canterbalance

Gratitude

2011-12-13T09:06:00.000-08:00

I made my way out to the barn on Sunday. The weather had warmed up a bit and I wanted to check on the boys. When I got there they were turned out into their pasture and were grazing side by side. They paid no attention to me whatsoever until I made my way into the pasture with some horse cookies. It was then they decided I was their long lost benefactor.

As they ambled across the pasture toward me I was struck by just how beautiful they both are. Even in they're dirty blankets, even with their manes in a tangle and shavings clinging to their tails. They are both pretty fuzzy. I think Bay may even be fuzzier than he has ever been. His tail is longer than I've ever see it. It's past his hocks now. Boo's tail has grown too. It wasn't but a couple of months ago that I had banged it just above his fetlocks. Now it's dragging on the ground again. Looks like I will need to go out and wash it and bang it again on the first available 50 degree day.

I haven't been feeling well lately, but today for that few hours spent with my horses, I forgot about everything but how much I love being with them. I have heard it said that people who have something that speaks to their soul, no matter what it is, will become so engrossed in it that they will lose time when doing it. That is exactly what happens to me when I am with the horses. Time slows down and eventually I lose track of it altogether. I know I am not alone in this. I know that almost everyone who will read this blog post knows exactly what I am talking about. Aren't we lucky to have that? I know I'm grateful for every single moment.

Sunday Stills

2011-12-11T09:26:00.000-08:00

Wondering About Blanketing

2011-12-09T17:44:00.000-08:00

I am sitting here in my office. The sun is filtering in through the windows. Everything is warm and cozy inside. Outside is a different story. It was 25 degrees when I got up this morning. That is unusual weather for the Pacific Northwest. Oh, we get cold weather but we don't usually get it for more than a few days in a row and then it's back to the 50's for daytime highs and lows in the 40's to upper 30's at night.

I understand that for many people this is just your every day winter weather. It's far worse in many parts of the country and around the world. At least this has been a dry cold spell. Still, it's not that normal for us and I find myself wondering if I'm doing right by my 22-year-old gelding. I have him stabled about 30 minutes from home. The elevation is a little higher and the temperature is a few degrees colder than it is here at home. I have a light blanket on him (no fill) with a neck cover. It's just to keep him dry and to break the wind. He has a very fuzzy winter coat of his own, and I've always felt that was enough for our normal temperatures. Now, with these temperatures, I am second guessing myself. Should I be putting on a heavier blanket? It's still getting to the upper 30's and lower 40's during the day...

He is outdoors during the day and indoors at night. He seemed fine the last time he was checked. He was warm and dry under the blanket. His weight is still good. I'm concerned that if I put on a heavier blanket he will just sweat under it. I've had that happen before. I've heard other people say they've beefed up the light turnout sheet in this cold weather.

What do you all think?

Wordless Wednesday

2011-12-07T08:52:00.000-08:00

Learning About Equine Photography

2011-12-05T16:03:00.000-08:00

I spent some time this fall taking an online photography class. It is a fine art photography class and the emphasis is on capturing the essence of the horse. I heard about the class from a good friend who is a much better photographer than I am. She encouraged me to give it a shot and I am really glad I did. I’ve owned a Canon Rebel XTI for about 3 years, but I was lost when it came to taking pictures off auto mode. With this class I would be required to get off auto.

I was pretty nervous in the beginning. I was worried I wouldn’t understand the assignments or even how to upload them. I am definitely not a techie. However, the emphasis here wasn’t going to be about the technical aspects as much as it was going to be about beginning to define our own vision regarding the essence of the horse.

All that was needed for the class was a DLSR camera and some version of Photoshop. I bought PS Elements 9 from Amazon and I was set to go.

I didn’t turn out to be the star of the class. I also wasn’t a total bust. I didn’t get a photo that I thought worthy of printing and framing as fine art, but I did get an idea of where to begin my photography education which I intend to follow up on. I am planning to take some of those technical classes to help me better understand the capabilities of my camera. I’m also planning to take some classes in photo shop. I’ve developed a better understanding of what fine art photography is. The class was well worth the money and the time I’ve spent on it.

Although the actual goal of using photo shop was to take a good photo and then enhance it with photo shop techniques, I did learn how to make an interesting sort of photo out of what most would consider a real dud. Here are a few examples.

The website for the class is www.learntotakephotos.com

Sunday Stills

2011-12-03T23:46:00.000-08:00

Back Light

I Have Been Missing In Action

2011-12-02T19:18:00.000-08:00

I have many reasons but no good excuse. My last entry was in mid September. It was just a short blurb about the Pendleton Roundup. We had moved our two horses to a new barn just a few weeks earlier. It had not been our choice. Our old barn had gone self-care. The new barn was nice. It was no further away. It was just something new to get use too.

Both horses have settled in nicely. It has not been quite so easy for me. It's difficult sometimes to accept change. It's difficult to lose the connections with old barn friends. It's sometimes difficult to build new connections, especially if a person is not going to the barn very often. Such is the situation I have made for myself in the past few months.

To top off all the difficulties I've been having dealing with change, I have also been dealing with some health changes. It is amazing how incredibly slow the health care industry moves. In mid October I visited my PCP due to some recurring symptoms I had been having. They had been ongoing for a couple of months prior to the visit and were beginning to scare me. About mid November I finally received all the test results we had been waiting for only to be told I needed to be referred to a specialist. It took almost two more weeks to get an appointment with the specialist and that is not going to happen until December 30th. I've been waiting...and waiting...and waiting. I've put my life on hold and it is finally dawning on me that no matter what I end up dealing with health wise, I just cannot continue to do what I am doing.

I must get back to the things that sustain me. I need to get back to being with my horses. I need to get back to being active. I need to push through the unfamiliar, and the doldrums, and the pain and just be present. So here I am.

I'm back.

Fantastic weekend

2011-09-18T18:30:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at the Pendleton Roundup once again!!! The DH and I, along with our daughter Jaimee and my dear friend Joanne, managed to be there for the rodeo on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We met up with other family and friends. We saw the big parade on Friday morning. We shopped until we nearly dropped. We spent some time at Crabby’s Underground, the Rainbow Room, and of course out on Main Street listening to the bands. We had a lot of fun, got little sleep, and drank a few beers. I must have taken about 500 photos, and I learned a ton about what not to do when taking pictures. I'm always a little sad when it's over...I'm also grateful because these old bones just ain't what they use to be!

Pendleton Roundup 2012

2011-09-15T23:23:00.001-07:00

The boys are doing well in their new home

2011-09-14T21:36:00.000-07:00

The horses have been in their new home for a little over two weeks now. They are turned out to pasture together and they seem to be getting along well. My first time out I lunged Boo in the outdoor. That went pretty well, so my next time out I rode in the outdoor. He was pretty excited and not listening to well, but we managed. I’ve ridden him a couple of times in the indoor, and he does pretty well in there. There are some trails to ride out there, so I think I’m going to have to get Mick out there and explore those before the rains start up again.

Both boys call a bit when one or the other of them leaves the pasture. They seem to be doing that less and less though. We took Bay to the ODS Championships last weekend, so Boo had to spend the entire weekend in the pasture alone. He did alright though. He had a couple of mares in the pasture next to him and other horses in sight. Boo has some scratches on one of his hind feet. I always thought that was something that happened during the muddy season, but these came on right before we left CEC and the ground was dry. I’ve been treating it with Vetracyn. Looks better, but not completely cleared up yet.

For any who may be wondering I’ve finished the cabinets in the kitchen. I have the island left to do, but that won’t happen until the end of the month. My sister is going to be out here from Cheyenne and all projects are on hold while she’s here. I’ll post a picture when the islands finished.

Oregon Dressage Society Championships

2011-09-13T17:29:00.000-07:00

Training Level 3rd Place
First Level 6th place

Tough competition, but they placed.

It's a busy summer

2011-08-14T22:10:00.000-07:00

I made it out to the barn on my first day back from vacation. It was a wonderful vacation full of family and fun, but I really missed Boo, Bay, and Miley. I gave Boo a good grooming. Is it weird that he is still shedding? Does anyone else have a horse that is doing that here in the Pacific Northwest.

We didn't work hard, but we did work on staying on the bit. He was a good boy, and we did all three gaits and called it a night. I'll go back out on Tuesday.

Three of the horses that have been boarding at the barn have already moved out. Two more will be moving on the same day that we will be moving our horses. While I was cleaning Boo up after the ride a family walked in looking for the barn owner. They were moving in. It was surreal for me. I'm normally pretty friendly to everyone, but tonight I just felt deflated. It's hard to watch people coming in all happy about their new boarding barn when we would rather not be leaving.

I pick Miley up tomorrow after her bath. Leaving her behind was really hard to do. My only consolation is I know she would have hated being in the car so much. I admit I am a little bit OCD about Miley since losing Poko. I called the kennel midway through our vacation just to check on her.

Tomorrow it's back to my painting project in the kitchen. Sure wish it was done already.

Old Faithful

2011-08-08T21:46:00.001-07:00

Road Trip

2011-08-08T05:43:00.001-07:00

This is it!

2011-08-01T21:18:00.000-07:00

Well...I did it! I committed to a new barn for the boys and gave notice at my old barn. I have to say that I feel lucky to have found the place. Judy, Sarah's mother, actually is the one who found it. I think she was pretty sure that I would like it. It reminds me a lot of CEC. There is turnout every single day. As a matter of fact they are out 27/7 during the summer months. In the winter they have nice cozy 12X12 stalls and both have no mud runs off the back of the stalls. There are automatic waterers and big watering tubs in the pastures. There is an indoor arena with cedar footing and an outdoor sand arena. There's even indoor plumbing for the horses people. The price is right. More than I have been paying, but not more than I can handle. The only drawback is it is still a 30 minute drive from my house. I can deal with that though as long as the horses are happy and healthy. They feed eastern Oregon hay and the same grain the boys are already on. The best part is our trainer can come out to the barn and work with us. I want to thank strivingforsavvy for sending me a list of barns to check out. I'll send you an email and let you know how things went there. I took some pictures I'll share with you. I'll save the arenas and pastures for another time.

Barn Shopping

2011-07-29T20:59:00.000-07:00

I have been looking for a new barn for a couple of weeks now. First I made a list of all the barns I could find, and then the dear husband and I spent a weekend doing drive-by shopping. If the place looked like it might be a possibility I made a note of it. If not, I crossed it off the list. This past Sunday we actually visited two barns. One has possibilities, and one is completely out of the question. I realize that I have a long list of wants and that I am probably going to have to compromise. I just haven't figured out yet what I can live without and what I cannot.

There was a time when two available stalls would have been enough for me. Not anymore. I've had the horses for a few years now, and I've learned a lot in that time about what horses need to be healthy and happy. First and foremost they need a safe and secure facility with good feed and clean water. Secondly, they need caretakers who know about horses. No amateurs need apply when it comes to being a good place for my horses. The horses being healthy, safe, and well-cared for is the most important thing.

Of course I want it to be affordable. I am getting dangerously close to maxed out with what I can afford to pay. It definitely limits my choices. If I could afford to pay more I could get the second item on my wish list which is proximity. If I had only one horse I could have proximity. I have two horses. Looks like I'm going to be driving a ways to and from whatever barn I choose. I can live with that. CEC wasn't exactly in my backyard.

I want my horses to have turn-out. When I first bought them I was in a barn where there was no turn-out. They spent everyday, all day long, in their stalls except for the hour or two they were in work. I didn't know any better. When we moved to CEC the whole concept of turn-out really made me nervous. I was terrified they would get hurt...and sometimes they did...but they were happy and I could tell they were happy. I finally came to the realization that they were horses and they deserved to live like horses if I could manage it. So, turn-out is a big deal for me.

I want them to have a roomy stall with good bedding. I want a decent sized arena with good footing. I don't like dark and gloomy so good lighting is essential and there must be good air circulation. I want a safe place to store my tack. I want someone to put on and take off blankets when I can't. I want mud control, fly control, good drainage, and the manure pile to disappear on a regular basis. Part of any boarding experience is the social aspect. I like having barn friends to ride with. I like young people and I like having a few people closer to my own age too. Having trails to ride would be an added plus, and last but not least I want to be able to continue working with my trainer.

So...was I able to find all this or did I have to make some compromises. What do you think?

Today my heart is broken

2011-07-23T23:54:00.000-07:00

Rest in peace beloved Poko...we will miss you always.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-07-20T07:47:00.000-07:00

Ribbons

2011-07-16T08:03:00.000-07:00

A few posts back I told everyone that Sarah and Bay had competed in our Arabian regional championships and that they did well. I only had a cell phone picture to post. This past week Sarah mom, Judy, gave me a dvd with a few pictures she had taken over the course of the show.

Because the show was over the 4th of July holiday the DH and I were very very busy. That's a time of company from out of town and rodeo after rodeo after rodeo. We managed to make it out for the rides, but on the day of the championship we had somewhere we had to be by shortly after 5:00 p.m. So, we had to load Baythoven up right after Sarah's last ride and head back to our barn. Sarah stayed with everyone else to find out the results in her classes. In main ring classes and in a lot of the sport horse classes the winners are announced and ribbons are awarded before they ever leave the ring. That is not the case in dressage. Every test has to be ridden and scored individually before the outcome is known. Hence, there is no big presentation unless you can stay and wait through everyone else, and even then there are scheduling conflicts,and you may have to wait until the end of the show before there is a ring to use and people available to present your ribbons. So there are no grand photos of Sarah on Baythoven wearing his ribbons...yet...we will be having a photo session in August to get those championship photos. In the meantime we have these :)

Ch ch ch ch changes...

2011-07-14T09:22:00.000-07:00

I hate change! Especially when it comes to my horses and their living situations. We got an email last week that informed us of a barn meeting to be held last night. Of course there was a lot of speculation about what news the meeting would bring. Turns out our full-care barn is going self-care.
Arrrggghhh! We have 6 weeks to find a new home for the boys if we decide that self-care isn't going to work for us.

I have loved being at this barn. It is well kept and the arenas are great. I like the other boarders. I love the trainer. As a matter of fact the only thing I didn't like was the drive out there. Sometimes I tended not to go because I didn't have time for the drive out, the grooming, the ride, the grooming, and the drive back. I never had to worry about my horses. There was always someone around to watch out for them.

So...I am looking at my options. Did I tell you that I hate change?

RIP

2011-07-12T20:50:00.000-07:00

My dear friend Joanne Collins has taken many beautiful pictures of me with my Boo. Today I post a picture she did of her boy Excel. He will be sorely missed.

Short trip to the gorge

2011-07-07T19:01:00.000-07:00

The DH's mom came out from Idaho to visit her sister for the week. They made a road trip to the gorge where the DH and I met up with them yesterday. We had a great time sight-seeing. I've never been to the Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, Washington before yesterday morning. The view from the deck was fantastic.

We visited Bonneville and saw rainbow trout and giant sturgeon.

We had lunch at Multnomah Falls

and did a short hike into to see Bridal Veil Falls and Latourell Falls. Both well worth the short walk. It was a little much for Mick's Aunt with her bad hip, so she opted to wait in the truck. Of course we worried about it being to hot for her but apparently it was just the right temperature for a couple of short naps.

We ended the trip with a drive through of Hood River and watched the windsurfers for a bit. It was a hot and dry wind they were catching but they all looked happy to me. All in all it was a great day.

What I have been doing with my summer

2011-07-05T22:53:00.000-07:00

There is a reason I have been awol for the past month. I have been talking about refinishing my kitchen cabinets for quite some time now. I did a little research and decided I'd most likely have to paint them. One evening a little over a month ago I was telling my son-in-law what I planned to do. I thought he might give me some pointers since I knew he had painted the kitchen cabinets in a rental they had lived in a few years ago. While I was telling Dave about my plans my grandson Dom was listening in. Dave asked me what the DH thought about my plans. I told him that I it was my opinion that he didn't really believe I would do it. My grandson piped in that he didn't think I would do it either...that was all it took. It's taking a lot longer than I had anticipated but I've been working on it. I started with the built-in t.v. cabinet in the family room. Seemed like if I really messed it up it would be a lot less expensive to fix that then it would be to replace the kitchen cabinets. This is a shot of the cabinet once finished.

I should have a shot of the the first bank of kitchen cabinets by the end of the week.

St. Paul Rodeo on July 4th

2011-07-05T21:21:00.000-07:00

Spent July 4th at the St. Paul rodeo! Beautiful day and had a great time. My friend Joanne used her little point and shoot to take these photos.

Congratulations to Sarah and Baythoven

2011-07-04T00:00:00.000-07:00

I have been awol for a bit. So much going on and so little time. I had to check in today though because we had our regional championships July 1-3, and I wanted to share with all of you that Sarah and Baythoven participated in their first regional competition together and came away champions in JTR training level and JTR first level. They worked hard for this and I am so happy for them. Especially since they had to miss the state OHSET competition because I opted not to send Bay due to the EHV-1 scare.

This isn't such a great photo. I took it with my cell phone but it will have to do.

Perspective

2011-05-14T00:30:00.000-07:00

Saw this today. It came from Jane Savoie. She didn't write it, and I don't know who did or I would credit them. Couldn't help but copy it because it is something that I needed to see. I haven't written much of anything lately. I just haven't been feeling it. Hopefully I am back.

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live.
They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"
"It was great Dad."
"Did you see how the poor people lived?" the father asked.
"Oh yeah," said the son.
"So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.
The son answered:
"I saw that we have one dog and they had four.
We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden, and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden, and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard, and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on, and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us. They have friends to protect them."
The boys father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are."

A sunny Sunday

2011-05-02T08:01:00.000-07:00

This was yesterday. Gorgeous! Boo got his first bath of the year. I got a sunburn. All was well with my little world. Today it's gray with drizzle possible and the highs in the upper 50's. Tomorrow is Boo's 22nd birthday. Hopefully, sunny skies will return for the big day.

I saddled up and rode Boo in the outdoor arena before his bath. He was a bugger. You would never know he was 22 and worldly. He did not want to be on the bit. He wanted to be looking all over and playing spook at this/spook at that. I finally had to get tough with him. My trainer would probably laugh at my version of tough, but for me it was out of the ordinary assertiveness and eventually it started to work. So, why do I always feel like I'm manhandling him when I'm just asking him to give to the bit???????

He was a brat in the bath too. Acted like he'd never been bathed before when I happen to know that this horse was bathed and shown on a regular basis for most of his life. Once I turned him out on the green grass his whole attitude was don't bother me. I'm eating.

As frustrating as yesterday was it was more than made up for by the beautiful weather and the fact that although this happens from time to time it is not the norm, and I am slowly but surely getting a handle on how to handle it. I give the credit for that to trainer Tracey.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-04-27T09:26:00.001-07:00

Arabians In Motion

2011-04-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

Spent this past weekend at the AIM show at Mt. Hood Equestrian Center in Boring Oregon. Everyone who attended from our barn did well and went home happy. Bay ended up with 2 Second and 2 Third place ribbons and good scores on all the rides.
Photos were taken on the way to and during warm up.

Sunday Stills

2011-04-23T20:50:00.000-07:00

A Simple Life Is A Lot Of Work

2011-04-08T08:09:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday the DH and I drove out to St. Helens to visit friends. They moved out there from Lake Oswego a little over a year ago. They had dreams of a little "farmette" and land closer in to Portland was just to expensive. I posted a picture on my blog of the chicken coop (the coop d'ville) they had built a while back, and I wanted to see what they had done since then. Here is what I found...

The coop d' ville

snack time on a rope

Baby bunny

The Buck is behind bars because there have been too many baby bunnies

The garden in progress

Overlooking the garden

I like the way they used the glass bottles to line the path

Overlooking the drive

The view to the left

Wordless Wednesday

2011-04-06T08:27:00.000-07:00

A Photo For Monday

2011-04-04T08:02:00.000-07:00

Lesson on the Lunge Line

2011-04-02T09:09:00.000-07:00

Boo and I had a lunge lesson on Thursday afternoon. We have been planning it for awhile but things came up and lessons had to be canceled. Thursday the stars aligned. No big wind, rain, or hail and not to many people at the barn. If felt pretty good considering my allergies have been giving me hell. To much time cooped up in the house with the heat on is all I have to say about that!

I started off by tacking up while my trainer, Tracey, finished up with another horse. It has been quite some time since I have lunged Boo, and it took me a few minutes to remember which strap went where. Once I thought we were ready I took him into the arena and lunged him for a few minutes without side reins. Shortly after I got started Tracey took over and she attached the side reins. The lunging was to make sure Boo was in the right frame of mind for me to get up there and have my lesson. In order to do this you have to have a reliable horse on the end of the lunge line. Boo is usually that horse, but he has had some bad experiences on the lunge line in the past so we were being extra careful. We only had one little episode on the lunge line before I got on. One of the horses outside decided he felt full-of-himself and the coming springtime and took off at a gallop right outside the big barn door. Boo's head went high and he gave us a little snort and a little passage, but he calmed down rather quickly, so we decided it was time for me to hit the saddle.

I've done this before so I wasn't particularly nervous. I had my "sissy strap" (that's what Tracey called it...I call it a grab strap or a buck strap) attached to the saddle in case I needed it. I cannot tell you how much I wish I had someone there to video for me. It would be so helpful to see myself in this situation. We started out at the walk. Tracey had me stretching out and loosening up all my various body parts. I was suppose to do this with each body part acting independently of the others. I am not sure how well I succeeded (that video would have helped here). The hardest exercise was when she asked me to lift my leg off the saddle from my hip and hold it off for the count of 3 before I put it back down. I was sure I was going to get a cramp in my hip joint but I didn't. I am, however, still sore 2 days later. Very very sore. We worked on my posting at the trot while pretending I had my reins out in front of me in their normal position. I did okay with that. We also worked on 2-point at the walk and trot. I was better at the walk and I was better on the right lead. During all of this I was still using stirrups. We will keep working until I can do these things at the walk, trot, and canter with and without stirrups. It won't be enough for me to do this just in my lesson, so I will be working on the exercises we started with every time I ride.

I've known for quite some time that the problems Boo and I were having under saddle had to do with me. I'm looking forward to improving the way I communicate with him and becoming a more harmonious team.I have no illusions that Boo and I will suddenly start showing in dressage, but I do need to have fun and I do need to set goals. Every year we have gotten better at some aspect of our relationship. This year it's going to be communicating through seat and legs, and Tracey is going to help us get there.

Sunday Stills

2011-03-27T07:46:00.001-07:00

The color blue

Boo Gets A Mini Spa Day

2011-03-26T07:59:00.000-07:00

I thought I would go out and ride Boo today. I spent more time grooming him than I did riding. He was in desperate need of some tender-loving care. I used a shedding blade, and the hair just kept coming off! I put him in the wash rack and used warm water to clean the mud off his feet and lower legs. Once they had dried I checked them over really well for nicks or sores. They were in remarkably good shape for as wet as it has been these past few months. I'm going back out tomorrow to wash his tail. I can't wait until it's warm enough to give him a bath. He had one place in his mane that looked like it had started to dreadlock. My little Rastafari man!!! It's been almost 2 weeks since I've been able to groom him like this. When I finished up I told him that he looks once again like somebody loves him. I know he enjoyed the attention. It was therapeutic for me too. It's been a rough 2 weeks. There has been lots of stress and lots of anxiety. Some highs and some very low lows. I needed this quiet time with just me and my horse living in the moment.

We had a good ride as well. He remembered what we have been working on these past few months and came soft and connected early on. We only rode for about 30 minutes. We didn't need any more time than that, and I didn't want to push either of us to hard while we were trying to get back into the swing of things. There's no sense in making ourselves sore. I'm planning on getting in at least another 30 minutes tomorrow while I'm waiting for his tail to dry. Oh yes!!! It feels good to be back at the barn.

I Will Miss This Man

2011-03-24T20:35:00.000-07:00

My friend Steve has been in a battle for his life for the past 3 years. The first inkling that I had that something wasn't right was 3 years ago in July. We were at Dressage at Devonwood. We were sitting around the tailgates of our vehicles having lunch. Steve was struggling to eat. The crusty bread I'd brought wasn't going down very well. He was having trouble swallowing and his wife, Joanne, said he had been losing weight and she was trying to get him to see a doctor. Steve made that doctor appointment, but before he could keep it he began to bleed profusely and his diagnosis was esophageal cancer.

For the next year my two friends spent copious amounts of time traveling back and forth between their home in Salem and OHSU while Steve underwent treatment for his cancer. In the end all indications were the cancer had not only gone into remission but had disappeared. Apparently, esophageal cancer is a hard cancer to beat, and Steve had seemingly beat it. Life went back to normal, and Steve went back to work.

For a time all went well, but eventually Steve began to have other symptoms. Not throat symptoms, but headaches, and dizziness, and auras that precede seizures. The cancer had moved to his brain. So they began treatment for that. His first surgery seemed to go well, but he ended up developing a malevolent infection that led to four more surgeries. Two years and five surgeries later my friend has lost his battle and his spirit has moved on to wherever our spirits go when our bodies betray us. He fought long and hard. He stayed positive. He never seemed bitter. I never heard him say "why me?" Rest in peace my friend. You will be missed.

Qualified For State

2011-03-24T05:56:00.000-07:00

Sarah had her 2nd OHSET meet last week. We hauled out on Thursday. Dressage was bright and early Friday morning. There were about 30 riders in all. They pulled off a 2nd place this time around (last time it was 3rd). They are now officially qualified for state which will be in May. They have one more meet before that. It is in April. I didn't take any pictures of my own, but I did buy the DVD and it should be arriving in another week or so. I will share pictures then. In the meantime here is one of them at the Spring Into Dressage show they did a couple of weeks ago.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-23T10:09:00.001-07:00

A day in the life of Miley

2011-03-22T11:15:00.000-07:00

Whatcha doin mom?

Don't bother me I'm ripping apart my prey...

and it's hard work!

I might even need a little leverage here

Don't bother me I'm resting

I am one happy dog

Pull!!!

That was so good!

Okay, enough with the pictures already

Sigh...

Arabian Highpoint

2011-03-13T22:26:00.000-07:00

Spring Into Dressage celebrated it's 20th birthday this past weekend with ice cream sundaes and brownies on Saturday afternoon. The show was held at the Mount Hood Equestrian Center on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We hauled Baythoven in on Thursday night. The DH helped set up the dressage arena while Sarah got Bay settled in. We had four horses from our barn in the show. Two of them were showing for the first time ever. I volunteered on Saturday in the warm up arena. I did four hours in the morning and was scheduled to do another four hours in the afternoon, but Sarah came and relieved me about 4 o'clock (bless her heart). My feet were killing me, and I was cold!!! I did 3 more hours on Sunday as gate person. The show was full with a waiting list. We could have used a few more volunteers, but isn't that always the case? I wish more people would give a couple of hours of volunteer time when they come to shows. Even if they are to busy to do so themselves it would be nice if they would have family or friends do so on their behalf. It seems like I see the same faces doing the work at the shows, and I worry about how we will keep the show going when those faces retire.

Things went very smoothly, and the show stayed on time if not a few minutes ahead of time on both Friday and Saturday. The judge, Lilo Fore, was excellent. Sarah and Bay rode four tests in two days and her scores were consistent and fair. They did Training Level, Test 3 and received a 68.000% out of 6 riders on Friday morning. A score that earned them a 2nd place ribbon. On Friday afternoon they rode First Level, Test 1 and received a score of 64.828% out of four riders. This also earned them a 2nd place ribbon.

On Saturday they repeated the tests and received a 68.400% out of 5 riders placing 2nd and a 65.862% out of 3 riders placing 1st. The best part was they bettered the scores from the previous day. At the end of the final day Baythoven had earned the Arabian Highpoint ribbon. I am really proud of both of them. Competing in open dressage shows against fancy warm bloods isn't easy, but they did it and they did it well.

Spring Into Dressage

2011-03-12T19:04:00.000-08:00

Crazy weather

2011-02-22T18:10:00.000-08:00

Got out to the barn a little later than expected today. I was pleasantly surprised when I got there because it was demonstrably warmer there than it was at my house when I left home. I had been prepared to shiver. I ended up riding without my jacket. Hooray!!!

Boo and I warmed up quickly. We worked on contact and connection. I insisted on forward from the beginning, and that helps. We did a lot more canter today than we normally do. He's much better on his right lead, I already knew that. Trainer Tracey was there working some of her horses, and she commented that we looked good. That always helps! At least I know I'm on the right track.

The DH wanted me to check out Bay's blanket before the predicted snow storm. Bay can't seem to keep a blanket without tears in it. It's a duct tape fiasco. I pulled another blanket out of the trailer (during a downpour of hailstones) because, in my estimation, he was in danger of getting wet and cold. I know the DH was hoping not to sacrifice another blanket to this particular winter, but this late snowfall they are predicting was just to much to expect the old blanket to weather. I also put on a heavier blanket for Boo. Just until the temps climb back into the 40's. It's not even really the 30's I'm worried about. It's the 20's and possible teens at night. Boo is 22 this year. He deserves to be warm and toasty. He's also shedding like crazy. Big mistake Boo. You should wait until late March...think he'll listen? I don't.

I'm hoping to get back out to check on the boys tomorrow before the snow flies. It would be nice to get in another ride. I'm pretty sure I won't be going out towards the end of the week. We get snow so rarely here that I don't know how to drive in it and neither do most of the other people on the road. It's best just to stay cocooned at home under those circumstances and leave the road to those who have no choice but to be out there.

A weekend full of horses

2011-02-20T20:12:00.000-08:00

What to say about this past weekend? It was a whirlwind that's for sure. The DH and I were up and out the door early on Friday to head out to the OHSET meet where Sarah and Baythoven were doing their dressage ride. It was cold so I layered up with silk long underwear, a black mock turtleneck, a fleece vest, blue jeans, and a down jacket. Sitting in a cold barn all day long in previous years has taught me to be prepared. You can always remove clothing if need be. I took a blanket along too. Unfortunately, while I went prepared with the correct clothing to keep myself as toasty as you can be just sitting around in the cold all day...I forgot the one thing that would have made this particular blog entry infinitely more interesting...my camera. So, I'm going to have to tell the story without photos and see if I can't track down a few for a later date. Bay and Sarah did trail on Thursday, and I missed that. Sarah said they did alright, but came in closer to the bottom of the pack than the top. Their dressage test, however, went well. I've seen them do better, but it was good overall. They ended up in 3rd place out of 30 rides. The top score was a 178, the 2nd place score was a 176, and Sarah and Bay received a 172. There was a 20 point drop between 3rd place and 4th place. Since I know they can do better than they did this time around, I think it bodes well for future meets. They did hunt seat later in the day and came in about the middle of the pack. All in all it was a very good meet for them. Since Bay was finished on Friday afternoon, the DH and I loaded him up and took him home. I think he was happy to be there with the rest of his buddies.

Saturday morning we got up early again (although not quite as early as Friday) and headed out for the Clark County Fairgrounds to spend the day at the Washington Horse Expo. We got there in time to see most of the extreme trail competition. I forget the official name. It was a lot of fun to watch, and the DH is interested in doing something like that sometime in the future with Baythoven. They have quite a lot of work to do if they are going to be successful considering Bay's trail scores in OHSET. The DH loves a challenge though, and he set up some cones today to practice cantering a pattern. Both the DH and I surprised ourselves by doing that exercise quite well. We watched a few more clinics. The DH went western and I went dressage. Jessica Wisdom was there to do a dressage clinic, and I picked up a new exercise from her to help Boo get back on his butt and working from behind. I tried that one today and it went well too. We both watched Randy Byers do a presentation on western dressage. I didn't quite get where he was coming from because in my mind dressage is dressage, and it doesn't matter what breed of horse you are riding or what equipment you are using, dressage principles are still dressage principles. Maybe he was saying that as well, but it didn't seem like it to me.

I liked the vendors that were there, but I wished there would have been more of them. We ended up with a great knife sharpening from Benchmark, and two Scentsy pots for my two daughters. I didn't really need any tack. I did find a jacket I really liked, but I didn't NEED it, so I didn't buy it. I'm looking forward to the horse expo in Albany next month. So far I've seen more consistency with that one. I hope it doesn't disappoint me for the first time. I know the economy isn't so great.

My ride on Boo this afternoon was good. He was cooperative, and we get better and better all the time. The perfect horse for me.

An AHA! moment

2011-02-17T21:18:00.000-08:00

Wow! I am so thrilled with today's lesson. Boo was soft and giving almost from the beginning. I did my usual walking warm up, and he was fantastic. I went ahead and threw some early canter into the mix to give him the message that I wanted him more forward. We still had some trouble with the connection at the rising trot, but mostly on the left lead. Tracey kept telling me I was to far to the right...AHA! It hit me! Boo wasn't being a bad boy! He was trying to stay underneath my ever-shifting body. The poor horse is a saint. Another problem I have is reacting to late when he comes off the bit. I am encouraged even though I am having these problems because I can see such an improvement with the regular practice I've been doing this past 2 weeks. Tracey got on at the end of the lesson and rode him. SHE had no problems whatsoever. She did say he wanted to lean into her outside leg on the left lead, but I think that is just years of habit built up, and he did what she asked when she asked him to move off her leg.

My next lesson is definitely going to be a lunge line lesson. I had thought we would do it this lesson, but the change in his softness was so apparent that we decided to go ahead and see what we would get in a regular lesson. I have my work cut out for me. I am very weak on my left side. I have to strengthen my core and strengthen my left side so that I can use it properly. I need to learn to recognize when I am not sitting straight. When I try to sit more centered it feels like I am sitting all the way over to the left. It feels really off balance and yet when I feel like that I am actually sitting centered. I have to relearn what I am doing because what I have been doing is wrong.

Baythoven left today for his first OHSET meeting of the year. The DH hauled him out this morning. I didn't go with him because of my lesson. We will head out early tomorrow morning to watch them compete in dressage and hunt seat. Hopefully tomorrow's post will have pictures.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-02-16T08:57:00.000-08:00

Sunday Stills

2011-02-12T23:12:00.000-08:00

Spring and summer 2010

Hibernating mode

2011-02-12T08:43:00.000-08:00

I should have gotten out of bed and went with the DH this morning. I had planned to. However, when the alarm went off, I rolled over and turned it off and promptly went right back to sleep. That is what it has been like this winter. I have been having a hard time getting out of bed. I'm not staying up any later. It's just so warm and comfortable snuggled in there under the blankets.

So, I miss out on stuff. Early morning horse stuff. Today it was taking Bay to an OHSET practice at a barn I had never seen before. I wanted to see this place as the DH has said the arena is impressive. I guess I didn't want to see it badly enough to get up, get ready, and go stand out in the cold watching the girls practice for a couple of hours. I could have warmed up by getting back into the truck and reading my book, but I decided against it. Instead I convinced myself my time would be better used here at home reading my fb, by blog, my email, and writing in my journal. I decided to do some of the never-ending chores around the house too. Guess that is time well spent...I did say "never-ending" chores right? So I guess it's debatable whether or not that is time well spent.

This was one of the least exciting horse outings on the schedule (me...rationalizing). Next week is better because it is the actual OHSET competition, and I definitely will be going to that. I also plan to go up to Clark County and check out their horse fair. So, I forgive myself for being weak and lazy and sleeping in this morning. I'll just hope for better luck next week.

Quality over quantity

2011-02-10T20:25:00.000-08:00

It was a cold and frosty morning, but the sun was shining and I knew I would be heading to the barn to spend time riding Boo. On the way out, driving off of the hill where I live, I could see fog over the river down below. I wasn't sure it would bode well for being sunny at the barn, but the fog burned off rather quickly. Once I arrived at the barn I brought Boo inside and cleaned him up rather quickly. I knew I would be a lot warmer once I was in the saddle. I needn't have worried. Just cleaning him up was enough to get the blood going, so I deposited my coat back into the car.

I always try to take my time when I am tacking up. I think it sets the tone for the whole ride. He's relaxed and so am I. Once we worked through a few ground exercises that I do to check out his grumpy quotient, I climbed on and began sorting through everything I could remember from my lesson with Tracey last Thursday. Tracey had told me I wasn't assertive enough. I remembered that when I rode on the following Tuesday I had tried to be more assertive. Even so, he was resistant to accepting the bit until well into the ride. Today my goal was to shorten the amount of time it took to get to that place. That would mean that I would have to be consistently assertive from the very beginning.

I didn't want him to get away with clamping down on the bit without chewing, so I took a peppermint out of my pocket and gave it to him before we even started the ride. Then I took advantage of the flow of saliva that produced to gently move the bit in his mouth. I got him to chewing in record time. I also had his full attention because I'm sure he was hoping for another peppermint at some point. We did our walking warm up and Boo stayed soft and chewing. However, when I asked him for a trot he did his usual. Up with the head, and shuffling forward like an old man. I instantly gave him more leg and a tap with the whip all the while asking for him to stay connected. It took a few minutes for him to realize that if he stayed fairly forward he didn't get the whip and if he gave to the bit he got "GOOD BOY." Still it wasn't quite the quality I knew he could give so I did some transitions from walk to trot and trot to canter. Back and forth we went practicing these transitions in both directions. Throughout the entire process it wasn't good enough for him to give me the gaits I asked for. He had to give me the gaits I asked for while on the bit, and then he had to stay on bit. Quality over quantity.

All in all it was a good ride, and I think I figured something out about Boo. He moves forward more freely if I canter him early on. He needs instant reinforcement when he does not do what I ask him to do. He understands the words "GOOD BOY' and he really does want to please me. As a matter of fact I would just bet that from his point of view he has been pleasing me all along.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-02-09T07:23:00.001-08:00

Boo's got me trained.

2011-02-08T16:27:00.000-08:00

I had my lesson on Thursday. It was a rather disappointing lesson. I ended up going over the same things I did in the last lesson. It was my own fault because I didn't make it out to ride but one time in between lessons. You can't get better if you don't practice. I am still struggling with the winter doldrums, although it is getting better. I went back out today and rode and things went much better. I can tell that I'm not assertive enough. I don't have to get aggressive to get Boo to listen, but I do have to let him know I mean it. I've let him train me for far to long. Hopefully, this won't be something we cannot overcome. I can't ride tomorrow, but I will be back out on Thursday. I've promised myself and my horse that no matter how down-in-the-mouth I get I will be there no less than 3 times a week, and hoping for 4 times a week.

I watched Boo get down and roll once I put him back out into the pasture with his buddies. He can still roll completely over even at 22 years of age. He did it a couple of times actually. He must have really been enjoying himself. I went to get my camera but the battery was dead. It's to bad because the horses were all in pretty playful moods today. It would have been nice to get some shots of them.

Next weekend is Bay and Sarah's first OHSET meet of the year. I'm looking forward to seeing how they do. They started out so well last year. That puts the pressure on for this year! We are also entered in a Dressage show in March and another in April. Things are going to start getting busy around here.

An update

2011-02-02T10:29:00.001-08:00

I have a friend who is a wonderful photographer. She asked me the other day if I would like her to do some photographs of Poko, and I jumped at the offer. We got together on Sunday, and this is one of the preliminary proofs she sent to me.

Poko is still hanging in there. She hasn't had another seizure. She was quite happy to have all the attention focused on her. I think that is evident in her facial expression. It didn't, however, take much to tire her out.

I went out to the barn on Sunday afternoon and rode Boo. It was a busy place because the weather was so nice. Boo wasn't to happy that I had shown up right before feeding time. He was pretty distracted by the other horses coming in and getting started on their hay and grain. We rode for about an hour in spite of his sour attitude. He worked up a bit of a sweat. I am not sure how much of that was from exercise and how much was from temper. I managed to control my own temper even though he was being a little snot. I figure it was my own fault for going out at feeding time and not riding for nearly a week.

Baythoven had hock injections done the early part of this week. We are getting him ready for the show season. We want him to be in the best condition possible. I have him on Adequan too. Hopefully all of this will be helpful to him. If not, well, he can ride the trail with the DH. He only has a few more years before we had planned to retire him completely from showing. We'll see if our plans work out or if Bay has a different plan for us.

This is hard

2011-01-25T11:42:00.000-08:00

Mick and I took Poko to the vet last week. She has been having unusual episodes where she momentarily loses her balance, she can't stay on her feet, or she can't walk a straight line. She seems to lose focus, and in one episode I actually wondered if she were blind. The news is not good. Our vet says she is having seizures. Most likely, at her age, they are caused by a brain tumor. I knew it was coming. She is 12 and aging quickly. While searching for a picture of her to post with this entry, I was struck by how much older she looks now than she does in the picture I chose which was just taken in 2009. Now that it is upon us, I just feel so sad.

Apparently we would need a CT scan and/or an MRI to confirm the diagnosis. The vet seemed to be pretty certain that the diagnosis would be confirmed. I guess in 3/4 of the tumors found treatment does nothing to change the eventual outcome. So, we brought her home, and we will spend time with her and love on her until we see signs that it is getting worse. When that time comes, we will go with her to the vet's office and comfort her and pet her and speak softly to her until she is gone. I will not let her linger and suffer.

Blogger Award

2011-01-18T21:28:00.000-08:00

Many thanks to Annette from http://www.newsfromaspenmeadows/ for this Stylish Blogger Award

There are 4 duties I must perform to receive this award

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award
2. Share 7 things about yourself
3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award

7 things about myself

1. It took me a long long time to figure out how to get this award transferred into this blog.
Once I had it figured out it was embarrassingly easy.
2. I've been married to the same man for almost 32 years.
3. I read constantly.
4. I would like to visit Alaska someday.
5. I am a lifetime member of weight watchers.
6. I'm not fond of cooking but love to make homemade soup.
7. I love a good Belgium beer

I am suppose to post 15 recently discovered bloggers. Not everyone may meet the criteria of recently discovered, but they are blogs I return to again and again, and I tried to stay somewhat recent.

1. AK Pony Girl's Riding Log
2. A Thousand Pounds of Fragile Horse
3. A Year With Horses
4. dogsnhorses
5. For The Love Of A Horse
6. Mustang Diaries
7. Notes From The Squirrel Nest
8. Cheyenne Chronicles
9. Postcards From Arizona
10. Rocking Seven Mile Ranch
11. The 7MSN Ranch
12. The Blog of Becky: How Not to Live Your Life
13. Writing and Riding
14. What Was I Thinking
15. DVMs Wife

Winter doldrums

2011-01-17T09:21:00.000-08:00

I have had the "after the holidays blues" these past few weeks. I couldn't seem to summon the energy to do much of anything; not riding, or cleaning, or writing. All I've done is sit in front of the television and eat or read. So keeping that in mind, Saturday was a bit of a godsend. The Oregon Dressage Society has had a clinic planned for quite some time. It was about the changes in the 2011 dressage tests. I had been planning to go, and thankfully I managed to get myself out of bed and leave the house by 6:30 a.m. I spent the entire day at Devonwood. There were over 200 people there for this clinic. We had a lecture and demo riders. We went over the tests all the way through 4th level test 3. It was just what I needed to help jumpstart me for the new year.

I came home and spent the evening making sure all of my memberships needed for showing were in order. Sarah is going to show Bay, and I wanted to be sure we were ready with the information needed for the entry forms. I signed Baythoven up for the awards programs I was interested in too.

Now what I need is to get myself out and ride Boo. He's been neglected for just a little over a week. Along with neglecting Boo, I've been neglecting myself. Time to get back into the swing of things. The holidays are over. Spring will be here soon. I am looking forward to those 2 weeks in February where the sun shines and the crocus and forsythia start blooming. Shortly thereafter those true harbingers of spring, the daffodils, will appear. In the meantime I am going to try to fool myself in to believing it's even closer than it is. I'll buy flowers and bring them home. I'll get outside into the natural light as much as possible. I'll force myself to exercise so that I can have all those wonderful feel good hormones circulating...and most important of all...I will ride. READY SET GO!!!

Sunday Stills

2011-01-15T23:58:00.001-08:00

GO DUCKS!!!!

2011-01-10T13:47:00.000-08:00

First lesson of the new year.

2011-01-09T18:00:00.000-08:00

I had a lesson with Tracey on Thursday. We continued to work on connection and forward. We are adding in controlling Boo's tempo more efficiently. When I ask for forward with any kind of assertiveness he tends to go from zero to sixty, and when I ask him to slow down a bit he goes from sixty to zero. I end up getting thrown off balance. In the lesson I started trying to be conscious of using my tummy muscles to hold myself up in the saddle during the transitions. I'm going to work on forward, connection, using my tummy muscles during transitions of any kind, and regulating the tempo until my next lesson.

We are doing much better on connection. There is not a doubt in my mind that I am the lion's share of the problem here. If I can get more fit and more consistent things will continue to improve. Tracey does want me to apply my calf in the aids more consistently. She doesn't like it when I use the back of my leg for cues. She said it makes my leg to unstable, and then it's as if I am constantly nagging him with my lower leg. She's told me this before, and I recognize the truth of it. That is why I did away with my spurs about a month or so ago. I didn't think it was fair to use spurs when my leg was unstable. I was really only using the spurs for more forward and quite frankly I've found I don't really need them for that.

I did have some knee pain in this last lesson. I need to work on turning my leg in from my hip and not my knee. I definitely need to become more independent in all my body parts. Is that even possible at my age? Guess we're going to find out.

Surprise Video

2011-01-04T20:39:00.000-08:00

When I posted pictures of the fun day on New Years Day I said there weren't any pictures of the DH and I, but today I received this video that I had'nt realized existed. It shows the DH and I getting beat big time by the barn owners daughter and her buckskin Libby.

New Years Day

2011-01-02T00:10:00.000-08:00

Spent the better part of today at the barn. Our ODS (Oregon Dressage Society) chapter sponsored a "fun day" there. We had a judge for our Ride-A-Test, a potluck, and games on horseback after the potluck. We started at 11:00 and ended at about 4:00. I took my camera, but I wasn't very happy with the pictures I got. I really need a lens with better aperture if I want to take pictures inside a barn. Still here are some shots that turned out okay. There aren't any of the DH on horseback as we were both riding at the same time. I did manage to get a friend to take one of us together at the beginning of the day and I'll put that on here too. Happy New Year everybody! Hope your day was as enjoyable as ours.

How wet was it?

2010-12-28T17:01:00.000-08:00

No horses since Christmas Eve. I have had my family here for the holidays. Everyone went home last night and I was exhausted, but I knew before my head hit the pillow that I would be headed to the barn today come rain or come shine. As it turns out it was wet. How wet was it? I have never seen so much standing water around the barn. One side of the mares pasture was flooded and water was running across the entrance to the facility and into a field on the other side of the road. On the drive out I passed through instances of water on the roadway to numerous to count. On the drive back the water was even higher.

Boo's pasture was pretty muddy, but at least the horses were standing on high enough ground that they weren't sinking up to their fetlocks. Of course Boo wouldn't come to me at the gate. No, I had to hike all the way to the back of the pasture to get him. Once I had him inside and had his blanket off I was relieved to see that even with all the wind and blowing rain he was relatively dry. We were cleaned up and tacked up in no time. I had cleaned his feet by leading him through every mud puddle I could find on my way into the barn. It made short work of the mud on his hooves and my boots too.

Trainer Tracey was there as usual working all the horses she normally rides. I think there are 6 of them that she rides most days of the week. That's not counting when she has to get on one of the horses belonging to her lessoners. Like Baythoven. Some of the other boarders were there too. Still there was plenty of room in the arena to ride Boo. We are still working on connection...sigh...I think we might be working on connection forever. It did end up well though, and we did work in walk, trot, and canter. I have fleeting moments where I am doing something right and Boo responds to that and it feels beautiful. At the end of today's ride I tried to do some work without stirrups. It is evident that I NEED to be doing this kind of work. I was unsteady and unbalanced. Especially in the stops. By the end I finally got ONE stop where I didn't pitch forward in the saddle. Geez! How long have I been riding? This stuff should be old hat by now.

I am going to work 2-point and without stirrups every ride until I am secure with both. Assuming I don't fall of first and break something.

Merry Christmas one and all

2010-12-25T23:57:00.000-08:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-12-22T08:55:00.000-08:00

Sunday Stills

2010-12-18T23:57:00.000-08:00

Now that's a big Santa!

The Pineapple Express strikes again

2010-12-15T19:22:00.000-08:00

We bought this house brand new 15 years ago. My husband fell in love with the space, and I fell in love with the light. I thrive on light...you might even say I need all this light. I have floor to ceiling windows on 3 walls in the family room...oh heck, every room has great windows. The house also has 5 skylights. One in the entry, one in the family room, one in my art room, and one in both bathrooms upstairs. Last winter the skylight in the family room sprung a leak. I noticed it when the wet stain ran out of the skylight box onto the ceiling. I had someone come out and they recommended replacing the skylight, which we did. I had never had a skylight replaced before, so I was not aware that once they pulled it out and replaced it with a new one there would be trim work to be done. The company that replaced the skylight didn't bother to tell me this either. It wasn't so noticeable standing under it and looking up, but from the landing at the top of the stairs it was obvious that trim work needed to be done. For the past year I have looked at that unfinished trim work and water stain on my family room ceiling, and it has always upset me that the job was never finished.

The pineapple express has brought me full circle. I have two more leaking skylights and two more water stains on my ceiling. I noticed them almost immediately. I spent Friday doing research because I was not about to call the company that had replaced the first skylight. On Friday afternoon I had 3 people come out and give me their opinions on what needed to be done. The consensus was replace the skylights. After talking it over with the DH and having the integrity of the remaining two skylights checked, we decided to replace all the old skylights with new energy efficient ones. I'd much rather be putting in new flooring, counter tops, or having my cabinets refaced, but I'm not. I'm doing the expedient thing and saving the structural integrity of my humble abode. Drats!!!!!

Sunday Stills

2010-12-12T08:32:00.000-08:00

A Lesson With Tracey

2010-12-11T12:28:00.000-08:00

I got to the barn in plenty of time to bring Boo in, clean him up, and get some warm up time before my lesson. I'm not a big fan of starting a lesson without warming up the horse, and I'm also not a big fan of using precious lesson time to do the basic work of warming up. I need the warm up at least as badly as the horse does anyway.

It had started raining about the time I left home to drive out to the barn. The rain was making quite a bit of noise on the metal roof by the time I was in the saddle. Trainer Tracey would have to speak up if I was going to hear anything she had to say. I told her what I had been working on and what my successes were as well as my struggles. We talked about what I had been doing to supple Boo in previous rides. She cautioned me to be careful of just following a formula for suppling. She reminded me that riding is all about communicating with the horse. Getting lost in my own rigid ideas about how to go about that communication was interfering with what I was trying to do. I needed to focus less on getting to the end result and more on the process.

We started just standing in the arena while she had me gently flex Boo from side to side while watching for the flip at the poll that comes each time I changed directions. I had read about this before, and I got pretty excited to see it in action. We started walking in a circle and I flexed Boo to the inside by softly sponging on the inside rein. She had me open the inside rein at the same time. I can't really explain this. I just know that what I was doing was inviting Boo to soften and chew on the inside rein, which he did. All the while I had to ask him to keep moving forward at a rhythmic walk with my legs. In the beginning he would try to ignore my leg and I would lift it off and give him a kick to say "pay attention." Other times I would give him a light tap with the whip. I think the tap with the whip works better, so that is what I intend to use from now on. We eventually went from a walk that felt a bit sticky to one that felt like it was rolling underneath me.

Once we started the trot work keeping him from slowing down on the circle was key, keeping my seat in even contact was key, keeping myself from contorting my body was key, not looking into the circle was key, and trying to stabilize my lower leg was key. There were so many key issues!!! It was very apparent that I was especially weak on my right side. I don't know exactly what I need to do in order to strengthen and open that hip. Maybe some of you can give me advice? Tracey did say I should do more work without stirrups, which I will do. I had a paradigm shift during this lesson. My new goal is not to focus so much on what I want the end result of my riding to be. Instead the goal will be to relax, learn, and let us both enjoy the process.

I have a lot of work to do. Boo has a lot of work to do, but I have more. He is perfectly capable of performing exactly as I want him to as long as I give him a clear understanding of what it is I am asking and get out of his way.

Things to consider

2010-12-06T19:05:00.000-08:00

Great ride on Sunday. I got out to the barn around noon. It was sunny but windy when I left home. East wind. COLD wind. At the barn I was far enough from the gorge that there was no east wind, so it was warmer. I was amazed to see that I was the only one there! I had thought for sure the place would be crawling with people taking advantage of the good weather.

It didn't bother me at all to be the only one there. While most times I love the camaraderie at the barn it is also nice to have the quiet to concentrate on what Boo and I need to work on. Boo was perfectly willing to come to me in the pasture (he knows I always have treats). There hadn't been any rain in a few days so mud was at a minimum. Boo's lightweight rain sheet was enough to keep him relatively clean. I am so glad I got one with a neck cover because it helps to keep his mane clean too.

It didn't take long to clean him up and tack him up. I have to admit I wasn't wasting any time either, as I was sure I wouldn't be alone for long. We started out with our requisite 10 minute walk, quickly put him in front of my leg, and started suppling shortly thereafter. I'm not going to tell you he went right into it, but I did discover that riding the suppling like I had baby birds in my hands (from Sally Swift's "Centered Riding") worked better for me than what I had been doing. Before, I would squeeze the inside rein 3 times and then close my hand on the outside rein and then relax to see if he gave to the bit. If he didn't I did it again. The longer I had to do it the stronger my hands got. Not on Sunday. I just concentrated on asking but keeping my hands soft. He gave to me sooner than he had been and for more strides. "Okay," I thought, "there's one hurdle accomplished."

One of the things Bernadine told me at my last clinic was to sit back on my pockets more. In schooling sessions since then the DH has told me the same thing. He watched my clinic and he is trying to help me. Sometimes I like that and sometimes I don't. Sunday, without him there, I consciously tried to remember to sit back on my pockets more. I found that if I teetered forward at all Boo would try to slow down and even come to a stop. His head would also come up of course. If I stayed back on my pockets no problem!

Finally, I was reading blogs earlier in the week and Annette over at http://www.newsfromaspenmeadows.blogspot.com/ had discussed how she had trouble keeping her thighs rolled in. She knew this because when her thighs weren't rolled in her boot zipper would slide down due to the back of her calves rubbing on her horse. I got to thinking that I don't even consider whether or not my thighs are rolled in. I guess I figured if they were I'd just be using them to hold on during the canter. Instead, when I tried it I found my contact was better, my legs stayed quieter, and my foot was forward instead of turned out. So, now I have another thing to think about ;)

I have a lesson with Trainer Tracey tomorrow. I know I'll have a LOT more to consider by tomorrow night!

Sunday Stills

2010-12-05T05:57:00.001-08:00

Took this at night. Hand held. Would have been better if I'd had a tripod. My neighbor decorates the tree in his front yard like this every year. You either love it or you hate it. It's growing on me. As my grandson said, "it's unique."

"Thank you."

2010-12-02T08:36:00.000-08:00

It was raining at the barn when I got out there. I am a really lucky woman to have a dry place to ride all winter long. Boo was in a cooperative mood. It took almost no time at all to get him forward, and the suppling went well too. He had more good moments this time than he did on Sunday, and he had more good moments on Sunday than he did the time before that...so progress. I'll take it.

I tried to stay conscious of my position and my aids. I found myself tensing up at times and when that happened my legs would creep up and my toes would point downward. When I noticed this I would consciously relax. I also found myself turning my right hand down into what trainers have called piano hands, and I had them lower than they should have been. When I noticed this I consciously raised them into my work space and turned my thumbs up.

We did more canter work than I usually do. I actually had one brief wonderful moment when I was able to get a more collected canter using nothing but my seat. I just hope I can repeat that. I think I am finally getting the concept of riding the horse from back to front. No, scratch that! I understand the concept of riding the horse from back to front. What I am finally getting is fleeting moments of understanding how that feels. It's going to take a lot of practice and a lot of hard work. It's going to take getting myself much stronger in my own body. Don't let anyone ever tell you that riding doesn't take fitness. It so does! It's all good though because I love riding enough to do the work.

After the ride I got off, leaned my head against his furry neck, breathed in his horsey smell, and whispered "thank you."

Wordless Wednesday

2010-12-01T08:43:00.001-08:00

Sunday Stills

2010-11-27T23:18:00.000-08:00

Okay, here I am checking out the chicken coop'd'villa before the chickens made it their home.

Getting to supple

2010-11-24T16:10:00.000-08:00

Getting to forward

2010-11-22T23:07:00.000-08:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-17T07:22:00.001-08:00

A Bump In The Road

2010-11-14T20:54:00.000-08:00

Baythoven and Sarah had a major disappointment at the end of the summer. They had qualified for the Arabian Sporthorse Regionals earlier in the year, but as the show got closer it became clear that something wasn't right with the horse. Sarah had taken him to the Region 6 Youth Overnight Camp at Devonwood. Baythoven pulled out all the stops and acted his worst. The clinician ended up riding him at one point, and rumor has it that he nearly unseated her!

After the camp out he continued to act out with plenty of bucking. We called out our chiropractor, but for the first time even this didn't help. The DH and I decided to have a lameness work up done on him. It turns out Bay was having some arthritis issues with his hocks, and he was in pain. We were asking him to use those hocks and he was trying to tell us that he was uncomfortable. It would have been much easier if our horse could talk.

We ended up having his hocks injected. We gave him some time off. He is back in work now and moving beautifully. Our vet tells us the best thing for him is to keep moving. So we will keep showing as long as he seems comfortable.

Sarah already has a list of shows she is interested in for this year, and they will be doing OHSET again too.

Disaster Strikes

2010-11-01T19:34:00.000-07:00

I am not a domestic goddess. Just ask my DH. Today I made the supreme sacrifice and went through one of my cookbooks for a recipe for homemade butternut squash soup. I wrote down the ingredients I would need from the store. I went out into the rain and drove to The Market of Choice. I chose that market in particular although there are two others closer to my house and easier to get to. Why? At The Market of Choice I can buy butternut squash already peeled and cubed in 2 lb tubs. I told you...I am not a domestic goddess.

Of course I went to the market at the worst possible time. I drove right past the high school as it was letting out, and I got stuck in traffic. It took 20 minutes to do a 10 minute drive. Once I arrived, I found what I needed fairly easily and made my purchases and returned home.

I chopped onion and Canadian bacon. I steamed the squash. I cooked the onion and Canadian bacon to a golden brown in olive oil. I combined the steamed squash and chicken stock with the Canadian bacon, onion, and olive oil and covered and simmered for 15 minutes. It smelled heavenly. I poured the mixture into my blender to puree. The only step left was to return the soup to the pan, reheat, and sprinkle with fresh sage. Yum.

That is when disaster struck. I picked up the blender and the bottom fell out. Literally. The bottom fell out of the blender. My beautiful soup went everywhere and my hand was badly burned. No trip to the hospital was needed, but the sucker hurt bad enough that I had to use cold water for the entire clean up as I couldn't stand to have hot water on the hand. I had soup on the counter top, soup on the floor, soup dripping down the front of the cabinet. I'm not sure if my blender is ruined or not because soup oozed into the casing around the motor. I even had soup all over my sweatshirt, jeans, and shoes.

Shortly thereafter the DH called. He was on his way home and wanted to know if he should stop and pick up something for dinner...we had Safeway's Chicken Taco Soup.

Working on the Outside Rein

2010-10-30T18:52:00.000-07:00

I haven't been to a clinic with Boo or with Bernadine in months, but last Saturday that changed. When I got the notice through email that a clinic had been scheduled I signed up right away. It's been my experience that if you procrastinate you lose because her clinics tend to fill up quickly. I wasn't sure when I signed up if Boo was going to be able to go. That injury to his jaw took a while to heal. I hadn't put a bit in his mouth at all since he had been injured. The day before the clinic was scheduled to happen, I went to the barn and decided to longe him in side reins to see how he behaved carrying the bit. The last thing I wanted to do was hit the ground because he wasn't healed up enough yet. I tacked up and took Boo over to the indoor. We started out longeing without the side reins. Once I had seen no adverse reaction there I attached the side reins loosely and continued to longe at walk/trot/canter. Still no adverse reaction. While I was longeing another boarder showed up to meet her farrier. Having someone around helped me to make the decision to climb up on Boo's back and test him out. I wanted to be absolutely sure that it was going to be Boo at the clinic rather than Baythoven. As luck would have it he was soft and responsive and we had ourselves a nice ride. I cleaned him up after the ride and clipped his bridal path. He's so fuzzy right now that I would have loved to body clip, but there just wasn't time for a bath and a clip. I cleaned up all my tack instead and put everything together so the DH wouldn't leave anything behind the next morning when he came out to haul Boo over to Crosby Creek.

The clinic began at 8:30 Saturday morning with an hour long lecture. We partnered up in pairs with a set of reins for each pair. We switched off being the horse and the rider while Bernadine gave us instruction in the finer points of handling the reins. We simulated different experiences that can arise while riding and what to do about them. The point was to have some idea of what to do to fix the different scenarios when they arose, using our seat and legs with only minimal use of the reins. After the lecture we all had our own 45 minute lesson.

I warned Bernadine that both Boo and I were a bit out of shape since the last time we had seen her. We started off getting Boo in front of my leg which is nothing new. Every ride starts of with getting Boo in front of my leg. I don't mind because it usually doesn't take much before he gets with the program. After we had him moving forward, we worked on getting him connected to the outside rein. We did this by spiraling into a circle and back out again. I found that I really needed to work on sitting straight, using my inside leg, and supporting with the outside rein. When he got it I would relax the inside rein and give him a good boy rub. We had to do this over and over every few strides, but we had many moments when he got it. I figured that's what we were striving for. Lengthening the time when he gets it. Lengthening the time when "I" get it. It seemed as if the lesson was over in no time at all. Boo and I were actually in better shape then I had given us credit for. Now I'm looking forward to working on what we learned on a daily basis and moving on in the next clinic.

Building the relationship

2010-10-26T09:42:00.000-07:00

Up to the point where Sarah started riding Baythoven she had spent most of her riding life on a lovely Welsh pony called Merry Mary. Sarah and Merry Mary had done 4H together. They had done a few dressage shows and some Welsh pony shows too. They had even done some driving. They made a good team, but Sarah was outgrowing her.

When Sarah started out with Bay we wondered whether or not they would be a good fit. He was going to test her, and we weren't sure if he would scare her off or not. Bay isn't a mean horse though and Sarah is not faint of heart. I even think she has grown to enjoy his sass just a little bit. I'm not sure that a completely obedient horse wouldn't bore her. Sarah was determined to go back to the basics and learn to ride Bay correctly. She spent the first year taking lessons from the resident trainer (who came highly recommended), and she worked diligently between lessons. She only left the barn with Baythoven once that winter and that was to go to a schooling show at the Canby fairgrounds. The DH went along, and while Sarah rode the hunt seat classes the DH rode the western. Sarah and Bay were slowly but surely learning to trust one another.

By the time the beginning of the second year at the new barn rolled around, Sarah was ready to think about some serious showing. She started out with a show at Mount Hood Equestrian Center. I'd love to tell you exactly how they did, but I don't have the score sheets and my memory fails me. I know they did well...I just can't remember how well. Sarah also thought she might like to do OHSET. Since OHSET meets started in February that was where Sarah's major focus went first. That first year of staying home and getting to know one another paid off big time. Sarah and Bay came home from their first meet in FIRST PLACE for their dressage event. The little freshman and the Arabian horses had started their season on a high note!

Sarah and Bay

2010-10-20T15:20:00.000-07:00

The sporthorse regionals for region 5 had been in May. The sporthorse regionals for region 4 would be in August, and Karen didn't plan to stay for a shot at another regional title. She and Bay had, however, qualified for youth nationals in July and she could take him there, but there were a couple of problems. School would be starting for Karen back in Germany. In order to go to youth nationals she would have to let her mom go home without her and she would have to start school late. She had already done youth nationals the year before and had come home with a Reserve Champion title. She had to consider that showing at that level is expensive too. She wasn't sure what to do, and then one day an opportunity arose that changed everything. Karen had ridden PV's lesson horse Annie at youth nationals the year before. They had been working together for quite some time, but Annie had gotten old and didn't want to work that hard anymore. Still, she and Karen had formed an intense bond. Actually, Karen's entire family had come to truly love Annie. Now she was about to be retired and the barn owner offered her to Karen. From that moment forward there was no more talk about going to youth nationals. If a choice was to be made it would be to take Annie back to Germany to live out her days with Karen and her family.

Bay's show season was over. Karen continued to ride him until her departure. She has come back twice for visits and always goes to see and ride Bay while she is here. I know he remembers her by the way he acts with her. Remember, he is a tough nut to crack and doesn't take to just anybody. First you have to earn his respect and Karen had done that. Throughout the show season of 2008, while Karen was showing Bay, there was one young woman at the barn who seemed to always be around. She was good friends with Karen and she liked Baythoven. Her name was Sarah. We had a conversation with Sarah and her mother about Sarah riding Baythoven. We decided that we would wait to have her try him out until after Karen had gone back to Germany.

It was in late July when the DH and I decided to make a change in our barn situation. We decided to move the horses to a new barn and trainer. We had promised Sarah that she could try Bay, so we went ahead and allowed her to ride him to see how it went. We told her that we were going to be moving the horses in September and gave her the option to pass on trying him out, but she decided to go ahead.

Things were different for our horses in the new barn. At the old one they had lived in a stall with a run. At the new barn they were only stalled at night or in extreme inclement weather. The rest of the time they were out to pasture with other horses. They lived in herds of 3-5 horses. Our boys were turned out together into their own pasture to acclimate. They shared a fence line with the two geldings they were to be turned in with. Bay had been out to pasture before, but as far as I knew Boo had always lived in a stall. It was a beautiful sight to watch them discover that they were turned out free with one another. They stayed that way for about a week, maybe two. Then they were turned in with the other geldings. Bay was the youngest and Boo the second oldest. This situation worked for about a month. Unfortunately both horses sustained injuries in the pasture, Bay to his knee and Boo to his hock. Of course we didn't see what happened, but we figured they had been kicked or kicked one another. The barn owner watched them closely and determined that she would move Bay to another pasture as he seemed to want to play and the older horses just found him irritating. Over time everyone settled in to their respective pastures and both of our horses are happier today than I have ever seen them.

It took Sarah about 2 months, maybe a little more, to make the decision to follow Baythoven to his new barn and his new trainer. Their adventure was about to begin.

Region 5 Championships

2010-10-18T08:49:00.000-07:00

Region 5 had it's sporthorse regional show that year at Donida Farms, and Baythoven and Karen did us proud. Bay went up in a 6-horse trailer with a few other horses from the barn. We all followed the horse trailer up in our own cars. The DH and I brought up the rear, and the DH got to play with his CB radio keeping in contact with the trailer all the way. About an hour before our exit our trainer told us she was going to need to pull off of the freeway. The horse trailer had blown a tire. I imagine it was an interesting sight seeing a 6-horse trailer and about 5 automobiles all parked along side the road waiting for the guy from Les Schwab to bring us a new tire. The horses got a bit restless, but it didn't take long to get back on the road. Once we arrived at the venue, checked in, and got the horses settled we all headed out to our hotel. We were exhausted and excited for what would come the next day.

We had never been to Donida Farms before. It is a nice place. They had a couple of dressage rings going. They had jumping going. They had in-hand going. Of course there was also the warm up ring for all the under saddle classes. There was plenty to do and see. If memory serves me, our first day there was a preshow. We had Karen and Bay do a first level test just as a warm up for Saturday. They rode First Level Test 1-JTR 17 and Under. The ride was beautiful. Poetry. They scored a 73.666 and came in first place of six. During that first day we were able to get Bay settled in and familiar with his surroundings. Both Karen and the DH spent quite a bit of time leading him around the grounds so he could get out of his stall and see the sights. During one of these walkabouts the DH ran into a couple of competitors who knew Bay. They not only knew Bay, they said his previous trainer was at the show and the DH got the opportunity to talk to her for a bit and find out some of his previous history.

On Saturday Karen showed Bay in First Level Test 4-JTR 17 and under. While not the poetry in motion of the day before (why is he always better in the preshow?) it was still a good ride, and we were confident that they would score and place well, and they did. They scored a 68.684 and came in second place out of nine. This placed them Reserve Champion for the class.

Their final test was a Second Level Test 4-ATR Sweepstakes class. Karen wasn't happy with this ride. As a matter of fact, after she left the ring she rode directly back to the stalls not stopping to check in with what anyone else thought. Having had two daughters and being wise in the way of 14-year-old girls, we left her alone to work through her disappointment. Later on she told us she had felt Bay wasn't giving her his best and that they had probably blown their opportunity at second level. I personally had thought they had a good ride but this was not a junior to ride class. There were six horses in the class, and it was hard to tell for sure what the judges would think. Our rides were over. There was nothing left to do but wait for the scores of the final ride and cheer on the rest of our friends. It was while we walking back from watching another girl from our barn ride that the announcement for the Second Level ride came over the loudspeaker. Karen and FTF Baythoven had earned a 64.286 and secured Reserve Champion. Karen was bowled over. Her mother and I were hugging each other, hugging Karen, hugging anyone who entered our field of vision. The DH just grinned as if he'd known it all along.

2010-10-12T18:39:00.000-07:00

Baythoven obviously needed more than just a couple of rides a week under a novice rider. We had to figure something out fast before the DH ended up with his face planted in the arena dirt. Up to this point he had been doing an admirable job hanging in there. He didn't say much about what was going on. He just kept getting on and riding. After talking to our trainer we decided that finding a more than competent young rider to help school Bay and keep him excercised would be in all of our favor.

We were fortunate to ride in a barn where many competent young women rode. We were even more fortunate when we found that one of the senior girls was interested in riding Baythoven and in showing him if possible. Her goal would be to show him in dressage and to take him to regionals before she left for college the next year. Between this young woman, the DH, and our trainer, Baythoven would be in good hands.

Over time Baythoven settled in and he and the DH developed a deep bond with one another. I, however, kept my distance paying attention to my own horse. I wasn't particularly attached. I watched our young rider ride through bucks, I watched the DH ride through bucks, and I had no doubt that if I crawled up on his back he would try to buck me off too. There seemed to be a couple of reasons for this behavior. I believed it was due to Baythoven being confused by and having no patience with the DH's inexperience, and in our young riders case, I believed the charge of "lazy" was coming back to haunt us. Any time she asked for something that made him work hard he tried resistence. Luckily, over time, as Bay built up strength and was required to follow through on what was asked of him he began to resist less and less. Bay did well when shown in dressage and qualified for regionals just as our young rider had hoped, but unfortunately due to an unexplained injury just 2 weeks before the show he had to be scratched, effectively killing the dream she had of competing at regionals before she left for college in the fall.

After our young rider left for school Bay and the DH cemented their bond even further. From late September until February it was just the two of them. Just before the next years show season began another young woman ended up needing a horse to compete on. She had won reserve champion the year before at the Arabian Youth Nationals, but the horse she had been riding was getting up in years and was demonstrating in no uncertain terms that she was done. The DH and I discussed it and decided to offer her Bay to compete on. She had a few short months to get to know him and to help him get back into show shape. We were confident they were up to the task. Unfortunately, she and her family were here on a work visa from Germany and were scheduled to go back to Germany before regionals in our area, so once again Baythoven would not compete there. He did, however, travel to Washington to compete there and managed to qualify for their regionals.

In The Beginning

2010-10-08T23:20:00.000-07:00

We bought Bay about 5 years ago. My husband had started taking riding lessons that January with our grandson. The lessons were a Christmas present from me. It was getting on to the end of the summer now and our trainer had casually mentioned that she had taken a couple of students who were looking to buy a horse together out to see this horse, but they had decided he was to lazy and to old. Still, she thought he was a nice horse and she thought the DH might like him. Now we were not in the market for another horse. I had bought Boo almost a year before and we were still settling in to being horse owners, but for some reason we decided to ride out to Newberg and take a look at this horse. We should have known better...we're both a soft touch, and this guy was pretty. He had the most beautiful eyes. So mellow. We each rode him in the arena. No problems even though Mick was still a beginner and I was barely any better in the saddle than he. The only problem we had was getting him up into the canter. I remembered that the younger girls had found him to be lazy, but I figured lazy wasn't such a bad thing for novice riders.

I distinctly remember asking the seller "no buck, bolt, or bite?" "Not as far as I've seen," she said. We decided that night that a 12-year-old gelding would be just the ticket for the DH's first horse and made arrangements to come back with our vet for a vet check, which he passed no problem. While taking care of the business end of the deal I got to looking at his papers and discovered that he wasn't 12 years old. He was 8 years old. I have no idea why the seller's agent thought he was twelve.

The DH was out of town the day we brought him back to our boarding barn. He loaded up on the trailer well and handled the ride all alone well too. When I turned him out in the arena he ran around and around and around. At times I thought he might come crashing through the gate. I groomed him a bit, fitted him with a Baker sheet and turned him into his stall. Once the DH came home though I mostly kept my distance. He wasn't my horse. I already had a horse.

From the very start Bay proved to be a very different personality than Boo. If you have a treat Boo is your best buddy. Bay was more discriminating. If you wanted Bays affection you had to earn it. If you wanted to ride Bay you had to earn it too. Bay set out from the very first ride to make the DH earn the privilege. I don't think he rode him even one time that first 3 months without Bay trying to buck him off. One afternoon during a lesson the DH rode past the open window at the back of the barn just as a car came rumbling down the gravel road and Bay bolted and nearly ran through the gate like he did the first day I'd turned him out in the arena...and wouldn't you know it...the little sucker was a nipper. I remember sitting in the barn on a freezing winter night watching the DH survive another bucking episode and thinking "we made a mistake buying this horse. The DH is going to get hurt."

Boo Has The Jail House Blues

2010-10-05T20:55:00.000-07:00

My regular vet came out on Wednesday. He was scheduled to come out and give shots to many of the horses at the barn, so I called his office on Monday and told them I wanted him to bring his radiograph and take x-rays. Boo was still having trouble chewing, although he was trying. The pad under his chin was softer (it had been hard and swollen before), and I couldn't detect any foul order on his breath. Dr. "S" looked him over and did a lot feeling around on the outside of his jaw before he went to look inside his mouth. It seemed like Boo was still sore, but not as sore as on Saturday. His pain was more localized.

Our barn owner has been wonderful about taking on the brunt of the work from this. She gives Boo his soaked senior feed and hay cubes. She has hung a water bucket in his stall so that we can better monitor his fluid intake. She gives him his bute morning and night. Yesterday I was down in Salem visiting some dear friends and she sent me a text to say she had hand-grazed Boo and he was chewing on both sides of his mouth. Previously he had been using only the right side.

We started turning him out in the round pen for a few hours every day. He's still not able to join the other horses in the pasture. When I went out today he was anxious to graze and was acting very much like his old self. I fed him a few hay cubes that hadn't been soaked and noted that he was indeed chewing on both sides. I could clearly hear him grinding on the left side and he didn't appear to be nearly as sensitive. We will continue to give him slop for the rest of the week. On Saturday it will be 2 weeks since his injury, and we may try soaked hay at that point. I'll give him another week and then I'll longe him to see how he is in the halter. Finally, if he does well with the longeing, I will see how he does in the bridle. All in all, I am planning to give him about 3 weeks time from the injury date before I try to do anything at all with him. I'm hoping I won't need a followup visit with the vet.

So I would say things are looking up even though Boo is in horsey jail.

Sunday Stills

2010-10-03T08:38:00.001-07:00

It's always something!

2010-09-26T16:20:00.000-07:00

I have the worst luck when it comes to riding!!!

Ya'll know if you've read this blog that I spent some time out of the saddle this past spring due to a really bad episode of sciatica. After much physical therapy I was finally able to get back in the saddle...then my mom fell and broke her hip, so I spent the better part of the summer going back and forth to Central Oregon. Didn't get one trail ride in all summer long.

Well, I'm back now. Went out and rode twice last week. Friday's ride was divine so I figured I'd give Boo a spa day on Saturday since he's been rather neglected this summer. I headed out to the barn Saturday afternoon. I knew something was wrong as soon as I tried to give him his carrot. He turned his head sideways and took the carrot out of one side of his mouth. Then he proceeded to mouth it, but couldn't seem to chew it. I looked him over and the underside of his chin where that little fat pad is seemed sort of hard compared to how it usually feels. I thought maybe he'd been stung, but I couldn't find a point of entry. He also appeared to be tender on his left cheek up high and I detected some bad breath which this boy never has. DH and I managed to get the slobbery carrot out of his mouth so he wouldn't choke on it.

I went ahead and took him into the barn and proceeded with his bath. He didn't like it much, but I promised him he would be really happy about what came next. That would be getting to free graze on the grass outside the barn. Boo is a real chow hound and he loves nothing better than eating. I turned him out to graze and dry off in the sun while I cleaned up the shower stall. I kept an eye on him, however, and I did not like what I was seeing. He appeared to try to graze but would then move on to another spot, then another, then another. That is so not like this horse. Once his head is down it stays down and wandering is kept to a minimum. After a few minutes of this he managed to tear loose a big clump of something green, but 5 minutes later he was still standing there mouthing it and saliva was flowing out of his mouth. Once again, between the two of us DH and I managed to remove the offending food from his mouth. Boo was not chewing and he was not swallowing.

Enough of that!!! I called the vet. Turns out they were in the vicinity and after a 3 hour wait they turned up at the barn to check Boo out. The vet explained to me what it could be. It could be a cracked tooth, it could be he had something stuck up there in his mouth, it could be he'd been kicked in the jaw and had soft tissue damage or worst case scenario a fracture. Boo didn't have any evidence of trauma, so I thought it more likely he had something stuck in there or a cracked tooth. After some sedation, and some checking, the doc said "he has remarkably good teeth for a 20-year-old horse, and he doesn't appear to have anything stuck in there...so that leaves soft tissue damage from some kind of trauma or a fracture.

He left us with instructions to give him bute for pain morning and night, to feed him a senior feed mash along with grass hay cubes that have been soaked in water, to monitor how much water he was drinking, and to call on Monday. If he's no better they will do a radiograph. Thank God I have a great barn owner who has been through similar feeding rituals before. She jumped right in and has been keeping me posted ever since. He's eating the mash and cubes. This morning she even said he seemed to be chewing it and that was a good sign. DH and I went out this afternoon and I saw for myself that he is working that jaw much more than yesterday.

I have no idea what happened to my horse or if this is going to get better all on it's own or not. I guess a little more time will tell. I plan to go out tomorrow and check out the eating and chewing situation again. Monitor that he's been pooping and check out that tender jaw and the funky smell. Then I'll decide if I'm going to go for x-rays or just wait until Wednesday when our regular vet (not the one on call) is scheduled to be out for shots. Dr. S is pretty good about things having to do with the mouth, so I'll feel a lot better once he has looked him over. No offense meant to the younger/newer vet, but this is my baby were talking about here.

It may mean I'm not going to be able to ride Boo for awhile. We'll see. If it does it looks like Bay and I will be getting much better acquainted than we have been in the past. Maybe it will be a good thing to ride another horse for awhile :(

Pendleton Round-up's 100th birthday

2010-09-20T21:13:00.001-07:00

Went to the 100th Pendleton Round-up last week!!! It was a blast and well worth the effort. Saw fellow blogger Karen from Life At The Rough String while in the Let'er Buck Room and got to meet her "man." If you read this Karen, I hope we get to see you both at the Columbia circuit finals in November!

The Round-up is my favorite rodeo. It has a mystique all its own. The shopping is pretty good too ;) I'll share some of the goodies I found with you in later blogs.

Now it's time to get back to real life. I haven't seen the boys (Boo and Baythoven) in over a week. I'm planning on spending most of the day at the barn tomorrow so I can ride, plus the farrier is coming. I picked up the girls (Poko and Miley) from the kennel earlier this afternoon, and they were very excited to be coming home.

Can't believe that summer has come to an end...

Summer's Ending

2010-09-07T11:03:00.000-07:00

Had my first ride in 2 weeks on "my little pony" yesterday. I gotta tell ya he was a bit of a butt. He wanted to run around with his head in the air the majority of the ride. I had only planned a short ride...say 30 minutes. Figured it would be a good way to work back into riding and not be so sore. Unfortunately, I had to spend more than an hour in the saddle just to finally get him consistently on the bit and listening to me. Please tell me everybody has days like this?

I'm sure things will get better as I get back into riding consistently. Wanted to find time to give him a bath, but looks like that won't happen right away. Still playing catch up from the crazy summer I had. All I really want to do today is crawl back into bed, pull the covers up over my head, and sleep for 24 hours straight. Instead I have the puppies in for their annual check-up and I have an appointment to wash away the gray hairs on my aging head.

I enjoyed my visits with my sister and niece this past couple of weeks. Wish we could see one another more often. Plan to head out to Cheyenne next summer, but most likely won't see them again before that. I have a camping trip and a rodeo on the agenda for September. Looking forward to the rodeo. Camping trip...not so much...it's getting cold now and I don't like to be cold.

I took some great shots of the sunset in Central Oregon when I was there. There were wildfires and they always leave the horizon smokey. That makes the color beautiful.

Family dynamics

2010-08-21T07:50:00.000-07:00

I had a long talk with Boo yesterday. I needed to apologize for neglecting him this summer. I normally ride much more often then I've been, he usually gets more baths and grooming sessions, and we usually get out on a couple of trail rides. Family issues have been keeping me away from the barn a lot this summer, and we are about to have another 2-week session due to my sister arriving from Wyoming for her annual visit. I'll be spending quite a bit of time with her and my mom, and once again not so much time with Boo. This time, however, I have made arrangements for Sarah to ride and give him some time and attention. She'll work him but she will love on him too.

I also needed to apologize to him for the family dynamic that has cropped up between the animals in the family. Now, I don't take the dogs out to the barn much. Quite frankly, they live with me full time and when I'm out there I want the horses to have my attention without the distraction of the dogs...but Baythoven is out there 24/7 and sometimes he sucks up all the attention in the vicinity. You all recognize that dynamic right? The kid who is always into something whether it's trouble or illness or just a lot of time consuming activities? The one who sucks up all the energy in the house? The often times problem child that everyone obsesses over leaving the quiet, self-reliant, competent kids to fend for themselves? Well, that's what Baythoven is like, and sometimes that leaves Boo on his own while we try to deal with Baythoven's next crisis, illness, or show...

So, I needed to give Boo some undivided attention and yesterday he got it. I didn't even look at Baythoven. Boo and I had the barn to ourselves and it was all about our partnership. I must say even without my doting attention Boo is looking good. We groomed and tacked up and headed to the indoor to start our warm up. He was a little to snorty for the outdoor if no one else was going to be around. Somebody needs to remind him that he's 21.

We did our usual warm up, and I already knew that the work out was going to be about lateral movement. We started in the walk and worked up to the trot. At first he was a bit lazy so I gave him more leg...then he started to speed up. He'd give me a nice working trot down the center line and when I'd ask for the leg yield he would get FASTER and FASTER and FASTER not listening to anything I had to say on the subject.

I don't know his motivation because he can't tell me, but I suspect it could be
1. He is ticked off at me.
2. He is trying to get the leg yield over with as quickly as possible.
3. It is easier for him to do at a faster pace.

Whatever!!!! I immediately changed the focus of the lesson to one of listening to my cues. We headed down the center line at a working trot, and then I would tighten my tummy muscles and slow my seat to get the slowest trot I could get without him stopping completely. We would go a few strides and I would push him forward into a lengthening then bring him back to working and push to lengthening then bring him back to jog, etc. Once I established that he was listening I sent him down the center line and started to leg yield. I used the same cues to adjust to the tempo I wanted and he was much better.

Our canter work was short but sweet. No hesitation, just stepped into a nice smooth canter and kept the pace. I suspect he was actually happy to finish with the lateral work and do a nice easy canter ;)

All in all I spent a good 2 hours with Boo giving him my undivided attention. I talked to him the entire time, and I don't know if he feels better but I sure do.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-08-18T10:00:00.001-07:00

To hot for a flysheet

2010-08-13T14:40:00.001-07:00

I got out to the barn early this morning. After listening to the weather forecast before I went to bed last night I knew it would be ride early or not at all. Bay was in the middle of having his hocks and front hooves injected when I got there. Apparently he was not happy about being kept in this morning when all the other horses went out. When the vet finished up she put him into a stall in the big barn with a view of the pastures and all the horses. He seemed to be content with snacking on some extra flakes of hay and watching his buddies. He will go back to his regular stall tonight when everyone comes in for dinner ;)

He'll get a little time off now and then Tuesday Sarah will ride him in her lesson. That will tell a lot. He'll be on nsaids for a couple of weeks...then we'll see how he does on his own. If he's still having problems then I'll try the Adequan. In the meantime Sarah was able to ride another horse at the barn. A very nice half Arab mare who knows much more than Bay does. She's retired from showing, but could be a nice school master for Sarah. I'm also going to have her exercise Boo for me while my family is here from Wyoming. Won't be able to get out like I want to, but I don't want him to just stand in the pasture either.

Our ride this morning went well. It was windy and I started out in the sand arena. He handled that well. He does make me work harder there. After our warm up we moved to the indoor where he is much more relaxed. Today I was just asking him to listen to my cues and try to transition while still on the bit. My next ride will be more lateral work. After the ride I let him graze for a bit while I watched Sarah's lesson. He was a very happy horse when I took him back to the pasture.

Decisions

2010-08-11T06:56:00.000-07:00

Although the weather has been weird this summer, it does FINALLY feel like summer to me. After we painted my mom's living room for her I got to come home, and I've been here ever since. Mom seems to be getting around well with a cane and my stepdad has his wheelchair.

I've been riding Boo regularly. We're still working on transitions while staying on the bit. I get them about 5 out of 10 tries, so there is still work to be done. He's looking really good weight-wise and staying sound (knock on wood). I am planning on going on a trail ride with him next week! I'm really excited about it. I'm a little aprehensive too. Boo can be a bit of a fraidy cat.

The hubby and I went out to Mollala Saturday night to the Ross Coleman invitational. It is a fundraiser for the Make A Wish Foundation. We got to see some great bull rides. Ross was there (of course) and Mike Lee, Chris Shivers, JP Mauney, Austin Meier...just to name a few. Those names probably won't mean anything to you unless your a PBR fan, but it was a fun night and there were some rank bulls there. There was a silent auction and in between the long and short rounds they had a live auction. PBR tickets in Las Vegas this coming year with VIP treatment were my favorite items. They went for about 2200 dollars. I don't know how much money was ultimately raised for Make A Wish but I think the event was a success.

Yesterday was a looonnng day and a bit overwhelming. Bay has been showing signs of unhappiness for a while now. We've had the chiropractor out because we thought he was back sore. We've had the saddle fitter out. Nothing seemed to be fixing the problem, so we had the vet do a lameness exam on him yesterday. He has some positive results in both front feet and the right and left hock. Looks like arthritic changes. Looks like hock injections are in his future. The front feet showed slight navicular changes that the vet is managing with shoeing. We are having the hocks injected on Friday. That along with some nsaid management should help the inflammation response and keep him more comfortable. It's extremely important that he gets exercise, however, not with any collection until about 5 days after the injections. Going back to normal riding will tell us a lot about how the injections are going to work...and then we will see how often they will have to be done. We talked about putting him on Adequan too. Anyone out there with experience with that? If he continues to show he may get Legend as well, but only if he shows. Same question as above...anyone have experience using Legend? All of this is overwhelming to even contemplate right now. It seems like a lot for a 13-year-old horse to endure for a few blue ribbons.

If we retire him from showing and just use him as hubby does...for a trail horse and an occasional cow sorting we might not have to do anything but give him some bute before hand to help out with pain management. It's kind of like me actually. I take ibuprofen right before I ride ;) Then again we could still end up doing the hock injections. Who knows?

He's only 13-years-old so we weren't to happy to hear this. Now we've got some decisions to make. It's devastating for Sarah because she had finally gotten to the point with Bay where she was not only comfortable showing but looking forward to it. She had to vet out of our Arabian sporthorse regionals last weekend. Something she had been working towards all season.

Ultimately what we care most about is keeping him comfortable, sound, and fit.

Getting back into a routine

2010-07-28T09:14:00.000-07:00

Going out to the barn when I finish up here. It's a cooler overcast morning, but I do believe the weatherman is forecasting into the mid-eighties for later today. I want to get my ride in before it gets to hot. Meant to go yesterday, but that didn't work out. Monday I spent at the beach so didn't ride that day either. Sunday I did ride and things went quite well.

I am a big fan of the way Jane Savoie teaches. I have books and cds and dvds by her and listen to them a lot. I bought her "Happy Horse" series a few years ago and I've been working through it. When I said I was going back to basics with Boo in my last post Jane's series was what I was using for my guidelines. Sunday I worked on getting Boo in front of the leg, then supple, then seeking contact, then connection, and finally transitions while still on the bit. I will be working on that again today. I also use a book a friend of mine gave me called "101 Dressage Exercises for Horse and Rider." It has exercises for warm up, looseness, straightness, rider position, lateral work, improving the canter, building suspension, flying changes, developing lightness, lengthening the strides, and even a chapter of the importance of horsey fitness.

When I ride I try to evaluate where the problem areas are. Then I use the above tools to try and work on those problem areas. I try to plan ahead and know what I'm going to be working on. Afterwards I write down in a riding journal how it went. That way I can jog my memory on what the next step is or if I have to drop back and keep working on something else. Periodically I take a lesson or a clinic and get feedback from eyes on the ground. It's not a fast track but it's progression and I'll settle for that.

It's been a busy summer. I can't believe its half over already. I still haven't been on a single trail ride. It's not going to happen this weekend either because DH and I are going to be painting my mothers living room for her. I did get some time to go to Dressage at Devonwood this past week, and I also spent a day at the beach. I've had a few beers with the DH sitting in the two red adirondack chairs we put in the far corner of the yard. I'll post a picture of those today. I get to do a little reading there too. that's been nice.

A back-to-basics summer

2010-07-21T08:06:00.000-07:00

I'm back home again and this time (God willing and the creeks don't rise) it will be for longer than just a week. The parents are doing better every day. Mom has been given permission to

walk without her walker and even to drive. The first day she over did things a bit. I think she thought she could just throw that walker away. She wasn't planning to use it for anything! She soon realized she still needed it to walk long distances. She also realized that left leg needed some time to strengthen. She ended up falling the first night off the walker. She insists she didn't get hurt, but I do think it scared her badly. I noticed after that she kept the walker a little closer. She's an all or nothing kind of gal who at 75 is being forced to learn the little nuances of recovery. One step at a time mom...one step at a time.

My stepdad is still in rehab for his amputated leg, but is getting stronger every day. I'm quite surprised and proud of how well he is doing and can only hope that he continues to work so hard once he is at home. That should be in a couple of days ;) So...things may soon settle into a workable routine for everyone involved.

I had some very nice rides on Boo when I was home last week. Three nice rides in a row to be exact. Felt really good after having the previous trip home yield two horrible rides and one good one. Don't know what this week will bring, but I decided after those horrible rides that when things were going wrong I would just drop back and work on the basics until we were both relaxed and willing. Seems to have done the trick. Rhythm, suppleness, and connection; that's the foundation for it all, and if I don't have that there is no point in trying to work on anything else.

Now that I think about it back-to-basics seems to be the rule of thumb for this summer. Back- to-basics for the parents learning to take care of the basics of life in their new state of being, and back-to basics for Boo and I relearning one anothers abilities and expectations. If it feels like one step forward and two steps back that's alright. Life is about the process way more often then it is about the destination.

Today is going to be eaten up with errands and chores that need catching up, so I won't make it out to the barn until tomorrow morning. Hope to get in a ride and do a little grooming as well. Summer is finally here and I'm up for it!!! :) I missed Sunday Stills pictures of summer. Think I'll leave you today with a picture that just cries out summer to me.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-07-14T17:41:00.001-07:00

The culprit

2010-07-13T08:37:00.000-07:00

I arrived back home late Sunday night and I'll be here all week long. I'll still be making trips over the mountain to check on things, but they will be fewer in number and shorter in duration.

I'll be heading out to the barn this morning to see Boo! I plan to spend the better part of my day out there. Oh, okay, I'll check on Bay too, although he has had much more attention this summer than Boo has had. Bay and Sarah went to Devonwood this past weekend for the Jr/young rider clinic they had out there. They had a ride for 3 consecutive days and Heather Oleson was their clinician. Sounds like Bay picked the clinic as a time to practice his rodeo moves. He can be that way sometimes. Good thing Sarah has a seat that sticks to the saddle like glue! I'm sorry I had to miss auditing, but I am so happy for Sarah that she took the opportunity and had the experience.

Sport horse regionals (region 4) are coming up the first weekend in August and Bay and Sarah will be competing there. I think Dressage at Devonwood is coming up too. Haven't set foot on a trail yet this summer but that is in my plans, and my trailering lessons have been limited to just the one I got to have this past spring. Dang!

I mentioned my stepfather in my last post, so I'll tell you that he had his surgery last Thursday. He had to have a below-the-knee amputation. He's still in the hospital and will be going for some intensive rehab soon before he can come back home. My mom is getting around quite well and I think her biggest issue at the moment is the stress from worrying about my stepdad.

If I can remember to start taking my trusty camera with me I'll start having some pictures of me catching up with all my horsey activities in my upcoming posts. In the meantime I'm going to leave you with a photo of the cactus my mom was trying to water when she fell and started this circus of a summer back the beginning of June.

I'm home AGAIN

2010-06-30T23:07:00.000-07:00

I'm home! I'm home! I'm home! I'm home!

I have been home since Sunday evening. Spent Monday doing laundry and sleeping. Spent Tuesday afternoon at the barn. I went to my line dance class this morning, and I spent the afternoon and evening with hubby and my oldest grandson. The grandson went swimming while I tried to get a little color on my legs. The three of us had dinner out (artichoke and spinach thin crust pizza) and then went to see Eclipse. While we were having dinner on the outdoor patio a young woman stopped at the table next to us to visit with someone she knew. She had just come from the movie and told the woman it was awful just as she had expected. Hmmm....I'm thinking....do I take my movie critiques from a teenager wearing jeans and a lime green tutu or do I go ahead and see the movie for myself? Oh, and why would someone spend the money to see a movie they EXPECTED would be awful? Oh well, we liked the movie. Thought it was much better than the 2nd one (New Moon). I guess when it comes to Twilight your in one camp or the other. I enjoyed the books. I'm enjoying the movies. Not everything has to be highbrow.

As I pulled in at the barn yesterday afternoon I noticed trainer Tracey giving a lesson in the outdoor arena. She was sitting on a horse herself at the time. In the arena was a beautiful Bay horse who looked nice and floaty and buff and collected. I thought to myself. I wonder who that is? Imagine my surprise when the horse started down the short side towards me and I recognized our Baythoven. Sometimes he just takes my breath away. Sarah is doing and awesome job with him (although yesterday he was being a bit of a brat). Tracey has done wonders with the both of them. They are so much more polished. They look like they belong in a dressage arena.

I had a short ride on Boo. Probably about 40 minutes. We were a little rough around the edges. It's been awhile since I've ridden regularly. I guess we've lost our groove. I don't think it will take long to get it back once I can ride consistently. I'm going out again tomorrow morning and hope to get in a ride and a bath. He got his shoes on yesterday, so a nice trail ride will be in order one of these weekends. Not this weekend though. This weekend is all about the 4th of July and cowboy Christmas. We'll be at Molalla on Friday night and St. Paul on Saturday and Sunday. Last Saturday night we went to the Crooked River Roundup in Prineville Oregon. I'd never been to that one before.

Monday I will head back over to Central Oregon and let hubby and the my oldest daughter and grandsons hold down the fort around here. I don't know how long I'll stay. Maybe just a couple of days...maybe longer. My mom is doing much better but my step dad is facing some serious health issues. He's hospitalized right now and facing a surgery in a few weeks that will change life as he knows it. I tell ya people when it rains it pours! Be grateful for your good health and live your life to the fullest. It can all change in an instant.

2010-06-25T08:07:00.000-07:00

Good morning blogger world! Things are looking up! For starters mom is showering all by herself as I type! She's getting around pretty well. It's just a matter of doing her physical therapy and time before she is able to be completely independent. Home health came out yesterday. They have an RN, an OC, and a PT. Yesterday it was the RN. Don't think mom will
need to see her much, but I am looking forward to the OC today and hope the PT gets here soon. She's been home a week and hadn't seen anyone until yesterday. It will be interesting to see if OC can help her organize things in the home to make herself better able to function safely. I think I've done a pretty good job, but I know there will be things I've missed and little tips I know nothing about. I expect in another week or so I will be able to make shorter less frequent visits. Maybe come every other week and spend 2-3 days doing the things she can't do. I can do that through the summer. I'm being very careful not to get to attached to those plans cuz I know God laughs at people who make plans ;)

I got to go home late Monday afternoon. My grandson had his PAMTA awards ceremony to attend. This was his 2nd year to be nominated and his 2nd year to lose out...Pinocchio won it all! I wish I'd seen it because it must have been a fantastic show! I've got to get out to more from now on. It was a lovely evening. I even put on a skirt. I only own one skirt and one dress so you can see from that bit of trivia how often I go somewhere where pants are not the norm. Grandsons next play is a rock musical! That should be interesting!!!!

On Tuesday I headed for the barn and halfway there I realized I'd forgotten my riding boots. It was warm out and I was wearing sandles...oh well, that's what muck boots are for isn't it? Luckily mine were still in the tack room, so I put them on, tacked up, and rode in the outdoor arena for a bit. I have to say I think Boo missed me as it was feeding time, and rather than eat his hay he hung his head over the stall door and nickered at me. We tried the new flysheets on both horses and they fit, so they've been going out in style all week long. If all goes well I plan to be home again the first part of this week. The farrier is coming on Tuesday and I want Boo shoed for trail rides. He needs a bath too so I hope the weather holds. My next stay at home will be almost a week long. Ah! Heaven!!! :)

Finally, haying is going great guns here and for the very first time I am having an allergy reaction. I'm not sure what is actually causing it. Never had hay affect me like this before. Popping over-the-counter allergy meds and hoping it passes. Last night I went to a weight watchers weigh in, and low and behold I have reached my goal weight! Gained a bit last week, but lost it and more this week. Wouldn't ya know I'd reach my goal here where I don't know anyone rather than back at my own meeting where everyone has watched the progress. That's okay, they'll celebrate with me on Tuesday night. They gave me a little gold star charm for reaching the goal. I think I might make a little bracelet out of it to wear to meetings and when I go anyplace where I'm going to be sorely tempted to over eat. It would make a nice reminder.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-06-23T08:15:00.001-07:00

I'm still here

2010-06-19T07:17:00.000-07:00

There is not much that is horse related going on in my life right now, but I have it to look forward to for next week. I get to go home for a few days on Monday. My youngest grandson, Shea, has been nominated for a musical theater award for his work in "Oliver" last fall. I'm going to take mom to her doctor appointment Monday morning and then head back over the mountain so I can attend the awards. Hubby and Poko have been holding down the fort for Miley and I while we have been away.

On Tuesday I intend to be at the barn for quite awhile for ridng and if weather permits for a marathon grooming session. A bath for Boo would be nice! I think the farrier is coming later in the month and it will be time to shoe in hopes that I can go for a few trail rides this year. Boo has done really well barefoot this year. He spends most of his winter that way. At this rate neither Boo or I will be getting into great riding shape anytime soon...but we will keep plugging away at it.

Mom came home from rehab on Thursday and seems to be doing alright. They still need help here, but I have high hopes that in another week or two I will be able to come home full time. She hasn't heard from her physical and occupational therapists yet, but if we don't hear by Monday we'll let the doc put the heat on them to get busy.

All in all, I am hanging in there. I am sleep deprived but no more so than anyone else in this house. I found a weight watchers meeting and went to it Thursday night. I gained 0.2 pounds. Arrggghhh! First weight gain since I started. Not much of a gain though so it could have been any number of things. Just makes my resolve to stick to healthy eating and tracking EVERYTHING that much stronger.

I'm hoping to get back to blogging about things far more interesting very soon...until then I'm reading all of your blogs and getting my horsey fix that way :)