What's Up Wednesday

 

Okay, so I know this is a horse blog, but the majority of my week was spent on the second half of my vacation. Last week we talked about seeing totality up in Vermont, and I got to ride quickly on Tuesday. This week was part two of the family vacation. So not much riding to cover, but lots of pretty vacation pics! (I will touch on the horses after though, promise!) 

I very briefly considered riding before we left Wednesday, but I had to pick the parentals up at nine and wanted to be showered by then too. Which meant I needed to be showered and in the car at 8:30. So I opted out. If I had less horses it would have been more doable. Anyway, we arrived at our destination around 4 and had just enough time to hit the water park before dinner. (Solid first day of vacation if you ask me!) Our plan for this trip was to fly into Nassau, Bahamas and spend the night at the Atlantis Marina on dad's boat. (Hence the water park.) 

One of the water slides passes through this shark tank

I've been to Atlantis a few times. We went twice when I was just out of college, and had lots of fun back then. I was a much younger, wilder human then, and enjoyed nights at the club and meeting yacht crew guys. I'm too old for yacht crew now. Lol! We also stayed at the Atlantis a few years back. It was my first post covid trip that time, and my brother and sister-in-law both tested positive before we left. Ha. Thankfully we did not repeat that part this time. 

This trip though, we didn't stay at Atlantis. Instead, we we out exploring. The first day, we headed out with the big boat to Highbourne Cay. It's a tiny island with only one permanent resident. I believe he owns the marina. And probably everything else there. It was BEAUTIFUL there! And very quiet. Once we were tied up, we spent a few minutes at the beach next to the dock while captain and the crew got everything settled. 

I know. These beaches, right? 

Then we headed out on the tender for some adventures. First up was supposed to be snorkeling at a pretty well known island... It formerly belonged to Pablo Escobar, and has a plane sunk just off shore that you can snorkel around. (This was also supposed to be the original site for Fyre Fest. We all know how that turned out...) But the current was too strong for snorkeling, so we just zipped around on the little boat. From there we headed to another island (I'm not sure which one this was) and fed the Iguanas grapes. They are clearly used to this because they all come out when they hear (smell?) the humans.

There were lots of them. After touring around all the islands and feeding the iguanas it was time to head back to dock, have dinner, and turn in for the night. 
Captain knows everyone at the marina (he's been at this a long time), so in the morning one of his buddies let us meet the baby goats on the island. They were adorable!

I got to hold this one. I also got a sunburn.

This cute parrot lived at the marina. I don't know his name. But I wish I did. Anyway, after playing with goats and taking photos of the parrot, it was time to head out. We didn't go directly to our next destination though. We had an important stop to make first. My favorite stop of the whole trip!

Piggy Beach!!!!

That's right. We got to swim with and feed the piggies!

They were much larger than I expected. And I loved them. They were adorable, and furry, and SO CUTE! After piggies we headed to our actual destination which was Compass Cay. Another sparsely populated island. It was BEAUTIFUL. Wait until you see the beach. But first, my niece had to swim with the sharks. She's much braver than I. They were nurse sharks though. Those kind don't have teeth which is significantly less terrifying. We sent Jason our deckhand in with her. He's also braver than I.

This is the dock we stayed at that night. You can find a piece of driftwood at the beach (or bring your own I guess) and put your boat's name up on the shack there. We did that before we left and all signed our sign. You'll see it below.

We also took some time out at the beach on Compass Cay. Now I know we weren't the only ones on the island because there were other boats at the dock. But at the beach? It was just us. Look at this place:

So beautiful. The water wasn't too cold either. We swam with the nieces for awhile and then went shell hunting. And then it was pretty much dinner time. (The trip from Highbourne to Compass is about three hours, so that ate up some of the day.) 

Dinner at sunset was pretty lovely. 

The next morning we were up early for some snorkeling. 

And then we took a tender tour of some of the nearby islands. There's a prince who owns one of the larger ones. He's built lots of infrastructure and his island has all the modern conveniences. We also saw Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's island. This one below belongs to Johnny Depp.

That signs says the island is private and there's cameras. So... he does't want visitors.

After our little tour, we headed back to dock, and hung our sign. 

Our boat is called Indulgence. M/Y stands for motor yacht
And the number is the length of the boat. Then we each signed it. 
If you ever visit Compass Cay, take a photo with it and send it to me!

After sign hanging it was time to head back to Atlantis for our last night. It was about a four hour ride back, so we had enough time once we were tied up to have a little more water park fun before dinner. For our last dinner, we had a pre-birthday celebration. My birthday is the 30th of this month, my younger niece is May 6th, my older niece AND my stepmom are May 7th. So lots of birthdays to acknowledge. Dinner was a feast and we had chocolate cake for dessert. Solid last night if you ask me.

Our Stew Abby does the best job with our table scapes. Much more creative than I!

Our flight wasn't until 2, but the boat had to leave the dock by 1, so we got picked up around 12:30 to head to the airport. Dad and stepmom stayed on the boat. They went with the boat to Chubb island for the night, and then back to Florida the next day. They'll stay in Florida until the end of May when they head up this way for the summer. The rest of us hopped on the plane. We had to stop in Wilmington, NC. It was kind of nice though. It split the flight more or less in half and allowed us a potty break in a real bathroom. It was quick too. No one else was there checking in. (This was a pretty secluded vacation other than the Atlantis parts.) 

Customs. View from our plane window. That one in the photo is not us.

We landed around five, but as I drove home it clouded up and eventually started raining. It was a quick shower though, and we were rewarded with this pretty rainbow for enduring the storm. I stopped home to drop my bags, then immediately went to pick up Rita at my mom's house. I missed that pup so much! I hadn't seen her since before the eclipse. I thought it seemed cruel of me to stop by and see her in between and not take her back with me. 

So that was my trip! Sorry to bore you with that. I know it's not horsey. But it was such an amazing trip and who knows if I'll ever get to do that again, so I really wanted to document it. 

The only bad part about coming back on Sunday evening is that I didn't get to see the horses until Tuesday. It was a little nice (I'll admit it) to have a day to get settled back in at home to unpack (and clean my filthy house) before jumping back into horsing. 

I really wasn't sure what to expect when I got to the barn Tuesday. Everyone is back from Florida, so I had some anxiety about that. It's easy to get used to the quiet mornings and well.... I'm just gonna say it, the lack of judgement from others during the winter months. And it's a little hard to readjust to the busy and the comments. But so far it's okay. I also wasn't sure what to expect from my horses. They mostly hadn't been ridden while I was away. Al did get exercise though. He did some free lunges and I spaced out a couple of rigs for him. So at least he shouldn't be TOO crazy. Shiny had a couple free lunges, and her summer kid was home for the weekend so she took a lesson on her. I don't normally let me horses jump after a day off, but I made an exception. I knew she wouldn't jump very high and Shiny knows how to take care of herself. The lesson went well and Shiny is no worse for the wear. Eros just had turnout everyday while I was gone. He was zero percent wild upon my return. So that was lovely. He's just so perfect. 

I've ridden them all twice this week so far, and everyone has been great. Yes I said that. Even Al. I'm sure it won't last... But maybe it will? I think Al appreciates a little break here and there, and that might be something for me to build into his schedule. Maybe all the work all the time doesn't allow him to thrive the same way as the others. I dunno. We'll have to experiment. 

Lessons are down to one a week now that barn owner is back. We are in her way Thursday mornings if we lesson, so those have been discontinued. It will just be Saturdays until we move home. I do have the option of lessoning later in the day during the week, but I really prefer to lesson earlier. Hopefully once my other trainer gets back we can back to more regular lessons. I am looking forward to getting Al jumping real jumps again. Eros is bumping up to ten minutes of trotting on Friday, and then 15 the Friday after that. Once we get a solid week at 15 minutes, if he's still sound we can start adding some canter. We'll have another check once we're cantering 15 minutes and that will determine if/when he can start jumping again. He's feeling pretty good, so fingers crossed! Shiny is feeling great too, so I'm excited to maybe do fun things with her this year. 

Now that everyone is home, I'm not getting any extra rides anymore, which is kind of a bummer. But I certainly have plenty of riding to do anyway. Somehow though, I don't seem to be getting finished any earlier... Where does the time go? 

What's Up Wednesday

 

The big news around here is that Rita is home! She came home with me on Sunday from the barn, though we did hit a small bump in the road when she wouldn't let me catch her to get in the car!

She was feeling a little insecure as her foster parents had said goodbye to her, but I had one more horse to ride so she had to wait for me by herself in the barn lounge. Once I did finally catch her, everything went just fine! She and P aren't really BFFs yet, but they aren't fighting. I'm sure in time they'll come around to one another. She's settling in well, though we have some work to do on potty training. I put down wee-wee pads, but she prefers to go next to them instead of on them. She had a few accidents at her foster house, but not frequent ones, so hopefully once she's feeling more settled here this will improve. And if not? Well, I'll get her some diapers I guess. We'll work it out! Otherwise, things are going pretty well. She loves to snuggle:

And also really likes toys. She's content to just chew on them, but also is pretty good at fetch! So we've been having fun with that. I wish the weather was better because I know she enjoys walks, but it's pretty cold here and she doesn't have much hair. House fetch will have to do for workouts right now. 

Ponies are all doing fairly well. I apparently have to re-earn Shiny's love after leaving for a week and making her have training rides. She had MANY opinions on Sunday when I rode her. She's starting to come back around though and we had a nice ride yesterday and today. I think her neck is still feeling sore, but definitely improved from when a couple weeks ago. I think she'll be just fine soon. Hopefully at least! She'll have a recheck sometime this month. 

Eros, in normal Eros fashion, has been feeling a little off on his bad foot since I got home. This happens literally every time I go away and let anyone else ride him. I don't think it's at all from getting bad rides. I know that didn't happen! But maybe just from his routine being different. He warms up pretty slowly, and my guess he wasn't given as much warm time as he might like. But also, I think the cold weather probably bothers that leg of his too. He felt better today than he did yesterday (it's 20 degrees warmer), so hopefully he'll be feeling better soon too. I'm skipping his lesson this week though, just to be safe. He is also on the vet list this month, so maybe doc will have some ideas on how to keep him more comfortable. Last time Doc was out, he recommended the Sure Foot hoof pads for Eros. (L talked about them on her blog once awhile back, but her blog seems to be hiding at the moment so I can't link back. Hopefully she'll read this and drop a link in the comments to her post!) I did order them, but they were on back order. I have since received two of the three density levels, but not the one I'm supposed to start with. So we have to wait to start using those. Anyway, I'm not terribly worried about him. His legs are tight, and this is pretty consistent with previous winters for him. 

Caught Pammon having a snooze... 
And by snooze, I mean laying down eating his hay. 

All is as it was with Pammon. We're still walking 30 minutes every day. He'll get a recheck too when doc comes and I'm hopeful we will get to add some trotting into our rides soon. I'm so happy to be sitting on him again, but it would be nice to break up some of that 30 minutes with a little trot work.

Al's got jokes already.

Al is amazing guys. I gave him a light ride on Sunday since I hadn't ridden in over a week and had four of them to survive. He was a good boy as per the norm. But Tuesday, when I went to get him out of his stall, I discovered he was missing a shoe. He tried to pretend he doesn't wear one on that foot, but I know better. Found the shoe, and my farrier was able to tack it back on his way home that evening. I hopped on him today, a little concerned I might die after he had two days off. But I needn't have worried. He started out a little quick, but settled right in and we had a really great ride. I even managed to get him round for several consecutive laps of the ring. Which is a feat for me right now. (Lil' victories my friends.) We skipped the flat lesson this week for a bunch of reasons that are probably just me making excuses, but we have our jumping lesson tomorrow!

And in vacation news, you guys already read the less than ideal end to the trip. But the trip itself was pretty wonderful! My dad had his boat docked at the Atlantis Marina in the Bahamas. We had access to the water park, pools, beaches, etc being docked there, though for the most part we played with the boats. We had a chef for the week as part of our boat crew so meals were prepared on board, and we ate outside each meal thanks to the lovely weather. After breakfast, my step mom took the peddle kayak out for her workout, and my dad would follow behind her with the dinghy. Some mornings I joined him.

And then most afternoons we took the tender out for swimming and snorkeling in the ocean. So I got some sun, did some swimming (okay, mostly floating), and read a book! Oh, and I did take one trip down the tube water slide (NOT the vertical drop one!). It was a great week. For New Year's we had an extra delicious dinner on the boat, then watched "Don't Look Up" and I was in bed when I saw the ball drop. If I was a less lazy person, I'd have gone back up because there was a pretty fabulous fireworks show. And all the boats blew their horns at midnight which was kind of a fun thing. Probably less so for people trying to sleep... but I was up!

And now you're all caught up! Did you all have a nice New Years?

What's Up Wednesday

 

I don't have too much to report today on the equine front since I'm away from them. But Eros and Al both got some lessons in last week before I left. Eros is still getting a wee bit excited about jumping, but at least he's putting the correct number of strides in between the jumps. Baby steps. I think he really needs to get put on a figure 8 over some raised cavalletti until he gets bored. That seems to fix his excitement in the summer at least. We'll have to test that theory when I get back. 

Al is doing great! I still struggle to get him put together consistently, but we're having moments of greatness here and there, so I'll take that as progress. It will all come together eventually. He's an angel over jumps though. He just makes me feel comfortable. I still make plenty of mistakes, but none of them upset him in the least. I can get long or short or both at the same time... and he just does the best he can to get us over and lands just as nicely as before the mistake happened. I'm definitely smitten with him. I think he and I will have a lot of fun together. 

Shiny is kind of holding steady at the moment. I think the little break will be good for her. She's getting ridden while I'm gone, but I think the kids are riding her, so she's probably not having to get round or work all that hard. Just her speed! Lol!

Pammon is still walking thirty minutes. I'll have him rechecked next month and hopefully we'll be able to add in some trotting. 

That's mostly it on the horse front. We all had a nice quiet Christmas. The barn was open but I didn't ride. They all had a nice grooming and lots of snacks. And little Rita was there so I got some snuggles with my future pup!

After the barn, P opened her Santa presents:

And then I brought her over to her Grandma's where she's staying while I'm away. 

It's been fun in the sun here in the Bahamas this week! The resort is very safe, masks required pretty much everywhere. 

We haven't done many indoor things, but the beaches and the boat have been a lot of fun. 

And that's about it from here this week! Did you all have a nice holiday? Getting ready for New Year's Eve? 

Truthful Tuesday

 

It's vacation week over here, though I barely made it out. They changed Covid rules before I left and I couldn't get a second test in time. Then they extended the start date for the new rule and I made it. Phew. But that's not today's confession. Today's confession is that I've already eaten more food on this trip then the last two weeks combined. And my exercise rate is near zero. And you know what? I'm pretty okay with that. We're all staying on my dad's boat and he hired a chef for the week. Talk about staying safe on vacation! No need to sit in restaurants with strangers, and we don't even have strangers preparing our food. 

We're staying at the Atlantis Marina, which is on site at the Atlantis resort. We've been here before, but my most recent visit was probably 15 years ago. Back then it was super crowded and I figured it would be the same this time, but it's actually really quiet. There are plenty of people staying here, but nothing feels crowded and their mask rules are pretty strict. So it feels really safe and enjoyable. 

I'll probably be 15 lbs heavier when I get home, but I can work on that when I return. I'm planning to make the most of this trip since it's my first time traveling in two years! Hope you all had a great holiday!