...........

Ponies are fine.  My dog is doing pretty well.  Lots of snow.  Nothing interesting.

My dog is dying.

Ponies will be neglected for a while.  He probably has a few weeks left.

Plans: Foiled

So that thing about me riding last night?  jk.  Forgot I had a thing yesterday evening, so no time to ride.  I did get my new tack trunk moved in and filled, though!

Neglect...

I feel like I should say something about what happened in Sandy Hook Elementary.  There's not really anything I can say that hasn't been said before and in better words, so I'll say this:  It sucks.  Hurting children is WRONG.  Not that hurting adults or adolescents is acceptable, but hurting innocent children is a whole other level of evil.  I can't begin to imagine how the victims' families and the other teachers and children are suffering, and I hope their pain eases and they find peace.

Crap, now I feel stupid posting any of the silly frivolous crap I had thought about.

I've been neglecting River and therefore his blog..  It's just been busy and I haven't particularly felt like riding.  I probably will tonight.  I got a big Stanley tool/tack trunk that I need to move in...  since I'm going to be there tonight anyway, I should probably ride. 

Funny thing, I ordered the trunk from Home Depot online Sunday night and set it for in-store pickup.  Monday, I called my mom and asked her to pick it up for me... she was in town near Home Depot and she has a Trailblazer.  If you're not familiar with the Stanley trunks, figure your typical big plastic tack trunk, that's how big it is.  I told my mom it wouldn't fit in my car, so if she could pick it up, that would be great.  Sure, she could get it.  A few hours later, I get this text:  "you didn't tell me it was huge!"  Uh, mom?  What part of "it won't fit into my car" didn't register??  And besides, it has wheels!  It's plastic!  No one has ever thrown their back out moving an empty Stanley trunk...  Sheesh.  (I'm not being ungrateful.  I'm just making fun of my mom.  Don't worry, she's used to it.)

Weather has been gross.  So rainy.  I hate rain.  Hate hate hate hate hate rain.  Because I really really really really really really hate hate hate hate hate hate hate mud.  Hot, I can tolerate.  Freezing, I can tolerate.  Mud is the bane of my existence.  If I ruled the universe, it would only rain during the night, and only enough to keep the world going, never enough to create deep muddy slop.  If you hate mud too, vote for me for ruler of the universe!

One of my friends is home from school for Christmas break.  Hoping to drag her out to ride River soon!  (This is the friend who rode him for me the first time.  I only have, like, three friends, so it's pretty easy to keep track.)

Do you ever think about what you would do if you were rich?  Like super-foxy-mega-awesome rich?  (Gold star if you get the reference!)  Here's one of my fun plans...

If I were crazy rich, I would buy a golf course.  A really popular, fancy golf course.  I'd buy it quietly and not change anything so no one would really notice.  One nice late spring day, after a good rain when the ground is soft and the sun is shining and the sky is blue and there are tons of stuffy old golfers on the course... I'd go galloping across the greens, tearing up the turf, and watch the golfers freak out.  (This is my fantasy, so we'll pretend I'm not afraid of galloping.  In reality, I would probably have my horse shod all around with stud holes drilled and really big studs put in for maximum effect as I trot around.)

Bit of this and that.

Background to the story I'm about to tell:  Just before Thanksgiving, a friend (the one who cantered Princess for the first time) and I went out to the barn where her mare and my baby live.  They both needed feet done, so I did my baby and helped the friend with her mare.  Me being me, I rasped off a chunk of my finger and it was bleeding kind of a lot.  Friend was insisting I do something, so I was like "hang on, I think I have napkins and duck tape in my car, I'll be right back."  So I bandaged my finger with a bit of napkin and some duck tape.  Problem solved.

Now to the story...  Monday I went over to friend's house for dinner and Christmas presents.  She got me pink bell boots for River (awwww!) and pink polos with crystal tiaras (awwwww!!!!!)..... and best of all?  A first aid kit!  With Disney Princess bandaids!!!  So now I'm never going to hurt myself again, because I'm totally prepared.

I got my Mare's ulcer meds (ranitidine).  12 pills a day!  Thankfully she gobbles them right up.  She's never actually been diagnosed with ulcers, but given her behavior I figure it's more than likely.  And ranitidine is crazy cheap, so that's good.

Haven't ridden all week... just been busy and stuff.

A couple pictures from yesterday...

Gr.

Last night I was cleaning my old guy's stall when I get a call from the barn...  Person saw Riv kick The Mare and she's three-legged lame.  She got a bit better after a few minutes, but still ouchy and her leg looks funny.  Greaaaattttt.  On the way out, all I'm thinking is, if she needs a vet and x-rays, I am NOT going to be happy.

Thankfully, by the time I got there she was walking fine.  Just a little bit of warmth, but not sensitive to touch and willing to pick up the opposite foot and put full weight on it.  So she's getting bute for a few days to keep her comfy, but she'll be fine.

I shouldn't call him dumb...

but I do.

Saturday I went to the barn to make their beep/falf stuff.  While it was soaking, I free jumped them a bit.

The Mare was first.  I set up a 3 part bounce, first on the medium side of the jump blocks (15"), and then with the middle part at 2'.  She's fun to free jump because she doesn't like it.  She seems to take it as an insult.  She'll usually go over it once okay, but after that she's just like "screw you, this is stupid.  I've already proved I'm capable of jumping it, I just don't want to."  Going to the left, she kept switching to her right lead in the middle, but would she go to the right?  Of course not!  Chestnut Thoroughbred mares....

Then it was Riv's turn.  I put the middle back down to 15" for him.  Hm, no.  No, going over three very low jumps in a row is simply not possible.  It cannot be done.  So I pulled the poles so they were only on one side of the blocks.... so one end of the pole was 15" and one end was on the ground.  Still no.  Seriously, it just doesn't work!  So naturally I grabbed his halter and walked him through.  And turned around and walked through the other way.  And turned around and walked through again.  Then I sent him through.... and he trotted right through it.  He was doing a weird mixing of trotting, cantering, and jumping.  He even went through to the right!  I got ambitious and raised the middle so it was 15" straight across.  I neglected to adjust for his having a longer stride than The Mare, so he cantered and jumped and crashed through because it was too short for him.  I put it back up and pulled the ends out a bit, but I was worried he'd be afraid, but he was a very good boy and went right on through.

I make fun of him for being dumb about things, like not understanding how to go through the bounce until I walked him through.. but I really shouldn't.  He's green, what does he know about bounces?  He's actually quite wonderful... he doesn't get himself into situations he can't handle, but once he's shown what to do, he gets it and tries hard.

But it's more fun to tease him.

Wild and Crazy Thoroughbreds

River was still being an up-down butthead last night.  He was able to relax and go forward here and there, but not consistently.  I also had some poles out...  3 trot poles (set close) and an elevated pole at a different spot in the ring.  He was actually able to trot through the poles!!  First time doing it without being totally goofy and hitting them!  He did not want anything to do with the elevated pole, though.  Which.....  wtf?  He free jumped ~2'9" from a trot a couple days ago, he seriously can't step over a 9" high pole?  Dork.

I didn't ride long because I wasn't feeling good..  Finished and sat in the middle for a few minutes..

Yes, those are the reins sitting on his neck, my feet out of the stirrups, and both hands on my phone.  Crazy Thoroughbred!


Also, I would recommend NOT purchasing a Wintec standing martingale attachment.  After two uses, the snap broke and now it's useless.  Yeah, it was less than $15, but still!  Breaking after less than an hour in use?  Give me a break!  I emailed the place I bought it from, so maybe they'll offer me a refund or replacement.  Worst case scenario, I'll cut off the broken snap and replace it with this thing.

The "can he jump" question answered

A while back I posted about my friend riding Riv and jumping him.  It was only like a 1'9" vertical, but he kept knocking into it.  He'd basically just go *through* it rather than putting in any sort of effort.  I had to wonder, does this mean he's talented enough to be totally careless about little things that aren't worth his effort?  Or is he just completely useless as a jumper?

I free jumped him last night.

 (Those are 4' standards.)

Can he jump?  Yes.  Yes, he can.


Sadly, I didn't get any of the more, er, interesting attempts on video.  He doesn't quite understand that jumping to the right is pretty much the same as jumping to the left.  Going to the right, it mostly went like this:  gitgitgit, cantercanter, zomgwtf?!, waaaaalk up, try to step over the 2'9"(ish) jump, step/jump over from a standstill, knock it over, be traumatized at how scary it is.  I ended up having to put it down to a crossrail so he could go over it without stopping or hesitating.  Twit.  So as long as we never have to jump anything on the right lead, we'll be fine!

Also, I was so glad I didn't ride last night.  He was being a nut!  Running and bucking and being silly..  It's been rainy and muddy, so he can't really run around in turnout, so I think he had some pent up energy.

Crappy Anniversary and Awesome Barn

Our anniversary ride was kinda crappy.  He was just... blegh.  Same with on Friday.  Actually, on Friday I got off and had him moving loose because he almost felt off.  He's not off, just being weird.  He's being too up-and-down and not enough forward.  (The Mare, however, was quite delightful.  I updated my facebook status:  "I get nervous when the mare is pleasant. What is she planning?!?!!"  A (married male) friend commented that that applies to the females of most species.  I lol'ed.)

On the bright side... I got to the barn on Sunday to do chores, and what do I see when I walk in?

Yes!!!!!  When you work a 12+ hour day, surprise banana muffins (with chocolate chips!!!!) are a Really Big Deal.

And I was doing stalls and listening to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows when I happened to look up at my horses' stalls...

Awwww!!!  They got their nameplates!!  The BO makes everyone nice wood nameplates...  I've been wondering when Princess and The Mare would get theirs.  I figured she'd want to wait until we'd been there a while before she made them.  How annoying would it be to make nameplates and have the horse move out the next day?  So I've been looking and waiting, and on then when the nameplates are up it takes 45 minutes for me to notice.  Dumb me.

My barn is so awesome.