To Dos, Riding and the Escape Artist

I love the weekends. Don’t you?

I love being off work from my day job. I love being able to have a to do list and get it all done. I love being able to spend both days doing whatever I want. 

Yesterday was no exception. It was a great day. It started off with a cup of coffee and pumpkin muffin (OMG so good!) while I caught up on a tv show. Then I headed outside to start barn chores and ride. My biggest goal for Saturday was to get all of the winter blankets cleaned. I was a naughty girl and instead of cleaning them and putting them away last Spring, I left them hanging over the unused stall wall in the barn. Needless to say they collected a TON of dust and spider webs. So one by one I pulled them out, hosed them off and got them all cleaned up. I was actually surprised how easily they cleaned up. They weren’t that dirty besides just being dusty. 

Next on the list was to ride before it warmed up. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before on the blog or not but Rumor we’ve learned has allergy problems which seem to get worse in Fall. She coughs more and her breathing is more labored. It’s wierd though, she breathes harder when she is just walking around then when she’s loping. But she cools out quick and easy. I’ve started her on Smart Breathe from Smartpak to see if that will make any difference, but it’s still to early to tell.

So anyway,Gracie was a little tender footed the other day so I put the Soft Ride boots on her. Of course, they came off in the pasture somewhere so I figured Rumor and I could have an easy day of riding and just search the 12 acres of pasture to see if I could find them. Searched for an hour. Found one. These boots are slowly becoming the death of me.

Since I wasn’t planning to do a hard ride I didn’t put on jeans or boots, I just saddled up and rode in my shorts and tennis shoes. I don’t know why but in the 10 years I’ve been riding western again, not once have I rode in shorts. I still had the english frame of mind that the stirrups would rub my legs. Let me tell you, I think I will ride in shorts everyday until it’s too cold! OMG was it so great! LOL. I didn’t want to stop riding so I ended up working Rumor in the arena and we had a great ride. I’ve been taking it a little easy on her this week because she’s felt off. Not off as in lame but like something just isn’t right. I’m crazy in tune with my horses and how they move, so the littlest change is extremely noticeable and I pick up on it right away. Then my worry wart mind goes to worst case scenario. I really have to stop that. I always think worst case first. 

So let me insert a previous day right here real fast. Last time I rode Rumor she was bending great to one direction but was stiff to the other. She also hasn’t wanted to move out and she’s getting a little girthy when I tack up. Lastly, I always stretch her legs before I get on and she doesn’t want to stretch out like she normally will. So instead of riding one day I spent time massaging her which helped me find where some of the tight spots were and gave me a better idea of where potential problems might be. After that I called the Chiro and scheduled a visit for Tuesday night. 

Ok so back to Saturday. While working her in the arena I decided to push a little harder. I wanted to make sure that she wasn’t pulling a fast one on me, so I asked her to trot faster and do tighter circles. Surprisingly, she didn’t feel that bad which led me to question if I had let her get away with not doing enough and she was getting lazy on me. Regardless though, I still think there are some issues so the Chiro is coming. My guesses on those issues – (1) I think her rib cage has twisted some because the saddle is slipping more, (2) I think her sternum is probably out because of the ribs being off, (3) prob has a rib out of place too since this is typical of barrel horses, (4) She def has something going on in her neck. 

So that’s that with Rumor. After riding, the final to do for horse chores, was to bathe the horses. I was able to get Rumor and Gracie washed up but then my fireman called and needed help finishing up a remodel job he has been working on. So I headed out to help him. Sunday’s To do list will now have bathing Te and Jet on it.

Fast forward a few hours. I get home head back to the barn to do evening barn chores and low and behold the escape artist has broke another stall guard and had gotten into the feed room and was eating feeding out of the trash can. I about lost it. I didn’t know whether to cry or be angry. Jet is constantly breaking the guards and getting out of his stall. I’ve had to replace two bags of treats already because he’s eaten them when he’s gotten out. Heck one time I actually had the treats in a tub that would not open unless you had super woman strength, yet he still got it open. This time was the final straw though. I’m tired of worrying about him getting out. I’m tired of replaced stall guards. I told the fireman it’s time for him to finish the stalls and get stall doors hung. That’s the only sure fire way to keep that horse from getting out. A stall door post will be coming soon! 😉

 

So Tell Me..

How has your weekend been? What was on your to do list?