DanoMITE!

 Danimal was EXPLOSIVE today!!! Rawr!! He was a bit bouncy on Thursday but today was way worse! Luckily I rode Fleck first with Peri and George. And even Fleck was a bit rowdy.  So then Kelli joined me with Dan. He was bouncing straight up in the air from about 6 strides into the ride til about 15 minutes in. I thought for a few minutes I was going to have to abandon the trails and hit the arena to avoid hitting the dirt. But finally he settled, took a breath, and moved forward instead of up and down and we were able to take a nice hack. He even relaxed enough by the end to go on the buckle. Phew... I was not wanting to hit the arena. We needed some trails!

New Ride!!!!

So... the planets aligned and I was able to buy a friends truck - a 2003 Ford 350 Dually Diesel!! With the good 7.3L engine. :) I was able to buy it outright, so no payments, which means... I could then finance a new trailer. So.... I did it! I bought a 2+1 and plan to use the +1 part as my tack room. I had them insulate it and add air and heat and a cowboy shower. I'm so excited. Now I can stay in my trailer and not have to get a hotel room. It's so exciting!!

I ended up having to go Wednesday to pick it up in Virginia. Which is way better than Delaware which is where it was originally. They shipped it to Virginia for the additions so I only have to get it from there. It was a 5.5 hour drive there, so really not too bad. However, I was supposed to be there at 1, but when I got there at 12:30, they said it would be a few more hours. Ugh... So I hung out, visited a park, shopped at the amish store, and then did some work scheduling people while I waited. It wasn't too bad. And it was worth it. It's so cool!!! The drive home was worse.... in the dark with the new trailer. And it took me a little closer to 6 plus hours. I left my house at 5:45 am, drove from Georgia to North Carolina, to Tennessee, then to Virginia, then back to Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and finally back to Georgia. 715 miles total. But I was able to get the trailer down the driveway. 

Turning it around is another story. It's going to take me a few tries to figure out the best way to do it. Doh! But we took it on the maiden voyage today!!! Yay! It was so good to be back at Ashland. 

Although dingbat.... was only in there by himself for about 12 minutes total while I rode Fleck... and he chewed up the breast bar already. Seriously DAN?!!!!!! Ugh... such a brat!

He was feisty today too! He may have reared up about 7 times but behaved and didn't do anything more than bounce up. :) 

Regardless of his antics and shenanigans I am forever thankful for this crazy kid. Today is Thanksgiving Day so I suppose I shall do a sappy thankful post. :) I'm so blessed... so very blessed. I really am grateful for all that God has given me and blessed me with. Dan is such a fun, goofy, quirky, silly, happy kid and I just adore him. I hope that we will have many more years of fun!

Getting the hang of riding at home

So... Danny is behaving at home now! And we're getting the hang of "Jail life". ;) He's being super good. I think it helps that his stomach is feeling better too. 


We had a ride today. We did some walk work and even did a teeny bit of haunches in and shoulders in and one turn on the forehand and one turn on the haunches in each direction. I also asked him to trot for about 10 steps to see if he felt sound. He was perfect and he felt good. He also wasn't back sore today, so.... fingers crossed he's all good and we can get the green light for upping the work in two weeks!
 
Fleck is getting the hang of it too and was a good boy.  

After our ride we went to the fence line and let the neighbors daughter, Emmy, pet the horses. Dan is good but greedy with her. She's a cute kid. 

Then I gave Dan his stuffed elephant to play with. He liked it!

Twirly Twirly Twirly

 

Rough Day for Dan

(this post should be before the other one. Oh well, I can't figure out how to fix it). 
Today was a big day for Dan!

First he got dewormed with TWO dewormers!! He had a high egg count (Fleck was zero!) so we had to give him two different types. Then Dr. Diane was coming to do dentals. So I attempted to ride him this morning before then, but she showed up early so I only got about 25 minutes into the ride.  He was being kind of a butt.

So then she looked at him and I got to pick her brain about EPM, the muscle tears, the ulcers, and the tongue thing. She said that his teeth weren't bad but that if he was a wimp, that could explain the tongue thing. We also switched his bit to Fleck's old bit since it was thinner and fit his mouth well. Then she said that she felt like his butt was still super super sore, especially more medial than where the tear was. He kept doing that "popping" thing where he'd almost buckle his pelvis. She's worried that perhaps he has another muscle tear a bit higher/more medial and that's why he's buckling. Great...... that's all we need. Although she felt like his issues were more pain related than neuro and she doesn't think he has EPM. So at least there's that. She did say his ulcer points were still pretty hot. Poor kid. He's only had 6 full doses though. But anyways, he got drugged and got his teeth done. He was a good boy.

So then he got tossed out while I went to work. When I got home I got all paranoid about that muscle spot. So... I worked on him. I did some energy type/masterson type work and got lots of releases. It's interesting because the less I did, the more zoned out and quiet he got. I got a lot of good releases. Then I did some acupuncture and even hooked him up to the electricity. He did great!! 

So yep.. big day for Big D. Hopefully this will help him feel better. And hopefully our trailer will come before Nov 30th, so that we can get to his recheck appointment. I'm going to see if she can ultrasound the spot Dr. Diane was worried about. 

 I'm so very grateful for these two! Today was a tough day. We lost Gramma. She passed away early this morning with Becky and Gwenda there with her. I got to say goodbye to her. I'm so glad that God saw to it that I was able to spend some time with her before she left. And I'm grateful that she went peacefully and is finally back with Papa. And interestingly enough.. when I left the house this morning, I noticed a sun beam shining down at the edge of the pasture on the driveway. I thought for a second that it might be Gramma... and then thought that maybe it was Roany. But 15 minutes later Dad called me tears saying that Gramma had died. I think it was her telling me goodbye. I'm going to miss her. She was such a great Gramma, a kind lady, and just... so good. 

It sure is nice to have these two goofballs to cheer me up some. 

 After visiting with Becky, Hannah and Wes some and then going to the doctors, I decided I needed to do Dans ride. And yay!!! He has been acting life he's felt better since he had his teeth done. He just seems happier... not nearly as grumpy. I don't know if his teeth were bothering him that bad (Dr. Diane said they were really not bad at all), or if it's because the gastrogard finally kicked in, or... what, but he's been happier. And today, when we rode, there was no tongue issues that I noticed!!! Now, I also changed him to Flecks bit since it's smaller and not quite so large. So maybe it's that... who knows?! But I'm glad he's not being such a goober with his tongue. I hope it lasts!

Emotional Day

Today was a tough day. After my ride yesterday I cleaned out my trailer and pressure washed it and cleaned the windows and the carpets. It was all clean and empty. Today a client came and looked at it and bought it. Which is awesome....because I've ordered another one. I decided I wanted A/C and heat and a cowboy shower. Because I'm tired of driving to hotels and having to come back for night check. And for awhile, most of my friends went to hotels but now most of my friends have LQ's, so... I am losing my hotel roommates. ;) And mostly, I'm so tired of getting migraines from being hot all freaking day long. So... I was going to just add it to my current trailer because I can't afford another trailer and another truck. And I was afraid that the minute I bought a new trailer, my truck would die. But then I found out that a friend was getting out of riding and was selling her truck. And it was at a price I could afford flat out. Which meant I could then finance the trailer. So.... after much deliberation, I decided that I wanted more room in a trailer. And that led to lots of researching, but ultimately I decided on a Adam 2+1 so that I can use the DR as my room and the +1 as my tack room. Hopefully it'll pan out how I planned. So.... point being... I am now the proud owner of a 2003 F350 diesel dually! It's in great shape and an awesome beast. (Though the radio is possessed and the turning radius is a bit larger than Bart's). And then I ordered the trailer. So soon I will be the proud owner of Adam, my 2+1. 

Anyways, after spending all day cleaning up Morty yesterday.... a client came today and bought him. It was a bit sad saying goodbye and watching it drive away. We had a lot of good memories in that trailer... Lots of fun times, lots of funny times. He kept me and the boys safe. It also means I lost my appy stickers and my beach stickers. 

And then I went to visit Gramma. And man.... that sucked. She's so weak and still a bit disoriented. She slept most of the visit and seemed so exhausted. And it was painful for her to eat and she kept almost vomiting with every bite. It's just so hard to see her like that. But man I'm going to miss her. So that was really hard...

Back to horses now... cause this is my horsey blog. After visiting Gramma I took the truck to CarMax and they offered me a great price. So... once I unload everything, I'll get Mike to take me back and drop Bart off. Sigh.. it's going to be sad saying goodbye to him too. He kept me and the boys safe too and only stranded me once... and that was right in front of the mechanic. I'm going to miss him too. It's stupid though!! I mean, it's a truck and trailer. But... lots of good memories in those two. Oh well, I'm sure that Sally and Adam will help me create a lot more fun memories too. (I'm debating but thinking Sally for the Ford). 

Anyways.... since I no longer have a trailer, that means riding at home. It was misty and cold and damp and miserable out. And I was feeling blue because of Gramma and the truck and trailer and I almost wimped out. But I didn't. And I'm glad I didn't. I hopped on Dan bareback and we headed out to the front field. We did a good bit of grazing but did some work too. And I tried to keep him walking. We did some dressage and tried the turn on the forehand and turn on the haunches again. I got a decent bit of work from him, some tongue tantrums, and some fussiness, but no naughtiness. And Fleck got to graze. So yep... It made me feel better. And I'm excited about the new rig. Just still sad for Gramma. 

Brrrrr! Finally!!! :)

 Today was a good day. I got up fairly early (for a Saturday) on my own and got stuff done. I fed the ponies first so they could have a little bit of outside time before I rode. Dan was a little fresh as it was chilly. He reared up once or twice on the walk down to the round pen after I fed him. But then he was good once I turned him out. I let him chill for a few while I did some laundry. But then I noticed him starting to roll and he was close to the fence so I yelled at him. Well, that started a whole bucking, bolting, spinning, sliding spree. Doh! And he still rolled, but at least not into the fence.  

So I decided to just go get him and go for our ride. It was still chilly but not too bad. Plus I had to empty out and wash the trailer so I wanted to ride first. We started out okay but he was a bit up still. Not bad considering the antics in the round pen earlier. We headed out on the path along the lake and as we got to the lake I saw the boat. Someone was out fishing. Dan got all interested and "up" but didn't do anything. So... we breathed a bit finally and moved on. Then I saw another rider trotting up the dam. Unfortunately she hit the open XC field right about the time Dan and I were just about to enter the clearing from the path. She didn't see us and picked up the canter and Dan bounced straight up and tried to join them. I managed to keep him under wraps. And then we were able to carry on. I'm actually quite impressed with how easily I can get him under control. (Aside from when it's completely out of the blue, like the fallen tree). :) After that our ride was uneventful.