What's Up Wednesday

 

So USUALLY I ride all the horses six days a week. But not last week, that's for sure. Last week they were on the every other day schedule. That's just how it happens sometimes. They had Wednesday off due to weather, then Friday for the vet, and then Sunday for more weather. Some weeks it's like that if you don't have an indoor, and you know what? They're all just fine. No worse for the wear. (Or lack of wear as the case may be.) So obviously, I don't have much riding wise to chat about. But it's horses, so that doesn't mean there's nothing to talk about! 

Autumn is autumning

Friday we had a scheduled vet appointment for fall shots and teeth. We haven't done teeth in awhile, though I get them checked every six months. Fortunately, they were all still in good shape and just needed a quick float. They all handled shots well too, so that was nice! The boys don't usually have much trouble, but before her weight loss Shiny always had a hard time with shots. It's interesting to see what she handles better now that she's lighter. I also had Lyme and EPM titers drawn. I don't put a lot of faith in the EPM titer after Rio (who's titer was always negative even when he couldn't stand up without a wall next to him...) but if it does show a high titer, that would mean something anyway. So doesn't hurt to check. I mean only the wallet anyway. 

Sunday I noticed that Shiny's paddock fence was starting to lean. I recognized that lean... And made a note to mention to my worker that we needed to replace at least two of those posts. (Spoiler alert: it was four.) They're still the old ones that were defective. I've been replacing them as they rot, so there are still a bunch of them around. Well... before I could make mention my helper sent me this photo:

Guess that couldn't wait. I blame all the rain we got Sunday and Monday. We got a ton, everything is still wet everywhere. Mother nature is all or nothing it seems like! The guy who installed my fence for me is in Florida right now, so I knew I couldn't call him for help. My worker who is capable of fixing this didn't have the time to do it. I've found that trying to dig holes is not something my knee approves of, so my options for getting this fixed in a timely manner appeared very slim. Fortunately, I had one more person to call, and he was able to get it repaired yesterday. Shiny was very relieved to have her paddock back. And the boys were relieved she was back down there. Neither of those two weenies would go to the far end of the ring when they were turned out without her down there. Even though that's where their hay was. For real! Weenies. I don't know what they would do without Shiny. I hope they appreciate her.

Eros has been particularly sassy of late. He always gets a little weird this time of year, and the elements aren't helping any. It's been cool and windy everyday, but at the same time, the flies are HORRENDOUS! Which is the stuff nightmares are made of for Eros. Add to that the lighter workload he's been having and he just doesn't really know how to handle his intrusive thoughts. I am wondering if he has Lyme again because that would explain his NQR-ness and this sudden extra spooky behavior. We'll find out soon enough. If it's not that I may hit him with some ulcer treatment and see if that helps. He's not like a psycho or anything, just a little extra. We'll figure it out I'm sure.

He has very strong ears.

Al's been... pretty good? I can't for the life of me get him MOVING, but he's using whatever parts of the ring I request. Not always super willingly, but he's doing it. And honestly that's a big step in the right direction. The back probably 1/3 of the ring is still a little too wet to work in, so he's getting a reprieve from full ring torture. Which probably is helpful for both of us if I'm being honest. Ha! I think I'm going to pack away some of the jump fill for the winter and set up a little course of trot poles and just a few single jumps for now. I think anyway. I'm not yet committed to such things. But I think having some poles with set distances might help me get him moving without him realizing it. And he's always better with a task to pay attention to. And pretty soon the ground will be too hard to jump anyway. 

Which brings me to my next topic. I can't remember if I've mentioned yet, but I think we're going to stay home this winter. The barn I went to last year doesn't have enough stalls for us, and there's really not many places nearby to even consider, let alone that have room for three horses. And I dunno. I could maybe use a little winter break this year. I have a bunch of projects to tackle in the house that I can't ever seem to find the time and/or energy for. And maybe a little break would be just the thing to reset Al and get Eros sound again. I figure I could ride Shiny in the snow, she's reliable. So she can get her exercise at least. We'll see. I can always change my mind later. Plus, you never really know what winter will be like. Some years it barely snows at all and stays mild. Of course that won't happen if I stay here... but we'll cross that bridge when we get it it. 

That's about it for this week. We don't have anything planned that's too exciting at the moment. And I'm really pretty content with that!