Herbie and Horses

Now that some time has gone by, I can talk about how Herbie learned a lesson about horses. When I was house sitting for Carolyn, the puppy was really good about staying out of the way. Mostly, she was intrigued with the chickens. She never tried to go in the horse pasture or follow me into the minis' stall. One night, I felt bad for the minis, who had been cooped up for a few days, and decided to let them out for 20 minutes. Herbie stayed up by the house, as usual. Well, when I brought them in, Iko got interested and brought the puppy down.

Right away, the minis started getting worked up. I shouted at Herbie to 'git' and she tried. Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough and Imari apparently really hates dogs. Before I could react, Imari whipped around and let both back feet fly. He connected and my heart sank as Herbie yelped, then started to cry. With one mini in each hand, there was nothing I could do. I sprinted to the barn, threw the minis in the stall, and came outside to find the puppy. Iko had followed me up to the barn and I freaked out that the puppy wasn't with her.

It turns out Herbie had already forgotten anything had happened. She was flouncing through the snow, looking for something to play with. I scooped her up and rushed her inside. There was blood everywhere and my hands were shaking as I called Carolyn in Florida.

"I broke the puppy. I'm sorry."
"It's the only way they learn. Better a mini than a full size horse," Carolyn comforted.

The pup bit through her lip and had a good bit of swelling the next day, but everything was otherwise ok. No broken teeth. No bones out of place. Lesson learned.

Since then, Herbie has been skittish around the horses. I'm glad because it makes it much easier to teach her to stay out of stalls, paddocks, and the ring. For the first time since the accident, Herbie decided to interact with Ozzy and Jabby today. She sees them daily (and knows better than to mess with Willie).

This morning, Erin and I found her and Jabby doing this:

We joke that Jabby thinks of her as a big marshmallow.

And Ozzy? He was feeding her this afternoon. He was dropping bits of Blue Seal poofy pellets on the ground, and she was sitting on the floor under his feed bucket, licking it up.

She may be a barn dog yet ;)
(and don't worry, she gets locked up while we ride and doesn't go out unsupervised)







Erin, Jabby, and the marshmallow.


Ozzy seems much less jealous now that I'm back to riding pretty regularly. He got a good hard dressage-oriented workout tonight and seemed satisfied.

P Under Saddle

I've ridden 11 SRF horses this month and Youreapisawork is one of my favorites. The 16.1hh gelding is not only pretty, but smart and willing. He has a floaty trot and a good brain in his head. He was extremely easy to back and is picking up the basics quickly. He should find a home in no time. In the mean time, I had Erin take pictures of us romping in the snow today.

Daily Herbster

Snow Ride (and Erin falls down)

Well... that didn't exactly go as planned...

Erin and I got together for a quick hack through the snow this afternoon. On a whim, I decided to bring the helmet cam. I'm glad I did! We rode up the front of the farm and crossed the street, then picked up a lively trot through the corn field.

One second we were trotting along, minding our own business. The next, Jabby was going head over heels in the snow. He just sort of tripped and gave up. My heart rate definitely went up, but, thankfully, both Erin and Jabby were fun. Best of all, I got the whole thing on video.

Now, Jabby is a bit of a moose at 17hh, and Erin was nice and slippery from take a romp in the snow. That combined with her bad knee made getting back on board a little tough. I dismounted and gave her a leg up while Ozzy rubbed Jabby's butt.

The rest of our ride was blissfully uneventful. We rode out to the big field at the end of the access road and took a left to follow the snow mobile tracks to a part of the field we've never explored before. We got some cantering in. This time, everyone stayed on their feet. We returned home in one piece, still laughing about Erin's mis-adventure.

The rest of our ride:

Puppy Spam

The weather's been crap and these photos are not pretty, but she's growing so fast that I need to take pictures.

That's right, I'm da bomb :-P

I have been honored with a one of a kind award from the ever awesome HydrantGirl. You're all jealous and want one, so you should go check her out.

ER Visit

Well, today was not fun. It snowed a TON over night and I was hoping to get out of work, but this isn't what I had in mind. This morning, Bryce and I slept in and had breakfast. He was complaining that he was feeling really itchy. He started getting welts that were growing at an alarming rate. Within half an hour he had hives, big hives, everywhere. They were on his neck, back, arms, hands, lower abdomen, and inner thighs. When his throat started closing up, I wigged out and decided we were going to the emergency room. Of course, we had to shovel out and clear off my car first. Thankfully, Princeton Hospital (yes, that Princeton Hospital) is easy to get to from here. By the time we got to the emergency room, Bryce's right ear was swollen to twice its normal size and he had hives all around his eyes, lips, and forehead.

I dropped Bryce off at the emergency entrance and went through hell trying to find a parking spot. I ended up on the roof, which is nice because the car sat in the sun and stayed warm for Herbie, who was in the back seat. The good girl just slept all afternoon while we were inside. I took her out to go potty before I went downstairs and she held it until we were done a few hours later.

Of course, our first thought was that the allergies were from the dog, but that didn't make sense because we've had her for two weeks and Bryce has been fine (better than fine, actually). I thought maybe she had rolled in something that triggered his allergies, but that didn't make sense either. We analyzed everything we could. Bryce has been on the same diet for well over a month. He hasn't eaten anything new, taken any meds, or gone anywhere interesting. He is allergic to penicillin and aloe, but that's a known fact and he avoids both. We haven't used any new detergents and I haven't done anything out of the ordinary either. The only thing we could think of was that Herbie got a shot of Praziquantel the other night. I called Carolyn and she mentioned that some of the injection had gotten in the puppy's coat. Plus, the wormer is now in the dog's system and she was licking all over Bryce this morning.

The initial wait wasn't nearly as long as I had feared and the hospital staff didn't seem terribly concerned. Eventually, they called Bryce back to the fast track section of the ER. They asked him a ton of questions. He was seen by a brand spanking new resident, then a P.A. They seemed puzzled by the nature of his rash (apparently it wasn't a typical presentation) and couldn't really give us any answers to what caused it. He got steroids and a prescription for Benadryl and we were sent on our merry way.

The registration lady who came in to take down Bryce's information took one look at me and declared, "You're Polish!"
I confirmed and we burst into a conversation in Polish. Turns out she's from the same part of Poland as I am. She was super sweet. I wasn't aware I looked so... foreign.

Our next stop was the vet clinic. Herbie got an allergy bath, just in case, and we put a drop of the Praziquantel on Bryce's hand to test it. Sure enough, he started welting up despite the meds in his system. The meds should clear out of the puppy's system in a few days so we'll hopefully see an improvement.

It's been a hectic day, but I'm glad everyone's alright (and, of course, that it doesn't seem to be the puppy causing the reaction). Fingers crossed that it's a one time thing!

Ride the Bear

My best friend, C, just finished this:

That about sums it up.

Herbster

Is it just me, or is this dog getting big?

Quick Hack

Got on Ozzy today and he was fine. We took it easy, sticking to the farm and mostly walking and trotting. We made our way behind the vineyard, then along the ravine to the graveyard, and finally along the front fence line to the big house. I think he's still slightly stiff somewhere, but he felt sound today and I'm hoping the mystery lameness is behind us.

Ozzy's Lame

I am worried about my horse. I don't have any more reason than the other times he's been lame, but for some reason, I have this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Despite the lack of Ozzy posts lately, I have been riding him this year. After the archery thing, Ozzy and I had a sad excuse for a dressage week. While his trot is getting consistently nicer, his circles are still hit and miss, and without something to really focus on, he gets bored. We did some lateral work to mix up the routine. We did get the very beginnings of shoulder in at a trot, but I think we both got frustrated in the mean time. His jumping, thankfully, has been going more successfully. Last week, I kept mixing things up. I threw in a fourth ground pole and set up two random jumps in the ring. As the week progressed, I made the jumps more interesting. They started off as two cross rails and evolved into a 2'3" vertical with flower boxes, a baby oxer with a cavaletti as the front rail. I also threw in two straw bales to try something new. Ozzy was being consistently good.

Then, starting Thursday, he had a week off. I was puppy sitting and farm sitting and the weather was crap. I had a few days where I just didn't feel well, and Ozzy's been working a lot this winter. Without weekly conditioning rides to get Ozzy out of the ring, I figured I'd give him a break.

I was expecting a hot, frisky horse when I brought Ozzy in on Thursday. I kept it to a short hack through the snow just so I could say I rode him. We mostly just walked. What I wasn't expecting was for my horse to come up lame on Friday. I should have noticed something earlier. He's been a little hesitant about going back out after feedings, unusual for a horse who usually gallops in and out of the barn on a routine basis. I groomed him and noticed he was standing funny, pointing his right hind at an awkward angle. I ran my hands all over the leg and something just wasn't right. There was no heat and the amount of fluid was consistent with his usual level of fill. He wasn't responsive and he flexed willingly when I tried to test range of motion. Figuring that I was just being paranoid or that he was a bit stiff from the cold. I saddled and got on board.

Two steps into the ride, I felt that something was really wrong. I dismounted, walked Ozzy back to the ring, and tossed him on the lunge line. He was visibly off to the left, and would do nothing but pace to the right. Ouch. I flexed his right hind. I don't know enough to flex hip, stifle, or hock individually, so I just flexed the whole leg. One minute later, I asked him to trot off. He was definitely worse... head bobbing and everything. He worked out of it, but was still favoring the leg. Damn.

I had Erin poke and prod, and she just gave an unsettling, "Hmmmm..."
"I hope it's not his hocks," I grumbled.
"I didn't want to say it, but that was my first thought."

I'm giving him until Monday to show improvement, just in case he just wrenched himself in the field (although it seems unlikely that he did the same leg AGAIN, and this lameness is just... different). Then I'm calling Eli. I'm scared to death that it's his hocks. I've always known they would most likely be his downfall. He's got terrible conformation and five years is a long time at the track. Eli and I talked about it two and a half years ago when Ozzy's hocks really started cracking. We didn't do x-rays because, as Eli put it, we know he has arthritis. I know I'll most likely have to get his hocks injected some day to keep him sound. I was just hoping he'd make it past the ripe old age of ten.

:(

Herbie Spam

Anyone notice that this is the only type of posting I do any more? Plenty to blog about. Zero inspiration

Herbie is learning stay and high five, and I think Bryce is falling hard.

Horse Stuff

Jake's Nordic 12yo gelding

KEYSTONE NORDIC - JAKE'S IMPULSE - SUPREME LOBELL

Born in Michigan, this gelding went on to win $828,768 in 203 starts, impressive with a mark of 1:54. A year ago, he blew out his suspensory. He's been out of work since then and should be sound enough for regular riding if he doesn't jump.

Other horse stuff:

Puppy Play Time

Puppy Wuppy!

Herbie is doing very well. She's learning commands at an alarming rate. We took her to PetSmart today and the woman at the front told me about obedience classes. They can start puppies at ten weeks. For $119 they'll teach them to come when they're called, sit, down, stay, and drop it. Except for stay, she's already got all that... at nine weeks!

Herbie is determined to prove that everyone is her best friend in the entire world. She certainly is charming and I get lots of comments about how cute, sweet, and precious she is. She is. And smart. She's been so good in the office! In fact, she's so quiet that people often don't notice she's there. I ride and she sits quietly in my chair, sleeping.

I've been trying to educate her about the horses. I reprimand her whenever she gets too close and she's understanding that she's not supposed to come investigate them. She has never tried to get in a field, which is a relief. It's funny because she doesn't even LOOK at the horses at Carolyn's.

I take her to play with Iko twice a day and we spend lots of time getting her energy out. She loves to wrestle the cat and is intrigued with the chickens and ducks. She's learning to play fetch and has a growing collection of toys at Bryce's house.

She's a huge cuddle bug and loves to sleep in the bed with us. Last night, she was sleeping on her back with all four legs stretched as far as they go and her head tilted back. We woke up to her crying. She had slipped into the crack between the wall and the bed and couldn't get out! As soon as I rescued her, she got between us and passed out with her chin on my cheek.

Tonight, I taught Herbie to army crawl:




She's growing really fast.


I've already taught her to pose for the camera.







I think Bryce is in love (and vice versa).

Governor's Guard Photos

Photos I promised.


Zonka


Smitty, random horse, Western Leader, Zonka.


Smitty

Puppy Play Date

I took Herbie with me to take care of the farm animals and spent a couple hours hanging out to keep Iko company. Cara got off work at noon. She's puppy sitting this weekend, too. She brought the puppy, a Shar Pei/pug/basset hound named Bailey down to play. It was a laugh riot. Herbie has been out cold since. I took 738 photos, but I'll spare you guys.

Iko gets the intro for this one. She's such a good girl.
 

Crazy dogs under the jump.

More Minis in Snow

I'm farm sitting again, which means you guys get more photos of Lunar and Imari.




More after the jump.

An Award? For me?

Stylish Blogger Award

There are 4 duties to perform to receive this award:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award

2. Share 7 things about yourself

3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers

4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award!

1. Thank you thank you thank you to Denali's Mom for the award. Her blog is one of the first that I discovered when I re-joined blogspot, and I'm glad I did. I'm honored.

2. Seven things about me:
a. I have lived in three different countries (Poland, France, and the US) but have never been west of Ohio or south of Virginia.
b. I grew up working at a harness racing training center in north Jersey. They recently approved the contract to tear the whole place down and build a housing development on top of it. It feels like the end of an era.
c. While I can't complain about the way I look, I have gained 25 pounds since I stopped doing physical labor at work. I am dieting in an attempt to lose 15 of those pounds. I'm terrible at dieting so it's tough.
d. I love socks. The more obnoxiously patterned and colored, the better. I probably spend more money on socks than food. I should take a picture of my sock collection to share with you guys.
e. I recently got back into oil painting. I can't say I'm good at it, but it makes me happy in a way that my other hobbies usually don't.
f. I accidentally ate an olive when I was a kid, thinking it was a grape. I haven't been able to stomach the awful things since.
g. I have an irrational fear of fish. This is what I think all fish look like:

I went fishing this summer in an attempt to conquer this fear.

3. In no particular order:
Ramblings on Chewbacca
A Horse and a Half
A Horse Crazy American in Germany
Bitless Horse
G is for Greta
Haiku Farm
Mustang Diaries
Now THAT's a Trot (ok, so I've been watching Erin forever)
Snap Coalition
Tekes Tally-Ho! (I'd never had an interest in Akhal-Tekes until I saw this blog)
The Barb Wire
Banagade007
Hydrantgirl
The Adventures of Lucy
The Evolution of Bryce and the Greenhouse (cheating again, but Bryce just started this blog)

Herbie

Daily puppy spam.

Puppysitting

I had a really bad day (more on that in a minute) but it's ok because Bryce and I have this for the week:

We are puppysitting Carolyn's young pitbull, Herbie, while she's in Orlando. Gonna be flooding you guys with puppy photos. My good camera is at work, but have some snapshots!

Snow Photos

Have some photos of Ozzy, Willie, and Jabby in the snow.



Click to see more.

Jumping Progress

Remember how I said Ozzy was being a jerk? I guess he's over it. Tonight I set up four ground poles along one long side of the ring and two cross rails randomly in the ring, one small and one bigger. Ozzy looked suspicious, as usual, but came in with a brave attitude. He walked, trotted, and cantered over the poles in both directions, then schooled the cross rails with zero panic. I finally picked up a trot and did the whole combination, rail, poles, other rail, then switched directions and did it backwards. Not a moment of hesitation. The ride lasted all of 20 minutes and I was beaming. He didn't even break a sweat. What the heck, horse? What the heck??

Horseback Archery

After all the wonderful things I had to say about Ozzy, he decided to be a total shit this week. He was rushing around at the trot, going around like a giraffe, and selectively ignoring my leg. By the time he started pretending to be afraid of the cross rail that he's had no problem jumping, I was really annoyed.

The last time I rode him, I had a feeling he was a bit frisky. He doesn't do anything dangerous under saddle, but I was particularly tired and didn't feel like battling him for control so I decided to longe him first, something I never do. He was pissed right from the get go. He accepted the side reins, but he wasn't happy.

At the end of the ride, he still had so much energy that I spontaneously decided to teach him how to do rollbacks. We started by marching along at a lively walk then turning sharply on the haunches at the center of each long side. Once he got the hang of that, we moved up to the trot. Rinse, repeat. Canter. Ozzy was really getting into it and there were a few times where he really rocked back, spun hard, and picked up a canter again right away. He seemed to be having a blast and his attitude changed. I think Ozzy secretly wants to be a western pony, which is sad for him since I don't know the first thing about it. I do wish I had a truck and trailer so I could take him to chase cows once in a while. He'd probably kick butt at it (and then I could get all sorts of blingy tack).

I went out to the barn with the intent of hacking Ozzy around in the snow and giving Rob a lesson on Graig for his birthday. Unfortunately, the wind was whipping through the farm and throwing up handfuls of bitterly cold snow. The recent thaw-freeze cycle means that the footing is tricky at best. The more I stood in the barn, the less appealing a hack became. Still, it was the weekend and I make it a rule not to school Ozzy on the weekends. I like to mix things up for him. So if I wasn't doing dressage, jump schooling, driving, or trail riding, what was left?

I set up three standards in a triangle formation in the indoor and played pretend barrel racing. Ozzy looked suspicious as I mounted. He's not a fan of jump standards, but he was a good sport. We walked a pattern (only I'm an idiot and did it slightly backwards). Once Ozzy stopped huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf about to blow the little piggies' houses to smithereens, we moved up to a trot. It was sloppy, but his attention was definitely on me, and he was trying really hard to figure out this new game. I let him canter a few times, slowing down for the turns, then called it quits before I fried his brain.

I practiced some of our newly acquired rollbacks to get him focused on my seat and aids, then decided to try something completely nuts. I had Rob retrieve my bow. Then I parked Ozzy in the ring and gave it an experimental twang.

Me: *twang*
Oz: *ear flick* What was that?
Me: *twang*
Oz: *sigh* Do I even want to know?
Me: *twang*
Oz: Whatever. Hasn't killed me yet. Carry on, crazy woman.
Me: Ok Oz. I'm gonna shoot an arrow now. *shoots*
Oz: Well, that's nifty.
Me: Walk on.
Oz: Really? We're moving and being crazy now?

Before I knew it, I was shooting arrows off my horse at a canter. He wasn't even remotely concerned. I told him we're going to progress to bareback and bridleless while shooting flaming arrows and wearing a leotard. Then I'll be the cover girl for Bad Riding Magazine.

Kate's Adopted!!!

Dr. P came in on Tuesday to do Kate's pre-purchase. She passed! Her eyes were great. Her lungs had some crackling, but that was just due to the cold. She has divided heart sounds, which is unusual, but it's a variation of normal and not a problem. Her legs were clean except for an old scar on her LF coronet. She trotted out beautifully and had no response to flex tests in her front end. She did have four or five in the hind end, worse right than left, but nothing worth raising an eyebrow over. Of course, there was the standard limited mobility in the fetlocks, typical for a 14 year old ex-racehorse. Dr. P called C and told her the details, then announced that he didn't see a reason the mare couldn't compete successfully in endurance. C finalized the adoption and set a shipping date. The lovely mare shipped out yesterday. Huzzah for a happy ending!

Museum Day

Bryce, Dev, C, and I braved the falling snow to do a museum day today. It may not have been the brightest idea since my tires need to be done like... yesterday. I have zero tread on my front tires. I'm getting them done this week, but still...

The four of us met at Cheeburger in Flemington for lunch (or in my case, breakfast).

We started out with the Matilda Fleetwood camera museum in Plainfield.One of Dev's professors told him about it and recommended we go. As we drove through the streets of North Plainfield, Bryce and I were joking that it was going to be in someone's living room. We were close. Ha! It's a historic house that has been restored and Green Acred. The super-enthusiastic staff greeted us with bright smiles and cheer. While the boys asked questions and looked at ancient cameras, C and I snuck upstairs to look at the rest of the house and studios.

C and I poked around various staircases and peered at the artwork on the walls. We skirted around the creepy mannequin in the wedding dress and made our way back downstairs to the boys. We found them in the back library with a grandfatherly figure who was very excited to have so many young people to talk at. Bryce and Dev hadn't seen the upstairs yet, so we were given the grand tour again. C and I rifled through old year books from the local high school.

Meanwhile, a wedding ceremony was being performed by the mayor downstairs.

It was a pleasant experience.

Creepy, no?

Since we were out anyway, I suggested that we go to Northlandz, the world's largest model train set. I had gone several years ago with my family, but thought it was really cool and wanted them to see it. Besides, we were driving right past it on our way home. My car totally failed at getting up the hill to the parking lot. I wound up sliding backwards to the street at the bottom. Bryce and I went back up the highway, took a jug handle, and went through a different entrance. First, I slid right through an intersection and into a convenience store parking lot. The tires really need to go. It was only open until 5:30pm and Bryce isn't really into the whole model train thing so we went through at a brisk pace. It wasn't as big as I remembered, but still totally awesome. I'm a total dork for stuff like that. I could watch the trains go by all day. Unfortunately, there is quite a bit of wear and tear going on. It's a really awesome display, but I don't think they make a whole lot of money off of it. Sad. Not as sad, however, as the fact that my camera died a quarter of the way through. I didn't get to photograph the huge cityscape or the bottomless pit :( Next time!!!

More photos below.

Mikey- Adoption Photos

Some of you may remember Michael's Fortune, the gelding pulled from the kill pen in 2009. He was originally pulled with the goal of euthanizing him instead of having him suffer the cruelties of slaughter. Long story short, he wound up in the program. He was a sad looking, skinny, shaggy thing with stocky legs and achy joints. Then, A adopted him and he went home to be the spoiled family trail horse. When A accompanied C when she came to look at Kate, I asked how the old guy was doing. He's on a joint supplement and gets lots of love and attention. A promised she'd send photos.

I wouldn't have recognized him:

Sunday at the Barn

Rachel came down to visit today. I haven't seen much of her since she went off to Philly to attend vet school and, you know, make something of herself. This was good because it meant I had to get my lazy butt out to the barn. Unfortunately, it was raining on and off all day. The snow is gone, but now everything's too wet to do any distance riding.

I've decided to alternate dressage and jump schooling every week for the winter in hopes of making Ozzy a more well rounded horse. Last week we worked with ground poles, cavaletti, and cross rails, so this week I put all that stuff away and focused on flat work. We warmed up beautifully and got a rhythmic trot in each direction. That was going well, too, so I threw in some canter. We were progressing nicely. Then I cantered Ozzy to the right. We got to the corner past the office and Ozzy suddenly veered left. I tried to use my outside leg as a barrier while making him engage with my inside leg, but he just folded in half and barged with his shoulder. In a last ditch effort I hauled his face to the right. He ignored me and used his Evil Gumby Powers to pull a u-turn and bolt to the gate.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!" I bellowed, reprimanding him sharply. I'm willing to forgive a lot, but that kind of stubbornness and sheer disregard for human wishes... no, safety... will not be tolerated.

We went back to the trot and I dared him to try it again. All I had to do was open my inside rein a tiny bit and he all but pivoted to turn in the correct direction.

After that, we had no further problems. We walked, trotted, and cantered quietly in both directions. Then we trotted 20m circles both ways. After our come-to-Jesus moment, Ozzy decided that 20m circles to the right had never been a problem. I moved up to the canter. He actually tried, lifted his front end, and did more 20m circles in each direction. Beautiful. I tossed in some simple changes and a couple three loop serpentines at the walk, trot, and canter and he performed nicely. Then I did figure eights within the 20 meter circles at the ends of the arena. That one took some concentration, but after a few tries, Ozzy was able to trot those as well.

With our behavioral issues behind us, I pulled the stirrups off my saddle and decided to focus on me for a while. I warmed up with some free walk, then threw in a bit of lateral work; leg yielding into the corners followed by shoulders in and haunches in. We did some turns on the forehand and played with a little turn on the haunches before moving up to the trot. By then, Ozzy was at the top of his game and sitting trot was actually reasonably comfortable, quite an accomplishment for a crazy standardbred who doesn't understand what the words 'slow down' mean. We did more 20m circles, gradually moving back up to the canter. By then Rachel had arrived.

I asked her to hand me my stirrups and she laughed because she hadn't noticed I was riding without them. We popped over the cross rail and flower boxes once in each direction for good measure, then cooled out.

By then it was pouring, and I told Rachel that she was welcome to ride whoever she wanted, but would have to hike out in the rain to get the horse herself. She opted out of the soggy hike and we sat down in the office to catch up.

In the meantime, Erin had saddled Jabby and was riding around in the indoor. It still blows my mind how much progress she has made with him already. Rachel and I watched from the office.

Erin generously offered to let Rachel ride the Moose, and while I promised myself that I wouldn't micromanage someone else's ride on a horse that's not mine, it wasn't long before I was coaching from the center of the ring. Rachel got some really nice trot work out of Jabby and he seemed relaxed and willing by the end of the ride, which is a really big deal for him. Erin seemed to appreciate the opportunity to watch her new horse work from the ground. She hasn't been able to see him go since she adopted him, so I imagine that was pretty cool.

Unfortunately, Rachel had to run shortly after that so Erin and I went to Panera for dinner without her. It was a productive day and a good start to another year of riding. I can't complain.

New Year Celebration

Bryce and I didn't feel like driving anywhere this year and had a handful of friends who had no plans, so we had a shindig at our place. Dev, C, Erin, Jeff, and Cara came over. We exchanged gifts with C and Dev. We watched Paranormal Activity (because our house is haunted and all that). At one point, Dev shouted to stop the movie.

"Stop right there! See that jewelry box?"

We shit! The jewelry box we got C is in the movie! We all gave it a sidelong glance and cracked up.

We watched Chris Titus until the ball drop, toasted the new year, and went back to the comedy special without watching the Nivea-sponsored TV coverage from Times Square.

We finished out the night with a few rounds of Munchkin and Scrabble Slam before everyone crashed in the living room. It was nice to not worry about anyone having to get home with the drunk drivers on the road, especially because everyone's cars fit neatly in the driveway.

Dev, C, and Erin were gone by the time Bryce and I woke up this morning, but the living room was spic and span (we have really considerate friends).

It was a great start to the new year.