Lost Fork, Lost Rides. A Rather Random Post.

I'm at work, about to have lunch. A few minutes ago I went out to the kitchen to reheat my lovely eggplant lasagna. I washed my fork and spoon (I forgot to wash them yesterday, oops!) and set them on a piece of paper towel on the counter. Then I went to the ladies room while my lunch finished heating. I came back 2 minutes later and my fork was gone. The spoon was put in a drawer. So weird. And I really liked that fork! I imagine some over-worked, absent-minded person grabbed it without thinking and kindly put my spoon "away" for me, lol.

Here's our latest foster dog, 'Browser'. 

The picture isn't very good, I'll try for better ones soon.

His cuteness shines through anyway, I think!

And that's about as interesting as things get around here. Just when Brumby seemed to be recovering from his bruised sole, he was more lame than ever on Sunday. I rode lightly on Friday night and he seemed ok, though not quite normal. It was hard to tell if he was just stiff from all the time off plus the cold or if his foot/feet were still sore but he was sound. I recommended bringing him back to work slowly to avoid aggravating things and setting him back further. His owner rode him in a lesson on Saturday and told me he was fine, a little off to the right, but that I should work him as usual this week.

So I went up for my lesson on Sunday morning.  The ground is icy so you can't judge the walk from the pasture to the barn - it always looks funny as he carefully takes each step (he's barefoot all around). I got him ready and brought him out to the arena to warm up before my coach arrived. Got to the arena and...dead lame. He was an awful, hobbling and tripping, mess. At the walk, with no rider. I felt so bad for the poor guy, if I could have carried him back to the barn I would have!

Needless to say, I left him inside and called his owner. I hope he doesn't have something more serious going on. Here we are, Feb 16th and this month I've been on him once for 20 minutes. I'm already questioning how long it's fair to pay for a horse I can't ride. I'm reasonable (I think) and I believe as a leaser you have to expect that sometimes things like this will happen.  I'm just not sure how long is reasonable.  My coach was kind enough to let me ride her horse last week. Actually she's been wanting me to ride him for awhile, so it was a good opportunity.  Still...

Oh, and my final thought for the day? I hate WordPerfect. I really do. Makes me see red.

New Car Smell

I now have a shiny new car! I am a fairly practical person but I admit to getting a little thrill out of the (comparitive) fanciness of this car!  And the new car smell? Yuck, especially since we rust-proofed the undercarriage. Can't wait for that to go away! I'm sure it will be replaced by dog and horse smells soon enough :-/

I am also VERY paranoid about getting hit. It's been like that since the accident anyway and now it's worse with the new car. Hopefully this will go away soon. And hopefully I'll have something real to blog about soon...Brumby has been off with a sole bruise for awhile but he lunged sound on Tuesday so I'll try a ride on Friday. I have questions a-plenty brewing, I think.

We DON"T Need, or want, Rollkur!

Billie over at camera-obscura has posted the logo and text, and invited us to do the same in solidarity with Dr. Heuschmann and his message at the meeting on Feb. 9th. Please consider adding your voice to this important debate, and adding logo and text to your blog as well.

The FEI is holding a closed-door round table meeting on Feb. 9th to discuss the training method known as rollkur, or hyperflexion, which involves pulling and holding the horse's muzzle to his chest. This practice is known to have many negative effects on the horse, both physically and psychologically. Gerd Heuschmann, the lone voice for the horse at this meeting, has my support and appreciation as he presents his case "for the good of the horse" along with petitions and letters saying NO TO ROLLKUR.

Please take a moment today and again tomorrow to think positively about the outcome of this meeting. It will make a difference.

Rollkur is but one example, in one discipline, of abuses perpetrated against horses in the name of "training" and "competition". All principled horsepeople need to speak out when and how they can against the abuses that exist in their own disciplines.

Time for Fun - Canter Leg Yields!

Thanks everyone for all your comments on my post about the accident. It helped to have a medium for getting that frustration out. I am starting to let go of the anger and fear that came from being at the receiving end of such carelessness.  I was lucky; it doesn't look like I will have any lasting issues and no one else was in the car.  I know others have been through worse.

I was more than ready to get back in the saddle! It had been 7 full days since my last ride, yikes!  We introduced something new - leg yield at the canter.  I have never done them before and neither has Brumby.  I was surprised at how well it went! He really only messed up when I didn't have myself coordinated properly, naturally.

What an amazing feeling! Wow. It has been awhile since I've felt as though we were really communicating well. For most of the leg yields it felt pretty effortless and was just a whole lot of fun. We didn't always hit the centre line before the turn but I was not too concerned with that, being our first effort.

Definitely one of those smile plastered on your face days. Hmm, maybe I do prefer dressage to jumping...not that I've done much jumping lately anyway!

Be well.