What's Up Wednesday

 

The weeks are kind of flying by lately! But it's still cold out. Haha. The snow is taking its sweet time coming off the roof at the barn. Normally there's a bad day and then it's all done. But it's been coming off a little at a time since Sunday. It's a real treat. But I will say, my horses have been quite good about it. Even Al. Sunday was particularly rough, and while I was on Al, there was on of those HUGE crashes that starts at the top of the roof and then slides down crashing all the way... One lady fell off, and most of the other horses in the ring bolted towards the other end of the ring where Al and I had been standing. And you know what Al did? Absolutely nothing. He turned to watch everyone running at him and just stood there. He got extra cookies for that. I will never understand how this horse's brain works though. 

Al was a little edgy the past week for his lessons, but I still feel like we're moving in a positive direction. He's starting to turn his focus back on me and what we're doing rather than being hyperfocused on things that might potentially scare him. So far this week though, he's been very relaxed and even moving off my leg when I ask him to. We've been doing a lot of transitions which I'm finding very helpful in getting him to respect my leg more. You never really know what you're going to get from him on a given day, but I feel like we're having more good days than bad so hopefully we'll continue that pattern!

Shiny's been a good pony this week. I do feel like she's due for some maintenance, but I'm trying to put it off just a little bit to align with Eros' recheck in a few weeks. What I love about this pony is that she won't do anything she thinks is too hard. So I just try to listen to her each day and see what she feels like doing. If she's particularly sulky in a lesson, we stick to cross rails. On the days she's feeling more bold, I let her jump a little bigger. At least for now, until we get some vet work done. Once I know things are lubed up and ready to go, I can ask a little more from her. We borrowed our friends' Spectra Laser neck wrap on Friday. We put it on the fat busting mode in hopes that we get her cresty neck a little smaller... I'm not sure if it actually works for that, but she felt a lot better on Saturday. I think we might see if Grandpa wants to get her one for her birthday... And by grandpa, I mean my dad. And by Shiny's birthday, I mean MY birthday... We'll see if he goes for it. I don't know if these things actually work, but I've borrowed it a few times for different things and the horses seem to feel better after using it. Could be placebo effect. I dunno. But if there's a perceived difference, I'm all for it!

I finally started Eros on Benadryl last week, and it's definitely helping. The hives aren't gone completely yet, but they are significantly improved, so I'll take it. I gotta say though, the drowsiness is real with Benadryl... If you've ever taken it, you know what I mean! He's walking SO SLOWLY for our walks since he's been on it. I'm talking 28 minute miles. Which... is pretty slow. On the plus side, there's very little chance of him acting silly while he's recovering from this injury. 

That's about all that's happening here. Nothing very exciting to report, but I think that's a good thing this time of year. How are things with you all? Doing anything fun with your horses?