HollowMan & TurtleBarbie ride again...

My head has always stuck out like a turtle's. And I have Barbie arms, they don't bend. But check out my posture, it has improved:-) I have many faults, I know. I haven't had a dressage lesson in years:-( We don't show anymore so being "correct" isn't a real goal . He's been so light and soft in my hands that I have really welcomed it. I see now that he's extremely hollow through the back and not using much of himself. But that's OK by me. As long as he seems happy and doesn't wreck my back with his spooks or hanging on me then I'm happy:-)

So here we have piaffe, trotting in place:-) LOL, totally kidding, piaffe we wish, he's just stepping sideways at a walk.

walk...

see, Barbie arms, they just don't bend.
Trrrrrrot

Caaaaannn-ter

best example of my TurtleBarbieness

See I do ride! :-) Matt graciously took those photos a couple of Saturday's ago...I might not be(come) a Bridezilla, but I am a Photozilla for sure. Pics have to be perfect :-) The background, the timing - I become a director of my own little photo shoot and get Matt mad enough to almost quit. So then I have to beg him for just 100 more:-) Gotta love digital these days. So out of 170 photos taken that day those are the ones I liked for one reason or another.

Run Limo...Run!

Would anyone like to guess the speed at which the mighty Limo (click on her name to learn more about Limo) can run? She may be vertically challenged and get disqualified in "limbo" competitions at greyhound events (they said it wasn't fair since she was already so short), but she can run with the best of them:-) CHASE had a Blur of Fur fundraiser today at the farm and I let Limo run in it. When I signed her up and they asked me what breed she is was, I said a BasShitt:-)

Limo studying the lure...

checking out the competition (Blue the greyhound did kick her ass, but he did most every one's too, he ran at 41 mph)

getting her slip lead put on

being lead to the line (doesn't she look like a thoroughbred being lead to the starting box?:-)

She was so excited and I'm proud of her that she ran the whole thing, some of the dogs didn't finish and ran back to their mommies and daddies...

Video of Limo's run

oh she ran 30 mph. Matt and I are positive she can run faster with some more training! :-)

These are still shots from the video I liked.
Not bad for a mutant eh? :-)

Let's talk about sheaths...baby

Sigh. When does a person truly become *CrazySheathCleaningLady*? :-x I have cleaned 2 sheaths 2 days in a row. It seems like when ever the BO walks into the barn now I'm up to my elbows in a sheath! and of course they [the horses] can't keep a straight face, they cock their heads (no pun intended)and twiddle their little noses in glee. *CSCL* isn't something I have set out to become.

PoloMan hadn't been *cleaned* in IDKwhen? Course I would have been the only one to take on the task and I can't remember the last time. Guess I always felt he had to be *liquored* up first, but he doesn't. Tuesday when I went to take his fly wraps off he was standing there letting *it* all out so I took that as a hint and broke out the baby oil, Excalibur and rubber gloves. I was surprised that P-Lo was so OK about the whole thing, he didn't try to kick or swat me with his tail, he just let me do my *work*. I even got the beans!

And then last night when I was brushing Lester he hiked up his right hind leg as if to say "clean me too please" (I told Polo not to tell Less about his *cleaning*, but he obviously did) . My Lester is the dirtiest boy on the planet! :-o Every night in the pasture Less must say "bet I can get more dirt in my sheath than you can", and he is clearly the winner.

Maybe I'm making up for lost time now:-/ I must have had Lester a few years before I ever thought about going *there*. When ever I went near *it* I got the tail and hind leg. So I left *it* alone. Until one day I noticed Less had a huge swelling in his tummy area. Vet came out and said the edema was caused by infection due to his dirty sheath :-x So I got the bad horse mommy award that day:-( My vet (who was young and hott BTW) liquored Lester up and we both sat there and waited for Lester to relax and drop so he could clean him. [insert dead silence or whistling] Talk about *awkward* and leave it to me to add to the awareness, I asked "How often do you cleans yours"? I meant his horses'.... sigh.

So have I really become *CSCL*? What truly makes a person CSCL? I do technically still ride my horse and do other things at the barn. Just because I am gifted or possess *this* particular skill AND have a *dirty* horse does this make me CSCL?

I started thinking last night if I lost my day job could this be a new career for me? Could I take my act out on the road (ok BAD choice of words there), but you know what I mean. And what would I call myself or what would my business name be?

ETA: WHY do posts not seem too long or big until you publish them?! :-o I just wrote 6 paragraphs about sheaths?? :-o I've really lost it:-(

Mount Up!

Notice that his legs didn't move once in the sequence of the photos ;-) I LOVE that about him!

Disclaimer: I DID NOT request photos to be taken of my ass, but since Matt took them I thought I would post Lester's outstanding mounting manners.

Notice the yellow tag on my breeches, when Petsmart was selling out of their Stateline Tack stuff I got those for $.01, a penny! So I keep the $99.00 price tag on there for show;-) oh and those Devonaire boots cost me $25 there also...I love closeout sales and cashiers that don't give a damn!:-)

What a difference(s) a year makes...

A year ago today was Lester's (first) homecoming from Auburn, 11 days after his colic surgery. Would have been his only HCing *if* I hadn't left him with too much hay the first night and had had him on ulcer medication/ preventive. His second trip back was when this whole blog began... Thought I would post pics from this past year...When Lester coliced, Laura from him near the "watering hole" in the big pasture. He was rolling and thrashing on the wet ground and just tore his face up. These wounds have all healed up and didn't leave one scar. Same with his incision sight, no scar there either. There is no evidence on him that would make one think he almost died last year. I was told many times that horses that have colic due to epiploic foramen entrapment and have surgery don't make it a year:-( So being 11 days past the year mark, can I do dare say we are out of the woods? I'm not stupid, I know he could colic, be injured or become sick tomorrow, but I guess now it would not be *tied* to his colic surgery.

I remember saying to Matt when we were in the waiting room at Auburn when Lester first went to surgery, "I always thought Spooky would go first." Not that I wanted her to be in his *place* at that moment at all, I certainly didn't, I just had myself prepared that she would pass on first. And that is what happened, 9 months later Matt and I had to let her go:-( My heart still breaks over her, I love(d) her more than I even wanted to or planned on loving her. I know that sounds strange, I just have always had a way of trying to *protect* my feelings and when she turned out to be the*heart hound of my life* I knew I was going to hurt like hell when I lost her. She was always just *there*. Lester's colic was a blessing in disguise in many ways. It woke me up to the fact I could lose someone I loved *any day*any time* and that the things I thought were important really weren't. I made a point to spend extra quiet moments with both Less and Spooky. During Less' grazing sessions Spooky was there with me and I would sit with her and just watch her and think how lucky I am to have such wonderful beings in my life. I would watch her "sun" herself and roll over on her back and scratch it and ever so often she'd get the courage to come near the *monster* (Lester's front end) and get scratches from me. Sometimes if the weather was cool enough she'd get the "zoomies" and just run around us, course Lester still just grazed away, couldn't have cared less there was Spooky whizzing 40mph right by him:-)

She would get so wound up and I could straddle her and hold her chest in my arms like I was preparing to release her to chase a lure and I'd shout "GO!" and open my arms and she would take off only to spin back around to get set up for another "release" :-) we would do that over and over again, it always cracked me up.

If I lost Lester today I would be more OK with it now then I would have a year ago. Again, not saying that is what I want, I'm just saying I have grown enough this year to know in my heart and mind that I haven't wasted a day with him. What does that mean? Well it means that I appreciate all the little things about him, things that would have possibly bored me in the past or I wouldn't have even taken the time to notice. I ride him more and spend more time with him now. Not saying I don't get mad at him from time :-) it's just now I can't stay mad at him...I just am not letting regrets happen with him. You just aren't going to hear me say "I wish I had spent more time with him and loved on him more." I have a few regrets with Spooky and it kills me that I can't make them up to her now.