Make it so

The Taskmaster loves the Cliff Barnsby AVG dressage saddle. So much that she has 4 of them. There are ways to tell them apart, but as you might guess it can be a bit confusing when the description of the saddle you need to get is "The one with the velcro knee rolls" as opposed to "the one without the velcro knee rolls." I, in my brilliance, decided to name them. Barney was natural, the others were Fred, Oscar and Vinnie. However, other than Barney we couldn't remember the names either, even though they had a piece of tape. Now however I've got it. It's Barney, Picard and Riker. Picard is narrower than Riker. The fourth isn't currently being used by anyone but will probably be Worf or Geordie. This is what happens when you have Star Trek TNG fans working together.

Love My Naners

I adore Banana.

It took me a bit, I resisted. She's been working on me: watching me wherever I am around The Taskmaster's, nickering at me and being a very good girl while the Taskmaster rides her. She's affectionate without being annoying and seems to thoroughly enjoy having me near. Today I hugged her and she hugged me back like Meatball does. My heart just melted.

The Taskmaster has been riding her for the most part: working on the things she needs worked on. A glorious discovery was that she's actually easier to ride than we thought. Like Penny Pony she doesn't care for being messed with, but she has the benefit of being conformed in a way that she just naturally carries herself right. So, less messing, better horse! And, I love to not have to mess and my screwed up body likes it better too.

I rode her today for the first time in awhile. The Taskmaster told me to just ride her like she's trained and doesn't need to be messed with and think about perfect equitation. So I channeled my inner Hunter Princess and wouldn't you know, my horse is awesome. She is still very much green, but I felt perfectly comfortable on her at the walk. She has a giant, fast walk. We trotted a bit, again, very forward. I was feeling confident enough I gave her the smallest canter cue and off we went! The Taskmaster said she had a lovely canter and she was so right.

Banana has more to learn and I need to get more comfortable riding my incredibly forward horse. At least she has excellent brakes, even the emergency brake (knuckles into the withers.) I'm hoping we might actually be ready to go to Watermelon Mtn Pony Club HT in May, which would thrill me. Their Pre-Comp is only 20" so I think we'll be okay.

Crawling Out of Internet Hell

Well, we seem to be back in the land of faster internet. What have I been doing? Riding and enjoying this:

That's the foxes that live in my arena. Literally, their den is into the slope on the side and they seem to have excavated a large hole out the top. I'd rather it than the ton of smaller prairie dog holes I used to have and having a fox there means the damn prairie dogs will keep their distance. I suspect there will be babies in the coming months.

Speaking of babies, due to my angel fish laying eggs more than once I'm trying my hand at raising them. The first time they actually turned into little swimming fish, but I lost them. Fortunately, they laid eggs again yesterday. The eggs are now in their own tank. They'll grow their tails, then eyes, then in about a week detach and be little swimming blobs.

I believe that's the male fertilizing in that pic. Yes, they like to lay them on the intake to the filter.

Fun of Rural Living

We went over our bandwidth allotment at the house so we're in internet hell. I'm writing this from a coffee shop in town.

All the ponies are doing well. Major snow meltage the last week so Penny and Condi are covered in mud. Meatball and Bean are being good, I've been popping over cross-rails with both of them. Meatball isn't over jumping them either, which is beyond awesome. We did discover he does not like a neck strap. Banana is looking more promising and I'm starting to get excited over my future with her.

There's a show at the Taskmaster's in a couple of weeks and I'm planning on taking Banana x-rails and Bean 2'. I'll let the Taskmaster show Meatball, she's planning Pile Of Poles as she's pretty sure with the excitement of other horses around he's going to clear the x-rails like they're 3'. I think they'd be just fine x-rails, but it's her call.

Dork

Today Meatball decided to jump over both the trotting poles I was lunging him over at the same time. Dork.

Synchronized

Banana and Bean synchronized

And from another moment:

And yes, Banana's bell boots are on upside down. They're for her bedsores.

How Penny feels about winter

I want the grass back.

Snow here too

It snowed again, leaving the arena at the Taskmasters unusable till at least Thursday, more likely Saturday, maybe not till next week. I haven't been on a horse in... awhile. Between winter weather making the arena unusable and The Cold there hasn't been a lot of riding time. But, yesterday there was a Russian looking lady on my back porch:

What? You don't see the fur shawl and big furry hat?

We got about 2 feet, the mountains got more. Wolf Creek got 48". Unlike other areas of the country we rejoice when the white stuff falls as every bit of moisture means there's a slightly less chance of us catching on fire in the summer. Granted, if you talk to us in the middle of a bad winter we're all going slightly nuts.

Imagine this with several more feet of snow and that was the winter of '08 (you could only see the top rail of the fence.) This is the driveway. The trees are where the road is.

The ponies are happy, except as usual Condi was less than pleased to be stuck in the corrals while the storm was going on. I've stopped blanketing him. I was only doing it when it was really cold or snowing anyway. We're both happier with this arrangement.

Mud

The downside of the cold to warm to cold to warm to cold to warm winter... muddy ponies.

cough cough

I have The Cold. The cold that has been wandering around, that I had been successfully keeping away. Until the other night when my hip hurt so badly I had to sleep on the other side, forcing me to face my husband all night who, of course, had The Cold.

We'd been getting along okay, the cold and I. It gave me a sore throat, an occasional cough and need to blow my nose. Now? Oh god. And not only do I have The Cold I did something yesterday so my neck hurts. And my hip is starting again.

I don't recommend chronic pain as a lifestyle. You throw something like a cold into it and it sucks all the more.

So here I am on the couch today, cats arranged on the back, dogs beside me. I'm having a horse movie marathon. Right now I'm watching Sylvester and will follow it with International Velvet. Because, you know, the best way to make yourself feel less crappy is to watch people doing your sport at the top level and being sad because you're not.

Actually, I'm just having envy because they're galloping through fields and don't seem to have to worry about prairie dog holes.