Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people.

Gwyn got a bit of a break as I was away on a long weekend in Vegas for a meetup with some people from my online Mom group. We've been friends for almost 7 years now. It was a great trip but I was glad to be home. I got not nearly enough sleep and I'm still recovering three days later, though life hasn't been helping in that regard. Like my flat tire. And the shit hole that is my job.

I will always find the horses

 I'll probably do a whole Vegas write up on my non-horse blog. That's been sadly neglected lately. Same for the farm blog. But there's a shit load to talk about. But really, what this meant was that I needed horse time. In a major way.

You've got more mints, right Mom?

 So last night, after having a minor cry fest at work, and after the kids were in bed I went out to do my barn chores and just... exist with Gwyn. I deep cleaned the stalls (since Eric doesn't if I'm away) and that felt good and periodically called out in the darkness for Gwyn and Saffron. It took a little bit but soon I heard hoof beats and Gwyn came galloping up from the summer pasture back to the barn, ears pricked forward.

They got grain, and then I pulled Gwyn out to give her her final dose of Adequan, which also means I should schedule another chiro to see how her SI is doing since that got majorly adjusted last time. Then, with grooming gloves on I just stood and itched her. She must have been sweaty at some point, since her coat felt like it had a bit of salt crust and was itchy because of it. She's also shedding a bit and I pulled a lot of those short summer hairs to the surface. I was getting mutually groomed very vigorously so I assume it felt good and when she couldn't reach me her lip was stuck out stick and wiggling.

At least my horse offers feedback on my performance.... And appreciates me.

She got mints for being a good girl for the shot. And then I check out her feet. The velcro tape for the Megasus is already partly off, but I'm reserving judgment since I know I didn't exactly follow the instructions for application. But this is good to know that it won't last if you half ass the steps. Her hind feet were starting to pancake so I took a rasp to the trouble spots to try and prevent major chipping. The farrier won't be out until Monday. He was supposed to be out this week but had to reschedule. So she got more mints for being a good girl for my amateur farrier work.

I did end up buying the fly boot things as I suspect that she's stomping herself out of her shoes. So far so good! I dont' see nearly as much stomping out in the pasture. Of course there are now three horse shoes still unaccounted for plus both of the megasus covers. 

Day 3 and 4, Horsey Blog Hopping

Day 03- Your best riding

This is a hard one for me. I personally don't feel like I've had a day of best riding. I know I have so much more to learn and grow with and any progress I've made has been so small and gradual that it's hard to see the changes unless I compare it to where I was years previous.

The biggest thing I can think of is when I was in regular lessons with Jim and I was able to get Gwyn working consistently on the bit during the lesson. It's something I struggle with and that Gwyn struggles with. I'm not sure she has the muscle strength to do it right now because of how long we've both been out of regular riding work but I'm hopeful that I can change that.

I say that as all my plans for this afternoon are shot because it's thunderstorming. I was going to do a lunging session with her with some raised trot poles to help start redeveloping her topline.

Alas.

Maybe I'll get it set up for tomorrow.




Day 04- A ride that impacted your life

In general, riding is impactful broadly for me. I am in better moods after I've ridden, regardless of the quality of the ride and having horses around acts like an antidepressant.

Probably the most impactful ride was the one that I was forbidden from doing. When I was pregnant with Hazel, the blood clot and subsequent blood thinners meant that riding was really not a good idea. All of my doctors said to stop.

I tried to follow orders and worked on trick training and clicker training. I took Gwyn for hand walks on the trails while Kaylee was at preschool. But ultimately I found myself really not feeling good and ended up having an anxiety attack at a prenatal visit. Too much had been pulled out of my control and I wasn't able to cope as well since my usual coping mechanism was part of the things I wasn't allowed to do.

There was a glorious february day. I had a window of an hour or so where the temperatures climbed into the 50sF. I told Eric I didn't care anymore and that I was going on a trail ride. He knew, bless the man, that I needed it. So we made a deal, that I would check in regularly, and if I missed a deadline, he'd call 911.

It was the best damn ride. Gwyn was a little snorty, but seemed to realize that this had become something special and she better not blow it. We were all by ourselves and it was just... wonderful. I felt better prepared to tackle the stressors of the clot aftereffects. I found a doula and I took back control of my pregnancy as much as was possible.

And I started riding again. No more than 30 minutes, always lunging first to evaluate Gwyn's excitability. I aborted at the first sign of funny business from her. And if I was alone, always with a dead man's switch, checking in with Eric regularly. It was a life saver.

Quick bareback ride on 6/30

0.76 miles for Team 42, 0.08 miles for Team 43


I noticed that my mood was deteriorating and my patience was wearing thin much quicker than normal when it came to the kids. And quite frankly, during a particularly rough evening trying to get Hazel to sleep, I had visions of throwing her down on the bed for Eric to deal with and storming out.

That's my cue that I need some horse time.

So yesterday once she was napping for her long afternoon nap (like... 3-4 hours, this kid is a marathon napper right now!) I came out to the living room and asked Kaylee if she wanted to ride Gwyn.  She did.

It worked out well for the both of us. She got some one on one time with me, outside and I got some one on one time with Gwyn. Kaylee didn't ride for very long before asking to get down, but she did 'help' pick Gwyn's hooves and then was content to baby talk Saffron while I got on.

Gwyn was a dolt with me but we did get some good work done. Since I didn't want to rely on Hazel staying asleep, I only used the bareback pad just in case. So we worked on simple stuff. Halt/Walk/Trot transitions and relaxing. I could feel myself relaxing the longer I sat on her back.

And don't fret about miss Hazel, I have a baby monitor that reaches from the house to the arena without losing signal so I'd hear her if she started to wake up.

Gwyn was a little sweaty so Kaylee helped me hose her off and then I went to corral Saffron back to their grazing paddock and off the winter pasture. I learned that she leads quite willingly when I entice her to walk forward toward a bucket of grain. TIL! I feel silly not having tried this before now.

After hosing Gwyn down, Kaylee was playing in the dirt, so I hosed the kid down, then we had a water fight that mainly consisted of Kaylee spraying me with the hose. It was so much fun to play with my kid without having the baby attached to me.

After all that, we stripped naked on the back porch, because who the hell would see us anyway, and went inside to change. Hazel stayed asleep through all of that, so it was a good afternoon.

I definitely feel the positive change in myself. More patience, I'm calmer. I definitely need to keep making time to do this.

Awesome, simple baby monitor that's super cheap too!

<3 these girls

The Goober Pony teaches the tiny human about proper equine care by standing very still for her bath

Tiny human likes to play in dirt that is likely 90% manure bits

0.11 miles for Kaylee and 0.15 miles for me!

Kaylee was in her princess gown and helped me groom.  It was a gorgeous day in the high 60s, felt like 70s F. With all the sun my pasture is finally drying up and the mud is going away!

Saffron was hanging out with us the whole time too

Kaylee chose to ride first. Gwyn was perfect. I haven't done anything with her (bad bad me!) since the beginning of February and she was calm as could be despite the garbage truck coming to empty the dumpster and some deer running in the woods!  She's become so levelheaded! That or she was super sleepy in the sun, LOL

We are always safe!

Hugs for a good girl

I rode around by myself a bit then hopped off when the garbage truck came by. No sense being too dangerous given my due date is in 2 days. When I went to get back on, Kaylee INSISTED that she lead Gwyn around while I rode.  It was adorable.

It was also really good practice to follow a random path by a nearly 4 year old around the arena at a very slow pace. And by golly, when Kaylee started running, Gwyn picked up the pace to keep up with her! Good girl!

Having a snuggle with Saffron while my mom looks on.

When I first got on Gwyn, she twisted around to look at me, like "Mom? Really? We get to do this? FINALLY!!!"   I think she missed it.

Soon enough, Goober, we'll be back riding more.

39 weeks 5 days pregnant with my princesses! Kaylee found some feathers from an unfortunate victim. But it's a pretty cool collection of feathers from a bird of prey!

So funny story. I told my Mom yesterday that I was going to ride today. She immediately was worried.  "What if Gwyn bucks you off!?"

"Omg, MOM. She will not do that."
Skip to today and we're standing around while my Mom took these pictures and suddenly she goes, "Oh my goodness, Amy, she's falling asleep!"
"And you were worried she was going to buck me off."
Pfft. I know my horse. And I'm REALLY going to enjoy exasperating my doctors when they ask if I've ridden and I'm honest. HAHAHAHAH!

February 3 2016 4.24 miles

It was too nice of a day. I couldn't resist!  Especially for February. So Gwyn and I went to the Polly Ann Trail while the kiddo was in school.

Happy Pony

Happy Me!

We made it all the way to town! 

1.01 miles! I couldn't stay away....

I knew that I was going to deal with some crazy critters yesterday and that if I wanted to hop on bareback, I needed to let everyone get their wiggles out. The day was warmer than it had been, but was still only in the low 40s. I can deal with those temperatures!

The donkeys immediately took off tearing around the arena, bucking and leaping. They were having a grand ol' time. Gwyn was a little more sedate, but had a few moments. She had less wiggles, I guess, lol. All the better for me!

Gwyn wiggles

Spelled wrong, but it was a gift from a friend so I didn't say anything and accepted graciously because I'd always wanted bridle tags.

Screw the doctors. I had a 30 minute dead man switch worked out with Eric. If I didn't check in within 30 minutes of telling him I had gotten on, he was to call in the cavalry. 

I... don't know why they are doing this. Saffron is the one mounting Arwen. They're both jennies so I don't know if it's a dominance thing. I'm still researching.

Arwen is sweet, but we need to work on leading and picking our feet up.

Today while I cleaned up poop, Gwyn hung out with me. She left me alone as soon as I threw a few flakes of hay into the pasture, hahaha. 

"Hi, feed me. My pasture is barren. I'm starving"

"I'll eat the camera"

I've gotten fed up with making multiple trips with a muck bucket I can lift, so now I get all the poop in one go and shovel it into my dumpster. I think it goes faster. Plus upper arm workout!