What's Up Wednesday

The country is in turmoil, but fortunately my horses and pugs don't have any idea about that. While I'm still actively learning to be anti racist, today on the blog will be back to our regularly scheduled weekly recap. Though it's pretty short and sweet.

Pammon was up to ten minutes of trotting for our weekend rides. Saturday I stayed indoors with him as there was a group lesson jumping outside and that seemed sort of chaotic. The nice thing about the boarding barn indoor is that it has windows that actually open most of the way around it, plus the big doors at the end were open. So decent air flow. He was a perfect boy! 

Sunday I got to do him outside. He's still getting sedated so I wasn't too worried about any shenanigans. This week he's trotting 15 minutes and both he and Eros get rechecked on Friday. Fingers crossed that Pammon starts cantering next week and Eros hopefully will progress to tack walks. 

Shiny has been... a pony mare. She's been perfectly safe to ride. No spooking or running away with me. But you guys. The sass! She does NOT want to go to work. Not at all. Zero interest in giving at the poll. No desire to lift her back. She just wants to plod around with her head looking every which way. And forget about steering! We no longer do that. So clearly, we have plenty to work on this summer!

We had pretty perfect weather this weekend, so I made sure the pups got out to play some too.

And in other exciting news, I got the door open and ramp down on the trailer finally! Victory!

And in a small return to normalcy, the snack shack at the lake is open for takeout and I got to have my first lobster roll of the season. 

And that's it for the week. How are you all doing out there? 

What's Up Wednesday

This past week was kind of busy around here! Wednesday night I had a braiding job, just for one horse, so that was nice and easy. I got to take care of my boys before I had to leave, so they got their walks in.

I was home at a reasonable hour which was also nice!
Thursday was just a day. Work, ponies, bed. The usual. Friday got a little weird. Originally I was supposed to have two horses to braid: 1 mane, 1 mane and tail. But they asked if I could do the mane and tail horse in the morning instead because he was a terrible rubber. I agreed. So I did just the one horse Friday evening.

How cute is that little nugget? She's a large pony. She was a bit of a moving target to get braided, but hey, it got done. For some reason they look like they're lifting up in this photo, but they weren't. I think they're just throwing little shadows.
I got home around 10:30 and pretty much just went right to bed. I had to be up at 4:00 am to braid the other horse!

He also was a bit of a nudge this time to braid. But he came out just lovely, so that helps. I was all done by 6:15 am, and figured I could get a lot done that morning! Only problem was, not much is open at that hour on a Saturday. So I did what any basic white chick would do...

Went to Starbucks. Ha. I sat down and drank my giant coffee until things started opening up. Of course then I had to pee... So I stopped at McDonalds to use their restroom and bought another beverage. Hydration is important my friends. I then picked up my glasses that were having their lenses replaced, and got my car in for it's oil change. Next I picked up dog food, and then headed back to the farm. It was only 11 am, so i still had some time before I was scheduled to go ride my neighbor's horse. Enough to change, hang with the pooches for a bit, and feed the big kids their lunch.
I had SO MUCH FUN riding my neighbor's new horse! He's an adorable chestnut, about 16.2, I think he's 7 or 8. And I forget what kind of warmblood he is. (I'm so good at details...) He did dressage for a long while and now he's learning how to be a hunter horse. He's SUPER laid back (ok, maybe a bit lazy) and a lot of fun to ride. Not much seems to faze him. Neighbor had me do some work trotting a cross rail with takeoff and landing rails. A couple of times he got confused and pretty much demolished that X... but he never got flustered by it. He was like oops... let's try again! And he'd come back and be fantastic. No overjumping, or being nervous. Nothing like that. I wish I could have done more with him, but my asthma was really acting up and I had to keep taking walk breaks. Hopefully next time I'll be more useful!

I went back home after my ride, and got the boys out for groomies and their walks. Pretty uneventful.
For the evening, I met up with my mom and we went to the carnival in her town.

 It's a pretty small one, but we had fun playing games and eating fair type good. (Loaded baked potatoes for dinner and fried dough for dessert!) I won a pug!

I think it cost me $40. Whatever, look how cute! Plus proceeds benefit the fire department. The same FD that put out the fire at my barn back when I was a teen. So I don't mind throwing my money away for them! (And you know... for the stuffy.)
Sunday I was pretty lazy. I got up late (much needed) and then headed to the farmer's market. Followed that up with a little straightening in the house. Of course, then the clouds started rolling in, so I very quickly pulled the boys out for their walks. Jamp was so weird though, maybe some of you have some ideas about this... When I first took him out it was cloudy and I was rushing, so I just grabbed the lead on his door (no chain) and didn't bother stuffing his ears. He's been so lazy on our walks, I wasn't worried about any of that. (I haven't had to give him any ace for several weeks.) Well. Bad plan. He was a nut job! I reeled in my Jamp kite and brought him inside to calm down. Brushed him off until he was more relaxed, then stuffed his ears and got the chain lead. When we got back outside the sun was back out, and he could barely keep his eyes open.

I'm wondering if the sunlight is bothering his eyes or something? It just was so odd that he could go from a nutjob to a leadline pony in about 5 minutes flat. I'll discuss with the vet when I see him next, just in case it's something brewing.
He's also dropped some more weight, so doc and I have him building up his diet some. We've increased the amount of chopped hay he gets (that's for his meal, in place of grain) and have also added alfalfa.  He LOVES that alfalfa!
Rio of course was a gentleman and enjoyed his walks and grazing.

Photo actually from another day, hence the blue skies

I got them back inside just in time for the skies to open up. I hung out until it was time to feed, and then meandered my way over to the lake. It had stopped raining by then, but there was a threat of some thunder and lightning so the band was canceled. I got my lobster roll anyway. Don't need music to eat a good meal!
I took the pugs out to play in the yard for a bit since it was finally cooler out. They had a good time!

And the next thing I knew it was Monday. Monday I had a client lunch, so I took a half day. We went to a vineyard for lunch which is actually right by my house. I figured I wouldn't want to go back to work after. I figured right. I had some time to take care of the ponies, and then we had our book club meeting in the evening.
Last night we had a TON of much needed the rain, so the boys stayed in and just had some nice groomies. They seemed happy with that.
I don't have any rides on the schedule for this weekend yet, but I'm hoping someone will offer one up! I may go visit Badger too. We'll see.
How was your week and weekend? Do anything fun? Get much riding in or any horse shows?

What's Up Wednesday

Good news friends! I didn't die of moldy grape poisoning. Phew. Close call. This past week was kind of a whirlwind filled with a whole lot of nothing ALL that exciting. Not much is new with the equine. We're plugging away trying to find functional brains and a little fitness. So far, not surprisingly, Rio is leading the pack in both departments.

My hat is straight, yes?

Rio thinks the cheering at the local triathlon is for him

I've been trying to add more canter into Romey's life when I'm feeling brave enough. His canter seriously is the best, it's just hard to get into and sometimes hard to maintain. (And occasionally I can't stop it...) Naughty boy knows his leads though, so I'm grateful for that!

This hat is stupid and my ears are not that big.

small horse, great big canter!

Jampy was being kind of difficult last week. He was rideable, and more or less did what I asked, but he was really spooky, constantly scooting and occasionally spinning at whatever imaginary things were scaring him.

He's sees dead horses.

 I decided finally that maybe he just really needed to lunge. He gets turned out everyday, but he pretty much just stands in one spot the whole time. So he never gets his bucks out. The only place to do that for him is on the lunge line. I don't get it, but hey, at least I know there's an outlet somewhere! So finally on Sunday, I threw him on a line before riding. He was much better after that and has been every ride since. Last night I even got to jump around with no drama at all. Kind of nice!

This hat should be Romey's. My ears don't fit!

Just gonna hide here behind the vertical... maybe mom won't notice

I think he's remembering how to jump!

So straight... yet so grumpy

Grrr.

Before anyone asks if his ears are back because he's hurting, no that's not why. His ears are always facing the scary end of the arena. So if/when I jump away from the barn, he'll wear them. But aiming at the barn, they're turned back. I mostly jump toward the barn because he's less likely to spin on landing (though more likely to run away, such options I have to work with) thus his ears are back in most of the pics at home.
I didn't get any media last night when he was actually good, but I'm going to jump him some more tomorrow, so I'll try and get some then. And maybe we'll finally put some jumps up a little too!
All the ponies had Friday and Saturday off because I went up to the Skidmore show in Saratoga for a day.
It was rough getting out the door though. My car went in for an engine light on Monday, which I think I mentioned last week. I got it back Thursday after work, only to find it had this other emergency light on:

That's probably not good... Of course when I got home from work and discovered this, the service department was closed. UGH! So first thing Friday morning I called. They agreed to come get it while I took my truck to work. Fortunately, it seemed that the computer update they did just messed up the counters for things like the brake pads, and it was an easy fix (at no charge)! I had Betty back by 3. I had planned to work until 12:45, get the ponies situated and the dogs dropped off, and then leave. So I was only a couple hours later than I had hoped. Of course I somehow managed to slice my thumb open and explode a soda all over the car before actually getting on the road. But hey, I got going eventually! By the time I arrived, it was pretty late, so we had dinner and turned in.

Saturday was a little drizzly in the morning, but it turned into a beautiful day. The show was sold out, which is awesome for them, but was a bummer for me. The Alumni division was supposed to go last in either hunter ring (whichever finished first). Unfortunately, neither ring would finish before 6. The trainer who was going to lend me a horse was completely done showing for the day, so I couldn't ask them to stay late for that. Especially when they were loaning the horse for free. So I didn't get to ride. But actually the class wasn't going to fill otherwise, so we did a q&a with the judges instead. And they gave us wine. So it was a win all around really. I hung out and watched the first round of the grand prix before heading home.

The trip home was uneventful. I got back early enough to pick the dogs up too! I didn't stay Saturday night so I could be home early Sunday to ride Badger. He ripped his shoe and most of his foot off when he was at Hits last week (and thus didn't show) so it was a shortish ride. Fortunately, he's sound on his stubby, fake foot, but I can tell he finds it annoying. It was nice to get on him though, it's been awhile! I get to ride him again this weekend before they leave for VT next week.
I also made time for a lobster roll. This crow, Sam, really wanted it though. He was making me uncomfortable:

Nothing too exciting has gone on this week. Just work and trying to get organized at home. All these weekend trips have done a number on the neatness of my home.

Hopefully this weekend I can take the short kids out for an adventure too. They haven't had a good walk in awhile.

Clearly, they're very depressed and full of pent up energy.
And that's what's up this Wednesday! What's up with you? Do any showing? Have any coming up? Anything else fun and exciting going on for you? Let's chat in the comments!

What's Up Wednesday!

We left off last week with Jampy having a twisty nose that required monitoring. Well. It was unchanged by Friday, so I texted my vet who I knew was in the area that day. I'm glad he was nearby because I also noticed this:

No that's not a pirate! That's Jamp with a squinty eye. Because of course he has a squinty eye. Doc also agreed with my potential epm concerns. He left us eye ointment and epm meds at a local farm, and I went and got them later that evening. Unfortunately, he also said I shouldn't ride him until we see if he responds to the meds. I'm really running out of horses you guys! Doc said to lunge him though. So obviously you can guess what happened...

Sprung a shoe. It's cool, I really needed to test my shoe pulling skills anyway. (I'm a boss at pulling shoes by the way.) Fortunately, he didn't rip off any foot nor step on any nails, so it was an easy fix when my farrier came Monday.

As of today (Wednesday-ish...) the eye is just about back to normal, but the nose is still twisty. Cross some crossables that we're catching whatever this is in time to stop it.

Romey is hanging in. We're back to some light walk/trot and I think the SI injection did bring him some relief. He's been slightly less angry and though he definitely still has a hitch in his get-a-long, he's more forward and not dragging his feet so much.What does this mean? I have no idea. I really think I need to find him a home where he can be out more and work less. We have a follow up with doc in a couple weeks though, so I will refrain from any decision making until then.

Poor Rio is a little perturbed that everyone else is on the DL because I've been riding him almost every day. He's not sure he signed up for that.... But he feels pretty good! And as a compromise, we ride bitless and spend the majority of our time grazing.

Thankfully, I did some non horsey things this weekend to prevent me from wallowing in my first world horse problems. (No I did not buy pink boots yet!) Saturday night I finally got to meet up with my best friend! I haven't seen her since Thanksgiving so we were long over due. We stuffed our faces with Mexican food and enormous margaritas prior to an intense round of putt putt. So fun!

Probably the highlight of the weekend though, was the opening of the Snack Shack for the season! Got my first lobster roll of the year:

It was even better than I remembered. Now if only the weather would realize what season it is, life would be grand! Speaking of weather, it's been dark and gray and sometimes raining (currently thunder storming) for as long as I can remember. If anyone sees the sun, can you send me a photo? I'm not sure I'd recognize it at this point. The pugs have been rained out of walkies for way too long!

I took the rest of the week off because I'm heading up to Saratoga for my 15th college reunion. Can you believe that? I'm so old. Anyway, before I drive up there, I'm going to ride Badger in the morning. They were originally planning to go to HITS this week, but decided to wait one more week since they had just gotten up north and the weather was so crummy. I'm excited to have a real ride! I'm also really excited to celebrate at Skidmore for the weekend. I see much eating in my future! Hope you're all prepared for photos of my alma mater, food, and old people reliving their college days.

How was your week/weekend? Do anything fun with the extra day off? Anything exciting coming up? Want Romey? Let's chat in the comments!