What's Up Wednesdays

Might as well jump right in with the most pressing news. Friday the vet came out to see what's happening with Eros and his limpy leg. After watching him go under saddle and then flexing him, doc was pretty confident we were dealing with the same foot/ankle troubles as last year. BUT after blocking him, we were less certain. At first look, he definitely needs his feet fixed. His heels need to be opened up to relieve some of the pressure on that ligament he has trouble with. The weird one that wraps around the ankle down to the foot. Don't ask me what it's called, I can't remember. Anyway... that's an ongoing issue that we will forever deal with for him. Doc does still think that is the root of the problem. However, when he blocked the foot and then the ankle he was only marginally more sound. He didn't get the most sound until we blocked... The Suspensory. UGH! You guys. These ligaments are going to be the death of me.

Yeah, I'm closing my eyes to all of this too Eros.

The problem though, since the area was blocked it can't be ultrasounded the same day. (The block just lights everything up so you can't actually see anything.) The leg is pretty tight though, and not overly sensitive to palpation, so we're very hopeful that there's no real injury there, and it's just very sore from compensating for the foot bothering him. My vet is in Florida this week, but will hopefully be out a week from Friday to ultrasound that just to be sure.
In the meantime, we need to hopefully get him re-shod (he's due anyway), ice, wrap, and hand walk. I'm legit so over nursing and hand walking horses. SO OVER IT! Not to say I'm not doing it. Of course I am! And I really do enjoy the extra time just hanging with my horses. But like... I also really enjoy riding, lessoning, and showing... Just throwing that out there...

From a normal, not over-reacting perspective, he'll likely be just fine in a few weeks. But from MY perspective where my horses frequently take year long vacations, I'm worried. I'm sitting somewhere in between "everything is fine, this is no big deal" and "I should probably sell the farm and take up competitive eating."

Fortunately, Shiny is back in light work. We even added in some canter over the weekend. So now we just have to build up her fitness slowly. She's also pretty over due for a trim, so hopefully the farrier comes out sooner than later. She's been a good girl though and seems to be sound. Hard to really tell because she's not all that interested in working and gives me the littlest western pleasure jog when I ask for trot... But it seems to be even at least. Once she's a little stronger and has some fitness we're going to need address the whole leg means go thing. Plenty of time for that though.

So that's really all we're up to here. Eros is walking and icing, Shiny is jogging with a little canter.

"Mom, this boot is really cold." -Eros probably

In non horse news,I've been making some headway in reclaiming my house from the hoarder hovel it had become. I just ordered some shelving for my bedroom and some cabinets for my pantry. So this weekend I'll be swearing a lot trying to put it all together. But it will (hopefully) all be worth it when everything is organized and neat! Once those two rooms are done, I can figure out what to do with the craft room I want to make upstairs in the smallest bedroom. And I think once THAT room gets accomplished I'll have a nice house again. But now that I've been looking at furniture and what not, I kind of want to replace my living room stuff. I have always disliked my couch. It looks nice enough, but it's really uncomfortable and I never sit on it. Be nice to have some furniture I actually want to sit in. But that's probably gotta wait till next year. We'll see.

And that's about it from here. How are things with you guys? Horses sound? Do anything fun with them this week? Is your house in order, or is there stuff all over yours too?

What's Up Wednesday

Happy Wednesday all! It's been relatively quiet around here. I spent my non horse time this weekend organizing the shoes in my house. If you think I have a lot of tall boots, it's nothing compared to the hoard of shoes I own. And they're utter chaos at the moment. I even discovered I had bought the same pair twice. THAT is when you know you have a problem. I just ordered some new storage solutions from Amazon, so I'm guessing this weekend will be similarly spent. But you're not here to talk about shoes! So let's look back at the last week.
The vet was out Friday to recheck Shiny pants, and he was really pleased with how she's healing. It had been two week since he discovered that giant splinter in her hoof, and everything is healing up nicely. There's just one little spot that is still a little soft, but once that hardens up she can go back to her regular life. She is all too ready. Poor thing hasn't had a turnout in just over a month. But she will soon. Yay!

Also, my vet posted her initial photos on his Facebook page and it legit went viral. Figures THAT is what would get us famous... ha! He didn't post who it was though, confidentiality and all that.

I also got a glowing report on Pammon. Doc ultrasounded him about a week prior to Shiny's recheck, and showed me how much healing has taken place. The ligament was a complete mess when he went to the clinic, with huge disruptions to the fibers pretty much throughout. It was bad. And now there's a lot of filling in going on. Doc is really confident he'll be back to jumping and at the heights I had bought him for. So that's fantastic news. There's no time line yet, which is fine with me. I'm not rushing this. I need him to get fully healed. Only then will we worry about getting back to business. And though I'm smart enough not to count any chickens before they hatch, I am feeling cautiously optimistic.

But then there's Eros... My perfect boy Eros has decided he no longer needs to, you know... travel correctly. He has concluded that he is perfectly content to trot and canter (and walk, I guess...) with his head up, back hollow, and completely locked up from poll to tail. So that's been fun. I'm going to get him on the list for doc to look at him, but since he was JUST here, I'm not sure yet when he's back next. Eros does not feel at all unsound, so I don't think we have something major going on. But never hurts to check anyway. He is doing all kinds of lateral work to evade doing what I'm actually asking for, which kind of suggests to me something is bugging him that he's trying to avoid. I still think getting a body worker out would do wonders for him, but for whatever reason, barn owner is dragging her feet on finding someone. We had briefly discussed injecting his SI the last time he had a lameness exam and we decided to wait. So it's entirely possible the time has come. I'm guessing the very cold weather (it was 18 degrees last night when I left the barn) probably isn't helping to loosen him.Other than being kind of inside out though, he's still his perfect self.
So we had some snow on Saturday night, which meant Sunday there was snowing coming off the indoor roof. The trainers opted to give the young horses the day off so no one would die (probably a good choice) but I figured I'd take my chances, and stuff the ears just in case. Now, I'm pretty confident I had stuffed Eros' ears more than a few times last year. If you recall, he was on light work and no turn out around this time last year for that sore foot of his. And he was quite spooky, and I'm really sure I used ear plugs more than a few times. But you guys... when I put them in on Sunday, this was the face I got:

 Unless something caught his interest, he ears stayed like this the entire time he had them stuffed. On the way back in from our ride, he literally was shoving his ears in my face asking me to take them out. (And I mean literally... I definitely got an ear in the mouth.) As soon as we reached the crossties I removed the ear plugs. He was very grateful. Such a drama king.
We had a butt kicking flat lesson last night. I'm definitely sore, though he's probably not since I was certainly working harder than he was. I finished that ride up with some really nice canter work, but the trot never really came together. We will have a lighter flat tonight and tomorrow he's getting a training ride. Trainer didn't think my timing was bad, and wants to see if she can feel what's causing this sudden resistance. And/or if I'm just doing something to piss him off. Not impossible! I really think some vet and/or body work is the answer but in the meantime, it doesn't hurt to have a different human get a feel.

That's about all that's happening with the horses. But I have a few other interesting odds and ends to mention. First, I bought a pair of boots off Ebay before the holidays. Not riding boots, just regular ones. Anyway, I pulled one out and tried it on when they arrived, but was in a rush and didn't check both boots. One was good, so you would assume they both were fine right? Never assume my friends.

 Whilst doing my shoe organizing this past weekend, I pulled those boots out to try on, and realized they had sent me two right boots. I don't have two right feet despite what my dancing skills may suggest. So I messaged the seller asking if I could swap one of my rights for a left. I mean, chances are good they have a pair of lefts sitting around, right? Well seller messages me back three days later that they can't help me because I'm outside the return window. Seriously? Fortunately, the negative feed back I left combined with my going to Ebay for a resolution got me a refund fairly quickly. But I still have two right boots. Someone suggested finding a charity that collects for veterans, so I'll look into that. It sounds awful, but amputees sometimes just need one shoe. And they're very nice!

Next, I had a little tack-cident over the weekend when I saw the Motion Lite coat I've been drooling at was on sale. So I ordered it. I now own almost all of the colors. Which wouldn't be SO bad except that I don't even show right now... But I WILL show this summer. It will happen. It has to. Eros even has a show bridle now. So things are getting real. Anyway, this is the jacket:

Obviously it's better suited to the jumper ring with Pammon... But doc says we'll get there. So I'm just preparing. Ok?

But then Amanda of 900 Facebook Pony fame made my buy a new bareback pad.

Which then meant I needed girths because I don't have a dressage style girth. So I had to get two of these (one for the horses, one for Shiny):

So moral of the story is... Amanda's the worst and she makes me things I can't really find an excuse for. Which wouldn't be that bad, except I buy a lot of things on my own that I can totally find excuses for. And now I'm broke. Good thing I'm not trying to show yet!

Ok, that's really it from here this week. I shall leave you with this confusing photo of Pia staring at me through the door to my living room.

Did you all have a good week? Did Amanda make you buy anything?