back from the brink of insanity

I am slowly coming off the edge of insanity as Lucy continues to go better and better under saddle. I really was about to have a meltdown last week when she was looking so uncomfortable and I had that "no good deed goes unpunished" feeling, thinking I had done something nice and here I was with a lame horse, about to forfeit our spot a clinic that I have worked very hard toward.

Now that she is looking better, I have the task of getting her fit enough and sane enough to go to EA in exactly one week from today. Fun times! She is not generally a spooky horse, but last night in the indoor she spooked repeatedly at the same damn corner of the ring. Because of the hurricane (which we all survived just fine, except for the nice potted mums that Kenny bought for our front yard), some equipment was stored in the indoor to protect it from the weather. Also, the far end doors on the indoor are usually half shut, but to prevent them from blowing off their hinges in the high winds, my barn owner opened them all the way. Lucy thinks the whole thing is really, really scary. We worked past them last night and I felt like she had gotten a grip on herself enough that I could concentrate on the task at hand, not the scary open doors, and she chose my initial moment of trust to spook at the doors that we had just established wouldn't eat her.

I wasn't impressed so then she got to do the entire ride in that half of the ring, and I gave her a lot more to think about than just some open doors. Still, this isn't really like her, but I think it's a product of doing almost nothing over the past two weeks-ish, plus being inside a lot more than usual due to the weather, plus some funky temperature changes. I also think she may be in heat. Oh, the joy of having a mare!

She had better get herself under control because the big coliseum at the Eastern States Expo is a hell of a lot scarier than some plain old open doors at the end of our indoor. The challenge is to give her enough to do without re-tweaking whatever was causing her discomfort. Lauren is riding today and tomorrow, then tomorrow afternoon Lucy has a chiro appt and I think that will give me a good idea of where she is at. Next week on Tuesday she is getting new shoes, and I am going to discuss pads for her front feet since the massage therapist thought her thin soles were playing a part in her discomfort. After her farrier appt she is getting a massage. Yes, it's insane. I hope she enjoys her spa week and tries very hard in our clinic!

Thank you to everyone who voted for Cairo. She won!! Yesterday the contest ended, and as soon as I got home from work, Kenny and I went over to the store with Cairo and her costume in tow, and picked out some little prizes for her. She got some treats, a really cute elephant toy, and a kit to make flavoured popsicles in the shape of doggie bones. Pretty cool! She loved it and she wore her lion costume around town in perfect form. The kids we met on the street were beside themselves when they saw her.