Wednesday, February 1, 2023

What's Up Wednesday

 

Guys, winter is so boring. And like not in a bad way necessarily, but I have almost nothing to share on here lately. Not to mention no media what-so-ever. But I do have some good news!

In true horses are ridiculous fashion, Al got a clean bill of health from the vet on Friday. In fact, I was told he was the soundest horse doc had seen all day. Which wasn't really saying much as the others were pretty acutely unsound... but I'll take that regardless. The dermatitis on his left leg is finally cleared up (that took FOREVER) and whatever he had done to make his so unsound the last couple of weeks has resolved itself as well. Doc put him on a Chinese herb called Body Sore to see if that might help with this on again off again roller coaster we've been on. He's felt quite good so far this week, though he's somewhat lost his mind. I'm not allowing him free lunges for a bit, and well... he needs one. I'm going to try to lunge him a little on a line next week. I'd prefer he carry on like an idiot with a larger space than on a circle, but also, he can't be left to his own devises like that right now. So that's where we are. Hopefully once he's fully back to work and gets back to jumping his little brain cells will start to regenerate. In the meantime, send some good juju to the spinning horse deities please.

Eros is perfect as always. I was especially proud of him in the flat lesson yesterday. We worked quite hard (both of us, we had no stirrups for the majority of the lesson and also I would like some extra credit as the rest of the class is teenagers!) for about 40 minutes before getting a break. For Eros, at the 40 minute mark (which is well past his preferred 23 minutes of work) he usually checks out if we take a break and then start up again. That's normally when he tries to just pull me right out of the saddle. Which is hilarious by the way, and occasionally somewhat successful when I've been without stirrups for that long. Anyway, he did try that halfheartedly but then went right back to work. I was very proud of him. And last week we had one of our best jump lessons in a very long time. And that's saying a lot as he's been quite good lately. We shall see what tomorrow brings. It's getting VERY cold here and that doesn't always bode well. Fortunately the cold snap should be a short one. I'm hearing something about -30's (F) with the windchill on Saturday. But back to the 40's for Sunday. Should be a fun weekend. (Sarcasm.)

Shiny's been doing great too. We've been working very hard, and that really seems to be useful with her. Her work ethic seems to vary directly proportional to how hard I ask her to work. Which is good, I suppose. Better than her shutting down when I ask for more. We had a great lesson last week. It ended up being a private and we spent a little extra time on the flat work. It was great, and she really tried hard to get her body bending BOTH directions. She was great over fences too. One of my friends and fellow boarders has a laser that she let me treat Shiny with. It's a neck wrap, but can be used all up and down her whole body. We treated Shine on Saturday afternoon. I rode her bareback Sunday and she felt pretty good, but I was really impressed Tuesday when she felt amazing under tack. Today however... She fell down again. That hasn't happened in forever. She managed to right herself eventually, so it wasn't a total wipeout, and I managed to stay on. Also good. Hopefully she won't be feeling too sore tomorrow. We are scheduled to lesson, but if she's not feeling it, we'll take a rest day. She felt fine after the stumble, so I'm expecting her to be okay. Might be time to inject that neck again. But she's feeling so great, I'm just not sure. Might have just been the footing. She has a hard time with the fancy good footing at the barn. We're just a little too backyard for that nice stuff I guess! Ha! 

That's about it from here. Enjoy a photo of Rita asking when we're going to bed since I have zero horse photos to share this week.

How are things with all of you?!


4 comments:

  1. Glad everyone is doing so well, especially Al! And my gosh Rita is ADORABLE 🥰

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    1. Thank you! I'm glad too.
      Isn't she the cutest with those lil snaggle teeth... Lol!

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  2. I lol’d at Eros’s “exactly 23min of work” bc that’s Charlie to a T haha! So glad Al got a good report from the vet, and ugh Shiny… stay on your feet, lady!

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    1. Right? They're like 23 minutes. No more, no less.That's what you get human.
      I was glad too about Al, though still perplexed a bit. Horses are weird.

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