What's Up Wednesday

 

Okay, I got all me whining off my chest yesterday, so today we can talk about all the good stuff happening over here! Because it's not all bad. (Just the weekday mornings evidently.) 

So I was expecting a rain day last week either Thursday or Friday, and it turned out to not really happen. Thursday I rushed our rides a little to beat the rain, but then the rain was delayed until overnight. But the horses never seem to be upset when we have short rides. Plus I was having my new oil tank installed in my basement that day so I was a little distracted by that too. It happens. It's a big relief to not be waiting for the oil to start leaking again! Nobody needs that drama in their life. 

Friday I expected the ring to be under water since it poured all night. But really it wasn't too bad. I could have ridden on half of it without really encountering puddles. But I dunno I just had this strong aversion to getting on a horse that day. Like I just REALLY didn't want to. Which doesn't happen to me all that often and usually when it does I ignore that and just ride. But often those rides end up being bad. So this day I decided to just take a day off. The horses have been working very consistently six days a week, so we could all use a little surprise rest day. Plus I really needed to pull manes. So that seemed like the perfect day to do it!

No really. They were borderline feral

Much better!

Surprisingly that all took me almost as long as it would have taken me to ride. I should probably stay on top of that task a little better. Oh and halfway through Shiny reared up, using my foot as her springboard and broke the crossties. But then I made her finish anyway and she just pouted. It's still a little long and a little too thick, but we'll keep chipping away at it. The boys were both very good. 

I did have a little time after finishing manes so I finally got around to getting my new white board put together. I love the custom ones you can get, but over $200 for a whiteboard isn't in my budget these days. So I decided to just get a plain one with a nice enough frame and then make my own. I was too lazy to find a straight edge to really do it properly... But I'm still happy with how it came out. I also had some Winthrop Corner Stable magnets to use with it which I think pull the whole thing together.

I put a sticker over our important numbers for this photo
but I can't imagine you could read them anyway, 

So at the very top I put a decal with the farm name, address, and phone number. The logos on either side are just my magnets. And yes, I did not properly center the name. Oops. 

The next section is important numbers like vets, farrier, horse sitters, etc. Below that is a blanket chart for both indoors and outdoors as well as what the horses wear on their legs for turnout. 

Next I have exactly what they eat for each meal including all meds and supplements. This way if something were to happen and I wasn't home for meals, someone can get them fed properly. 

The last section is daily tasks. Basically, someone could come in and keep my farm running properly just by reading this board. I love it. I mean, obviously my employee doesn't look at the board... but if he DID he'd know what's expected. And yes, that last section includes a note to check all doors and gate latches plus top off waters before leaving the premises. Seriously, it's all there. You could come run my barn if you wanted. I LOVE organization. Lists are my favorite. 

That evening I watched my younger niece perform as Dory in Finding Nemo kids and she did such a great job. She even had singing solos! So proud of her!

Saturday was just a flat day since they had Friday off, but Shiny's kiddo came so that was fun. And Al had one of his best flats in awhile. He even went forward! In a relatively nice shape!

I know. Who is this horse?! Looks like he knows how to horse! 

Sunday was super fun though, wanna know why?? Because Al participated in his first Sunday Funday in a very long time. 

I mean, I wasn't brave enough to ride him bareback. I have no idea how I'd even get on him. He and Eros are the same height technically, but Eros is all wither so his back is lower than Al's. And I can only JUST BARELY get up on Eros. But also, I don't quite trust Al enough to go bareback yet. But he did get to go bitless. We did a short ride in the ring, and then we headed out to the backyard for some snackies.

He was very well behaved and seemed to enjoy himself. Hopefully we can do it again this week!

Eros participated similarly with a brief ride (though E went bareback) and then snackies in the yard.

Shiny isn't allowed snackies, so instead we did our riding down in her paddock for a little change of scenery and then also a little bit in the backyard. She's so game to trot and canter pretty much anywhere. She did of course steal a few bites of grass, but that's okay. She's allowed a little bit. 

yeah... I usually just ride them into the barn after Sunday Funday. 
It's okay, I have a very high ceiling in there!

Monday I finally stopped procrastinating and I changed the course. We've been jumping the same one all summer. Which I thought about changing it sooner, but I wasn't in a rush because Al hadn't really even jumped it yet. Now that he HAS it was time to mix things up. Plus I've really been wanting to set up some gymnastic exercises for him. So I did!

Kind of hard to see in this photo, but on the quarter line (ish) I have a trot in one to one. Probably only Al will do it, since I need to shorten it up for Shiny, and I'm not sure I want Eros doing it. He gets a little excited about combinations and I'm trying to keep him quiet to the jumps. We'll see though. I also have a little raised cavalletti size bounce set up next to that purple jump. So a few things to keep Al's feet thinking. That horse LOVES a gymnastic, so it will be fun to have them available full time. 

We just flatted Tuesday, but today Shiny's kiddo came out and we tested out the new course. We love it! Lots of options for bending lines and roll backs, and there's still lots of room to do flatwork too. 

Al was really great today. He jumped every jump in the ring, though I wasn't brave enough to jump all of them both directions just yet. Like the end jump... I jumped it going away from the scary neighbor, but wasn't quite brave enough to jump at him just yet. Maybe Friday! Ha. Baby steps. We did do the outside line along the scary side though! We added, it should be a five. But also the jumps weren't even 2' so he would have to move it down there to get the right number. And MOVE IT is not currently in Al's vocabulary. Once the jumps go up it will be easier. 

Aside from the first time through the combination when I questioned if we'd make it out...

I keep things real around here.

Al was great through it. For Friday, kiddo and I have plans to not jump at the same time and play jump crew for each other instead, so we can put these up a little and remember how to jump some height. I'm excited for that!

Eros jumped around today too. He's not quite ready to jump full courses without the torpedo coming out... But we were able to string several single jumps together without any running. So that's pretty good! I even thought about jumping the outside line... But he landed VERY strong after the in, so I circled and then jumped the out which he did very nicely. So I think with a little more consistency he'll be jumping courses again soon. He really is staying quieter and more rideable. It got better when he was on the doxy and then even better still after his injections. So I think he's feeling pretty good which is exciting for me.

I'll probably keep him at 2', maybe 2'3". He's 16 now, he doesn't have anything to prove anymore. I just want him to have fun and feel good. 

 

And that's it for this week over here! Having lots of fun with the horses and I hope it continues!