It rained solidly all night and stopped around 7 this morning. Everything is SOGGY. Partly sunny now but supposed to get to sunny and 70-something tomorrow. My tack came Monday, its pretty sweet. The heart shaped silver conchos on the bridle are a lot bigger than I thought they would be but they will be cute on little Blaze. I will fit it and take Blaze out tomorrow, but maybe just around here. There is an outbreak of Equine Herpes that originated at a show in Utah and there are 10 confirmed cases in counties around us here in Ca already. I tend to take things like this with a grain of salt but with the mare and foal and everything–I just don’t want to risk my horses. Already cancelled plans to do a trail ride with a couple of people this weekend and think I’ll just ride out from here on the dirt roads for a little while. Better safe than sorry. Anyhow, I still can’t breath through my nose and am a green-snot monster but once again, hoping to be good to go tomorrow. A little warmth and sunshine will certainly help!
Oh the mare must have banged her eye on something this morning, when I went out to feed she looked ROUGH–left eye swollen almost shut, boogers in her eyes, runny nose, dread-locked mane…I was like goooodddd grief! I called my vet just because I have no idea how a horse with a cold (my first guess on what her deal was) affects a nursing foal, but she isn’t keen to travel between farms because of the equine herpes so she said keep an eye on her and call the vet later to update. I went out an hour later and the eye was already almost un-swollen and her nose wasn’t running anymore. I think she must have banged it and I came out right after because her lower eye lid was hugely swollen but was already almost normal after an hour. She ate all her grain and most of her hay, went out and rolled in the mud (lovely), and was trotting around with her tail flagged. So I’m thinking she is fine, just banged her eye and was looking a little the worse for wear this morning. She has lots of loose hair under her blanket, I thought she had fully shed out but there is lots more white hair to cover myself in, apparently.
Can’t wait to feel fine, have some good weather, and be out on the trail again!

Well I was going strong Saturday working around the place, working with the mare and filly and BAM wake up Sunday to pouring rain and a raging head cold. Usually I feel colds sneaking up on me but I went from fully functional and working hard to flat on my back and green snot galore. Well, it happens. Last year, I believe around this time, I got a cold but it was 90+ degrees. Now THAT is not fun. I’d much rather be sick, wet, sloppy when its wet and sloppy outside. Today is only 30% rain (100% for tonight and tomorrow) so I *might* bundle up and go for a leg stretcher on Blaze down the dirt road from home, but we’ll see. His new green tack should be in today as well as the pelleted Bar Ale Distance Plus feed I ordered after the last race so I will probably just do a town run and not push my luck. Its supposed to be sunny and warm by Wednesday so I must be healthy by then and get riding again!!

Of course Desire already knows how to lunge. But she hadn’t been worked in months. Today was the day! Cool with a breeze, not too hot. Which is good because after 15 minutes of walk/trot transitions on the lunge line the mare and filly were sweaty! I left Sheza in a halter but at liberty and she zoomed around the inside perimeter of the arena the first few minutes but eventually realized mom was doing much smaller circles and started just cantering along on the outside of mom, who was trotting. I could see Desire’s (big) belly contracting up as she used her muscles–woo bet that was something! She still looks pretty pregnant, haha! Desire did well, she had a little trouble focusing on me and missed some stop cues but I can’t really blame her since the filly was being a little rocket for the first while and getting out of her vision occasionally. I put the mare on smaller slow circles to get her more attentive to me asking for stops and change directions and that helped. The baby cut in front of her and she had to stop dead a couple of times which was a little alarming but over all it went really well. The walk down into the big pasture where the arena was, with the mini loose, went better than expected. Sheza is leading really well and trooped down the hill to the arena. The mini was following us but not too closely luckily. Desire has been charging the fence at the mini lately so I think he had a healthy respect for her. I was pretty surprised how sweaty the filly got but she was being a little spazz and galloping around the arena for the first five minutes at least. Fifteen minutes was definitely enough for both! Tonight and tomorrow its supposed to rain so they will have time to rest those sore muscles. I may put them up in a stall if the weather gets really nasty but we’ll see. Glad I took the first step on the road to riding the mare again!

Yes, my little girl is growing up quickly! Every day is so full of lawns to mow and maintenance and riding and! I do work with her in some way each and every day though and think she is right on track for age and knowledge. She is picking up her hooves consistently, working upward on time holding them up. Yesterday was her first time hard tying. Our pasture has been weed whacked so I could suddenly see very using tying trees with safe footing because we only have cross ties. I took mom and baby out for some 1 month old photos and then down into the pasture. I tied baby, first with just a wrap in case she really freaked. Josh stood nearby with the mare, who was eating as fast she could move her jaw, completely ignoring the baby. She sure is a piggy pig! I like it. But its pretty funny. Sheza tried backing and immediately yielded to the halter pressure. She tested it a few times but nothing dramatic happened. I tied her in a release knot and had Josh walk the mare a ways away, and the filly got more nervous. She started trotting back and forth in the little space on her rope, but every time she came to the end she yielded without hitting hard. She stopped after about two minutes and when she was standing quietly and licking the tree (lol) I untied her and headed back to the paddock. She got pretty frisky and was squirting forward in front of me and trying to trot on the lead rope so we had a few little circles. She tried to dash into the paddock in front of me and slipped and fell on her ass and jumped back up again just as quick. Another little walk and we entered the paddock nice and politely.
Momma D is definitely ready to get back into some light work. She still has QUITE the belly and is definitely a food guzzler. Time to get those muscles back into shape! First some lungings then into short rides in the arena with filly at liberty. Ooh, its always a new adventure with a foal!

Isn’t that a good ole fashioned selfish post title? I couldn’t resist! I’m 24 today..yes, I know, that’s still very young, but when reflecting on my life–wow, time flies and things change! I’ve been married for a year too! Oh, our wedding anniversary is tomorrow, May 12th, not Saturday. Somehow my math went like this: “well, my birthday is Wednesday the 11th, we got married the day after, that must mean our anniversary is Saturday” Hmmmm..I never was a star at math!
Anyhow, took Blaze out for a stretch of the ole legs today, just a approx. 4 mile walk out and back from home. He was using his very RARE speedwalk and god, it was divine! I so wish he walked out like that all the time! I wish my Garmin did mph simply, but it does it by time per mile, as in his normal slow walk is a 20 minute mile, and today for whatever reason he was walking a 16.5 minute mile. Neither of those are particularly fast but we must remember he is only 14 hands! That little fellow sure does work hard for me. What a wonderful wonderful score he was! I wish I knew his history or at least his birthday, but I don’t. The vets seem to agree he is around 14. I just dug into the photo archives and looks like I brought Blaze home June 18th, 2009. Going on 2 years of loving this fantastic little gelding of mine!

I better use this spare minute to update on the filly’s progress–this week of celebration is going to get away from me I can tell. Its my 24th birthday Wednesday and our wedding anniversary Saturday. But, the filly! I have been working with her leading almost every day. Yesterday and today she led beautifully at first and then went into rebellion mode and fought me every step of the way. She tried throwing little rears but quickly found that was a no-no and tried just bracing her legs and refusing to budge. Luckily at this point I’m still stronger than her, or maybe not and she is just giving in, but as of now I am winning these brief tug of wars. I have a feeling that won’t last forever so I am really trying to be consistent and get her leading solidly before she is too big and strong! She picks up her hoofs pretty well and my farrier said he will start familiarizing her with the process when she is a couple of months old. Speaking of, I can’t believe she is a month old this week, too! A big week, indeed.
Now, for a couple of bumps and bruises–she seems to be a VERY itchy filly and has actually rubbed a patch of hair off her neck from itching with her hind hooves. She is also losing significant hair around her eyes and nose. At first I thought she was just shedding out, which I’m sure she partially is, but she seems unusually itchy and the bald patch on her neck certainly isn’t normal shedding. I have been cleaning her and putting Vetericyn on the seemingly irritated areas as of yesterday, 4/8, so we’ll see what, if anything happens. Certainly I am keeping a very close eye on it. I played with her a little earlier today and then just now the husband said she was “limping and tore herself up” so I rushed out there. She wasn’t limping at all and has three tiny scrapes on her fore leg where she bit the dust running full tilt around her paddock. I did the ole Vetericyn spray on it but am really not worried about it. The husband is touchingly concerned for her bumps and bruises she accumulates in her scrappy little filly life style.
Anyhow, working on leading (consistently!) and picking up hooves and watching her itchy spots is where I am at with Sheza at the moment. I plan to start mom back into work this week, or next if this one gets too hectic. Take momma D and Sheza down to the arena and lunge the mare with the filly loose, gradually working towards riding D again. I’m excited! And a little nervous. Its all new to me! But getting on a fresh horse isn’t…*sigh*
Happy birthday to me, happy 1 month to Sheza, and happy anniversary to the husband and I! 🙂