Truthful Tuesday

 

I am starting to wonder if there's something just not quite right with me... I mean, aside from the general not rightness that comes with being a weird horse lady of course. See, here's the thing. It was like 97 degrees at the heat of the day today. And I dunno... Felt just fine to me! The news was all heat advisory this, high humidity that. But honestly, it wasn't that humid. There were cooler days last week when I was dripping in sweat just making grain. Today though? I mean yeah it was hot. But not like dripping standing still hot. We had a nice breeze too. Even the horses didn't seem to bothered. We did ride, lightly. 20 minutes each including the walk parts. I dunno. Maybe we've all lost the ability to feel heat? 

What's it like by you? Seems like it's hot everywhere right now, but definitely the humidity level makes a huge difference. That and whether or not you have a breeze. 

I mean obviously, I did think it was hot enough for a dip in the pool after the barn day was done. So it must have been pretty warm out there. 

What's Up Wednesday

 

This week was MUCH quieter and less exciting than last. I already told you guys about the talk with the animal communicator which was on Friday. I can't say that it's helped us with any major breakthrough... Al was still kind of a nutter all week. OH! One thing I forgot to mention about our conversation. When I first asked how I can help Al to be less anxious, after he said he didn't understand the question, the communicator asked if we were riding indoors. Because he was telling her how much he dislikes that. Which is a little creepy cause ya know, he HATES riding inside. Hence why despite my skepticism I do feel like maybe there's something to it. But it could have been a good guess. Lots of nervous horses hate indoors. Anyway, I just said we ride inside in the winter, but now we're outside. And he complained about the neighbor. I think I mentioned that part already. Anyway, back to this week! 

I got a last minute text on Wednesday asking if I could braid a horse Thursday night. I had nothing on the agenda, so jumped at the opportunity. It was for a mane and tail which is exactly the amount of money my new lessons are, so that was super. Hopefully I get some more work throughout the summer. I love a small braiding job (like just one or two horses) because it doesn't anger my carpal tunnel too much and it's a nice little chunk of cash in my pocket for just a few hours of work.

Saturday Al was such a nutter I ended up giving Eros the day off because I was all used up by the time I finished with Al. (I rode Shiny first, so she got worked.) Sunday everyone was in a better mood, and we enjoyed a Sunday Funday. Shiny had the best one, we rode bareback (with the bareback pad which according to the animal communicator is not naked enough for Shiny...) in the backyard. She is always so much happier outside the ring. I really need to take her out to some trail rides. Unfortunately, my trail buddy extraordinaire is sidelined with an injury this summer. I think Shiny would be fine alone, but I'm quite sure I'd get lost since I've never gone out on the state trails. 

And then the heat wave arrived! Actually Sunday was pretty swampy too, but not so bad we had to cancel Sunday Funday. But Monday and Tuesday were pretty oppressive for the horses. (Not for me though!) They all enjoyed a couple of vacation days (as mentioned yesterday). Monday was a hang out in your stall and let me do my chores kind of day. But Tuesday I spent some time with them. Everyone had a bubble bath and Eros actually let me clean his sheath! First time ever without sedation. It was nasty in there. I honestly don't know how males walk around with those things. 

I don't think the boys were especially thrilled with having to be clean:

Unable to stand still because there was water
dripping from his legs.

Staring in disbelief at the area recently violated.

Al looked a little hivey last night and earlier today though. I'm not sure if he was sensitive to the shampoo we used, or if I didn't rinse it well enough? Or maybe it was just from the heat. Not sure. He's never done that before. Seemed unbothered, and it wasn't bad enough to treat. But something to keep an eye out for in the future. 

I think Shiny appreciated the tubby though!

She thanked me by peeing in the crossties while I waited for her legs to dry a little bit before going back to her stall... Why wouldn't I want to wash the floor again on a hot day? Right? Thanks Shiny. Probably my punishment for not rewarding her drug seeking behavior with the communicator. 

I went back and forth on what to do with them today. It was still pretty hot, high was 96 and it was more humid than yesterday, but there was a strong breeze. I finally decided to tack walk mostly and they each trotted one lap each direction. No one seemed uncomfortable so I thin it was an okay decision. They came in and got rinsed off with a fan in front of them after their "ride". 

I'm not sure if it was the heat or if the esomeprazole is magic, but Al walked around the entire perimeter of the ring, both directions, on a loose rein without spooking. The same with our little bit of trotting. I know better than to get excited about this. But I want to acknowledge that happened. AND WITH WIND! How glorious. Crossing my fingers that it takes. 

Tomorrow it's supposed to drop down to a high of 74. We'll probably all think it's cold and be sad. Or wild. One of those. But I am looking forward to getting some real rides in! 

Hope you all are surviving this heat dome! Did you give your horses extra days off? If not, what did you do with them? 

Truthful Tuesday

 

Unpopular opinion, but I'm over here living my best life in this heat wave. Yesterday was pretty disgusting because the humidity was off the charts (temps were around 96 with a real feel of 107). But today? Today felt lovely to me. Sure it's hot (98 apparently) but there's a breeze. The horses are content hanging in their stalls in front of their fans, no one was overly warm, though honestly I have my contractor to thank. He told me which way to face the barn when we were planning to keep it coolest and he was very right. 

The horses almost always have Mondays off, but I gave them today off too since despite me thinking it feels lovely, I do understand that the horses probably do not. In years past I might have gotten up early and ridden at 4:30, but I opted out of that this time. For one, my worker comes in around six, so I couldn't get them all done by then. He used to come at 7. But also, it's only a few hot days. Let them be horses. Let them enjoy the cooler part of the day having their turnout. Doing fun horse things. Tomorrow we'll do a light ride or maybe tack walk depending on how swampy it is. And then Thursday the temps drop down to the low 70's and we'll all be wild and ready to get some work done. As for me, I got a bunch of little things done that I had been putting off, bathed all the horses, and then took a dip in the pool. It shocks me every time how many hours there are in a day when you don't ride! Seriously, it's shocking. 

Anyway, that's my confession: I like it hot out and I had no idea how much time non horse people have in their day.

Truthful Tuesday

 

Okay, so I love summer. I love when it's hot. I love the endless sunny days. All of it! And I hate winter so, SO much. Like SO MUCH. Due to these opinions, I do not feel I have any right to complain about things like heat waves. That said... I must confess... That I'm going to be a little bit happier tomorrow when it's in the 80's. To be clear, I'm not complaining about the heat wave. I'm just saying, it will be nice when it's a little bit less like riding in an oven tomorrow. 

The horses have been enjoying VERY short rides in the heat and humidity, and I am excited to get back to some real workouts for everyone. Especially Eros. He in particular is taking advantage of the easy days. (Of course he is though right?!)

So that's today's confession. I am looking forward to some (slightly) cooler days ahead.

What's Up Wednesday

 

Oops... I nearly forgot to post today! It hasn't been terribly exciting around here really. We've been trying to survive the heat wave, which I think we managed. We were waiting anxiously for some rain that was supposed to come on Monday, but it was a big teaser. We had all the warnings for severe weather. We could hear the thunder clapping in all directions around us. But here? Nothing. We had MAYBE 60 seconds of rain. That was it. Supposedly some tonight though, so if you're so inclined... maybe throw a rain dance this way? On the bright side, the humidity did let up some and the temps dropped back down to the low/mid 80's. So at least we got some relief! (Sorry for those of you still melting.) I'm not complaining about the heat, just to clarify. I LOVE summer. And the level of hate I feel for cold weather means I can't be unhappy about hot weather. But I can hate the humidity. I think that's fair. 

The horses all basically did the same things last week. No one jumped, but we did pop over a few raised cavalletti. Our rides were short, which I think we all appreciated. I will say, despite how hot it was out in the sun (feels like temps over 100), the barn was pretty comfy and none of the horses were sweating in their stalls. So that made me feel good at least. I hate to see them uncomfortable when I can't do much to help. So glad I got to avoid that feeling!

During the week, I can't really ride early to avoid the heat because my worker comes between 6 and 6:30. I could probably get one done, but that just seems kind of pointless when there are three more. Since we use the ring as one of the paddocks, I can't ride while horses are turning out. But on the weekend, my helper comes between 7 and 7:30 usually. This week she came a little early, but still late enough for me to ride two.

It was still dark out when I headed out to the barn in the morning.

No responsible deed goes unpunished though... My first horse, who shall remain nameless as I shame this one plenty, managed to trip at the canter and fall right down. 

Thankfully we were both fine. My only injury was a little elbow road rash. 

If you look carefully, you can see both of our imprints. 
I literally rode all the way to the ground, so I was basically still 
mounted when we hit the ground. Nice soft landing other than the
horse on my foot.

Fortunately, the rest of the rides were uneventful. I did the first two, helped out with chores, then did the second two. I was done by 1 completely with horse stuff (until dinner anyway) which was lovely. The rest of the day was spent in the pool, near the pool, or taking a nap in the a/c.

In the pool, on my Tootsie Roll hammock

Near the pool with Rita. I left the door open 
so she could come and go as she pleased. 
I didn't really want her outside baking in the heat, 
but she wanted to snuggle a little. She was good about 
going inside when she got hot. 

This dragonfly randomly landed on my thumb. 
We're best friends now. His name is Dave.

Napping in the A/C with Rita.

Sunday went pretty much the same way, but thankfully, everyone stayed up right for our rides. I was pretty happy to get back in the pool once chores and riding were done for the day.

Okay, next to the pool. Drying off post floating. 

I was disappointed to miss lessons last week, but I think it was good for Al to have a little more time with his new shoes. He had a very short lesson today working over a cross rail with takeoff and landing rails. He's still not quite 100% so we worked through there a few times each direction and called it a day. He seemed happy to do something fun though, so I don't think he was too uncomfortable. We'll try again Friday and might also lesson one of the others that day. So I'm excited for that! There aren't really any local shows happening this weekend, but again, with Al not quite 100% we wouldn't go anyway. Trainer might be skipping the first week of her next show, so there's a small chance we could get to something that weekend. We'll see how it plays out!

That's really about it from here. The weather should be nice through the weekend (with hopefully some rain tonight) so I plan to get some good work out of the tall kids the next few days. 

How was your week? Did you make it through the weather? Or is it nice where you are?

What's Up Wednesday

 

It was a fairly quiet week/weekend around here. Eros has been a perfect boy (obviously) and we ever put the jumps back up to 2'6" for him on Saturday.

He was so good and soft, I basically just jumped one course and called it a day. Which meant our ride was barely 20 minutes long warm up included. I have this feeling like all rides need to be at least 30 minutes (I generally ride 30-40 minutes), but honestly, sometimes I think it's perfectly fine for it to be short and sweet. This week for example. It's been in the 90's with 70% humidity which leads to "feels like" temps in the triple digits. Our horses here in New England are not super acclimated to that, and so our rides yesterday and today were/will be on the shorter side. Probably 20-25 minutes including our cool down walk. Which was stressing me out at first, but then I realized, it's perfectly okay. A few light days now and then aren't going to hurt anyone. 

Speaking of short rides. It's funny how Shiny really does require a no pressure ride each week. I've never had a horse that makes this so apparent. Last week, instead of a no pressure bareback day, they had Friday completely off when I went to visit my friend. So I skipped Sunday funday to make up for  our missed jumping day. Well... Shiny was kind of terrible this whole past week having not had her no pressure day. It took me until this weekend to realize that was the difference. How was she terrible you ask? Well there was this dramatic spook:

Which, Shiny rarely ever spooks unless she's super wild. Which she was not. She also was very much not interested in contact or moving off my leg... or really anything I asked her to do. She was good when we jumped Friday, but she was so behind my leg I couldn't even begin to try and hold contact at all. 

We even (and by we I mean me...) got brave enough to jump the end jump. But without an honest contact, I only found the chip to it every time.

Sorry Shiny... 

Anyway, after last week's frustrations, I made sure that the horses had a Sunday Funday.

Eros had a bareback walk in the ring followed by a half hour of yard snacks

Shiny "trail rode" bareback down to her paddock and back and also enjoyed yard snacks after

I didn't have any braiding jobs this week, but I did get to ride Bellino! 

He was kind of a jerk on Saturday, spooking and spinning at the chairs by the ring when we started. Then trying to leave the ring when I really closed the inside aids to prevent the spook... He wanted to root at the canter which was pretty rude. But by the end he had softened and was a good boy. Sunday he had regrets about how long he made his ride the day before and was a perfect gentleman. So that was fun and rewarding. 

In Pammon news, it looks like his buddy finally stood up for himself as Pammon has a little ding on his front leg that looks like it's probably from a kick. I'm glad that happened because Pammon needed to be stood up to. Whatever the tiff was about, they are getting along so much better. 

They moved to a little bit bigger field yesterday which I'm excited about for them. Not so much because it's bigger, but because it's next to the road. It's a very quiet rode, used mainly by the barn's traffic and the handful of residents off of it, but it has a decent amount of pedestrian traffic. Pammon LOVES people, and I think he'll love seeing everyone who walks by. Especially if they give him some attention. 

He got some new fly boots from Equi-prism this weekend. I'm going to make sure they aren't giving any rubs today when I go out to see him, but he seems to be unbothered by them. They're designed like the shoo-fly boots, but you can pick your own colors. I went with the boarding barn colors since that would match his fly sheet better than my colors.

And that's really all I have to report this week. How about you guys? Did you have a good week? Get lots of riding in? Do your horses have any easy day requirements like Shiny?

What's Up Wednesday

This wasn't the most exciting of weeks, but I mean that in a good way. I didn't really have much planned for the weekend other than riding. Which is kind of nice!
Friday I had the vet out to catch Pammon and Shiny up on their vaccinations. Shiny also needed a microchip. I had the vet take a look at her cut on her leg while he was out, and he wasn't too worried about it. She jogged totally sound, and he said to put her back to work. Yay!
I had a half day of work to meet up with the vet, so I rode Pammon, groomed Rio, and decided to start Shiny back the next day so she just got brushed.  Then I headed over to the other barn. Everyone is away at a show, and there was a horse that's rehabbing they asked if I could ride Friday and Saturday.

he wasn't into my selfie antics.

 So I did him, and then stuffed Eros full of cookies. I was going to ride him also, but my step mom had already ridden him, and with the heat, I figured he didn't need a second ride.
Then I headed back home to snuggle the pugs.

I tried to get to bed relatively early since I had a 5 am wake up call to beat the heat. I was mostly successful since it had been a busy day.
Saturday I was up so early the dogs didn't want to get out of bed! But they did, and I was out in the barn by 5:15. I fed the horses, and was on Shiny by 5:30. She only eats one cup of ration balancer, so I don't have to be extra careful about not riding right after she eats. I kind of expected her to be a little naughty since she'd had a full week of vacation. Fortunately, she was exactly the same as the last time I rode her. She may be green, and a little full of herself, but she really is a good pony. We didn't work super hard, but it was a lovely ride. The feels like temp was still in the 80's so wasn't too bad!

Perfect little princess

Next up was Pammon! He was perfect (of course). I took it fairly easy, as he had a lot of vaccinations the day before. The feels like temp was 88 and the humidity was 87%. Gross. He's a trooper! I think he was a little confused about riding before turnout though. Especially when his brother and sister went out in the walkouts while he was still working.

"why's Rio out there while I'm working?"-Pammon probably

After a quick hosing and a few minutes in front of the fan, he was able to go out for his play time and I headed over to the boarding barn. My loaner pony was having his turnout, so I started with Eros. I debated whether it was cooler indoors or out, but wound up heading outside. The sun was still low, and there was a bit of a breeze. The air was really thick though, so we didn't over do the work. Just a basic walk-trot-canter both ways, followed by a little bit of collection work. And that was that. He was pretty happy to get hosed off and park in front of the fan to dry.

Heading outside to ride!

Loaner pony is actually on full board, so the barn workers got him ready for me. Can't lie, it was kind of nice! So as soon as Eros was dry, I hopped right on the next one. Since he's rehabbing, he has a pretty strict schedule. Walk for 10 minutes, trot for 15, canter for 10, 5 more of trot, then walk till cool. I adhered very strictly to that on Friday, but Saturday morning with the heat and heavy air, I added in more walk breaks. I also cut a minute or two from the canter. His owner had said if it was very hot I shouldn't work him too hard. So I just paid attention to his breathing and sweating and did was seemed right. I stayed indoors with him as it was getting steamy outside, and it was definitely cooler in the indoor. The grooms seemed pretty busy when I was done, so I hosed him off myself and hung out with him under the fan until he was dry.

 It was only 10:30 and all four horses were worked, washed, and tucked back in! I headed back home to tend to Rio. For some reason barn helper had put him away covered in sweat and sand. So I took him out and gave him a shower, and hung out with him in front of the fan to dry.

He apparently needed to lick all the salty sweat off me. Ew.

Everyone seemed as comfortable as they could be in the barn. The feels like temp was up to 106 but the humidity had dropped to 55%. So there's that? After feeding lunch and topping off water buckets, I stopped by the lake for some lunch. And immediately after I escaped to the a/c in my house. And you know what? I was SUPER PRODUCTIVE! I made a decent dent in laundry mountain, and even got around to digging out some of my summer clothes that I never switched over this year. Summer's only half over, so like, better late than never right? I also took a nap. Cause naps are great. Finally I figured I had earned a treat after getting up early and being super productive all day (minus the nap I suppose) and treated myself to some Chinese take out. So good. It's been awhile since I've had Chinese food!
I headed to bed early again because I knew 5 am would come early. It's not that hard the first day, but the second one usually proves more difficult.
Sunday was supposed to be worse than Saturday as far as heat indexes went. I was grateful to have only 3 horses to ride instead of four. Fortunately, the morning was actually nicer than the day before. When I got on Shiny it was in the 70's. Humid, but not hot! I followed the same schedule as the day before, and things went just fine. I had wanted to jump Pammon around a little, but I had forgotten to put my spurs back on after riding Shiny, and I had regrets. So jumping would have to wait. It was pretty soupy out anyway, so I'm sure he didn't mind.

Eros was outside when I got to the barn, enjoying some grass and the not yet too hot temps.

He didn't seem terribly excited to see me. I think he was hoping for a day off. Sorry buddy, one more day of work! I was actually planning to ride him inside as it was for sure cooler in there than outside was getting. But they had taken the jumps out and had them sitting right outside the door. Eros was completely not handling that, and I didn't think it was worth the battle, so I took him outside. You guys. He was pretty naughty for our ride! He was spooking at dust. Yes, dust! So while I had planned on another easy ride, he actually had to work. He finished up great, because let's be real, he IS Eros. But he was pretty hot and sweaty by the time we came in. I walked him indoors, though still he wanted to avoid the doorway with the jumps stacked up. He's so weird! He was pretty happy to have a shower when we were done, and we hung out together while he dried. I think he was pretty tired because he was using me to hold his head up.

Is there anything better than just sitting and snuggling with your horse? Cause I really don't think so. Despite the crazy heat, I had the best weekend with my horses. Getting up so early allowed me time to hang out with them after our rides, which was just really nice to get to do.
Anyway, after tucking Eros in, I headed into town to pick up an iced coffee and a breakfast sandwich. (It was only 10 AM!) And then made a quick stop to pick up checks from braiding last week.
After breakfast, I was trying to decide what to do with my day. The family had gone out fishing on the boat, but I hadn't gotten done in time at the barn. Boo. I really couldn't fathom spending another full day tackling laundry, so instead, I took on a much bigger, hotter project.

I cleaned all my tack (ALL OF IT) and packed away all the stuff I wasn't using. Like Jamp's figure 8 bridles, his grazing muzzle, and all kinds of training equipment I hopefully won't be needing right now. I'm keeping it because you never know... but it's now packed away until that day comes.
My saddles got cleaned, oiled, AND conditioned. They are so much happier now!

I took a break after tending to the saddles to let the pups out. It had gotten really hot (feels like temp of 109!) so while inside I actually put on shorts. I don't wear shorts. Like ever. I have a really unhealthy disdain for the lower half of my body. (Unless it's covered up by breeches and fun boots of course!) But this heat required less clothing. So I did it. And now I shall blind all of you with a photo of me in shorts.

Don't look directly at that photo. Unless you're wearing proper eye protection. Anyway, once in my shorts, I got to work on organizing and cleaning the bridles. It's possible that each of my horses has five bridles... plus a show bridle each (Pammon and Shiny, Rio doesn't need a show bridle).
The show bridles are packed away to go live in the trailer, but look how cute:

Pammon's is from Royal Sports and Shiny's is Joseph Sterling. I may replace Pammon's with a JS bridle eventually.

It's also possible that it's ridiculous for Rio to have five bridles when he's retired and I haven't ridden him in over a year.... But I don't want him feeling left out. And you never know! He could get sound enough one day for me to sit on him again. And if that day comes, I need for him to have a matching outfit with me. I'm waiting on a few bits to arrive to finish putting all the bridles fully together. But the tack room looks SO MUCH better now.

It took the entire day to get that stuff all done. A full day of standing out in the (actual) 105 degree barn in feels like 110 temps. Thus, I decided to skip the band at the lake (and my lobster roll) in favor of the a/c and leftover Chinese food. It was a good call, and I managed to do a little more laundry too. It was a super long day, and I slept really well that night!
Monday was another early day, but not as early as the weekend. I had the morning off from work because my barn helper is on vacation this week. I have my weekend helper covering Tues through Thurs, but I have barn duty Monday and Friday. Anyway, I was out in the barn by 6:30 to get moving on turnouts and stall cleaning. It was actually a lovely morning, and I was a little disappointed to have to go to work after.
Work was nuts on Monday. It's always tough trying to fit eight hours into 4, but since I had a half day to meet the vet on Friday, it was more like 12 hours into 4. But I got it done, and only had to stay a little late. The horses had Monday off anyway as we had crazy thunder storms all evening.
Tuesday after work I pulled Pammon out to ride, and found he had a stocked up left hind, including his hock. I couldn't find much heat anywhere, and didn't see any new open wounds. So I texted trainer for her thoughts. We both decided he probably just bumped it. He had looked sound on the lunge, so she said to get on and see how he feels and just hack lightly if he felt good. So we did that, and then iced it after. He got a little bute with dinner too.

Today it's looking much improved, though not yet perfect. I'm imagining a similar protocol tonight, but we'll see if it looks bigger after standing in the stall for the afternoon. Fingers crossed it's nothing!
So that brings us to now! What's up with you? Did you have crazy heat this weekend too? Do anything fun? Horse shows or lessons? Do any shopping? I did NOT which I'm pretty proud of...