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.

I enjoy my horse. Long time readers will know it took me some time to come to that conclusion. However, the possibility of getting to the AECs in 2015 is about nil.

This is coming up again because a girl I know is looking to find a new home for her horse before she leaves for college next fall. I knew this horse with his previous owner and he is super solid. Jumps everything. So, in a nutshell, he'd be great for me to achieve my competitive goals. Chances are we would qualify for the AECs quite easily. And she wanted to lease him out, perfect as it would mean I wouldn't have to buy him.

Cue the AEC dreams. We could go, we probably wouldn't be last, it would be fabulous. Then I remembered: with grad school I really don't have the money to be competing at all. BN adds on a whole lot of added fees that Pre-Comp doesn't have, so it would be even more. And the AECs aren't cheap all by themselves. It also means all the expenses of an added horse at home as well. I'm really happy with just Naners and Ollie.

And, I like the horse I have. Are competitive goals more important to me than my enjoyment of spending time with her? Sometimes, yes, especially when the means to achieve those goals is falling in my lap. But, even things that fall in your lap can have hidden costs. How much would it suck if I spent the money to qualify, then they decided they didn't want me shipping him that far? I was starting to get unhappy feelings about the whole thing, then remembered similar stuff happens any time I try to supplant Naners in my life. My brain may want other stuff, but my guts let me know I'm straying by giving me stomach problems. So, I'm just going to stick with my girl. However, I do think we're ready to work on getting better again.

RIP Bean

As the subject says, I just found out Bean was euthanized last week.

I feel responsible.

When I took her to St Johns in April 2013 she felt off when we were finishing up XC. Her legs felt fine, so we thought maybe she stepped on a rock. No, she wasn't okay. It turned out to be a bowed tendon, but it presented very oddly. The Taskmaster just had us icing and hosing it for several weeks. I offered to pay for her vet bill so a vet would see her, but she didn't see a vet until after I'd left. I didn't actually know she'd bowed the tendon for six months.

I know as well as the next horse person that horses hurt themselves. She was 21, the tendons aren't quite so resilient at that age. But, she did it when she was my responsibility, so I feel responsible. I don't think there is anything I could have done to prevent it, other than to have stayed home, but it still happened.

She's only been sound for the last four months, that's 16 months of rehab. Last week she was running through the mud and slipped, tearing the tendon again. I know I'm not responsible for that exact moment, but if she hadn't bowed that tendon it would have been stronger and maybe she would be okay.

*sigh* This is probably something I should be discussing with my therapist, my guilt over this situation. There's nothing I can do to change the past. I did what I could to help. I didn't own her so I couldn't insist the vet come. I offered what help I could. But, my heart hurts for the Taskmaster and the loss of a horse that had been born in her front yard almost 23 years ago.

You turn your back for one minute...

And they're out spreading religion. Banana is proselytizing door to door, sharing the word of The Church of The Four Hooves and Equus our Savior. Lily dog is less than impressed.

First snow

Banana is under there too, to the left of Willie.

In the grand winter tradition, Ollie got to get out to frolic as I was preparing dinner. He had a fun time, but I forgot about him at one point and of course he walked right in the feed room. Must remember to shut the door.

The first step

The first step in Ollie's driving education has been achieved:

Actually, putting it on him was probably step #2, as step #1 getting a surcingle that would fit him. It's currently on its biggest holes, but that's due to the fluff, and I didn't want to put it on too tight the first time. He just sorta looked at it and then followed me around (which makes it really tough to take pictures. So, so many with his nose in the lens.)

Whether he will actually be able to pull a cart or not is sort of in question. He's on the line height wise and with his funky foot... eh, just don't know. But, I'm going to at least teach him how to ground drive because he needs to lose some weight and it's more fun than leading him. I have ground driving reins, so I won't need to get any more equipment until I need an actual harness and a bit, and I know someone that has a mini sized harness they'll let me borrow, so I won't have to buy a ton of equipment until I'm sure. We'll see how this goes.

10,000 Views

As the subject says, my blog now has 10,000 views. Not a ton of followers, but that's okay, I know you're all just here for the scenery :D