What's Up Wednesday

 

Oye. Well. This week has been a week for the horses... Overall, everyone is fine. So nothing major to worry about. Also, I have no new media whatsoever. Sorry. Anyway, let's start with Shiny.

Shine was great for her lesson last week. We jumped right around and she's starting to feel more like her old self again. We kept the jumps small, but I think that's fine. It doesn't really matter how big she jumps. I noticed over the weekend that she was pretty back sore. From the reports I keep hearing about children slipping off her, I'm going out on a limb and assuming her crooked saddle was the culprit. One of my fellow boarders (and good friends!) has a laser though, so she let me use it on Shiny's back and it seemed to help a ton. She's doing much better now in the back department. Unfortunately, when I went to get her ready to ride yesterday her right hind was swollen. The swelling is about mid cannon on the outside. And while I suppose it's possible it's a tendon issue, I don't really think it is. She's pretty sound on it, maybe a hair short on the turns. There is a disruption to the hairs on the very back of the leg in one spot. (Not a cut or even a rub really, just like... a disturbed area? I don't know how to explain further.) And my current theory is that she may have gotten her leg caught on the tail strap of her blanket. The amigo blankets have the tail straps attached really low (I think due to the lack of leg straps maybe), and the new blanket I got her seems especially low. So I mostly just walked and trotted her very lightly yesterday and today, we've iced it, and wrapped it. I decided to cancel her lesson tomorrow, just in case and we'll proceed with caution. I added her to the vet list for the next time he's out, but hopefully it's just a bruise and she'll be fine in a few days. Cross your fingers for us!

Next up is the problem child. Yep. Al. By the end of the weekend, I really thought we were on the right path. I had a few really nice rides on him in which he didn't spook at everything everywhere and he felt pretty sound. I was feeling excited. Too excited too soon unfortunately. I stupidly let him have his Tuesday free lunge, which was a huge mistake. He reopened that dermatitis and was back to being very lame on that leg yesterday. Which okay, my bad. I figured that's all that was going on and gave myself a little slap on the wrist for allowing the free lunge. I figured he'd be feeling better today after having it properly medicated and wrapped over night. So imagine my horror when I went to walk him out of his stall this morning and he was like 5 out of 5 lame on the OTHER HIND LEG! Ugh. I dragged him to the crossties, and inspected him very thoroughly. There's heat in the hoof, but the leg looks okay. It could be something up higher potentially, but I'm leaning toward abscess. The way he wants to stand on his toe and the heat... It all seems abscessy to me. My farrier will be out tomorrow to put some testers on and see what he thinks. On the bright side, the dermatitis seemed much less angry today. Guys this horse. He's really trying me. 

This weeks MVP is Eros. He's plugging right along being his perfect self. He was an ANGEL for his jumping lesson last week. Went right around like a made little hunter. It was like having summer Eros back! He got extra cookies of course. This weeks flat lesson went much better. It was still very challenging, but Eros didn't get so upset this time. I'll call it a win. We worked on lengthening and shortening which he is quite good at when flatting, but it becomes more challenging when obstacles are involved. We were working over some poles on the ground. There were three of them, each set three strides apart. We were able to do three strides then four strides pretty easily. But when we were asked for 5, we were unable to complete the assignment. I was pretty happy with the fours though. Eros' default setting is a 14 foot stride, so compressing it down to 9 is pretty great. I think the 5 was a pretty big ask. 

I have this problem where I'm very protective of Eros, and I kind of hate lessoning on him because I think he and I have a good understanding and I almost don't really want help with him. It is my understanding that this is the definition of mediocrity. And that's certainly not what I want. I always want to be and do better. But with Eros, I feel like sometimes trainers want to stuff him in a box that he doesn't fit in. And honestly, at the end of the day, Eros will never do more than be a 2'6" hunter. He doesn't need to flat like a grand prix dressage horse. I expect him to be responsive and carry himself properly of course. And let me tell you, I've never ridden anything so easy to move laterally. Does he struggle a bit to really sit back on his hocks? Yes. And that's why adding two strides is so hard for him. Do I think we could get it done if we keep trying? Also yes. Do I want to blow his hocks out in the process? Nope. Definitely not that. So whatever. Maybe we're destined for mediocrity. I say all this because it's a me problem. I'm not being told anything like that from the temporary instructor. She's been perfectly nice and listens when I say something isn't right for Eros. We'll keep doing the flat lessons. It's definitely good for the both of us even if it's not 100% what I think I want to be doing with him. I mean, we all know, I'm certainly not always right.

If you're still here, thanks for getting through this wall of media-less text! Hopefully I'll have a better report next week. This one was a little gloomy. Fingers crossed for a more positive week ahead!

What's Up Wednesday

 

It was kind of a busy week around here. Lots of non horse stuff to do plus plenty of horses too! Eros and Shiny had both of their jump schools this week, though Shiny's second one was over some much smaller fences. I'm not sure if she's just really not into the heat or what, but she's been very disinterested in work in general. She does what I ask (eventually) and doesn't feel unsound in any way, but she is kind of cranky and annoyed that I want her to do stuff. Looking back at my Facebook memories from last year, it seems I put the jumps lower this time last year too. So I'm suspecting it's some kind of seasonal thing for her. I have a lot of horses to braid next weekend though, so I may give her a few days off and see if that helps things any. 

I was really happy with Eros this week. The first jump day he wanted to be a little strong again, so I made a real effort to shut that down without upsetting him. And you guys, it actually worked! I wasn't sure if it would carry over to day two, but it actually did, and he was wonderful. In the past trainers have had me pull him up when he gets to dragging me, but that doesn't really ever seem to help and it gets him upset. So instead of pulling him up, I used a very strong half halt, but asked him to keep cantering in a more uphill frame. I only had to do it twice and then he was a gentleman again. Will that work every time? Who knows. But it did for now!

On Thursday, I headed over to the other barn and had a lesson on Bellino. I had pressed pretty hard to get the vet out for him, because he has been VERY tough for my stepmom starting over the winter last year. He was rearing, bolting, bucking.... It wasn't good. Definitely not the horse she thought she was buying. They had been working with a vet in Florida and he had been diagnosed with Lyme. But he had finished the treatment and still wasn't acting like himself. I rode him a few times this summer and he just was ornery and not like I remembered him from last year. Since they had been working with a vet, I assumed the obvious (ulcers) had been ruled out, and was worried he might have kissing spine. Anyway, long story.... well still long, the vet was out a few weeks ago. He ruled out kissing spine, but wanted to scope for ulcers. (He had to come back for that since the tummy needs to be empty.) Turns out, the horse has HORRIBLE ulcers. Really bad. So he's in treatment for that now. I feel badly I hadn't asked about that since it's the most obvious. That's what happens when you assume my friends! Anyway, he's feeling so much better, and I had the BEST lesson on him Thursday. It was ridiculously hot, so we didn't do a lot, but what we did was fantastic and super fun. Unfortunately, I have no media. So instead, please enjoy this selfie of us.

I had so much fun on him Thursday, I scheduled to flat both Bellino AND Fefe on Sunday. They were both great. I figured it was a good day for loaner ponies since my two have their fun day on Sundays. 

Pammon is still doing fine in his field. He and his buddy rotated to a different field since they'd eaten pretty much all the grass in the other one. Nothing else really to report from is this week! Just a few more months until we scan that leg and see about him starting back to work. 

In non horse news, it was a busy weekend! Friday evening, the IEA team had a fundraiser. Paint your own wine glass! It was fun, though I'm certainly no artist...

That's supposed to be my farm logo... Lol!
This is why I use a Cricut for most things...

Saturday evening some friends hosted an outdoor taco party at which I took zero photos, but ate lots of tacos and had a great time. It was nice to see everyone and being outside with all vaxxed people felt like the old days. 

And as we already talked about yesterday, Sunday evening we had a barn BBQ. So much socialization! Monday I had a horrible dentist appointment at which the hygienist mocked me. I have two small cavities too apparently so I have to go back. UGH. I'm looking for a new dentist for the future though. My regular dentist retired a couple of years ago, and the new owners have such high turnover, I'm not sure I've seen the same people twice. And the chair side manner is definitely not the same. Hopefully this coming Monday I'll get my fillings smoothly and then not have to go back there ever again! Fingers crossed I survive. (The dentist is a huge source of anxiety for me.)

So that's it around here! This week is definitely quieter which is nice before the crazy that's coming. I mentioned earlier about having a lot of horses to braid next weekend. (Not this coming, the one after). We have lots of little horse show associations around here. This coming weekend the bigger one has their medal finals, but the weekend following the smaller ones has theirs. It's all lower level classes (the biggest class is 2'6") so it's like the beginner olympics. It's a great event for the newbies, but OMG there are so many horses to braid, and no braiders around to do it. I think I have eight to do every night, and that's without having heard yet from two my regular barns. Needless to say, this week is for resting up!

What's Up Wednesday

Another week! Things in my state are teetering on being able to move to phase 2, but yesterday our hospitalizations spiked again, so we have to see how that goes. My dad and stepmom (And Fefe!) will be heading home at the end of the month, so I think I'm going to aim for that as my return to the barn time. We'll just have to see how things are going! I really want to start riding again. Pammon is on full training board right now, so may wait on him until June. He's pretty hot and needs a lot of sedation for his walks. So probably best I don't get on him after not riding for two months. I'm hoping to have the ring work done by June ish, so maybe I can bring some horses home then. I'm thinking about asking the fam how they would feel about letting Eros come home for his rehab (with Shiny of course!) and keeping Fefe and Pammon at the boarding barn for the summer. Eros is an easy going guy, and I feel much more comfortable managing his rehab on my own. Hopefully they'll be on board! But we'll see where things are with the ring too.
I did get to see the horses again this weekend as I had to drop off some supplements. Which I get to do again this weekend too! Shiny's and Pammon's come together, but on a different schedule from Eros. Kinda nice since it means I have more excuses to visit my ponies.

We had a glorious weekend here. It was actually warm out! And we saw the sun! So I did just a few small things in the house because I really want to get it all finished before I jump back into the full swing of horsing. Namely, I moved my shoe chairs from my shoe closet to the craft room, and put together the book shelves that had arrived.

So this room is close to being done. I just have to organize all my crap and put it away. I'm planning to actually put books on those book shelves too, which are mostly down stairs. So that will be good exercise one of these days... This leaves some cleaning up in the office/spare bedroom, fixing the mess I created in the shoe closet, and the same in the downstairs spare bedroom, and finally the switching over to spring/summer clothes. Phew. Sounds like a lot left. Ugh.
Anyway, the puggers and I had lots of fun outside this weekend.

I also did some work out in the barn and the shed organizing all the saddle pads and horse boots. Over the winter, my helper did a deep clean of the barn, but he moved everything around to get that done. So I started putting things back where they belong and getting things organized in there. Definitely a few more days of work to do in there still. But it's a start! I also want to get all the show stuff sorted out and moved back into the trailer. It's only been two years that it's been sitting in an extra stall... No rush still obviously, but I feel like this is the best time to do it.
In other news, my 40th birthday turned out pretty decent! I had a social distant visit from a friend from work who brought me flowers and a balloon:

Got some lovely cards:

Had a zoom with some of my favorite people, AND got this delicious basket of cookies delivered from my bestie:

And of course I made myself a cake which I enjoyed with a little too much Rose.

This weekend's quarantine craft (maybe not a craft... but whatever) was putting together the Lego version of Central Perk.

So that's it from here. How was your past week? How is "The Situation" where you are? 

What's up Wednesday

The calendar tells me it's Wednesday. So I'm guessing that's accurate? Obviously there isn't a whole lot going on over here. Working from home. Not seeing the tall kids. But I am seeing LOTS of the short kids at least! You guys. They sleep ALL THE TIME. So lazy.

Artie has decided to join me upstairs while I work, which I love. P can't do the stairs, but I think she's just as happy to sleep downstairs anyway. I made Artie a window seat so he can enjoy the view from up here.

I never really used the upstairs of my house, my master is downstairs along with all the living space so it's mostly been for storage. Nice to actually make use of the rest of the house. Here's my work space:

I need to hang something on the wall. Blank walls are kind of depressing. Perhaps this weekend I'll work on that.

I've spent the last couple of days eating lots of bread, corn, and pasta products (oh and cookies!) since Passover starts tonight. Nothing makes quarantine easier that food restrictions, amiright?! Lol. Joking. Kinda.

Pancakes with little bro's famous syrup (Rugged Ridge Forest, get some online!)

The most exciting thing though is that my hay arrived!!!! YESSS!!!

With how work is, and everything else going on, my horses will stay boarded at least through this month. But we'll see. Hopefully they can come home soon. I just don't think I can juggle the farm work plus my job right now with how much special attention Pammon requires. As much as I want them back in my life, I need to do what's best for them too.
I thought I was handling not seeing them pretty well honestly. But then I got some photos yesterday and maybe I cried a little. Any one else weirdly emotional with all of this happening? I'm usually pretty stoic.... I will get to see them briefly either tomorrow or Friday evening. I have to drop off their smartpaks, so I'm going to pop in and give them each some cookies. I will touch nothing and bring treats I have here at home for them.
In happier news, my amaryllis that I've had for YEARS decided to bloom this year. The first bud has come and gone already, but the second bud just bloomed and produced FOUR flowers. It's beautiful!

That's it from here. How are you all holding up? Anything good to report? Or do you need to talk about anything? Let's be here for each other through this weird, weird time in our lives. I hope you all are staying healthy and safe!

What's Up Wednesday

Since I was away for a few days, it wasn't a very horsey weekend! I was able to ride Thursday and Friday last week. I had a lesson on Eros on Thursday which went well. We were in a group with some younger kids, so the jumps stayed small, but we worked on lengthening and shortening within a line and did some nice bending lines too. He was perfect as usual!
Friday I had taken a half day from work so I could have plenty of time to ride and get packed for TX. We also thought the vet was coming, but turns out, that will be this Friday. So I'll have to see if I can be there for that. The nice thing about boarding though, is it's not the end of the world if I can't be. Plus this will just be an ultrasound I'm assuming, so it's not like Pammon will need to be ridden. Just held. I do hope to be there though, I much prefer getting my time with the vet face to face. In case you're wondering, the leg still looks horrifying. Ugh. Maybe it's one of those things that looks worse than it is? One can only hope. He continues to walk soundly on it. Horses are so weird.
Anyway, back to the recap! So Friday I flatted Shiny and Eros, and hand walked Pammon. Then went home to get packed. Such a chore packing! I always bring too much. Except this time! I wore everything I brought! (Pats self on back.)
We left at 8:30 Saturday morning, so no pony time that day unfortunately. Arrival in Cleburne, TX was around 2:30 I think.... I can't remember, but there's an hour difference which I had forgotten about and was really quite confused.

Pit stop in Portland, TN. I don't know what time it is. No idea.

We went straight to lunch since we were all starving. Food is good in TX you guys. Everything is hearty. From there we checked into the hotel, relaxed for a bit, and then were off to my cousin's house for the "rehearsal dinner". Which was really just all of us family catching up and eating catered BBQ. SO GOOD. Seriously. I ate so much in TX.
The person getting married (my reason for the trip) was my second cousin. His mom is my dad's niece. Up until MY nieces were born, she and I were the only girl cousins in the family. So we are like long lost sisters really. I haven't seen her in FOREVER, nor her brothers, so it was lots of fun to catch up. They're all hilarious. All of them. Being that we had the girls with us, we didn't stay too late, and I was in my bed by 9:45. I really know how to vacation you guys. #iamold
The wedding wasn't until 4 pm on Sunday, so we had some free time for the first half of the day. My one niece seems to be getting her molars in, so she was grumpy and they all stayed at the hotel. The older one enjoyed the pool with her mom, while the cranky one stayed in the room with my (generally also cranky) brother. That left me, dad, and stepmom. We did what any good tourists would do in TX. Went looking for tack stores. Tough thing was most places are closed Sunday morning for church. We finally found a place that sold western wear and boots, so we settled on that.

 My dad got himself a cowboy hat (those things are expensive you guys, like in the ballpark with my DeNiro boots expensive). He even wore it to the wedding, and yet somehow I forgot to take any photos. He looked great though. And I got myself these:

I can't wait to feature them on Thursday's threads one day soon! I mean... look at them! They're so pretty. Anyway, then it was time to eat again, and eventually get ready for the wedding. So this wedding... It was labeled as formal on the invite, BUT it was also outdoors. Not sure if you know, but it hasn't exactly been warm in TX lately. So I wasn't really sure how to dress. I finally decided to dress more cocktail attire, and bring layers. The ceremony was beautiful, and actually wasn't too cold, it made into the 60's thankfully before the sun went down!

Cousin photo! Missing was the bride and groom... details.

But you know... Then the sun went down. My layers helped, as did the wine, but truthfully everyone but wedding party was exiting by 9. I was a little bummed as I was looking forward to hanging with the family some more, but also just as happy to climb into bed at a reasonable hour. Overall, it was a lovely time, despite being outside in 48 degrees and a cocktail dress.
We had breakfast in the morning, and then flew home. It was a Monday, so instead of immediately going to check on my ponies (which took some restraint, believe me...) I instead headed home to unpack and straighten up the mess I left in my packing wake. Then picked up the pups and that was that. Last night I flatted Eros and Shiny and hand walked Pammon.

Pretty sure this will be how I go. Strangulation via equine.

He likes to help. He also made a friend through the window:

Tonight I have my first lesson (ever!) on Shiny. I signed up to ride with an older adult who jumps pretty small, so hopefully it's the right group. It's with the assistant trainer, so it should be lots of fun!
So that's it for me for the past week. What have all of you been up to? Any lessons or shows? Do any shopping? Let's catch up in the comments!

What's Up Wednesday

This week was so weird with the holiday on Thursday. My work was open Friday, but there were like five of us here and it was such a waste of a nice day. What can ya do though, right? Adulting. Hopefully I'll get brownie points for showing up. Anyway, Let's look back at the week!
Since Thursday was a holiday, I got to spend it riding horses ALLLLL DAY! I started with Eros over at the boarding barn. He was perfect of course. We just flatted and it was a lovely low key ride.

Though he wasn't terribly enthused about coming out to ride...

Next I headed home to let the pups out. I had a 3 o'clock lesson on Pammon, but it was only noon, so I had a little bit of time. I rode  sat on Shiny before the lesson too so I could be all done after. We did a little trotting in the ring bareback, but mostly we grazed in the yard. #lazy

Rio had his groomies and some grass in between too.

 Anyway, trainer was ready a little early so that was nice, because I was too. I had a great lesson with Pammon! I let trainer know that I was struggling with the sitting trot, and also felt like I needed a little verification on pace. Everything feels really slow, but I'm not sure it actually is. She fixed my sitting trot in like two laps of the ring. Ok... maybe not totally fixed as some of the issue is weakness on my part. But she helped me improve it ten fold. She also helped fix how I was using my leg to make it more effective. (Spoiler alert, it's helped with Shiny too!)
Eventually, after all the much needed flat assistance, we moved on to jumping. We only jumped teeny little speed bumps, but it was so amazing.

Pammon really is some kind of saint. He doesn't peek at the jumps at all. You point, he jumps. Easy peasy. I found some longer spots, some ugly chips, some good ones. And he just jumped the thing every single time. He doesn't land and get strong. He doesn't try to pull me to the jumps. He JUST DOES THE JOB. It's exactly what I need right now. I am so in love with him.

moments before he nibbled me.

My homework is to keep jumping regularly and to start jumping a little bigger. Trainer is off to VT for a couple weeks, but she wants me to find a show for when she's home to take Pammon to. I'm not sure it's going to work out though. Trainer is only home for a couple weeks. Pammon is getting shots the Friday she gets back, and the weekend following there isn't really anything nearby. She may be grumpy about it, but I think it needs to wait until August.

I spent the evening at my dad's house enjoying some grilled food and fireworks on the beach. His town doesn't do a show anymore, but there are all kinds of private (rather illegal) shows all along the beach.

Friday was a work day, but I did ride Shiny and Pammon after work. They were both great. Shiny is getting a bit better with her canter transitions so that's promising.

Saturday was MORE PONIES! And I had to stay on schedule because our family lobster fest was that night. I flatted Eros in the morning, and then headed back home to work everyone at home, and graze Rio. After my great lesson on Thursday, I was feeling super motivated so I popped Pammon over a few more teeny jumps, and then I even jumped Shiny over a few crossrails! We had not yet done any jumping together, though I don't really know what I was waiting for. You guys. Shiny LOVES to jump! She took me right to it and jumped calmly each time. I'm so excited! She's totally everything I wanted in a backyard fun pony. I can't wait to jump some more fences with her!

Once everyone was cooled off, tucked back in, and fed, I showered and headed over to my dad's for Lobster Fest!

It's one of my favorite events of the year, because who doesn't love to gorge themselves on lobster?  Obviously I dressed for the occasion:

Don't stare directly at those legs... they are blinding.

After stuffing myself full of lobster, I stopped home to drop off the leftovers and change. I had one pony to braid before bed time.

And then it was right to bed because I had a 7:30 AM lesson with Eros. On a Sunday. Oy.
It was a decent lesson, same old issues. I get dragged around, but Eros is otherwise perfect. Lol. Someday we'll make some progress. Maybe. Either way, I still think he's the best dude. After my lesson, I stopped by the farmers market to stock up on veggies and cheese for the week. And that was when I saw the text asking me to ride Fefe. Oops, somehow I didn't see it while I was still at the barn. I had time though, so after dropping my goodies off at home, I went back to the barn.
Out of sheer laziness I rode indoors. Fefe is an ass walking back to the barn after you ride and I didn't feel like dealing with it. (Full disclosure... lol.) It was actually the best ride I've had on her. She gave me some really great trot work, even coming onto the bit and lifting her back. I was impressed, didn't think she had those buttons! The indoor was quite a bit cooler than outside too, so that was also quite pleasant.

AND then it was home to work the others and take care of Rio. And then I died. Lol. Not really. But I was definitely exhausted. You already know about Monday, and Tuesday we had nice rides again. Nothing really to report.
How was your week/weekend? Did you have a four day weekend? If you did, I'm a lil' jealous...