What's Up Wednesday

 

I don't have too much to report on this week. Just plugging along over here! The weather has been LOVELY as in back in the 80's and the sun has even been out! Amazing! So much better than the constant rain, gloom, and fifty degrees of last week. That was the worst. 

Anyway, the horses have been pretty good. We were rained out last Friday, and it was a LOT of rain. So while we did ride all weekend, we were stuck on half the ring. They got adjusted Friday though, so it was kind of a nice day off for them, and maybe not so bad to have an easy few days after their adjustments. 

Tuesday, Al kind of came undone. I knew it was coming. The neighbor has been decorating for Halloween, which I fully support... But Al is not such a fan of the ghosts he has hanging in the trees. When he's finished his food, he just stares out his window at them. All day long. At least at night be can't see them. Anyway, Tuesday, I got on and he started out okay, but then he spied the neighbor walking in his yard. You can see better now that the leaves are starting to fall, and Al just kind of lost his poo. I opted to hop off and let him have a free lunge. Because I have learned from last year. If Al tells you he needs to blow off some steam, you should hear that and let him. Otherwise... well, I'm sure you all remember this:

And I don't want to do that again this year. So anyway, he had a bit of a gallop and then I got back on. He was still somewhat unsettled but he kept a lid on it and gave me some okay work. Today, he was feeling MUCH better about life. Still mildly petrified of the one long side, but rideable at least. We popped over a few jumps, which was fun. I was anxious they would be spooky about the new fill, but no one cared. He did spook some at other things, but the jumps were a non issue. I'm still struggling with the forward button, but I know that can get fixed when we move for the winter. Pivo was struggling with the shadows today, so no real video, but we have screen shots from a few jumps. Unfortunately, it never once saw him jump the oxer. But that's okay. I'll share photos of everyone when we're done chatting about all the horses because I uploaded collages of them all instead of individual photos.

Eros has also been a lil' wild. I didn't think he would be today because it was pretty hot out, but I was incorrect. So there were torpedos today. All the torpedos. But it was still fun. Eros doesn't scare me when he lands and goes. He never bucks or anything. You're just mildly out of control for a few steps. He was brave about all the new fill though, so I'm happy for that. Weather depending I'll let him have a gallop before we jump again later in the week. 

Shiny has been great! I think the adjustment on Friday really helped her. She's been her lazy self flatting lately, but today when we were jumping she was on it. She was really hunting the fences. I think she was excited about the new fill. She even did the pony strides in the line (adding one to the horse number) rather than the double add she's been giving me most of the summer. So nice to feel her excited to jump again. If she stays like this, maybe we can start putting the fences back up to 2' again. I've been keeping the fences extra low to keep it easy for her. 

None of them jumped particularly fancy, but I'm chalking that up to the jumps being low. And honestly, I'll take rideable over fancy any day. 

I'm not sure if you noticed in these photos, but I did change my boots halfway through riding today. My black everyday Celeris boots finally gave up on life, so I've been wearing the Mountain Horse Sovereign boots (the brown ones with the croc). They've been fine, I've been wearing them about a week now. But all of a sudden today, they gave me the biggest blister on the lower part of my heal. Not sure what was different, but after three horses (I got to do two at the other barn today) I couldn't suffer through it anymore and swapped out for my sparkly Celeris. Much better. 

In other news, I got a surprise text from one of my braiding customers. She forgot to ask me to braid for a little hunter derby nearby and was hoping I could fit him in on Sunday. I jumped on that opportunity, because that job paid for those awesome huge skull planters on the purple jump. Ha. Thank goodness for the side hustle since I have no self control. 

Not my best work on the tail, but I didn't have much to work with. The hair on top wasn't long enough to reach across, which is pretty normal at the end of the season. What was less normal, is that it was like that pretty far down. Like normally it's a couple inches maybe, but this guy had that going on for several inches down. Made it work though. Even it wasn't as pretty as usual. 

Lastly, I celebrated the 15th anniversary of having horses in my backyard this week! I can't believe it's been that long already. Time really does fly by. So much has changed. None of the originals are here anymore. But this current herd is just as special as the OG's. So thankful for all of them. And for this place we call home.