What's up Wednesday

We already touched on the big stupid news happening around here, but there were other things that happened in the past week, so I'll fill you all in!
I had a half day on Friday because the horses were getting their fall shots and boosters for EEE. There's a bit of an outbreak happening in my area. So far all of the affected horses were not vaccinated, but better safe. Especially with Rio since his immune system isn't up to snuff. I had hoped the vet would be there on the earlier side of the window so I might have time to ride Eros too, but these things rarely work out that way. It was ok though. I still had time to ride the ones at home, and was able to do a couple of things I've been putting off while I waited. So still a win! Even if I had to make up four hours of work since no one filled in for me... But I digress...
Saturday was kind of a weird day schedule wise. I had a wedding to attend at 2 pm, so that limited my horsing time quite a bit. I opted to give the horses at home the day off, and just head over to ride Eros. I was excited to see how he felt after his injections. My stepmom rode him all week, so it was my first time since that all got done. He felt FANTASTIC.

He had some body work done yesterday and that vet was worried that he has ulcers so we're going to treat him. Kind of surprising to me as he's an actual vacuum cleaner with probably the easiest life ever. But hey, these things can happen. He has been a little cranky lately, so that would explain that behavior. I'm sure he'll be feeling better asap.

The wedding was at a venue just 5 miles from my farm. It's actually a town owned park, and so beautiful for a wedding! The extra nice thing about it being so close and outdoors, was that the bride was able to include her horse and dog in the wedding party! In fact... they were the wedding party!

You may recognize the horse. I got to flat him once (maybe twice?) last winter. His name is Rodeo, and he's a jumper.

 I figured since the wedding started at 2 it would all be over by 6 or 7 so I didn't call the horse sitter to feed. You guys, the party just kept going! I finally left at 7:30 because I figured the horses would be tearing the barn down. They were actually pretty content when I got there. But I felt bad for being late. It was a great time though. And nice to be home fairly early for the night! (I'm so old.)

Sunday is normally my lesson day, but the assistant trainer was getting married that day and barn owner/head trainer was in the wedding party. So no one there to teach. That was fine though. It was a BEAUTIFUL day, so I had a nice flat on Eros, and took a little walk on him after. I rode Pammon and Shiny after, both lightly. Pammon was a spooky pumpkin the whole ride, but nobody died so that was nice. Shiny was pretty sore. She needed the most vaccinations on Friday and her little pony body wasn't too happy about getting them. Maybe next time I'll ask about giving her a little banamine after shots. She's doing better now though, not to worry!

"Hold dis for me please hooman"-Shiny probably

Monday the lameness vet came out for Pammon. It was kind of funny, Pammon was already out on the crossties but doc went right to visit with Rio first. Doc hasn't been out in awhile since I didn't have anything in work for so long, and I think he's missed Rio. I had this vet go over the pre-purchase before I bought him (he was vetted in Holland), so that's how long they've known each other. This vet helped get us through a lot over the years between his torn SI, his 3 suspensory injuries, and eventually the epm too. (Rio was a bit accident prone.) Anyway, doc said he looks great which was nice to hear. (I agree.)

I mean... just look at him!

I had to go back to work for a couple hours after the appointment, but was home early enough to ride Shiny and hand walk Pammon. In the dark.

I can do it myself, Mom.

He wasn't so sure about the shadows and dogs barking in the distance, but he held it together. Last night everyone stayed in because I had a family dinner I needed to attend.

And for the saddest thing you'll read all day... I actually got myself up and went running yesterday morning. I figure if Pammon is out of commission I should still do my part to stay fit. To be honest, the run actually felt pretty great. I was shocked because I hate running and it's always hard for me. Maybe it was easier because I let myself go slow as a turtle and I didn't go that far. But whatever the reason, it was encouraging that I didn't feel like dying the entire time.

I wasn't joking when I said I went slow!

 I'm hoping I can make myself stick with it a few days a week. We'll see how it goes. I have a few 5K races I run participate in every year coming up, so it might be nice to actually feel trained for them. Maybe I can dip back down closer to my old running times. Ha. Probably not.

How was your week? Did you get much riding in? Any EEE scares in your area? How do you stay fit when you're not able to ride as much?

Truthful Tuesday: The one where I knew what would happen

So. Pammon saw the vet yesterday. I was really hoping I'd messed up wrapping and it was something just cosmetic like a bandage bow... But let's be real. I've been wrapping horses for 28 years and I've never bowed any tendons. (I mean Rio bowed one once, but it wasn't from wrapping!) Anyway, I was hoping.
But my vet came into the barn looked at the leg and said, "You know what that is." I said, "I'm hoping I'm wrong!" I wasn't wrong. Le sigh. Pammon has a very small tear of his check ligament. It's actually very minor, and vet said there was no need for PRP or shockwave or anything extra. Just standing wraps. And nothing but walking and standing for six weeks.

The good news is we can tack walk, so we're not relegated just to hand walking. Though I did opt for that last night. I didn't want to start acing him yet since he shouldn't be wild (yet), but he has been pretty spooky under saddle lately. And I hadn't had him out in the dark yet. It was a good choice, but he was a pretty good boy.
Pammon gets bored REALLY easily, so while six weeks is totally a short layup and isn't bad at all, it will be hard for him. He is allowed out in the tiny walkout behind his stall, but I will give him some ace tabs with his breakfast before he goes out there. He tends to make poor life choices when outside and left to his own devices. He will also get some ace before our walks because spooking is not walking. I want to take every precaution because I want this to heal fully and quickly.
My vet said he was really glad I had him out right away even though the swelling was minimal and Pammon was completely sound. Since we did that, we caught it VERY early, and hopefully will avoid any further tearing.
So at the end of the day, I'm really glad this isn't worse. It's hopefully just a blip in our story. But I can't pretend like I'm not a little upset. I'm not sure why my horses are constantly getting hurt. Every time we make some progress and I start to feel a little confident, we get set back down again. I've gone over their diets with my vets. We have solid work schedules to create (and/or maintain) fitness and strength. And yet it always seems to be something. I honestly believe I'm doing right for them, but these types of things do make you question that a little. At the end of the day, I think it's just life with horses. And I'm trying not to let it get me down. I still have Eros and Shiny to play with while Pammon has his vacation. Doc is very confident this will heal fully with no lasting implications. So I'm trying to keep those positive thoughts at the front of my thick skull and keep those negative ones tamped down.

Still bummed there will be none of this for awhile though.

Blog Hop: 10 Questions for September

L over at Viva Carlos had some fun questions on her blog today, and I'm playing along!

1. Favorite quirk your horse (or a horse you’ve spent time with) has? 
-Rio is delightfully extra quirky ever since his EPM diagnosis. I think my favorite quirk is the giant wads of hay he likes to spit at me. But sometimes it's loose grass too... (see above photo)
-Pammon likes to put his hay in a bucket to eat. I thought at first that he was just a dunker, but I've noticed he'll also use his feed tub. So I'm not sure he cares that the hay gets wet.
-Shiny likes to get poop in her mane. (So gross.)
-Eros... well he's pretty normal really.
-Fefe hates other horses. Like HATES them. All the time.

shown here pre-epm quirks

2. Three adjectives that perfectly describe your horse?
-Rio: Perfect, sweet, stoic
-Pammon: Patient, snuggly, mischievous
-Shiny: Fun, sassy, marish
-Eros: Kind, smart, hungry
-Fefe: Careful, proud, marish

Seriously, he's always hungry.

3. Plan your next ride. What will you do/work on?
-Pammon: we're on the light hack route until the vet comes Monday
-Shiny: hoping for another jump school this weekend! But our next ride will just be a flat in the dark probably.
-Eros: can't wait to test out the newly oiled joints! We'll do some flatwork for our next ride, and then maybe some cavalletti work this weekend. (No lessons this weekend, boo.)

 4. Have you ever trained an OTTB? If yes, what was the biggest challenge?
I have, quite a few in the past! The most recent was Romey, but we didn't really get very far. Turns out he once broke his leg, and had a permanent hitch in his git-along... So that was his biggest challenge for sure. Generally though, I think it's just getting their brain to slow down. Once they start thinking more slowly, the rest falls into place.

He was so pretty. I really wish he'd have been sound.

5. Have you ever groomed or worked for a professional rider?
I was a groom the summer after college, and the school year after college I was a stable manager at a farm with 65 horses.

6. Favorite horse and rider combination?
I'm going to throw this one way back to Ian Millar and Big Ben. They were such an amazing team, and won just about everywhere.


7. Have you ever ridden a horse at the beach?
I have not, but would love to one day! There are a few beaches around here you can ride at in the off season. I feel like Shiny would be my safest choice to take.

Love her!

8. If you could experience the equestrian community (i.e. ride and compete) in another country, what country would you choose and why?
I have horse shopped in a few countries in Europe, and got to go to a handful of small horse shows. So um... one of those countries... I'm going to say the Czech republic I think. Everything is quite a bit cheaper there, but the horses are all bred very similarly as the German horses.

That time I jumped the standards in Europe. (Yes, small standards.. but still!)

9. In your opinion, what is an item of tack that is given unnecessary hype?
CWD saddles. Sorry. I hate them.

10. What was the first horse you rode called? Are they still alive?      
I'm going to exclude the pony rides I took at the fair since I have no idea what they were named. But the first horse I lessoned on was Daisy. She was a quarter horse, around 15 hands, and EVERYONE started on her at my old barn. She very sadly died in the barn fire in 1994. It was devastating. She didn't deserve such a horrific end.

Me and Daisy at our first lesson horse show. 1989.

Thursday's Threads

Outfit Day! It's a dreary one here today. Rain off and on all day. And highs in the 60's. Gross. I miss summer already. Anyway... I still have cute outfits to share! Let's start with my riding outfit. This was from Tuesday.

As evidenced by the header of this post, I believe teal and purple are meant to be together. And this outfit supports that theory.

Helmet: One K Glamour

I really like this gray/silver helmet. It's super fun with all the sparkle in the middle. Also... this helmet comes in black and rose gold now, and I kinda want it... (ok, I really want it.)

Shirt: Black Horse Clothing

This one is 100% Amanda's fault. I kind of wish I sized up though. The fabric is kind of clingy and from any other angle you see my rolls... Not so bad with these high waist breeches, but I wore the shirt to work with jeans, and I was like oh hello muffin top.

Belt: Mane Jane

I chose my darker gray strap and gunmetal buckle for this outfit. Keeping it somewhat neutral with the other pops of color.

Breeches: Just Toggs

These are a British brand. They are SUPER comfy! I'm not sure the most flattering necessarily... but comfort over flattery any day. Plus the purple is pretty fab.

Boots: Celeris UK
Spurs: Color Tack

I just love them. The Celeris boots take longer to break in than say, the DeNiro's because the leather is thicker. But I think they're going to last a long time. I'm still in the breaking in process, but honestly, it's not terrible. And LOOK HOW PRETTY THEY ARE!!!!!!!
The spurs I actually already had prior to ordering these boots, but I'm so pleased with how perfectly they match!

That's what I wore to ride the other day. The horses didn't dress up this time, sorry! But I have a fun work outfit to share too.

I went with an astronaut/space theme today. Space is dark, and the sky is dark today so it all makes sense together. Ha!

Jacket: Modcloth

Yeah. It's jacket weather. Gross.

Sweater: Modcloth

This sweater is perfect for this time of year. It has 3/4 sleeves which are stupid when it's actually cold out, but perfect for these 60 degree days.

Belt: C4

Got some creepy astronauts on my belt...

Jeans: Free People

I felt like lighter color jeans make this outfit less dark and depressing.

Shoes: Katy Perry

Not much cooler than hightops with planets on them. Trust me. They're awesome.

Accessories!
Purse: Bioworld

I'm a geek. What can I say?

Arm Party!
Lefty:

Ok, so I don't have enough bracelets for this theme to outfit two arms... so Lefty went with the old standby. My favorite D bit bracelet and my apple watch.

Righty:

Righty went all in though! There's an astronaut bangle first, then my fitbit has a celestial house this week. And the last one actually lights up. I had to charge it this morning so it would work... I know. I told you. I'm a geek. Pretty comfortable in my geekdom though!

So that's it for today! Any favorites? Are you a geek too? What are you wearing?

What's Up Wednesday: The one with media!

Good news friends! I think I've figured out the Soloshot. And while it took SEVERAL HOURS I think I figured out how to bypass downloading to my computer to get to the cloud. Sadly the card reader for my phone/ipad was unsuccessful. It recognizes that there are files on the card, but won't let me upload. Whatever though, things are working! Unfortunately, my lesson I recorded with my phone because trainer was in a hurry, so only Shiny has the good footage. Still though, MEDIA! Of both ponies! Woohoo! But you'll have to wait for that. First some rambling...

When we last left off, Eros was a bit off, and I was waiting for the vet to come out. I thought it was his front ankle again. My vet came on Friday, and good news was it wasn't up front! He was just in need of a little maintenance for the hind end, so we took care of that. He got the weekend off (we hand walked and hand grazed instead of riding) and is back to work this week. It's supposed to rain here tomorrow, so I'll probably go see him after work and see how he's feeling.
Originally, my last lesson of the season with trainer was also scheduled for Friday, but I switched it to Saturday so I could meet the vet with Eros. Plus it poured buckets.
Pammon had a little fill right front, but it was non-reactive and he looked perfectly sound, so we decided to go ahead with the lesson, but keep the fences small and the courses easy. Trainer had me do one crazy bending line to boost my confidence, but otherwise it was mostly straight lines and wide turns.

 

 Backing up to that crazy bending line though... I chickened out like seven times. And then FINALLY got it done. Seriously, I don't know how trainer nor Pammon put up with me some days... Here we are, getting it done:

It doesn't look nearly as hairy as it seemed. I guess that's nice, right? We made it look easy? Lol. It was not.

Pammon felt we should be jumping higher...

 We finished over a very short course where I managed to keep my leg on and not pull too much. Amazing what a difference keeping your leg makes... who knew?

After having such a great lesson on Saturday, I wanted to keep the good stuff coming and do a jump school with Shiny. It's been awhile since she's jumped. Not for any reason really, except that it's dark out during the week when I ride her now. I have lights, but they're not bright enough for jumping. You guys, Shiny was fantastic!

Clearly, she could use a bigger jump. And now that we had a great school, I'm feeling brave enough to maybe put some fences up the next time. She was jumping around 2'3" courses before I got her, but we just haven't had a chance to really do that yet. She's super brave to the jumps though, and this ride she was even adjustable. In the past I wasn't able to collect her when the distance was getting tight, so it was always a chip or a flier in those cases. But yesterday she let me shorten or move up as needed. MAYBE it was because I kept my leg on? But probably it's just because she's a genius. We trotted a lot of fences, mostly because we need to work on canter transitions... Either way, it was ridiculously fun.

Rio of course got plenty of grazing time in this weekend. It was relatively nice out, though the cooler fall weather isn't my favorite. Bring back the 80's please!

He had a rough weekend. We switched him to regular shoes a few weeks ago (he had been wearing flip flops) and while his feet LOOK fantastic, the pressure was really bothering him. Fortunately, my farrier was able to stop by Saturday (just after my lesson ended, what timing!) and pulled the shoe. He wants to let it be barefoot for a few days before we decide what to do next. Rio seemed to feel better once the shoe was off. So currently he's wearing just a right front shoe. We would have pulled both, but he really didn't want to put full weight on that left front. He would have had to in order to pull the right one, and we didn't want to make him. Will touch base with farrier in a day or two and maybe just try him barefoot? Or maybe he'll get different shoes or pads or something. Not sure yet, but I'm confident we'll find what's most comfortable for him.

Sunday I finally found time to get the puggers out for a stroll! We don't go much in the summertime because the asphalt is way too hot for their little feetsies. But it was a lovely evening. We even stopped to visit with a couple of our horsey neighbors. It's so nice living where I do. It's like every third house has horses.

I've been watching Pammon's leg like a hawk since the weekend. And unfortunately, it keeps filling. I'm not liking it at all.

although honestly, it looks a lot worse in this picture than it does in real life.

So we've been icing and wrapping, but still flatting lightly. I don't think he's the type to do well totally out of work. If he ends up needing that, we will certainly need some chemical assistance.

Pammon is appalled I would suggest such a thing.

I have our regular vet coming out for shots and things on Friday, but I have my lameness vet scheduled for Monday. So we will continue with our light flats until then. You guys, please cross your fingers that this isn't bad. I'm not sure my little brain can handle having to start over again, and Perfect Pammonypony doesn't deserve to be stuck on vacation with a sore leg.

This guy though with the snuggles...

That's about it from here. I have a bunch of photos that didn't really fit into my text so enjoy them below!

This sunset was incredible. Real life was even better.

Looks quite sound here...

My pony is cuter than yours.

Pats for a good girly

How was your past week? Do any showing or lessons? Tell me about it in the comments!