THE book is out!!!

Show us your hands

The book is done!!  If you click on the link above it will bring you to the preview and you can look though it.  If I could complain a little I wish we could have gotten some better pictures put in, some of the pictures are stunning, and Lucas didn't want to co-operate!  We are on page 25 if you want to have a peek.  All the proceeds of the book are going towards the operating costs of the "Show Us Your Hands" project and will be used to increase Inflammatory Arthritis awareness.

One of my quotes also got used in the Health Central article written by Lene Anderson.  Lene was my editor/guiding force though the process and was offered helpful advice and encouragement whenever I needed it.

Bits part 1 (kinda sort of)

So I rode Lucas in the new bit tonight and he really seemed to like it (he may have also liked the fact that I wasn't picking on him!) he was frothing at a mouth just a bit (the dressage queen in me was happy with that) and it surprised me that he really seemed to like the rollers, they kept his mind busy and kept him from imagining scary things in the corners of the arena. He really likes the bits that are broken like this, however doesnt like a french link, or even a one joint snaffle (well I dont like riding him in a snaffle, hes too much horse for me if my hands are bad, I need a back up if we get into trouble)... He seems to really want a port for the space it gives his tounge.

He was really accepting of it and it was really easy for me to work him one handed in this. We did a lot of one handed steering and horsemanship maneuvers. I know that it was a bit of me working on D's tips from our lesson last week, but it was much easier to lift his front end with this bit with only a touch of contact and leg rather than me having to really pull on him to get him to listen. Its given me a lot to think about, maybe working in some rollers might be a good idea in our English bit too......


So we did a short ride tonight with one of the kids and her mare (who Lucas was really good with and didn't pin his ears once!). And I did some streaching, drank a ton of juice and water, took a pain pill, and now have a heat pad on my back hoping to keep the pain down tomorrow. Hopefully it works!

The interactive collage http://www.showusyourhands.org/ went over 1000 pictures a couple of days ago. Our deadline for our book submissions was last week, and the editor I've been working with has been awesome. She rode when she was young but after the onset of her arthritis she had to give it up. Some days I don't realize how lucky I am to be able to still be active.

First lesson of the year

Turned out very well actually.... D had us riding with an other lady that has her 4yo at the barn. We had some of the same issues to work out so D thought it would be a good mix. We did end up riding inside but I promised myself that I wouldn't worry and would just follow his directions and go with it. I know D would never purposefully put me or Lucas into a situation that we couldn't deal with so I just needed to show some trust.

We ended up just working on Lucas' trot/walk and his transitions in between the two. D had me really getting after Lucas and not letting him get away with anything. It was good, I was too busy keeping him going with 'bounce' in his stride that I didn't worry about the sun spots on the ground or his reaction to another horse being so close to his personal space bubble. We really worked on keeping Lucas' shoulders up, but without him thinking he needed to take his usual huge stride. That an easy trot, without being lazy was all that we wanted.

Then because both of the horses have some issues with horses passing we practiced riding next to each other at the walk and trot all around the ring. That was interesting!! Lucas has a much bigger stride but we were worried about him kicking so we wanted to keep him on the outside so I could move him away if he got a little light behind, so we just about did some trotting on the spot so that we wouldn't get too far ahead of the other horse. It was good for all 4 of us though, we were all thinking too much about keeping together that we stopped worrying about the horses being close together.

So I plan to keep up with the lessons, Its better that I'm having fun and having good rides than going to a show to only show showmanship. Pictures below are from our 'photoshoot' today for the book project and one of Lucas looking cute in his western bridle. I hope to do a bit post someday soon, the plan is to take pictures of some of them tomorrow... lets see if I get that accomplished! I finally got my grooming box/boot box cleaned out today that I've been trying to get done for weeks!

Barn and writing and coughing.

Had a bit of a trip out to the barn today, only about 4 hours but most of it was spent up in the heated viewing room with the lesson kid's parents. Lucas got a good brush again but no more riding. I'm hoping that tomorrow afternoon it will be dry enough that we can go up to the outdoor and do a little bit of riding outside.

The first show we can go to is May 13 (the entry forms came out today) And with a month and a half to go I'm seriously wondering how much showing we will get to do. It sucks that I'm having a hard time riding more than 15 min a week again after working so hard to ride well in January and February. I'm still coughing if I do too much more than walk, but its better than it was on Thursday. I seem to get better and think I'm on the mend, then back down to being sick and in bed again.

I am trying to work on my write up and I've been writing back and forth with my 'guide' and I was a little worried that my story was going to come off too horsey... So this was my original submission and her comments follow that:

""My hands have been my gateway back into the horse world I knew and loved before I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. My hands have guided myself and a horse to two Canadian National High Points, something I thought that after my diagnosis was impossible. My hands have taught horses to be more gentle, kids to be braver, and have taught me much about patience, and resilience. "

and while I'm here, may I just say how thrilled I am to be working with you. I am a frustrated horse nerd - one of my most favorite smells in the world is the scent of horse. You take me into a barn and I'm ecstatic. I used to take riding lessons when I was around 12 years old, but then my JRA went nuts and it was something I had to say goodbye to. 35+ years later, it is one of the only things I truly regret about the disability my RA gave me. Working with you is my opportunity to dive back into that world and I am very much looking forward to it!

We chose your story partly because you wrote it well and partly because of the horses. We believe showing you interacting with your horse(s) will be a powerful story/image and certainly a unique one. I have some general ideas about the staging of your photos that have lived in my brain since I first saw your submission, so if you want to bet some ideas around, that's part of my role in this process. Of course, it's your story and you're in the driver's seat, so it's up to you to decide when you want me to be involved.

have a great weekend!"

Back to the Microsoft word I go!

Is panicing!

I have until April 6th to have my essay along with 10-15 photos sent in for the book, so of course I'm writing on my blog!!! ARGH!!

In Lucas news we finally got out to lunge in the outdoor arena! But we got stuck in the mud on the way to the arena. I may be starting to feel more confident about riding a short trail ride this summer (or at least some time outside of a fenced ring). He was very good going down the barn drive by himself and along the road to get to the outdoor ring drive way. The mud scared him out a bit but it was a lot sticker than I thought it would be.

I'm still sick so I'm staying home again tonight. I really wish I could just stop coughing.

RA, the downs and the ups of living with it.

So I got my infusion last night, went to bed at 8. Woke up at 5:30 am (my regular time) long enough to decided that I wasn't going to work, my mom woke me up at 6:30 so I could call work and text my car-poolers to let them know I wasn't coming. I'm fairly sure I left my boss a message that sounded like I was drunk! I went back to bed again until 9:45 up until 11:45, back in bed until 2 when I finally got up and had a shower. I went out to the barn for a bit to scrub some hair off Lucas and take off his winter blanket and put his lighter turnout on. Then back home and back onto the lazy boy.

Fun day in the life of an RA sufferer.

But then I opened my email.

As part of my ongoing reaching out and spreading the word about RA on places more than just my own blog, I submitted my bio and application to the "Show us your Hands" book.

http://www.showusyourhands.org/photo-book-project/

I came home from my short trip to the barn to find out I got accepted!!! This will be a work in progress, and I hope to bring all of you along on the ride with me as usual!