Friday, December 29, 2017

2017 Review

One of my favorite times of the year in blogland is now. I love reading people's recap's of their year, although I know a few of you have had quite the rollercoaster ride. I was lucky this year in that I got to experience so many new things with Bacon, travel and compete all over, and enjoy the company of my friends as well as cheer them on, near or far. And, with the help of a LOT of you, you made that possible (even though I still have two paintings left, sigh. I am the slowest person on Earth). So thank you, thank you all so much.

January-

In the heated hospital stall
After I brought her home

 Bacon rang in the new year by getting a bizarre case of cellulitis in her neck and scaring the hell out of me. She spent the first few days of 2017 in the hospital, but quickly recovered and I took her home, thankful that it didn't get worse. She likes to keep things interesting.

February-
Tackless riding in the winter
We waited and waited and waited for snowpocalypse to pass here, so riding was done fairly infrequently and we trekked to local indoor arenas to do it. Blake's great grandma passed away, as well as my friend's mom a few days later and I found out that my mom needed a double lung transplant. Good times.
A weird partial shave job.
March-
Feeling spicy and forward
Look at that cut.
Things finally started to thaw and Bacon went to the vet to get all of the things done. All of her vets gushed over her and she got compliments on her new haircut, which was drawn on her coggins. We let out some steam in a giant outdoor arena and went on our first conditioning ride.

April-
I miss you Moo

Riding a spring
We said goodbye to the sweetest Moo dog ever after 11 years. Bacon and I headed up to Spokane for a spring schooling and derby, where we wildly flew over most of the training fences and I became frustrated with her hormones, allergies and wild behavior. She started to become very difficult to ride, but I likened it to springtime sillies. We also pick up a 1 year old Great Dane that we name Skully while up there and she joins our family.
Skully woo

May-
She looks good. She was not.

Her favorite
 A couple weeks later, we came back for our first recognized HT of the year, running novice. There was a lot of head flipping and temperamental behavior from Bacon, but we finished in 9th. I was concerned and scheduled an appointment with the vet. We determined that there was a lot of pain located near her SI and haunches, but her muscles were very very tight. We decided to do a course of muscle relaxers followed by chiro work and Osphos.
My favorite

June-
Trying to remember my test.

We jumped prelim things!

With gusto!

A good girl for show jumping
The combo of meds proved to be very helpful and I started to get my old horse back. We loaded up and headed towards California for the HT at Camelot. I was really really nervous because it was Bacon and I's training debut. Bacon hated the stalls and broke free twice, but was an angel out of them. We had out best dressage test ever (with cool blogger friends watching even) and though I worried about the drop and coffin on the xc course, Bacon laughed at it. Everything went to poo when our friend M had an accident in warm up and crushed her pelvis, with us having to leave her in the hospital. She demanded that we bring home ribbons, and Bacon and I did just that when we finished in 3rd place with a double clear round in show jumping. After, we got to school xc and did some prelim stuff, which she ate up. Eventually M made it back home to Idaho (and is now gearing up for her first show in Feb!!!) but wow, what a trip.

July-
Schooling this prelim table at Spokane
No matter how crazy we are, we always have a good outfit

The month started out bad. I had to bring in my dad's dog, Mack, to be put to sleep from bladder cancer and it was horrible. I had been looking forward to going to Rebecca for a long time. I was not sure how Bacon was going to do in that wild atmosphere, but I swallowed my fear. We stopped in Spokane first to school xc (and we jumped a intermediate chevron out of the water!) and my friend competed in a dressage show. The husbands found "Smoke-ane" and came back stoned from a water park adventure amungst all the dressage people. On our way to Montana, E's truck broke down on a mountain and thought about going backwards with the horse trailer. I tried to not think about dying, the boys figured it out and we made it to Rebecca. Bacon did surprisingly well with all of the commotion until we got into the dressage ring. The whole dressage thing was a mess. XC day was a blast, although I thought the jumps could have been better, but Bacon came in with some fluid above her knee. We iced and wrapped and it was gone the next morning, but it reappeared in the show jump ring and my normally clean girl took down three rails. I still wish I would have withdrawn her, but we live and learn.
Look at that thrilled pony


August-
She looks a little less thrilled here. And I look turtle-y.

Better.
My husband's work had been bought out by a different company and we were supposed to go on their health insurance place. There was a mixup, and I ended up unable to get health insurance, which meant I was unable to get my prescriptions. That led to a rough month. We went up to Deary, Idaho for the Stanton HT in the wildfires. I had a full body tremor attack while schooling the day before dressage and my wild mare stopped her antics and held still for the whole process. Bacon was great in the dressage warm up, but the second she hit the ring it all went out the door. Our xc course was dry slick and all of the ditches were filled with tan gravel, which caught Bacon by surprise at every single one. She was very distracted (not normal) and we almost had a stop at the double down bank into the water. We continued our bad rail mojo from Rebecca and took two rails this time in show jumping, but that double down bank got a lot of horses so we still got 4th. But her behavior raised another flag. Out came the vet again. Oh, and she dislocated my thumb when backing out of the trailer (on accident) and it hurt like a mofo.

September-
Probably one of my most favorite pictures.

Everybody wants to jump a ship!
 Bacon got SI and coffin injections. I had decided to enter the championship division at Aspen and thought about withdrawing. Fortunately, Bacon seemed to feel great again and we left towards the raging wildfires in Washington. Bacon was a little wild in the stalls here and we had a very rough schooling ride the day before dressage. I did not feel like we belonged there at that point in time. Fortunately the next day, she came out to play and was much more cooperative than the day before. We made it through there and I was pleased that she held it together. I tried not to crap my pants about xc and even though we got lost on course for a good 20 seconds, Bacon had a complete blast out there. And so did I. Show jumping day brought a fierce mare who was still happy to be jumping things. I could tell something was wrong with me and halfway through our course I had an asthma attack. She finished out the course like the great horse she is and then stood like a rock again with I tried to breathe on top of her and the medics came over. In regular Bacon fashion, we pulled another grey 9th place ribbon and a smile was plastered across my face for our victory gallop. Aspen became my favorite venue to date.

October-
Vacation and now rooming with Pandy-Lou
Also cheered on my friends at the Spokane HT and the jump behind my friend was dedicated and built in memory of her mom who passed. She was a farrier.
After getting back home, I tried to focus on lots of long and low and lighter work since our season was coming to a close. But as the weeks passed by, I noticed that Bacon was starting to feel ouchie yet again. Up until this point, we had: navicular bursa injections, hock injections, coffin and SI injections, Osphos, Pentosan, generic Adequan, muscle relaxers and regular chiro, regular stretching and massaging, teeth done, etc. I spoke with my vet and farrier and we decided that the next best course of action was to just let her have time off in a bigger space and pull her shoes.

November-
I captured the cutest feral kittens ever.
I could almost compete Meaty.
Much of this month was getting Bacon ready to move to the in-laws and just hanging out. I also decided that if Bacon wasn't ready to come back to work in the spring that Pandora would be my new focus. I am still struggling with this. Hubs has grand visions. I have other visions...

December-
New house living. And getting beat up by her new roomies (BASTARDS).

But she had plenty of kisses for meeeee!

Bacon moves to the in-laws. I cry. And now husband is trying to get me to bring a mini horse home that is currently getting beat up by the other horses it lives with. Bad things happen with my mom and addiction is a horrible disease.

Sooo we had some pretty banging things happen in there. It kind of poops out at the end, but it can't all be sunshine and rainbows. This next year is really really up in the air. There is something I would like to do with the Baconator, but we will see. We need a new house with more land. I could use some more medical answers, if possible. Once I finish these last two paintings, I will try to open up for commissions again but will probably only do 5 at a time so I don't feel overwhelmed and get too behind. My vision and tremors are getting worse, so I don't know if I will be able to keep them up and may have to try to turn to photography to help fund the pony stuff. All I know is that next year my be filled with surprises.

And Bacon. She is a firecracker. But how can you not love her? She always takes care of me and always makes cross country a blast. She is just an incredible partner. And she gives the best damn kisses.


Friday, December 1, 2017

Lost.

I am not even sure where to start. I've been sitting in my own little turmoil type situation lately and I feel like I have no one to talk to, so I will just lay it out on the blog in hopes that will help me feel a little better.
Here are some kittens to make this seem less horrible.
 This morning I came stumbling out of the bedroom, off balance and using the wall to get to the bathroom. This happens every morning. It takes about 10 minutes for my brain to get calculated to upright position. I wake up in pain and go to bed in pain. I blink a lot in hopes that it will get my eyes to refocus. I am nauseous and get anxious about food frequently. More and more hair keeps falling out. And I can't do anything about it until I get insurance at the beginning of the year. But even still, that hasn't helped me in the past. And so, I am worried.
I really wanted to keep her. I called her Pixel. Because she was pixelated.
I am also worried that my friends and family are getting upset with me. I get worse with the colder weather, but this feels slightly different. The pain makes me not want to do anything or go anywhere. I feel like they feel I am ditching them or being a homebody. I don't want to be this way. And I know they don't want to hear about me not feeling well because they don't understand that either. So, I am feeling pretty lonely.

I know that in the next couple of weeks that Bacon will move to the in-laws and I won't have the ability to see her every day and know the ins and outs of her day for at least the next few months. I don't know what her future looks like and that is not the best feeling. Last year at this time, I had just finished my first couple of recognized events and I was planning my season and hoping to get to training level. Right now there is just a giant question mark. If I don't get to compete my girl, I will hopefully be busting out Pandora. But going from a 16.3h thoroughbred that's raging to go through that xc course to a 13.3h stubborn reining trained midget hopefully making it around a tiny course is not something I am doing a happy dance for. And that is if the funds pan out.
Brother on Bacon. Me on the midget.
Because the other big stressor is buying a house. Currently, our selection is small. We did put an offer on a house that had many amazing things (3.55 acres, no wasted space, big barn to park small trailer and big truck and motorcycles in with hay storage on outside and covered stalls in a big dry lot plus an area for the goats, beautiful pasture, 400sqft porch, giant daylight basement, down a private drive in an area that will soon be worth $$$, fully fenced, turkey neighbors, sprinklers, etc). But it had some things going against it too. It was built in the 1920's and needed some things updated, and at the price they had it listed for, we wouldn't have been able to fix those things and make the house payment. They did not like our offer. And so far, we have not liked the other houses we have seen. Hopefully there is something for us out there in our price range. And I really wish people would quit wasting space on giant driveways with trees and big ass yards and stupid layouts.
It had a great view
Well, I feel a little better. This is just the tip of the iceberg, but at least I said it somewhere. I don't know how anything is going to go. What is my health going to do? Will Bacon be on the road to recovery, or has she entered retirement? Will I have fun on Pandora, if I get to compete her? Or just in general? Will we get a new house, the right house? Will I end up unable to do art next year and will that make me feel worthless? Will I be able to get my pet turkey? I guess we will find out.
And the turkeys were so happy to see me when I pulled up.