Giving the big boy to... Mom?????

Ok, so in anticipation of the future lay up, I have been trying to show my mom how to go about doing the daily chorse, so she can help out... The only problem??  Im not patient enough, and she has no foundation.  The result?  Disaster.  Ok, this is going to be a rant I guess.  As much as I THANK GOD that my mom is there to help, and she loves my horse, and loves to be needed, it is going to be SOOOO hard to give over the lead rope the day of my surgery.  Here is why...

1.  THAT IS MY BABY ON THE OTHER END OF THE ROPE! (please treat him kindly.  Iron fist, velvet glove... you know?)

2.   If you get hurt mom, Im gonna feel SOO bad! (Please be careful.  that beast weighs like 1200 lbs! He does not care about your feelings.  He only cares about flight or food.  not much fight in him, but maybe some "Im in charge". So watch out!  ANTICIPATE)

3.  Seriously? Thats not safe. (No, it is not safe to get distracted, turn tight circles, stop what you are doing to pick something up or tidy up... you get the idea)

4.  How could you not have even seen that one coming?  He was projecting that for like 3 whole seconds... (I mean seriously, he was looking over there -----> and was pinning his ears, and was pulling, and being his rude self...)

So how the heck am I going to get my mom to safely take him in and out of the barn, feed him, not get shocked on hotwire, and still like it when the month is over?  Oh geez... this is a tough one.  Any ideas? lol

Money Problems

As most of you know, I have an ACL reconstruction surgery scheduled for March 1st.  There are several goods and bads that are going to come with this surgery, but mainly this is the list:

Goods:
1.  I will finally have a stable knee!

Bads:
1.   6 months with no riding.
2.   Terrible Pain
3.   Problems taking care of / training my horse
4.  Money matters

The 6 months no riding will be hard, but duable.  I'll be in too much pain for the first few moonths to even think about it.  The taking care of my horse is manageable... friends and family will come around.  But the money... BIG PROBLEM!  My deductible is $2,000, and then after that I pay 20%, up to a max of $2,000 more.  And that doesn't include physical therapy.  I know, your probably thinking, its only $4000, right?  FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS!  I'm pretty much freaking out because I owe on my student loans (way more than 4000) and I owe for the tires I had to by a few months back, and now this.  And to top it all off, I still have not gotten a raise.  7 months at the same office, and not even a 10 cent raise.  Cheap company.  Sooo... If anyone knows of a good fund raising idea... let me know!  I'm pretty desperate at this point, and getting ready to clean up the 4Runner to sell it and pay the up front deductible.  :(  sad day.

Great Rides!

The last few days have been very productive.  Even though my knee surgery is looming, Will and I have had some triumphant rides.  He now consistently stays at the trot, and only on occasion pins the ears and hops or bucks lol.   Last night we rode the whole arena, big figure 8's, and then went to the Big Circle, Little Circle exercise.  After that, we went back to figur 8's and did a stop and go excercise to keep him from stopping all on the forehand.  He did exellent! 

After the good rides he is so funny!  He gets all lovey dovey and docile, as if he were saying, "Didnt I do good mom?  Im such a good boy, huh?" 

Fakity Faker!

So the vet finally came out to check on the lame horse.  As I got him ready for the exam, the vet asked me to take off his boots and trot him for a bit.  No lameness was present, so I continued to trot him, then cantor him in both directions for close on to half an hour.  The answer?  The fakity faker Thoroughbred was FAKING!

Turns out he may have injured himself a few weeks ago, and has been worried that he would feel pain, when in truth, the pain was gone, or he learned that if he limped, he would get to stop working.

So I saddled him up and rode him for a solid hour.  He argued many many times, but I won every time, and by the end of the lesson, we were trotting in big figure 8's the whole length of the arena!  Win for me!

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA

This really sums it up.  All the horse is doing is yawning a big one!  And look at that kids face!!!!!  It is HILARIOUS!  That poor kid probably grew up in some big suberban house and played soccer bunch ball and only goes to the "country" for a pic-nick twice a year.  Can't you just see it!  "look mommy! A pony!  OH MY GOD!!!!!! AAAAAAAH A PONY!!!!" - as he screams and wonders when the heck he is gonna get back into the city to eat Tofu and get back on his skate board complete with helmet, wrist, knee and elbow pads.  LOVE it?  Oh yeah!  Cowgirl UP!

Somethings are better bitter...

You know when you are expecting everything to be perfect, and WHAM... it hits you and it sucks?  And its bitter, and terrible... like when your horse comes up lame, and you have to spend tons of time wondering what the heck is wrong, and soaking his hoof, and worrying... and then on top of everything he eats plastic so you are on poop patrol... you know??

Well...

I have decided that some things are just better that way.  Better bitter.  And this is why:
I went to feed my boy last night, and besides the freezing cold, and the stupd duct tape boot he has on, I was really looking forward to just seeing him and his big kind eyes.  I opened the stall door, and he swung his head around and just plopped it into my chest.  I just held on to his big head and scratched his ears and loved him up... yeah, it sucks that he is on stall rest, and he can't go outside to play, but he has gotten really very sweet... so the bitter is better, it kind of turns sweet.

My COWGIRLS!

I gave my niece a pair of cowgirl kickers- those cowgirl boot slippers that are all fuzzy and warm... Her first pair of anything remotely resembling cowboy boots.  And bright pink to go with it!
I gave them to her kind of late at night, and she was all tucked in her moms arms, trying to fall asleep, holding 4 binkeys and a blanket.  I left them with her mom, only after enthusiastically saying "Look!  Cowgirl boots!!!!"

Later in the evening, I got a voice mail from her mom.  "You will never believe what she did!  She put the slippers on and said, 'Oh my cowgirls!  YeeHaw!!!  Ride Horsey??' And ran to get her horse-on-a-stick!"

See?  I am the coolest Aunt in the WORLD!  Im the cowgirl aunt!  Bring it on world!  Im gonna make little cowgirls out of all my nieces!

Lame :( But Trailer is coming along!

A few days after christmas, my horse was working on long lines and he started limping on his left front.  So we immediatly stopped working, and I cleaned out his foot and soaked it.  No apparent Abscess though.  So we called out a farrier - still nothing (only a possible one, but we arn't sure).  So my little brave boy is going to be in stall rest for a while.  I am suspecting a sprain from running outside in mud... but it could be worse, like a navicular bone problem... we will have to wait and see, and if he doesn't get better... off to the vet we go. 

Which brings me to my second point... The TRAILER!  It is coming along!  Not long now before it will be ready to use and I'll be able to trainer my boy to the vet and not have to pay the 50$ farm call cost!