What's Up Wednesday

 

Today was day 19 of my 5 am wake ups. I'm actually getting used to it more or less. Working on the whole earlier bed time thing which definitely helps! The good news is that I have a new helper. It's not a perfect situation, as she has a lot of already scheduled things on her calendar. But it's definitely better than no help! I'm also now sure how long she plans to stay at the job... but again, better than no help! And she does a great job. So fingers crossed I'll get to sleep past 5:15 sometime in the near future. She is off tomorrow and I plan to work with her again Friday. Then hopefully Monday I'll get to have a real day off (other than feeding of course). 

Things are plugging along here. The horses had a few days off last week because we highs in the upper 90's with very high humidity.

That was Thursday through Saturday. Kind of a nice break for me though... I actually had time to shorten manes and wash tails. I was going to clean tack Friday, but then I didn't. Instead the horses got hosed off and some grass in the shade. 

I went over to my dad and stepmom's for July 4th. My younger brother and his girlfriend came down and my older brother, sister-in-law, and nieces all were there too. We had a delicious dinner and then the weather went a little wild. First a torrential rain storm blew through. Complete with emergency boats having to rescue people from the little island in front of the house. Everyone was fine thankfully. Then it cleared up long enough for people all up and down the beach to light off some fireworks. AND THEN Mother Nature had her own light show in the form of more torrential rain, thunder, and really intense lightning. My horses don't usually care much about distant fireworks (we are fortunate to not have people lighting them off around here close by). But when I got home they were all a little tense. Not freaking out, and the stalls didn't seem like they'd been worked up or anything. But they did seem a little more alert than usual at night check. My guess is the fireworks combined with the storm was a little much for them. 

The next morning though, both of Al's front legs were stocked up. I wasn't AS concerned as if only one had been, but I was a little worried. Shiny's kid was coming to ride though, and since they had three days off, I decided to get on him while she was riding since he likes having a buddy in the ring whenever possible. I mostly walked and did a little trot just to see what I could feel. Shiny's kid's dad hung out while we rode, and he's a really good farrier, so he watched Al for me. We concluded that he was just a hair off on the turns on the left front. But the good news was that after moving around all the swelling was gone. I'm just taking it easy with him this week and we'll see what we have next week. We've been tack walking and just a couple laps of trot to check in. The leg feels pretty good, but I do think there's just a tiny bit of swelling and he is just a teeny bit reactive when I palpate it. I'm really hoping he just banged it and this will resolve quickly. I did get a call in to my vet but he's away through next week. I don't think this is something to panic about though, so I'm happy to wait and see. He's not blowing up overnight and definitely not getting worse. I'll keep icing it and cross my fingers it's not a big deal. 

Eros and Shiny are feeling good though! After riding Sunday, everyone had Monday off. Which, it rained Sunday night through Monday, then again from about 11 am on Tuesday through midnight. So... we did ride Tuesday, but could only use half the ring. And it was VERY soggy. Still counts though! Today we had a beautiful day and both horses put in some really nice work. Shiny has been working on counter canter. It really gets her using her body without me having to beg. Eros has been excelling at lateral work and that does the same thing for him. After a few shoulder ins each way he lifts his core and carries himself so nicely! Shiny's kiddo comes tomorrow so we'll probably play over some little jumps. Al will stick to his mostly walk routine. But he is still doing some good work at the walk. Though he was having a bit of rough day today. Someone was doing tree work nearby in the morning and then my new landscaper was doing all kinds of landscaper things. He hates that stuff. I wasn't at all surprised he was a little weird. I expect him to be better tomorrow. Time will tell!

That's about it from here. Nothing terribly exciting but hopefully things are going to get a little more back to normal soon. 

What's Up Wednesday

This week was MUCH quieter than last! Thankfully. I don't think I could survive multiple crazy weeks like that! We've been having a heat wave up here in New England. It's been in the mid 90's with the heat index well over 100 for a few days. I'm not complaining. This is my weather! But I will acknowledge that it is hot. And sweaty.

Our parent company hosts a nationwide BBQ as a fundraiser every summer, and that happened this past Friday. It took place just during our lunch break, which meant that I didn't really have time to hang out and enjoy it since I had to run home for the dogs and horses. But I made sure to take a moment to grab a terrible selfie with my dad. It was his very last work event since that was his last day.

I had ZERO plans for the weekend,  which I was pretty happy about. No horses to braid, and no events to attend! But it was still a full weekend of fun things. The ponies got their walks, but the pups did not. It was much too hot for smoosh noses to be outside for too long, and no way could any pup walk safely on the asphalt in these temps. They were pretty content to stay home.
Saturday was super hot, and I decided it was a good day to do a gross job.

Yep. Both boys had their sheaths cleaned. They're both very good for that fortunately. But ick. Not my favorite equine task. I spent a lot of time to trying to get them shed out the rest of the way. Rio was almost all shed out back in April, and for some reason he grew his coat back. It's shedding, but not that quickly. I may have to clip him if this heat wave continues much longer.

Jampy had a vet appointment last week, and we're able to cut back on his icing. I'm pretty excited to start sleeping more than six hours a night! Still waiting on his blood work results, but fingers crossed we may be able to cut back on soaking the hay soon too. Hopefully, but not definitely. We'll have to wait and see!
Since it's been so hot and I had no plans, I've actually gotten to use my pool this year!

And may or may not have had ice cream for dinner a few times...

I let the pups come out while I swim, but I leave the door open so they can go inside if they get too hot. Artie is from the south and that dog just loves baking in the sun. It's so odd!

Monday and Tuesday were busy at work, but it was worth it to have today off. I spent the morning with the boys doing barn chores, walking them, and giving them both nice cool baths. Jampy got to have a nice roll during his walk:

And Rio got to graze in the shade under the big pine trees. 

I got to ride Bradley today too! I had hoped to go early, but it took me longer than I thought to do chores at home, so by the time I got there it was the heat of the day. Bradley didn't seem to mind, but we kept it an easy workout anyway. I haven't ridden in awhile either, so no need to get crazy!

I spent a long time at the walk with him, really working on getting him to bend his whole body and get his hind end working independently of the front end. Next I let him trot and canter more or less however he wanted. After that, I started asking for some shape at the trot. And he really gave me some fantastic moments. Funny how asking the right way gets the right answer, ins't it?

Bradley was rewarded with a cool bath and some shady grazing.

I had enough time when I got home to jump in the pool for a half hour. Much needed! I was soaked with sweat which is gross, but true. I followed that up with a shower, and feeding all the kids before heading over to my dad's for some 4th of July fun. He lives at the beach, so there were bound to be some fireworks to see. And my stepmom's family is in town (we have lobster fest this weekend!) so it was great to see everyone.

The fireworks were pretty impressive at the beach this year. They were all just random people lighting them off as the town doesn't sponsor any anymore. But boy, those people were pretty serious about it! 

And that's about it. Did you do anything fun for the holiday today (if you live in the US anyway)? 

What's Up Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday friends! I'm super hopped up on chocolate covered coffee beans, so I apologize in advance if I abuse the exclamation point. So let's talk about the crazy week gone by!
Friday we finally got some much needed rain, unfortunately it came when I got home from work, so riding didn't happen. I mean, I'm game for a little rain, but I draw the line at lightning! Instead, I decided to make good use of the free time and pretty up the ponies a little. They were starting to really look homeless.
Before in all their homeless glory:

Romey

Jampy

Rio

I love that they all refused to smile and prick their ears for the before photos. I think they were embarrassed I let them get so scruffy. We trimmed nose whiskers, bridle paths, and neatened up the ears. I didn't trim the ears close since it's been so buggy and no one is showing anyway.

After looking more like show ponies:

Romey

Jampy

Rio

They're so vane! Look at them posing for the camera now that they have handsome haircuts. Bunch of princesses these geldings are...

Saturday morning I was off to ride my baby Badger! I hadn't seen him in SO LONG! I was having withdrawals. He was great! It was cool and windy, and while I could tell he was a little freshy pants, he didn't do anything naughty. (Jamp really could learn a thing or two from him...) 

After riding Badger, I had to run a few errands and stopped to get Jamp and Romey each a new bonnet. Romey was using a pretty ugly one and Jamp's is really my nice show one, so I don't want to mess that one up using it everyday. After scoring a Mexican coke at Tractor Supply, I headed home to ride more horses!

Check out my free bottle opener!

It was a gorgeous day, and I was excited to work the boys (and use our new bonnets). They were great to ride after their day off surprisingly. Everyone got cleaned... inside and out... (Ewwww SHEATH CLEANING!) and stuffed their faces with grass. I also tortured them each with a photo shoot while they were grazing.

Obviously Jampy had the best light for his photo shoot... These boys though... so photogenic! I also subjected Rio to this:

If he ever writes a book, this will be the cover. Such a super model! 

Sunday was pretty much the same. I started the morning with a lesson on Badger. He's a very understanding baby. I accidentally made him trot more jumps than we cantered. #sorrybadger Good thing Honey Badger don't care! 

Maybe not his best angle...

Next was a stroll through the farmer's market where I stocked up on carrots for the boys and too much cheese for me. AND some delicious treats for the pups. Solid trip to the market! And then it was time for more riding! Except Rio didn't want to go first.

The horses were great. After my not so stellar attempts at jumping Badger, I decided to jump Jampy a little and get some more practice. He was actually feeling brave and jumped some of the fences he's deemed terrifying without any antics. Good boy Jampy. Romey hasn't been cleared for jumping yet, but we worked on the canter a bit more than we have been. He still has to kind of run into it, but once he gets going, his canter is lovely! I'm really excited about this horse. I think he's going to be a good guy. As always, Rio was perfect. We even went for a walk in the yard.

Once the tall kids were all worked, I took the short kids out for a walk. They're really unfit. They tried to quit before we even made it home!

But they did eventually get up and finish the walk. Next on the agenda was that task of cleaning the barn floor. I have a couple bird nests WAY up in the rafters. Those nests each have I think four baby birds (hard to say how many for sure since they're so high up). That's a lot of pooping birds you guys. A LOT. My helper usually does a good job of cleaning up after them, but for some reason this year he seems to be not caring about the poo riddled floor. So I guess that leaves me for poo removal. 

Birds are gross.

I got to work scrubbing and rinsing and after a million hours (or two... whatever) it was looking much better. And very wet.

I also decided that baby birds are no different than puppies and put some puppy training pads under the nests.

How do you like those problem solving skills?! Pretty smart right?! They're definitely helping the situation. And shockingly, the horses aren't afraid of them! I really thought Jamp would take exception to the white things on the floor. But he's fine with them. It was now about 40 o'clock and time to head over to see if anyone was lighting off fireworks at the beach. The sunset was gorgeous, I wish I had left earlier to see it by the water.

A few of the neighbors by my dad's house had some decent explosives, so the trip was totally worth it.

Now it was 400 o'clock and I was pooped. POOPED! This photo of my watch was taken just after floor washing. So the time on there does not correlate with 400 o'clock.

That's a lot of steps in one day. Important to note, despite all those steps, I lost zero pounds this weekend. ZERO. Stupid thyroid.

Monday was July 4th, so I was up early to do the barn chores. I didn't ride, but I had to get the stalls cleaned and horses both turned out and IN before 10 so I could goof off for the day. My dad's boat was participating in the local boat parade, and he invited us kids to join the fun. Woohoo! I love boating! It was a gorgeous day for it, and I was surprised how many boats were in the parade. Funny thing though... No spectators. Like none. There was a car show going on, and some of those attendees glanced over, but that was about it. Odd.

I'm on a boat! And that reel is literally bigger than my head.

Pirate ship?

'Merica

After goofing off for a few hours and getting a sunglass tan line, I headed back home to walk the pups again. It was pretty hot out and the sun was strong, so I didn't want to take the short kids out on the road. I figured we could circle the yard a few times, but apparently they were still exhausted from the walk the day before.

So we mostly lounged in the yard instead. Bums. Hey, it's a holiday, right?! These two kill me. 

This week at work has been ridiculously busy, but I suppose that's a good thing. I'm already looking forward to this weekend! Baby Badger is at the Vermont Summer Festival for the next two weeks, but that means I can get some stuff done around the house this weekend. I'm going to head up to VT next week to join the fun and MAYBE show in a 2'6" class of some sort if he and I can figure each other out. We'll have to see how this first week goes for him. 

And that my friends, is what's up this Wednesday. How was your 4th of July? Did you get to see some fireworks? Go to a cookout? Anything new you want to talk about? Let's chat in the comments!