May Goals!

Well! Apparently I was so fussed about O's cut leg right before Sunrise Ridge that I never actually did my April goals. Ooops.

Ah well, I do have my May goals ready to go!

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O-Ren May:
1) Continue set schedule of conditioning drives, dressage drives, cones practice, and lunging - if weather makes this possible!
2) Send in entries for Pine Hill, Cowboy Country, and the Romp, as well as the clinic

Dylan May:
1) Continue dressage rides - when my leg feels up to it
2) Continue to practice with current WE obstacles at home (garrocha and barrel, figure-8s and weave poles, slalom poles - maybe get more cones for these)
3) Make a gate to practice with at home - maybe extra standards to pick up jugs, etc?

Lendri May:
1) Continue with long lining - work on steering! 
2) Take for walks up the road - desensitizing! 

Pangea/Pax/Uma May:
1) Groom and mess with everyone 1-2x a week

Sriracha May: 
1) Get eye ulcer healed and then turn out in the mare pasture with everyone else! 


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Look I can put it in the barrel now!

My leg has really been bothering me lately, and it has kept me out of the saddle some. My shoulder hurts too - they seem to both go hand in hand. When one hurts, the other hurts. I believe there is  astretch of fascia that goes all the way from that leg to the opposite shoulder, so it's not surprising.

O is feeling like a brand new horse after her chiro adjustment. I've used several local chiros in the past and never felt like they ever did anything for her, but this one definitely did. She is SO much more balanced now, and can bend in both directions again. Or well, at least as far as I can tell while out on the roads doing conditioning work and lunging in the brief respites between rainstorms.

It's time for some dressage redemption

Yes, it's Deathstorm Season again in Texas. We've been lucky this year, sort of, in our area anyway. We've had enough hail damage to probably warrant a complete roof replacement (greeeeeaaaat), but other areas were hit much harder than us. Much, MUCH harder. Think hail going through your windows. Totaling your car. Blasting fist size holes through your entire roof. Not to mention all the tornados on top of that. We've not had a mass casualty tornado since the storms the day after Christmas, thankfully, but we've had several cases of entire families drowning in their own homes due to floodwaters rising so fast. A lot of you followed the flooding down in Houston, where 80-odd endurance horses had to be rescued from the flooding. It's been exciting, to say the least. 

I guess that's what El Nino does. We've been in drought for a very long time - but these past few years have taken a very dramatic turn, and now our aquifer is so full that water just oozes out of the ground at our house. We've literally had a small stream of water actively flowing down our driveway and into the pasture since about November. Is our property worth more money now that it is waterfront? We even get a lovely waterfall that pours from the top pasture into the bottom pasture sometimes.

It's basically a repeat of last year. I don't have much to write about in terms of working O, because I haven't been able to much. I can work her on the road, and I can lunge her when it is dry enough for 5 seconds before the next storms hits, but it's too wet in the pasture to drive - the weight of the carriage will rut the field and tear the ground to pieces. There is nowhere around here that I can trailer out to drive at - every indoor arena won't allow it, and even the places won't work at the moment because they are all experiencing the same problem with flooding and rain.

There was supposed to be the first ever Trec competition in Texas next weekend, but it had to be moved due to the flooding. It got changed to the weekend that we will be away in Austin, so that's a no go for us anymore. Bummer. We have two competitions this month, and then one the first weekend of June - then the driving season basically ends until fall. There may be a few small things here and there, but not much - it's just too hot here in the summer. There is also a clinic in a few weekends that I am definitely going to attend!

Pmare says, why is it freezing cold and raining!?

We have a pregnancy confirmed for O! P is a bit more difficult - since she is aged, she has developed several uterine cysts since the last time we bred her. She had some cysts then too, but fewer of them. When we went to check her at 13 days (we were worried about twins as she had two follicles, although we don't think the one ever ovulated), there was what could very well have been a 13 day pregnancy, but it was sitting in the middle of a cluster of cysts that all looked like 13 day pregnancies. She goes back tomorrow to check her again and see - if it has moved and grown, we know it's a pregnancy. If not, she should be developing another breedable follicle. Since we have frozen, we're not on a time crunch in terms of getting the goods delivered to us, but still. If anybody can get my aged, cyst-laden broodmare pregnant with frozen, it is my fantastic vet - but we are working against a lot of factors. Cross your fingers! 

Little Lendri has continued to step up to the plate. I guess she just finally decided that she likes me, that I'm trustworthy enough, and that she's willing to do new things for me without fuss. She let me wash her legs for the first time ever yesterday - and she usually takes off every time I turn on the hose, so I thought she would be worst about it! She also let me put a blanket on her for the first time ever, since she had just been bodyclipped and it was dropping into the low 40s for the night (randomly). She looks awfully good in her purple, don't you think?

D'ohhhhh

She does look ridiculous in those ears though...

.... although, not as ridiculous as when she gets *out* of those ears. 

You're doing it wrong

Sriracha is definitely one of the prettiest mules I've ever seen. Look at how cute she is! She is built well for both a mini and for a mule. 

Apparently she wants to be part stretchy show Arab or something

She is being SO good about her meds. The eye is really looking good - I can't see any sign of her ulcer already and it has only been a week of treatment. She is easy enough to catch with her drag rope, and leads and ties well. She is letting me pet her neck with increasing confidence about it, and no longer backs to the end of her rope when I do it. She even followed me around this morning for cookies. I'm not really that big on treats, but I make an exception for these little wild mules - doesn't take long for them to come around, once they realize what's in it for them.