Bad Owner

I wasn't suppose to go out to the barn yesterday, but ended up getting a ride with Ophelia's mom. I am afraid I am going to drive Denali's leasor bonkers! I swiched boots, changed the martingale, and pretty much watched the entire ride. Here's my public appoligy!

Sorry Megan!

I won't be able to make it back out again until MAYBE Thursday night.

Denali was a peach, a perfect angel!! We let them run around the arena before hand (even before Megan showed up) and when Ophelia didn't want to come I took Denali out of the arena. She had a little spook when Ophie took off running, but it wasn't anything like before.

In other news, guess who rode my horse? My trainer. Her Dr. told her she could ride again, and even though she's still using a crutch, up she hopped and away they went!

I had a dream last night that I was running. Today I woke up with a pulled quad. Funny.

and I'm back.

Denali = Super Amazing under saddle today. Cool, calm and collected. She was on the bit almost the entire time, she was using her hind end, and SHE WAS BEAUTIFUL! Her leasor lunged her and then rode her for a while. I hopped on and took her for a little spin (shhh!! Don't tell my doctor) she was a perfect angel!! She has such floaty movement and I forgot how much fun she is.

I did buy some vitamins for her yesterday and added them to her supplement bags. I have all of nutritional numbers at my house, and after going through the numbers decided to add a little more magnesium and some B1 vitamins to her diet. I found a GREAT supplement that is just those two things with no fillers. It is called EX Stress, and is suppose to be a calming agent. I'm NOT saying that she was the perfect, focused angel today because of it (it's been 1 day) but it would be fun to think right?

Supplements are interesting. I mean, people have owned horses for hundreds of years and magically they did fine. Plus, when you add things like vitamins, if you add too much (depending on what it is) it won't hurt the horse, but then again it won't do anything! Just like humans it will come right back out. Then there are other things that can poison your horse if you give them too much, which is scary. If there were one area of horsemanship I had to say I did the most reading about it would be supplements. Denali doesn't have access to a field of grass to eat during the day, so as a result I know exactly what she's getting. That is the one thing I would change about her boarding facility. It would have bigger fields for her to run in. The fields are bigger than most, but still.

Yesterday when I was making up her supplement bags I spilled some of the Ex Stress on my vest and thought "shit" that's a waste. I didn't think much of it other than it is BRIGHT ORANGE! It looks exactly like the mix for Mac n' Cheese. Anyway, I went out to grab her from the arena and she started furiously licking my vest, every drop. I figure that's a good sign.

Well, my computer has been dying so I think I'm going to finally break down and go drop it off at the store to see if they can fix it. Oh! And I didn't get 2,000 dollars for my car.... I got 3,000! I took a picture today, I'll post it later!

I own a pretty cool horse.

I am late to the barn right now, but decided to finish this first. I wanted to give the leasor some time to work with D without me hovering around. D needs to learn trust her, and she can't do that if I'm standing right there.

I went to the barn yesterday to work with Denali a little bit on the ground. I haven't done it in a LONG TIME since I busted up the knee. I figured I had enough strength in it to brace myself when she flipped out. She stood perfectly calm in the cross ties, and I picked all over her. She doesn't budge at all, except when I massage her, she'll move to where she wants it. She gets moved back, and doesn't like that part.

After grooming her she did her maniac running around the arena, but not nearly as long as she has been doing it. I helped around the barn while D did her thing. Every time she saw me she'd nicker and run up to where she had seen me last. She hasn't done that for a while.

I decided to get the dreaded plastic bag. The thing that she was CONVINCED was going to kill her yesterday. We walked to the middle of the arena. She braced. I said the magic word, "HO" and she let out the biggest sigh, relaxed and stood there. While I flapped that bag ALL OVER. I put it on her back, I put it on her neck, I put it on her head, I touched her legs. Nothing. She would go from watching me, to watching the bag, to watching me.

It's funny, I KNOW that no one can go up to her and do that. I didn't realize how much she totally trusts me. I thought about that the night that the barn went pitch black in a storm and I had to go find her in a field with a flash light, she wasn't happy, but she stayed calm.

I need to remember that if I stay calm, she stays calm. It's easy to forget when she's being the super bitch she can be! I love when people think I'm over reacting to her, then they meet her, "Oh, you weren't kidding." I like that about her though. That and her hatred of small children, unless they bring food.

We were doing lots of ground work and handling, then my trainer broke her femur, then I hurt my knee (January 26th I go back, fingers crossed for riding.) So she's back to her unhandled wild pony beast ways. (See why I changed my blog name? That and she wasn't an appendix.)

I was reading about twiddling ears, and since I started to notice it more recently, some research (I'm either researching for work or for horses) said it can be caused from neurological parasites. I was reading it on my Ipod, so I don't have the link, but I'm wondering too if it is a permenent result from having EPM. I just need to keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't relapse. That's my biggest fear. She's working back to being her buff self. There was also a bunch of other reasons. I'm going to adjust her bridle to make sure nothing is rubbing on her.

Twiddling the Ears

Denali's lessor is a saint. I pulled into the barn yesterday and heard this horse SCREAMING. I looked in all the stalls and couldn't figure out who it was, I figured that I'd check on D and Megan first then go say hi to the horse, wherever they were. Guess who? Ms. Denali was being a ROYAL pain in the ass. She was being super naughty for Megan. I guess she was trying to kick when she was in the cross ties, and was being a freakazoid all around. I told Megan to hit her when she's being naughty, but you know that feeling of handling someone else's horse, at least for me, I'm always afraid I'll hit them harder than the owner would want. Seriously, HIT HER when she's being a bitch, you can't hurt her. I gave her a good wack, probably the first one she's gotten from me in a while.

Denali's young still, and doesn't know Megan that well yet. There was no one else around, so I'd guess she didn't feel safe and was scared. It was also poring down rain. Althought, Denali does like to find reasons to freak out. She needs focus. Something that I know, but not something that I'm good at doing

There was one thing she was doing a lot of, and she does it quit a bit when I'm around too, she twiddles her ears. Yesterday it was a lot more than I've seen, but she does do it. My trainer said it was nothing, but me (being hypocondriac owner) wonders if it could be something else.

I also have been giving her Mare Magic to help her stay calm, but I'm wondering if I should give her something else. Mare Magic is 100% natural which is what I like about it, but I am thinking about trying something else. Ideas?

Off to do some work at school on a Saturday. Megan, thanks for dealing with the Wild Pony Beast!

3 Wishes

I didn't go to school today. I had two appointments for my knee. No surgery, and with physical therapy they said I probably wouldn't need it. Good News.

What does one do with her extra time after going to the doctors? The barn of course. I was a bit apprehensive of going out since the last time I saw the girl she about riped my hands off.

I took Denali a bag of apples. Where did they come from you're wondering? My students all refused to eat them at lunch and brought them back to the room for me to give to her. I tried talking them into eating them, but to no avail.

I went and got her from the pasture and worked on leading going back into the barn. She gets kind of pushy sometimes, and tries to lead me. She seriously was the dirtiest horse! I was impressed! Mud CAKED ON. I groomed her on Sunday, pretty impressive as to how dirty she gets in 3 days.

I put her bell boots on and turned her out in the arena where she proceeded to run like crazy. She was bucking and galloping all over. She did this for 35 minutes. 35 MINUTES! I didn't think it was ever going to end. She was then COVERED in sweat. She then proceeded to roll. I'd really wish that she'd roll the whole way over. I hear it's the same thing as chiro work. She is so buff. I started calling her Arnold tonight.

While I was waiting for her to cool off I was talking to my trainer in the aisle way. I was saying to her how much I missed the one boarder Sarah. About two minutes later guess who pulled in?

I laughed at my skills and then wished, "I wish for a million dollars, not even a million, I'd take a few thousand." I then went to grooming Denali in the cross ties.

A few minutes later my phone rang (I'm NOT even joking.) It was the insurance company. They got the estimate for my car and said they wont' pay to fix it (It honestly isn't that bad, the hood has a dent and the plastic is broken out of the headlight) and instead will pay me 2,200 for my car. I can keep the car, but they suggest I take collision insurance off since they are paying out, and won't pay out again on a car that was considered "totaled."

I seriously at this point was laughing so hard and started making random wishes. I wished that my IA's (Instructional Assistants) would start talking, I wished that Denali and I would start working together as a team, along with the typical healthy life, world peace, etc.

I got home and my one IA had e-mailed me and the other IA about an incident at work that should have been handled differently. Not exactly what I was expecting, but it is communication.

It was a weird, weird night for wishes. I guess I used mine up!

If you could have any three wishes what would they be?

Ugh. Seriously? WTF!

I have had it with today, I want to go BACK to bed and have a re-do.

1. I wrecked my car and it was totally my fault.

2. Denali was taken over by the devil tonight and continually freaked out on the lunge line. I almost sprayed 4 sale on her butt before I left. At one point she turned out and started to run backwards, right towards my trainer...my trainer with the broken femur. I have rope burn all over my hand and consider myself an idiot.

Hope everyone had a better day than me! I seriously have the worst luck EVER!!!

New Year, Same Me

I started out doing really well!! I went out to a horse rescue and volunteered yesterday. One of the horses just came in and has a score of 2/9. He looks horrible. He's been there for three weeks and is doing better. We groomed him for about an hour while he happily ate his food he was given. I feel so bad for horses who's owners suck. It's amazing what can happen when you actually feed them!

Then Ophelia's mom and I went to lunch. Sigh. I have a HUGE weakness when it comes to the chips they give you when you are seated. NO WILL POWER. I only ate about 8 of them. I did order a diet coke, and I must say it was the BEST DIET COKE EVER!! Then Ophelia's mom mentioned (after I drank every drop of my delicious diet coke) that her's was diet. SIGH. So not only did I drink COKE, I ate chips. I did order off the healthy menu. I did OKAY the rest of the day.

Then it was off to the barn. The farrier was there doing their feet, so no lunging for the girls. (I'm nice for a day or two so they don't get sore.) I brought Denali in to groom her and she was a good girl. Some people are proud of their horses for a good ride, Me? I'm proud of her for standing still in the cross ties. She did try to nip me once, which is a new thing. I bopped her in the mouth and I swear that she squinted at me. It was this look of, "I want to bite you so badly right now, but I know I can't." My trainer saw it too and laughed.

I guess the girl who is leasing her has been out a few times. That reminds me, I need to e-mail her to see how it's going. I haven't heard from her since before Christmas. My trainer said they had a good lesson. I was VERY tempted to go ride her today, but I decided that I should wait until my knee is 100% better. That's hard. I now WANT to ride my horse.

In other news of my life (because I know you all love reading it SO Much *kidding*) we're going to move. We live in a bottom half of a house and the upstairs neighbors have twins who are 2. They are loud, our house is dark, and pretty much we can find something bigger for the same amount that we're paying here. 800 sf in Seattle? It's $1000.00 plus utilities. It sucks! Denali's board is $450.00 (almost half our rent, but don't remind my husband.) We went today and saw an AMAZING place, it was HUGE with tons of storage. It also had my three requirements: washer, dryer, dishwasher. We told her we were interested, but then after talking about it we decided to tell her no. It was a hard decision, but it wasn't in the BEST neighborhood and I am alone every summer while the hubby works in Alaska (for new readers he's an archeologist.) I just want to live in a place where I'm not afraid at night. I'm a HUGE baby. I'm 6 feet tall and could PROBABLY take most people, but still. I'm a huge chicken. We're going tomorrow to look at another house, it's more than we want to spend but it looks amazing.

We haven't told our landlords yet. I wanted to tell them, my hubby wants to wait. We're going to let them know before the weekend is over that we're looking. It's weird because they sort of feel like family, and that we're letting them down. I just want more room. My neighbor/landlord DID think that my cross country skis were his and cut them in half to make a sled. He told my husband, NOT me. I'm PISSED! (I'm a pissy person in case you haven't noticed.)

Thanks to everyone who has become a "follower." It's nice to know how many people MIGHT be reading my babbling.

Off to play Mario Brothers Wii with my husband. If you want marital strife, buy the game. We fight non-stop while playing. It's SO FUN!