What's Up Wednesday

 

I gotta tell you, when I get into the braiding vortex, I don't really store any memories from that timespan... So I have very little recollection of what went on last week. My camera roll is of minimal help either... But we'll see what I can come up with.

Shiny and her kid are KILLING it together! They even jumped a few 2'3" fences which is huge because her kiddo hasn't been feeling that brave prior to coming up here this summer. I'm very proud of them. Shine's been good for me too but I haven't jumped her in awhile. I like to keep jumpies to twice a week, and her kiddo's been doing both days. Which I'm totally happy with, because it's so fun to see them together. 

Eros is doing well. I keep thinking he maybe doesn't feel his best some days, but the more we do, the better he feels, so I think it's partly just strength building. I let him trot some teeny jumps today, and he was great, though if we had cantered them there would have been some torpedoing. But look how cute:

He's too much. I just love this horse. I've been silently thinking about trying some dressage with him, but honestly, I don't think I have the attention span for dressage. And seeing him jump this little fence... I think he still wants to be a hunter horse. At least for now. Plus, we can't use earplugs for dressage. And we are ear plug dependent. 

And then there's the problem child. Al blew that abscess last week, and I had been soaking and wrapping it, but my farrier still hadn't come by the end of the week to clean it up. At that point, the other heel was starting to crack, and there was black stinky abscess material kind of coming out all over the frog area. (Though he still seemed perfectly comfortable on the foot. I'm not sure this horse feels pain appropriately.) My vet actually checked in with me on Friday though. I said I wasn't thrilled with how it looked and sent him a photo. He was nearby so said he could stop by. Yes please! He pulled the shoe and trimmed away all the dead stuff:

It was an interesting enough case that he made a video for his socials. That's our second on there if anyone's keeping track. His one of Shiny's splinter went viral. I may never be famous, but my horses kind of are in veterinary circles. (In fact, they use Rio as a case study at Cornell now.) I'm really not sure I should be proud of this. Ha! Anyway... Doc said to give Al the weekend off, then get the shoe back on and he should be good to go. I also had him palpate on that front leg that had been swollen since he was there, and he wasn't concerned. Phew. 

So the shoe went back on today, and I was excited to get back to work! But of course he was all sorts of angsty due to the lack of work the past week. And it was windy. But still, I just used our safe spaces and stayed calm for him. It was hard to really tell how he felt because when he's spooky like that he doesn't want to come forward. He didn't feel sound enough to me, but honestly, I couldn't really get a good read on what was happening under me. My plan is to lunge him tomorrow so I can actually see what he looks like. And if it's not good, I'll schedule ANOTHER vet appointment. Our chiro comes tomorrow too though, so maybe it's something she can fix. Fingers crossed. I'm a little frustrated because we've just been so inconsistent this past month or so between this foot stuff and the colicky days a few weeks ago. Plus, my trainer is finally here and I STILL can't have a lesson. Thanks Al. She leaves in like three weeks, so maybe we can get a few in later. I hate to be whiny but summer will be over and once again, we've accomplished nada. I'm not going to dwell on that though. If I can get him sound and going, there are still a couple months at home where we can do whatever we want. And there's lots of little one day shows around here in the fall. If I really want to do this stuff, I need to just go do it! We'll see if Al can get his poo together. 

In other news, I braided a total of 13 manes and 14 tails this weekend.

I also slept from Thursday to Sunday a total of 9 hours. Which... isn't very much. I'm no dummy though! I asked our former weekend worker if she had any interest in doing my chores and turnout Saturday. She did which was a huge help! I got home from braiding at 6:30 Saturday morning, just as she was pulling in to start work. I don't know how braiders do this stuff full time. The hours are nuts. 

I did ride Al and Shiny on Saturday. Al just had a nice grooming. But Sunday? Sunday, I got home from braiding at 3 am, and then slept until 7. So chores started a little bit late. My town has an autmn fair every year this weekend, and I really wanted to get over there, so I decided to let the horses have extra turnout time and skip riding that day. So I made it over to the fair in the afternoon and ate myself silly. I started with a baked potato, then took a stroll through some of the buildings to see the arts and crafts submissions. Then I got ice cream and went to watch the horse pulls while I ate it.

These guys were the winners

Took another stroll and saw the baking submissions. Which by the last day of the fair were not looking so good... (It was HOT in that building!) Then I went to see the bunnies. I LOVE bunnies. Like, not enough to have one of my own, but I love seeing them. Especially the loppy eared ones. I have wild bunnies here at the farm, so it's kind of like having my own but better since they feed themselves and I don't have to take them to the vet. 

After the bunnies I strolled over to the moo cows, which were all super cute and content. 

Jersey's are my favorite moos I think. They're just so cute with their huge noses.

I wrapped up my day at the fair with some pulled pork nachos (highly recommend). I wanted to get some thai egg rolls to go for dinner later, but they were all out. So instead I settled for a bag of kettle corn. And that was it for my day at the fair! I'm glad I fit it in, and I think the extra day off was actually great for the horses. Shiny and Eros both felt really great on Tuesday which usually isn't the case after a day off. So it was a great decision all around.

And I think that's really about it from the past week. It's all I can remember anyway. Haha!