What's Up Wednesday

This wasn't the most exciting of weeks, but I mean that in a good way. I didn't really have much planned for the weekend other than riding. Which is kind of nice!
Friday I had the vet out to catch Pammon and Shiny up on their vaccinations. Shiny also needed a microchip. I had the vet take a look at her cut on her leg while he was out, and he wasn't too worried about it. She jogged totally sound, and he said to put her back to work. Yay!
I had a half day of work to meet up with the vet, so I rode Pammon, groomed Rio, and decided to start Shiny back the next day so she just got brushed.  Then I headed over to the other barn. Everyone is away at a show, and there was a horse that's rehabbing they asked if I could ride Friday and Saturday.

he wasn't into my selfie antics.

 So I did him, and then stuffed Eros full of cookies. I was going to ride him also, but my step mom had already ridden him, and with the heat, I figured he didn't need a second ride.
Then I headed back home to snuggle the pugs.

I tried to get to bed relatively early since I had a 5 am wake up call to beat the heat. I was mostly successful since it had been a busy day.
Saturday I was up so early the dogs didn't want to get out of bed! But they did, and I was out in the barn by 5:15. I fed the horses, and was on Shiny by 5:30. She only eats one cup of ration balancer, so I don't have to be extra careful about not riding right after she eats. I kind of expected her to be a little naughty since she'd had a full week of vacation. Fortunately, she was exactly the same as the last time I rode her. She may be green, and a little full of herself, but she really is a good pony. We didn't work super hard, but it was a lovely ride. The feels like temp was still in the 80's so wasn't too bad!

Perfect little princess

Next up was Pammon! He was perfect (of course). I took it fairly easy, as he had a lot of vaccinations the day before. The feels like temp was 88 and the humidity was 87%. Gross. He's a trooper! I think he was a little confused about riding before turnout though. Especially when his brother and sister went out in the walkouts while he was still working.

"why's Rio out there while I'm working?"-Pammon probably

After a quick hosing and a few minutes in front of the fan, he was able to go out for his play time and I headed over to the boarding barn. My loaner pony was having his turnout, so I started with Eros. I debated whether it was cooler indoors or out, but wound up heading outside. The sun was still low, and there was a bit of a breeze. The air was really thick though, so we didn't over do the work. Just a basic walk-trot-canter both ways, followed by a little bit of collection work. And that was that. He was pretty happy to get hosed off and park in front of the fan to dry.

Heading outside to ride!

Loaner pony is actually on full board, so the barn workers got him ready for me. Can't lie, it was kind of nice! So as soon as Eros was dry, I hopped right on the next one. Since he's rehabbing, he has a pretty strict schedule. Walk for 10 minutes, trot for 15, canter for 10, 5 more of trot, then walk till cool. I adhered very strictly to that on Friday, but Saturday morning with the heat and heavy air, I added in more walk breaks. I also cut a minute or two from the canter. His owner had said if it was very hot I shouldn't work him too hard. So I just paid attention to his breathing and sweating and did was seemed right. I stayed indoors with him as it was getting steamy outside, and it was definitely cooler in the indoor. The grooms seemed pretty busy when I was done, so I hosed him off myself and hung out with him under the fan until he was dry.

 It was only 10:30 and all four horses were worked, washed, and tucked back in! I headed back home to tend to Rio. For some reason barn helper had put him away covered in sweat and sand. So I took him out and gave him a shower, and hung out with him in front of the fan to dry.

He apparently needed to lick all the salty sweat off me. Ew.

Everyone seemed as comfortable as they could be in the barn. The feels like temp was up to 106 but the humidity had dropped to 55%. So there's that? After feeding lunch and topping off water buckets, I stopped by the lake for some lunch. And immediately after I escaped to the a/c in my house. And you know what? I was SUPER PRODUCTIVE! I made a decent dent in laundry mountain, and even got around to digging out some of my summer clothes that I never switched over this year. Summer's only half over, so like, better late than never right? I also took a nap. Cause naps are great. Finally I figured I had earned a treat after getting up early and being super productive all day (minus the nap I suppose) and treated myself to some Chinese take out. So good. It's been awhile since I've had Chinese food!
I headed to bed early again because I knew 5 am would come early. It's not that hard the first day, but the second one usually proves more difficult.
Sunday was supposed to be worse than Saturday as far as heat indexes went. I was grateful to have only 3 horses to ride instead of four. Fortunately, the morning was actually nicer than the day before. When I got on Shiny it was in the 70's. Humid, but not hot! I followed the same schedule as the day before, and things went just fine. I had wanted to jump Pammon around a little, but I had forgotten to put my spurs back on after riding Shiny, and I had regrets. So jumping would have to wait. It was pretty soupy out anyway, so I'm sure he didn't mind.

Eros was outside when I got to the barn, enjoying some grass and the not yet too hot temps.

He didn't seem terribly excited to see me. I think he was hoping for a day off. Sorry buddy, one more day of work! I was actually planning to ride him inside as it was for sure cooler in there than outside was getting. But they had taken the jumps out and had them sitting right outside the door. Eros was completely not handling that, and I didn't think it was worth the battle, so I took him outside. You guys. He was pretty naughty for our ride! He was spooking at dust. Yes, dust! So while I had planned on another easy ride, he actually had to work. He finished up great, because let's be real, he IS Eros. But he was pretty hot and sweaty by the time we came in. I walked him indoors, though still he wanted to avoid the doorway with the jumps stacked up. He's so weird! He was pretty happy to have a shower when we were done, and we hung out together while he dried. I think he was pretty tired because he was using me to hold his head up.

Is there anything better than just sitting and snuggling with your horse? Cause I really don't think so. Despite the crazy heat, I had the best weekend with my horses. Getting up so early allowed me time to hang out with them after our rides, which was just really nice to get to do.
Anyway, after tucking Eros in, I headed into town to pick up an iced coffee and a breakfast sandwich. (It was only 10 AM!) And then made a quick stop to pick up checks from braiding last week.
After breakfast, I was trying to decide what to do with my day. The family had gone out fishing on the boat, but I hadn't gotten done in time at the barn. Boo. I really couldn't fathom spending another full day tackling laundry, so instead, I took on a much bigger, hotter project.

I cleaned all my tack (ALL OF IT) and packed away all the stuff I wasn't using. Like Jamp's figure 8 bridles, his grazing muzzle, and all kinds of training equipment I hopefully won't be needing right now. I'm keeping it because you never know... but it's now packed away until that day comes.
My saddles got cleaned, oiled, AND conditioned. They are so much happier now!

I took a break after tending to the saddles to let the pups out. It had gotten really hot (feels like temp of 109!) so while inside I actually put on shorts. I don't wear shorts. Like ever. I have a really unhealthy disdain for the lower half of my body. (Unless it's covered up by breeches and fun boots of course!) But this heat required less clothing. So I did it. And now I shall blind all of you with a photo of me in shorts.

Don't look directly at that photo. Unless you're wearing proper eye protection. Anyway, once in my shorts, I got to work on organizing and cleaning the bridles. It's possible that each of my horses has five bridles... plus a show bridle each (Pammon and Shiny, Rio doesn't need a show bridle).
The show bridles are packed away to go live in the trailer, but look how cute:

Pammon's is from Royal Sports and Shiny's is Joseph Sterling. I may replace Pammon's with a JS bridle eventually.

It's also possible that it's ridiculous for Rio to have five bridles when he's retired and I haven't ridden him in over a year.... But I don't want him feeling left out. And you never know! He could get sound enough one day for me to sit on him again. And if that day comes, I need for him to have a matching outfit with me. I'm waiting on a few bits to arrive to finish putting all the bridles fully together. But the tack room looks SO MUCH better now.

It took the entire day to get that stuff all done. A full day of standing out in the (actual) 105 degree barn in feels like 110 temps. Thus, I decided to skip the band at the lake (and my lobster roll) in favor of the a/c and leftover Chinese food. It was a good call, and I managed to do a little more laundry too. It was a super long day, and I slept really well that night!
Monday was another early day, but not as early as the weekend. I had the morning off from work because my barn helper is on vacation this week. I have my weekend helper covering Tues through Thurs, but I have barn duty Monday and Friday. Anyway, I was out in the barn by 6:30 to get moving on turnouts and stall cleaning. It was actually a lovely morning, and I was a little disappointed to have to go to work after.
Work was nuts on Monday. It's always tough trying to fit eight hours into 4, but since I had a half day to meet the vet on Friday, it was more like 12 hours into 4. But I got it done, and only had to stay a little late. The horses had Monday off anyway as we had crazy thunder storms all evening.
Tuesday after work I pulled Pammon out to ride, and found he had a stocked up left hind, including his hock. I couldn't find much heat anywhere, and didn't see any new open wounds. So I texted trainer for her thoughts. We both decided he probably just bumped it. He had looked sound on the lunge, so she said to get on and see how he feels and just hack lightly if he felt good. So we did that, and then iced it after. He got a little bute with dinner too.

Today it's looking much improved, though not yet perfect. I'm imagining a similar protocol tonight, but we'll see if it looks bigger after standing in the stall for the afternoon. Fingers crossed it's nothing!
So that brings us to now! What's up with you? Did you have crazy heat this weekend too? Do anything fun? Horse shows or lessons? Do any shopping? I did NOT which I'm pretty proud of...