Ovary Free

Last Sunday Naners and I drove the 7+ hours to the north side of Phoenix to get her ovaries out. It was just above freezing when we left home, it was 84 there. We were both quite warm. I thought she was going to be really cranky about the drive because she wasn't allowed to have hay (no food for 24 hours before surgery.) She was oddly quiet, no banging at stop lights as usual. She spent the night across the street from the surgery place, a very convenient place to have a layup facility. I got to maneuver through traffic to my friend's house on the other side of the city. I hate city driving with the truck.

I didn't sleep well. The bed was hard and I found on the drive down that I really care for Naners more than I sometimes think I do. I was worried for her. With worry about the horse, and worry about traffic, I got up there far earlier than I needed to be. I let Naners run around the round pen for a bit, but she was scouring the place for anything at all possibly edible. At 7:55 we walked over to the Horsie Hospital. She was quiet until she saw their cool metal horse statues. She didn't know what they were and were suspect.

We found their people and Naners went into a stall. I went back across the street, got the truck and put my nose to the dissertation grindstone in their comfy waiting room. I actually got some stuff done. Then, when they started I was able to watch through a window.

She had a standing laproscopic procedure, so she was just heavily sedated, not completely knocked out. As a result, she would react to things, especially at first. And it totally unglued me. I texted my vet, asking if we were doing the right thing. She called me almost right back, assured me that yes, we were doing the right thing. I had a little cry, then went back in and watched. I watched almost all of her left ovary, as that's the one I could see. Not that there was much to see.

So, here's what they pulled out:

Horse ovaries are not supposed to look like that. Especially on the left, you can see a huge follicle, which is a fluid filled sac that would turn into an egg. Both ovaries had follicles, which shouldn't happen. These basically look exactly like what we saw on her ultrasound several weeks earlier. Things should have changed.

Here's what they look like cut open with the follicles drained

All the wetness is from the popped follicles.

After that, I was wiped. I was given the option of Naners spending the night there or back across the street. For my own mental health, I let her stay there. I needed to find food, thank goodness there are a ton of In N'Outs in Phoenix now (hello grilled cheese animal style no pickles) and got lost again trying to get to Greenway Saddlery, where I somehow walked out having only bought a new pair of spur straps. Whether we were going to be able to leave Tuesday morning all depended on how things went for Naners over night.

Tuesday morning I was on the freeway when the vet called with a cheery good morning and asked if I was ready to go home because my mare was. Yay! I went to pick her up and found out she needed to be stall bound for a month. My stall walking mare locked up? Yeah, no. It also sunk in that she was really, really shaved. Blankets were going to be a must when we got home. A week of bute meant more Gastroguard. But, my mare was okay.

I loaded her up and off we went. I stopped more than I usually would, partially because I kept having to pee and I figured she probably wouldn't mind. I mulled over the whole how to lock up my horse thing, my lack of gastroguard, having no idea where my bute was hiding, and left a message for my vet. She texted back that we needed to keep her locked up for at least 24 hours, longer if we could. I, of course, have no shavings because I don't normally bed. An hour from home the feed store has a big lot (and I had to pee) so we stopped there. Right before then though, I had this view:

With 8 bags of shavings in the truck, we got closer to home. I called the vet when we got off the main road, she was waiting for us when we passed her house so I could get the gastroguard and bute. My husband actually came outside when we got home and helped me close off the stall, find the heated water bucket, get the shavings in...

She's actually more okay with being locked up than I thought she would be. Cleaning the stall of a walker? That freaking sucks and takes forever. So, since the vet is okay with her going out in her corral tomorrow that's what she's going to do, because starting on Monday I'm back in dissertation research land and will not have the time to clean that mess twice a day.

I'm still tired from it. 8 hours of driving, surgery stress, 8 hours back in three days. But, now hopefully cranky mare will become a thing of the past and I can enjoy my horse again.

We're off to see the surgeon...

In two days Naners and I are off on a journey to get her ovaries removed.

Why? It's probably the only thing that will help. My vet didn't want to try regumate, as some other mares that have presented like she did actually become more aggressive and nasty on it, and then you have an expensive bottle of regumate sitting around that you can't use and you still have to go get the ovaries out. Other than her giant follicles, everything else looks good, so it really looks like it's the source of the problem. I haven't ridden her in weeks because I got sick of dodging teeth and I didn't want to make it a learned behavior (though it probably already is at this point. Fingers crossed it isn't.) People have asked why I don't just sell her. Well, 1) I like my horse when she's not trying to bite me 2) She's basically unsellable with this issue. So, it's get them out or have a nasty high maintenance pasture pet for the next 15 or so years.

Is it possible this won't solve the problem? Of course. But the probability that it is is too high to ignore.

It's going to be tough on her. She can't eat for 24 hours before her surgery, which means the 7+ hour trailer ride will be without hay. There's going to be some serious grumpy going on back there.

Exercise with Mr. Short, Fat and Adorable

I will have to blame my dissertation brain for neglecting to post these pictures of Ollie and I from the summer. Now, before anyone panics about me having his lead around my wrist, I sewed a velcro fuse in so in theory, if we have a wreck, we'll detach. Honestly, he trots so slow I can barely stay upright on the bike.

And a video

Mare problems!

Long time readers will note that Naners frequently has some sort of problem. About a year ago she started having issues with her back, I've switched saddles, added pads, etc... lumbar still hurts. This summer, when she came back into work after her tendon injury, she was also cranky about being saddled. She was just cranky when I girthed, then she got so cranky she would try to bite me for doing things like, oh, touching her at all. My horse was not right. Sounded like ulcers, so on Gastroguard she went. Things improved, still cranky while girthing but otherwise fine. Until the other day when I put the rope around her neck to catch her and she tried to bite me again.

Today the vet was out and we ultrasounded her ovaries: some mighty large follicles on one (42mm was the biggest) and a number on the other as well. There's blood work and stuff still to figure out exactly what is going on, but long story short, giant ovarian follicles could definitely be making her back hurt.

My wonderful vet refused to speculate about what will happen until she gets test results back. I have become resigned to the fact that I'm probably going to either have to give her Regumate or get her ovaries removed. I may be overreacting.

time flies

It's been awhile. Grad school fried my brain and now it's starting back up all over again with dissertation crap. And I was so freaking busy all summer. I realized I haven't shown at all this year, but I've been to five different events as a second shooter. Yay making money instead of spending it! Though, I did end up buying a fabulous hot pink saddle pad at Colorado Horse Park (I couldn't resist! It's my colors!)

Toffee pony spent two months with a trainer and now walk, trots, canters and jumps. The best part? She steers! Well, most of the time she steers. She's still extremely green so sometimes the steering goes out. I've been riding her and I'm very impressed with her. Her arena work still needs, well, work, but riding down the road? She's very well behaved. She looks at stuff, but isn't concerned, just wants to know what it is. I'm really quite sad she's not a bit taller, as I really do enjoy her. I'm planning on taking her to a local show in a month and we'll see how that goes.

 

Naners is rehabbing. We're up to 30 minutes of walk and two minutes of trot. She's also now allowed to go back in the pasture and while we would prefer if she didn't gallop out to the fence line it did her no harm, so we just let her do it. However, she's gotten super grumpy about being saddled, so first we're ruling out back stuff (as it's cheaper) and then we'll look into ulcers. It's never ending with her. 

Ollie would like to report that winter is coming

Freaking Fragile Horses

Naners was finally better from her injury, we were making progress, planning on Training Level Test 3 for a local show.

Then, less than a week before the show, on a sunday night, her right hind just didn't look right, but I couldn't put my finger on it. This is exactly the same leg that she scraped open two months earlier. It didn't really feel hotter than the other leg, but the cleft between tendons was filled in. Sent a text to the vet giving her a heads up and that I'd text in the morning when the light was better.

Monday morning, not hot, but definitely not right. Sent a picture to the vet.

"Ummm.... that looks like a bow."

No. Nonononononononono.

She came out, ultrasounded the leg... lesion on the DDFT. Back to being locked up in her pen. Back to me not riding her.

I'm pissed. We always joke about how we need to bubble wrap our horses, but seriously, Naners likes to hurt herself more than any horse I've ever known. In less than a year and a half she's ulcerated her eye (April 2014), sliced her tendon sheath open (June 2014), tendon sheath got infected (July 2014), slight laminitis (fall 2014), slight laminitis (spring 2015), sliced a leg open again (April 2015), bowed tendon (June 2015). Oh, and then there's her ongoing odd back soreness, that we figure is due to her fence walking.

There comes a point when you own every horse that you start wondering how much more money it's worth putting into them. I'm at that point with her. I'm not sure I can sell her, due to her management issues (the fence walking and laminitis on fall and spring grass.)

For now, I'm just going to wait till her tendon heals and then go from there.

Pam and Ollie's Girth Reduction Plan

Ollie the mini has gotten a bit… rotund.

I have also gotten a bit… rotund.

What can the two of us do together to work on this problem? Most would recommend walking or running, neither of which I can do without making my back and/or neck hurt. I can bike. People bike with their dogs, why can't I bike with my mini? 

Turns out I can bike with my mini

Yesterday I took out the bike and walked it over to the barn. I figured it was going to take a bit of training for Ollie to be okay with walking next to it while I rode it. It took zero training, he just did it. However, I had to pedal so, so slow for him to keep up trotting. We did maybe 1/3 of a mile.

This probably isn't the safest thing I've ever come up with, but really, is anything with horses perfectly safe? And, people do it with their dogs all the time. Granted, dogs are a bit lighter. The safety comes into question when he suddenly stops, so of course the bike ends up stopping. If I had any speed it could go badly. I plan to adapt my holding onto him mechanism (currently it's just his lead rope) to lessen the chance of disaster in this scenario. Also, as he continues to learn what exactly we're doing it should decrease.

Yes, the handle bars are taller than he is.

Today we got all the way to the gate and back, almost a mile round trip. He definitely had better stamina today (I think yesterday may have just been a little warm, he still has a good amount of fuzz.) Tomorrow will probably be a day off, then we'll do the length of the driveway again. Then, even with my back screaming, I need to take him out on the road without the bike and see how he is with traffic passing before I even attempt it with. Then, we'll end up being a local sensation.

Diamond in the rough? Oh yeah.

So, when I picked up the pony I knew she was nice, and her former owner really had no idea how nice. The pictures she'd taken to sell her were not good and as a result no one else saw what my friends and I did when we met her. I turned the pony out yesterday in the pasture for the first time. I cannot begin to express how much I wish she was a couple of inches taller.

She ran and ran and ran, including jumping over the ditch.

Doesn't she look like she's doing upper level dressage in this one?

Naners is just happy she has someone to run with

The plan right now is the pony is off to a trainer for 30 days in a week or two and then I'll go from there with what to do with her.

Introducing Banana's Mini Me

Last week, a pony mare for sale passed through my facebook feed. I was not looking. But, her cute face stopped my scrolling. She was only 30 minutes away, and was on my way to where I was going later. I stopped. And met a mare who was wary at first, but in a few minutes was nuzzling my cheek. Her owner had a very high opinion of her horse keeping skills, to me they were sub-par, as evidenced by her feet. I said if she hadn't sold by the end of the weekend I'd be back to ride her.

I sent her pictures to my horsie friends. Everyone remarked how much she looks like Naners. And she does. A smaller version.

Our weather this past weekend was crap. It rained and rained and rained. Which, is actually awesome because it's dry here, but not helpful when one is going to try out a horse. I went on Sunday, two friends (one my current trainer) met me down there. We sunk halfway up our feet in mud. Riding the mare was not going to happen. But, when they met her, saw her move, looked at how well built she was, we decided we could not leave this pony's future to fate. There was just something about her we were all drawn to. Long story short, Tuesday I picked her up.

The above picture looks like the meeting was friendly. And for the most part it was. She was in heat so she and Ollie were instantly infatuated with each other. However, then Naners took a turn towards her alpha mare self:

No one has been maimed, though as Naners' leg wound had some pus today it may have set her leg healing back. Things have calmed down since Tuesday. But oh is pony attached to her new friends. If I take Naners out for her hand graze pony just carries on and on and on. It's getting quite annoying. I hope as she settles she's not quite so needy. She had no idea what a feed pan was, and the handful of ration balancer in it was extremely suspect. Tonight she ate it right down.

I'm slowly working through to see how her ground manners are. Fine with grooming, a little hesitant about a few feet. They are in great need of help. She's worried about a spray bottle, but was totally okay with me spraying her with water out of the hose. The vet will be here on Saturday to do her teeth and shots, farrier early next week. Then one of these days I'll get on her. I'm hoping I can convince someone else to do it first, because while she's supposedly a good girl, she's very green. And I hate unplanned meetings with the ground.

Banana's leg today

The vet and I are pleased. That's four days.

Future Employment?

I'm pretty sure Ollie has a future as a waiter.

Unexpected

This was a shocking thing to wake up to: snow. I was extra glad I'd put a blanket on Naners last night

See? It does occasionally happen.

I took it off maybe when it was cooler than I would have liked, but I much preferred the thought of her rolling in the snow instead of the inevitable mud

I also took this fabulous picture of her, worthy of the photography skills of my father

I can count the number of times I've seen her rear on one hand, so I didn't have the camera positioned for this antic. My dad, on the other hand, cuts off heads even when the subject more than fits in the frame.

And just like that, a screeching halt

Yesterday, I loaded Naners on the trailer and off we went for our lesson. She was quieter than usual, no banging at every stop sign and light (she doesn't kick, she just moves around and since the trailer is steel it makes a lot of noise.) We've been trailering a lot lately, so she's probably just gotten more tolerant of the situation (it happens. She's always bad for a bit, then gets better) We got to the trainers and I unloaded her and she stepped off so quietly, when she usually leaps. Unfortunately, she stepped off so quietly she didn't quite leave enough room for her hind legs to come down and she scraped them against the little bits of metal that hold the corners of the bottoms of the double doors. What originally looked like a surface scrape was not:

That's what it looked like after the vet had snipped off a flap of skin. There was also a pretty deep puncture that extends about an inch down from the hole, discovered when she was flushing it with saline and the skin was extending outward as the saline went in. I'm really, really glad I called the vet.

Naners is now laid up for goodness knows how long. Depends on how things go of course. Going to the rally is out, so we won't be able to qualify for PC Champs. I get to practice my fine wound wrapping skills again. I still have supplies from last summer.

Obviously, I don't wrap when we travel. She wears bell boots when I can get them on her safely (as soon as she realizes she has to get on the trailer she starts carrying on.) I've been thinking of ways to make the back of the trailer safer, there isn't a way to pad the things in a way that the doors will still be able to close. A neighbor/friend thinks we could at least take the corners off the holder thingies, which would make it quite a bit better. I shall post before and after pics when we do it, as my trailer is not the only one out there with doors like this.

I swear officer! It was like that when I got here

This is what I found yesterday when I opened the trailer when Naners and I got home from our lesson:

It looks like something terrible happened in there, maybe a murder, at least a stabbing. I was a bit frantic, checking Naners all over. All I found was dried blood around her left nostril and two tiny, wet drips. Guesses are she hit her nose, they bleed a lot, and because it is a stock trailer, so there's wind, it blew all over the place. I just can't get over all the blood. It did, fortunately, clean up fairly easily (much easier than the just oiled gravel that's all over the outside of the trailer. I tried, it's still there. I need more water than I'm willing to sacrifice from our cistern.)

Naners is fine. Today we went for a walk down the road and all was well.

It's been a fun couple weeks... not!

When last I posted I thought Naners and I were really going to slide off the eventing train and become a western dressage pair. Fortunately, I borrowed a neighbors wintec pro dressage saddle and neither of us had problems with it. Yay!

But, after I had this figured out Naners wasn't right... her back was okay, something else was going on. With it being the time of year it is, and as I was transitioning her back to grass, I felt for digital pulses, something I can never, ever feel... but there they were, bounding away. Long story short: Naners cannot be out on grass unless our temps are over 40 at night, spring or fall, (40 degrees being the magic temperature that grass can use the sugars produced during the day to grow) or she'll end up with full blown laminitis. I caught it really early, so she's okay. I just need to buy a heck of a lot more hay this year. It never ceases to amaze me how good a diagnostic tool my seat is. Every time things have not felt right to me, regardless of horse, things have turned out to not be right, even if it is so subtle it takes the vet awhile to determine the problem.

With the Wintec working it's very clear that my beloved Black Country Tex Eventer is not working for us. I can't bear to sell it yet, so it'll be collecting dust for awhile. We did a Ride a Test clinic on Sunday and our trainer agrees that the Wintec works just fine for us. Alas, I don't have dressage saddle riding muscles yet, so I'm a freaking mess in it.

We also got our fabulous bonnet from Heartland Horsewear. I love it.

Down the rabbit hole?

Argh. Since I've been able to ride again Naners has regularly had a sore back. First, I noticed she was sore after I rode her. Then I started checking her back several times a day. Generally, she's sore in the morning and not sore in the afternoon. So, one of those afternoons I put my saddle on, and she was sore after a 20 minute ride. I've been testing several variables. Today we tried a western saddle: no soreness. So, we may be looking at doing western dressage. Downside: Naners' natural gaits are much faster than a western horse should be going. Plus: blingy show shirts!

Adventures in grazing

Ummm.... Ollie, that's not how you're supposed to wear it

Ollie says, "It's so windy you can see my forehead!"

It's been quite breezy here the last few days, as it frequently is this time of year. One of these days the wind will turn to dust storms, which I seriously dislike. Dirt behind your eyeballs is never comfortable.

Naners be home

I had a plan for this last week. It was Naners' last week at the trainers and I was going to basically drive out every day and take a lesson.

Sunday morning, a week ago, I was driving out to deliver a browband to a friend and a stupid kid didn't look both ways while driving out of his driveway and hit me. I'm okay, but it aggravated just about everything screwed up in my body. The car is mostly okay, front right fender and wheel are scratched pretty good. Riding was out of the question, at least for a few days. Thurs morning I was thinking maybe I could ride her when I went to pick her up. Then I did something and must have pulled every muscle in my back and spent the rest of the day walking around at 120 degrees. I've obviously left parts out of this story, like trips to the doctor. However, I am cursing doctors past for not giving me the good drugs when I was in more pain than this though. Muscle relaxers are my new best friends.

I'm contemplating getting on her today, just to walk down the road, but only if the neighbor can come with.

I hope I can really ride soon, because our trainer is MOVING! *sob* and I need to take advantage of her all I can before she does. She did a great job with Naners, now we have to get the two of us working together.

And go like my browband business on Facebook :)

Spring

As has been noted elsewhere spring is arriving. Saturday morning the bees were awake, desperately trying to climb in the three half-blooming hyacinths in the garden. This also appeared:

I really dislike gardening, but I love my spring bulbs so much I suck it up. The prairie dogs have been awake for a few weeks, they looked rather ridiculous running around in the snow. The bluebirds have arrived. All we're waiting for is the meadowlarks and we'll be in full blown spring.

Addition: not two minutes after I posted this I heard a meadowlark singing. The gang's all here!

If you can't see are eyes really windows to the soul?

I have, of course, been thinking about the situation with Naners a lot as of late. Things just weren't adding up for me. Why was a mare that can jump, even if she hates it, refusing to go over ground poles? Then I started putting things together and called my vet. Could it be possible that Naners has a vision problem? The answer: yeah. And it would make a lot of sense actually. When talking with the trainer she's with about it she said that she had also been wondering at that possibility. Alas, horses can't read an eye chart, so unless there's something physically wrong with the eye, or there's an obvious problem, they're pretty difficult to determine. But, it would explain so many things with her, so as far as I'm concerned she has a vision issue. Fortunately, it shouldn't be a problem with our dressage plans, but it means that I really am never going to jump her.

Ollie in his turnout

It really blows my mind that I pounded the posts in two weeks ago and now we're covered in snow again.

Decision

I have come to a decision to my dilemma with Banana.

Grad school, a property, 4 dogs, 4 cats and 1.5 horses sucks up funds. Even if I had an awesome jumper right now I really don't have the money to event. If I did have one and couldn't because I couldn't afford it I would be extremely frustrated. So, getting another horse so I can jump makes little sense right now. However, if one falls in my lap I won't turn it down.

So, until I'm done with Grad School (about a year and a half) I'm sticking with Naners and we'll explore this dressage thing. I'm going to take all the jumping pressure off us. Will I continue to explore it as a possibility? Yes, but very, very slowly with no expectations. I'm aiming us for the regional dressage rally at the end of April to see if we can qualify for PC Champs, though I have no plans to actually go (unless funding miraculously appears.) We'll also do the local dressage shows and a recognized one in the fall.

I'm... happy isn't quite the right word, let's go with "at peace" with this plan. It just makes sense.

*sigh* the dilemma is back

Long time readers will remember my regular doubt regarding whether Naners was the right horse for me or not. I like her, I like her a lot. It might even be love, but it's not love like I had with Fudge and Penny. However, in the over two years I've had her, I've always had this nagging doubt over her appropriateness, especially with the jumping issues. Every trainer I've talked to about it has always been, "oh! but she's such a nice jumper!" And I couldn't make them understand that yes, she might have nice form but I really didn't believe she liked to do it. I've had to kick her over 1' logs.

The trainer she's with right now, who I really respect, told me that she thinks if I want to jump I need a different horse. First person in two years that actually voiced what I suspected it. She then told me a story about how she refused ground poles the other day. Seriously, all these trainers... the horse refuses x-rails, how can you just tell me she's a good jumper and not really think down to the problem?

So, here we are with the dilemma again: do I keep her and just do straight dressage? Or sell her so I can jump? I'm not entirely unsure that I would be sad just doing dressage. It was fun being at a show and not wanting to puke. I'm an eventer at heart, but I also am not necessarily against leading a less risky life and not jumping for awhile.

Naners is off at Horsie School.
 

 

The adorable white pony she's pictured with is not Ollie. When she first saw him she neighed and was all excited, then realized he wasn't Ollie and pulled up, confused. Poor Naners.

She's very content at Horsie School. There's five of them total, and there's a lot of stuff to watch from the property. When I left after visiting the other day she was just watching life go by in the valley. She hasn't fence walked once, there's enough going on to keep her occupied. 

I really like the trainer she's with: it's who we've been lessoning with as of late. She was surprised to find that Naners has some really good training somewhere in her past. Heck, it surprises me whenever she reminds me she has it and I've owned the mare for two years now. She thinks that Naners' general issue is extreme insecurity when things get more mentally difficult, but she really does like to work. Not sure I necessarily agree with the latter, as I'm not sure she'd run away from me in the pasture if she really wanted to work :D

Naners is going to be over there for a month getting a refresher course. Ollie is here by himself and was quite sad the first night, but now he seems to be fine. And, he'll be even happier in a few days when I finish his new turnout.

Whooo hoo! Got my Tail Light

Everyone needs some Ollie

The snowy one is from the beginning of January, when we actually had snow. The last couple of days its been the opposite and I'm pounding t-posts into the ground.


Only 8 more posts to go.

Responsible schmonsible

And it took me just over 24 hours to fall back into being an irresponsible adult.

When one is low on funds you start weighing the worth of things. For example, I desperately want to go to my high school reunion in May. I went to a girls' boarding school, so reunion is all about spending a weekend with your dear friends when they're all in the same place every five years. I'm currently looking at a $600 plane flight for that. Adding in hotel, etc, it'll be close to a $1000 weekend.

At the same time, the north fence line still needs to be redone, we need to put loads and loads of gravel on our 1/2 mile long driveway, the barn aisle needs help, and I've been planning a smaller turnout off the corrals for years. I've decided it would be a better use of funds to further one of these things, leading to ease of daily life, than to blow it all on one fun weekend.

The horrors of being an adult.

Due to having been gifted with 20 used t-post covers, the turnout is the first on the list. Today I finally ordered the electric tape (horseguard bi-polar) and they had a charger on closeout, so I saved a big bunch of cash there.

Fence instead of a trip. I am officially a rancher adult.

Poor Naners

On Saturday we trailered into town for our lesson, despite the chilliness. The snow melting off the fairgrounds arena roof looked like rain. I went to unload Naners and for the first time in over a year she flew out backwards and she hit her head. Hard. I checked for booboos, no blood, but she certainly didn't want me messing with her head. We decided to give our lesson a go, since we were there. She was fine for a bit, but then started pinning her left ear and carrying her head with a slight tilt. I got off, the mare was not right. Fortunately our favorite vet just happened to be at the fairgrounds and gave her a check. Naners was sorta funny. She'd make to rub on you, like she wanted affection, but then backed off if you went to scratch her head. It was almost like she was asking for help cause her head hurt. And, the area around her left ear? Very owwie.

I was prepared for loading shenanigans to come home: she walked on just fine. I was prepared for unloading shenanigans: she walked off quietly like she does these days. I have no idea what set her off at the fairgrounds. And it honestly could have been anything. I don't think I'm going to put her head bumper back on.

She got a gram of bute when we returned and then took off at an extended trot, head tilted, ear pinned, across the pasture. When she came in for dinner the head and ear were back to normal. She's getting time off of course. Which is a shame, as the road is dry so we could be getting exercise. But, as she galloped out to the pasture this morning I remembered she doesn't need much exercise :D

Jumping pics of Fudge

My heart horse, Fudge. Who I put down five years ago this month.

1999

2005 (no comments on our less than safe fence)

2005 again

2008, after I finally got her

2009, possibly the last time I jumped her

Back on the track to not sucking

Yesterday Naners and I had our first lesson in like six months. It went surprisingly well. I had been thinking I needed to put her in full dressage training for a few weeks this spring, but now I'm not sure I need to. It's shocking what riding with someone who has a good tool kit can do for you. If I'd taken a lesson with the Taskmaster we would have spent 45 minutes working on that thing I can't do again, because the Taskmaster has one way she likes to do things. Instead, I ended up with a pretty round mare without having to do that damn thing. the more you make Naners think, the rounder she gets. So, that's good. Though, as our instructor lamented, she thinks riding higher level tests is easier as the horse doesn't have time to not think about what it's doing. I can see that. Alas, right now I'm aiming for Training level, not a lot to think about in there.

I also learned I can slow down my horse by tightening my abs. That would have been a handy thing to have learned at some point previous to this. So, I now have the Ab half halt in my arsenal. Of course, my abs hurt today as a result :D

Brrrrrr

 

 Banana running in to dinner last night at a toasty 24.

What trees look like when it's zero out.

 What a Banana looks like when it's zero out. That's frost, not lice :D

2014 or something

It's that day of the year we reflect on stuff. Eh, I'm not going to bother. 2014 just was.

I did spend the last bit of the year knitting tiny hats. I like to knit, but I don't like following patterns, so I'm rather stuck with hats and scarves and wing it. I learned not long ago that our local hospital sends all babies home with locally knitted hats. So, I knit some tiny hats.

Now I'm knitting some adult hats for my friends, trying to use up my yarn stash. So I can, of course, replace that yarn with new yarn. 

On the horse front, 2015 started with shoveling snow out of the stalls. It just seems wrong to have to shovel snow out of stalls.