Life Updates
It continues to be hot and with the monsoon-but-not-really we're "enjoying" a lot of humidity without the benefit of actual rain. Today is another one of those days that is best spent hiding in the house.
Yesterday I took Sunny to the horsepark with Trish and Moab and it was pretty miserable. I just walked Sunny for the most part and did just a little trotting here and there. It was about as much as she could probably handle considering the mare hasn't been worked in almost three months. She did just perfect by the way considering the lay-off. A little half-brained and distracted, but that's just Sunny. Mo on the other hand was a bit of a brat like he was the day before. It was around dinner time and the weather is quite horrendous, but it's really no excuse for rearing or other bratty behavior. Trish is working through it and I'm enjoying getting to watch and not having to deal with it, heh.
I've been keeping up pretty good getting all the horses worked at least once a week. Chewy gets her share of work through lessons so I don't really have to worry about her, but the others aren't as locked into the routine lesson schedule. Kitt did do a lesson on Tuesday and I worked the boy Wednesday. I also rode Ruby on Tuesday with Trish and Mo around the neighborhood. Oh, speaking of that! Slightly amusing story.
So Mo wasn't wanting to have any of this going out on a ride thing at first. He reared up twice and Trish got off and worked him on the ground for a bit, slowly working him out towards the edge of the property. I rode and she led/lunged Mo past my neighbors and up to the desert lot. Mo settled a bit and Trish climbed back on. I was riding Ruby with the bareback pad and her bridle (that mare's so comfy, she really is like a couch with legs) and was following behind. We headed through the brush in the desert lot and Moab was moving along fairly nicely, but suddenly something tried to get him (who knows what) and he was heading out of town. He dropped and spun and there was Ruby. SO MUCH RUBY. He literally had no where to go, especially as I started swinging Ruby around sideways to further block Moab's attempted flight. We laughed about it once he settled and were both quite grateful that I decided to take Ruby along. I fear that he might have gone over the top of Kitt (or tried) who is stout, but stands only 14hh (Mo's about 14.3hh). Ruby however, is something else at 16.3hh and over 1800lbs. A rather imposing barrier.
The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful, though Mo was a bit unhappy and reluctant through most of it, thus we took him to the horsepark yesterday.
Some sad news is that my brother and his wife announced they were expecting on Sunday and that Zayne would be a big brother (and I an aunt 2x over ... well 3x, Chris' brother and his wife have a little girl they adopted back in April). Unfortunately Bea lost the baby on Tuesday evening. There were some issues Tuesday morning and I ended up helping Mom watch Zayne for a couple hours while Tye and Bea went to the doctor. I guess the good news is that it wasn't their first try (from what I recall the pregnancy with Zayne went rather smoothly) and it was only at six weeks. That, of course, doesn't really make it any easier and it's still terribly sad.
In better news my mother-in-law might have found a job to pick up once the practice she's been working for for the last decade or two dissolves. Even better, she has potentially found a job for her two co-workers as well. It won't be the same pay, but it's half the distance and she really likes and respects the doctor. So if all goes well she won't have to miss a paycheck some August.
In other good news I've been chugging right along with art. I also am all set and ready to go for ordering more T-shirts for students and getting a car magnet for advertising and all that type of thing. I also have new business cards designed for riding lessons and just need to find a place to get them professionally printed.
Less than good news is that I still have a pile of crap on a couple of credit cards (hay, horse insurance, truck warranty...) so it might have to take a little bit of a back seat for a moment unless lessons or commissions start falling in my lap again. Lessons really don't pick up until summer is over, and I know that so we chug along. Of course those are small things compared to Kitt's harness that continues to loom ahead just out of reach. Granted by the time I get it all paid off and can get Kitt's harness the weather will be cooler and it'll be perfect weather to start driving regularly!
And now I'm hungry. Time to go eat something and then work on some art.
Yesterday I took Sunny to the horsepark with Trish and Moab and it was pretty miserable. I just walked Sunny for the most part and did just a little trotting here and there. It was about as much as she could probably handle considering the mare hasn't been worked in almost three months. She did just perfect by the way considering the lay-off. A little half-brained and distracted, but that's just Sunny. Mo on the other hand was a bit of a brat like he was the day before. It was around dinner time and the weather is quite horrendous, but it's really no excuse for rearing or other bratty behavior. Trish is working through it and I'm enjoying getting to watch and not having to deal with it, heh.
I've been keeping up pretty good getting all the horses worked at least once a week. Chewy gets her share of work through lessons so I don't really have to worry about her, but the others aren't as locked into the routine lesson schedule. Kitt did do a lesson on Tuesday and I worked the boy Wednesday. I also rode Ruby on Tuesday with Trish and Mo around the neighborhood. Oh, speaking of that! Slightly amusing story.
So Mo wasn't wanting to have any of this going out on a ride thing at first. He reared up twice and Trish got off and worked him on the ground for a bit, slowly working him out towards the edge of the property. I rode and she led/lunged Mo past my neighbors and up to the desert lot. Mo settled a bit and Trish climbed back on. I was riding Ruby with the bareback pad and her bridle (that mare's so comfy, she really is like a couch with legs) and was following behind. We headed through the brush in the desert lot and Moab was moving along fairly nicely, but suddenly something tried to get him (who knows what) and he was heading out of town. He dropped and spun and there was Ruby. SO MUCH RUBY. He literally had no where to go, especially as I started swinging Ruby around sideways to further block Moab's attempted flight. We laughed about it once he settled and were both quite grateful that I decided to take Ruby along. I fear that he might have gone over the top of Kitt (or tried) who is stout, but stands only 14hh (Mo's about 14.3hh). Ruby however, is something else at 16.3hh and over 1800lbs. A rather imposing barrier.
The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful, though Mo was a bit unhappy and reluctant through most of it, thus we took him to the horsepark yesterday.
Some sad news is that my brother and his wife announced they were expecting on Sunday and that Zayne would be a big brother (and I an aunt 2x over ... well 3x, Chris' brother and his wife have a little girl they adopted back in April). Unfortunately Bea lost the baby on Tuesday evening. There were some issues Tuesday morning and I ended up helping Mom watch Zayne for a couple hours while Tye and Bea went to the doctor. I guess the good news is that it wasn't their first try (from what I recall the pregnancy with Zayne went rather smoothly) and it was only at six weeks. That, of course, doesn't really make it any easier and it's still terribly sad.
In better news my mother-in-law might have found a job to pick up once the practice she's been working for for the last decade or two dissolves. Even better, she has potentially found a job for her two co-workers as well. It won't be the same pay, but it's half the distance and she really likes and respects the doctor. So if all goes well she won't have to miss a paycheck some August.
In other good news I've been chugging right along with art. I also am all set and ready to go for ordering more T-shirts for students and getting a car magnet for advertising and all that type of thing. I also have new business cards designed for riding lessons and just need to find a place to get them professionally printed.
Less than good news is that I still have a pile of crap on a couple of credit cards (hay, horse insurance, truck warranty...) so it might have to take a little bit of a back seat for a moment unless lessons or commissions start falling in my lap again. Lessons really don't pick up until summer is over, and I know that so we chug along. Of course those are small things compared to Kitt's harness that continues to loom ahead just out of reach. Granted by the time I get it all paid off and can get Kitt's harness the weather will be cooler and it'll be perfect weather to start driving regularly!
And now I'm hungry. Time to go eat something and then work on some art.