Love, Like and Dislike

I love summer.  I love sitting on a patio with friends having a cool drink.  I love BBQs.  I love sitting with my feet in the pool, hypnotized by the shimmers on the water.  I love the brightness of the sun.  I love the colours of the gardens.  I love the birds.  I love wearing linen and sandals.  But I am not a huge fan of summer riding.  I don’t like the bugs.  I don’t like the fact that, with temperatures hovering around 30C coupled with high humidity, I have sweat dripping down my face before I even get the saddle on Gem!   I don't like the feeling of sweat-soaked clothing sticking to me after I ride.  In addition to heat, this summer we had the added bonus of severe storms…..nice to watch through a window, but not great for anything else….  

Gem has been enjoying his life of leisure.   He loves his private turnout area, where he spends the day munching on hay or lounging under his tree.  DH, his roommate of 5 years, was turned out with the herd in June and now has his own little harem.  I thought Gem might miss him, but he took it in stride.  Besides, Gem is not alone; there are five other turnout areas bordering on his that have one or two horses in each.  They are separated from each other by electric tape fencing but are still able to socialize.   LA lunges him once a week, just to keep him loose.  He looks big and shiny and in spite of the heat and the horrific number of flies, his humour is generally good.  When I see him, we enjoy each other.  Maybe it’s an age thing (he will be 14 in October), but he seems content.  You would think that my inconsistent riding schedule over the summer would cause him to be impatient with me when we do ride, but it hasn’t.  I like the fact that there doesn’t seem to be any anxiety for either of us. 

There were a few times that I just didn’t want to ride out in the fields; too hot, too many bugs, etc. etc.   So Gem and I did short sessions in the front paddock.  We hadn’t really “worked” in a while, and I really enjoyed communicating with him this way.  He was patient and responsive.  One time, we actually did Keyhole with a young lady getting ready for a competition.  What fun!   Of course, his turn wasn’t tight after he went through the barrels, but he sure enjoyed loping home.  :-)

 

I actually love riding in a soft rain.  I love the quiet that comes about when it starts to rain, I love the sound of it on the leaves and I certainly love the coolness of it on my skin.  A fellow boarder and I were out on the trails last week and it started to rain, soft at first and then a little harder.  We ended up going into the forest.  We stood and watched the golfers on the other side of the wall.  It was refreshingly cool in the forest.  We were quite dry under the trees and it was peaceful.

I went out with DH’s Mom recently.  We had had quite a storm the night before and I wasn’t too happy about going out on the trails…..there’s mud after it rains…..mud.  Anyway, I sucked it up and off we went.  The forest is great, but for a big guy like Gem, it can be confining.  Some of the trails are too narrow, some have trees that are too low.  I have to be careful and remind my riding buddies of Gem’s size.  It’s happened more than once that we had to back out of a tight spot.  The forest is also a great place for deep mud….it never gets a chance to completely dry so when it rains, the mud gets deeper and squishier.  After walking through some deep mud without issue, I relaxed.  Yay!   We were on a narrow path and I was gabbing to DH’s Mom over my shoulder.  Then…wham!  Gem swerved to avoid a puddle and my left knee was slammed into a tree, pulling my leg out of the stirrup and half unseating me.  It hurt!!!  I iced it as soon as I got home.  My knee did swell a bit and I still have a really nice black bruise covering my knee cap.  The reality is that I should have been paying attention to where we were going in the forest, not turned in the saddle having a conversation.  Lesson learned.  It seems that I always end up with one injury every summer….I am hoping that this is it.

 DH’s Mom, TS and SS have gone on quite a few off-sites over the summer.  In general, the excursions have been good.  I guess you really get to know someone when you travel with them.  :-)  There were a couple of scary incidents, including TS experiencing a runaway.  DH’s Mom mentioned that she didn’t like the fact that SS believes that it’s OK to let his horse graze untethered…apparently, he believes that he has trained his horse to “stay”.  I agree with DH’s Mom.  If something were to spook the horse, he could take off and be a danger to himself and others.   The three of them did manage a camp overnighter mid-summer and said that although it was stifling hot, laying out under the stars and hearing your horse munching next to you was pretty awesome....I agree.  :-)

My plans to do an off-site trail ride this summer sort of went by the wayside.  The weather was a major factor for me.   LA and I talked about it on and off, with plans to do something the end of August.  Then LA sustained an injury to her forearm.  She was loading a usually calm mare, a mare that she knew well and had ridden, into her trailer.  This mare had trailering experience, but for some reason freaked out and kicked.  Her hoof narrowly missed LA’s head; fortunately her forearm happened to be positioned in front of her head and took the brunt of the kick.  It was confirmed after a visit to the hospital, that no bones were broken, but skin was broken (in the shape of the hoof!) and her arm was so swollen that her fingers were numb. Her arm looked like Popeye’s.   She was on pain medication for a week and had to take it easy.   She did not have an unkind word to say about the horse....stuff happens when you are around them and some things cannot be predicted. 

 The flies have been horrific this year, but for some strange reason, Gem only has a very, very small smattering of bot fly eggs on his legs.  What’s with that???  I am not complaining!  I like the fact that his legs don’t look yellow from the knee down!

Lady - May 2014

Lady is doing well!  She has put on weight and is loving her life.  She's now 35 years old and I like that she has found a forever home that allows her to mingle with other senior horses.  She is at a peaceful stage in her life and looks great.

I don't like barn politics and I certainly don't like being involved with barn nastiness.  There was  unrest at the barn this summer.   My understanding is that a boarder had LA look for another barrel racer for them.  The thought was that this second horse would also be boarded at LA's.   LA put time into locating a perfect horse for them.  They waffled back and forth, then bought the horse, did not pay LA a finders fee and then set the horse up in a out building on their hobby farm.  Then the boarder took her daughter out of lessons and started coaching her on the new horse at home.  WTH??  This woman doesn't even ride!  Her thought was that because she had sat through so many lessons that her daughter took with LA, she could do the same at home and save the money.  Then, to add insult to injury, this boarder started encouraging others at LA's barn to take gaming clinics at another facility; some boarders did, so there were two camps - the loyals to LA and the betrayers.  Sigh.   Disappointing for LA from a business perspective, yes.  But also devastating to her personally because this boarder and LA were friends!!  Well, not so much any more.   I am not sure if LA asked her to leave or if she did on her own but her other barrel horse is gone and so is her tack.  I like that the tension seems to have been lifted....and I also like that there is more space in the tack room!

I like the fact that the temperatures will start to become cooler.  My favourite time to ride is the fall and winter.  I love the colours and breathing in crisp air.  There are predictions that we are in for a mild fall.  If it means that I don't have to seriously layer-up clothing-wise until the end of November, then I will like that.  :-)

Stress+Awesome=Balance

Hope everyone is well!  Winter is almost over...really.... it is!!  

There have been moments over the last six weeks where I felt like I was in some sort of vortex.  Stress was a normal state for me.  Here's a snapshot:

• Work life since January 2014:  membership renewals, closing year-end, office reno and move of department to new space, setting up invoicing for new European office (damn you, VAT!), yearly audit one month earlier than usual, Board meeting, workplace harassment.
• Personal life since January 2014:  A house that My Husband and I really liked came back on the market so we listed ours on Feb 1st and had 5 showings the two weeks, my mother's caregiver quit three days before I went on holiday mid-February, Lady's caregiver had to transfer Lady to the actual rescue group's farm because she couldn't feed Lady as often as she needed to keep weight on over this cold winter, my mother became very cranky that my youngest sister and I were going away for two weeks (we manage her care), came back from holiday to find that my other sister has convinced my mother that she should be taking care of her and her finances.....what???

There were times when I really thought the top of my head was going to blow off.  But....it didn't.  :-)   In fact, as much as there was a lot of stress, there was also awesomeness.

I haven't been on a real holiday since 1997, when My Husband and I did a wonderful tour of Scotland.  Other holidays over the years have been a week here, a week there.  I sort of got used to that routine and when my youngest sister asked me to go on a two-week holiday with her, I was a bit hesitant.  Two weeks?!  Then I gave my head a shake.  :-)  We had a fantastic time cruising around the Caribbean!  She snorkeled and swam with sea turtles, we went to an amazing butterfly farm, we got kissed by dolphins and we rode on a beach.  We ate and drank ourselves silly.  It was exactly what the doctor ordered for both of us.

I'm not that round!...it's the wind!!

The riding on the beach was a highlight for me.  It was very windy and the ocean was very rough that particular day, so for safety sake we did not wade out into the water.  Nobody wanted to get caught in an undertow!   The horses were clean,  healthy and happy.  Our saddles were interesting; the guides called them military saddles, sort of an English saddle that had a roll bar on the front that you could grab on to if necessary.   They were very comfortable and light.

My riding at home has been sporadic over the last few weeks, mostly due to weather.  If we weren't experiencing a blizzard, then the temperatures were very low.   Arena riding has been crowded and the stir-crazy horses let their grumpiness show through when being ridden.  Lots of bucking, running and general bad attitude.  Who could blame them?  When a horse (or human) is used to having a work out 4 or 5 times a week and then down to once a week or not at all, of course there is going to be some grumpiness!   Fortunately for me, Gem is quite happy with the routine of only being ridden once or twice a week.  :-)  When I was able to ride, Gem was attentive and responsive and our rides were good.

We actually had a fantastic trail ride the day before I left on holiday. The weather was perfect; -5C, no wind, sunny.  The snow was pristine, very deep and we had to break the trails.  Gem was almost up to his chest in places, but he never wavered.  DH's Mom's feet and stirrups were actually touching the snow in places as we plowed through.  :-)  It wasn't a long ride because it's very tiring for the horses, but it was a great memory to take with me on holiday.  

I have been able to ride three times since I got back the beginning of March.  I feel pretty good.  The sun and warmth of my holiday has rejuvenated me and Gem has kept me centered since I returned. I could have let my sister's actions with my mother while I was away really get to me and take away all the good that my holiday did...but I let it go.  I guess feeling like my life spinning out of control occasionally can be a positive thing because it makes me appreciate the good stuff and savour when things settle down.  This weekend, Gem and I are participating in another Western Dressage clinic.  Should be fun.   Oh, and our house sold and we bought the house we wanted all in the first week of my holiday!  Yay!  Looking forward to a slower pace, warmer weather and sipping a cold beverage by my new pool.  :-)

Have a good week, everyone!!

She's a Lady....

Holy jumpin', the last few weeks have been hectic!  I have been dealing with year end activities and a major reno at work.  And then there the polar vortex over the holiday season.  Wow.  At one point, my location was colder than the South Pole!  Of course, there was very little riding going on.  It was either too cold, or too snowy.  I did manage to get three rides in over a two week vacation, though.  Better than a kick in the pants, as my father would say!  :-)  LA let it slip that she kept Gem and another large horse in the barn during the coldest days (along with the old horses), because they helped keep the barn warm.  Fortunately for me, Gem is pretty sane and being kept in didn't really bother him.  

                                                   * * * * * * * *

Lady is celebrating her two-month anniversary at her forever home!  Boy, time flies.  She has settled into a routine.  No fuss, no muss.  She and the other seniors sort of hang out, but she's still a bit of a loner.  She likes her privacy.  The Caregiver has been working at gaining her trust, as she was a bit difficult to catch initially; now not so much.   The Caregiver calls her "little muffin".  :-) Since the arrival of snow, the horses and Very Bad Llama (VBL for short) have been kept in a small field near the house, for ease of feeding and so that The Caregiver can keep an eye on everyone. There are some old log out buildings that provide shelter. The Caregiver didn't like the look of Lady's left eye and had the vet out to look at it just before Christmas.  It appears that she has limited sight and it was confirmed that she had sustained an injury a while back because there was old scar.  She stood patiently while the vet poked and prodded and looked and felt.  Her eye was causing pain, so she's now on drops and bute.  It has made a big difference to her demeanor.  She is much happier. 

The cold snap was a bit of a challenge for Lady.  At 34-years of age, she was starting to have issues keeping warm.  The Caregiver had been blanketing her after we hit our first -25C day, but Lady was getting out of the blankets, leaving them to be buried in snow until spring.  The Caregiver was now out of blankets.  :-)  LA kindly donated an old blanket and I bought a beauty at Greenhawk; my contact there gave me a discount because Lady was a rescue!  I also picked up a supplement to help Lady keep weight on.  Lady managed to wiggle out of and lose the high end blanket that I bought.  However, she likes the one that LA donated. Unfortunately, it's not really waterproof.  What can you do?  She has her own fashion sense.  :-)

I initially thought she had teeth, but I was wrong.  Her food has to be specially prepared; a nice warm mush, which she gobbles down with gusto.  The Caregiver says it's not a pretty sight watching her eat....sort of like a running blender with the top off.  :-)

Tippy toes!

It had been a while since Lady had her feet done when she came to me.  The Caregiver, who happens to be a police officer, was working a lot of shifts leading up to and through the holiday break, so it was decided that when her schedule allowed, to get the vet in first to look at her eye, then schedule the farrier.  Monday the farrier came out do do all the horses in The Caregiver's care. The Caregiver said that Lady was "WONDERFUL!"  Yay!

Before - Yikes!!

After

As I have said before, horses are magic.  My mother is sponsoring Lady's care.  One of my Christmas presents to her was a framed picture of Lady.  My mother was delighted!  She tells everyone that she has a horse and now she has a picture to show them. :-)    Lady brings a smile to my mother face and I am grateful that she has a purpose and feels engaged with something.  She looks forward to the Lady updates, which I receive regularly through The Caregiver.  I sent pictures of Lady in her new home to the feed lot rescue team. I wanted them to see that their hard work does have a good outcome. They were so happy to see her doing well and even posted the pictures on their FB page....so many found her story uplifting.  Through Lady, I have made three new friends - the lady at the feed lot who helped me bail her out, the lady at the rescue group who helped me place her in her forever home and The Caregiver....who, btw, has invited me out for a visit and beverage this coming weekend.  :-)  Lady has touched so many.  Yep, magic. Thank you, Lady.  

Lady Luck

So, on Thursday I bought another horse.  I know...crazy, eh? I have named her Lady Luck, Lady for short.  She's a Morgan, dark, with a little white star and white socks.  I wasn't planning on getting another horse.  But, Lady spoke to me.  I had to have her.  You see, at 34 years of age, Lady ended up on a feed lot, destined for slaughter this week. 

At the feed lot.

The reasons for having older horses trucked varies. Sometimes people don't want to have to provide special care over the winter.  Sometimes owners don't want to have to deal with the expense of having the horse euthanized.  Some believe that an older horse going through auction will be purchased as a companion (sometimes they are).  Some owners are not up to the challenge of the maintenance of a senior horse.  Owners pass away and uneducated family members don't realize the fate of senior horses that are sent to auction.

I found Lady through some volunteers that go to the local feed lot and see the new horses that are brought in every week. They lightly groom them, tack them up and sit on them, or lead them around.  They then post a picture on FB, giving a brief description of their experience with the horse, hoping to find homes for them before they are shipped.  They act as middle men between the dealer and the public, collecting and paying the bail money.  They are not rescuers, just concerned women who love horses.  These volunteers are amazing.  I have helped with bail in the past, so I texted my contact.  No offers of help had come in for Lady.

So the stars aligned and I was able to purchase Lady, secure a forever home for her through a horse rescue group, get the transfer of ownership done and have her transported to her forever home, an hour away, on Sunday.  Yay!  My mother is sponsoring her care for a year through the rescue group.  They will be responsible for her well-being going forward.

It was miserable, wet and windy yesterday, but nothing could have dampened my spirits.  I have to say that seeing her in a field made my heart swell.  Just after her arrival at the farm, two other rescued seniors arrived; a gelding 26 years old, and a mare a little older.  The full time residents include two large dogs, two younger Percherons and a llama. The owner, who specializes in special care cases for the rescue group, greeted us with a big warm smile and told me, My Husband, my sister and my niece to make ourselves at home.  My Husband stayed near the car, but my sister, niece and I walked into the field.  

For 34 years of age, Lady is actually in great shape.  She's a good weight, her winter coat is in, her feet are a bit long, but look good.  Her mane and tail are long and thicker than some of the other horses at my barn.  :-)  I think she was loved and cared for in her previous life.  How did she end up on a feed lot.....?

Lady enjoying being out in the wind and rain.

Lady trying to make friends with the other seniors.

The gelding didn't like her near his friend and ran at her a few times.

 

There was some prancing and posturing by the 26 year old gelding.  Understandable.  He was stressed and in a new environment.  Apparently, he has arthritis in his ankles, but you wouldn't know it the way he was moving around!

Percherons to the rescue!

They told the senior gelding to back off.  Were they showing respect to Lady because of her age?

They stayed with Lady until things calmed down.

The Percherons are just gorgeous.  The owner actually rides the larger one (16.3 perhaps??) in competition, although I can't remember what discipline.  To be honest, I was amazed at how energetic the seniors were.   There was lots of walking and trotting.  A little stiff maybe, but there was still a lot of life and vibrancy left.

The resident llama really liked Lady.

First contact.  What a gentle soul.

Lady was patient with us, allowing herself to be petted and fussed over.  She enjoyed the little treats we gave her - she still has teeth!  :-)  But after a while she had had enough and simply walked away.  Can't blame her.  Even though the last few days for her must have been extremely stressful, she was still a class act.

This experience with Lady has been very rewarding.  She may just last the winter, or she could live on another few years.  Whatever happens, at least she is somewhere that will give her good memories.  This experience is also a reminder that horses live a very long time and the responsibility of horse ownership is a big commitment.  The owner of the farm said she liked me and I was welcome to visit any time.  :-)  Lady has quite a fan club now, so I suspect that I will have company when I go out to give her a brush!

Have a good week, everyone!