Truthful Tuesday

 

I swear, it's a miracle I successfully get anything done ever... Last week both my pups had vet appointments, a day apart. Sometime after I had made the appointments I got a reminder notice that P is due for some shots. Rita's appointment was the first one, so while I was there I asked if P could get get her shots during her recheck appointment the next day. They said as long as everything was looking good in her ear, that shouldn't be a problem. Always nice to get two things accomplished in one visit ya know? 

So P's appointment was bright and early Thursday morning. There was a bit of a commotion with another dog who was VERY EXCITED to be at the vet, so they ushered that one into a room right away. My vet apologized (unnecessary, clearly, P was perfectly under control in the waiting room unlike the other larger dog!) and asked if it was okay if they just brought P back to check her ears. I said sure, not a problem. You know what I didn't say? I didn't remember to ask about the shots! Can you believe it? Doc didn't remember either. I didn't realize it until the weekend when I was cleaning up my email inbox. So I had to call for another appointment. Sheesh. Is this early onset senility? Or was it just that my coffee hadn't kicked in yet? I'm hoping the second one...

What's Up Wednesday

 

There's honestly not too much going on around here this week. My trial horse left on Saturday morning. But otherwise Shiny and Eros have been going well. 

They had an extra day off this week since Sunday was really rainy. I had planned a Sunday funday for them anyway so it wasn't a big deal. I did get a ride in though, because I got to ride Fefe!

She was a good girl until I tried to take her for a walk outside after we were done working. There was a pause in the rain, so I thought she'd like it. I was incorrect. She started jigging and hopping up and down. She was so busy having this tantrum, my friend I was walking with had to hop off her horse and hold Fefe so I could dismount. Mares! Lol. I temporarily forgot that she is done when work time is over. My bad. 

We only fit in one jump school this past week, since I had been busy with the trial horse. But they were both great for it! Hopefully this week we'll be back on our regular schedule. 

Eros is jumping around at 2'6" consistently these days, so that's exciting. Getting closer to a show height anyway. I've decided to keep Shiny at 2'3" this year since we have lots to work on still. She's been so quiet that I haven't really been able to work on keeping her shape when we're jumping. I don't seem to have enough leg to add the amount of hand I need for contact. There's no hurry though. We'll keep plugging along!

In other news, P seems to be doing just fine without her brother. It's been hot for her outside, so we've been spending a lot of time watching the olympics together. She really likes swimming:

I do bring her out to feed dinner to the horses sometimes. She seems to enjoy it, but I think she's looking forward to fall. Humidity is hard on these brachycephalic pups! I wish she liked the stroller though. It would be nice to take her for a real walk. 

That's really about it from here for now. Have you all been up to fun things?

What's Up Wednesday

 

We had some major weather swings last week which interfered some with any training plans I may have had. The week started out with temps in the upper 90's and very high humidity. While I still rode the horses, I didn't work them especially hard, and we made sure to take walk breaks. They both do well in hot weather and sweat well, but the humidity is hard on them. Especially Eros, I'm a little more careful with him. As a result, I pushed our usual Wednesday jump school to Thursday when it was supposed to be cooler. Eros was a bit of a freight train when we finally got to jump, and the majority of his session was spent trotting raised cavalletti on a figure 8. Once he softened, we repeated the exercise at the canter. One he was soft doing that, we called it a day. Photos from the freight train portion of our ride. At least he jumped relatively well while dragging me around like a small child.

Shiny was great to jump, albeit on the lazy side of the spectrum. I had to really work to get her moving forward, but once she got there, she was pretty great. 

We're still working on holding her shape, I think that's going to take some time. But she's gotten a lot straighter, and I also think she's better about bending in through the turns. I'm not sure what it is with ponies, but they all come out of the womb wanting to fall in and look out... Ponies! 

Friday I got Eros worked, but the rain came and I wound up letting Shiny have a day off. I will ride in the rain, but it was absolutely pouring and I wasn't into it. She wouldn't have been either. Since she was off Friday, I didn't want to jump her again on Saturday, but we had a nice flat that day, and then Sunday she enjoyed Sunday Funday. I did make her walk, trot, and canter lightly (bareback in a sidepull) before we went for a wander though. She doesn't need a walk only day in addition to her bonus day off in the same week. Eros didn't really get a second jump school either, but we did do the cavalletti on the figure 8 again on Sunday just to see if it took. He was pretty good, definitely softer than he'd been earlier in the week. 

Yesterday, after Monday off, Eros was a spooky mess. I'm blaming it on the fireworks at night. I think he was just a little edgy from that, and the neighbor was making all kinds of weird noises while we were trying to ride. We wound up staying on half the ring and got some work done. But it wasn't much of a good ride. I was proud of him for keeping his poo together for the most part though. I'll let him have a little free lunge before we ride today. Maybe that will help.  Shiny was actually really good yesterday though. She did test early on by not cantering when I asked her. But Mr. Tappy had a chat with her, and she didn't put a hoof wrong after that. We'll see what we have today!

Pammon switched fields last week, which I think I already mentioned here. He now has the ladies in the field next to him, and a couple of other buddies on the other side at night too. He's loving having more friends around!

Sunday I finally had a lesson with Bellino. It went pretty well. He was REALLY unmotivated on the flat and took a ton of leg. A TON. (And I own Shiny remember...) He was more forward once we started jumping and was a very good boy for that. The jumps were little bitty ones so we could ease back into things which was nice. He's a little bit of a weird ride so it was less stressful figuring him out knowing he could walk over what we were jumping. He's off to a horse show next week, so I'm not sure if I'll ride him again this weekend or not. We'll see. 

As for Artie... I don't have all the results back from his tests yet, but we believe he has lymphoma. Without treatment the prognosis is only a couple months. With treatment, maybe up to a year, but that's very much dependent on what the tests say. With his heart failure and age, I'm not sure putting him through chemo will be the right thing to do for him. Once his results are back I'll meet with an oncologist and ask all the questions. Decisions will be made at that point about the best course for Artie's quality of life. For now, he doesn't seem to know anything is wrong and is going about his life the same as always. I may or may not have ordered a dog stroller to take him on walks though.... He hasn't been able to go for real walks since his heart failure diagnosis because he gets too winded. But he loves to go out and see the sights. So hopefully he'll like the stroller. 

Needless to say, I have put on hold any thoughts of going away to any horse shows. I need to spend time here with Artie this summer. Maybe we'll get to a one day or two but showing really ins't a priority for me right now anymore. 

So that's where we are. Plugging along! How was your week and weekend?

Truthful Tuesday

I have a couple of confessions today. The first is kind of hilarious... Many evenings (ok almost every one...) after dinner and whatever chores need doing, I snuggle on the floor with my pups. They don't normally sleep with me because they wake me up constantly, but we get some snuggle time in before bed.

It's not uncommon for me to actually fall asleep there on the floor. Normally it's for an hour or whatever and then I get up and go to bed. Well last night, I never woke up! I woke up this morning at 5 AM on the floor with the dogs. Oops.
My second confession is that I'm kind of riding terribly. But not in a bad way if that makes sense? I'm struggling a bit because I'm really just getting back into everything, and I'm riding a bunch of different horses. (#firstworldproblems) And they're mostly all new to me. Eros is my one familiar, but since we've just started jumping again, even that is pretty foreign. So I'm riding the struggle bus big time, just trying to figure everyone out, but I feel like I'm not too far away from having it all come back together again. In the past week or so I've gotten to ride five different horses!

Sochi

Fefe

Eros

Shiny

Pammon

And every single one of them is a different ride. Sochi is a push ride completely. If you go to your hand, your stride shortens and you chip. (I know from experience which I'll tell you all about tomorrow! He's not a regular in my life, I just got to borrow him this weekend.) Fefe is totally spoiled. She doesn't believe in going on the bit, or bending, or using herself in any way. But she's quite happy to trot and canter around the arena safely. Eros is perfect in every way. But he does expect that you work at least as hard as he has to. If not a little bit harder. Shiny is kind of lacking a go button. But there's a fancy pony in there that comes out when she feels like it. And lastly Pammon. Pammon is AMAZING. He has the most powerful trot, and the nicest canter. But for some reason I keep forgetting to keep my leg on and sometimes we break. Which totally leaves me giggling and feeling like a seven year old on a pony.
So they are all different, and they are all reminding me how to ride correctly. It's just getting the old body to follow suit. I think we'll get there though. Just gotta keep trying.

Do you have anything to confess this week? Do you know that feeling of being kind of a disaster, but you know the good is just around the corner? Share your stories in the comments!

Truthful Tuesday: Pia edition

Today's confession comes from my short kid, Pia. For those not fully in the know of who's who, P is my 11 (almost 12) year old Pug daughter. She's the best ever in almost every way. I got her just before I bought my house, so we've been through lots of major life changes together.

Anyway, as she's aged she's had some medical stuff come up, as most do (canine, human, equine, all alike). Sometime last year, she started throwing up her daily supplement which helps her liver function. She's had some liver abnormalities since she was a pup, but the supplement seems to keep her going happily and healthfully. So it was of some concern that she was all of a sudden rejecting her supplement. After a vet visit and some tests, the diagnosis was acid reflux. So now P and I take the same medicine! Ha. It's not easy getting old... for any species!
So today's confession, coming straight from P is this: Sometimes she doesn't eat her pill. USUALLY if she doesn't, she spits it out right next to her dish, so I know and can force it into her. (Fortunately, Artie has no interest in stealing her meds as he will leave it right there on the floor by her bowl.)
But SOMETIMES, I find them in weird places. The other day, I looked down at my storm door as I was going outside and saw this:

She had stuck her little half a pill to the door. I have no idea how long it was there. I'm telling ya... animals are just as naughty as kids!

Do any of your fur kids hide their meds? Or do something equally sneaky?

What's Up Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday Blogland! It's all kinds of weird around these parts today. It's in the upper 50's, foggy, and occasionally thunder storms are rolling through. It feels like May! But fear not, snow is in the forecast for Friday. Oh New England. You're so weird. But you're not hear solely to talk about the weather. Are you? No? I didn't think so. So let's take a look back at the past week.
In horsey news, I actually got to RIDE on Saturday!

Kind of. As much as you can ride an almost 18 year old horse who's had a few months off and is also semi covered in hives. But hey, I'll take what I can get! It was freakishly warm Saturday with highs near 70 (in February! What?!) so despite the busy morning (we'll get into that later) I made sure there was time to get the horses out for some "work". (I use that term loosely.)
Mr. Itchy (as Jamp is now known) had a quick lunge before I got on. Just in case.

I forgot to edit my screenshots... sorry.

But being that he's Mr. Itchy and on twice a day Benadryl (AND it was almost 70 out) he was ridiculously quiet.

So itchy. Also, he was not this hivey when we rode, I swear.

He was also kind of unsound. I'm not sure if he was trying to itch his back on the saddle, or he was actually really unsound at the canter though... I'll have to see next time the weather lets us ride. I'll be scheduling our Springtime Vet-a-thon soon anyway, so at least it's good timing.
Since Rio is handicapped, I start him on the lunge line for awhile before I will ever sit on him. Let him get some strength back before I ask him tote me around. I have to say, he was looking pretty good!

He was actually kind of wild. I would show you some video, but with his handicaps it's just too awkward. He'd be so mad at me. But LOOK AT THAT EXTENSION! That's my boy. Looking good for almost 21.
By the time I got around to pondering what to do with Sir Crazy Pants (aka Romey) it was getting dark. So we just groomed instead. He hated it.
Sunday was much colder and insanely windy.

I was busy in the morning again. When I got back to the house for pony time, the winds were gusting about 30 mph and it was only around 40 degrees. I opted out of "working" horses and got to work cleaning my pig stye of a house instead.

In non horse news... It was a busy weekend. Pia had an unplanned visit to the vet. Last Wednesday, after I found Jamp covered in hives, I came home to dog puke on the floor. In two places. But I didn't know who it was and both seemed perfectly fine. So I opted to watch them and see if it happened again. It didn't. That is until Thursday when I came home from work and found the exact same thing as Wednesday. I realized based on color (ew.) that it was Pia's and that she had thrown up her vitamin that she takes. Good sleuthing on my part I suppose! Anyway, she's been taking that supplement for the last 7 years, so it was odd that it was suddenly bothering her and my vet thought she should come in for a visit. They had time for her at 1 o'clock Saturday, so I ran a bunch of errands and then brought her in.

unrelated photo of pug loaves

 A few hundred dollars and some x-rays later, we think it's nothing too serious. She's off the supplement for a week and on some Omeprazol. She has another appointment in two weeks to follow up. With her not taking her supplement, she's had no troubles. Hopefully next week when she starts back on it, we won't see a relapse. Fingers crossed.

This really is pretty much all they do. Ever.

And some random stuff from the week/weekend...
I took Betty to the car wash, and it was more fun than I remember:

Did they always have tie-dye soap?! I was thoroughly entertained. Also, my truck won't fit at this car wash, any suggestions on how to clean the undercarriage?

I may have found a solution to Hermie 2.0 being so slippery I can't hold on. (That's the used saddle I've been riding in here since mine is down in FL getting a new seat.)

My friend/trainer in college suggested Guter Sitz in the jar. I've seen the spray but never the jar. It's a solid and you rub it on with your fingers. I've always been against smearing this nasty sticky stuff on my beautiful tack and boots, but desperate times friends. I can't seem to fix the slipperiness of Hermie 2.0 so I don't really care if he winds up covered in stick-um! Anyway, if you love your boots and saddle, maybe don't use it, because I'm not sure if it comes off very easily. I'll get back to you on that when I attempt to remove it. But if you love not sliding off your tack, definitely try it. It worked great.
Sunday I got to spend the morning with the ladies from book club celebrating a belated Galentine's Day. It was hosted by Ashley over at The Well Dressed Table. The decorations and food were totally on point. It was great to take a morning off from running errands and tending to animals to have some mimosas and girl talk.
AND lastly, my Caballo blue paddock boots and half chaps finally arrived from England!

 You guys. They are amazing! So soft and buttery. And I didn't mess up measuring because they fit absolutely perfectly! If you're on the hunt for a gorgeous set of these, visit Cork Farm Equestrian. I don't know that they sell these anywhere in the US, but they're totally worth the wait. Cork Farm was really helpful when I was trying to decide between these and a pair of blue tall boots. I can't wait to ride in them with my matching blue Charles Owen... (I think I might have an equestrian attire shopping problem...)
Well, that's what's up this Wednesday! What's up with you? Have you been riding much? Do anything fun and totally non-horsey lately? Let's talk about your week in the comments!