What's Up Wednesday

 

I imagine you're pretty well caught up on life at Winthrop Corner these days. Not a whole lot going on other than chores and occasionally getting to ride my horses. Last week was a little crazy since I only had help two days. I didn't get to ride all of the horses all of the days because I did have to do some work for my job and also the days are getting shorter fast! We also got rained out Sunday. It wasn't a hard rain, and if it had been warmer I probably would have ridden. But it wasn't so I didn't! 

Al particularly has had a lighter work regiment the past week because Bang and Clang next door seems to have a personal vendetta against him. I forget what day, but I think it was Friday or Saturday. Bang and Clang was suspiciously quiet all day and I was very much enjoying it. But mere moments after I got on Al, he comes out with a blue tarp that he needed to shake out, then drag behind him, and cover something with about as close to my ring as he could get. Then he just kept walking the tree line messing with branches. Needless to say, Al wasn't especially cool with that. We did a walk trot ride on a circle and called it a day. He's come a long way, but he still doesn't trust that guy. Which is fair because neither do I. Then yesterday, I decided to lunge Al with tack before my ride to see what I had, because he was quite riled up in turn out thanks again to Bang and Clang. Now, the dude had been in his garage making noise all day but he'd stayed in there which I can work with just fine. But as soon as I had Al working on the lunge? Out came the hedge trimmer. Guys. It's October. What could POSSIBLY need to hedge trimming? Apparently the entire perimeter of his yard. So we just lunged and called it a day. Of course when I got on the other two he was back in his garage. That guy. I may be committed soon because I really think the people around me are driving me insane. I like to reflect to see if I'm the problem, but in both scenarios of people who have triggered me this week, I just don't see that I am. Which I could be, of course. But I'm not seeing it. 

Eros has been a little spooky too, I think the change in sun angle gets to them a little. The shadows look different. And they aren't working especially hard so I imagine the energy levels are a little high too. But we're still plugging away. No intense work, just making sure all the buttons are still installed and trying to get them to keep their bellies up and engaged. We haven't jumped since I fell off a few weeks ago. Not because I'm worried about it, just because we haven't had consistent enough work. I'm sure we will again before winter arrives. But not right now. 

That's really about all that's happening here. Doing the things, and loving my horses. Wishing they would be just a touch neater in their stalls... Lol! 

What's Up Wednesday

 

So for once, my week actually went almost to plan! I mean, right up until the squirrel incident anyway. 

Little reminder of the squirrel incident I shared yesterday...

The horses all got exactly the rides I had planned until Friday. I was pretty sore after my unexpected dismount. I still rode Shiny and popped her over a few jumps, but I opted out of riding Al just in case. I've learned that with him, if I'm not at least 85% of normal, I shouldn't get on him. Instead he had a nice lunge. And I don't think he minded that. Here are a couple of screen shots from my short jump schools with Eros and Shiny though:

Saturday and Sunday they were supposed to be working on my fence again, so I had planned for easy riding days anyway. My sore tailbone was grateful for that! Of course, nothing truly goes to plan. The guy doing the work wasn't feeling well so he only wound up working for an hour before calling it a day. Which is totally understandable, but I wish he hadn't come at all because it disrupted Shiny's turnout and feeding schedule for not much reward. (I think they only got two posts done that day.) Fortunately, Shiny doesn't really care that much. On the plus side, it was quiet for riding time! I wound up only riding Eros though. I figured he'd be a good test for what my body was up for since he's big like Al, but mostly trustworthy (save for any weird squirrel encounters). It REALLY hurt to get on. Trotting wasn't too bad, but canter was pretty miserable. So I figured I'd call it a riding day with just the one. I took the other two out for grass though. Suited them just fine. 

Sunday they were back to work on the fence so things went more to my original plan. My body was improving but still pretty sore. After chores, I opted to test ride with Shiny first this time. It was okay. And they were wrapping up with the yard as I finished with her, so I decided to give Al a ride too. I kept him to half the ring out of caution (I wasn't really interested in any spinning spooks this weekend) and he was good. And I opted to be done after him. Eros got to hand graze still, which is all he really wants anyway. 

We all enjoyed a day off Monday and then Tuesday we were back to normal. My body is mostly recovered, just a little soreness in the tailbone area still but much improved! They all had nice rides Tuesday, Al even used the full ring like a normal horse with almost no dragon breathing! It helps so much when Bang and Clang stays in his garage. 

And that's really all that's happening around here. How are you guys?? I'm a little behind in reading your blogs, but I'm getting caught up slowly but surely!

What's Up Wednesday

 

We're just plugging right along over here! I still haven't had the chance to pull out my jump fill. But maybe this weekend or Monday. We've kind of been stuck on riding 5 days a week lately instead of 6 and this week was no different. But it was for a fun reason, so I'm not mad about it. We actually didn't get rained out any days this week, with our one and only rain event happening late at night. Just the way it should be, I need rain to keep the footing at it's best, and when it happens at night, it doesn't disrupt riding plans! I'm not sure if we'll get as lucky this week, but we shall see. Fingers crossed. 

This week, or skipped riding day was Sunday. Both of my nieces had voice recitals on Sunday, but of course they weren't in the same one. One was at 2 and one was at 5. So I did morning chores, went to the first one, then took out the stall windows finally, cleaned some bird poo, and finally went to the second one. Then more bird poo cleaning and fed dinner. Productive day, even if riding wasn't on the schedule. The girls both sounded fantastic too. I haven't heard them really sing before. I'm so impressed by them! I can't sing at all. The horses all look at me with disdain when I sing in the barn. 

We only got in one jump school this week. I had hoped for a second one on Saturday, but I made a terrible error Friday night and my body said light rides only Saturday. And it was persistent. I forgot to take my Omeprazole Friday night. (Yes, I know it's best taken in the morning on an empty stomach, but I have to take my thyroid meds the same way and that one is more important to get absorbed. So I take my Omeprazole at night before bed.) Anyway, my tummy was all disgruntled which made my whole body somewhat useless by the time I'd finished chores. So instead we had Sunday Funday on Saturday. The horses weren't sad. 

Of course that meant they had a very light ride followed by two days off... But ya know. Such is life sometimes. They were mostly fine yesterday when I got back on. Al was a little weird, but it was a windy day after all that break time, so I wasn't upset about it. We worked through most of the weird and got a ride in regardless. The other two were as lazy as always so clearly no harm done for them! 

But back to jumping, because that's the fun part anyway. We'll start with Al. The jumps are still small because that's where I'm at. Haha! While Al is definitely in a much better place since the changes we talked about last week. He still can have a weird day here and there. (Like yesterday!) He was a little weird for our jump day too. The neighbor has been working on something that involves what sounds to me like a staple or maybe nail gun so I think perhaps he'd been doing something weird when Al was turned out that morning. That stuff sticks with him. But despite the weird, we still managed to jump a few fences. Our former weekend helper was visiting when I was on him, so she was kind enough to grab some video. Unfortunately the sun was making it hard to see, so just this little jump came out. Better than nothing! He also jumped most of the other things in the ring, but we did skip the outside line by the neighbor that day. I call it an accommodation. We'll try again over there this week if we can.

Eros was so good for his school! He didn't turn the zoomies on until I made a mistake... I mean fair. It seems like he'll stay quiet until I mess up, and then he's like here, I'll do it myself. He probably knows better anyway. But here's what happened when I messed up. I was cantering across the diagonal to our little hurdle jump. And these geese came flying overhead honking away. I could tell his attention was on them and then MY attention was on them. And neither of us was focusing on the task at hand. So I got to the jump at a VERY long distance which he happily took, but I didn't trust and got left behind. I'm not a monster so I let the reins slip to avoid pulling on him too hard. 

Photo evidence. Still pulled on him though clearly.

After that he got a little excited. But we did finish on a nice note after trotting a few fences and then trying again. Next time I feel my attention slipping away, I will work harder to bring it back. Or make a circle. This is how we learn! 

That's better.

Shiny of course has been perfect for her jump schools. I've been using more counter canter in her warm up, and it's really helping to get her more adjustable when we jump. And also straighter. Counter canter is so useful!

She's definitely ready for the jumps to go back to her comfort zone which is still only 2'-2'3". She seems to perk up at the "bigger" ones and gets easier to ride when I point her at those. That height is still easy for the boys too, so if we get to jump twice this week, I'll probably put them up a little for the second one. 

That's about all I have to share today. Hope things are going well for you all and your horses! Are you getting time to ride and enjoy the weather? Any shows on the horizon for you?

What's Up Wednesday

 

I don't really have much to report on this week. I spent nearly all of my awake hours in the barn, which I think we can all agree is not a bad way to spend your time! Unfortunately, the weather was not great this weekend. Friday was nice though! I gave the horses some extra time outside and then we rode afterwards. Everyone popped over a few tiny jumps. We're still keeping things low, nothing over 2' just yet. But we're plugging along. 

Friday's Stats. Many steps taken

Saturday and Sunday were both rainouts. I probably could have ridden Saturday, it wasn't raining especially hard, but I just couldn't bring myself to create more work for the already very full weekend. And by that I mean, having to clean and condition rained on tack. Which... I really need to do that anyway. But I didn't want it to have to be immediate. Sunday was gross though. Not a riding day at all. I used both days for some extra cleaning in the barn. I wiped down the back walls in the occupied stalls, which immediately made the whole place seem cleaner looking. I also dusted off the little ledges over the back doors which clearly hadn't had that happen since when I had the horses off property the winter before this past one. Gross. Sunday I cleaned up all the new bird poo around the barn, and spent some extra time grooming the horses once they dried off from turnout. 

Monday started off rainy, but cleared up to a nice day. Normally I give the horses Mondays off, but since my worker was off for the holiday and they already had two days off I rode them all. The rides were abbreviated because I was so tired from four 13 hour days in a row in the barn, and also because we only could use half the ring. The other half was a little too wet. 

Shiny's new pet snapper turtle

My original plan when I knew I had such a long weekend in the barn was to take Tuesday as my "day off" from the barn. (By that I mean I don't ride and don't clean up after my helper. But I still of course make hay bags, soak hay, and do all the feedings/night check.) Since Mother Nature was so miserable all weekend though, I decided to not take my day off. Which was probably a mistake because my body is wrecked from lack of sleep. But whatever body, we've got stuff to do! 

Everyone had a decent ride Tuesday. I figured since we rode Monday we could do some jumpies on Tuesday! Or well, I hoped. Al was first, and he was really being a good boy. We were able to use the whole ring (I mean sort of, I have jumps set on the scary side rail, so he gets to stay on the quarter line by default.) He's still really sticky off the leg, and I'm quite sure I work significantly harder than he does. But he was listening and not spooking. So I'll take that. We trotted over a couple jumps then took a walk break. Unfortunately, that was when the neighbor decided to start up his very loud lawn tractor with the little trailer attached and bang his way along the property line to his shed that's next to the back corner of my ring. Once there, he was just throwing stuff around banging and clanging like the menace he is. So I let Al be done. He'd been a good boy, and that would have been an unfair ask to try to jump him with all that noise that he can't see the source of. 

a very relaxed boy before the banging and clanging started

I'm not going to lie, it's really frustrating to constantly have my rides on him interrupted like this. I swear he does it on purpose as he's always his most disruptive when I'm on Al. He can be inside his garage all day making almost no noise, and as soon as I'm Al, he comes out and is banging away on something. I've tried mixing up the order I ride them so I'm on Al at different times of the day, and it doesn't matter. It's no wonder I can't get anywhere with this horse. 

Thankfully I have less reactive horses to ride to keep my from spiraling too far. Eros was really funny Tuesday. He started out super lazy. Even the first few jumps I was kind of kicking him out of the turns to get there. But then he woke up and Torpedo Eros made an appearance. I really shouldn't be so amused by him doing that, it's terrible behavior. But it's also so funny because he's just a good dude. Even when he's naughty. 

Nope. Don't wish to go out there. Al told me it's not safe. 

It was so late by the time I got on Shiny old bang and clang was done for the day. So that was nice, but she doesn't actually care anyway. She had the most fun jumping around. It's always funny to me how much she lights up once I point her at some jumps. Not in the torpedo way like Eros, but in a bouncy rideable way. Wish I could get her to motivate like that on the flat!

I need to remember to charge up the Pivo and start getting some video again so we can have more fun media. Plus it's nice to see what the horses look like vs what they feel like. I'm having a bit of space issue though, so I'm not sure where to store all of said media I'd like to get. I currently have the 2 TB plan both with Google and with iCloud. But both are nearly full. The next upgrade is significantly more money. What doe you all do for storage? 

I don't think we'll have anything terribly exciting going on over here over the next week/weekend. I need to be a little quick in the barn on Thursday, but Wednesday and Friday we should be able to get solid works in. And the weekend too. All weather permitting of course. But should be good! Fingers crossed.

Next week they'll get the rest of their shots and have their teeth checked. Of course the vet is coming Monday because I was SO looking forward to getting a day off... Sigh. My house is so dirty and the laundry pile is just silly. But it will still be that way the following week. What can you do? It's a good thing I live by myself, so it's just my mess/dirt. 

Hope you all had a great weekend! Hopefully drier where you are than it was here!

What's Up Wednesday

 

You know how some weeks feel like nothing happened, but others feel like a whole lifetime happened in seven days? It was one of those lifetime weeks for sure. 

So Wednesday, the horses got shod/trimmed, then I rode them all, and somehow got finished in time for my niece's school chorus/band concert. Al was a nitwit but I didn't have time to argue about it, and thankfully it didn't carry over to the next day. Thursday was a nice normal day with just horses to ride and no other random commitments. (I could use a few more of these days!) I did have some extra barn tasks to do that haven't been getting done and I needed to have finished before the vet came. So I was still out there very late doing that. You know what they say. If you want something done, you gotta do it yourself! So I did. 

Not the thing I was referring to...
But always something that needs fixing around here.

Friday wound up going really well. I was the first appointment for my vet (he comes from a few hours away though, so it was around 11 AM). It was perfect because he came just after the horses were back in from turnout so they weren't shorted any outside time. Doc was pretty happy with how everyone came out of winter. They all needed some maintenance, but nothing crazy. He was particularly happy with Eros' front end which was better than he's been in awhile. 

I'm really interested to see how Al feels after his visit. He was pretty stuck in his neck so we addressed that and also his stifles. I'm curious to see if when those things feel better maybe his emotions will too. One can hope right? Eros had his hocks and stifles done. He was a little back sore, but we're thinking it's secondary to what we decided to inject. For Shiny we opted for just hocks and then a shockwave on her neck. I'm going to ride everyone for a few weeks to a month and then see if we need to address anything else. Since the vet was out so early, I actually got done a little early which was lovely! I had a very long day ahead for Saturday so it was much appreciated. The timing of this vet appointment was so perfect because the horses all would have the weekend off, allowing me to feel less guilt not being able to ride Saturday anyway. 

Speaking of Saturday... THAT was a long day. I got up at 5 to get the barn done. The horses weren't allowed turnout that day, which was actually really helpful to get me out the door on time. I had a Bar Mitzvah to attend in NewJersey at 4:30. I managed to get stalls done, buckets scrubbed, and everyone hand walked for 15 minutes each before 11. Which gave me enough time to shower, do hair and makeup, and feed lunch before I left. 

When you're dressed half fancy but need to feed horses... 
I promise I wore nice shoes to the party.

In fact, I got on the road a half hour ahead of schedule! Which thank goodness. Because the 3 hour 40 minute estimated time turned into 4 hours 15 minutes. I made it there with just enough time to use the ladies room before things got started. PHEW!

The Bar Mitzvah boy did a great job, and the party was tons of fun. I got to see a very good friend that I haven't seen in person in probably 15 years. Much too long! And I of course got to see the mom of the Bar Mitzvah boy who was my very first friend in college. I haven't seen her in 12 years either. The party wrapped up at 10pm, and I was back on the road! The return trip was only about 3 hours, so that was nice. Got me home just a little after 1AM. I still had to do night check and soak hay for Shiny for the morning. But I was snuggled in my bed by 2 am. And so grateful that I had the horse sitter coming to feed in the morning! 21 hour days are harder at 46 than they were when I was 20! That is for sure. (In case you're worried, I had our former weekend helper stop in to feed dinner and let Rita out on Saturday.)

Sunday the horses were still enjoying some time off from their vet work, but they were allowed turnout. I pitched in with the morning chores once I got my tired bum out of bed, and then spent the day giving everyone a good grooming and some hand grazing too. It was actually a really nice day. The horses were happy and relaxed which in turn made me that way too!

Monday was their last vacation day. I spent the morning cleaning the house and walking the dog. Then the afternoon was dedicated to dragging the ring and changing the jump course. I wanted to pull all the fill back out too, but I ran out of time for that. I got done right at dinner time for the horses, so I fed them, then went in to feed myself and Rita before settling down in front of the lap top to do some work for my paying job. 

I almost never see her napping. But caught her this time!

Tuesday was back to normal! It randomly was summer out, mid to high 80's all day, so they had short rides. We're not used to that heat just yet! But they wouldn't have had hard rides regardless for the first day back. Everyone was good. Al was, of course, a little skeptical about life because the jumps were in new places, but he kept his poo together for the most part. The other two just seemed a little disappointed that they hadn't in fact retired like they thought. 

Then it was off to another concert that my niece was a part of. These kids have a lot of performances! They are both very talented though, and I love that I get to see them do what they enjoy so regularly. 

My worker has a four day weekend this weekend, so I'll be super busy in the barn the next several days. Next week looks to be less hectic though, so I am looking forward to that! Hopefully get these horses back to jumping! And get the fill out too!

Hope you all had a great week/weekend!

What's Up Wednesday

 

As is the norm for March, we've had all kinds of weather lately. 70 degrees, 40 degrees, rain, snow, THUNDERSTORMS! Currently it's 25 degrees outside. So our triumphant return to work is rather intermittent. But that's okay. I know consistent riding days are coming. So close I can smell them! In the meantime, we do what we can when we can, and we're happy with that. 

The snow is pretty much entirely gone except for where the snow plow piles were exceptionally big. I feel like I have so much more space to move around. I hadn't really noticed how confined I felt by all the snow until it as gone. Everything feels better with it gone!

I shared last week that we got to start riding, but we've been taking things slow so no one gets too sore (me included). And then weather made it more slow. So we rode Tuesday and Wednesday, and then didn't get to again until Sunday. A mix of reasons really. Mostly rain, but also wind, and occasionally the cold. 

I'm trying this new thing this year where I base my decision whether or not to ride on what I feel is best for my horses AND myself in the moment. And NOT on whether or not I could be perceived as wimpy by some outside third party. I don't think I need to prove how tough I am, or how brave I can be anymore. After this winter, I know I'm both of those things. I'm also approaching 46 years old, and the body doesn't work the same as it did ten years ago. After not riding for so long, I'm weaker and my balance is probably less good as a result. It will all come back the more we ride. But on days where the wind is gusting in excess of 40 MPH, I don't need to test my ability to "ride through" spring tine shenanigans. 

Which doesn't mean I chicken out of every ride that they seem spicy. Al came out very attentive on Sunday but after some ground work he settled and we got our ride completed as planned. But it does mean that if I decide not to ride one day I don't feel guilty about it. The horses have survived the winter with lots of no riding, and are none the worse for the wear. So if sometimes this summer we have 5 day work weeks instead of six, I'm going to be okay with that. And so will they. At least I hope. That's the plan. I'm Jewish, so guilt is instilled in me very strongly. Not sure if I can just turn that off. But I'm going to try!

Anyway, our rides right now are walk trot rides. We're doing three laps of walk each way, then trotting two laps each way, and then finishing with another three laps each way at the walk. It's about a 20 minute ride. I plan to add a lap of trot each week. Once we're trotting five laps each way we'll add in some canter. I figure we'll be to full work in a 4-6 weeks depending on how much saddle time we get. 

I am very much looking forward to getting back to full work. My plan to keep the weight off this winter has failed miserably and I have 15 lbs to get off. To be fair, I gained about 8 this winter, but I already had some excess to start... (See above, approaching 46... The struggle is real.) It's interesting to see how bodies work because I stayed very active this winter, but more so with strength type exercise and less so cardio. As a result, despite my weight gain, my blood sugar and A1C are still great, but with the lack of cardio my cholesterol has gone up. Could also be the level of cheese consumption... Both of those things. Ha! Anyway, hopefully once I'm back to fully riding three horses a day things will get back to good. I have my annual physical tomorrow so we'll see what kind of lecture I get... (Also, why did I schedule an 8am physical?)

I don't have too much else to report. We took yesterday off for wind, and today we'll be off due to frozen footing. But the rest of the week looks promising for rides every day. Fingers crossed!

Any tips or tricks for weight loss that won't make me cry? Share away! 

What's Up Wednesday

 I didn't get a chance to ask dad for the saddle financing tonight. I was planning to ask before dinner when it could be a one on one conversation but dad and stepmom arrived last of the group, so I didn't have the opportunity. I'll try again soon though. (Also, I'm really bad at asking for money if you hadn't gathered that already.) Anyway... let's talk about horses! We'll start with Al since he's generally the most interesting. 

I was cleaning up hay in the ring while Al was turned out this 
morning and he came down with a case of the zoomies!
Much fun was had. And yes, it was a little too warm for that
sheet, but I wasn't the one who put him out. 

So, after much soul searching and self induced angst, I've decided to change my frame of mind regarding Al. I was very bothered at the thought of selling him (however right that decision might be) which made me think that I'm not ready for that step. I spent a lot of time contemplating where we keep going wrong. And I think it's my expectations. I keep having this need to get him ready to compete. But the reality is, I don't have the funds nor the amount of help (like to care for horses at home if I take one away to show) to really get back to showing. So why am I so worked up about getting to that point? It doesn't make any sense. I think a lot of why Shiny and Eros work so well for me is that I have no expectations on them. If we have some bad days, I just shrug it off and we try again later. But with Al, I take it really personally. Like it's a huge failure. And that's not fair to him nor me. So I'm removing expectations. And I'm trying very hard to just ride the horse I have each day. (Which I have to tell you, this horse has many personalities. I should rename him Sybil.) We've had a nice few rides lately since I've stopped worrying so much about all the things we should be doing or how something might be the wrong way to train a horse. (And by that I mean maybe we avoid the scary parts of the ring some days, not like doing something inherently very wrong.) My plan right now is to set us up for success. And that looks different on different days. 

I really wanted to jump on Friday, but Al was pretty spooky. I decided to just pick what felt safe to accomplish for that day. I warmed him up where he felt comfortable, and then we just touched on an area where he was less comfortable. Like maybe I rode the quarter line by the scary side, and then leg yielded out so he just had to be near the rail for a few strides before we turned across the ring. Just little brushes with the scary stuff instead of the whole thing. And we did get to jump a few things! My combination is set up to trot in, so we had plenty of room to approach from either direction without having to go down the full scary side. We also managed to get through the little bounces I had set up and then finished up with the oxer that's in the safe space. We never jumped toward anything he deems snort worthy. Just did what felt safe, and we both finished up feeling pretty good about ourselves. We even jumped 2'6" out of the combo. Which I know is pretty tiny, but with how things have been going for us, I was was happy with it. 

I could tell Al was happy with himself, and I think he left the ring with more confidence than he entered it with. As a reward, I let him go bitless (though I definitely used a saddle) for Sunday Funday. We did a tack walk and then went out to graze (mounted) in the yard. Which I've only done maybe twice before. Deposits in the trust bank for sure! We had to quickly pop back in the barn (still mounted) to wait out a pop up downpour and then we went back out for more grass. I was really proud of him. He did kind of panic about something with the neighbor on the way back in, but what can you do? No day is perfect. And nobody died. 

Monday is their day off, and then Tuesday was a flat day. He was angsty as expected after a day off, but we took the same approach as the weekend. Working in the safe zones, and then just touching on the scary parts a little at a time. By the end of the ride he was working up through his back and mostly tuned in to me rather than his surroundings. It was pretty nice! 

I had hoped to jump him today, but after all of his zoomies in turnout this morning, he was exhausted. Instead we just did an easy flat, more of the same as the day before, but with a little less oomph. Now I know this won't last. This is one of his "good" phases, and the bad will come back at some point. But instead of spiraling when that happens, I'm just going to shrug it off (haha... hopefully) and find where I can get a small win. And with any luck, this approach will pay off in the long run. Time will tell. 

You guys wanna know what Eros has been doing?? He's jumped the outside line! Multiple times! 

The in of the line

And you know what he hasn't done? Torpedos! I'm so proud of him. Today he would have had every right to torpedo on me. I jumped into the line with definitely not enough pace, and then had to gun him for the five. And it was LOOOOONNNNGGG. Like we could have died long and I should NOT have made that decision. But he's a good boy and we made it. Normally after I do something terrible like that he just torpedoes everything else we jump for the rest of the day. But not today! Oh no. This time, I jumped in nicely and asked him to add in the six. And he just did it! Nicely! Softly! Such a prince. I quit on that before I ruined it. Saturday I jumped him also and he had a longer session. We also put the little oxer up some from where it's been. It's a swedish so I'm not positive how high it is. Maybe 2'3"? I don't think he noticed it was bigger.

Shiny is already growing her winter coat in, and it's been in the mid to upper 70's so she has no interest in working very hard. (Too hot she says). Guess I'll have to think about clipping her soon. Today she did a 9 in the five stride. And it wasn't tight. It should be a six for her. She added THREE strides. That's a lot of extra steps. Lazy girl. She feels good other than the lack of forward. Like very supple through her body and she's really willing to lift her back at the trot. So I don't think anything is wrong other than a lack of motivation. And maybe the fact that her saddles doesn't fit. I don't think it bugs her at the trot, but maybe it does at the canter. I have it shimmed up really well, so who knows for sure. 

Put the oxer back down for her... 2'3" looks REAL big 
when your pony is practically cantering backwards.

I have a wedding to attend in New York this weekend so the horses will have Friday- Sunday off. I'll probably ride Monday next week since they don't really need FOUR days off. But we'll see. I'm kind of looking forward to the little bit of a break. It's been a long summer for us! 

Have any of you had a similar shift in mindset like I'm trying with Al? Did it work for you? 

What's Up Wednesday

 

Big week over here. I finally got my hair cut and colored which was about a year and half over due. I'm really bad about staying on top of this stuff... I have a wedding to attend soon though, and I needed to not look like some crazy old witch! But this is a horse blog and not a hair blog, so let's chat about what else happened this week to make it a big one. 

Friday, as you know from my embarrassing anecdote shared yesterday, the vet was out for Al's rescope and Shiny's evaluation. So let's get to that first. Poor Al was big mad because doc was a little late and Al was HANGRY. I hate having to fast him for these things. Like how do you explain to a horse why you're starving him? But he survived. Just barely according to him. The scope was a disappointing. For the most part his stomach is clear of ulcers, but there is one down where the intestines attach that hasn't resolved. And is in fact mostly unchanged from the last scope. This is pretty disappointing. Especially because he's been on the Esomeprazole AND the Sucralfate this entire time. There's literally nothing left to throw at it since we've already tried regular omeprazole, omeprazole/fenbendazol compound, AND Misoprostol. The plan for now is to wean him off the Esomeprazole and keep him on Sucralfate. I guess this is as good as he gets, and if we seem to have a flare up, we'll just revisit some form of Omeprazole. I guess? I'm not entirely sure. 

We also switched his NSAID so I am to follow up with doc this week about how things are going. Current working hypothesis is that this one residual ulcer likely isn't the driving force for his spooking behavior. It could be pain related from someplace else from our trials with NSAIDS seeming to help for a period of time. Doc said some horses have this weird ability to kind of override the effects of an NSAID after a period of time. Like they kind of get used to it and so it stops working. Hence the reason we switched him to something else. Trying to see if his behavior improves on the new one again, or not. I had not seen any change until today when he was mildly better than he's been, but still not what I'd call good. So I don't think we've figured anything out yet. Doc also mentioned another horse he treated that was similar to Al behaviorally. He said for that horse they decided to treat for Lyme even though the horse's titer wasn't technically showing positive. It did show exposure. Which is the same for Al. They chose to treat aggressively with Oxytetracycline which has to be given via IV catheter as it can make them sick straight from the needle. Thus it should be administered daily via Veterinarian. Not ideal for my situation financially. But it is something we may try because that other horse turned normal after treatment. Like no more funny business. None. I'd sell a kidney for that kind of result. Hell, I'd sell pretty much anything. My lameness vet though, the one I've been working through all of this with, is located too far away to have him come do the treatments unfortunately. I'd have to see if my local vet would be willing. I imagine he would be. 

Where I'm a little stuck right now is that my dad helps me with my vet bills and he was... displeased we'll say, with how much I've spent this summer. So I'm not sure he's willing to keep forking out money for this new treatment. And I don't have it at the moment. I really need to find another source of income and get myself a little more comfortable financially so I can help my horse on my own. I was raised to be able to take care of myself and my situation on my own, but somehow with the rising costs of literally everything I've failed a little bit in that mission. I'll figure it out though, and get back on track soon. 

Anyway, uncomfortable finance talks aside... Shiny's appointment went very well. She did flex positive on both hocks which is not shocking since it's been a little over a year since we did them last, but everything else looked great. Doc was really happy with her neck which used to be pretty problematic for her as well as her weight. So she's definitely on the right track. He noted some stocking up behind, but I am not worried about that as she tends to start doing that when her hocks are due. And it's cleared up now that they've been done. 

Since Shiny got her injections Friday afternoon, she had to miss her turnout Saturday morning. And it was so cute, when I put Al out, he went back to see her and she wasn't there, and he was VERY concerned. Let out a little whinny and ran back to where I was to let me know she'd gone missing. I told him it was okay, and that she was in her stall. I'm not sure he believed me, but Eros, who was out in the walkout behind his stall kind of showed Al everything was fine and he settled. He loves his sister even though she doesn't seem to love him back very much. 

I rode the boys Saturday, (Shiny had the weekend off) but everyone wound up being off Sunday. It rained all night (FINALLY!) and was supposed to stop by 10am. But it didn't. It rained until about three and at that point the ring was saturated. The horses had sad little turnouts in the covered walkouts.

One at a time because I'm not replacing any more of those very expensive boards... I was tempted to let Al and Eros out next to each other to see how'd they be. But not so tempted that I was in the mood for destruction and/or stitches. So I decided to save that excitement for another day. I would love to turn them out together some day. But I dunno... Al doesn't read social cues and Eros can be a little bit of a bully. Which I know you don't believe (I wouldn't either if I hadn't seen it!) but I caught him rearing rather angrily at his paddock neighbors at the winter barn. Shiny has made it quite clear that she will not turnout with ANY horse as they are all stupid and she would like to kick them all to smithereens. Yes Queen. You do you.

I did use my Sunday time wisely though! Remember all the tack I needed to clean and oil. DID IT! ALL of it! Well. Not like every piece of tack I own. That would take more than an afternoon. But all the tack in the tack room was cleaned and oiled. (Except the glitter bridles because they aren't leather. They did get wiped down though.)

All of these AND all the saddles! <<Pats self on back>>

My preferred tack cleaning products

I also did earn a little money this weekend with a couple of braiding jobs. I had one horse Saturday night and one Monday night. There aren't too many shows left around these parts that will require braids, so this might be it for me for the season. We shall see though. You never know!

I've been a little rushed in my rides this week because Tuesday I had to drop my car off for an oil change and today I had to get done before they closed to pick it up. Since it's cool though, the horses didn't require rinsing after, so that sped things up just enough to still have time for 30 minute rides. Which is more or less what we usually do anyway. 

Shiny is feeling pretty good after her injections. I was kind of expecting her to be sassy with the drop in temps combined with her three day vacation. But alas, she's as quiet as always. Which isn't really a complaint. But a teeny bit of self propulsion wouldn't be a negative. Just saying. Everyone popped over a few jumps today. I set my phone on the fence to record, but when riding Shiny I unintentionally zoomed in from my watch and only managed two screen grabs. Everything else wound up below the camera's site. Oops.

We didn't do much today anyway since it's her first jump school back and also we were in a hurry. Just a few to knock the dust off. Hopefully we can do more later in the week.

Eros was SO good today for his jumpy day too. Not only did I jump a line with him, but we accidentally ADDED in the line because he landed so nice and soft. I'll take it! 

I think he might be almost ready to jump an actual course instead of a bunch of single jumps. I've been a little cautious because the neighbor has been especially spooky lately. Eros isn't like Al, but he does have feelings about things sometimes. I'm here alone, so sometimes I choose the path less deathy. Some call that being wimpy, but I really think it's just smart. 

I put on my big girl panties for Al's ride today and tried a few jumps too. I wasn't super brave. I only did the ones in safe spaces. I thought maybe I could add on as we went along, but he was proving to not really settle into the work. So I stuck with what we were doing only. I have to dig REALLY deep into my confidence bucket to jump him around right now, and I don't want to do anything to make that any harder. We started with a raised cavalleti which he did not want to hold his canter to. But eventually he did. Then we did the little cavalletti bounce a few times until he knocked the out over. Moved on to the little oxer.

He always likes that one. And then I pulled up my big girl pants and aimed him at the combination. The first time through he was a little backed off and the out was VERY long.

RRREEEEAAAACCCHHHH

But he got it done! Good think there's scope in there. The second time was a little better, and then the third time was quite nice. 

He's so cute. I just wish I could get the brain fixed. Anyway, we just did that three times, then caught the little oxer once more and that was that.

There's a part of me that really believes if I can just ride the horse through all the shenanigans we'll be just fine. But I think there's also a part of me that isn't sure I can get through them all. I just have to keep trying I guess. I know I said I was ready to make a hard decision, but the emotions I had about that suggests maybe I'm not actually quite ready yet. Maybe it's time I let go of what I wanted to do with him and just try to figure out what I CAN do with him. I dunno. I'm sure I'll change my mind a thousand more times. But for now, here we are. Doing our best. And you know what? That's good enough for now.