What's Up Wednesday

 

Phew. Made it through hell weekend of braiding! Just barely... Guys, I had 11 both Friday night AND Saturday night. ELEVEN! Manes and tails. That's a lot of hours on the ladder in the middle of the night. Thank goodness for Netflix, HBO, and my trusty Ipad. Funny story though. Most of my horses live at the farm hosting the show, so I was the only braider for the majority of the horses there. Since I was alone, I wasn't using ear buds as they get uncomfortable for that many hours and the batteries don't last that long either. Anyway, there was one horse in one of the barns that belonged to a differed trainer and they had their own braider. So I was braiding away and had finished watching whatever I had been watching when the other braider came in. I was planning to start watching season 2 of Euphoria when I heard her music playing. She was listening to show tunes... I decided to hold off on starting Euphoria. I'm pretty sure show tunes couldn't handle that! Haha! 

Friday's Manes

Friday's Tails

Saturday's everything

For the most part these manes and tails were all pretty easy. None of them had thick monster manes and these tails pretty much only get done once or twice a year so they are in great shape. I managed to get 10 done in about 12 hours which is pretty fast. Both days I had a small break before number 11. One was a ship in, so I had to wait a few minutes for him and the other was at a barn near my house so I had to drive to him. He has the speediest mane because it's pretty thin, and he's very well behaved. His tail though. The tail is tough on him. He had rubbed the top out earlier this year and now it's starting to grow some. Took some creativity to get it done, but turned out as good as I think anyone could do.

I'm also really happy to report that I stayed on my ladder this year and sustained zero new knee injuries! Yay me! Lol!

I had to enlist some help at home while I was away braiding overnight. I had a wonderful college student who lives in my town do night checks for me. (Fun fact: She is attending my Alma Mater Skidmore but is home for the summer) My weekday barn helper was able to cover Sunday for me, so I just had Saturday that I needed a little help. I figured I should be home around 10 am, so my neighbor was able to feed breakfast for me. Once I was home, I went and fed the dogs and then turned out the horses and cleaned stalls. It wasn't the best job, and I'll be honest, I didn't scrub any buckets! But it got done, and the horses were happy. And then finally at around noon I got to sleep! It was glorious. I got about five hours in before waking up to feed horses dinner and do it all over again! 

The week was kind of easy for the horses. I rode Tuesday through Friday, but they had the weekend off. I just didn't have it in me to ride them after all that time on the ladder. They weren't sad about it. 

Trainer was away camping for most of the week so I didn't have a lesson. But I had set up a combination and played around with it some on my own. 

I kept everything low for Al because he had indicated the week before that he was ready for a little rest. He was really cute through the combo. It's a trot in one to one, set on the shorter side. That horse, as silly as he can be, know EXACTLY where he is at the fences. He paced that combo out right from the first time through with no help from me required at all. Such a good boy! Unfortunately, later in the week that crack of his started to bother him again. So he's been having light flat rides since. My farrier is out of town shoeing, but he's going to adjust Al's shoes as soon as he's back. 

Quarter cracks are SO frustrating, but hopefully we can get a handle on it soon. Al's such a trooper. 

Things are great with Eros! I had my last lesson with trainer today as she's off to Florida at the end of the week for the season. Since Al is on light work, Eros got to have his first lesson with her! It was a breath of fresh air as she agrees with me about how much canter he needs. I was constantly told I needed more by other trainers in the past, but she was like no, you have plenty, his step his HUGE! I was like I KNOW! So that was great. We warmed up over a little single fence and then just focused on the combination and what to do on the other side. What we deduced is that if I can just sit chilly he'll be chilly too. Easier said than done of course. But something to work on! She hasn't really seen him go much before now, and she loved him almost as much as I do, so that's always nice to hear. (I say almost because I have an unhealthy obsession with him that I don't expect anyone else to share.)

I'm excited to jump him again later in the week and see if I can do things the way he wants on my own. 

After Shiny's little incident last week, she's been in WORK. And she's been great. Truly. I actually trotted her through the combo yesterday for the first time. It was... well. It was challenging for her. She got it done, but kinda deer like. I think it's a bit long for her trotting in even though it's set short for the horses. Next time I send her through there I'll shorten it up for her. But I was very proud of her try! And even better after we finished with that, I gave her a walk break, and then had her pop over a few single fences just to make sure she wasn't stressed about jumping in general. And she came back and popped those jumps totally calmly and cooly. So proud of her! And then today, I let her have a little free lunge before her kiddo came to ride. Guys, she was pretty wild! Wild for Shiny anyway. She didn't get too zoomy (thank goodness, I hate when they run) but she got some good bucks out. I think she was feeling much better after that. Of course, then she was tired and the kid could barely get her trotting. Oops. All she really wanted to do today was around the world though. So Shiny was happy to oblige for that. Glad they had a good last ride of the season together!

I think that's it! How was your week/weekend? Do anything fun? Horses good?