I could start this blog by saying absolutely nothing has been happening, and while that’s true, as the title of this post implies, it’s also…not.

As I’m sure everyone everywhere has heard, there was a county jail break not quite 3 weeks ago and a convicted murderer escaped. That was close, but not that close to me. About 15 miles? But my county. Near Longwood Gardens. I pass by the jail and Longwood regularly. No big deal. Until he stole a van and camped out 5 minuted from my mother’s house and she was in the shelter-in-place zone. In fact, news media was live-streaming from the bottom of her hill. So, that was unsettling. And watching the coverage, I knew every road and hill and fun place they kept showing. But he was caught and life returned to normal. Sort of.

Wednesday night there was a horrific fire in my town. It took out almost an entire block of our Main Street. 90 people were displaced from their apartments above the small businesses. After burning for almost 20 hours (water was in short supply as fire ponds ran out and water was trucked in hourly), buildings were demolished to stop the spread. It’s completely heartbreaking. They think the fire started in the Dubarry warehouse and just spread. It’s all just gone. These aren’t my photos. All courtesy of the folks on the Oxford Facebook group.

Then last night 9 juveniles overtook 2 female guards at a detention facility in Morgantown, PA (15 miles the OTHER direction from my mom) and were running loose. They were all back in custody by 7am, but still. Come on PA… let’s fix all of this (the facility happens to have stuff like this happen often). 4 gave up because they were cold and tired kids. But still. 5 stole a truck and got in mini chase.

Then there is Nay. He’s still on vacation because, it turns out, steroids make him nuts. So, for everyone’s safety, he’s off until he’s off his steroids… We’re trying that now, but he got hives immediately.

Anyway, as you can tell, things have been pretty uneventful, boring, and not at all resembling any Dick Wolf TV show.

Life (work) has been in the way and with Nay Nay’s skin and bug inflicted conditions, the last couple of months were nice to just give up and take off. But, with my stuff due on Thursday, I took a break Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to pretend to ride.

Friday I thought about hauling out and it just didn’t work out. So I attempted to lunge in the round pen. I say attempt because it was a bit of a mess. Nay tried Subi’s old “rear and spin” trick, but I waved it off. You see, with the exception of Batt and Subi after my my friend Kim came and put the fear of god in him, the round pen hasn’t been much of a success. Batt actually liked it. Actually, Jiminy did well in it too. And once Subi realized he worked or he faced death by short blonde woman, he did ok too. But Nay? He’s fabulous on the line but hates that round pen. But, we tried and managed some OK work. With lots of rearing. We worked through it though. Then I got on and we walked around and tried to trot. There’s a little incline (my entire property is on a hill) so we tried to only trot up the incline as he felt like he was going to fall going down hill because, Nay things.

I went out after a morning of work on Saturday with the intention a lunge then ride. Boy was I wrong. I had 2 kids on ponies, but their mothers told them to stay on one end so I could use the other half to lunge. Great.

That was the only great part of it.

It started off ok. The ring literally had 2 jumps in it in the center so it felt massive. And terrifying. We trotted for a minute. Tried to bolt. Got back on track. Then galloped. Then trotted. Then reared. Then trotted. Then reared. Then… tried to roll…WITH MY SADDLE.

Thankfully he went down and felt the flap of the saddle and stopped because he’s NOT STUPID just a jerk. So I stopped. One of the mom’s helped me untack because, at this point he was REALLY being stupid and I took him in the indoor and just let him gallop. For 10 minutes he galloped and rolled and galloped and bucked and galloped and rolled (10 freaking times). And then he decided he was exhausted. So I decided we were lunging to prove a point. So we trotted and “cantered” a circle. He was fine. Other than tired beyond belief.

We went back out to the outdoor, the same mom tacked him up while I held him since he was being obnoxious while she held him. And I got on. The kids left, but we walked. I was going to trot in his attempt at rolling, my stirrup came loose and I didn’t realize it. I wasn’t in the mood to go stirrup-less…

Fast-forward to Sunday. I figured I’d free-lunge again but there were people in the indoor so we lunged, tackless. He’s lost the privilege of lunging with tack for now. But he was fine. We took advantage of no jumps and just lunged up and down the outdoor, using the whole ring (walk and trot). Then took a water break, tacked up and bug-sheeted, and went to work.

We’ve been off so long I realized just how many holes we have. So, I decided that we’re going back, way back, to the basics. Right now we’re walking. And we’re working hard at the walk. Energy? That can come out free lunging or lunging. Riding we walk and work. We are going to have the best damn walk before we trot. Then we’re going to have the best damn trot before we work on the canter.

You see, he’s decent to the left at the walk and trot (decent, not good). He’s not good at the walk to the right, but has a fabulous canter to the right (but falls in). His left lead canter doesn’t exist. So we’re missing something. So we can fix those holes by actually not rushing to the next place. I want a lesson where I spend 30 minutes at the walk. My trainer won’t do that? I’ll find someone who will. I’ve also been introducing the clicker and he’s picking it up on the ground. So I played with it undersaddle yesterday and it didn’t seem to break the connection like a pat or “good boy” or “yes” does. So, I’m going with it.

Not much to report. I tried to ride Thursday and Nay tried to hold it together, but there were bugs. And they drew blood. And he was very upset every time they came near him. And he had welts even before our ride. And hives. But I tried anyway.

I actually called the vet before I got on, waving the white flag. She called me back while I was riding and we made the decision to put him on prednisolone through the end of September. It’s helping, not solving the problem, but helping. Instead of fist sized welts, he has half dollar size welts. But, progress.

His skill is still falling off. I’m guessing that will take time. We’re working with microtek spray which seems to be what he tolerates, some antiseptics which may or may not be helping, and that blue stuff lotion (he loves the lotions but I don’t always love using lotion even though it’s Nay’s preference). I tried to spot check some fly spray that I hadn’t tried on his legs so now his legs are a mess with hair and skin falling off even though I shampooed immediately after… Lesson learned.

I rode on Saturday. But, decided to invest in a riding fly sheet. Nay looks ridiculous, but it helped. A lot. Not perfect, but way better.

I have some other stuff going on so my riding will be hit or miss for a few weeks. It’s fine. I just really need to get some stuff done with a hard deadline that takes priority. But, hopefully we’ll get some light rides in here and there.

Before next spring? We’re allergy testing and hopefully can treat so we don’t end up with this hypersensitivity/hyper-reactivity next year. It’s. Not. Fun. I doubt he’s actually allergic to everything, but you never know.

Writing this vs working on my dossier. It’s amazing how I don’t feel like blogging and yet I’m blogging now vs writing the thing I REALLY don’t want to work on.

I haven’t posted in a while because, honestly, all my posts will be is my whining. My horse is, for the most part, fine. But, he’s also not.

Since I got Nay Nay, he’s had issues with summer. Bug bites cause welts or hives, but we’ve gotten through it. Then last summer, he magically developed a fly spray allergy. He did OK with some natural fly sprays and his fly sheets. That was the plan this summer.

Except come July? That plan failed. Complete, utter, fail.

The fly spray we used last summer and, actually, all spring, suddenly stopped agreeing with his body. And his skin decided to slough off. It wasn’t the red, awful chemical burn of last year, but it was painful and not fun.

Thanks to a combination of fly sheets, diluted witch hazel, and microtek, we got through this and life LOOKED like it would get better. And then Nay started getting stung by something. Huge, massive welts. He was already on Zyrtec, but welts anyway.

Then? He developed some sort of fun fungus. We’ve been dealing with that for a couple of weeks. It’s sort of kind of healed, but also spread some. The problem is, air helps the healing, but no fly sheet? He’s covered in welts.

So I compromise and keep his fly sheet off in his stall and he gets bitten and swells. I can’t win.

Yesterday? He decided hives were a good addition to his mystery box of ailments.

We can’t win. Seriously. Wake me when September ends.

I unexpectedly ended up taking 2 lessons this week. Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. I’ve been plotting some lessons with some other area trainers just to get out there and see the sights, but then this whole bolting thing came up. The other lessons are still in the works (text and messenger tag), but right now I’m just content to ride and work through my problems. LOL. We’ll get there. Everything takes time, right?

Anyway, I haven’t taken a lesson in a while. Life got in the way, and I also pretty much got sick for a month. And then I got better and now I’m feeling crappy again? But that’s not the point of this post. I’m pushing through. So Tuesday I hopped on. The weather was LOVELY. But I could tell Nay was…not up but not quiet? I’ve been making it a point NOT to lunge. I’d rather save lunging for when I’m at a strange new place and I need the crutch of the line to save my butt.

He was fine, but a little antsy. We walked and turned and I filled my trainer in on all the happenings. “What do you do when he bolts at the canter?” “I try to work through it vs stopping and being scared.” “I get your reasoning, but it’s not the right response. He needs to know that if he bolts, bad things happen. He’s going to be punished*. Bad things will happen. It will be MORE work for him to bolt than to be good. Halt, back up, immediately send him forward.”

*punishment is a harsh word for something that wasn’t actually “punishment” but rather a course correction, but it was the word we used.

So, we started our warm up with walk trot halts and backs just to get them in the system. He was super stiff to the right so my trainer was very on top of me with my “tug tug” with my inside hand vs just holding inside rein. He very much responds to tug tug and loosens through his back and neck when I apply the appropriate aids. But, he was also having fun looking and/or fake spooking at whatever he could because, why not? But the trot got there. Left was fine so we didn’t do much.

First right lead? Bam bolt. Halt back ask again. We made it further, but the bolting came again at the in gate (there is a theme here). So we continued 3-4 times and it got better and better. He wanted to bolt into the canter before I asked, but started to realize quickly that stopping and backing is freaking annoying and cantering was easier. We finally ended after a nice (3-4 circles around half the ring to the right.

Left? The lead was a little tough to pick up. Anticipation. Let’s toss legs to the inside to the outside. Let’s fight. Something. Lol. But once we got the lead (it only took 2 asks) the canter was lovely. We stayed on half the ring and had no issues…until I was told to canter all the way around. That was too much and down the long side Nay tried the bolt of all bolts. I thought I was coming off. But, I managed to halt, back, and get the canter (and that point we didn’t care about the lead) and then after a circle, asked for the correct lead and all was good.

We ended with a right lead. The plan being? Perhaps he’d try one more bolt and I’d be able to course correct. Nope. Nay picked up the most perfect right lead canter and just stayed there. He’s not stupid. I did asked my trainer if she could fit me in the next day and we settled on an 8am (she wasn’t really teaching that day) so we could work the problem.

On Wednesday, Nay was less than thrilled about the early start. After all, it was breakfast and nap time AND it was drizzling. I was able to get on early and do some bending, tug tugs, backs and halts to loosen him up (oh did that help). When we started, we added to my routine that we start doing the backs and halts at the in gate — fyi the in gate isn’t going to be an issue anymore.

Nay was opinionated to start at the trot. But, the in gate area was quickly fine. So we chose another area and had a whopper of a tantrum. Today’s issue? Trotting in a circle near the viewing area. He didn’t do anything, just squealing and grumping and getting pissy. But we tossed in the halts and backs when he started squealing and grumping (my new term to describe his “I want to be in charge”) and then as his tantrum lessened, pushed him through it vs halting/backing. Eventually, he had a nice loose trot around half the ring and I could circle everywhere. It wasn’t that he was stiff (he actually came out loose), but he didn’t seem to want to.

I said something to my trainer, “He’s not too much horse for me, right? I don’t think he’s trying to get me off.” And her response was, “He’s definitely NOT too much horse. He’s trying to scare you JUST enough so you let him stand around and do whatever he wants. He’s testing you, seeing what he can get away with, and is pissed off that you’re in control. But he’s lazy and gives in really fast because it’s way less work than fighting you and he isn’t actually malicious.” So yeah. There you go. She went on to say mostly I just need to ride hard for a few weeks and he’ll be going around like a lesson horse again.

(we did trot to the left but it was so uninteresting and unimpressive that we didn’t even work on it.)

So the canter. The right lead was actually great. No bolts at all. We added in the halt and back when I found that I lost control and Nay tried to take it. So, we had a nice BIG canter, but it was very controlled 90% of the time. 10% of the time, Nay tried to do more. If I said, easy and he listen, no harm, we’re good. If he didn’t, that’s when we stopped and backed. We actually only had one incident. And mostly I was tired. I need to make sure my inside leg is keeping him out too because if I’m using my right leg effectively, he doesn’t fall in or try anything. Overall, the canter felt great.

The left? When we got it, it was lovely. But, picking up the lead was hell. Mostly that was Nay’s area of fight. But, I just need to be cognizant about my aids, where I’m asking, and how his body is positioned. And, interestingly enough, hold my crop in my outside hand. I’m less worried about the left lead as it’ll come back immediately as soon as I’m fighting less about other stuff.

So yeah. Lots of work. Lots of things to think about. But good working progress. It’s currently thundering right now and I’m worn out so I probably won’t ride today, but I’ll definitely ride the next 3 days. Hopefully we’ll make some good progress.

I really don’t know how to describe my weekend of rides. Disaster and perfection are probably the best words I can use. I mean, that’s an exaggeration. I was no where near perfection (let’s be real), but in comparison to what came before? It FELT that way. And the disaster? I stayed on and no one called 9-1-1 so that’s as close to success as I was going to get. Some rides are just like that when your horse is trying to bolt and keep his head between his front legs…

For whatever reason, I got on Saturday without lunging. I mean, Nay Nay didn’t feel up. In fact, he felt quiet enough. Did he have time off? Yes. But he’s had time off before. So I got on and life was fine. I mean, he didn’t stand still (first sign that something wasn’t right), but we just walked. It was fine. Fine. Fine. And we walked. And trotted. And did some poles. Pretty? Not exactly. But FINE. There were signs that it wasn’t going to be a perfect ride, but there was no spooking or anything.

We were joined in the ring by another horse (who was big and quiet) and Nay Nay pretty much laughed at me and said, “things are not fine.” I decided to trot again and instead of a trot forward, I got a launch and a snort, but we did trot. It was less pretty. But we survived. And Walked.

And there was no more trotting. Seriously. Next time I tried to trot? We cantered. So I said fine. Until I realized I had no power steering. None. Or brakes. Those weren’t there. But, whatever, we cut corners and I just let him canter. I don’t like not being able to steer. It’s more terrifying than not having brakes. I mean, Nay Nay tends not to be that fast even when he bolts… So eventually he was done snort canter galloping to the left and we walked.

And I decided to do the unthinkable. Canter to the right. I mentioned we weren’t steering very well, right? So I still had the draw reins on (thank god). And some idiot decided that my right leg did not exist and we were going to cut off the entire corner of the arena (I noped that). So I nailed him with my inside leg because WTF. And that was not appreciated. Nay said, “I’m the boss.” But, he got out to the rail and our canter was nice. And then… suddenly we were galloping with no brakes. See, we made it down the first long side, around the corner (I still could steer), and then bolted down the other long side when he got his damn head between his legs and tried to hop around (except he doesn’t actually know how to buck with a rider on his back). I managed to stay on and better yet, not hop off immediately and toss him on the lunge line.

I cantered a few more times to the left, mostly in that corner of death working on keeping him from bolting and keeping his head up. We got better-ish, but it wasn’t fun. We ended with a left lead canter which was nice except he spooked when someone stood up on the deck. He wasn’t spooky. He was just in a freaking mood. I kept him cantering and ended. Sometimes you just have to call it a win.

Sunday? I swapped his bit for the 2 ring elevator (we rode with it upside down because he prefers it that way, but I’m going to make him with the correct ring on top lol) and he was a saint. Last time we rode in the elevator? He was miserable. This time? I’ve never seen him happier. I rode on a loose rein, took a feel when I needed to, but otherwise? He was jolly and happy. We had the most lovely ride, gorgeous canters on both leads, and even popped over a couple fences — I let him canter into our final jump and he maintained the most even pace.

So yeah. I give up. Horses. They keep up on our toes.

I have about 6 drafts that I decided not to post for whatever reason. Who knows why? I’ve ridden, I just haven’t had anything interesting to say.

I recently switch the boys to overnight turnout. No one is thrilled, I’m not sure it’ll stick, but I’m trying it anyway. They’re not really out any longer than during the day, but it’s something new to try. Plus, it makes it a lot easier when we have daytime appointments like the farrier, dentist, and vet.

This past week, the dentist was out for the boys’ annual visit. Yep, that’s right, they’ve officially graduated to annual visits. No more every 6 months. Nay was very good, but that was to be expected. He LOVES having his mouth played with. He’s a weirdo, what can I say? And Jiminy? He had one quick fight in him where he hit is butt against his water bucket, got splashed with water, and then was an angel the rest of the time. Truly the best he’s ever been. We didn’t sedate. Maybe that’s a bad thing, but I prefer not to if we don’t need to. Nay thinks it’s all fun and games and Jiminy is just as likely to fight with drugs as he is without. Minis are fun. But, they’re both actually very good for their teeth.

This week? Farrier. We’re having some issues with Jiminy thanks to an over consumption of grass. He’s feeling pretty good now, but I’ve pulled them both off grass for the past couple of weeks, I’m soaking his stall hay, and just double dosing his supplements plus bute as needed. Last thing I needed was another founder. But, James broke the fence, helped himself to the lower field of grass, and well, yeah. Too much for him even muzzled. But, he’s not fat and probably doesn’t even need to lose weight. When my dentist saw him, her first comment was, “I wish my minis were as thin as he is!” He just struggles with sugars even when muzzled. Meanwhile, Nay Nay follows rules and would never walk onto the grass through a broken fence. He’ll only step foot into the lower field when the gate is open for him… Someone has to balance out Jiminy. Anyway, I need to figure out a way to give Nay Nay some grass time now that I’ve revoked Jiminy’s privileges.

Riding wise, we’ve been getting out, but less than I’d like. Jiminy is NOT appreciative of being left alone, but he survives. He just screams a lot. Hopefully he doesn’t annoy the neighbors.

Nay Nay though has been good. Generally quiet though he’s had his days where he’s feeling spicier. It just depends. He’s not necessarily into flatwork and prefers we don’t drill flatwork two days in a row. Me too, Nay, me too. This past weekend, I really worked on the flat on Saturday. I haven’t pulled out the draw reins (I know, I know, but I do use them VERY loosely) in about a month so I tossed them on so try and sort out some leaning issues we’ve been having. The goal was they were there if I needed them (aka a tool), but not a crutch. The past few rides I felt like I was driving a 2×4 and while I could get him to soften, it was a lot of work and we were both frustrated at times. So, with the reins, I was able to make a couple of light corrections early on, help him get rebalanced, and then pretty much not touch them and leave them loopy (I mean, they’re long anyway, but they were loopy when I wasn’t actively using them). This served the purpose I needed, showed me what I needed to work on (left leg, OMG left leg), and we had a fabulous ride. We actually worked on a bunch of figure 8s at the canter, trotting the diagonal (so not quite a simple change), but he was fabulous at waiting for me to ask, getting the lead (sometimes we circled instead), and getting sharp transitions. Overall, it was a great ride.

Sunday was jump day. I tried to do some flat work and we did, but neither of our hearts were in it. I started off with adding the left spur and ended up feeling off balance so I added in the right as well. We also had a million motorcycles fly by and thankfully we didn’t car. We spooked hard at a motor bike on Saturday so this was huge. Then the jumps. We worked on a cross rail and Nay just would not try. I tried to canter and nope. It was pathetic. From here I did a small flower box and we put a touch more effort, but again, boring. We socialized for a while with another horse, rider, and owner that joined us before trying some straw bales. We did just one before going the other way. My plan was to just do one and circle, but we landed and Nay locked in on the second so I made him trot and we continued down to that fence. He was perfect. We did it a second time holding the canter in between and then the other way. Still trotting in, but whatever.

So the landing the second direction…. There was some interesting happenings across the street. There was a sign with Live Crabs 4 Sale. But they were also steaming crabs. And the air smelled like crustaceans. So, Nay was pretty convinced that the corner was death. He wasn’t exactly wrong…

All in all, a good weekend. Hopefully more to come!

Laramie (2006-4/5/2023)

Laramie joined the family in July 2015 to replace a 1999 Dodge Ram 1500 Laramie. A total rust bucket that tried it’s hardest but was doomed from the start. That truck was my mom’s but lived out its last years with me as a farm vehicle. But, as (one of) our mechanics said, “Do you actually like your horses? If so, don’t tow with this thing.” So, at the end of the day, that thing died. It was low mileage. But, it sat prior to our ownership (look for a theme).

In July, we found a 2006 Toyota Tundra (Fun fact, we got the tundra 2 days before Jiminy). Our budget was low. But, we liked the Tundra and didn’t know about the rust years. Lessons. Lessons. I learned to haul with the Tundra. Erik named him Laramie after the Ram. All was good.

And then it wasn’t. We put money into it. Lots. Had a frame scare that I really don’t wish to relive. Had a gas can leak from some squirrel eating a hole in the gas can. Replaced muffler. Replaced ALL the brake work. Multiple times. It was a sinking ship at times, but we went with it because it worked and buying a new truck wasn’t it the cards.

Then we ended up with a fuel leak.

Except Laramie wasn’t leaking fuel. You see, it was transmission fluid or something. And they also found that the frame needed to be replaced. And let’s just not go there.

So, this is where we bit farewell to Toyota (at least for now). There was a time where my driveway resembled a Toyota car lot. But, alas, I no longer own ANY Toyotas and for that I am extra sad. So, yesterday, I drove Laramie for the final time. And we left with a new vehicle. New used vehicle, but whatever.

Goodbye Laramie. I’d liked to say you were good to us, but let me instead say, you were a money pit. You were like a horse. Vet bill after vet bill. But, you taught me a lot. You taught be how to haul and now I move on. And I caution everyone else, NEVER. I repeat NEVER EVER EVER name your truck after a previous rust bucket. It won’t end well.

But for now, please meet Big Blue.

Big Blue is a 2016 Ram 1500 and RUST FREE. Higher mileage. But corporate owned and only serviced by the dealer. He has more bell and whistles than I’d ever need and I still need to think through the process of turning him on let alone using all his extra features (though his backup camera is very much appreciated). Anyway, hopefully he’ll be in the family for a long time to come.

He’s all set up to haul, I just need to pick up a new ball hitch and we’re good to go. And I even learned how to turn off the back up sensors in advance! Lol. I guess this means Nay Nay’s 4 month vacation is coming to an end?