Show report

Morgan told me that Lucy did quite well at her 2 phase on Sunday! She had a 7:30am dressage test, which IMO is kind of horrible for a Sunday show, but they must have had a lot of entries. Lucy went around a bit tense, but she was mostly obedient and tried to do the right thing. I got to see a video of her test and to me, she looked a lot better than any dressage test I ever rode with her, so I was happy!

In the jumping phase, she had one refusal that left them in 11th place, but, Morgan said that overall she was very happy with Lu. I think that after essentially having a year and a half of little to no work, Lucy has handled this abrupt change in her lifestyle with a lot of class. She loves having a job and that work ethic is helping to make the best of her time with Morgan.

Also on a positive note, she stood nicely on the trailer between the dressage test and her jumping round and ate hay like a lady.

I was on Block Island with my family and friends for a wedding. Here is a cute photo of little Hannah wearing some cool shades:

While we were there, we rented a moped. It was no Harley, but it was a blast to tool around on.

A non-horsey baby update

Someone recently commented and asked how baby stuff was coming along.

I am at 29 weeks as of yesterday and feeling pretty damn good! I finally have a good appetite. I crave fruit and breakfast food, like waffles. I LOVE WAFFLES!

I am still doing barn work and lifting 40-50 lbs regularly. Yesterday I cleaned Lucy's paddock, which was 2 very heavy 12 cubic ft wheelbarrows full of soaking wet manure and hay. Maddy has been cleaning my stall a lot for me, which is really nice! Carrying water buckets is the hardest thing for me, but I can manage fine if I need to.

Today Kenny and I had a maternity photoshoot and the photographer posted a sneak peek of the photos on Facebook, so I thought I'd share them! They came out so great.

The photos are by Dawn Temple of Bellaria Designs Photography

https://www.facebook.com/bellariadesignsphotography

http://www.bellariadesigns.com/

Yes, I was the nutter prancing around in a sleeveless lace dress in a big field,
barefoot in January in New England. Anything for a photo!

Cairo was featured in the photos, of course.

My due date is April 3, which seems both right around the corner and way too far away! We bought a crib last weekend and I scored a used dresser on Craigslist for $100 that needs to be sanded and painted, but for that price I will put in the work happily.

Things are coming together!

Well that is inconvenient

The problem with being a contract employee is that the business constantly dangles your mortality over your head. I chose not to let it get to me; life is going to happen whether I'm "full time" or not, and plus, I really liked my job!

Well on Friday, after working there for a year and a half, I got laid off due to budget cuts. I was supposed to have a meeting with HR to discuss my maternity leave, which I had given them plenty of notice about. It turned out that the meeting was actually to give me the axe, so now I am jobless at 5 months pregnant and a month before Christmas. Thanks a bunch, former employer!

I am so lucky that Kenny is supportive of this horse addiction that I have. I was a wreck after I left the office for the last time and called him in tears, but he said all the right things and calmed me down. I immediately went home after being laid off and applied for unemployment (for the first time ever), applied for a few jobs, and put Lucy up for full lease online. I am not sure I'll find someone to lease her, honestly. It's absolutely frigid here right now and not many people are really horse hunting. However, it is worth a shot.

In the mean time, Kenny will continue supporting her and for that, I am so grateful. I'll supplement the unemployment money with saddle pad orders (hopefully!) and any other design work I can get. I hope to get a new job asap. Someone asked if I'm going to just surf on the unemployment wave until the baby comes and honestly, I'd be so bored! I like to go to work and accomplish things.

In all of my newfound spare time, I've been doing a lot of cleaning at home, catching up on projects, helping Kenny with the renovations, painting saddle pads, and I EMT'd for a horse show over the weekend. It was 20 degrees with 45mph winds. BRRR! Luckily it was an indoor show so we were at least out of the wind. I was frozen by the time I went home at 4:30pm. I took a boiling hot shower to warm up and went to bed, exhausted, at 6:30.

I had a fun day at the barn on Saturday. I rode Lucy and she was so chill and happy! I didn't bother lunging her because all the horses got turned out on grass before we rode, and this was the result:

Comic (l) and Lucy (r)

Comic, Lucy, and Brantley

Brantley and Lucy having a zoom

Comic and Brantley had a contest to see who was more manly. Lucy won.

Go Brantley, go!

pretty Lu!

After all that, they were pretty tired and well-behaved under saddle. I was a happy girl!

Amanda is planning on taking her to a show next weekend, so that should be fun! This particular show has an OTTB division, which is really nice. Maddy is going with Brantley, too! It will be a fun day.

another great day!

First, I actually succeeded in getting Kenny to the barn in a somewhat clean ensemble, with the dog; and also I managed to clean the 2" of dirt off Lucy that I found her covered in this morning. I even had to shampoo her legs - they were disgusting!

Maddy took the photo for me and..drumroll please....

everyone's looking (kind of) at the camera!!! SUCCESS!!!

Then I tacked up and had another super ride, and this time, I got photos!

YAY! Good pony! I should go buy a lottery ticket or something.

Then Amanda got on for a few minutes:

AND she got to ride Merlot the dreamliner.

Then Maddy got really brave and decided to jump Brantley over one of the XC fences:

So all in all, it was an A+++++ day and everyone had a super time!

3, 2, 1...ride!

First, thanks for all your love and congratulations on our exciting news! Kenny went and bought me a brand new beautiful SUV last weekend so I guess we are well and truly on our way to being in family mode! ;)

Lucy had her first ride on Monday, with Maddy in the saddle. It was fairly chilly, and we had to walk through to the indoor in the pitch black. I am already missing the long summer days! Lucy plodded quietly along the path to the indoor and then lunged without any fuss. The vet wanted her to warm up on a lunge line for at least the first week or so before a rider got on. I don't think I will limit the lunging to just the first week; it is a good way to get her mind in the game, and after a few months of just lunging, she probably equates that to work more than anything else at this point.

After she had gone in both directions at the walk and trot, Maddy got on. Lucy just stood there, half asleep. Maddy started off letting her go in whatever direction she wanted to, as long as she was walking forward. Lucy went to her favourite corner of the ring, where she likes to roll, and I warned Maddy about that once I saw Lu sniffing the ground a bit. I don't think we needed to deal with a rolling incident, especially with her big bulky Western saddle on!

Lucy looked very calm to me, almost weirdly so. But I am happy that she wasn't a freak about going back to work. I didn't expect that out of her but I guess you never know, after the horse hasn't been ridden for six months. The goal for the ride was simply to meander around, long and low, and keep things very very simple. Maddy and Lucy just walked, and only for about ten minutes. Lucy looked a teenie bit short on her right hind leg but did not look distressed at all. I suspect this is a weakness issue, possibly a stifle issue from standing around so much. It didn't get any worse during the ride; in fact she seemed better on it at the end, so I am not worried about that. We called it a night, Maddy hopped off and loosened the cinch, and Lucy got lots of pats and kisses.

Once back at the barn, I put Sore no More on her back and gave her a Stud Muffin. She loves Stud Muffins ;)

Yesterday, Kenny got on her for me and we pretty much had a repeat of Monday's ride. I lunged her first and let her canter once warmed up, too. Her canter looked the best it has to date; absolutely no hesitation behind or swapping off in either direction. Kenny did decide to try a little trot with her but it got tense quickly. Lucy wasn't bad at all, no theatrics or nonsense, but it just was not what I really wanted to see at the trot. The vet stressed that it's very important she remain loose through her topline and keep her head low, and this was not that kind of trot. Kenny gets a bit worried sometimes and tends to pull on Lucy instead of half-halt and release, which quickly becomes a tug-of-war match between him and Lu...not good. I encouraged him to just keep it at the walk for now and we would work up to the trot eventually. He hasn't ridden since last fall, I believe, so I appreciated him being willing to get on her at all.

The good news is that the right hind leg looked almost perfect during Kenny's ride.

I also started casually looking for someone to start riding Lucy a few times a week and help get her going again. It's nervewracking to be opening myself up to a new rider, especially with Lucy coming back from a long break/injury, but I can't expect Maddy to do everything for me ;) she's only got so many hours in a day and she is very busy with work and her own horse, who's doing fabulously under saddle.

Today the weather is making me nervous. We went from high 50's, misty, overcast, etc, to high 80's with oppressive humidity and lots of sun. Lucy has the majority of her winter coat already so I am worried she is going to be hot today, and I'll probably soak her dinner extra well tonight. Horses are an endless source of worries.

I am off to the barn now for her farrier appointment and then she has an acupuncture appointment, too. Tough life!

Big Apple Circus

On Saturday, I surprised Kenny with two tickets to the Big Apple Circus. They are in town for two weeks and it has been ages since I've been to the circus, and I was very excited!

They allowed non-flash photography and I was super happy with the photos I got. They had six beautiful Arabians, three grey and three black. The trainer had trained them to alternate colours, and the horses really knew exactly where they had to be! At one point, they were out of order and the black horse that was supposed to be between two of the greys was so so distraught about this. He kept trying to get back into place but got cut off by the six miniature grey ponies going the other direction every time. You could see his ears pinned back, like "I HAVE to get up there!" and as soon as he finagled his way back between the two grey horses, his whole body relaxed and he was obviously very relieved!

Here are some photos:

out and about

Ugh, when I'm not riding Lucy, I have so much more time to do the really annoying chores, like cleaning my tack.

Over the holiday weekend, I took home ALL of my leather tack to clean and condition it. It took me about three hours to do three bridles, one English saddle, one Western saddle, one extra set of leathers, one breastplate, one standing martingale, one running martingale, and one girth.

My poor Western saddle had been especially neglected, and it
really looked like a million bucks when I was finished with it!

I cleaned it all out on my back deck and really went to town with the soap, since I could make a mess out there and not really have to worry about it. I used "Supple", which did a great job getting rid of the grime and bringing out the shine! Hey, I should market that phrase.

I even used a toothbrush to clean the tooled parts of the Western saddle, and all of the other hard-to-reach places on my other tack. That HAD to have earned me at least some good leather care karma.

Good news is that my previously neglected-looking $5 breastplate that I got at a tack sale earlier in the spring now looks very fancy. The leather is lovely and rich. I don't think it was originally an expensive piece of tack by any means but it certainly looks like it's worth more than $5 now!

I have a few other items that I have lent out to various horsey friends since I am not using them during Lucy's vacation so I will do those when they get back...maybe ;)

I appreciated the feedback on Lucy's upcoming second attempt at acupuncture, with Ace. I spoke to a wide variety of people who had acupuncture done on their horses, plus two vets, and the consensus is that Ace MAY or MAY NOT have a detrimental effect on the effectiveness of acupuncture but it will not harm the horse in any way, so we are going to give it a shot. One of my friends said "You've already mentally spent the money, why not give it a try?" And that is so true, since the vet did not charge me for the failed first attempt.

Lucy has been going out on grass every day with her boy toy Brantley, now that he's home from training. They are in love. Well, Lucy is in lust. Brantley is in love with the grass. Somehow this works for everyone involved.

Kenny also taught me how to drive his motorcycle. My car is a manual 6-speed so I picked it up very quickly.

And finally, yesterday we walked in the local Memorial Day Parade with Cairo, as part of the local dog group. She soaked up all the attention and loved saying hi to the kids who were watching the parade. She was perfectly behaved and a lot of people asked what breed she was. One lady even said, "I know that dog! I saw a photo of her wearing a lion costume!" so basically, my life is complete.

Change of Scenery

We've been in pretty serious work mode lately but the weather over the past few days has been so beautiful that I could not resist a trail ride -- or two!

always ready for an adventure!

Kenny comes for a visit on his motorcycle...yes, it was that gorgeous out.

Yesterday it was almost 60 degrees and I decided it was as good a time as any to try a trail ride with Cairo, which we haven't done since late October of last year. It was kind of nervewracking because Cairo had been cooped up in the house due to the rain earlier in the week, and Kenny and I both worked a lot this week. So she was nuts, and Lucy of course was her usual perky self. Did I think to lunge her beforehand? Of course not.

Shortly after we got into the woods, a kid was playing basketball at the end of one of the residential streets that connects to the trails we use. I let Lucy stand and have a good long look at the basketball so she could see the movement and hear the noise. The kid was getting nice consistent baskets but of course (OF COURSE!) as soon as we started to actually walk past her, she threw the basketball and it hit the board behind the hoop with a loud metallic noise that scared the crap out of poor Lucy. At that very second, a jogger was trying to run past us on the trail, so that made things a bit worse. And Cairo thought this was all a very fun game and got so excited that she ran in circles, scooting around with a huge grin on her face.

As this all went down I sat up there in the saddle saying, "woah girl, woah...WOAH!" and bless her heart, Lucy held it together even after a few lofty maneuvers and no one died, not even the jogger.

And that was all within the first five minutes!!

As the ride went on, Lucy stopped prancing everywhere, Cairo stopped scooting around through the leaves like a deer on crack, and I stopped thinking I was going to eat dirt every two minutes. The last 20 minutes or so was very enjoyable and both girls had a nice time.

Cairo says, can you hurry it up? Lucy says, I'm trying!!!
Kate says, that's enough out of both of you!

Right before we arrived back at the barn, Lucy was doing her rude "I want to go faster and you're holding me back" head tossing and she managed to get the lunge line, aka the Equine Oh Shit Handle, up over her head and between her ears. She is just about the most ear-shy horse I have ever met and of course this sent her into a panic and she tried to run backward away from the lunge line. Unfortunately for her, it was stuck on her head so this was another time where I was sitting up there trying to calmly tell her to woah, not run the dog over, or fall off the little incline on either side of the trail, or get tossed. Once again, though, she panicked for a few seconds and then stood like a statue so I could reach forward and flip the lunge line off the side of her head.

Bottom line is that "woah" is a very handy tool to install on your horse.

once back at the barn, I tortured her a bit. she was not concerned about the rope on her ears.
good girl!

soaking up the warm sunshine and looking beautiful

Today I worked from home and on my lunch break, Maddy and I went for a little trail ride. After yesterday's glorious warmth and sun, today was a hard pill to swallow: 35 and windy....brrrr! Lucy did very well, though, and we had a lovely trek through the woods.

Back to "real" work tomorrow, both for me in the office and for Lucy in the ring!

The Peanut Gallery

Hangin' out in the indoor, watching Lucy go in circles.

"she still seems a bit rushy there..."

"what, I can't have an opinion?"

"omg, you're going to tell her I said that?! crap!"

happy little Friday ride

On Monday I puttered about the indoor on Lucy, practicing some very low key things and just enjoying her in general. Then she had Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday off because this week was nuts and life took over all of my spare time!

Today I went out to ride after work and I almost got on without lunging, then at the last second decided to send her out on a lunge line just in case.

She proceeded to GALLOP for 20 minutes.

Bucks, squeals, calamity in general. I am very glad I lunged!!!

When she settled down, I hopped on and we had a lovely ride. I think I will try to set up some little jumps tomorrow and see how she does.

Kenny and Cairo came by the barn while they were out for a run. I love that he comes and visits Lucy just to feed her a peppermint :)

snow, and more snow, and more snow, and finally power

We finally got power back this afternoon, after two very cold sub-freezing nights. Last night it was 9 degrees outside and 40 degrees in the house. Yeah, not a great time at all. We had the wood stove going but with no power to run the fan through it, the stove wasn't doing much to heat more than the living room area. We blew up an air mattress using an inverter plugged into Kenny's truck and slept on that in the living room as close as we could safely get to the wood stove. We both had multiple sweatshirts on, two layers of pants, a few pairs of socks, and Cairo had her fleece jacket on and slept buried under the covers with us.

Saturday morning...my car is buried on the left and Kenny's Silverado
(i.e. not a small vehicle!) looks shrimpy on the right

The truck had no problem!

9am on Saturday, no plows in sight. Some roads still aren't plowed.

finally I made it to the barn and the driveway hadn't been plowed. One of the
trees had lost a few big branches that were blocking the driveway. Kenny and
I returned later with a chain saw and moved the branches out of the way
so that the plow could get through.

all the horses were happy to be out once I finally got them out there!

Lucy also had a branch come down in her paddock but the fencing was not compromised at all, and I didn't want to leave them all in just because she had this branch in her paddock. I decided to turn her out and just watch her for a little while to make sure she wasn't going to be stupid with the branch there, and she was fine.

Each morning I was actually excited to get out of bed and get moving, so I could warm up. I did a whole lot of shoveling this weekend! I even dug my elderly neighbour out this morning so I could feel warmer. Kenny and I went driving around in the truck to get the heaters on us. We went to Maddy's house this morning to take a hot shower, which made me feel so much more human. Then we went home and puttered around and then all of a sudden, the power came back on! We had a little dance party.

I had wanted to ride yesterday but by the time I got done shoveling the cars out, clearing the snow from the house, getting to the barn (when there was still a driving ban, by the way), shoveling the barn out,  cutting down the tree blocking the driveway, getting the horses out, and doing the stalls, I was exhausted. I was way too tired to ride, anyway. All of the other rough boarders were snowed in but I didn't mind helping them out. We all pitch in and help each other when we can. That is what makes a rough board barn work!

Today, though, Maddy and I finally got out and enjoyed ourselves! We did a bit of work at the barn and then tacked up and ventured out onto the trails. Lucy was very, very spooky. Lots of snow was falling off the trees and making loud SPLAT noises in the woods, which she did not like at all. I sat several pretty big spooks and went right over her left shoulder when she pulled a quick and dirty spook and spin.

BUT...

I was using the rope halter/longe line set up again today, and it worked PERFECTLY! I executed the most textbook tuck and roll, dropped the reins mid-air, landed lightly in the 2.5 feet of fluffy white snow as Lucy flew backwards for a stride or so, she stopped immediately when she felt the rope halter, and I got up and yelled happily, IT WORKED! Then I asked her to come back to me, which she did happily, and I let her know she was a really good girl.

LOL.

Then Maddy and I cheered and I was absolutely thrilled.

Ahhh we are so weird.

I wasn't hurt at all and after bushwhacking through some trees to find a good spot to get back on, I was back in the saddle and off we went. Kenny met us in the woods (the trail runs right past my road so he just walked to the end of the road and met us out there) and took some photos, then came back to the barn with us to get some more pictures. So, a huge thanks goes out to him for taking lots of wonderful photos today for us.

she did get a bit excited at times. this was one of them, and she ping-ponged
back and forth across the trail, so excited but not really sure where to go.

forward is always better than ping-ponging, even if she makes nasty faces

back at the barn, in the outdoor ring

this is what it's all about :)

silly moment

and one of Pretty and Maddy - I will leave her to share the rest of her photos
on her blog! :) - click here if you don't already have the link.