What's Up Wednesday

 

It's truly amazing what a few nice days can do for a person. And for horses. But especially me. We've been enjoying some BEAUTIFUL days here in CT. We've even seen 50 degrees! It's glorious. It's not going to last, but I've been sure to enjoy it while it's here. Tomorrow is rainy and in the upper 40's, similar Friday but dry, and mid 50's Saturday before winter returns that night. Then a couple stupidly cold days but back to the 40's and 50's after that for awhile! I'll take it! Come on Spring, you can do it! No one will be mad if you come early.

The horses all had a nice week. Especially once the nice weather arrived. It's definitely mud season outside but they're not sad about it. All of the ice finished melting in the outdoor ring yesterday, so now we just need it to dry out a little so we can get back out there!

Let's start with Al's week. He got a really special treat this week. The stalls at the winter barn have stall gates for doors, but the top opening is pretty high so the horses have to stand pretty awkwardly to look out. There are two gates that have yokes though. One of the horses who had one of those special gates lost his privilege after biting one too many people. So Al gets to have a gate he can comfortably hang his head out of. They asked if I wanted it for Shiny first, but she's not nice to other horses so asked for Al to get it since he spends the most time trying to see out. He's so happy now!

Interestingly, ever since getting his fancy new gate, he's been a happier boy to ride too. We made it six rides in a row before we had a less than stellar day, and honestly, I'm not sure we've ever gone that long before. Today was his less than great day, but he had lots of reasons to be distracted. And honestly, all he did wrong was be distracted. He didn't spook at all. And that's a pretty big deal. I'm really proud of him. And now I guess I might have to see about changing the door on his stall at home. Or maybe I can put a stall guard up during the day or something, and just close him in when there isn't a human in the barn. We'll see. I'll have to think about it. We played with some little raised cavalletti height "jumps" a couple of times last week. We were planning to today also, but it didn't work out with his lack of attention. Tomorrow is another day though! I'm not (yet) discouraged. 

I just noticed that the top of his star kind of looks like a unicorn.
(Can you see it?) And that's the most perfect thing ever.

Eros has been feeling really good lately! He's starting to lift his big belly and use his hind end again. We've been able to really do some fun flatwork which I've missed with him. The last couple of days he's been a bit spooky, and I think he's getting a little wild. Well, "Eros wild" which isn't actually that cuckoo. It just means he'd REALLY like to have a gallop. Unfortunately with mud season here, he's not going to get that chance for awhile. We can't free lunge in the indoor here, and he really can't be galloping on a lunge circle because his legs will implode. So we'll just have a spooky Eros for a bit. And that's okay. Hopefully we'll be outside soon, that should help. 

I let him play today over our little "jumps" and he was a little silly but it was a lot of fun. I really enjoy that he gets just as excited for these little things as he does for real jumps. 

Shine's doing well too. The extensive tripping has resolved since they've been dragging the ring more frequently so that's a relief! We got her bloodwork back yesterday and it was all good news! For the first time probably ever her leptin is in a normal range which is miraculous and wonderful. Her insulin was 27 which "normal" is between 10 and 40, so that looks good, but ideal is under 20. So we're a little high, but it wasn't fasting bloodwork, so no one is concerned there. It's also lower than it's ever been so I think that's good. The plan is to start stepping down the Thryo-L which we started last week. And she's going to have one of her hay portions per day unsoaked. We haven't started that yet, but will in the next day or so. I'm thinking we'll do her night check hay dry since I think that will cause the least confusion. I worry that staff might get mixed up and mistakenly give her more than one dry meal in a day. The staff here is some part time and some full time, but the shifts are kind of all over the place. The fewest amount of people do the night check shift so I figure that's the best chance to not have an error. I've had a few days were she seemed to have more energy, but it's kind of intermittent. I'm hoping getting a few more calories in the dry hay might help. 

She had a really fun Sunday this week. One of the other boarders set some little jumps up to play with, so Shiny and I joined in on the fun, along with one other boarder. It was so fun to have a little group to jump with. I think the jumps were the same height we've been doing with the blocks, but these had standards and apparently, according to Shiny, that makes it more fun and more worthy of her interest. 

It was an unplanned fun day, but I would love to do this again but with Al one of these weekends. Hopefully it can happen again soon! We're definitely all feeling that itch to get our horses ready for fun spring adventures. My bank account is zero perfect ready for such things, but it never hurts to be prepared anyway!

They'll all three have their recheck with our performance vet on Friday the 7th, so I'm looking forward to that. I think Shiny's neck will definitely get a shockwave. I know Eros is needing his hocks done soonish, but I think we can wait a bit on that. I'd rather have them fresh for summer as long as he's comfortable to wait. Al is feeling pretty good, though the canter still needs work. I'm not sure if it's a physical issue or an emotional one though. You just never know with him! But I do feel it's improved, so I'm leaning toward emotional. 

In non horse news, my truck windshield got cracked by a rock last week, so I'm waiting to hear back from insurance to get that fixed. 

I know it's not the truck's fault, but this truck is such a money pit in general I'm blaming it. Thankfully I have full glass coverage so it shouldn't cost me anything other than aggravation. Oddly enough, my insurance agent seemed to try to discourage me from making a claim. Windshield damage like this is comprehensive so shouldn't be a reason to raise my premium. And why would you bother having insurance for stuff like this if you didn't use it? It was very odd. I called my dad for his opinion because I was worried I was missing something and he also thought that was silly. Suggested finding a new agent too. When I told the agent I did indeed want to move forward with a claim, rather than submitting it for me (which is how it's always been handled in the past) she sent me a link to do it myself. So I kind of think she's just lazy and dad might be right. In the meantime, I submitted it myself so we'll see how it goes!

That's it from here! If you need me, I'll be enjoying the weather until Saturday when it turns arctic again.