Tuesday, July 15, 2014

SO MUCH CLINIC LEARNING ACTION!

Dressed. And ready to...impress? Nah!
Well, Bacon, the Sprinklerbandit, and myself made a trip a couple hours away for a cross country clinic and derby this past weekend. And it was pretty much just completely awesome. And because of all of the awesome, I will have to break the post down into the three different days.

So, alas, I give you day one.

Actually, I will briefly state that the evening before, my horse traveled well, and survived through the night (despite all of my negative thinking and nightmares).
Ready to learn. And try not to die.
This was my first overnight trip with a horse ever. So I was extra nervous. It was also my second clinic, and first time riding with this clinician. I have been around her and her barn, but she had no idea what she was dealing with. Really. And with my health issues lingering on my brain, I was nervous as to how I would hold up in the heat and sun. Fortunately, one girl traded her ride time (which was earlier) with me, so it wasn't as hot when I rode. I think it turned out for the best, because the group I got to ride with was great.

Sprinklerbandit was on photography duty, water duty, health watch, etc...and she did so well! Day one started out with grid and course work. None of which I have ever done. And it was probably pretty obvious. Immediately, I changed my position based of what the clinician said, and felt a lot stronger. I never noticed that my hands were all over the place. I don't know how. I was also asked to change the length of my stirrups.
Hey there thoroughbred, how about we canter in this large open field for the first time ever?
We had to trot and canter through four poles on the ground, which were then raised after a couple of run throughs. Bacon took a good look at them every time we went through. After a bit of that, we started to add in jumps and create a little course. We had to do sharp turns, and cantering. Which may not seem like a big deal, but when you haven't really done it, it is a little exciting. And so was my horse. And so was my breathing. I tried to correct Bacon when she was on the wrong lead and realized that I could not catch my breath. I was able to pull her up, and started my little asthma attack...yep. A little embarrassing.
Pure skillz. We know you jealous.

How NOT to canter over raised poles.
Aimee came over with rather large eyes, and tried to hand me a water bottle. And then somebody else came running with the clinician's inhaler. I brought mine, but it was in the car. Being extra useful. My left hand was numb, and the tip of my ring finger was tingling (and continued to tingle for almost 24 hours). I am going to tell you now that it is difficult to ride when you can't feel the rein in your hand. Oh well!
Lattice jump? No biggie.

Open the chest and collarbones, practice keeping hands together...

After I was able to catch my breath and hydrate, I came back over to join the group. And the coursework continued. Bacon tried hard and did her best at everything I asked. I was so proud of her!
I just love this Bacon horse!

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

I Use To Have a Gelding. And He Was The Best.

Such a sweet boy.

  Total Tenacity was my heart horse. He was also my first horse. The 15.3 red breeding stock paint gelding had four perfect white socks and a blaze shaped like a fatty sword pointed towards his nose. He was halter bred, handsome, and looked an awful lot like his daddy. I thought he was perfect.
Yep. All fat and muscle.
Booger was to be mine, and I never thought that was to happen. I was cleaning stalls at the barn I was riding at when I saw this new horse in one of the stalls. His nose was so sunburned, it was cracked open and about 1/2 inch deep. The next thing I did was buy some sunscreen and aloe vera gel, and every day I applied it to his nose. He was so damn cute. It healed up so nicely, and that was that. My friend knew I was looking for a horse to call my own. She knew he was for sale. For a 14 year old girl looking for her first horse, we were thinking something nice and broke. A "been there done that".

Booger was two. But we lined up a test ride anyways, because, why not. Our first ride was at night in the covered arena. There was some spooking at the white horse running around in the adjacent pasture, and a little buck when I asked for the lope. But he was so smooth. And it felt just right.
We didn't have funds for fancy clothes or tack.
His owner would pick me up from school, and I would ride him around. After about six rides, my grandma bought him for me. I was ecstatic. I ran around the neighborhood yelling "I HAVE A HORSE! HE IS ALL MINE!" Two weeks after he was fully paid off, my 4H leader said she could trim his feet for us. She did. And the next day my horse was dead lame on all four. She told me it was just from all of the circulation he was getting to his feet now because his shoes were pulled off.
I'm just a good little horse.
Um, no. He no longer had any heel left. His legs were three times their size and filled with fluid. He could barely walk. We called a vet out, and he did all kinds of things. Nothing worked. We drained his legs (watching orange fluid pour out of your first horse's legs is a little horrifying) and I would scrub them with betadine every day. Everything scabbed over so he couldn't even bend anything to walk. I would cry and cry. Finally, a farrier pointed out he thought it looked an awful lot like scratches now. We called a different vet out ( a very very old vet) and he gave us an ointment, antibiotics, and some other instructions. After 3 days, I couldn't believe the results. He looked wonderful! After two weeks, he was almost as good as new.
My brother learning the ropes of playing in ponds.
The first time I was able to turn him out in months, he galloped and bucked and spun. And I was so happy. After that we did everything. We played with cows, we tried to jump things, we went on trail rides, played polo, did jousting events, just everything. Pretty awesome for a young little horse with his young little owner. We did have one big spill. My mom was in Idaho for the first time ever, and I wanted to show off how we could gallop through the pasture. Well, he bucked and tripped at the same time and flipped. I obviously didn't stay on. He got up and stood over me, and I stumbled up and just leaned on him until I could kind of see. My mom was like a bat out of hell.
Such a fun horse.
To be continued....

Monday, June 30, 2014

Monday Mania (Crap ton of Photos)

Oh Monday. I rather dislike you. And all of the crazy people you bring into the vet clinic. Anyways...

SO dang cute.
I don't have a whole lot of cool new stuff to update you on. I am still in a lot of pain, and the numbness is increasing in my legs and arms. Somebody mentioned multiple sclerosis, but I am just going to ignore that until the medical professionals say that word in my direction.
Hi there little trouble making pony.
Because of these horrible days, I haven't ridden my ponies much. The boy's truck is trying to such all of the money this month, and that is kind of annoying. And so is playing "dodge the oncoming cars on the freeway to grab out hay" because a certain Blake didn't listen to the women saying he should tie the bales on...Always listen to the damn WOMAN. But things could always be worse.
Your lips could be this saggy. You don't want that.
I did get to play with the Sprinklerbandit and that was so very nice. I got to touch her tack, and she got to touch mine. Well, Blake's too, but after that hay stunt, he can share. The first day, I rode this fat beast of a tick shaped horse named Gunner. He isn't the funnest to ride, but he certainly isn't the worst. I also got to hop on western Courage the next day and play.
Be good Fatniss Neverclean!
That's better. Good tick.
A bit behind the vertical, just his style.

The tick was a little saucy today.
Weeeee!
Kind of looking like I know what I am doing. Maybe.
Western Courage doesn't quite have a "jog".
Doesn't matter, still so cute.
Aaaaaannnndd, my toes are still pointing out.
Hands are for sissies
Meaty was asked to model for his Orthopets CCL brace, so we took a few summer pictures to show off all of that majesticness and his new Ruffwear swamp cooler vest. That boy does not do too well in the heat, and he seemed to really enjoy is cooling clothing!
The ever so rare English Dressage Mastiff. 
Dressage mastiff loses his composure.
And the new vest is now broken in!
I ARE VAMPIRE MASTUF!
Pure class.
You know it's bad when you can hit your eye with your lips.
Vampire mastiff attacks evil sprinkler.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

What Is This Madness!?

So much majestic going on here  
I have been roughed up quite a bit this past week. And while I'll accept 1-3 times a week of injuries or close calls, I am a little worn out. Let's see. There was the crunching of the hands through the welding gloves by a psycho feral flying cat some guy dropped off to be spayed, the two highly close kicks thrown my direction (one to stomach, one to leg) by the fiery red racehorse Heat Man, the great attempt to take off my ear by the stupid black tard Tribal Money, the oh so affectionately named "Waffles" (AKA Waafir) tried to lift me up by my shoulder skin and offered another close kick while getting him ready for his race, and the holding onto of a rather ugly faced-pretty bodied one eyed monster that was claimed by another trainer who tried to rear and strike.
Heat Man. You look cute, but you suck.


COME HERE HOOMAN. LET ME TASTE YOUR SKEEN.

Yeah...something is missing here...
I don't want to play anymore. Knock it off.

Dr. C swears that I am looking death in the face on a daily basis. Maybe so, but such is life.
How about you stare at this face mom?
Meanwhile, my body has decided to be weird again. Not like it wasn't weird at all before, but I have some new symptoms. The past couple of weeks, my left arm will start to tremble uncontrollably off and on. Some days are better than others. I did not sleep a lick last week until I invested in some over the counter sleeping pills. Those suckers knocked me on my ass pretty good. This morning involved sleeping 11 hours (unheard of) and trying to stand up from the bed which resulted in falling to the floor due to an extreme weakness and dizziness. And difficulty breathing. Roxy moo stayed by my side while I very sadly made an attempt to reach the couch. After a bit, I was able to feed some pretty pissed off ponies and drive to work. I sure do hate going into the doctor's office, but I don't know what to think of this.
Black tard and handsome boy and red boy.
Black bastard runs third.
Training rookie Chris with the easy Grunchie.
Blaker going dirt skiing with Mean Maxx.
And the Grunch gets the gold!
Oh yeah, and Roxy Moo was playing with Meatball when he caught her with his tooth and lacerated her. Oh boy!
i iz a shark.

No contest here.
How do I have all of the majestic beasts?
Strike a pose Moo!
Good thing you are cute Archimedes.
I don't even.
So, needless to say, there hasn't been too much riding the past week, and I am feeling the need to get back in the saddle to prepare for Rafter K, my next cross country clinic and derby! SO EXCITED.
The Goose is still fancy!
Such a smooth ride.
My show pony has turned wild mustang.
And I really really want to get my other girls home. I miss them so much. We tried to prepare their paddock area, but couldn't get the tractor started. Doesn't matter anyway because we noticed the damn thing has a flat tire. I ordered a portable car shelter as their temp. shelter. I think I may just slap some panels together, throw up the carport and just release them in the mass amount of weeds anyways. They need to come home.