Rode RazzMo yesterday

Yup, 4 horses of my own that could use attention if not riding and I rode mom and dads horse. I piddled around till there was only time for a short ride before it got too cold and when I went out Shade was visiting CJ over the fence and RazzMo came up saying 'oh take me, take me' So I did. He did pretty well, hasn't had a ride since Dad got back from hunting the first week of Nov. He tried to spin around a couple times but he is so smooth he really isn't intimidating even though he is a lot more power than my guys. I was laughing at him cuz he did a smooth as silk trot and then whirled. He did get around but I just made him complete the turn. With luck he'll never learn to do a bouncy stop to throw the rider forward before trying his 180's. We just went to corner -about 1/2 a mile and then came back and I put him away and got hay for my greys and Sadie and put them all away.

Wild Cindy

My 'babysitter' horse --she is supposed to be teaching Sadie to be a nice horse and keeping Grey from getting too wound up shoved through the gate today when I was trying to take just Grey Moun and went tearing around. So I got lots of exercise wading through the 10-12 inches of powder to get her haltered and turned out with Sadie -hmm maybe I can have another small slice of brownie :) Sadie did some running in the turnout pen from the general excitement. Grey did not end up getting any more walking than over next to Shade & RazzMo to be tied to wait while I caught Cindy. I didn't really think I wanted to walk him much in the deep powder but had been going to give him a short walk since he was pacing. Cindy is definitely NOT a 25 year old horse that could be trusted to babysit young or inexperienced riders. Likes to kick up her heels and RUN way too much. Goofy old girl.

Brrrrrrr

It was 3F last night about 9pm. Then a snowstorm moved in and warmed things up to around 15F this morning but the snow and breeze feels so cold. Horse work to day is going to be feeding them and going to work to earn money for buying feed. The cats are all restless too. Spoiled things. They like to go out and climb the trees and things when the weather is nicer but they have cat toys, playmates and a 6ft christmas tree with lots of unbreakable ornaments on it to amuse themselves they'll just have to cope.

Early Christmas gift

The weather was very nice and gave me another fine riding day today. Shade is in heat and wanted to hang out and visit across the fence with Sebastian. She knows the geldngs she lives with are only geldings but the ones she only sees across a fence she seems to think might be stallions But I said I'd really like her to give me a present of a nice ride and she obliged. I used the LJ and tried to ride with a good bit of leg and I can sure tell I'm woefully out of riding shape but it was tons of fun. Sadie wanted some attention when I got back so I decided to play around with some trailer loading practice. She was sniffing the inside of the trailer with great curiosisty then hopped right in when I showed her I had a treat and she calmly munched the treat fully in the trailer, then Shade really clattered her hay feeder (leaky old metal water tank) and scared Sadie and I let her turn around and leap out. Sadie wasn't freaked though, she did step her front feet into the trailer afterwards for treats and got to practice backing the front feet off the trailer, she things that is a bit tricky too --she got tired of it and I was like ok --no pressure here I'll just put these last 2 treats away. She's pretty into the treats so I hope I can make them a special goody she only gets for stepping at least the front feet into the trailer and get her comfortable with loading in a few sessions just in case I have to haul her somewhere --and with luck I won't have to haul her until I'm riding her in a few years time.

Wheee I rode.

Whee! I rode saturday. A REAL ride on Shade, not ponying Grey part of the way or staying at a walk the whole ride because of not trusting the footing. We did mostly walk, but we had some nice stretches of dry footing and did some trotting. Felt so good. The forecasted winds were absent and the tractor wouldn't start so I decided to ride in case the wind came on sunday.

I was so energized that when I got back I tried the tractor, it finally decided the block heater had gotten things warm enough and started and I did a super quick scoop and run on Shade and RazzMo's hot spots. The wind did not show up and I actually got a lot of paddock cleaning done today and pretty well got caught up. It was finally warm enough that most of the frozen poop piles could be raked tother and picked up. CJ is back in his paddock and RazzMo is back with Shade --CJ was trying to shove Shade out of the food, she was trying to maintian boss mare status and I did not want her injured. CJ was not being nasty aggressive but better safe than sorry. He can have more food being by himself so I don't think he minds.

therapy ride this morning

Mental therapy for me that is. Yesterday I ponied GreyMoun while I rode Shade, tied him up and actually trotted and even cantered a bit. Whee! last week the footing felt too crappy to ask Shade to go more than a walk. and today I hopped on GreyMoun. I decided I could ride him a shorter distance than I handwalk him and call that his rehab work today. I had not planned to ride, and especially him but the forecast for my 4-day weekend is not riding friendly and the wind was coming up today where I didn't want to take the extra time to grab Shade and pony Grey, besides I can control Grey better riding him so even though its loading the tendon more adding my weight I decided I should do it. Also gave me a chance to feel how Grey was moving. Well it was good for my sanity and he was ok but he felt a bit funky at times so it reaffirms my decision that he is not doing any LD rides before Oct. But I think he'll be ok to go out into the large paddock/wee pasture area when I get it set-up with a shed.

christmas is the season to stress

gaah, I have to find a place to drop off toys today, or possibly tomorrow. I went to Walmart last night to get aloe juice for Sadie --dont want any ulcer relapse, + a gift for the 'optional' work exchange and I usually beat back annual december blues by buying some toys for charity, lately just buying them and putting them in the collection box at Walmart. Well the good news is I've been more cheerful than normal this year. THe bad news is that Walmart is not not hosting a collection box this year. *#@! II's and other thieving twerps 'donated' so much last year on behalf of Walmart --iow w/o bothering to pay for it that the local store decided they didn't need that inventory hassle. Of course WallyWorld 'could' staff the store enough that folks couldn't access the charity box with items they hadn't paid for but the end result is I have to find someplace to leave the stinking toys.

But the critters were pretty cute this morning. Thank goodness.

smile from Sadie

Although I still have moments of thinking I surely am crazy for buying a foal when it costs me so much to feed and mature horses are so often sold cheaply I really am enjoying. Sadie. This weekend I had left my tack door open and Sadie was very very curious about the saddles, and the sponge I've still got on Shade's saddle and the feed scraps left from various trips. Today when we walked by the trailer heading for her turnout pasture she had to stop and investigate the hay Shade didn't clean up yesterday as I saddled her. So I tied Sadie up to the trailer for several minutes & she had a ball cleaning up that hay. I swear she seemed to be thinking "Look at me, in the big horse's spot, I'll be going on those road trips in no time". I had a broken snap on the gate between CJ and Razz and Shade's pens this weekend and CJ and Razz decided they needed to swap spaces - I decided they could stay that way for a while and Sadie is really enjoying having the new horse to visit across the fence with in her turnout area. CJ seems to be enjoying it too -today they ran along the fence line a couple different times. Grey continues to be a special guy -- Ole has been in a big tugging mood lately. When I'm hauling hay on the toboggan he is sometimes helping me pull the load and its fun, when he's grabbing the horse lead its just a pain but Grey is very tolerant if I fail to completely contain the tugging and he feels a bit on his halter end of the rope. Course he owes me after not letting me skip friday in the snow

NO GreyMoun-don't DO that

Background: GreyMoun is my heart horse. I've felt close to all my horses but there's just that bit more with Grey. He is a 19 year old arabian gelding. He is semi-retired. I enjoy endurance riding in a non-competitive way. Grey does not do the 50 mile rides the last 5 years but he enjoys doing the 25 milers (Limited Distance.) He sustained a bowed tendon at a ride in September. He was not resting his tendon and letting it heal being in with Shade and RazzMo, so my 25 yr old mare who is 'babysitting' my weanling Sadie got another charge to mind. This has worked well. They have a paddock with a large stall with a 24x12 foot pen off the other side of the stall which is covered at one end.

I am now trying to do the UC Davis tendon rehab with Grey (adding 5 minutes of walking every week up to 30 minutes then slowly start adding in trotting.) Grey is at 15 minutes of walking. I feed them 3 different feed/supplements. Usually I tie Grey, feed Sadie in an adjoining pen and Cindy in the paddock pen. Then 5-6 days a week I put Sadie and Cindy in a small pasture so Sadie can run around and build up bone for her future career, and I do Grey's handwalking.

So to the actual story. It was cold, windy, and spitting a touch of snow friday morning so I planned to skip the turn-out and handwalking and just feed, so I pulled Cindy out to eat tied up instead of Grey; I took a quick warm-up break while they ate and as I walk back out to put everybody away I see Grey doing his pacing thing. When he paces he trots the 15 ft short wall of the pen which sits off their main paddock, doing rollbacks at the corners. "GreyMoun NO-stop that right now you are not supposed to do ANY trotting for another 3 weeks;" thespoiled brat was pacing even with Cindy tied right outside and Sadie in the adjoining pen. He was still acting wound up when I stuck Cindy in so I sucked it up and gave him his rehab walk. I don't know why he was so wound up, I do NOT give him race horse grain rations, he is getting a scant lb of grain/pellet mix to mix his msm and EQ Recovery into. Frisky in the wind I guess. I am such a slave to this horse.