When it Rains it Pours

Of course, everything always has to happen at once. As soon as I signed up for a show, Jetta started being AWFUL. Like, we hadn't had that bad of rides for many years. We completely lost all semblance of a half-halt and she literally couldn't do anything.

"How does one horse?" At least she's looking good!

After blundering around for 3 days, I realized that our half-halt was the main reason we were being a complete train-wreck in every aspect, so we reinstalled that. You'd think she'd have a solid half-halt after 8 years of being under saddle, but apparently not...

We're still working on it, but at least we're not completely awful anymore. Just slightly awful. So maybe we won't be a complete embarrassment at the show this weekend? Just a little embarrassing probably.

I tried to have a stirrup-less ride before it all went downhill. Do not recommend

At least our matching is on point!

We finally got our new vienna reins (more on that in another post) so we've been doing a fair bit of lunging. Even on the lunge line she just wants to go go go, so we're working on slowing down and stretching, hoping that will translate to under saddle.

Love this place

The most stretching we're getting right now

I'm bummed that of course this happened once I sent several non-refundable checks for the show and clinic, especially since I am SO EXCITED about them, but oh well.

Horses. So frustrating, it seems like we're always taking two steps forward then three steps back!


And then of course Maisie had to make sure she got enough attention too. She got her vaccine boosted on Sunday and then Tuesday night I tried to feed her grain and she wasn't interested. She's the pickiest, least food-motivated horse I've ever interacted with, but usually she tries to eat a little grain, plus she just looked out of it. So I took her temperature and found it to be a whopping 104F. Just peachy. I talked to one of the doctors at school and came to the conclusion that it was probably a vaccine reaction and gave her some banamine. An hour later she was still uncomfortable, but her temp was dropping, so that made me feel better.

She is now back to normal termperature, but still not interested in food, so I'm not sure what's with that. We did just recently switch grain to something better suited for a growing baby (per my recent nutrition class, which was AWESOME! I may need to do a post about it), so I'm not sure if she just doesn't like the grain or if there are lingering GI effects. She got a dose of probiotics, so we'll see how it goes from here.

And to top it all off, my BF and I decided to drive 8 hours to get a puppy last weekend. I fell in love with an Akita a few years ago and found a litter up for adoption. I loved one of the girls and they agreed to put her on hold and now we have little baby Kaida. So of course, who needs sleep around here?

She slept and cuddled the whole ride home

Loves rolling in the gras

Champion at walks

Puppy + sick baby horse + awful acting adult horse + majorly awful midterm + life in general = no sleep, lots of stress.

30 Facts About Me

I thought this was a great idea that I saw over at $900 Facebook Pony. I love learning more about other bloggers, especially non-horse related stuff so I thought I'd participate and I hope others do too!

1. I used to want to be a marine biologist and do field research, then I did dive certification and discovered that I am super claustrophobic underwater so... that didn't work out

2. Other than briefly wanting to be a marine biologist (or a horse trainer) I have pretty much always known that I wanted to be a veterinarian. I love science, I love the human-animal bond, I love education, and obviously love animals.

3. I have two tattoos currently and want more! One is a dolphin on my ankle and the other is Grady's hoof print on my wrist

4. I got my dolphin tattoo in Costa Rica. I did a 5-week volunteer trip to the Golfo Dulce to work with a cetacean conservation group. There are Pantropical Spotted dolphins there and they are THE cutest things ever. I absolutely adore dolphins.

THE CUTEST - look at it's little freckles!!

5. I have been to 10 different countries so far and if I could just spend my life traveling, I would. Costa Rica, Nicaragua, India, Bhutan, France, Spain, Italy, England, Germany, Canada. The more culturally different it is, the more I love it.

6. I love reading and I read really quickly. My favorite genre is fantasy or historical fiction. I always need good book recommendations. The longer the better! (I seriously read about 100 pages/hour. If it's not at least 600 pages, it's too short). I cannot pick a favorite book or author, but my current favorite that I've been reading (when I have time, hah) is Brandon Sanderson.

7. I could live off Mexican food. Or even just tacos.

8. I took 6 years of French through high school and college and got a minor in it. I wish I had more opportunities to use it!

9. I am extremely un-athletic. If I ride a bike I WILL fall off of it. I like going skiing but I have to stick to the easy slopes while my friends go down the black diamond slopes. I once went night skiing and got stuck in a snow bank. The only "athletic" things I really enjoy completely are yoga and rock climbing.

10. I have never broken a bone

11. My worst horse accident is when Jetta flipped over on me and rolled all the way over top of me. I sprained both my MCL's in my knees and still have issues and soreness due to it.

12. Someday I'll have a reining/cow horse just for fun. I miss playing with cows!

13. I LOVE food for the most part and don't consider myself a picky eater, but there's a fair amount of food I don't like. Olives, raw tomatoes, blue cheese, and shellfish top the list.

14. I currently work for a research company and I love it. I wish I had done more research before vet school and maybe I would have gotten my PhD instead. I also did an undergrad research project and presented my research at a national conference.

15. I like all alcohol. Wine? Yes. Beer? Yes, I'm all about IPAs. Tequila? Yes. All the margaritas. Cider? Definitely. I am not picky. If you need to get me to do something, bribe me with alcohol.

16. Coffee hates me, I cannot drink it. Thus I am addicted to energy drinks. I blame vet school.

17. I have a younger brother.

18. I love dogs and cats equally, I could never choose between the two!

19. I love hiking, especially if it involves waterfalls. I am so lucky to live in an area with a multitude of wonderful hikes within easy driving distance!

One of my favorite hikes

20. I am painfully shy and have a really hard time getting to know people/make friends. I prefer listening to talking for the most part. But once I get comfortable around someone, I don't really shut up.

21. I love riding western just as much as I love english. I really miss it and the wonderful, supportive people I grew up riding and competing with in the western world.

22. I used to do competitive trail riding (not endurance, but more obstacle courses) and I have a bunch of belt buckles I won from it.

23. My favorite TV shows are probably Doctor Who and Supernatural. Favorite movies are Lord of the Rings, Phantom of the Opera, Lagaan, and Mulan.

24. I am deathly afraid of needles and receiving injections. However, I have no problem giving them to animals.

25. My dream is to someday be able to afford to build my dream house/barn. It will be a barn with living quarters in the loft!

*Swoon*

26. I'm not much of a candy person, but I love dark chocolate. And I have a soft spot for cupcakes and german chocolate cake.

27. The first horses I can remember riding was my cousin's draft horses and my neighbor's horse. I remember being led around bareback on a giant Clydesdale named Cody that they used for their driving business. My neighbor's horse was an old QH named Ruby and my dad used to take me to their barn and we'd lunge her and she'd try to buck me off all the time but I absolutely LOVED it.

28. I love flowers but I seriously have a black thumb. I think the longest a plant has lasted around me is 8 months. So I settle for cut flowers!

29. I played flute for 8+ years and did competitions and elite bands and such. My poor flute has been untouched for 5 years now though.

30. I consider myself an amateur photographer and I really love it. I love taking pictures of landscapes and horses. I used to photograph at shows and I miss doing that. I also love taking pictures of friends with their horses. I don't think I'll ever turn it into a business, but I just love taking pictures and I love having pictures of my own horses so I like to do it for free for my horse friends.

What Horses Teach Us

I've been thinking about what all of the horses in my life have taught me. I've had a fair amount of horses and I feel like each one of them imprinted something important on me and have shaped me into the rider and person I am today.

Just wanted to reflect on them and I'm curious, if you could narrow it down to one word or phrase, what do you think the biggest thing your horse(s) have taught you?

Grady

Like a lot of little girls, he was my first horse and my first love. He taught me SO much. If I had to pick one thing that he taught me, it would be resilience. He bucked me off many, many times. I learned to get back on and try again and again. I also credit him with my desire and love of training. He was the worst horse to begin with and became the best horse I have had thus far, and likely will ever have.


Jasmine

My second horse, Jazz is the horse I credit with my love of competition, specifically dressage and jumping. She taught me about precision. She was an amazing horse to compete and we did it all. She was another very special horse.


Patches

My first training project, I bought a mangy little paint horse from a pasture in the middle of nowhere. She wasn't much to look at but she turned into a wonderful little horse. She taught me the importance of consistency.

Katy and Tux

I also trained Katy and Tux from the beginning. They were super fun and such easy, easy horses. I would work with Gypsy or Draft crosses again in a heart beat! They taught me the importance of having fun. From riding them everywhere bareback, going swimming, splashing in the waves on the beach and more, they were such a blast.

Misty

This little mare taught me balance. It was a fine line between making her too sensitive or too dull, too forward or too lazy. Partly because we switched back and forth between western and english, but she was a great all-around horse and we had a lot of fun dabbling in different things.

Trask

This guy taught me patience. He was such a tough horse for me. Smart, but could not deal with simple things like gentle pressure when he was stressed. He really was one of those horses that this quote was talking about:

Jetta 

Jetta has taught me to always keep learning. She is always coming up with new evasions when she gets bored and there is never a dull moment with her. She's a wonderful, complicated horse and she keeps me on my toes. I'm constantly trying to figure out new ways of keeping her engaged and interested in learning.




I can't wait to see what this little one teaches me in the future!

Home Sweet Home

I've been so bad about posting, third year is proving to be super busy, but also super fun. So far this term, I've practiced pregnancy palpations on cows, passed nasogastric tubes in horses, orogastric tubes in cattle, I had the opportunity to palpate a mare and ultrasound her ovaries, I've diagnosed pregnancy in sheep via ultrasound, spayed a cat and neutered a dog. It's exciting to actually start feeling like being a vet is in reach.

Anyways, the real exciting part is that my girls moved home!

My roommates bought a new house so I am going to rent the house that I currently live in from them. This means that I get to have Maisie grow up close to me. There's several little pastures and an outdoor arena even. I'm so excited!

I moved them up this past weekend. It definitely puts a bit of a drain on me having to feed and clean since school has been so busy, but I love having control over their care. And it's nice that if I just want to hang out or cuddle, they're just a few steps away.

Hopefully I can start working with Jetta a bit more to prepare her re-entrance to the riding horse world. She thinks this broodmare job is the best thing ever. You know it's bad when the baby is absolutely perfect for her second farrier visit and Jetta is very, very bad. 

I turned them out in the arena to run for a bit:

Their matching blazes <3

Derp

Zoom!

Maisie's leg seems to be almost all healed, so I've left off wrapping it. The skin is almost completely closed and there's just a little bump where the proud flesh got excited. Also, the girls both got new blankies and they look adorable:

 

Sun as a bug in a rug

 That's about it for my exciting new in the world of baby horse!

Borrowed Steeds

First off, I am absolutely green with jealousy for everyone going to Rolex! It seems like so many bloggers are going this year and I'm so sad I couldn't make it. A classmate and I discussed trying to make it "school-related" to get excused absences to go, but it's right in the prime midterm time and it would just be too much hassle to rearrange midterms and too much $$ :( So have fun for me everyone! Maybe one year I'll make it.

But I finally have (somewhat) exciting things to blog about!

A different view

I haven't been riding Jetta at all lately and I've been BORED. I need a pony to ride. So when a fellow boarder was at the barn (one of the 3 people I actually like!) I asked if she would be interested in having me ride her horse since I know she's been super busy lately with her new baby and working as a nurse. She said yes!

Meet Vante (rhymes with Monty). He's a 5 year old spanish breed cross (not exactly sure what breeds). He's the sweetest, most curious guy ever and I've been eyeballing him forever. I'm so glad I can ride him!

He's normally ridden western, but I'm using my own tack. He looks quite wonderful in dressage tack I think. My bridle is a touch big, he's got a small head compared to Jetta so I think I need to get some cob sized cheek pieces for my bridle so it'll fit better. I think I also need a black breastplate to go with because he's so narrow my saddle slid back a good 3 or 4 inches.

I had a lot of fun riding him. He's more green than I thought he was, but he's very honest and listens very well to voice ques. We just need to work on steering, getting him to move off my leg and giving to the bit. His default mode of travel is giraffe-style and while he's soft to the bit, he doesn't want to seek contact and is quite fussy with the bit, which I can't blame him since he's normally ridden in a double twisted wire.

He has the most uphill canter ever though and it was so fun to ride him! The goal is to ride 3 days a week since his owner usually rides him twice a week (though only lightly).

Much uphill, so giraffe

I'm excited (obviously).

And then I got to ride a second pony! PR, my fellow eventer vet school buddy, is taking care of some horses at her barn for people going to Rolex, so she asked if I'd want to ride her horse Bailey while she rode another horse to save time.

I rode last night and I get to ride again tonight - Bailey is amazing. She's a prelim level eventer who loves her job and she's impeccably trained. I had such a fun time riding her, though I think by the end she was a little annoyed with me bouncing around since I'm so unfit. Plus I just had too much fun playing with her adjustability and she was just like "pick a speed and stick with it!".

So it was a great horse-y day. I might even be able to ride Bailey this summer since PR is doing several internships out of state.

I'm glad I have some opportunities to ride and keep my sanity!

Sunny days

This weather has been super fun. Monday it snowed 3 inches and then on Friday it was sunny and 63 degrees! I can't complain about sunshine! But now it's back to rain.

But I'm super glad I got to enjoy both nice days, one on Friday and one on Sunday. On Friday I was just about to pull into the parking lot at work when I got the phone call from a coworker saying that the power was out at work so I should just not bother coming in since we weren't going to be able to do anything. You don't have to tell me twice! I happily headed to the barn and played with Jetta in the outdoor arena.

We just lunged and then I toodled around bareback but it put me in such a great mood. And it made it so that I went to the barn 5 days in a row and rode 4 of them! Craziness.

So shiny

Jetta got Saturday off and then Sunday was another gorgeous day (plus Daylights Savings!) so I went to the barn in the evening and lunged first. Jetta was being pretty chill so I was thinking about just ditching the lunging and hopping on when she pulled a huge sliding stop, spin and bolt spook. Apparently someone took their horses' blanket off and hung it up on the stall and that's what she was spooking at (after passing it approximately 10 times already). So terrifying. She was a bit of a powder keg after that. Not bad per se, but she wasn't listening to my half halts super well. Also, the BO was gardening outside and we had to keep a keen eye on that because you can apparently never trust people digging in the dirt several hundred feet away. Dork of a horse.

But at least she looks cute in her new outfit

But it was so nice to leave the barn after 7 and still have it be light out. I love it! Can't wait for summer to hurry up and get here.

Four Years

Yesterday was the four year anniversary that I lost Grady, my first horse, and the absolute love of my life. I can't believe it's already been four years already, it doesn't feel like it's been that long and I still miss him like it was yesterday. He was certainly the greatest horse I have ever owned and likely will ever own.

Sorry for the downer post, but it popped up on my Facebook and made me really sad. I've been thinking about him a lot lately and that Facebook memory confirmed why.

In happier news, I've made it to the barn three days in a row which is a minor miracle. And not only did I go three days in a row, but I rode two of them! You know I haven't ridden in a long time when I was sore after the first ride...

Proof I actually sat on my horse!

Jetta was pretty bracey and strong on Tuesday. She was getting pretty frustrating, but we added a bunch of walk-trot-walk transitions and some serpentines in and she started getting softer and lighter in the front end so we ended the ride on a good note.

Today was much better. I went at the worst possible time when almost every single person at the barn who actually rides was there. Two people riding, one person leading their horse in the arena, another who was just finishing her rides and then me lunging. Plus feeding time. A little bit of a mad house. Jetta was actually very good. She is notoriously spooky when it's feeding time with the BM throwing food down from the loft, to the point that the BM sometimes goes and does something else if I'm riding when she goes to feed. But Jetta held it together super well. I lunged her really quick since we were cramped for space and I wanted to get on as quickly as possible without running anyone over.

She was much lighter and much less braced. We did a lot of shoulders-in and I tried my hardest to push her forward whenever she got braced, as hard as that is for me. You'd think I'd been riding this horse for 7 years, I would have figured out how to ride her forward even with out hot she is, but it's still hard!

Hopefully the good streak will continue! The weather has been crazy - we got almost 3 inches of snow at my house on Monday morning. It quickly melted luckily and now it's just been raining non-stop, which looks like the forecast for the next couple of weeks. I wish it would be dry enough for a trail ride!

No more snow please. Thanks.

Weekly update

Well, I'm going to try and do a weekly update, we'll see if I can stick with it!

Saturday the 29th - I went to a horse show to watch my roommate ride. She took her two babies (3.5 year olds) to their first show and also her niece and pony. That pony was seriously the cutest thing ever. It was like a model Breyer pony. I had fun helping out and I was kinda glad I decided on not taking Jetta - not only were we not really prepared, the warm-up was absolutely awful and it was hectic enough already with two young horses and a pony!

Look at it's itty bitty dressage bridle!

That perfect little face!

Sunday the 30th - Jetta got her hooves soaked and I ended up cleaning her stall while I waited since I was bored (she's on full care). I love how Jetta doesn't care about having plastic bags strapped to her feet even if she does think they smell funny.

This smells funny...

The manure hill of death... uphill on slick rubber mats. Let the games begin

How 90% of the pitchforks look now

Tuesday the 1st - I went to this super awesome dinner talk put on by the NW Equine Practitioners Association. They do continuing education (CE) talks for veterinarians and it's free for students to go to. A lot of the veterinarians I know were there so it was nice to catch up, get a free catered dinner (and alcohol!) and learn about Bisphosphonates in treating Navicular Syndrome, specifically Osphos. I highly recommend you read up on it if you're interested! A lot of neat research has been done and hopefully more to come in the near future!

Wednesday the 2nd - It was actually sunny when I got out of class and when I got to the barn the arena was full... so we ran away and hit the trails! I've been wanting to go really badly for the last couple weeks but never made it out. It was GORGEOUS. It was no longer sunny by the time we got to the trailhead, but it was still absolutely beautiful with all the fall foliage. We barely saw anyone and when we got to the top of the hill, the view was breathtaking. I'm a little bummed my phone died, but we spent a good 20 minutes soaking up the view (well, Jetta grazed). It was so clear you could see 3 different mountains in the distance and the sun was starting to set, casting a pink glow on them. Gorgeous.

We also got to test out Jetta's new "trail bridle" set up. It's a beta bridle in our color with rope reins and the second waterford bit I bought her. It works perfectly and it'll be nice that I can just hose it down when it gets all sweaty!

Thursday the 3rd - we had a short ride in the arena, nothing fancy but she was fairly good, she looked pretty fancy on the lunge line!

Saturday the 4th - I rode MS's horse Dundee. It's so fun to get to ride other horses, Dundee is so different from Jetta. He's got a HUGE, bouncy warmblood stride. He's pretty lazy but not too bad. He's doing rehab right now so he just started being able to canter a little bit. He was FRESH. For him at least. I had a fun time riding him even when he decided to take off in the canter the first time I asked for it. For the most part he's a really chill guy, plus adorable.

Jetta got a haircut. I was at a loss for what kind of clip I wanted to do this year. I usually really like doing a blanket clip on her, but I wanted to take off less hair this winter and then I saw what SprinklerBandits did to Courage... so we tried to copy. I don't think it turned out as nice as hers, but I think I like it.



Then today, Tuesday the 6th - Jetta just got lunged today while I was on my lunch break from school. I forgot my clippers since I wanted to fix up some of the lines on her clip job, but I guess that'll happen tomorrow. But we got a neat surprise... Chester's back!! I love this little pony. He's the sweetest little guy and he and Jetta love each other and they look like copies almost, one's just miniature!

That little nose!

Best friends

 So now you're all caught up!