Colder than Ice

Well I wanted to blog last weekend…then things got a bit ridiculous.

Saturday I got home from a very good flat lesson on Phoenix (which I have video of to share soon!) and a very blah lunge with Stampede to find that the bag clip hadn’t been put on the new bag of kibble I had bought the day before. Normally I pour the kibble in a plastic container, but we are switching the protein to see if it help’s Juneau’s itchiness so I wanted to do a bit of mixing at first. While I could tell that someone had stuck their nose in the bag, husband said whatever dog it was couldn’t have gotten much as he hadn’t heard any bag crinkling.

Handsome pony!

Fast forward a couple hours, and Juneau starts acting like her stomach is upset and we don’t connect the dots very quickly. We decide to feed the dogs dinner and see if that helps her. Of course Juneau takes a couple bites before acting like she’s going to throw up. Several yacks later all over the house and mostly on carpet (of course) she releases the biggest pile of dog kibble I’ve ever seen from a dog. Obviously she was still a bit upset after, so we hung out at home until she settled before leaving for the grocery store. Evidently she was not recovered enough, because she decided to eat her leg hair.

Dog with one skinny leg!

Now that I know she’s fine the whole thing is just so ridiculous it makes me smile every time I look at her funny leg.

Sunday came and Juneau was all better so I figured things were looking up. Worked P then lunged Stampede.

P was fancy in his Smartpak quarter sheet

After the night hay and water at the barn Sunday the husband went to start our wood burner since we knew the whole next week would be colder than our system (heat pump and/or base boards) could handle. This turned out to be a disaster too, as it appears there was an issue in the chimney and the chimney section in the house which is black and three layers deep turned bright red with heat, smoke filled our sun room, and we ended up calling 911. They came and put out the fire in the wood burner while making a good mess, and the issue cleared itself at some point in that scenario. We still had someone out to clean and inspect it, but it’s now in business keeping us warm. We also know it’s harder to burn the house down with the wood burner than we would have thought now!

Cuddles with Stampede

Tuesday is now the last day I was able to ride so far this week. I’ve been lucky if it’s 5 degrees Fahrenheit by the time I get out to the barn, and that’s before factoring in the wind chill. We have had several nights in the negatives, plus some nice wind and snow mixed in. I need to ride soon, starting to get cranky!

What we do when it’s too cold to ride – go for walks and help clean up the hay cart

Tuesday night lesson was pretty good, although P wasn’t quite as relaxed and responsive as he was on Saturday. My lesson rides are definitely impacted by how many other horses are in the ring. I squeezed a lunge in with Stampede Tuesday night as well since I knew both boys were going to get a few days off with the cold. It was probably our worst lunge of this rehab so far. I didn’t have him in the Pessoa knock off rig because he hasn’t needed it, but I definitely could have used it. He was taking any excuse to spook at things which meant his back was inverted and head up in the air most of the time. It was very frustrating after all the good work we’ve put in, but we will see where he’s at once I can work him again. I’m hoping that I can pull that off tomorrow.

New boots are officially barn christened

So basically since Tuesday I’ve worked too much, done lots of walking ponies around while standing on my own two feet, and tried not to get frostbite.

P saying hi to one of the barn kitties

Oh, and the last thing which is super exciting. I officially became a brand ambassador for Relatively Stable on Thursday! Excited to spend all year trying out and sharing information on all of their great products!