Chamie Goes Boom And Miles Is A Pony

It's raining. It has been raining. It will keep raining. So awesome.

No, no it's not. The mud at the barn (which is not usually a muddy place in most areas) is approaching epic proportions this winter.

Today was especially fun because I got to feed all the horses in the evening. Even with everyone behaving themselves, I was wet and muddy and annoyed afterwards.

It wasn't always so! I got to the barn around 2 pm today in a pretty ok mood, considering I've just weathered the stomach flu and falling down the stairs and bruising my ass in places I never knew could be bruised. I hadn't been out since Sunday, and 2 days in a row of not seeing my ponies is kind of unheard of these days.

Miles was more than his adorable self, cantering through the mud to see me. He was head to hoof disgusting in places not covered by his blanket, and a leeetle pushy, wanting to punish ME because his head was one giant piece of dried mud and he thought I should stand still so he could take care of the situation on my coat.

Chamie was her normal cool, calm, colleted self, except when I went to pull her blanket off. One whole side was covered in mud...not like she had rolled but like she had fallen. Great. Still, she was moving ok and all legs were cool and normal-sized. I decided today was the day we Pony.

After figuring out how to get Chamie's leadrope from the saddle (we tried a couple variations, since I was NOT mounting with her attached to begin with), things went great. I learned that I never ride Miles one handed, since he had no flipping idea what I was doing with the reins at all. Thank god he was listening to my leg aids. I also learned Chamie was not going to be the grump in this situation (I totally thought she was going to revolt at some point being so close to Miles, particularly if he pulled his Hey Baby act). No, Miles was the one putting his ears back and snaking his head. WTF? I can't say he was a bad boy, because he never did anything more than that, but I was astounded that he objected to his lady friend next to him-especially because I know he is used to "being" ponied as a former racehorse. You just never know, do you?

Anyway, I was ultimately really proud of them both, mainly because no one did anything dumb and they more or less listened to me. Unfortunately, even though I had her walking maybe 15 minutes, I noticed Chamie was bobbing her head and limping. Awesome.

I got off, of course. I checked her all over and I *think* it's her left shoulder. It's definitely her left front something. Her leg still seemed cool and ok, but she flinched ever so slightly a couple of times when I ran my hand down that shoulder. Still, no heat anywhere. I gave her some bute and debated leaving her inside tonight, but she has always looked better with a little movement (no matter how little), so I'm hoping I don't get a call from the barn tomorrow morning saying she is 3 legged lame. Poor old girl. FU Mud!

Nope, no pictures, not even one. I just had to put up some kind of post...semi-frequent blogging is a sickness. Someone should really look into it.

*Deep Breaths*

Whew...

So after keeping my organization in limbo for approximately 5 months, the State, in its infinite wisdom, has "officially" decided to de-fund us for fiscal year 2012 as of September 15th. My last day at work is Friday. Nice notice, right?

I (and my co-workers) pretty much knew this was coming, but there was that glimmer of hope that everything would be ok and funding would come through. Not to be. I've been with that organization since it started, from the ground up, 7 years of blood and sweat and tears, wah wah woe is me.

I've sent out about 10 resumes in the last 3 weeks or so. I got my first rejection email this morning, for extra bonus awesome!

Anyway, I'll continue searching, obviously. I'll collect unemployment (which is about half of what I was making). Kyle and I are cutting back even more than we were before, and we will be ok for a little while. I'll get some time to decompress from this shitty limbo-state of uncertainty, wash some horse blankets, get the yard ready for winter, and of course lots of this:

Such a handsome head.

It's not all bad. Kyle says to focus on finding what will make me happy. I've heard the saying, "Do what you love, and the money will follow." It's a nice thought, but I'm so disillusioned with the economy in this State I don't know. I'm worried I'll end up taking something I hate because, um, we need dollars. Worse I won't even be able to find a job I hate that pays what I was making, and I'll end up working at Speedway. (Aside: If I have to work for 8 bucks an hour, I'd rather at least work around animals; a pet store or something. I'm actually really fascinated by animal nutrition and pet care, having owned just about anything with fur at one point or another, and I don't think it would be horrible.) The rejection letter I got? Says they received hundreds of resumes for this one position. It's tough out there.

Dark days.

Of course, leave it to Miles to be my bright light. He has been working so, so beautifully the last couple of weeks. Friday and Saturday I took him over cross rails for the first time in a month or so. We've both missed them and it sure injected more joy into our ride. Saturday I raised the rails up so the middle was just under 2 feet. I know, I know, we're CA-RAAAZY! It was fun to feel him actually use himself to jump though-thank goodness I had the presence of mind to grab mane the first couple of times. He's so adorably pleased with himself when he does a good job, too. Love my boy. How can any situation be all bad when I get to drive out to see this more often?

Mosquito Invasion 2011

I love my sensitive OTTB...I HATE how his sensitivity is making him absolutely miserable right now. He's literally being eaten alive-he's lost about 50 pounds in the last couple weeks and is totally miserable. I don't know when Michigan turned into a swampland filled with millions of blood-suckers intent on going after MY dark bay Thoroughbred, but this is what we're dealing with. He has sore feet from (I'm 99 percent sure) stomping his feet all day and night. He's losing weight from constant pacing. When I bring him into the barn, he scarfs his beet pulp mash and then almost instantly falls asleep. The barn is the one place the mosquitoes aren't horrible right now, so he finally relaxes.

Time for night time stall board. I know, I know. Why didn't I put him in a stall long before now? I guess because I know he loves being out. I tried 25 percent DEET sprays. I tried a nylon sheet. I suppose I could buy a super expensive fly sheet with a neck cover and whatnot (and I still might), but what he really needs is to get AWAY from those little bastards.

There's a show (super laid back, at the barn) on Thursday. I really wanted to make our debut this week, but I've been riding so sporadically I don't know if we even should. When I do ride him, Miles is shaking his head and we are fending off bugs (see a pattern?), and he's sooooo lazy. I now realize that's most likely because he's exhausted. My poor boy.

Hopefully, the next few nights (and however many nights it takes after that) in the barn will help. Sorry, Miles. I'm trying to get it right.

Crap News, Crap Bugs...

So, I'm a little in the dumps lately. The news....it's just allllll baaaaad. Debt ceiling ridiculousness, economic uncertainty (to say the least), rioting overseas, etc. It doesn't help on a micro level that the husband is still unemployed and my job is STILL up in the air (holy shit is this frustrating-STATE OF MICHIGAN, MAKE A DECISION ABOUT YOUR CONTRACTS ALREADY). Ahem, sorry.

Also? In addition to the B-52 bomber flies we're dealing with, there was another massive scale mosquito hatching. In AUGUST. We went from drought conditions to many feet of rain within like 3 days. The skeeters were so bad that barn time was literally unbearable, and the city is only slightly better. My poor Miles-the barn owner called me Monday morning to say he was banging "something" in his pasture at 10 pm the night before. When she shined a flashlight on him, he was running around in frantic circles and pouring sweat. She sprayed him with some DEET and he was better....but still, I feel awful for the sweet boy. The weather has been nice the last 2 days, and I think the skeeters are tapering off, but it still feels a whole lot like this:

No, no. Don't thank me for the most awesome 70's movie trailer ever, from the movie "Frogs". Kyle's favorite part is the evil butterfly:)

So, I've been out to the barn a lot, feeding and watering and spraying (pretty sure Miles and I are both radioactive at this point), but not a whole lot of riding is happening. Tomorrow a photographer is coming out to the barn to take pictures of all the horses "in their natural environment". I don't know if Miles will be included, but seriously, how could he not be?

I know these are old, but come on...so adorable.

I hope to get back into a better routine tomorrow. The weather is gorgeous and my horse is gorgeous and I miss working, like really working with him. Pretty soon I will be bitching about the lack of light and cold temperatures, naturally. Looking on the lighter side, potential unemployment starting October 1st means lots of riding time! Oh Miles, you will be SO sick of your mama:)

Lolz My Armchair Lameness Diagnosis

I thought Miles was footsore. Footing in the arena got better, I put him in boots, and he was still...not right. Better, but not right. He didn't limp, or trip, but he wasn't striding out like he can, even after he had warmed up.

Then, last weekend, he flinched every time I touched his left hip/croup area. Didn't matter if it was my fingertips or a brush, he would suck in and flinch like a fly was landing on him.

Cue me freaking out, thinking he has some kind of muscular issue, emailing everyone I know in the area for equine massage/chiropractic professional referrals.

Tuesday...no flinching or weirdness about the area at all. Huh. What I DID find-deep cracks in his frogs, all 4. Yay, Sarah. You rock.

I swear I'm vigilant about thrush, but it's been soooooo dry here lately I hadn't even considered it. I pick his hooves religiously, but the outside was so "tough" and dry I didn't probe like I should have. When we had one day of rain around here a few days ago, it softened up his frog enough that I saw there were actual cracks there, and lo, they were deep. And, it turns out, quite sore, when I pushed a hoofpick in there.

Arg.

Miles is getting treated, of course. I use "Pete's Goo", which is a 1:1 combination of antibiotic ointment and jock itch or athlete's foot cream (SO fun buying at the dollar store!). His feet are already looking better after one treatment.

Moral of the story? Your first instinct is usually right, never put it past a horse to throw SOMETHING at you to make you spend way more money than you need to, and always, ALWAYS, probe your horse's frog for cracks, no matter how tough they look on the outside.

Masked (and one un-masked) ponies, looking adorable in the late afternoon sun. Miles says, "Whut?"

If You Don't Have Anything Nice To Say....

....why blog? Seriously, it's mostly the weather. This has been, without a doubt, THE worst Spring to date I can remember. I know horse owners/riders are waaaay more sensitive to the weather than other folk, but I seriously can't remember a more depressing Winter/Spring combo, ever, even in the years I wasn't riding. Blah, Grrrr, BitchMoanWhine, Ha-rumph, the usual. What an entertaining read, right?

Things have been a little cray-cray at the barn as well. I just...haven't had much to say that's positive, on any fronts unfortunately. Miles is fine, but poor boy is Sick To Death of the weather and wet, muddy pastures as well (he has actually balked when I led him from the barn to his turnout the last couple of days. Oy, the guilt...) I bet he's really missing his South American birth-place right now.

The good news is I'm so fed up with the weather and everything else I haven't bothered to lunge him at all because I just want to ride and get done as soon as possible-and he's been great! Kinda hot-potato-ish, but great. Love being able to hop on him after a week of no work and feel safe:) Those crazy Thoroughbreds-ticking time bombs, I tell ya.

I know lots of people all over the Country and beyond are going through the same crap, so I have good company. Hopefully Spring is just being a coy bitch and she'll stop playing hard to get soon.

Here Goes Nothing

Our big clinic debut is tomorrow, and really, it couldn't come after a worse week. The weather has been so god-awful; we finally had sun yesterday and today, but before that was 2 solid days of non-stop rain/sleet/hail. This made the pastures so horribly muddy that neither Miles or LaShore came down to eat or drink all day yesterday before I got there at 4:30. So, I had a thirsty, starving, slightly stocked-up TB on my hands, on a day when we HAD to ride. Sigh.

Miles on Sunday, before the sky let all hell rain down. Pasture not great, but note dry spots! No standing water! Yeah, not anymore. This was also the last time Miles was passably clean.

I made sure his immediate needs were taken care of first, of course. By the time we made our way up to the arena he had eaten his grain and a full serving of soaked beet pulp, plus some alfalfa and had drank half a bucket of water. We got inside to find all the mirrors put up (that's been an ordeal and a half for the barn, but it boils down to the fact that this was the first time Miles had seen more than just 2 mirrors), and the arena footing concrete-hard from the trucks going in and out to do the construction.

More sighing commenced.

My boy was not so comfortable. Lunging helped a bit, but he could barely hold his canter and even cross-fired in his hind end, which I've not seen from him in a long time. Ride I did, though only at the walk and trot-he felt "ok", but so different from the forward, free-swinging, uphill horse I had on Saturday. Even so he was a good boy, I have to say, even as he decided to "challenge" the handsome dark bay TB in the mirror:) I couldn't figure out why he was doing his ugly face and snake neck, and then it dawned on me....ohhhhhh. Ridiculous Miles. Nonetheless, I was so proud of him for not freaking out and being more curious than anything about the new setup-1/3 of the arena looks much, much different and he was great about it.

This handsome creature is a threat and must be destroyed!

So, suffice it to say we are woefully unprepared for Saturday and 45 minutes of hard work. I'm going out to ride again tonight (please please please let the arena have been dragged), and I'm going to bute him tonight and tomorrow morning so that he's as comfy as possible. Wish us luck ya'll.

Seriously? So cute. He kills me.

So, Horses Poop Money, Right?

Oh, wait, no, they EAT it. That's why they call them hay-burners. Some may be more productive than others, but they are all hay-burners when it comes down to it.

Sorry. I'm having a little pity party over here. My husband has been laid off. Today I found out the Governor of Michigan wants to eliminate my organization. It still has to go through the Legislature, but...I'm kind of freaking out right now.

It will be ok. It will be ok. It will be ok.

Right?

God, this State really is the pits. I can't even defend it anymore. My husband and I are both educated people, who have worked our entire lives...yet one of us is collecting unemployment, and I may be joining him.

Sorry, I'm just going to whine for one night. I'm just so....aggravated. My organization is State funded, yes, but it is PITTANCE compared to the tax loopholes that still exist for corporations. I work with, and help, the poorest of the poor, who have illnesses and disabilities you wouldn't wish on your worst enemies. We're damn good at what we do, and we save the State millions of dollars because the people we serve don't end up in nursing homes.

Whew. Anyway. Not a great day. Miles is pretty amazing, but I don't think we're ready to take our act on the road for dollar bills:) Still, he can earn his keep just by being there for me while we navigate this...depressing financial time in our lives. I've already promised him he won't suffer for it. If he wants to lend an ear, though, or just be a good boy for the next few weeks, I sure could use it.