No I did not fall off the edge of the planet, although some days if I could get a whole night's sleep I would volunteer. Motherhood is not for the faint of heart. I'm going to try, I stress try, not to talk too much about the baby over here. I'll leave that for my Eventer + Baby Makes Three blog.
So here is the low down on what's been happening around the farm since I went off radar last July.
Fox got a really long vacation. I was able to lunge him some but he's not easy to lunge so it was hit or miss. Just before Thanksgiving I decided I was ready to get back in to the saddle. I had just had my check-up from the doctors and I was green lighted.
Fox had other ideas. I wanted to lunge the spunk out of him first, no need to eat dirt on my first time back in the saddle. I put on his boots, I prepared him for lunging and he was a raging donkey. He evaded me, twice taking off with the lunge line in tow. The second time bucking and flailing like a rodeo bronc. And he killed both his hoof boots. Granted they had dry rot from sitting for a long time but still, both of them?!
So he got another vacation while I sent the boots to the Farrier Fairy to repair them. I got them back sometime after Christmas and finally just got on him one day. He behaved himself, mostly. It never fails, every time I get on my horse, the neighbor on the other side of the fence starts doing something loud and obnoxious. This person has an obsession with yard work and is constantly running some loud piece of equipment. It took me twenty minutes of walking to get Fox relaxed enough to behave at the trot. Overall it wasn't a bad ride.
But I've forgotten that ride was not my first back in the saddle on Fox. Prior to that day I had loaded up my red bratty pony and driven down to the big indoor that's about an hour from me, but free to use during the week. Love that place! The only caveat is that you can't get the arena exclusively if there are other riders already there or they show up while you are riding you have to share. No big deal. I ended up sharing the arena with three other ladies that day who were just doing some playing around. Fox was his usual good natured self and we even jumped a baby vertical AND cantered off! That day was fantastic. I'm hoping for more days like that.
Also my brand new, no one's butt except mine has ever touched it, dressage saddle finally arrived! I had ordered it back in November not realizing that it was being shipped from Italy and would be weeks and weeks away from actually having it. But it finally arrived right before my birthday. And I was sick as a dog when it arrived. This did not stop me from tacking up Fox and slipping in to the saddle for just five minutes of walking and about thirty seconds of trotting. LOVE!
Until next time, keep it between the flags!
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