Horses in the City: A Year Later

A Fira update, almost a year after she arrived from Texas.

It’s amazing how quickly time can pass. In 19 days I’ll be celebrating my one-year anniversary as Fira’s owner. She’s blossomed from a scrawny, spooky, and scared, 3-year-old into a healthy and loving 4-year-old. I wanted to share a few updates on her and how life with a horse in the city is going so far.

If you are new to Fira and my blog, make sure you read about her arrival and the earlier blog post, Living with Horses in the City. I purchased Fira from Texas and saying she was green was an understatement. I knew living in Los Angeles would be a huge adjustment for her, but she is doing wonderful.

A year ago this horse wasn’t broke to ride, I didn’t trust her, and up through the first six months of owning her, I wasn’t sure if I would keep her. She was constantly was testing my authority and thought she was the boss mare in charge – she certainly didn’t trust me either.

Today, I can hop on this horse bareback and ride her down a busy a street or around the Los Angeles Equestrian Center. I can’t tell you how many times Fira and I battled this past summer just trying to walk around the Equestrian Center. It’s an always eventful one mile loop that puts any horse to the test. Fira’s initial move when she is scared is to shut down and refuse to walk forward. I’ve learned that we have two options when this happens – sit and wait until she relaxes (this might be a while) or to distract her with circles and approach the area again, usually that works.

Fira lives in the backyard and I work from home so we get to be around each other constantly. She’s very social and is always nickering when she sees me in the house. She can see into the kitchen and my office from her stall. She knows when I’m up in the morning and I often hear her whinnying around 6:30am to remind me to feed her. Unlike some horses who ignore you when they have hay, Fira will always come over and say hi. Shes loves being groomed and scratched.

I’ve done some amazing trail rides with Fira including the old Los Angeles Zoo and Mount Hollywood. One of our goals for this year is to ride to the Hollywood sign and get ice cream at the Baskin-Robins drive-through. Each month I try to explore a new trail or area with her, we have so many places to ride and discover.

I have to remind myself to still focus on arena work since she is young and needs a good foundation. I will start her on barrels this summer and the goal is to begin showing next year. I originally thought I would be going to barrel races this year, but I’ve really just been enjoying what we are working on now. She has the rest of her life to show so I’m not in a hurry to get her started.

I’m an Amazon influencer so I ordered this new dress courtesy of Amazon last month and I’m loving it for summer. Shop my entire look below, the hat is old but I’ve linked a similar blue one. The combination of pink and navy is so good!