What's Up Wednesday

All I can say is that I'm REALLY looking forward to this weekend when I have absolutely nothing on the calendar! Phew.

It was a good week with Shiny. She's flipped a switch back to working pony and has been pretty good lately. She's not tripping as much (which doesn't mean never, but it's improving) and she's warming up out of her western pleasure trot a bit faster. I imagine this amazing spring weather is helping too! Before the nice weather arrived though, it was VERY windy. Last Friday I had planned to just sit on her bareback and have an easy day. But when I brought her over to the mounting block in the corner of the ring, a big gust of wind blew a bunch of sand or whatever was outside against the building. She spooked and reared and acted all kinds of wild. So I decided instead of riding to just let her have a turnout in the ring. SUCH a good call! She was WILD! Galloping around and even kind of bucked a couple times. But the cutest part was that she jumped all the little cross rails that were set up in the ring.

Boing!

Everyone else has started riding outside this week, but we haven't gotten there yet. Work has been so exhausting, I just haven't had the energy to work through the first time out doors wild. Maybe this weekend if the weather stays nice.

Take me outside please. -Shiny probably

Eros seems to be doing fine. The leg looks good, nice and tight. We've been enjoying our walks. And we've had an audience:

The other night, every time we passed the window Eros wanted to stop and say hi to the cat. And the cat was trying to rub on Eros through the window. Which was pretty funny but turned hilarious when he got so into it he fell off the sill. He was fine, I promise! The look he gave me though when I peered down to see if he was okay! Lol! Me laughing at that is probably why my horses are always lame though... Karma.

"Seriously Mom. Be nice." - Eros, likely

Eros has his next vet check on Friday, so please everyone, cross all of your crossables that we can start back to work! I miss riding him tons.

In other exciting news though, I got to ride some extras this weekend! Barn owner is still in Florida so the rules aren't quite so tight I guess. Saturday I got to flat Neiko who you might remember from when I got to lesson on him a few weeks ago.

He was wonderful and I had a blast riding him. Such a fun guy. He's 19 so all the buttons are firmly installed. He can try to be spooky if you let him, but if you just tell him to knock it off, he's like "cool, I was just kidding."

On Sunday, I got to ride a new one for me named Chacos. He's also older, and has been around the block a few times. I think he did the hunters most of his life, but his last job was doing the jumpers.

Chacos was a little freshy but he kept it together. Other than some snorting he behaved himself. It was great to get to sit on some full sized horses after spending the last few weeks just on Shiny pants. I'm SO grateful to the nice ladies that shared their horses with me! And also, kinda funny that they're all chestnut, no? I guess it's just blonds and red heads for me these days!

P and Artie both had rechecks at the vet Saturday morning. Neither of them is better yet totally which is pretty disappointing, but they have improved so that's something.

We changed P's antibiotic and a second one for Artie. Doc says for Artie, it's pretty common for pneumonia to take up to four weeks to resolve so I shouldn't get discouraged. He's still coughing though, so not sure if we'll have to switch meds again... We shall see I guess! The extra fun part is that P had to go on Amoxicillin which I'm allergic to. Thank goodness I sell gloves for a living!

Welcome to the Pug pharmacy... We have three types of antibiotics... what's your pleasure?

Also on Saturday was one of my favorite events of the year: The Essex Chili Cookoff! Obviously, I don't participate as a chef (lol... I don't cook) but I am all over the testing. There were 16 chilis to try, which takes some real power to get through. They were all pretty good, but my favorite one had a maple flavor to it, and it wound up crowned the champion.

Voting booth. Each taster gets two votes (glass beads) and you just place your beans in the hole for your favorites.

The Trophy!

Obviously after all that chili, I needed a little something sweet before I went home. So I stopped at Ben & Jerry's for a cone.

I have zero regrets. A few extra pounds maybe, but no regrets.

And Sunday afternoon was a pretty big deal too! My little brother's grandmother turned 100 and we had a little party for her.

And then I had to go home and do Sunday chores which was pretty lame. The work week came way too quickly and I'm already dreaming of 5 pm on Friday...

Did you all have a good week/weekend? Do anything fun? This might have been the last weekend for fun things before we all get told to avoid each other. This virus seems like it's coming fast and furious, and as long as I'm able to see my horses, I'm just fine with laying low for a few weeks. The introvert in me has been training for this my whole life! Jokes aside, I hope everyone stays healthy and safe.