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.