntie.

Soon we were sipping our apple cider mimosas and cooking away. Marissa and I talk every day but it was so nice to catch up in person. We never run out of things to talk about and alternated between shouting GOOSEGIVING2017, snuggling Zu, and cooking all the things for a few hours.

Needless to say, our meal was a huge success. Who said Thanksgiving must be stressful? Our timing was impeccable for all the dishes, I was a crazy dish washer in between everything cooking so cleanup was a breeze, and our food was fantastic. Step aside Susie Homemaker, we were domestic goddesses dressed in pj’s.


The chicken came out perfectly, the stuffing to die for, sweet potatoes as yummy as if my aunt made them herself, and everything else fit together seamlessly to make the best GOOSEGIVING meal we could have hoped for. 

The rest of the day was spent on the couch with Zu watching our favorite episodes of Gilmore Girls and eating pumpkin pie. Talk about a successful Day 1.

Day 2

What would GOOSEGIVING be without the big Goon Himself? Friday morning we lazed on the couch with the dog, coffee in hand, until we could be persuaded by the clock to get our butts in gear. The 40 minute trek to Rock Hill passed quickly with conversation, and upon arrival Goose swung his head around and stared hard at his favorite auntie. I suspect he was doing his baby nickers too.

Out we went to fetch the monster and many snuggles ensued. Seeing my friends love on my horse so much puts a big, stupid grin on my face. I love that they love him, and I love that he loves them right back. One of the benefits to having a PMU raised by people is he falls in love with his familiar humans so quickly and so completely. Marissa had been worried that Goose wouldn’t remember her… fat chance of that! In turn, I cannot wait to be home at Christmas to snuggle my favorite bay boys in NJ.


We opted for dressage day. I would ride first then Marissa would hop on (don’t worry, we intercepted Goose’s call to his union rep. He was not thrilled to have to entertain two riders that day!). Marissa has known Goose since I moved him to the Stockton barn over four years ago, so she’s known him since his REALLY bad days. She’s watched him turn into a real horse and has ridden him on and off over the years, most recently in February getting him back under saddle after his surgery. She’s seen him at his best and at his worst, and has experienced some of both herself. All that aside, I was ridiculously worried about what she’d think of him and our riding. We’d already discussed his “dad-bod”, and I was thrilled to hear she thought his feet were back to how they looked before he first moved down here. But our riding? This was stressing me out. I don’t know why, it’s not like Marissa is a nasty judgmental person. If anything, she’d give me helpful tips. So I got on, and tried to pretend I knew what I was doing. We haven’t been doing as much the past month with my busy schedule, so neither my riding nor Goose’s behavior have been stellar, but we manage.



As usual, Marissa had nothing but helpful and good things to say about the great white beast. She said he looks better than ever, his leg yields and shoulder ins are coming along, and she offered some helpful tips for getting him to stop bulging through the corners. Before he was too exhausted, we swapped places and I had the pleasure of watching my horse from the ground.

It’s been a long time since I’ve watched someone else ride my horse. Rather, I should say since I’ve
watched someone with a dressage background ride my horse since I’ve seen a few of the girls pop on him since I’ve moved him down here. I also got to see Kelly on him back in September, but that was a quick school and I hopped right back on. Long story short, I was very excited to watch Marissa on Goose. She’s a very skilled rider and had him going so well. He was up in the bridle and had stunning moments at all three gaits. She remarked he was much more “together” than he had been before, and this was the first time she rode him without feeling completely exhausted. Is it weird that I took it as a huge compliment that my horse didn’t exhaust her? I was thrilled. She did some bending and leg yielding, and he mostly behaved himself. I was secretly happy to see her struggling a bit with bulging through the corners (it’s not just me!) and it was helpful to watch her work through issues as they arose. I took some videos of her riding, it really was a treat to watch him go so nicely for her. Such a cool feeling to feel jealous of the person who owns the horse you’re watching, only to remember that you own him yourself. Proud mama moment!







After she finished with him in the arena, we walked around the front field together. Zuzu and I followed along as Goober got to trail ride with his favorite auntie and we mostly chatted about Goose and the improvements he’s made and how I can manage and ride him a little more effectively. It was so nice to have my barn friend back as I still miss boarding with Marissa and Dawn every single day. To have such knowledgeable horse people to bounce ideas and thoughts off of at any given moment was something I took for granted, and something I sorely miss. That’s not to say I board with a bunch of hillbillies – I really like where I board and there are many fabulous people around. But they’re not my two other musketeers that I boarded with for years and who know my horse inside and out. Sigh, if only I didn’t decide to pursue a better life outside of expensive NJ…



We gave Goose many snuggles before turning him out and heading home. We had grand plans to head to Olde Mecklenburg Brewery before settling on the couch for the evening and the beers did not disappoint. Back at home, we made a delicious chicken pesto rollup thingamabob which we enjoyed with wine and Florence Foster Jenkins courtesy of Amazon Prime. Because we are old ladies, we went to bed at a very reasonable hour to continue the GOOSEGIVING weekend bright and early on Saturday.


Day 3

Because Marissa is an incredible human, she had the foresight to grab some cinnamon buns from the Teeter when we stopped for supplies on Friday night. I awoke to her putting the pan in the oven, and wondered for the umpteenth time why we weren’t roommates while I was still living in NJ (Astronomical cost of living and keeping a horse, in case you were wondering). We popped a bottle of champagne for some more apple cider mimosas, and once again they did not disappoint. We put on another episode of GG to start the morning off right and lazed on the couch for just a bit longer than intended. It was delightful. There is no better kind of friend than a couch potato friend!


 Day 3 of GOOSEGIVING involved more pony time, and on Saturday it included a little black bundle of joy in the form of my friend’s horse, Billy. Katya was home for Thanksgiving and was kind enough to allow Marissa to ride Billy for the weekend. He’s a 14.3 stock horse type paint with an adorable face and pony personality. He’s doesn’t particularly enjoy human contact and has a propensity for grabbing human flesh out of nowhere, but is a great little horse and he and Goose ride very well together. Marissa took an immediate liking to the Bilbo, and managed to tack up and hop on without any biting.


We started in the dressage arena to warm up and so Marissa could get to know Billy. Goose warmed up like a good boy, and Marissa had Billy going so well! He’s such a cute little horse and it was fun to watch him grouch at her and all of a sudden have a fancy moment. He’s the perfect little eventer, I’m excited to watch what Katya does with him.

We moseyed out to the jump field and I was a bit tentative as I heard the neighbors’ chainsaws on and off all morning. Goose is typically a good egg, but every so often he decides something is the end of the world and teleports out of there. Luckily the boys were being pretty good after initial giraffing on Goose’s part staring at the dogs and people next door over the fence. Then, the neighbors’ mini Aussies came sprinting and barking at us through the field.

Now, I am a total dog lover. I think they’re truly (wo)man’s best friend and I can’t imagine not having my dog in my life. I’m obsessed with every furball that comes my way, and most of my days are spent surrounded by my favorite animal whether at the barn or the office. However, I cannot STAND ill-behaved dogs and their masters who let them get away with shit behavior. If your dogs live next to a horse farm, THEY PROBABLY SHOULDN’T CHASE HORSES! I’ve had run-ins with these mini demon dogs several times in the front field. They come running and barking, and quite frankly I don’t want to find out the hard way whether or not they’re all bark and no bite. Goose is exceptionally good around dogs, he hunted for crying out loud, but he hates when these little bastards come charging and yapping. Granted, that’s probably because I tense up, but that’s besides the point. CONTROL YOUR DOGS PEOPLE, OR DON’T HAVE THEM!

*Breathes deeply* okay now that I have that off my chest, the dogs were running towards us. Not just towards the fence, but through the jump field on our property. There was a little girl out there too who started shrieking “Isabelle, NO! Isabelle, come back!” at whom I presumed to be the little blue merle Aussie now yards away from me with her black-tri accomplice a few feet behind her. I jumped off Goose deciding that if he chose to high-tail it out of there I’d sooner be on the ground than on his back with dogs chasing us. Using my best shriek, I hollered at them “GIT! GIT OUT OF HERE GIT!” with probably definitely a few profanities and luckily they stopped dead and stared at me. Another screeching “GIT” and they were hightailing it out of there and their owner came around the corner and locked them up. No apology from the humans, no recognition that their little shits jut charged us. Is it any surprise why I hate people? I don’t want to be the cause of any bad blood between us and the neighbors, I don’t know them at all and they might be lovely people. But I will never apologize for screaming and doing whatever I can when my horse could be in danger. I don’t know these dogs, I don’t know that they WON’T run and snap at us, so yes, I will scream at your dogs and, god forbid, use whatever available to get them away from us.

Now that my tangent is over, I climbed back on thanks to some straw bales and Goose and I went on to have a lovely baby jump school. There were already several crossrails set up, and at one point Marissa set a few low verticals and coerced me into jumping them despite my hesitation. I really need to get my jumping legs back. Since I don’t school with Dawn any more, I have lost my nerve which is really sad because I love to jump, and more importantly Goose really enjoys it. No more excuses, we are going to be jumping more often from now on! Well, maybe starting in January because he will likely be getting most of December off.

The boys were perfect, I was proud of our little jump school, and back to the barn we went. We stuffed them both full of carrots and headed out for our next adventure of the day: GOOSEMAS TREE!

Even though she pretends to be a Grinch, I think this meme is an accurate portrayal of Marissa:


She agreed that getting a decorating a Christmas tree would be fun, and she even googled a farm near the barn. We pulled in to the lot and it was Christmas trees galore. My favorite kinds of tree lots are the ones actually on the farm, so I was thrilled with this find. We moseyed around and I laughed when I saw the cotton growing around one of the tree areas. I’m definitely not in Jersey anymore! The guys said Zu could come out of the car with us so she walked around and helped us find a tree. Marissa was probably plotting my murder when I kept going back between a few trying to make up my mind, but luckily we found the perfect one!

I had spotted a donkey as soon as we walked into the trees, and Marissa’s head whipped around “DONKEY?! WHERE?!” We got permission to go pet her and the owner (or who I assume to be the owner) brought us over to her
asking “What you got to say girl?” As Annie brayed enthusiastically. The man probably thought we were insane as Marissa exclaimed about her lovely singing voice, and Zuzu stared at the beast periodically looking back at me like, “this horse is broken, someone should probably call the vet it sounds really sick!”. We fed Annie some corn cobs then went to talk to a man about a tree!

The guys tied our pick to my roof and I bought a pretty wreath as well to hang on my door. It was a GOOSEGIVING success! On the way home, we named him Benjamin Renaldo.

We got home and decided showers were in order. We also were planning to make pretzels and beer cheese, so we got all that organized and while the dough was rising we went out to get Benny off the car. We had him up in the tree stand in no time, and oh how regal he looked! Lights were on in minutes and we shared stories of the stresses of putting trees up and lights on them. Once again, we laughed about how much easier holiday things are with friends. With Benny brightly lit and standing (mostly) straight, we went about finishing up our pretzel preparation, and were soon stuffing our faces full of cheesy, carb-loaded goodness. I later put on the ornaments and Benjamin Renaldo was as regal as his ridiculous name.


We ended our evening with more tv and pumpkin pie and called it a night.

Day 4

It wouldn’t be a GOOSEGIVING without introducing Marissa to my favorite Aussie boys! I had arranged to meet Beth at Anne Springs Greenway to walk the dogs and get out for a nice hike. Her sister and baby Golden, Auggie, joined us and we were quite the motley crew with two dogs under 10 months, Finnley the superstar, and the Zu walking around. Pretty sure Marissa was is Aussie heaven with those fur balls!



I hadn’t been to the greenway before and really loved it. It’s a place that is apt to being packed with people I think, but the trick to taking nice weekend hikes in popular places is to go Sunday mornings when everyone is at church. God bless the south! We met around 10 and the weather was gorgeous. The paths were well groomed, we came across more donkeys, sheep, and horses, and the dogs had a blast. Conversation flowed easily and it was a glorious time. This time change is really getting me this year and I need to make an effort to spend as much time outside as I can. This whole dark-at-four-pm thing is not working for me.

Towards the end of our hike we came to a part of the lake where we could safely let the dogs off leash. In a flash, they were all splashing around in the water. Zuzu was in heaven and snorkeled her way around for a few minutes before rough housing with the boys. I could sit and watch them play all day, but before we knew it we were leashing up and heading back up to the cars. Not before we attempted to get the dogs to behave for a bench picture though… we manager a few decent ones but hilarity ensued so we quickly dropped that plan!

Please note Auggie to the left





Back at the cars, we bid the boy dogs and Beth and Maura goodbye and hit the road for, you guessed it, more barn time. After such a busy weekend we decided a trail ride was in order so we saddled up our trusty steeds and hit the trail. Or rather the field, but it’s giant so it sort of counts. Billy and Goose were on their best behavior as we moseyed around and chatted, and I remembered why I love riding so much. I wish we had more trails on property to get out and explore more, but I love the fact that we have riding areas that aren’t the arena to mosey around and relax. It’s so good for Goose’s brain, and for mine, and I will endeavor to spend more time in the fields this winter. Because you can do that down here, you know, ride outside without getting frostbite. Finding that silver lining to make up for the dreadful summer heat!

At some point we picked up Brenna on Bizzy and rode out back behind the fields to the creek. There are several points where you ride between electric fence and a treeline, which can be a little sketchy if the horses are being spooky. As our not-so-fearless leader spooked a bit at the little QH mare running alongside us and the noisy neighbors on the other side of the trees, Billy held it together rather well. Even when two other horses came galloping across the field at us, the horses just tensed and stared before resuming our walk. The worst of it was when we got past the creek to the spot a buck jumped out at us a few weeks ago, and poor Billy must have PTSD because he jumped out of his skin for no apparent reason. Fair enough buddy, you’re right a gremlin DID used to live in those bushes but don’t worry, he’s gone now!

We did another big loop of the front field where I remembered why I don’t trail ride in my dressage saddle. My knee gave out and was KILLING me, I think the width of my saddle and just slowly walking around really kills it. We finished back at the barn with everyone still intact, and brushed and loved on these wonderful ponies. I also observed that Goose is exceptionally fuzzy again. Guess who got clipped for the THIRD time this weekend?

We put Billy out first so Marissa could properly say goodbye to her favorite nephew. I’m such a sap, but it really is the sweetest thing how they love each other. Goober snuggled right up and I snapped a few pictures of their farewell. I had a melancholy moment thinking how sad it is that Goose and Tucker may never see each other again, and how he only gets to see his favorite people a few times a year. The reality is he probably couldn’t care less, but still it makes me sad. I love living down here, but there are so many horse-related relationships I had to give up or that changed drastically, and sometimes it hits pretty hard.



Back at home, we organized our pizza dough for homemade pizza night. We made one with peppers and onions and the other with roasted red peppers and bacon and they were the best pizzas I’ve made to date. In denial that I had to go to work on Monday, we drank more wine, watched more Netflix, and went to bed.

Day 4

Unfortunately I couldn’t work from home Monday as I had originally planned since I had several meetings in the office. Instead, I was able to skip lunch and sneak out early to come home for one last evening of GOOSEGIVING festivities. We packed up Zu in the care and headed to Lucky Dog Bark and Brew. If you guys have never heard of it, here’s a link to the buzzfeed video they posted a few months ago. I was actually there during the filming, alas Zuzu didn’t make the cut and doesn’t make an appearance. We had a few beers, watched Zuzu run around with a mini-me doppelganger, and enjoyed easy conversation. I know it’s shocking, but even after five days neither of us could shut up we still had so much to talk about!

Day 5

Tuesday morning I dropped Marissa off at the airport and immediately wished I hadn’t. She’s one of those friends that is so easy to be around, and I miss her terribly since I moved. Luckily I’ll be home in a few weeks for the holidays so I’ll get to see my favorite bay boys as well as Marissa and Dawn. For a short time at least, the three musketeers will be back together!    

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