I hate being sick

Lucas out in the sun on Sunday.

And no Im not talking about just the sinus infection. Some days I just wish that if I had a cold I could just get over it. That if I got a cut it would heal in a matter of days.

But no I have to keep pumping in drugs to kill my immune system, week after week. I know Im not dieing of Cancer, I do keep it in a bit of perspective, but sometimes living with RA sucks.

I finlay got though to my family Doctor today and he brought me in for a quick check up after work. The old antibiotics that were causing my rash/hives (which, by the way have left tiny pinpricks of scabs all over my legs and arms) were also not helping my sinus infection. Yeah its worse. Its now moved into my ears (which is a huge problem for me as Ive had serious issues with my ears since I was a kid)

SOOO now I'm on a different kind of antibiotic, which he hopes will help. I have to call him on Thursday/Friday and let him know how I feel. The next step will involve the hospital in some shape or form so cross your fingers this will help me feel better. My lymph nodes under my ears were also swollen which kinda freaked me out, as that is how we discovered the lump on my thyroid in the first place...

Im also putting my self on restriced Lucas working until I get on the upswing of this thing... not that I wont go out to the barn, but the days its below -15 I should really be staying home for the time being. On a good note, Lucas finally got to go out again yesterday, which makes me feel better if I cant get to the barn every day. He handled it very well, and kept all of his shoes on! So hes back going outside for a couple of hours every day which will make him so much happier!

I rode!

For like 5 minutes :) Lucas was extremely good though. I haven't ridden him since the middle of November and he wasn't so good then. I think that I have more problems with him going back to work than he does. I really lost my confidence about 4 years ago. Nothing specific that I can name, but just a general loss of feeling in control when on horseback. Im getting it back bit by bit, but its days like this when I really notice it. Now that Ive had a good ride on him I should be good to go. Its just that first ride back after an extended time off that makes my legs turn to jello.

So I lunged him for about 5 minutes (we kept one of the lesson kids and horses in the ring that Lucas likes to give me a 'comfort' horse as he acts better the more horses that are in the ring) and we didn't want to drive him, so then I got on and he was keeping his head a bit high, but very listening very well. One of the other lady's bought in her two year old to lunge a bit and one of the other kids brought in her horse to do showmanship, so he really relaxed then (well maybe I did!!!) We just walked around doing some small 2 tracking exercises to keep his brain on me while I got my sea legs then we trotted both directions practicing some transactions. Then I got off! The BO was willing to get on him for me for a couple of min before I did, but we've really starting working as a team when we are driving and I wanted to keep that. It felt a lot this summer like we were fighting each other most of the time, but these couple of months that I haven't been able to ride him our trust has increased a whole bunch. Im not just focusing on the under saddle work, but the entire horse.

So now I have hives

And I am soooooo itchy!!!!! The benadryl is helping but I didnt want to take it either before driving or working with Lucas so I went a little longer between pills. Not huge lumpy ones but like every hair follicle is itchy just a million little red dots. *Sigh* Most likely its an interaction between all of the drugs (my usual, plus the antibiotic and the nasal spray steroids) but it has happened before when I get super sensitive with my dust allergy. Its been almost 10 years since my last real 'break out' so Im washing everything in my room tomorrow to make sure that's not it.

Lucas was AWESOME tonight. We had a great time driving around and working on keeping him light and forward. Its fun to see how I can manipulate his body with the lines, not the same as having legs on him but its a different perspective on him and his interactions with things. I really think that he becomes a 'jerk' because hes board. All of this driving and doing something new every minute or two (to avoid repetative strain on his front legs) Ive really seen an improvement in his attitude over his riding attitude. If I keep his mind busy he doesn't need to make up stuff to keep his own mind busy. I also managed to turn him out to play for 10 min before I tacked him up and that seems to help his mind frame as well, gives him a chance to get the sillys out.

Home sick

I figured that I should take the day off and have a PJ day. Its also snowing here AGAIN. I did go to the barn last night and took Lucas for another drive. It was intresting, I didnt free lunge him but let him have some time on his own in the indoor before I tacked him up. He spooked bad at the kitten playing in the lumber and in the process of me trying to correct him he ended up tangled in the lines.

Thank god some one hobbled him when he was a youngster! The minute he gets any type of rope around his legs he stops dead. Its saved me twice now. The first time he bucked, and reared and ended up grabing the lungeling between his front feet. He hit the ground, then stopped.

This time, in the spook we got our lines crossed as he spun and ran (he turned left quicker than I could) but within a stride of them getting crossed he stopped and waited for me to untangle him. I know it shouldn't happen, but it does. And thats when him knowing what "whoa" means and knowing that any rope in a wrong place means stop as well.

We did some figure 8's both at the walk and the trot using the whole ring, going large at a walk and a trot. He did great, we did have some stickyness doing some turnes to the right, but some flexing worked him out of them. Then we did some 2 tracking, which he wasnt sure about right way, but he caught on quickly. Hes really driving up underneith himself when using the lines, which is only going to help when I start to ride him again.

So antibiotics are working

And I feel like absolute crap. All my joints hurt, my insides, my head.... oh I might have the flu, or it could just be the antibiotics.

I hate antibiotics.

I drove Lucas again last night and he was awsome, ill go out to the barn tonight to double check on him (someone else is doing chores) but I plan to ride either Friday or Saterday depending on how I fell.

Taking a page from Kate:

http://ayearwithhorses.blogspot.com/

Kate had a great idea a couple of weeks ago talking about her horses pedigrees and I thought I could do the same with Lucas (we all know how much I enjoy talking/typing about him)

So Lucas Pedigree is : http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/love+the+luke

His sire is Luke At Me , by Crimson Rogue, and out of The Dasher (by Dash for Cash). As discussed by Nancy Sue Ryan on Huntseathorses.com,

"I had already shown a lot of great horses before I found Luke At Me but he sort of became my trademark horse. I bought him at a race sale in Oklahoma City when he was a yearling. In fact, Wayne Davis and Carl Yamber wanted in so we partnered up and paid $5,900. But after a day or two I had Jerry Erickson buy them out and later that month I had a customer trade a horse and $5,000 for Jerry’s half.” Luke at Me's record stands on its own.

His dam was 'Lovely Thought' a 1986 mare by Joyful Hope and out of Bee Jay Thermos (by Thermos)

From what I have been able to find out, Lovely Thought was never shown, or raced (atleast by AQHA records). The biggest hint I have been able to find out about her was that at one point she was owned by Ron Horn (husband of the late June Horn, one of the founding members of getting english events into the NSBA) She does have an impressive produce record though:

Lovely Thought's offspring have earned over $13,000.00 in NSBA winnings and over $12,500.00 from the American Quarter Horse Association Incentive Fund. Allowing her foals to win over $25,500.00!! Her foals have earned a combined total of 488.0 AQHA points. She has had a Reserve World Champion in the Open Junior Hunter Under Saddle as well as an Amateur Reserve World Champion in the Hunter Under Saddle. Lovely Thought also produced the AQHA Year End High Point winner for the 2003 season!

Lovely Thought is the Dam of:

STONE COLD LUKE (1999 Brown Gelding by Luke At Me)# Qualified for the 2007 AQHA World show in Amateur and Open Pleasure Driving # Qualified for the 2005 AQHA World show in Open SR Hunter Under Saddle# Qualified for the 2004 AQHA World show in Amateur Hunter Under Saddle and Open JR HUS# 3rd in both the Open High Point Hunter Under Saddle and Open JR Hunter Under Saddle for 2003# Amateur High Point Hunter Under Saddle for 2003# Reserve World Champion in Amateur Hunter Under Saddle and Open JR Hunter Under Saddle# 2003 Open and Amateur Superior Hunter Under Saddle# Qualified for the 2002 Open JR Hunter Under Saddle

LOVELY LUKING (2004 Chestnut Mare by Luke At Me)# Top 10 at the 2006 NSBA World Show in 2 year old Hunter Under Saddle# AQHA point earner

Stone Cold Luke died at the 2008 Select world from colic, I am facebook friends with his old owners daughter and they have a full sister that they are playing with and hoping to breed this spring.

This is Luke On TheBriteSide (whos for sale) He and Lucas were the only one of all of the full siblings shown this summer:

http://www.equine.com/horses-for-sale/horse-ad-1042800.html

Bargin price pony looks better every day!

-38 C

Yup its that cold with the windchill. Needless to say, other than putting more blankets on the horses, and giving them some nice warm water (well that and the usual food with even some more hay) all of the horses in the barn didnt do much today.

Lucas got his fleece sheet on under his heavy weight blanket, and the barn is full now (the 24/7 outside horses are even in) so it was decently warm in the barn. And by that I mean that your skin wasnt ready to fall off! Oh and I went to my family doctor today, and I do have a sinus infection (suprise!).

I also got summond to jury duty. Tripple Blah! I dont know what Im going to do, the trial is due to be around the first week in April, right when the government fiscal year end is... Last year it took 3 of us full time and 2 of us doing over time on top of that, to get it done within a time frame the gov was happy with. That and the fact that Im not good with sitting for long periods of time, so Im not sure what my doctor will say about that. I get that we should do this as our civic duty, just a pain having to deal with it.