Stuff and Things

I'm dealing with my back.  It hates me and for the first time in a long long long time it actually hurts to ride. It also hurts to bend over or lift anything or get in or out of my car... but the fact that it actually hurts to ride is really awful.  It also makes me worried about my own fitness and if I can't ride I'm not able to keep myself in riding shape and then it's going to take longer to get back into riding shape and... anxiety anxiety anxiety....deep breath...sigh.

I rode last on Tuesday even though I shouldn't have. I can't toss my western saddle on his back so I had to use the English and we only walked and jogged around and worked on some turns on the forehand and horsemanship pivots.  It hurt to post so we just jogged. We also did some bridleless steering and jogged over a few poles scattered around the arena, but the poles hurt.  I can't tell you how aggravating it is that I can't just jump on and get into working on conditioning him.  I can lunge him, yes, but he's never been great at lunging and he gets SOOOO bored that he starts to ignore me because that's more fun.  Then I get annoyed and I do things like whip myself in the face and he laughs at me like that was his goal.... so that's not a golden solution.  I could have someone ride him but that takes $$$ and is not in the budget right now.  Besides by all accounts he and Bruin are getting a good deal of exercise together.

Today I gave him a good grooming which he desperately needed after being left since Tuesday.  Never buy a horse with white legs.  Just don't do it.  He tends to hate grooming but there was a lot of activity today and he stood relaxed in the cross ties while I squatted to attack his filthy legs and he let me scrub and scrub until they resembled white. I even gave his tail a coating of Vetrolin Shine and a good brushing out and was pleased to see how thick it's getting.

He continues to love his life there.  We moved him to a new stall today.  His old stall was fine, but now I'm right across from the tackroom and since the barn is busy enough that the cross-ties are usually full, I can groom in the stall more easily. The new stall is also right by the door of the arena so he can watch the lesson traffic and when the doors are open he can watch the lessons in the arena.  It's also got a window overlooking the outdoor arena so he has plenty of stimulation around him.  He's between Zip and an appy so he should be just as happy there.  Besides, the 1/2 Friesian girl he used to flirt with is gone to training for the winter so he has two friends now instead of one.

I don't remember if I ever thanked all of you for voting on my photos in that EquusNow contest a while back. We had two pictures selected and one can be seen on their used saddle page HERE.  So thanks for that!


Well, because I have no shame, they are having another contest and we've entered... of course.  So ENTER!!!  And also it'd be neat if you voted for me.  :)  Again, I have no shame.  :)  I'll vote for you, too!

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I THINK this takes you right to my entry...