What's Up Wednesday!

Phew. Wednesdays are killer. It's been a busy week too, so there's lots to talk about! Let's see if I can get this thing published before Thursday...
Last week I mentioned that I was signed up for not one but TWO 5K's this weekend, and had pretty much zero training under my belt. Well, I'm happy to report that I survived both, and even ran almost all of them! I took a couple minute walk break just before mile 2 both days, but otherwise ran the rest. (Pats self on back).
Saturday was an early morning. The 5K I was running was just a small part of a much bigger event- the Hartford Marathon. It's not as big and important as something like New York or Boston's marathons, but it's a big deal here in my little state. Anyway, we had to be there by 7 to park and find the start lines. All went smoothly! My friends were running the half, and I was enjoying the much shorter distance. I lined up optimistically with the 10 minute milers. Spoiler alert, I was a little slower than that.

I plodded along for the three miles, and was super happy to see the arch that you run under to the finish line:

That arch, behind my friend and I! Isn't that an awesome way to end a race? So pretty. I finished in 34 minutes, 22 seconds, which is around an 11 minute mile. Not terrible all things considered. Though it is my slowest 5K to date.

didn't die, got a medal, and a fancy water bottle, I'd call that a win!

I had some time to kill before my friends finished their half, so I wandered around the park collecting random swag. McDonalds had a booth there with Ronald smiles, so obviously I needed to partake in that:

After everyone was refueled and rehydrated (maybe with some beer and wine... maybe not. But probably with) we parted ways. My friend that I drove up with asked if we could ride the carousel before we go home. If you know me at all, you know I agreed to that!

So much fun! The horses are really pretty on this one, but they all seem kind of tortured and angry. Some even had their tongues hanging out like they were being pulled on or had too much bit. Poor fake ponies. Despite their misery, we had a ton of fun reliving our youth. We were the oldest riders not accompanying kids, but whatever.
Then it was home to ride! My legs were a little tired, but I had decent rides on both horses. Jampy popped over some raised cavelletti, but I was saving jumping for Sunday.
Fortunately for my poor beat up body, Sunday's race started a lot later at 10:30. This one benefits a program in my area called The Cove. It's a support center for grieving children. I try to run this race every year because the program really holds a special place for me. My little brother is actually a half brother, and his mom passed away when he was 14 (I was 22.) He went through The Cove program, and I really think it helped him tremendously through that awful time in his life. My family business is a big sponsor of the event.

That little robot looking guy in the middle is our logo

Our company formed a team this year to really show our support. As a neat little bonus for forming teams, The Cove race actually personalized our free shirts!

The fronts were the same as the regular race shirts, but instead of all the sponsors on the back, it had our team name. I don't often wear race shirts, but this one might be a good one for the barn!
Anyway, back to the race. I was feeling a little sore for this race, and while it was cool out (around 60) the humidity was at 93%. That's a little rough when you're completely out of shape and asthmatic! But I managed to shuffle along. I finished a little slower than the day before, at 35:47 (about an 11 and a half minute mile). Still not terrible given my lack of training.

The face of a very tired, out of shape, 5K finisher

I headed straight home after my race to get the ponies worked. I really wanted to jump Jampy and maybe put the jumps back up a little. And of course, get some new media for this here blog. But you know... the best laid plans and all.
If you've been following along for awhile, you know Jampy LOVES to spook. So you can imagine how he might be on a windy day. And it was a bit windy out there! Unfortunately, so much so that my phone kept blowing off the fence and I have no media. Womp womp. I did get to jump around a little, but he was really edgy. I opted to keep the fence at the lower height and maybe this coming weekend we'll get to do more. I have no horse media, but here are some photos of my jumps!

I REALLY want to get my Halloween jumps built, but I have to move the course around to make them work. Fingers crossed I get that done this weekend! I think you guys will LOVE my new jump filler. I also think Jamp may not. Either way, should make for some fun video!
Rio felt great Sunday. He felt really even, the soundest he has in awhile! He was a little sassy and really forward. It was a great day for him!
After pony time, I had tickets to see Rags at the local theater.

The show as FANTASTIC! If it happens to run near you, I definitely recommend it. I got home from the play around 9:30 and headed into the barn to do night check. Rio seemed a little off to me. I did the old "let's see how he feels about a cookie" trick to see if he was interested (he'd eaten all his food, was pooping, peeing, drinking). He was definitely interested in the cookie, but I still thought he seemed not right. So I took his temp and it was 102. Crap.
So I know normally for a fever you give some banamine and hope it comes down and that's that. But it's Rio and he's not normal. Also, I think he's had a fever maybe once or twice ever since I've had him, so that's not normal. (Jampy spikes them more frequently than that, but I think with him it's from stress. He spiked a fever when he flew over from Hungary and had to spend extra time in quarantine even!) But back to Rio. He gets a half scoop of banamine in his grain twice a day, so having a fever despite already being on Banamine is not a good thing. So I called the vet. At 9:45 on a Sunday. Because horses. Fortunately, my vet is a nice guy.
Anyway, we talked about Rio's banamine consumption and how horses sometimes spike fevers at night and we don't even know about it. And how normally in this type of instance it's from a tick bite or something similar, but Rio's not out on the grass much so that's odd. We concluded that Rio is in fact odd, and that I should give him the other half dose of banamine and see what happens. So I gave him that, and then went in the house for a few hours to snuggle the pugs. Because pug snuggles are really effective in stress reduction.

After falling asleep on the floor for a few hours, I went back out to the barn to check on my best friend. He was a bit sweaty, which I was hoping meant his fever broke. I was relieved to see that his temp was down to 99. So I went to bed for a few hours, and checked him again at 6:30. It was still 99! Good pony. Poor dude had to deal with me monitoring his temp 4 times a day for the next couple of days, plus limited small paddock turnout. Worst mom ever, I know.

That Fergus sign right there was the best find ever. It says "I stay in today". For those times when you're up late checking on your horse and may or may not be up early enough to tell your helper to keep your horse in.

Anyway, he was allowed back out in the ring for turnout today and he was a wild stallion. I got on and tack walked him too, and he was very happy to be getting back to his normal routine. Crisis averted this time!
Probably irrationally, but any little thing like this really makes me worry about Rio. He's no youngster at 21, especially give his history. But he keeps plugging along! Love that boy so much. I'll probably have the vet out in a couple of weeks to pull a lyme titer just in case. I really have no idea how he would have gotten sick if not for a tick bite or something. He doesn't go anywhere, and no horses come to my place either. Whatever the cause though, I'm just glad he's feeling better.
Last night I had a braiding job a few towns over for a friend of mine heading up to New England Finals. Since I only had the one to do, I really took my time so he would look great for finals. It's probably not my best work ever, but I think he came out nice.

that's what 41 braids look like

And that's what's up this Wednesday! What's up with you? Has your horse ever had a fever for no discernible reason? Do anything fun this weekend? Horse show maybe? Lesson? Road race?