Rebel vs. The Cutting Wheel (hint: Rebel didn't win)

I sometimes seriously hate living 2 hours away from Rebel. Because when I get pictures like this sent to me I would prefer to be able to check this shit out in person...

Holymotherofgod... you're texting me from the hospital right?

Call me crazy, but I'm pretty sure that's gonna leave a mark...

You're not at the hospital? How? Why? What the...? Oh, never mind...

The text that proceeded the pics said something to the effect that he'd had a sucky day and that his arm was a little sore. No shit? I'm glad you still have an arm, babe. Seriously. 

He assures me they are all under a 1/2" deep. I'm pretty sure most doctors are stitching that shit up after just a few centimeters... but I can understand about not wanting stitches. I feel the same way. However, I'm feeling like we need to have the "when was your last tetanus shot?" discussion and the "if you're not going to the hospital then at least super glue that shit shut after copious amounts of cleaning" convo.

*gag* 

Glad he's OK and that all of his limbs (and digits) are still present and accounted for. But seriously, stop picking fights with things that are going to kick your ass. Just sayin'...

Seven, Day 1...

The pony got a new name yesterday. Hanna's hubbie saw a picture of him and called him Seven. It really seems to fit his personality... 7 is the number of infinity and he seems to have infinite possibilities. The number 7 also represents the 7-headed snake in biblical mythology and I'm pretty sure I saw all 7 last night (loving, bratty, inquisitive, pushy, tentative, obedient and indifferent). Yup... definitely a good name for this guy.

So, not to be one to waste time I decided to pull Seven out of his pen last night and saddle him up and pony him off of Flash. I figured this would give me a good idea of what I'm really dealing with as far as where the training gaps are. He has the Parelli stuff down when in an environment he knows, but I needed to see what I'm up against when faced with a lot of new things (because endurance racing is nothing but a whole lot of new things over and over and over again... new places, new horses, new trails, new obstacles, etc).

I tied him to the trailer next to Flash and began my saddling ritual... groom, pick feet, saddle up and go. He did fine on the grooming part. We had to do some work on the feet part. He tried to snatch his feet away from me so we just worked through it and in no time I had all 4 feet picked out. Then I introduced him to fly spray. This did not go well... but I just kept spraying until he stood still... then I stopped. And then I repeated what I was doing. He wasn't thrilled by the end but he did get the general idea. Then it was saddle time. He had no problem with this at all... but I did take off the breast collar and the stirrups for our first trip out.

This saddle stuff is easy...

Just keep that fly spray away from me...

We did have a small problem with patience while standing tied. That lesson will come. Flash kept trying to tell him not to fret, but Seven wasn't really listening. And I just ignored him until he was standing nicely... then I gave him a ton of praise. I will say he was a tad amped up after the fly spray, but that's fine. He needs to learn to work through new things without having a melt-down. This will just be one of many lessons to come.

Then it was time to head off to the trails. Flash was a saint and put up with Seven crashing into him every time he saw something scary (which was all the time... sheesh). I finally took my foot out of the stirrup and he got a boot toe in the side every time he invaded our space. Not sure he was grasping the concept, but it was getting better towards the end. He was a very forward horse, which is good. However, his default response to scary stuff was to bolt. Not good. Need to make sure that there are very good brakes before we go venturing out on our own.

He handled the hills pretty well, picking his way carefully down. However, when it came to crossing the road we had a bit of a mishap. I wasn't really paying attention and didn't realize that he was having serious issues with the big, white, scary stripe of death on the road. Seven took one look at that and hurled himself over the line. Bonus: he jumps quite nicely. But we had to go back across the big, white, scary stripe of death several times before he would just nicely step over it. And the last time he actually even stepped on it. Good boy.

He also handled other horses running and bucking in their pasture next to the trail like a champ. He stopped and checked them out and was content to just stand. Good boy. However, he was not a fan of the dogs stopping to check stuff out on the side of the trail and then come up behind him and pass...

Why does that fluffy marshmallow feel the need to be behind me?

Seven: You'll protect me right?

Flash: Get off me dude...

Flash was pretty forgiving of Seven through most of the ride, although he did give him cranky ears a few times to tell him to get out of his bubble. And Seven is very bad at yielding to pressure while being ponied. Definitely need to do some work there. But overall, he did pretty well considering.

However, when we got back to the trailer he had another blow-up. I tied him to the back of the trailer instead of to the side where Flash was (because he can paw to his heart's content back there and I don't care). Seven decided he didn't like that and started acting like a toddler who was told that they couldn't have that piece of candy. It was quite funny actually. I remember Flash pulling those same antics. And Seven learned last night what Flash learned when he was young... asshole horses stand tied to the trailer until they aren't acting like assholes anymore. 

You could actually see the hamster running in his little noggin... he just couldn't figure out why I wasn't running to correct him, sooth him, whatever. Finally after about 15 minutes he decided to just stand there, at which point I walked up to him and began giving him some love. But he's going to get tied to the trailer by himself for a while every night. And if he's good it'll be a quick grooming session, some love and back to the pen. If he's a jerk, then he'll stay tied until he's not a jerk anymore. It only took Flash a few times to figure out that it's just not worth it. I'm pretty sure that Seven will be the same. Good horse gets love. Bad horse gets ignored. Simple as that...

I think this is going to be a fun training project. And it'll be a good reminder for when I get Goodwin going too...

The new pony...

Let me just say that yesterday was a loooong day. Long.

It was an 11 hour turn-and-burn trip to pick up the new horse in Ridgefield, WA. Mags decided to come along and keep me company (thank you!!) and Rebel expressed the fact that he wished he could have joined me (made me feel special). And even though the day didn't start out quite like I wanted (bad Hutch!! bad!!) it did turn out OK.

I was supposed to use Hutch's truck and trailer to pick up the new pony to save on gas. However, at 3:36am she decided that she was going to go to Lebenon, OR instead to pick up a horse her aunt had found for her. Needless to say, I was not pleased. Well, super pissed actually. But I had already made commitments and people were expecting me to show up so the trip went forward.

I decided to take Flash too, to keep the new pony company. Turned out that was a good move. The trip up was uneventful. We stopped briefly in Portland and then finally made it to the farm. KA was there to meet us and I laid eyes on Cat for the first time. He was a tad on the scrawny side, but that'll be no problem to fix. That boy does like to eat and he'll be muscling up soon.

So I spent some time getting to know him, filled out the paperwork and then proceeded to introduce him to the concept of loading. He's really only been on transport trailers, so this was new to Cat. KA wasn't really experienced in loading and had no problem letting me take charge. After a little examination of the trailer (and Flash showing him how it's done) he hopped right on and rode quietly back to the farm.

Getting off the trailer was a little more interesting. He decided to try backing all the way off which kind of scared him a bit so I decided to load and unload him again (this time letting him turn around) and he did much better. Plus he actually got back on the trailer without too much fuss. Good boy!!

And then he saw the goats. He decided they are the spawn of the devil. Can't really blame him...

Then it was time to introduce him to his new digs. I decided to put him in the dry lot next to Cowboy. He hasn't been on pasture at all this year, so throwing him out there didn't seem like the best idea. Might be a bit of a shock to the system. He's got a big pen to roam around in plus a run-in shed when the weather isn't the best. Also, he won't have to fight for food. The plan for now is to keep a lot of hay in front of him and try to start putting a little more weight on.

Anybody  over there?

Out of my way, woman. I have things to check out...

Oh hai!!

Oh hay!!

Where are you going? Don't you want to be my best

friend forever and ever?

He seems to be doing pretty well (minus trying to rip down the panels between the lots and hanging out with Cowboy... the panels held up just fine). Tomorrow I'll let him wear a saddle and I'll pony him out on the trails near the house. Time for his trail horse education to begin.

BTW, what do you guys think of the name Cat? Or should I change it to something else?

One-sided...

Question. Is there a whole lot of crazy planetary astrological shit going on or something? Because the last few weeks have been, well, strange. And weird. Very weird.

For those of you that are fellow bloggers, you'll understand what I'm talking about. For the rest of you, let me explain how this works. I write at night. Usually between the hours of 10pm and midnight. And then I set the post to publish 12 to 14 hours later. So, I'm writing like today is Friday (even though right this moment it is actually Thursday night). I have done this for a long time and therefore I don't really give it any thought. I also have it set up to post to my Facebook. Again, I really don't give it much thought.

However, people who have more time on their hands at work than I do, do give it some thought apparently. I got called into the HR office last week and was accused of writing my blog during work. There was a formal write-up sheet about it and everything. I listened to the whole spiel and then explained how this bloggin' thang actually works. Needless to say, the sheet was torn up and that was that.

But it was weird. Very weird. Couldn't someone have just picked up the phone and asked me? After all, by the time this thing actually posts I've most likely forgotten what the hell I've written about anyway. This thing is my brain dump, after all.

So, there was that. And then I had a very strange interaction with the landlords last week too. Flash, as you know, is injured. His back is ouchie and so Hutch kindly decided to let me borrow her mare Scout for a few months. Hutch already boards a horse at my place, so the landlords know her well. Hutch and I decided the best thing to do would be to swap out horses and have Scout at my place (so I could ride out from the property) and put Flash in with her horses for some R&R. Easy. I texted the LL's to let them know what I was doing. Then when I picked up Scout I had a face-to-face convo with them again about what I was doing. And then I packed up Flash and took him to Hutch's place.

And then I got this text message as I was on my way home: We need to talk about things before making changes because we need to know. We might take on more boarders & we need to manage what's coming and going.

Hmmm... ok. I'm pretty sure that a text and in-person convo should cover that, but whatever. Basically, nothing changed except the color of the horse. It was weird. Very weird.

And then at the beginning of this week I had a place for rent basically fall into my lap. It's a place to rent on 5 acres that is a little closer to work and has trails right off the property. I will be saving $150 month and can have whatever horses I want out there. So, I'm moving in mid-October as well.

Oh, and Rebel showed up on Thursday (thinking it was actually Friday) and stayed until Tuesday. That was a nice surprise. I was missing him a lot. He'll be back next week to watch the pups while I'm in San Diego.

And then as I was cruising Facebook one day and I saw this needing a home...

CatDancer...

He's 7 and there is just something about that face (I had the same reaction when I saw Flash for the first time, too). So I'm picking up a new horse this weekend. He will be the replacement for Storm, who is not even pasture sound anymore despite me throwing all kinds of money at her *sad face* I'm going to let her enjoy the pasture until it plays out and then I will be putting her down. Considering how rough last winter was on her (when she was actually walk/trot sound) it seems the kindest thing to do.

Wow. So many things happening at once. But I'm pretty excited about the new horse. I'll post pics when I have him home and settled in...

A fungus among us...

*sigh*

Flash has had this weird spot on his back for the past few weeks. It's right along his spine and is flaky and itchy and the hair is starting to come in white there. At first I thought it was no big deal... a little dry skin and it didn't seem to bother him when I touched it. I decided to put some ointment on it and see what happened. I rode him last Thursday and he was fine and the spot seemed to be about the same.

Happy horse ready to move out...

Halfway through the ride and still a pretty happy horse...

Last night when I pulled him from the pasture to ride with Honey I checked his back again. This time when I touched the spot he flinched... and not just a little. A lot. And then he gave me a look like "Don't touch that thing, woman... it hurts". So of course I did what any mother does, I pushed on it more. I mean, this is the horse that has never had a sore back in his life. Never.

After consulting with Honey, we decided it must be the new pad I bought him back in June creating a hot spot. Which sucks because that thing was expensive. The pad I had been using was just a cheap fleece thing. Guess I'll be looking for something different. But for now he's going out to Hutch's place to hang out with Commander and Melody while I bring Scout back to my place and put some rides on her.

So last night, I ended up riding one of Honey's horses... Frank. He's a good boy that was more than happy to go in any direction I pointed him. Honey rode bobble-head and we had a great time.

Can you tell I've lost weight? I'm down 11 pounds :)

Plus I'm on a tall horse... that never happens.

View of the river through Frank's ears...

Honey enjoying a ride, some wine and the sunset...

So now that I'm down a riding horse or two, I have some things to think about. Storm has come up lame again. Years before I got her she had an injury to her stifle and it fused. This past year it was doing pretty well and then in the last few months she's taken a major turn for the worse. I had the vet come out and do another injection, but she is still dead lame and the vet doesn't give her much of a chance of ever being sound again. I'll offer her back to the previous owner, but if she doesn't want her I'm considering putting her down. It does sound harsh, but if she's not going to improve then it seems the kindest thing.

And then there's Goodwin. He's doing just fine and seems to be growing up rather than out (which is too bad... I like my horses low to the ground in case ass and saddle ever part ways). He has a good personality and seems pretty trainable. I need to start putting some serious work on him and will probably bring him back to my place in November and get working on that. However, in the meantime I stumbled across another Arab that has really caught my eye. His price is right and he's already started. I guess we'll see where that goes.

In the meantime, Scout and I will be blazing the trails together. Should be fun...

It's official. I suck...

Oh man. I seriously need to get a grip, people.

I have 3 blogs started... one about Pacific Crest (which I'm still up in the air about posting because it's not all rainbows and butterflies), one about trying to deal with a long distance relationship (in which I totally spill my guts and then remember that people probably don't actually want to hear about that shit) and then one about me lamenting over the fact that I'm not racing this weekend and that I'm sad. Boo hoo...

They are all bad, folks. Really, really bad.

Have I lost it? Have I lost my blogging mojo?

*sigh*

The fact is this: I have a great life, a great boyfriend, some awesome friends and the best family a person could ask for. Things on the job front aren't the best, but I just let that one go (unless it's been a particularly bad day). I feel like the things I'm writing about are things that people really don't really want to read about. They want drama. And other than the long-distance dating thing (which kinda sucks, by the way), I really don't have any. The Pacific Crest blog could definitely stir up some drama (again, not all rainbows and butterflies) but I'm just not sure I want to go there.

*sigh*

So, what's a blogger to do?

I guess I just need to get back in the swing of things again. It's not like I don't have time... Rebel's not due back in town for a few weeks (might have to rethink that, though... I miss him). I guess I just need to find my voice again. With all the hubbub of the summer, I've kind of lost it.

So stick with me, folks. I promise it will get better...

Tee it up...

God bless Labor Day... and the 3-day weekend it provides those of us with paid holidays off.

Rebel decided to make the trip North and come up for the extended weekend. We hadn't really talked about what we wanted to do, so the weekend was open for all options. Earlier in the week, Honey and DT had suggested playing some golf out at Pronghorn as a 4some. I wasn't sure how Rebel would feel about that... after all, it had been about 15 years since he had played. But when he rolled into town on Friday night I threw the idea out there and he wasn't too opposed to the idea. He wasn't exactly thrilled about it either. So we made plans to golf on Sunday afternoon and then hit the pool.

On Saturday, Rebel and I hit a few National Parks around Central Oregon and did a fair amount of hiking. First we went to Lava Butte. We didn't get a chance to drive to the top (darn) but we did hike around the couple of miles of trail around the bottom.

Lots of lava and pretty mountains...

It's much more impressive in person...

Not so successfully getting a picture of us both...

Rebel and the lava...

BTW, are we both looking any thinner? We're both on a diet and doing well. Rebel is down 13 pounds and I'm down 7. Woo!!

After we went to Lava Butte, we then headed over to the Lava River Cave a little ways down the road. Rebel was prepared with flashlights, although you could rent a lantern for $5 if you needed. It was about a mile and a half to the end (where it's caved in) and it was very cool to see all the formations of rock. It was also about 50 degrees, so take a coat when you go.

Looking down into the cave...

Looking up at the entrance from the cave...

After that adventure, we headed over to the Lava Cast Forest and took a hike around there. I didn't get a good picture, but basically the "forest" is holes in lava in the shape of the trees that then burned out. It's pretty cool... and a nice hike.

Looking out over the "forest"...

A Juniper tree root ball that had no where to grow because of the lava...

We were both tired when we got home from all of the hiking.

On Sunday, we met up with Honey and DT and headed out to play some golf. Honey and Rebel hadn't played much, but they both did really well. We were the last group off on the Fazio course (beautiful course) and were moving kind of slow because we were all taking multiple shots off the tees. So we only really played 9 holes and then we headed over to the pool to swim. Honey also brought her twin daughters to come hang at the pool and they had a great time as well.

By the time we got home Sunday night, I was done. I almost passed out while eating dinner I was that tired.

On Monday we were thinking about going to the river and hanging out and doing some swimming and hiking. Instead, Rebel suggested we go to the driving range and practice a bit and then head out and finish playing Fazio. So that's what we did. Rebel used the demo set of clubs (a really nice set of Titlist clubs) and he really started getting his swing down. Then we headed out and played 10 through 18 and had a blast. It was just the 2 of us and we were in between two 4somes so we weren't rushed at all. We had a good time and we both played pretty decent. Then we headed to the pool again. We ate, we drank and just generally had a good time. By the time we left, we were the only ones at the pool still.

What a fun weekend. But this morning Rebel had to head back to the ranch. I definitely wish we lived in the same town, but I know he's got things to do. At least I always have fun memories to tide me over when we're apart...