What's Up Wednesday

 

What a week around here... I managed to get both jump schools in for the horses at home which was great. Shiny seems to be coming out of her funk somewhat so that's promising. Eros attempted to be a little bit of a torpedo but thankfully came around and decided it was faster and easier to just be a good boy. I even put on my big girl pants and did the bending line with both horses, both directions. It's a little tricky because it's set on the half stride, but I liked the challenge. Lets me know if the horses are actually paying attention to me or not. Spoiler alert: it was 50/50... Lol. Anyway, here are a few stills from our sessions:

That face when you find a great distance and you
look over to make sure Pivo is watching...

I also go to have a lesson with Bellino last week. The jumps were smaller this time, but the courses were a lot harder. It actually went pretty well though, despite a few small mistakes on my part. AND I have media! You can watch a couple of courses here:

But if you're not into video here are a couple screen shots:

I have to miss my lesson with his this week due to lots of braiding, but I'm excited to get back to it with him next week. I'm not sure if I circled back, but it turns out this poor horse was dealing with some of the worst ulcers my vet has ever seen. He's been getting treated for a few weeks now, and I can absolutely feel a huge difference in his attitude and way of going. So glad I pushed to get him checked out. 

I was worried I would have a lot of braiding to do for the weekend as one of our local associations was having their medal finals. But most of my regulars have either already won so can no longer compete, or they had stalls at the show and used a braider on site. (It's a little over an hour away and I didn't plan to be there. Not anything sketchy going on!) So I wound up just with one horse to do. And he won his class! Good boy!

This coming weekend though is the lower level finals and it's going to be CRAZY. That's okay though, it's great $$ for a few sleepless days. 

Things got a little exciting around here (not in the best way...) though because we had a hurricane forecasted to hit on Sunday. So much of Friday and Saturday was spent preparing for that. Fortunately, the storm turned slightly and weakened so it wasn't as bad as predicted. No major damage here. One little branch came down where I normally park my truck, but I had moved it just in case. so it was non event. 

Some of my jumps blew over and that was about the extent of "storm damage"
Also, peep my cute flower holders!

Since we did still have a tropical storm Sunday, I took the day off from riding. I got up early to do stalls before the worst of the storm hit. It was pouring off and on though, so the horses stayed in. I opened their doors so they could access their walkouts while I cleaned though, before tucking them in for the day once I was done. I also managed to get a quick visit with Pammon before the storm hit too. So that was comforting. He was staying out in his field for the storm (honestly I think out is safer than in anyway if you have adequate facilities for that). 

Pre storm snacks for these boys!

I laughed because when I got there it was lightly raining. The mares in the other field were in their shed staying dry, but these idiots were standing out in the rain by the gate. Despite the fact that all of their hay was in the shed. Boys... 

After that visit, I headed straight home as the wind was picking up and the rain was coming harder again. I did a few chores around the house and then settled in to enjoy a stormy day of being a garbage human. I made brunch:

Did some arts and crafts (I've been working on one of those diamond painting things), and hung out with P who basically did this the whole day:

Clearly she was bothered by the weather. Lol. 

Monday was kind of more of the same. The winds were gone, but we were still getting hit by really heavy rains. It was dry in the morning, so the horses had their usual turnout time, but they spend the rest of the day hanging out inside. I did too, and was mostly a sloth. But I did make cookies!

The wildlife has been a little weird around here too. I found a very confrontational crayfish walking down the street... (Seriously, I have photos, because it sounds like a drug induced hallucination.)

And also I discovered the asshole hornets have built a rather large abode in my shed.

I can't even think about dealing with it until next week when my braiding marathon is over. But I think I may call in a professional for this one due to it's being inside. I sprayed several other nests recently and made it out alive, but they were all outside and easy to escape from. This one not so much. 

In other news, I went back to the dentist to get my fillings and turns out, I didn't need them. I don't have cavities, just some staining. So glad the owner of the practice saw me for that appointment. I'm going to make sure he's the only one I see moving forward. If that's not possible I'll look for a new one.

And that's about it from here! That's enough really... Did you all have a good week? Any storms where you are? Hope you made out okay if there were!