I got to ride!

Finally after way too long I got back into the saddle today.  It was a bit weird and good all at the same time.  On Oscar I could just relax and enjoy the ride and not have to worry about what was going on around the ring.  They were putting a new roof on part of the barn today, and Oscar was interested, but not scared.  It was so nice to not have to worry about everything.

We did lots of jogging and walking, and a bit of cantering both ways but that wasn't very good.  He is very deep hocked, and if he goes too slow it can be more like riding a Po-go stick rather than a horse. C told me that it will get better the more we get to know each other.  He was SO smooth at the jog though!  He made me realize that maybe I'm not such a bad rider, but that Lucas was just too much for me. 

The hips are not too bad but I think I'm going to enjoy the opportunity to have a nap!

Oscar

Nervous, Scared, and Excited

Well my lesson on Lucy got canceled.... kind of.... Lucy got tangled in a fence last summer, and has been mostly sound on light work.  C and D were hoping that with shoes (she had been barefoot) she would improve enough for me to ride her regularly  (The injury was to the coronet band, and is currently growing out though the hoof).  Although the farrier thinks that they shoes will help with the weakness where the injury is, he needed to fix a couple of mild issues at the same time, so Lucy is on a bit of vacation until she adjusts to the changes.

However one of the kids is lending me her horse Oscar so I will get to ride after all!

And there is a possibility that if I like him, and he likes me that I will be able to lease him for the winter!  His owner is going to Newfoundland for university and her parents have approached me about leasing him while she is gone.  He is a 12 year old AQHA with a western pleasure background.  Several owners and trainers tried to get him 'perfect' for AQHA western pleasure but he isn't built correctly enough for what they wanted to do. However he has a wicked flying lead change, excels at patterns, and knows trail.  He would be fun to play with for the winter so cross your fingers it works out.

I'm a little nervous as he will only be the second horse that I've ridden since I bought Lucas, but I'm looking foreword to a much smoother ride.  And a bit worried about my joints, but I have 2 full days to recover.

Rain!

Finally we got a bit of rain today.  Not enough, but it should hopefully keep every plant from dieing on us.  Thankfully most farmers got an excellent first cut of hay, but now while last year they were on there 2nd cut of silage most don't dare cut another crop until there is some water in the ground.

The doctor gave me a steroid shot on Monday in hopes that it would calm down the inflammation a bit until the IV drugs fully kick in.  All it seemed to do was make my arm sore!  Cross your fingers, I booked a 'mini' lesson on Saturday (a lesson until the pain gets to bad basically) with Lucy that I'm looking foreword to.  Its been a couple of months since I've been on a horse, I need a fix!

I went out to the beach on Saturday and spent the night at the cottage, and my Dad took me and my Mom out on his new boat in the AM.  Its about 12 feet long, and the waves were big, so we were only out for about 15 min.  I don't think that boating is something that will take the place of horses any time soon!!

I went out to a local show on the weekend that all the kids from the barn were going to.  "I" took Lucas so I got to see him again.  It was nice, he did remember me and seemed happy to see me.  (he nickered and pricked his ears when I said "hi buddy" like I used to when I saw him when I would first get to the barn).  The coach has figured out all of his buttons but "I" is still working on them.  She had an ok showmanship pattern but you could just about see Lucas shrug his shoulders half way though the pattern with a look that said "if you aren't going to ask for a pivot correctly, I'm just going to turn a circle!".

Her equation pattern was rough but she got it done, and he is NOT an easy pattern horse.  She was doing great in her second riding class, until she got too close to the rail (which Lucas hates) and he slightly spooked into the inside of the ring, she lost her balance and came off.  Lucas tried to get underneath her but she was too far gone but he stopped and waited for her to get up.  "I" was bruised, but ok, and was looking foreword to the next show.  (Kids are invincible!)

Fingers are better

I'm trying to stay off the computer as much as possible at home, but the fingers are feeling a bit better today.  Got a doctors appointment for Monday am to hopefully/not hopefully get steroids.  I love the fact that they make me feel 'normal' but I hate what they do to me.   Last time I was on them for an extended period of time I ended up having to sleep on an air bed as they do something screwy with the muscles in my back :(

There is a fun show on Saturday that Im going to go to for a couple of hours to watch, and hopefully take pictures.

PS if any of you have an Iphone, or an Ipod.. get the game My Horse... it is very addictive!!

'frozen' fingers

I hate RA. Woke up and was unable to move my left hand fingers. Still waiting to hear back from doctor. Fingers movable by 11 am but in no shape to work so another day of missed work. Attaching Picture of hand, lumps are swelling between the joints, fingers are as straight as they go...

Grooming

So for my second summer of College and the first year after I got out, I groomed hunters and show jumpers for a couple of farms in Ont.  It was a lot of hard work but I got so many opportunity that I otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford.  So this is going to be a pictures post with some details and then I hope to share some stories about the people I worked for and met.  I figured that with the Olympics coming up, and with the sale of Lucas it would be good to focus on that part of my life for a while.


So for my first real 'away' job I moved to Kingridge stables in King City, Ont.  This was the "North" operation.  They had a "South" location in Ocala.  I couldn't belive the size, and the look of the place.  There were over 30 box stalls and we had run in sheds/open barns for another 10 horses.  Most of the horses here were the top level show jumpers and hunters along with a dozen or so young horses that needed miles and the shows that were only about 20 min away.  We also had 3 horses used for fox hunting but they also did double duty in the show ring if the actual owner of the place had time to go to a show.  I mostly rode those horses, as they didn't require much jumping work (at this point the highest I had jumped was 2'6", these horses were the first I ever rode that knew how to do a 'real' lead change!), but lots of good correct miles. 

I left when the summer was over, we seemed to attract a large number of girls who only wanted to 'look' like they were working,  and who never had to work to provide for themselves.  I once took a hammer out and fixed a fence and gave every single one of the girls a heart attack thinking that they might have to fix the next one.  The head property guy told the guys that "shes too good for here", and his reference did help when I applied for Halton Place next summer.

Main barn from driveway/horse loading area

Allie Cat, still competing when I was there

Money Talks, a wonderful old stud that I got to lunge and tack. 

Horse Radish, one of the fox hunters I got to ride on a regular basis, in the indoor (the panels of the roof that are white/clear actually open up so that there is no roof on the indoor)

Kingridge main barn from the entrance drive way.  

Sophie

This is my best friends filly, who is out of one of the first horses I trained.  She is a 1/2 sister to Chilly (same sire) and has both the studs, and Chilly's friendly personality.  (not that the mare isn't friendly, but Sophie reminds me much more of her father!)  We think she is going to be a very light bay or even a dun, her face is sheading out chestunt almost, but her legs and mane are black.

Now what....

I'm not quite sure where I want to go now.  I know that financially I need to wait a year or two before buying another horse (and with the market in the state that it is in, investing in horses is a bad idea right now!).  I read though a lot of my old posts tonight from before I got Lucas.  I'm kind of in the same spot now, and I don't want to rush into anything.

I love riding and teaching horses new things.  I dont like riding when I need to be 'perfect' all the time.  But the riding events that I like to do focus on being 'perfect'.  Western Pleasure, Hunter under saddle, showmanship, and the pattern classes are all about who can be the most 'perfect'.

While I enjoy trying to reach those goals, I'm not so sure that the pressure that it places on the horses, and the riders is a good thing.

I enjoy the challenge of the lungline classes (which only require perfection for a very short period of time) and the halter classes.  However with lungline you only have the yearling year to do it (sometimes shows offer it for 2 year old but not very often.)  And halter is great, but it leads to a very long day of sitting around a show done way before your friends are, and I think it can be very boring for the horses.

So that's where my mind is as now... I'm starting into the Law course next week which will hopefully get me to focus on something.  I'm also having thoughts about changing some of the layout and pictures of the blog... anyone have any idea?

Lucas and his new owners coach

Storm!

So last night, like I said on my last post the weather was a little crazy last night, only I didn't realize how crazy.  Shortly after I posted, the wind and rain picked up big time.  Add in thunder and lightning and me and the dogs were all ready to hide under the bed.  I had left several horses outside (it hadn't been raining very hard, and even the horses that had shelter were out in the field. I didn't think that it was going to thunder and lightning (but if I had known the dogs reactions better I could have been forewarned by them).

So during the worst of it I debated going to go out in it and get them and bring them in.  I called my Dad who was at home (we live 10 minutes from the barn) who told me that the storm had already passed there and should only last 15 min.  So I waited, and when it slowed down to a drizzle I took the dogs out to put hay in the stalls to bring the horses in.  I walked out the front door to find the tree in the front yard had blown over.  Where I am standing in the picture is where the cars park, if the tree had gone the other way it would have taken out C + D's car.

No wonder the dogs were freeking!

Anyways I brought all of the horses in and they had a nice dry night in the barn!

Moving on...

Well I guess I'm back on the ground again.

Lucas left on Friday, and the new owners coach rode him today in a class, and won. I did manage to get a video and will post it tomorrow when I get home. I'm happier today than I've been in a while. He looked good being back in the show ring.

We have crazy weather here today and all of the farm critters are a little 'off'. One more day of farm sitting. Chilly is good and I'll try to attach a picture (I'm on my phone)

And we say goodbye

I got my IV this afternoon, not as bad as we expected, running a little bit of a temp but not nearly as sick as I was with the Orencia.  Although I'm glad I skipped lunch just in case :)  My dad picked me up at the clinic this afternoon, and because I wasn't feeling so bad I decided to go out to the barn and say good bye to Lucas.

I let him go and have a roll, then I got him all cleaned up and got his tail brushed out.  He looks like a million bucks, and he should make his new owner proud when he steps off the trailer tomorrow.

Sooner rather than later

Well its starting to look like Lucas will be on his way on Friday.  "I" and her parents have gotten in touch and have arranged the down payment and set out a payment plan for him for the next couple of months.  However the down payment will be made on Thursday, not the end of the month like we thought.  Which means that Lucas is leaving on Friday for the show that C and D are going to and will be picked up by "I" and her coach at the show.

Its kind of good, the remainder of his board money will pay off D and C's part (contracts, adds ect) and I wont be out of pocket for his shoeing in two weeks.  It does mean that I have less time to say good by, as I have my IV on Thursday night and they will be leaving on Friday while I will be working.

The happy / sad issue remains.  Happy he's going to someone who will appreciate him, and use him, sad that he's going, and with it a huge part of my life over the past couple of years.

C suggested today that I used the week I booked off in August and go to the USA with her to a couple of Appaloosa shows.  Its something that now that Lucas is off my 'books' I can afford to do.  I had half planed to go to a horse show locally (I had booked the time off before I stopped riding) but this would give me a chance to have my first real vacation since Congress in 2008.  So we'll see if I can get the time off work, and go from there.

Ajusting

So although I shed a few tears yesterday, I'm feeling much better about the decision today.  Every time I start feeling a little sad for myself, I remember how excited "I" was when she found out that she was going to be his new owner, and the grin on her face when she cantered him for the first time.  I'm still sad for me, but I'm happy for Lucas and "I".  

"I" has just turned 16, and this will be her first horse, she's been leasing a horse (which is one of the reasons Lucas is staying put until the end of the month, she had to give notice on that horse) and showing a little but is excited about how much Lucas can teach her over the next couple of years. 

Her coach sent me a message on facebook yesterday thanking me for helping them make "I"'s dream come true.  She said that it was all she talked about on the way home and is really excited.  They live about an hour and a half away so close enough I can go and see him, but not so close that I would worry about seeing him all the time.

I'm kind of excited about having a little more spending money now that I wont be paying for Lucas upkeep, it will be nice to be able to buy a new pair of pants for work without plotting for weeks about it. 

The plan is now to keep playing with Chilly and see how the IV goes next week.  I don't want to buy again right now.  This has been a year of heart break and disappointment.  I'm not sure if I ever want to go though that again.