What's Up Wednesday

 

We had some weather woes last week and the home ponies all got a bonus day off. Then Eros had Friday off too. Well. Sort of. I got on and the guy who lives on the other side of the woods from me was playing with his antique tractor... Normally not too big of an issue, but it kept backfiring, and Eros just could not. It was getting dark out, and I feel like some days you choose your battles. Shiny gives zero effs about such things though, so she DID get worked Friday. 

The inconsistency during the week lead to somewhat interesting rides on Saturday. It was really windy, but otherwise a nice enough day. But you guys. Both horses were a little bonkers. Eros wound up spending our entire ride on basically a 20 meter circle. It was a LONG 40 minutes. 

But we got some work done and thankfully that ride re-installed his brain for a nice ride on Sunday. It's funny. Sunday, the guy next door decided to clean out his shed (right next to my ring) while I was riding Eros. I don't know what all he keeps in there, but it was LOUD. Like he would just literally throw things out from inside into a large pile. There was much crashing and loud noises. Did Eros care? Nope. That horse is so odd you guys.

Refusing to leave the end of the ring on Saturday...

Shiny's version of bonkers is very different from Eros. She doesn't do anything too crazy. Usually... she did run away after popping over an x one time...

Pivo Red couldn't keep up with her SO FAST RUNNING! 
(which lasted about two and a half strides. lol)

Nope, Shiny doesn't usually get wild. Instead she gets rude. She was inconsistent in the contact, behind the leg, and just generally doing what she wanted. On more than one occasion I asked her to circle and got no response.

Zero interest in listening to mom

I realized trying to have a jump school with that particular pony on that day was pointless. Instead we just kept working at reinstalling the correct buttons. She finished up well enough at least. Sunday, she was still a little... opinionated. 

Clearly annoyed with me.

So instead of jumping courses or working through the grid, we continued our flatwork session from the day before. But this time I would throw jumps in as we were going. So we'd flat for awhile, working on different things, then pop over a jump and go back to whatever we were working on. 

It was a good lesson for her, because often once we start jumping I will lose some of the suppleness I normally achieve on the flat. It was nice to keep that conversation happening. And have a softer pony.

I've been getting used to and enjoying our Sunday bareback rides, and was disappointed to miss out on it this week, but sometimes we have to do work. Such is life. Sorry pony. 

Pammon is doing about the same. We're getting him weaned off the ace which is nice. I'm hoping once I can ride him safely without it, maybe he'll give me a little more and start feeling less... blah. Time will tell I suppose.

In other news, I dropped off my ballot over the weekend, so I have officially voted! Feels good to have that done. I was planning to vote in person, but in my small town, I feel confident that nothing will happen to my absentee ballot. The drop box is right at the town hall, so the USPS doesn't have to handle it. 

I also walked a 5K on Sunday. There are a handful of races I normally run every year in October (despite the fact that I run almost never the rest of the year...) and I wanted to keep that tradition going.

 

They have all offered a virtual option this year, so I registered and am picking away at them. Even if the first one I walked instead of running... I still wound up with shin splints! Ha. #outofshape

Hopefully you're still with me at this point, because I wanted to point out that I added a "Stuff for Sale" tab to my home page here on the blog. Currently it only has breeches on it, but I'll slowly be adding other stuff as I get around to taking photos. So if you're looking for some schooling breeches and you wear size 28 or 30, check out my new tab! If you're interested in anything, just comment on that page, or feel free to message me either on Facebook, Instagram, or my email.

I hope you all had a good week/weekend! Do anything fun?

What's Up Wednesday: Running edition

This past week included a lot more running that horses, which is super weird. There are two 5K races I run every year, and much to my misfortune, they happen the same weekend. First up was Saturday's Ivoryton Pumpkin Run which is put on by that town's library. It's one town over from me, and happens to be where my brother and his family live. My two nieces did the fun run, and I did the 5K.

Let us remember that I have run a total of 4 miles in the last I dunno... six months? Two of them right after Pammon got hurt, and the other two last weekend on Nantucket. This is not what one might consider good training for a 5K race. Especially one that has a full mile in the woods on a narrow path full of rocks and roots. Fortunately, I stayed upright throughout which is more than I can say for the man in his 70's running just behind me. I stopped to make sure he was ok (of course!), and then he passed me. Lol. Hey, once you stop, it's tough to get going again, ok? Anyway, I walked a bit in the woods, mainly on the steep inclines, and then a bit more on the way back. But I crossed the finish line all in one piece. And achieved my slowest time EVER in a 5K. I'd be upset about that except for the whole not training thing. Plus I wore this outfit, so not too much could really bring me down.

After the race I headed home to feed lunch and then went to ride Eros. He was perfect of course, which was much appreciated by my tired legs. And then it was back home to ride Shiny girl and walk Mr Pammon. It was a pretty perfect day, and we all enjoyed our time outside together.

That wrinkly nose though!

A couple of things happened on Friday that needed addressing on Saturday as well. One I couldn't fix right away, but should be done by tomorrow... The gator has a flat tire. I've taken to blaming all flat tires on my creepy neighbor now, but honestly, it's probably just flat. The other is that we've found evidence that I have a rat visiting the barn again. I had two coming around last year or the year before (who can remember) and they were terminated fairly quickly. I was pretty proud of myself for getting rid of them! But alas. Here we are again. So I did what any rational person would do and ordered a case of traps from Amazon. And set a bunch end to end where I found the entrance.

These supposedly don't require bait, but so far I've caught nothing. Fear not though, I have another case of different traps that I'm going to bait with peanut butter. So I will catch the little jerk. (Sorry for anyone who's really anti murdering rats. But I can't have filthy little animals chewing up my coolers and saddle pads and defecating all over the barn.)

Once I had gone all Home Alone on the rats and the horses were tucked in, I was pretty tuckered out. So the pugs and I had a relaxing evening with a relatively early bed time.

Sunday's race was The Run for the Cove. The Cove is a program for children who have lost a parent or sibling to help them through the grieving process. My little brother went through the program when he lost his mom, and it was really wonderful for him. So I make a point to try and run every year. My dad is a sponsor for the race as well, so we get a spot on the t-shirt which is pretty cool:

There is both a 5K run and 2 mile walk, and both are dog friendly. So it's super fun to attend. Dogs get bandanas for participating which is ADORABLE.

My friend and hair dresser runs most years too, so it was nice to have some company.

The best part about being the slowest in the group is that my friends get cool shots like these on the way to the finish:

This run is pretty much flat the entire way which is mostly nice. I managed to run the entire way through which I was pretty proud of! And I finished just about a minute faster than I did the day before. I was super tired after, but proud of myself!

From the race I headed home to feed lunch and then off to ride Eros. He was a gem as always and even offered up flying changes both directions. Normally he trots through them on the flat, but not Sunday! Not sure what's gotten into him, but I'll take it!

My friend had messaged me earlier in the day to say she could clip Shiny for me on Monday, so instead of riding her on Sunday I gave her a bath. A much needed bath I might add. She wasn't thrilled, but she stood like a good girl. And then I bundled her up in her BOT outfit and let her dry off in her stall.

Apparently she was NOT GOOD to clip. Which is surprising to me because she is so good about everything else. But I guess they all have a hole someplace. Sorry friend! Thanks for getting it done though! My allergies appreciate it!

Pammon enjoyed his walk and then the weekend was pretty much over. They go by way too fast. WAY. TOO. FAST.

Pammon, wondering where the time goes.

This week has been fairly unexciting. Shiny got ridden Monday. Pammon got his walk in, it had started raining so we cut it a little short. 15 minutes instead of 20. Last night rained again, and heavier, so they got the night off, and I was able to meet up with the book club girls. So that was fun!
And now we're here. Wednesday. Less on the agenda for the week to come, so that is nice! Hopefully I can get some things accomplished in the disaster that is my house.
How was your week/weekend? Do anything fun? Horse show? Lessons? Go for a run? Tell me all about it in the comments!

What's Up Wednesday

I feel like it's been a really long week, but can't remember half of what happened... Let's see... We last left off it was a rainy Thursday. But when I got home from work and finally dragged myself out of the car (the heated seats suck me in for some social media scrolling sometimes...) I saw this site:

I've never seen anything quite like it! It didn't last long, since the clouds filled back in quickly. But I'm so glad I captured it! (High five new phone!) Anyway, I was supposed to head to Nantucket for a four day weekend with the family, but we had terrible weather on Friday. It wasn't raining, but the winds were blowing at 40 mph so our little plane was grounded. It was kind of nice though. I had taken the day off work, so opted to take the time off and enjoy the horses! I started with Eros and then headed home for Shiny and Pammon. I stayed indoors with Eros. Gotta take advantage of that option when you can in bad weather! But obviously, it was outdoors or nothing for the ones at home. Shiny was  her usual ridiculously lazy self despite the gale force winds blowing all around her. She really is something else! (Visit my Instagram for a video clip of the wind!) Pammon gets a "special cookie" before his walks these days. (A pill pocket for horses stuffed with ace tabs...) I stuck an extra tab in there due to the weather conditions. He was a good boy and walked around for 20 minutes without incident.
Speaking of ace tabs... I also put them in his breakfast so he can have some time in the small walkout in the mornings. I want to be sure he eats them though, so I grind them up. I found the best little grinder on Amazon, and figured I'd share in case anyone else is in need.  It's rechargeable (so cordless when you want it to be) and it's super small. Wouldn't work as well if you needed to grind a big handful of pills. But it's great if you just have a few.

It was pretty up in the air when we would leave Saturday as it was still stormy on the island. Initially I was told 4 pm, which I was like super, I can ride all the horses! So I took my time getting out the door, and then the departure time changed to 1. And then the assistant trainer asked if I could ride Fefe instead of her getting a training ride, and I was like SURE! But also super behind. So I rode Eros and Fefe, but the home horses wound up with days off. It's ok though, they'd have had them off anyway if we'd left as planned. By the time we boarded the plane, it was a beautiful day! In CT anyway.

It was still rainy on Nantucket, so we got settled in and headed to an early dinner and that was about it for day 1!
Day two was BEAUTIFUL. It was sunny and relatively warm. So I got my lazy self up and went for a short 2 mile run.

Afterwards, the family went out for lunch and did some Nantucket souvenir shopping. It was a very relaxing day with no real agenda.

Except ice cream. Ice cream WAS on the agenda.

 We topped it off with an amazing dinner. Sunday we had to leave around one, so we went out for breakfast and then just lazed around until it was time to go. I read a whole book on our trip! So nice to have nothing but free time once in awhile. I mean, often it would be boring, but it's nice for a few days.

 I was home early enough to ride Shiny and walk Pammon before picking the pups up at my mom's. They were very good kids for their grandma which was nice. I hate picking them up when they've made grandma grumpy!

And then it was back to the grind. Work has been so busy lately! I didn't have to stay too late Tuesday though, so got the kiddos out last night. It was beautiful with the not quite full moon rising.

And that's about it from here. A relatively quiet week, but plenty of ponies and a quick trip away! I shall leave you with some adorable pup photos:

What's up Wednesday

We already touched on the big stupid news happening around here, but there were other things that happened in the past week, so I'll fill you all in!
I had a half day on Friday because the horses were getting their fall shots and boosters for EEE. There's a bit of an outbreak happening in my area. So far all of the affected horses were not vaccinated, but better safe. Especially with Rio since his immune system isn't up to snuff. I had hoped the vet would be there on the earlier side of the window so I might have time to ride Eros too, but these things rarely work out that way. It was ok though. I still had time to ride the ones at home, and was able to do a couple of things I've been putting off while I waited. So still a win! Even if I had to make up four hours of work since no one filled in for me... But I digress...
Saturday was kind of a weird day schedule wise. I had a wedding to attend at 2 pm, so that limited my horsing time quite a bit. I opted to give the horses at home the day off, and just head over to ride Eros. I was excited to see how he felt after his injections. My stepmom rode him all week, so it was my first time since that all got done. He felt FANTASTIC.

He had some body work done yesterday and that vet was worried that he has ulcers so we're going to treat him. Kind of surprising to me as he's an actual vacuum cleaner with probably the easiest life ever. But hey, these things can happen. He has been a little cranky lately, so that would explain that behavior. I'm sure he'll be feeling better asap.

The wedding was at a venue just 5 miles from my farm. It's actually a town owned park, and so beautiful for a wedding! The extra nice thing about it being so close and outdoors, was that the bride was able to include her horse and dog in the wedding party! In fact... they were the wedding party!

You may recognize the horse. I got to flat him once (maybe twice?) last winter. His name is Rodeo, and he's a jumper.

 I figured since the wedding started at 2 it would all be over by 6 or 7 so I didn't call the horse sitter to feed. You guys, the party just kept going! I finally left at 7:30 because I figured the horses would be tearing the barn down. They were actually pretty content when I got there. But I felt bad for being late. It was a great time though. And nice to be home fairly early for the night! (I'm so old.)

Sunday is normally my lesson day, but the assistant trainer was getting married that day and barn owner/head trainer was in the wedding party. So no one there to teach. That was fine though. It was a BEAUTIFUL day, so I had a nice flat on Eros, and took a little walk on him after. I rode Pammon and Shiny after, both lightly. Pammon was a spooky pumpkin the whole ride, but nobody died so that was nice. Shiny was pretty sore. She needed the most vaccinations on Friday and her little pony body wasn't too happy about getting them. Maybe next time I'll ask about giving her a little banamine after shots. She's doing better now though, not to worry!

"Hold dis for me please hooman"-Shiny probably

Monday the lameness vet came out for Pammon. It was kind of funny, Pammon was already out on the crossties but doc went right to visit with Rio first. Doc hasn't been out in awhile since I didn't have anything in work for so long, and I think he's missed Rio. I had this vet go over the pre-purchase before I bought him (he was vetted in Holland), so that's how long they've known each other. This vet helped get us through a lot over the years between his torn SI, his 3 suspensory injuries, and eventually the epm too. (Rio was a bit accident prone.) Anyway, doc said he looks great which was nice to hear. (I agree.)

I mean... just look at him!

I had to go back to work for a couple hours after the appointment, but was home early enough to ride Shiny and hand walk Pammon. In the dark.

I can do it myself, Mom.

He wasn't so sure about the shadows and dogs barking in the distance, but he held it together. Last night everyone stayed in because I had a family dinner I needed to attend.

And for the saddest thing you'll read all day... I actually got myself up and went running yesterday morning. I figure if Pammon is out of commission I should still do my part to stay fit. To be honest, the run actually felt pretty great. I was shocked because I hate running and it's always hard for me. Maybe it was easier because I let myself go slow as a turtle and I didn't go that far. But whatever the reason, it was encouraging that I didn't feel like dying the entire time.

I wasn't joking when I said I went slow!

 I'm hoping I can make myself stick with it a few days a week. We'll see how it goes. I have a few 5K races I run participate in every year coming up, so it might be nice to actually feel trained for them. Maybe I can dip back down closer to my old running times. Ha. Probably not.

How was your week? Did you get much riding in? Any EEE scares in your area? How do you stay fit when you're not able to ride as much?

What's Up Wednesday

Wednesday already! Finally? I dunno. When's Friday? This whole working for a living thing is really cramping my play time. Now that spring is here, I just want to go outside and play with ponies.
Anyway, nothing too exciting happened here over the last week. I already mentioned that Jampy came home, which was probably the most eventful thing.
Saturday was rainy, so I rode Eros indoors. Just flatwork still, nothing too exciting. But we have started re-introducing lateral work and collection at the canter. So at least now we're doing some fun stuff on the flat! I wanted to canter some poles, but the ring was busy, so I decided to wait.

Rio got shoes Saturday too, which I was glad about. He was especially unsound that morning, left front which is odd. Farrier didn't find anything wrong in his foot, which was nice, so I figured we would just see how he was on Sunday. Whatever it was, it went away, so he must have just done something to sting himself. Silly pony.

Rio only wears front shoes, so it was the cheapest shoeing bill I think I've ever gotten, now that it's just him at home. Gotta look for the positives right?!
The sun had finally come out Saturday evening, so the pups got to go for a walk. They are ridiculous though. They spend more time sniffing things than actually walking. And they never want to sniff the same things. Kids.

Yeah, they poop a lot too.

I spent Saturday evening hanging with the pups and doing some laundry. Exciting times!

Sunday, unlike Saturday, was quite nice out. Actual REAL spring! I was super excited to get to the barn and ride outside. Eros seems to be over the spring sillies (not that he was ever that bad) and we had a lovely ride in the giant outdoor ring. He even got a little sweaty, and I gave him his first rinse of the season! Followed by some grazing.

I went straight home and spent lots of quality time with Rio. He had a good grooming and then he got to have some grass too.

Tried out this new curry. I kinda like it! The nubs are really flexible, but it still picked up a lot of hair and dirt.

 I can't get over how much better he looks this year. He's so shiny, he looks wet in these photos!

The weather started turning when I was finishing up with Rio, so the pugs didn't get a second walk this weekend. They got lots of snuggles though which they're just as happy with.
This week I actually don't get to ride until the weekend. Stepmom is home and when I asked which days she wanted to ride, she said Tuesday, Wed, Thurs, and Friday. Ok then. (I really need a horse you guys.) Instead, I'm having to do awful things like exercise. The horror.

Blurry pugs, because I'm running on the treadmill while they nap.

So this week is basically just a lot of quality time with Rio. No complaints there though, we both could use it.

No mom, I'm not done snacking.

I might go for my first outdoor run in forever tonight before a little hanging with Rio. It's weird not having a horse to ride and only one to groom. Definitely need to work on that ratio.
That's about it from here. Did you all have a good weekend? Do anything fun? Are you finally having spring?