Exciting Weekend Ahead!

The early part of this week was kind of lacking in posts because I had tons of school work and the weather sucked. However, the sun finally came out yesterday and the past two days have been gorgeous (knock on wood!). I also had my last test of the week yesterday, chemistry, so I'm in the clear for a while and should get to spend lots of time at the barn in the next couple of weeks :) Random side note, chemistry is by far my worst subject, but I have to take it to major in biology and eventually go to vet school... no fun. I did really well on my test though, and I'm feeling really awesome about how school is going for me right now. Since my last post, Limerick got his hind shoes put back on (YAY FOR NO MORE WRAPPING!) and now has a pad in the one with the abscess, so everyone please cross your fingers that it stays clean and doesn't get infected again. That was Tuesday, and I didn't ride because it was raining, freezing, and windy... probably the least appealing weather imaginable for riding.

Snug like a bug in his Wug :)

love that face so much

He thought it was way too cold for pictures

See that giant hole on the left (his right)? Yeah, that's the abscess!

the pad

Wednesday, I went out on my own but right as I was warming up, Collyn pulled in to the drive and got out to come watch me. She helped me set up a little course of cross rails and baby verticals, and then recorded some of it. Lim was a total jerk though and totally ignored everything I told him to do, so the videos are a total mess... He hadn't eaten yet and really wanted to go out with his friends, so he kept trying to run for the gate and had his eyes fixed outside of the arena the whole time. He also totally plowed around the ring like a freight train/bulldozer. Not a ton of fun, but I was quite entertained by it, which is definitely progress! Just a few short months ago, I would get very tense and upset if anything went wrong or if he did something stupid, but now it's just funny to me. We ended it on a good note and then I cleaned all of my tack and boots, which I had been seriously neglecting.

Today, Kimmie, Kristen, and I all carpooled out to the barn and hacked around for fun. It was really lax and we talked more than we actually rode, but it was a blast! Plus, the sunset was beyond gorgeous and I'm still mad at myself for not taking a picture of it. It was really a perfect ride, capped off by a cool down out into the front field, where we had better access to the sunset and watched it go down. On to my plans for this weekend:

• Ride tomorrow, probably in a field to get out of the ring a little bit
• Lesson with S on Saturday at an away barn, where we'll have access to some XC jumps :)
• Dressage Clinic on Sunday with Collyn... I'm super excited and a little bit nervous!

I'll update soon with lots of pictures and videos! 

Gratuitous awesome Hermes video:

This Weekend

This weekend has been full of horsey-related things. Most of my weekends are, but this one involved clipping, an all-day trip to the horse park yesterday to watch an event, and a hack in the gorgeous weather this morning. I already sort of posted about clipping, but it went much more smoothly than I imagined and Limerick was a saint. I made him stand in the cross-ties for a good three hours (I also soaked and wrapped his ouchy hoof), and he was a snuggle-bug the whole time. He kept looking back at me while I was clipping, like "what are you doing mom?! I'm supposed to have fur!" He also looks much better than I thought he would since it was my first time... I'm proud of how it turned out :)

Coming to see why I'm sitting in his stall <3

GOOBER

He can't possibly hold his own head up... enter farrier's back, a convenient head rest

 Yesterday, Kimmie and I got up and out to the farm by 9 to hold for the farrier. The farrier, D, at the new farm is fabulous, but he's SO slow. We were there from 9-1 for him to do both Limerick and Jazz... I was bored and tired by the end of it. Needless to say, I'll probably be paying my BO from now on to hold for me! After that, we headed to the Horse Park to watch team challenge. I got to see M, a younger girl from my home barn, do her dressage and go XC, which was awesome! She did really well and I got some great pictures for her. I also got to visit with Hillary, and she, Kimmie, and I went out for dinner after the event. It was a great day, despite being cloudy and grey!

Hill claims that I looked like a seal... I was just excited to drive my trainer's scooter

Today I went out with the intent to finally sit on my horse and just walk around, exploring the fields because it was such a gorgeous day. I'm not sure why, but I was expecting my 7-year old, somewhat spooky horse to be normal and sane after nearly two weeks off. This was a massive fail. We started out exploring the fields behind the barn and he was fabulous, and much better than I was hoping for. However, as soon as we went in front of the barn, and in sight of his field and buddies, Mr. Limerick started throwing the most massive tantrum I've ever seen from him. We luckily made it up to the flat part of the field when the shit hit the fan. He kept trying to run forward/bolt and turn back towards the barn, jigging and throwing his head like an idiot. Then the mini rears started... something I have never seen him do and was assured that he had never done before. Fun as that was, I was out at the farm by myself and was not going to fall off on my own, so as soon as he stood for a second, I hopped down. Let's just say that after that little incident, he certainly learned his lesson. I drilled ground work into his head, forcing him to listen to and respect me and smacked him hard with the reins if he did not immediately do what I asked. If horses can feel guilty, he definitely did and was very snuggly and cute the rest of the afternoon while I soaked and wrapped his hoof (for what felt like the thousandth time), trying to convince me that he didn't mean it and was sorry... how could I resist that cute face? That was around the time that I started thinking my expectations were too high and of course he probably has energy to burn. I think we both came to a little bit of an understanding today, and I'm looking forward to actually being able to ride again! This week is going to be much better than the last, and I should get to ride every day, with the exception of tomorrow :)

LAME part II

Good news, I found out yesterday that Limerick is not lame because he threw a shoe. On the contrary, he's lame because he had a MASSIVE gross sore icky abscess in his right hind hoof! Luckily, my farrier is magical and immediately decided that the lameness was not in the foot sans shoe, but in the opposite one, so he used hoof testers to try to find soreness. And voila, there it was! He popped it and squeezed out all of the gunk, which Collyn got a great picture of... Still no riding, but I've decided to take advantage of this time to give Limmy a trace clip. This is my first time body clipping, so hopefully I don't royally screw up and end up having to shave off all of his hair! I'll post pictures later with my results.

Side note, I'm heading to the KHP tomorrow to visit with Hillary and people from my home barn :) Kimmie's coming along with me and I'm super pumped! Plus there will be shopping, which I can't say no to... despite my dad's protestations!

Icky black tar-like stuff being squeezed out of his hoof by magic farrier

YAY for a half-hairless Limerick! 

While soaking his right hind hoof today, he decided he might as well add the other one too...

What I found when I arrived at the barn this afternoon before clipping. He loves making my life as hard as he possibly can... good thing he's so cute