What's Up Wednesday

 

I feel like I fell into a snowstorm vortex and I don't remember anything before it happened. But that's not really true. We actually had some nice days last week and weekend. It was comfortably cold, anywhere from high 30's to low 40's for several days in a row. It was enough to give you the false sense that spring was coming. Ha. HAHA. LIES from mother nature.

Look at all that bare ground!

I was almost thinking I'd get to ride in a few more weeks. Not so much now! In fact this morning it was snowing again. We got another couple inches. So silly. 

Thankfully the horses got out today. My helper was able to get here, but I met him out there to get started this morning because I left him with only full muck buckets. Least I could do was pitch in for the start. I have a team meeting Wednesday's though so I had to abandon him once the horses were out and the buckets were ready to be refilled. So glad to have some help today! 

I was a little worried the horses might make some bad life choices after being stuck in for so many days, but they're not a highly motivated bunch, and I think the difficulty of just walking through all this snow was enough to take that edge right off them. Once they've made themselves some paths I'm sure antics will ensue. From the boys anyway.

There is a chance we'll get hit again next week, but I'm in denial about that. I spent much of last weekend cleaning up anything outside that shouldn't be there, like any thawed out poop that had previously been too frozen to pick up. Or random hay that the horses had dropped that was finally thawed. I figured if I could reduce the number of surprises under the fresh snow, future me would be appreciative. I hope she's remembers past me for the consideration. 

We haven't been up to too much, but Al helped me make a couple braiding tutorials for TurnoutHQ. He has the best mane in my herd for hunter braids, so that's why I chose him. His behavior however... not ideal for hunter braids. Honestly, not ideal for any braids. Ever. He's a lot. All the time.

Yes he did bite my foot at the end there

But anyway, we did a hunter braid tutorial and then also a braid removal tutorial. It took FOREVER. But we got it done, and I think the finished product is decent. Not perfect, but all things considered, good enough. I'm not sure when they'll get posted THQ, probably next week. But if you're interested in jumper braids, head over to TurnoutHQ and check out Shiny's tutorial! It's posted in three parts, so be sure to see them all! You can find them here. We love comments too, so let me know what you think while you're there!

That's really about it from here. I have a little more shoveling I need to do here. My car isn't quite freed, and the trash cans are still buried. Plus the gates could use some more clearing before this stuff melts and refreezes them in place. Oh and the propane tank needs a path too. You would think all this extra physical labor would help with some of this winter weight... but alas. It has not. Must be age weight and not winter weight. Oof. Whatever. I'd rather chubby and well fed than hungry all the time. AMIRIGHT?!

Hope you're all having better weather than we are!

What's Up Wednesday

 

We last left off on New Year's Eve when I was happily in my bed by 9 pm waiting for the ball to drop. The next day my family hosted my dad's good friend and his family for a boat ride down the intracoastal. We passed by Dad's house which was fun to see from the water because it's had some renovations since I saw it last. 

And then on Friday I got to ride again! I had gone to visit with Shiny's kiddo and her mom (my trainer from years past) earlier in the week, and trainer had said if I had time to come back I could ride. I'm not one to turn down rides, especially on really nice horses! So Friday morning I headed south again and got to ride Frankie:

Looks like we jumped! But that's actually just a pole on the ground

Frankie is a cool dude. I'm not sure how tall he is, probably around 17 hands... but he's equally wide as he is tall. So I looked like a little person up there. Ha! He was really good for our ride, and then Shiny's kiddo took me for a Florida trail ride. Down in Wellington where the barns are, the roads are dirt, so you can ride pretty much all over. They call it trail riding, but really it's just riding on the roads. Definitely not out in the woods! But it was fun, and Frankie was a good brave boy. He's a hunter, so was a little more my speed than Faith and Verona the jumper mares. 

It's really validating for me to get to ride these horses who are so different from each other, and also different from my three. When you only ride your own horses, it's easy to develop a lot of bad habits that your horse just figures out or knows to ignore. But riding other horses will point them right out to you. I'm happy to report that none of them complained too much about me, and responded as I'd hoped to my aids. So while I'm definitely rusty and out of shape, I still for the most part can ride a horse. Thank goodness!

After riding we went for family mani/pedis as one does on vacation. And that was a wrap on vacation. Or should have been anyway. We were supposed to have breakfast and then head to the airport on Saturday for an early afternoon departure. Unfortunately, the best laid plans, never seem to pan out. We wound up VERY delayed, and didn't end up leaving for the airport until 4pm. The only reason it was annoying was that we didn't have any idea when it was going to happen so we couldn't really make much use of the extra day. But that's okay. Even doing nothing is lovely in warm weather. So why the delay you ask? The airport temporarily misplaced our plane. I can't make this stuff up. The airport had much more traffic than they're used to and somehow failed to make note of where they had parked us. But all's well that ends well, they eventually found it. And no one told my father, so that's for the best too. Haha. Oy. 

Anyway, we were finally in the air around 7ish. I got to my mom's house to retrieve Rita about 10 something. Came home to snuggle the horses and do night check, and was in bed about midnight. Long day! And then up at 6 for chores. 

So much for the restful vacation right? The life of a horse girl. Oh and also, along with chores, mother nature gave us more snow that no one expected. The good thing about that was it hid the mess outside. The bad thing is now that it's all melting I'm aware of the mess outside... Not knocking any of my helpers while I was gone, but no one cleans up and takes care of your place like you do. That's just a fact. Anyway, with all the snow Sunday morning, and then cold temps on Monday, the horses are still enjoying their extended vacations. Sunday once I finished chores (which was a bit late since I was trying to get reorganized and re-settled), I groomed each of the horses. Shiny and Eros enjoyed it. Al hates grooming. 

Monday I had planned to not be horsey because I needed to unpack and do laundry. I hadn't gotten around to unpacking holiday gifts from our family Chanukah party either, so it was a full day. I was kind of hoping to ride Tuesday as we're having a warrm up this week, but the ring is a sloppy mess at the moment. Mostly slush, but still some ice underneath. So instead, I spent Tuesday doing more cleaning in the barn. I had done a make it better job Sunday, but Tuesday I went a little deeper. My regular weekday worker has cleaning stall fronts, dusting, and cobwebbing on his chore list, but I gotta be honest, he hasn't been doing much of any of that. When I got back, the stall fronts had slobber stuck all over them (why? I have no idea, not common here). I hadn't gotten to that on Sunday, and was hoping my helper would Monday but alas, still gross on Tuesday. So I wiped down the stall fronts and bars. Then proceeded to spend three hours getting the floor clean. Which was all for naught because after he did chores today it was like I had never done a thing. Sigh. Oh and he left Eros' stall unlatched again. I'm so frustrated with these things. But I have a plan! I'm going to give him an end of day checklist. And require he check each thing off each day before he goes. May or may not be successful, but it's worth a shot. I don't know if I sound like an ass hole, but I've talked to him about the open door latches so many times, I don't know what else to do. That's a real safety issue.

Looked beautiful for the overnight hours!

Today was almost 40 which is an absolute heat wave. The ring is still defrosting, but I have high hopes that it might be useable after the weekend. We went for very slow and careful hand walks in the ring today which was nothing exciting, but I think the horses enjoyed doing something other than turnout and hanging out in their stalls. They all seem to like eating slush too, which I find adorable.

It's supposed to stay in the 40's and we're going to get a lot of rain Friday through the weekend. Cold on Monday, but then back to the 40's. So while I think we probably won't get to actually ride this week nor coming weekend, I'm thinking there's a chance next week. Fingers crossed! 

I'm still mostly happy with my choice to stay home this winter, but I'd be lying if I didn't say there were moments of regret. Like having to do so much extra work before leaving for vacation. Or so much extra work upon returning from said vacation. And the fact that my horses have had so much time off now... But truthfully, I think a little break is good for them. None of them are out of their minds. A little bored maybe, but not behaving poorly. (Other than grooming for Al... but that's nothing new.) And with the bitter cold temps we had in December, it was nice having a warm barn. Definitely appreciated that! And I think there's something to be said for staying more or less in the same routine that they're used to here at home. Even if the riding part isn't happening, they're going out at the same time every day, having only one person make their meals, and it's so nice and quiet here. (Except for when the neighbor is noisy, but you know what I mean.) 

I'm hoping to get some riding in during the January thaw, and then do expect some more downtime in February probably. And then March comes and we should be getting back on track! Hopefully anyway. If not, then April! Whatever. Spring will come. It always does!

What's Up Wednesday: Winter Edition

First things first, I want to thank everyone for the input on yesterday's post! Most of you all gave me the advice I would give too: have a convo with trainer. Which would be easier if we were in the same state. And also if I was better at having those talks. But yeah, we need to chat about things, she and I.

Next up, I'm sure you're all wondering how the vet visit went on Friday. Unfortunately, the "assistant trainer" misunderstood the office when scheduling, and the vet isn't coming until THIS Friday. So we are still waiting. Ok... now on to What's Up Wednesday!

The weather has been bonkers here you guys. Like one day it's in the forties and the next thing I knew, my driveway looked like this:

Ice... as far as the eye can see...

In case you're not sure, that's just ice. Everywhere. Ice. Super fun. I'm actually really glad the horses are on small paddock turnout for once. Much safer where they go out than the ring, that's for sure.
Backing up though, I actually got to ride this weekend! One of the adults at the barn wasn't coming out because she had some projects to work on at home, and offered her horse to me for Saturday. I jumped on the opportunity (after getting permission of course, don't want to get anyone in trouble!). It felt great to get some saddle time, and fun to ride a new to me horse.

That blurry one in the front is me and the loaner pony

Here's a cuter photo of his face:

Saturday wasn't too cold either, so that was nice. But it was the calm before the storm, and it was one of those that they didn't really know what was going to happen. Initially they were threatening two feet of snow. But then it set up a lot warmer, and they were saying snow, turning to freezing rain, and then regular rain. Which is more or less what happened. I was happy to have less snow that's for sure. But the problem was, we had torrential rain on top of a few inches of snow for most of Sunday morning. It was borderline temperature wise, hovering around 35 degrees. So I went out to the barn early to take care of Eros while it was still raining (more on that later). I got done there pretty early, and headed back home to groom the boys. I was in with them maybe an hour and half, and in that short amount of time, the temps dropped fast. Everything was freezing up. And by night time it was 5 degrees. Ugh. Frozen tundra. Yuck. When I got to work Monday morning it was -1 and the feels like was -13. There was ice on the INSIDE of my office windows, and the heat wasn't working right. It wasn't off, but it was quite cold in the office. Double yuck. Fortunately they had it back up and running after lunch.
Have I mentioned I hate winter? Yeah? Ok, just checking.

Anyway, back to Sunday. Everyone keeps asking me if Eros is still off, and truthfully, I didn't know for sure since we'd just been hand walking. So I decided to hop on Sunday to see what we had. It had been almost two weeks that he'd had off so it was possible he'd be feeling better.

This was only a test. Had it been an actual ride, it would have been on Instagram.

Unfortunately, he wasn't any better. I trotted for a few laps to the left, because at first he just felt stiff, but then when I changed direction it was very obvious on the turns that he still was not right. So I went back to walk. Then the "assistant trainer" asked to see him trot and she was like oh, still not right. Then in the next breath she asked me if I was sure, because he's not the soundest horse out there. I wanted to run her over. Seriously? Yes, he does come out stiff some days, but he works out of it, and this isn't stiff, it's LIMPING. Honestly. Anyway, I'm glad the vet will finally be out soon. I realize the vet coming won't fix him, but hopefully we can figure out what's actually wrong and set about trying to help it.
Not too much else going on really. The pugs took advantage of the ridiculous weather for extra snuggles:

The tall kids have been getting mini grooming sessions. They're really shedding, but I don't want to take their hair off when it's 1 degree out. So they haven't enjoyed any mega groomies. Tomorrow is supposed to be almost fifty though (and raining of course) so maybe we'll get the shedding blades out then.
And I saved the cutest for last! I ordered a couple Pony For a Ponies around holiday time with a note that they weren't gifts, so no rush. And they just arrived yesterday! I had one done of my junior hunter Bud:

And it came out ADORABLE:

And the other was of course, of Rio:

And I mean... Look at that FACE!

 Spot on, right? I love how they came out and am so excited to have little mini versions of my two heart horses.
How was your week/weekend? Do anything fun? Did you get hit with this arctic front too?