A moment of cuteness to brighten anyone's day!

So the question is... will I ever think the baby is cuter than the horse?? Does that maternal instinct kick in at some point and give me the desire to pinch chubby cheeks? For now I just want to pet the pony! And I'd rather scoop poop than change a diaper any day!


see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

When life is multiple choice...

We all have times in our lives where we set up a Plan A and a Plan B, and if we work it just right, we could be equally happy with either. Right now I've got those, plus a Plan C. Yes, its THAT complicated!

Plan A: Lola and I keep working our tails off to prepare to go Beginner Novice at the next Horse Trial in late July. We're on a roll, and I'd love to do it! I really feel we have so much more to prove to each other.

Plan B: Lola sells (one great potential getting her trainer's opinion as we speak) or finds a leaser (one coming out next week to try her) and I get the chance to put ALL my love and attention into the spotty beast. He is MAJORLY out of shape, so that would be our limitation, but he'd be more than capable of trotting logs. His training is far enough along, that with some tune up we could do the same event if we stuck to Elementary. It wouldn't be fantastic, but wouldn't be disastrous either.

Plan C: (This plan is also contingent on a Lola living with another rider.) Instead of launching into another big commitment to training and competing, I take two months to work on me! I am getting married August 13th, and all the plans to work out and get into bikini shape have fallen clear off the priority list! I have friends that I promised to visit, and I can't find a free weekend. And of course I've still got a wedding to plan! I also don't want to take the fun out of my fun horse by putting the pressure on too quick. We'd have a blast just trail riding and starting the occasional dressage lesson this summer. So, for my own sanity, I really should probably stick to that. But where's the fun in being sensible?

Whatever way the plans fall, I will be happy, my horses will be happy, and I'll still manage to get the wedding plans under control before the actual event. It's nice to have options!

Bear would be so jealous if I told him...

Lola and I went cross country schooling!

Just a sneak peak...more photos on Lola's blog!

Of course, at this point, Lola thinks going out of the arena means strolling along a trail, and generally relaxing and taking in the sights. That's because I've worked very hard to ingrain that in her! So she headed out to warm up on the course with big relaxed swinging strides and things got better from there.

I am so excited to have taken her out, and were head back this next weekend to compete in the horse trials. This is great news for two reasons: I'm SUPER excited, and with it over I can start splitting my time a little more evenly between the two beasts. Bear needs to get conditioned if I want to start really stepping up his training this summer. The next horse trial at Eventful Acres will be in July (on my birthday weekend), and based on what I saw of the elementary course, any horse that can lift his feet to step over something at a walk can probably handle it! So the goal is tentatively set to take Bear out for our first horse trials.

Of course this is contingent on Lola being sold. Otherwise Lola and I will be pushing up to compete BN in July. She's been simply fantastic lately. The horse market is weird, so I know I won't get a ton of response to her ads, but I really can't imagine some one NOT taking her home if they tried her! She's just so much fun.

Anyway, big open grassy fields to canter in, this is just something that I know Bear will be great at. How high he can jump is a question we can figure out later! I don't really know that I have the guts to compete any higher than Novice, and I think he can do that just fine. So now that he's five this year, I'm eager to get back into work with him and bring on the fences!

Long days… warm weather… LOTS of hair!

I have been sort of ignoring everyone’s complaints about shedding horses because Lola has been sleek and shiny since that warm weather we had in January! A box stall and blanket will do that for a horse. Plus she’s worked hard and groomed regularly. I forgot that my pasture ornament wouldn’t be exempt from the spring shedding craziness! I snuck out to see Bear right after work last night in order to get a quick ride in before the 7pm Maundy Thursday service at church. (He’s sort of on the way.) So I scurried out, grabbed a saddle and grooming bucket, and he was waiting by the fence as usual. I pulled his sheet off (we had a rainy spell again), and I started currying only to find he’s one hairy mess!

With the sheet on I don’t think he’s been very effective in rolling any of the hair off his body himself, so he had hair matted to him! CRAZY! He hardly grows a winter coat, none of this long belly and neck hairs that Lola gets, so I was surprised that he had that much to come off! He certainly enjoyed the curry, and as long as it doesn’t rain again, he’ll be done with that rain sheet. The poor guy is probably itchier than all get out! So at least he can start rubbing it off rolling.

After getting all this off... we didn’t have much time left. So we took off down the road for at least a half hour ride. We did our usual walk down the back roads, and I am just always amazed what a good boy he is! He hasn’t been out for a two weeks, and hasn't been regularly ridden for months! Yet he was a perfect joy to ride. He stopped and looked when the donkey snorted at us, he got a little prancy when the crazy arab rushed the fence at us, and he flipped his head once while we were climbing a hill and a tractor started up (loudly) behind us somewhere. That’s it! So very impressive for a horse that is out of work right now, and all pumped up on spring grass!

I’m realizing that if I do want to get serious about putting him back into full work this summer, I better be consistent about our conditioning. The trailer is at the boarding facility with Lola, so trailering him anywhere will just be a lot of work, but we’ve got enough back roads and trails from there to at least give us a 2 hour walking ride. From there I’ll need to either start trailering out to the local arena or get him back to the boarding place. We’ll see how long it takes to sell Miss Fancy Pants. She’s doing SO well right now, I feel like she is a really marketable horse. We’ll see though. It has to be the right home.

Such a good boy, if only he’d hold still for his picture. But he sees the camera and comes to sniff it. Does it every single time!

I was in a Derby!

I was in a derby!!!! But it was on Lola...
By the next on in October Bear will be the horse choice, I'm sure! I have big plans for him this year!
In the mean time, check out our awesome success on Lola's blog...

<--- click there...

or go here:

http://mytrainingproject.blogspot.com/

Bear takes the back seat... as usual

Bear gets the lush pasture of spring grass while Lola does all the work. When I put it that way, Lola is getting the raw end of the deal! I, however, can't help but feel guilty for not balancing the two.

We're doing lot's of fun stuff with Lola, but writing about it on her blog means this one has seriously dwindled over the last year too. I am a worrier and a guilt traveler (a guilt trip only works if you take that trip, right?). I am a sucker for guilt trips. If there isn't someone around to give me a guilt trip, I misread peoples comments to make it into a guilt trip (my poor fiance is so patient with me!), and when that fails, I just create my own guilt trips for myself because I am not perfect and I cannot live up to my unrealistic training expectations while working full time. There of course being the catch 22, because I can't afford the horses without working full time!

So I move on, and do what I can, and every so often I call myself out on it! So here I am again, justify (to myself) why I haven't completely ruined my horse through my neglectful behavior.

He is happy! He has two acres of pasture to play in. He's always cared for, vaccinated, wormed, and trimmed. He's gets excellent care.

He is already off to a good start. He just turned five and he has more training on him than some horses get their whole lives. By starting him early we opened up his options, I can take him trail riding, alone, with friends, or with completely new horses. I can take him to canter across the big open beach at the lake. Some horses are never under control enough to do that! He can put up with a beginner rider! Probably 10 years down the road I will be so happy that I gave him such low impact/ low stress miles in the beginning. Whatever happens to him physically later one I'm just going to blame myself for anyway! So I guess this is a blessing to have one less item of guilt later.

Its spring, and he's full of it. That's the decision I've made on the uncomfortable or naughty debate. We went for another walk last Saturday. I tacked him up and walked about 15 minutes then rode the rest. He was perfectly fine. He seemed happy, and he was relaxed. It helped that I convinced the whole entourage to come with us! My fiance came and walked our dog, my dad walked their crazy energetic German Shepherd, and my mom walked the old mare (who was THRILLED to get to come along, and was out walking my mom!). Even walking back up the big hill with me on him he seemed comfortable and no signs of head tossing as he tried to push himself and my weight up the incline.

I think the chiro work has done its job. I think Bear needs to get down to business to get this head tossing/half rears in check. I fee like this spring will give us a chance to slowing move back into working condition through trail riding, and this summer maybe we can get back into training mode. Its time I asked more of him on the flat, and this is his year to get started over fences.

He's got a bright future ahead of him. I think its ok that he's not there yet, we still have time.

Updates...

Well the old mare pulled through. The vet came out for a follow up visit later that week and basically said that she had muscle soreness all across that right side, as well as a bit of swelling in the tendon on that leg. She's made a good recovery though and she is back to her perky little self. She even ran around a bit last weekend, and when I went out to stop her, she pranced and snorted at me! Looks like she's back to normal.

The trailer is fine, it was all covered by insurance. Its not the prettiest trailer, but as the guy at the shop pointed out, it wasn't that pretty to start with! Thanks... I know its not shiny and new, but its MINE. This is what it looked like going in... Plus the sun roof/vent was totally busted. Now at least it doesn't leak! I'll post pictures as soon as I get back out there. (It's been so rainy that I have been sticking to the barn when I'm out, it was even SNOWING when I picked the trailer up!)

Bear is still not quite himself. The wet pasture hasn't helped. The second chiro visit was good news. Basically he seemed much better, so that means two good things, he was better after only two, AND that an improvement after one helps to show that it is something physical (that can be corrected by chiropractic) and not something systemic or neurological that wouldn't have responded quickly. The vet basically prescribed a slow rehab back into work. So far that has meant taking him for walks down the back roads since everything else is too wet to give good footing. We've only been doing in hand work because the first day out he spooked and lost both feet out behind him! I though, well if he wasn't injured before, he probably is now! He seemed fine when I made it out there the next week (darn rain) no lameness at walk or trot. I hopped on in the pasture and he was crabby and defiant under saddle. I don't know if it is attitude or pain. He might be getting a little more cantankerous with age, but based on his character I think its more likely he's in pain or afraid to move around under my weight with the bad footing. So for now we'll play it safe and take our long walks down the road. I think next time I'll tack him up and see if I can't get on and ride a bit once he's had 15 minutes to warm up.

That was my plan for yesterday, but Monday night after walking him I started throwing up when I got home, now I'm down and out with the stomach flu. I am looking forward to longer days, sunshine, and actually getting out to see my ponies!