Finally hung Boo's photos

Good news! Well, good news for Sarah and Bay! They are first alternate for state in OHSET. Apparently, one of the qualifiers decided not to go...so Sarah and Bay will be going to state after all. That will happen around mid May. Looking forward to the little mini vacation it will give me. Yes, I said mini vacation. I don't have to do any of the work!!! Plus I know a few other people who will be down there including another girl from our barn and my niece from Central Oregon.

This past weekend was the Arabians In Motion horse show at the Mt. Hood Equestrian Center. I volunteered on Friday, and on Saturday Sarah and Bay competed in dressage. They ended up with a 5th place ribbon at 65.6 in their first class and a 1st place ribbon at 65.2 in their second class. Everyone was happy and we got to go home early. It looked to me like the show was going well. I think they had about 80 horses entered. Did anyone else go? If so, how did you do, and what were your impressions?

I got the best news yesterday at the end of my physical therapy appointment. I get to ride Boo tomorrow for 30 minutes. Everyone is still being cautious, but I will take what I can get. I've found myself avoiding the barn because it is so hard for me to stay off the horse. Keep your fingers crossed for me that riding does not cause any kind of set back. I'm thinking it won't as long as I take it slow and careful. I've been feeling a lot stronger this past few days. Not completely normal, but definitely better.

I weigh in tonight...drumroll....

Bad news/good news

I am going on 10 weeks of sciatica now...finally getting physical therapy. It's helping, but they are adamant that riding will set me back. Guess I will wait a few more weeks. I haven't been blogging. I don't want my blog to turn into a "woe is me" type of thing. My head hasn't been into how I could keep that from happening. Although I am still struggling with cultivating a more positive attitude, I've decided it's time to blog again. Who knows...maybe the act of blogging will help me get through another few weeks of no saddle time.

Good things have been happening to me. I've been losing weight. I'm up to 16 lbs lost now. That is 10% of my body weight. Feels good. I have another 12 lbs to go and then I'm satisfied. I'm not trying to be the size 4 of my youth. I don't want to work that hard ;) Besides, I like to eat. I'm walking every day now except for the day I line dance. I have to be careful with the dancing because I think that's what kicked off the sciatica. Wasn't line dancing though. It was 2-stepping. I think it was most likely all the turns. Don't think I was doing it correctly. Torqued myself or something. I can't pin down the exact moment because it didn't happen like that. One minute I was fine. The next I wasn't. All I'm really sure of is that it did not happen on horseback.

Sarah and Bay competed in OHSET again last weekend. They came in 4th this time. Such a weird group of placings. First meet they were 1st. Second meet they were 24th. Third meet they were 4th. Wish the judging had been more consistent. At any rate they ended up 3 points away from going to state. Instead they are the 1st alternate for our district. Pretty good for Sarah's freshman year and Bay's first time doing OHSET.

They are competing this weekend at AIM at the Hood. Sarah signed up quite some time ago. At the time she signed up for training level. Don't think she felt ready for 1st level. She's quite conservative. She's been showing 1st level at OHSET, so I think she is finally convinced they are ready for it.

I took advantage of the good weather this past weekend to give Boo his first bath of 2010! Of course it's raining now, so he's probably muddy again.

I also got my DH to give me a trailering lesson. I asked him last summer, but it never happened. This year I'm pushing him. I'm going to give Jocelyn the credit for this lesson. It was her buying her own trailer, and then hauling Star out to trail ride, and eventually over to Madras for her endurance ride that inspired me. I'm gonna do it again this weekend. Guess you can teach an old gal new tricks. Heh heh...had my 57th birthday on Saturday.

Wordless Wednesday