Blessed and grateful

 Today was a good day! I decided that it was worth it to take Dan to Ashland for a quick hack even though I was taking both girls (separately) to Ashland for lessons. I miscalculated and ended up rushing to make it to my lesson with Funny on time, which meant very little time to hack for her, but.. it was worth it. I didn't want to do an arena ride with Dan and I could have done the neighborhood, but... meh. And I thought about charlie Elliot but I couldn't find the hunting days calendar, so... Ashland it was. By the time I fed, dropped off the recyclables and picked up my contacts, I didn't have much time but we went anyways. 

 

I rode in my cowboy boots since we rode bareback and I just brushed off the saddle and girth area and off we went. We had a grand time! We just enjoyed each others' company... the beautiful weather.... God's peace... the scenery! It was a lovely day! 

 

And.... I'm grateful. I did say that if I could *only* do this, it would be okay. And... I hope that in an effort to get more, I won't ruin what I do have. But I still feel like it's the right choice. I was listening to a podcast and started to question my decision, and God gave me 3 hawks! One right even hanging out at Countryside as I drove by on my way home from getting my contacts. :) Thanks God! I'm sorry for needing signs, but thank you. 

 

So, in the meantime, we'll keep enjoying our bareback hacks and each others company! We also did our water treadmill today, but walk only. :) I think he had fun!

 

Later when I went out to catch Lyric for her ride, he came up to me for snacks. And then after I walked to get Lyric he came trotting up after me. Yes... I know, I'm sure he wanted more snackies (and he got some) but it still made me happy. He was quite snuggly today. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoying all the things

 Today Dan and I went for a walk hack. And it was lovely. We had lovely weather, lovely friends, and he was happy! We had a great time enjoying each other. 

 

We met Kelli but she rode in the arena first. I hopped on bareback and took Dan out to XC and we did a short walk to the lake and back while she did her arena work. It was nice. We saw Mackenzie and said hi to them and he got to see and snuggle with Jacel. Some other nice Dad whose daughter had a cute appy came up and gave him pats. I did warn him. Hee hee. Mackenzie laughed about having people sign a waiver before they pet him. Hee hee. She got snuggles too. (It wasn't today but apparently two days ago was "Hug a drummer" day and there was a photo of Animal... ha ha!). We carried on and hacked through raccoon loop and we had a talk about whether we should do surgery or not. I couldn't tell for sure but he seemed like he was willing to give it a go. He was pretty happy trail riding today though, so.. maybe it would be enough. But he also seemed pretty happy when I was talking about doing surgery and stall rest and potentially being able to do more. 

 

We got back to the arena as Kelli was finished so her and Marvin joined us and we headed back out. We had a nice hack and finished in the water complex and walked a few laps to help his shoulder out. Oh, we also did some splashing in the lake. It was just a nice enjoyable day! 

 

I had hosed him off as he was a bit sweaty because it had warmed up substantially and he's hairy! But I guess there's no point in clipping him if we're doing surgery. When we got home he rolled and he flipped over repeatedly... and was on his right side down when he got up and got up just fine. So... that helped me feel better about surgery and recovery. And I saw a big fat hawk sitting on the fence post on our way to Ashland and another flew over us (definitely a hawk, not a buzzard) on our trail ride... and then a crow hung out at the water complex with us the first time... so... maybe all good signs from God!??

 

 

 

Farrier... vet.... aurora borealis!

 Farrier this am

talked about padding high foot, also helping sweeney but opted to wait... had to stand for a long time because no russel to help.... and then patrick left the pour in pad stuff at home so we had to wait for his wife to bring and Dan was SOOOO chill. 

then ran to the vet. Really impressed actually. also a farrier and immediately put a pad on the right front (with coflex) to see if it changed things. It did help but he also tripped a good bit more. flexed behind and was really only positive to lower limb on the right. talked about things and ended up ultrasounding his upper suspensories.... recommended surgery -fasciotomy only - on the right side. Left side was pretty normal. 

Lots to consider.... 6 months rehab, including small paddock/stall rest that whole time. cost. fairly good prognosis considering the hock only.... but also have the other issues to deal with. anesthesia recovery risk is higher with the sweeney.... may not get much higher than 3rd level or jump because of the shoulder, so.. is it worth it to do surgery/rehab on the suspensory? But he's still sore and painful. This has been a big culprit a long time... looking back he's been injected in his hocks every 4-6 months the past 1.5 years... and multiple vets have focused in on it... barrow, keelin, marquez, .... 

ultimately.... totally worth it, except... rehab. :( stall rest specifically.

headed home and turned him out. 

aurora borealis for the second time this year!!!!

Quickie and monsters

 Quick ride after work

monsters are up for halloween. also the deer were out in the scary corner 

golf cart by the cabin was scary though. Nothing else ;)