What's Up Wednesday

What. A. Week. Our parent company has decided they need to keep better tabs on us so they switched our email from a google based platform to Outlook. That's going about as well as you'd imagine. It was such a disaster Monday morning, they bought us donuts. Cause that's how they "fix" things I guess? I mean, they DID help. (Donuts are never the wrong answer.) But yeah. Work. Anyway, you're not here to read about my job, so let's revisit last week!
It was actually pretty uneventful really. The weather has been pretty perfect (sorry everyone else, this is when New England shines!) so we have had pretty consistent riding all week. I didn't really jump much, I need trainer to come tune us up and I'd rather wait for her than mess things up. I'm sure Pammon appreciates that.

I have noticed the days are getting shorter much faster than I'm really ok with. I was a little late getting on one day after work last week, and Shiny had to ride in the dark. I got new motion lights put up, but the eyes aren't directed quite right, so after ten minutes we were pretty literally in the dark. She's a good girl though, so she went around and did her thing.

And I mean, I got this photo from between her ears, so that was pretty worth it.

Admittedly, if I ever want her to be less green, I really need to be a better rider for her. Since Pammon is kind of the focus right now, she often gets a "happy hack" and really hasn't learned a thing since I first got her... She is less grumpy though. I can't remember the last time she kicked out at my leg, and she lets me wear spurs now. She doesn't listen to them, but I can wear them without the Shiny Hulk appearing. So I guess that's something?
The weekend was super busy with lots of pony time, but my whole schedule was thrown off on Saturday. I had planned to ride Eros relatively early, but when I got to the barn I found he had just been crosstied by the farrier for his new shoes. That's how it rolls sometimes.
Fefe is on full care this month because my dad and stepmom are spending much of August on Nantucket. They come back Tues-Thurs so she can ride, but it works out cheaper for full care than to just pay for training rides the other days. All that to say, she's not my responsibility right now. Fortunately, she was heading out for a ride while I was waiting for Eros, so I got to see her jump a little. She's VERY looky when she starts, but once she sees everything, she levels out, and actually has a pretty cute little jump.

Eros was done about the same time as Fefe, so I at least I was occupied while I waited! He was perfect for our ride, as he usually is. I rode in the ring, but afterwards walked over to watch the teenagers finishing a lesson out on the grass. We're not usually allowed to ride out there. The farm is built over the site of an old quarry, so it takes until about now for the fields to really be dry after all the spring rain. I didn't ride out there, but it was a nice little walk anyway.

Of course, when I got home, my farrier was now at my house. Lol. New shoes for all! He had helpers there though, so it went pretty quickly, and I wasn't delayed too much more. I don't like to work them super hard the first day on new shoes, so everyone had a nice flat. I did trot over a couple raised cavaletti with Pammon though. He was a good boy.

I really love this little pumpkin spice pony

And then Shiny had a ride, and Rio went out for some grass. Poor Rio is a bit sore. He's been wearing flip flop shoes for awhile now, but they do not provide enough structure and his feet are getting really wonky. So we're trying him in regular shoes again. The trouble is that his soles are pretty thin due to aging and so he's very sensitive to having a full shoe on. The first day I thought it wasn't going to work. Poor kid was so tentative moving around. But he seems to be doing better each day. My farrier started of as basic as can be with just steel shoes, so we have options to keep trying if this doesn't work. We could add pads, or worst case maybe glue ons. But I'm not bringing that up yet since they are stupid expensive. If that's what he needs we'll do it of course, but let's exhaust the other options first.

And by the time I was done with everybody in the barn it was 100 o'clock and I don't think I did anything at all productive the rest of the evening except snuggle the pugs.

Sunday, you all know already about my lesson with Eros. It was scheduled for 9:30 but didn't actually start until almost 10. And I forgot to wear gloves.

Someday I will learn from these mistakes. Sunday was not that day though. I finally finished up at the barn around noon and headed home. I couldn't put it off any longer. I HAD to move my jumps. The "course" wasn't really useful for what I need right now. Also, I set it like two years ago, so yeah. Time to move the jumps. Unfortunately, I didn't start with a plan, so it took longer than it should have. Normally I plan out the course ahead of time on paper. Right down to which standards, rails, and fill will go where. But this time I just wandered out there and started moving stuff around. Trainer had suggested maybe one related distance and everything else single jumps. So at least that made it easier. I don't have a lot of jumps left. Pretty much all of the wooden ones have rotted. But I had enough to get me going for now. Probably next spring I'll add a few more, and get rid of the last of the wood stuff. What's left is not in good shape! The Burlingham jumps are holding up pretty well so far for me. I had heard otherwise about them, and I could see them not working in a busy boarding facility. But they seem just right for my little place. Here's what I wound up with:

Kind of hard to see... but the outside is a three (I think... I need to walk that again) and everything else is single jumps. Oxer on the far outside, and a couple options on each diagonal. I left the roll top up at the other end and have some cavelletti down at this end. I haven't actually jumped the course yet because I need to drag the ring. And I had to wait for some rain or it would have been a dust bowl. Fortunately, it rained all day yesterday, so my helper is dragging today for me. You can see on the right side where GRASS was growing around my jumps. I should be ashamed! I'm not. But I should be.

Anyway, by the time I finished re-setting the course, it was four o'clock. So the horses were flatted, and Rio had grass, and then it was dinner time! For the horses. Once they were fed, I boogied myself down to the lake to try and catch the band for a bit. I could hear them from home, and they sounded great! I got my lobster roll, sat down, and they were done. Womp womp. But I sat and enjoyed my food while the parking lot cleared out anyway.

I'm not sure where the time goes, but it sure flew by this weekend! This week, on the other hand...

I rode the home horses Monday, and they had last night off. Normally on rain days I'll go ride Eros, but I had to run some errands that I didn't get to over the weekend. So I took a night off from horsing. I did stop by the barn to schedule my lesson for next weekend since I forgot to do that. I'm thinking about trying to get to the barn a few mornings a week before work to see if I can get him a little stronger. My step mom hasn't gotten to the point where she knows how to really make him work. She still rides mostly on a loose rein so he's getting some fitness from her rides, but not much strength training. (I can relate Eros...) However, this week I have braiding jobs Thursday through Saturday on the plate as well, so I'm can't be completely exhausting myself before that. Maybe next week we can start the before work sessions. (Have I mentioned I'm NOT a morning person?)

I guess that brings us right up to now. As mentioned, I have braiding on the calendar later this week, and a lesson Thursday on Pammon. So lots coming up!

How was your week/weekend? Do anything super fun? Lessons, horse shows, something else entirely? Tell me about it in the comments!