Housekeeping

WHEW its been a minute since I've found an ounce of motivation or moments to blog. Last week was absolute hell on a personal level and I never want to relive it. That being said, I actually did quite a bit in the horsey realm.

First off, not sure if any of you noticed a lack of Yankee presence/updates at Texas Rose this weekend...buuuut his stablemate & show companion came down very ill with a pretty bad upper respiratory infection literally the day before they were supposed to leave. Horsebeasts have impeccable timing. The vet pretty much demanded that Yankee stay put for observation and that the show was out of the question. Its obvious all parties involved were pretty devastated with this news. Luckily, Huey has pulled through and finally is on the mend and it seems the farm has avoided disaster. Still rather sad my man couldn't strut his stuff after such a fabulous prep, but they'll get it next time!

On my end, in between the million things that involve a normal human adult life, I've been running aorund like a chicken missing a head. Spring, as we all know, involves a LOT of cleaning and dirt just seems to appear...and then never leave. I've taken getting up at the asscrack of dawn to get it all done, trying to enjoy sunrises and remind myself this is all a privilege...but its hard when you have 2 hours of chores on top of squeezing in rides and everything else.

Really though, riding fell by the wayside during the meat of the week. There was just too much to do in the ways of "admin work"& the weather was not behaving. Inbetween thunderstorms that made us lose power and SNOW I was just like, no. Nope.. I need more hours in the day, more energy drinks and a secretary.

Somehow, I got goaded into taking care of my dads new chicks. Last year we had some success with the meat chickens, and we still have 2 ladies that lived through the winter that give us beautiful brown eggs everyday in addition to the duck eggs we get from our ducks. Nothin' like free range duck & chicken eggs! This spring, round 1, we got both layers and meat chickens. Apparently round 2 will be the same. Far too many birds IMO.

lil nuggets

Dont let the cuteness fool you, they are a major PITA and they're already hideous and HUGE at 3 weeks old. Caring for chicks should legit be a full time job description between changing litter, cleaning water and feed troughs and keeping the damn things alive when the weather has a spaz attack and plumments to below freezing for several days. Over it.

Lilly did get ridden in the middle of the week because shes easy, no stress and I'm trying to get her fit for my dad. It was a nice break in the hectic schedule...even if she was a raging hormonal bitch thanks to spring heat. Still easier than my bucking bronc on his worst days though.

Bacardi took to self exercise during the week and subjected his mother to heart palpatations with mad frolicking throughout his muddy and flooded pasture. I couldn't keep him locked up though, I feel that would've been even worse.

HOPEFULLY we will get some paddocks made to help the pastures recover...AND if all goes well, we might get a new barn this spring. My feels. Cannot handle.

In preparation for our scheduled Sunday lesson, the nugget got to also practice loading.

B actually surprised me and loaded like a champ after a few tantrums. They were pretty spectacular too, including throwing oneself on the actual ground. Yes, he flung his giant body about in attempts to get out of it. I swear, he has Equine Asperger's. The discussion was the shortest yet at a record 27 minutes.

Cause for celebration

The next problem is getting the dingbat OUT once he's in. Before, its taken just as long to get him out as it took to get in. I won't go into detail, but the summation is, I stopped giving a fuck about all of it.

Before you judge or tell me this is dangerous, tell me to put boots on him, etc etc, please put yourself in my shoes. Trust me, I've tried it all. He plants his feet and wont budge, or gives me this face....

"DAFUQ?? You want me out now? But I JUST got in here!"

...and nothing will make him come out. Before, I've tried pulling him out. Ask me how well that works.  It generally involved him falling out and injuring himself somehow. (He also refuses to allow me to use my expensive, beautiful plaid shipping boots. Talk about a tantrum.)

So I just stopped caring. Flung the lead rope on the ground so I could catch it when he actually came out, and just stood there...while he gave me the face...for about 10 minutes.

Eventually he just backed out calmly and I grabbed the rope and we went on our merry way.

We did that 3 times throughout the week and nothing terrible happened. I was actually REALLY proud of him. You have no idea.

Saturday, Amy, from Slow and Steady (if y'all remember, I rode Steady at Team Challenge for her this last fall!) accompanied me on a lovely, but very cold, trail ride. It was probably the most fun I've had out on the trail in a long time. We got to canter on a "beach", tackled some giant hills, meandered through beautiful woods and she rode her daughters UHHDORABLE squee worthy Haffie and Lilly was a total gem. My dad will be really  happy with her once she gets back in shape.

The roundness in dat belly gives me all the feels

Precious ponykins

On sunday, Bacardi and I trekked over to Ends Meet Eventing for our intro/dressage lesson. I don't want to spoil the fun for my next post, but it was beyond spectacular. He also loaded both times in less than 5 minutes and got off in a reasonable amount of time as well. I can't wait to write up the summary post!

I'm hoping to squeeze in at least 2 ride on B this WEEK, one this saturday and hopefully one on Lilly but the forecast is looking to be absolutely dismal so thats highly annoying.

How was everyone's week? Are allergies absolutely slaying anyone else? Hope all the ponies in the blogsphere are doing fabulous!