What's Up Wednesday

 

Things are going well with the ponies this week! Still very low on media though. So sorry. 

Al is such a different horse now that we're back outside. I mean, he still snorts and side-eyes stuff on the regular, but he's a million times more relaxed. Funny little anecdote from the weekend. I had to ride very early Saturday so I did him indoors. It was barely 35 degrees outside which... no thanks. Lol! Anyway, I was riding Al inside, and one of my fellow ammy's was walking her pony bareback to keep us company. And she (unprovoked) said that Al's entire expression changed when he'd get to the end he didn't like. Like she could the stress on his face. She said you can tell he's afraid down there, not just regular spooky. So like, I know I've more or less gotten an understanding of this horse now. And I also know that I don't need validation, but also I am human and some validation feels nice. So it was nice that someone semi removed from Al and I's plight could see that there was a real "thing" there that he's been dealing with. And not just bad behavior. It also feels kinda nice that he's at a point where he can trust me now and not always let his emotions dictate his behaviors. He'll never be a perfectly behaved zero anxiety horse, but I think now that we have a better understanding of each other, things an come together a little more frequently. Or maybe not. But at least in this moment I'm feeling good about things with him. I can't wait to get back to lessons at home and hopefully to some little shows this summer. Fingers crossed things come together for that. We didn't get to lesson this week because Saturday I had a baby shower during both my lesson times (hence my riding so early). But we will get to lesson this Saturday so I'm excited for that. It will be our last one at the winter barn this year since WE MOVE HOME SUNDAY! Hopefully anyway. More on that in a minute. First we'll chat about the rest of the horses. 

Shiny's feeling good, but they got their second round of shots yesterday so her neck is a little sore. Not as bad as some years though, thankfully. Not a lot to report with her, she's been very good, and also really happy to be back outside. She missed her Saturday lesson too, but is very much looking forward to this weeks. I am too!

Eros is up to 16 minutes of trotting now. He's been just as well behaved outside as in which is nice. Sometimes he gets a little... torpedo-like when we first go outside. But not this year! So I'm happy for that. His leg doesn't need that drama. He still doesn't feel amazing to me, but he doesn't get worse as he goes which is what was happening before we rested him. Also, he never feels great until after he's had a warm up canter, and since we're not cantering yet, I'm hoping that's some of what we're dealing with. He's also coming due for maintenance soon. And none of them have seen the chiropractor since February I think? Maybe January? It's been awhile. So I'm hoping what I'm feeling is just the confluence of all these things. He gets to start cantering next week, so we'll see how that goes. After he's cantered for a couple weeks we'll schedule a recheck and see where we are at. I think all three will be due for spring maintenance by then anyway. 

So back to moving day! The reason our move is not definite is once again my truck. I mentioned last week that I had to have it towed in for its oil change. I was told once they checked it over that it just needed both batteries replaced, a fuel filter, and the oil change I had scheduled. Okay, that's not too bad! But then when they said it was ready, they also gave me a laundry list of things wrong with it. Things that make it unsafe to haul with. Oh and one thing that wasn't actually broken but I guess they figured they could try and get an additional $2200 out of me... Fortunately, I'm not as dumb as I look, and I knew how to fix that particular problem. (It was my automatic running boards. Dealership said they weren't working. They weren't. But the reason they weren't was that they were not turned on. Pretty simple fix.) I found it very weird that they wouldn't tell me about all these other problems initially. Normally when I've brought it in, they tell me everything they find when they look it over and then we discuss what needs to be done right away and what can wait. This time they told me after I was set to pick it up. And it really wasn't stuff that can wait. But I picked it up anyway and brought it to a trusted mechanic instead. Unfortunately, trusted mechanic found mostly the same problems. So I'm now VERY broke. (I will have spent nearly as much as I paid to purchase Shiny on this truck this month at this point.) So goodbye any hopes of a sleep-away horse show this summer. But also, I'm not positive I'll have the truck back Friday. Fingers crossed. They're trying their best to get it done. I basically need everything replaced underneath due to rust and corrosion. Steering, suspension, heat shields, brake lines, ALL the brake parts. Ugh. 

My braiding work has kind of dried up over here too. The local spring A show that everyone used to braid for has gotten very small and no one braided this year. So I didn't get any income when I kind of had expected to. I think the summer show at the same venue will go similarly. So I guess it's time I find a real job! I don't really want to go back to my former career. I did it because it was our family business, but it's nothing I was particularly passionate about. Which means I can kind of go any direction. Except for a few things... I'm not especially qualified for much. I have a BA in Psychology but no graduate work/degree. I have customer service and sales experience so I could go that direction, but not sure what industry. So... anyone have any good suggestions? I'm not sure I need to go back full time. I'm not sure I can go back to those 15 hour days between work and horses. I'm not as young as I once was! Since the horses will be home, and I don't have weekend help this year, my weekends aren't really free for a job either. Especially since I would like to be able to do some one day shows and those are on weekends. So I would need something that's weekdays only. Preferably mornings and part time if in person. But I could probably do full time if it's flexible on which hours I work. So I'm taking suggestions on what to explore! I browsed Indeed for things local to me, but it was mostly just retail jobs and healthcare workers. Neither are a fit for me. Maybe retail if I really had to, but again, I'd prefer to not work weekends. 

Maybe I could be like... an equestrian personal shopper? Is that a thing? Cause I love shopping for horse stuff. And it would be way more fun with someone else's money. 

Anyway. Back to less boring topics. I got to do some non horse things this week which was fun. As mentioned, I attended a baby shower on Saturday. So nice to see some friends and spoil the soon to arrive baby! It's a horse adjacent girl! I say adjacent because her mom (my friend) never really got into horses fully, but HER mom (the grandma who is sadly no longer here) was a big time horse girl. She had her own barn, the whole thing. So horses are in the blood. The big sister is already showing interest (She's turning 3, I think) so I'm excited for Shiny to give some pony rides this summer. And then this evening I got to attend an art show for both my nieces. 

Ellie, in second grade, made these beautiful beads herself!

This lovely print is by Keira, grade 5. She LOVES Mary Poppins

The art show was followed by a joint band and chorus concert. Which was cute. There are some talented kids there I think! Performers were in grades 3 and higher, so it was just my older niece for this one. She sings and plays in the band. She played like five different instruments. Very impressive. She gets that talent from her mom's side of the family. Us Seidmans are not musically talented. Not at all. Lol! It's fun to see her in her element. You can see her confidence grow each time she performs. 

And that's about it from here! One more week of sharing space, and then hopefully we'll be back to doing whatever we want WHENEVER we want! And more media! Pivo can come out and play once we're home too. Looking forward to it! Fingers crossed my stupid truck is back together in time.