Hunting!

I am so behind on my dissertation, which should not be surprising, as I was once crowned as the Queen of Procrastination.

However! Naners and I crossed something off my bucket list: Foxhunting! Or, actually, coyote hunting, as that's what they do in Santa Fe. And, as a side note: they've never actually caught a coyote.

Caza Ladron was having their Guest Hunt and Pony Club members were specifically invited, so down we went with my friend JK. There were enough people for four fields. First field is the one that actually stays up with the hounds, galloping around the desert. Then Second Field, lots of canter. Third field was supposed to be Walk-Trot, some canter. Fourth field had kids on lead lines.

Before the hunting fun though, we met the hounds and had a talk on hunting, since there were so many kids (30 guests!) Five different pony clubs were represented on the hunt.

I love hounds

JK and I started in Third Field. Naners was... not her characteristic calm self. When everyone was walking we were doing collected trot and passage, when everyone was trotting we were doing collected canter. I'm not complaining about that as she has a really great canter. I did tell her that when we start moving up the levels if she tries to convince me she can't do collected things I'll know she's lying. The field trotted for a good half hour. I should have been dying, but I wasn't. But, when we stopped for our first check I told the leader person I needed to move back to Fourth field, I just wasn't fit enough for that much trotting.

So, we took a leisurely walk back towards fourth, met up with some peeps that were riding ahead. Since there were so few of us Naners and I jumped a ditch, glad she still meets those with no hesitation.

Fourth Field

 

When we got out of that bunch of horses that was trotting Naners settled down into quiet trail horse mode. I need to get her out on more rides with lots of horses. I also need to get more fit before I go back out.

The might Hunstman and the hounds

We're already making plans for next year and thinking we'll go down at least once to help exercise the hounds, so those of us that aren't fit enough to gallop around for hours can actually see them :D

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.

Adventures in grazing

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

Finally! Mountain Foliage Ride

Since I've had horses here I've wanted to ride up in the mountains while the aspens are changing. Six years later it finally happened.

All below pictures of me by my friend JG.

Yeah, really can't complain about that parking space.

It's hunting season. But, I think wearing orange in the orange aspens is rather silly, so I break out the hot pink. No one was going to miss me.

See?

Naners was her usual awesome self.

I am spoiled for real life.

Over the fences we go

As you can see from the above pictures, Naners and I jumped today for the first time since she injured herself. We didn't suck, though I'm totally rocking the colors of my high school spirit club, the Dials (pink, blue, purple.) I bought the pink helmet for better visibility on the road and didn't even think of it when I threw it in the trailer today. It's very bright. Excellent for the purpose it was purchased for, but it will give one of the trainers I work with a heart attack (she's one of those hunter types that thinks we should all be in CO helmets and white saddle pads.)

The trainer we were working with had me doing three-point. I've never done a three-point in my life. Judging by how much better my jumping was using it as opposed to a two-point I will be revisiting it frequently (top pic, two-point on approach, bottom, three-point on approach.)

Assuming Naners is still sound tomorrow we've got another lesson and I'm thinking I might get a couple of more in before she heads back to Sweden. Boot camp for us maybe wouldn't be a bad thing.

Happy Banana

Banana, grazing. We're still increasing time, but she's up to about seven hours now. She's so happy to be out.

Mountain trail ride on Naners

Banana and I finally went on our first in the mountains trail ride. The ride was nice, the getting there not so much. Two people told us to look for the forest service station and to park there as that's where the trail heads are. We drove up the road, didn't see any signs for trail heads or the forest service station. Then we crossed a little bridge and the road deteriorated. We would have been able to turn around, except, of course, there were cars parked in the turn around. We had to back the trailer through an S curve, with a bridge in the middle, downhill, with rocks, trees or a steep bank on both sides of the road. It took us an hour, but even days later I'm still having anxiety about it. My friend and I switched out, when one of us was getting frustrated with backing the other would take over. The truck and trailer were almost unscathed, except I should have backed further to get into a little parking lot, except I didn't and got the plastic thingy on the front of the truck stuck on a big rock. Backed off it okay, but the plastic thingy is not as attached to the bumper as it once was.

Anyway, we rode through trees, through wildflower filled meadows and stopped when we got to a waterfall. Didn't spend much time there as the bugs were bad and back we came. Round trip it was about 8 miles.

Banana was wary of the first meadow as there were horse eating boulders in it. Then she had a mountain biker come around a corner and basically pull up under her nose and she just looked at him like, "What the hell?" She was fairly well behaved in general, but I wouldn't put a dead beginner on her, that's for sure.

We never did find the forest service station. However, there was a cabin that may have been it once upon a time and probably due to budget cuts is no longer. I have decided I will never again take the trailer anywhere that I am not absolutely positive of where I'm going, or have someone with me who knows exactly where we're going. I think I'm scared for life from having to back the trailer down the road.

Fat Banana

This is what a fat Banana looks like:

This is the fattest she's been since I bought her. What this tells me: that she must have been mostly okay with being incarcerated with Ollie hanging out as she didn't walk off every pound of hay she ate. It also tells me something I'd already known when I got the hay analysis back: this hay is higher in calories than the old stuff. Great for Banana, really bad for Ollie. I came home from my trip to find him really, really fat. Not posting a pic of him as I'm far too embarrassed.

Her feet finally got done so now we're working towards getting fit again in earnest. Yesterday we trotted twice for about 20 feet. Today we trotted a bit more. We're up to three miles total, the next thing I get to add in is walking up the big hill.

Banana proves she is the awesomest horse ever. Seriously. Every other horse is inferior compared to her.

Let me tell you why. (And I think that even though you will all still think your own horses are better, you'll agree I've got a pretty freaking awesome equine in my life.)

Today, while walking down the road, as we do, I could hear a car coming faster than one should be traveling. When it got into view it was not one, but two cars. One was driving down the middle of the road, the other, behind it, was swerving from side to side, wanting to pass. Yes, it wanted to pass a car that was already traveling much faster than our 35 mph gravel road speed limit. Banana and I pulled to the opposite side and stopped in the ditch as there was no driveway available. We waited for the idiots to go by. The car in the lead pulled over to his proper side of the road to pass the horse. The other car, of course, decided this was the moment to pass...

Imagine, a car speeding, a car passing it going even faster and a horse so close to the passing car she could have kicked it.

But she didn't kick it. She didn't flick an ear. She just stood there as I flipped off the driver.

If Banana were not so awesome this would have gone much differently and I would be in a world of hurt. A neighbor saw the whole thing and yelled down to see if I was okay. And I was, because my horse is FABULOUS.

Some weeks ago, before Banana hurt herself, J and I were walking down the road on our horses. Now, sometimes I ride for an hour and don't see a car. This day we saw around 30, all with New Mexico or Arizona plates. All we could figure is that it was shift change at the mine, but that mine has been there for years and we've never run into traffic like that. What I'm thinking now is that perhaps their planned expansion happened and when they hired more people they were from NM and AZ. Our road is the most direct path to the mine for them.

Well, I guess while Banana was laid up this traffic has gotten more and more idiotic, to the point that the neighbor that likes to campaign against things has taken this up as his new cause. He already doesn't like the mine, so going after its employees will be great fun for him. I just want to be able to ride down the road without being run off it. Fortunately, even if someone does something idiotic next to us again I can trust my horse to keep her head. That makes her worth more money than anyone could ever pay me.

Home

And I'm back in my nice, dry Colorado. Except it isn't dry. It's humid. I must have brought it back with me, but as we had a nice, hard rain yesterday evening I cannot complain. The pasture was starting to get pretty brown.

Banana's leg healed up while I was gone, but it's no longer perfect:

Yes, her toes are incredibly long, she should have had them done over a month ago but the wound wouldn't allow it. Bulge on back of leg above fetlock is callus and scar tissue from the slow healing of the wound. The bulge on front, sort of a 1/3 up the cannon) is from the pressure sore she got from the bandage when her leg swelled underneath when the tendon sheath got infected. I got to ride her down the road yesterday after I got back. The vet was all, "Can you just take her out when she's been laid up for 7 weeks?" Why yes, yes I can. She was very forward, and looky, but perfectly well behaved for her 1.5 mi walk. She felt sound, which was a relief, and this morning her leg almost looked better than it had last night. I think I'm imagining that though.

If all continues well, in a week I can do a little trotting and then onwards.

Argh. The leg.

So, when last I posted about Naners' leg it was looking better. Then it wasn't better. That thing refused to heal. It was finally healed enough to stop wrapping it, but it was leaking something clear. That's when we realized she'd nicked her tendon sheath when she cut/punctured it. Argh. So, I had to start wrapping it again. The swelling had never quite gone down, but one day it was a bit bigger and hot. And her bandage had given her pressure sores. Vet feared the tendon sheath was getting infected. This was two days before I was leaving to go visit my parents, the day my vet was leaving to go on her annual solo pack trip in the mountains.

So, vet gave her an antibiotic shot and since the bandage was giving her issues, and the wound itself was finally looking good, we left the wrap off.

Two days later, the morning I left:

Phenomenally better looking, no longer hot. I left not worried. The vet who is sort of roughly partnered with my vet was over at the house yesterday to give her the second shot and hubby reports that he said the leg looks great. I'm relieved. Normal vet will check on her tomorrow and the rest of the time I'm gone ( since she lives next door) so I don't need to worry anymore. I'm very sad about those pressure sores though. They're going to grow back in white and her beautiful legs will have blemishes!

I'm a horrible horse mommy

Well, I've had an interesting time as of late. I was sicker than I've ever been in my life. I was teaching horse parts at Pony Club, handed a sticker to a kid and said, "And now I'm going to go puke in this bush."

I didn't make it to the bush.

The forty minute drive home was hell. I had to pull over multiple times. And, every time I vomited it was putting pressure on a nerve so I had shooting pains down my legs and up my back.

So, there I was, on all fours in the gravel on the side of the road. It was horrible. I got home and alternated between almost crying because my back hurt and almost passing out while my intestines tried to exit my body through my stomach. After 45 minutes of that, texting with a friend who's a doctor, I decided I couldn't take it anymore and had hubby drive me to the ER. I'm so glad I did that. Some fluids, anti-nausea meds and pain killers for the back made life much better. I felt crappy for the next couple of days, going out to the barn just enough to feed everyone, but didn't puke again after the ER.

I was puking Thursday night. Sunday evening this is what I found on Banana's leg:

That's just above the back of the left fore fetlock. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! Fortunately, J the vet was on call, so she finished her dinner and came up. It looks particularly gruesome there as it was covered in wound crud. J thinks it was about 48 hours old there. Too late to stitch it, and it probably needed to be.

Naners had to be locked up. She was not thrilled about that, though Ollie is quite happy to have her with him all the time.

Bandage change on Tuesday had pus. So, she was started on antibiotics.

This is the wound on Thurs:

Not healed as much as we would like it to be. But then, there was today's (Sat)

Now we're looking better. There's crud on it because it was dust storming and that stuff stuck between when I got the bandage off and picked up the camera (it was very windy.) I'm liking that it's not so raw looking. Pic sent to the vet, but she seems to be incommunicado (a good thing).

I can't believe I missed that wound for multiple days, but as you could tell above, I was sicker than I think I've ever been in my life. She hasn't been off at all. I have no idea how she did it, there are uncountable ways and the wound doesn't indicate any one over the others, though it definitely isn't a wire wound (too deep)

watermelon part 2

I believe I mentioned yesterday that OOTT has me figured out? This morning she gave me the option to not go out at my time and just go straight to schooling. Upon thought, it made more sense to just school, knowing there was no way I was going to come out of it badly, when things might go badly otherwise.

Schooling was good. We had two refusals, both jumps we've been over before, because I freaking looked at them. That is the problem. I look. If I stop looking down she'll go over the darn jump. You would think it would be an easy thing to fix, alas, as all of you that ride know, it's not so easy sometimes. We schooled the water and I did it a bunch more times than I needed to, but it was so fun and Naners was being fabulous and we finished off cantering through it.

All in all, a good weekend. Disappointed I finished with a letter, not a number, but Naners was so fabulous other than that. She's also almost shed out and as you can see from the following pictures, she's really freaking shiny. She's got good shiny genetics, but this is what you get when you've taken a master's level nutrition course :D

I think she looks like an akhal teke here (and no, her ribs aren't really that visible. Something about the pose)

Watermelon... another letter finish

Getting OOTT (out of town trainer) to help me this weekend was probably the smartest decision I've made in a long while. One of the reasons I'd been hesitant is she can be extremely demanding and I just can't take that sometimes. Fortunately, turns out she is one of those people that can change her coaching technique depending on who she's coaching. So, for me it's a lot of, "take a breath, pat your horse, take a breath, slow down half a mile an hour, take a breath..." you get the picture. I was pleasantly surprised that she had me figured out and treated me just how I needed to be. As a result Naners and I were able to get straightened out before our stadium schooling round on Friday and it was an absolutely lovely round. We were slowish, I'd half halt ten strides out, again at fourish and then she was quiet enough I could let her do her job. OOTT has us figured out.

We had a nice dressage session Friday afternoon where we got us put back together and it translated into a lovely dressage test Sat afternoon. It was calm. No rockets. Not our best test at a 38.2, which put us in 2nd, but I was very pleased.

By the time stadium came around it was Hot out. 85. It snowed at our house just a week ago. Fortunately, jackets were waived. Not a ton of warming up, because we didn't need to. She jumped everything in warm-up like she had the day before. We get into the arena and she jumped big over fence #1, fence #2 went nice, fence #3... stop. It was a scary bumblebee lattice. Stop. Stop. We're out. They let us try it again, no go, so we trotted an x-rail on our way out. Then of course I cried a bit. OOTT asked me what I did wrong and I knew I was totally looking down. She reminded me it wasn't the end of the world and I went to ask about going out on XC and they said yes, though the TD was a bit concerned, but I'm not. Arenas aren't something we're in a lot. An XC course is just a fast trail ride and we've schooled most of the jumps, even if they have moved them around. If it does not go well OOTT is going to school us before we head back home.

Snow

Banana says, "Why would I go in the barn when there's perfectly good falling snow to stand in?"

Lazy, lazy me

I'm having a small problem: I planned to spend December and January huddled in my house, being a hermit. Banana and I both needed vacations. Instead we've had unseasonable warm weather with days in the 40s. I should be out riding every day, taking advantage of this. But, I can't get beyond, "No! I'm not supposed to be riding right now!"

I decided if I'm not going to ride I need to at least do something with Naners every day, even if it's put the halter on and give her a cookie. So, that's what I've been doing. Then yesterday I remembered I could work on that stepping under herself stuff in hand so we're doing that. Now I've added on training her to ground tie. It's such a handy skill for a horse to have. I'm thinking about training her to the same commands the dogs know. It's definitely something I should train Ollie to do.

Speaking of Ollie, I've definitely decided I want to teach him to drive. It will have to wait though, as grad school is eating up my spare cash. Including eating up my competition budget. Good thing I have no plans for this year. So glad I bought a truck and trailer so I can be stuck at home.

A new fox is hanging out. It could possibly be Hunter, but definitely isn't Split Ear.

Guess I'm going to have to raise the bucket up

She tolerates him far too much

Christmas Day

My neighbor/friend/vet J decided it would be fun to carol down the road on Christmas. So, at 11:45 Banana and I arrived at her house, decked out in our Christmas finery:

I went as a "Wise Woman" because how often do I get to use my crown and cape? I also figured the massive amounts of fabric would be a good test for Banana for future ridiculous side saddle outfits.

We then rode down the road to J's mom's, where the neighbors that lived just far enough away to trailer in parked. There was some very Irish coffee and jello shots. Off we set down the road, 12 horses/mules and almost that many dogs. Naners was not thrilled about all the horses and kicked out a couple of times at two particular mares so we went to the back of the group. I don't know if she's ever been on a ride with that many horses. In true Naners fashion though, she settled and we were able to ride wherever, as long as we stayed away from those two mares.

 

Naners is very tolerant, and wore her santa hat for almost the whole ride. I dropped it and the cape at our gate the second time we went past it.

We finished off back at J's mom's house, where we finished off the adult beverages and then J and I rode back to her place, and then I continued back to mine. It was a great way to spend Christmas and I wouldn't mind at all if it became a tradition.

Pro Shots from Las Cruces

Alas, the photographer's camera was malfunctioning when we jumped the biggest Pre-Comp jump, so  we have only the smallest.