Apartment: Sneak Preview

I will have to tell the whole saga of our epic apartment hunt some time soon, but move-in day is tomorrow and I don't know when I'll have internet again, and I know some of you have been dying to see this place already, so I went out and took some pictures specifically for you guys this afternoon. Here's the sneak preview you've all been waiting for. We don't live there yet so there's obviously a lot to be done and a bunch of clutter for now. I'm sure I'll spam you again once we're settled in :)

Front porch. Come on in!

Wink Updates

I continue to work with Wink on a weekly basis (weather permitting... which it hasn't been). He is making great progress. His owners are also improving steadily (though not as quickly as the horse).

Wink is currently starting to do a great deal of lateral work... turns on the forehand and haunches, side pass, and laying a foundation for rollbacks (which he should be doing by the end of this summer, woo!) His entire attitude is greatly improved, his neck reining is pretty solid, and he has great speed control within his gaits. We have been working on backing, little bits of jumping, and trail obstacles (like the pinwheel). I think we've finally reached a level of ring work that Wink finds interesting. He is really engaged and seems to actually enjoy our sessions instead of merely tolerating them.

As for his owner... her posture is getting better and better. She finally looks balanced, secure, relaxed, and in control in the saddle. She has been smiling more and more and things are really starting to click! It has been so rewarding to see her confidence grow and to watch her truly enjoy her horse. Hooray!

Today, Mike took a ton of photos during our lesson in the snow. The footing limited the things we could work on, but it was still a good day.

Plus... how epic is this shot?

Aurorapedia Finds a Leaser

A few weeks ago, Sandy (who was with me the day I first learned about Aurorapedia's plight) tagged me in a thread on a Facebook endurance riding group. A girl was looking for information on standardbreds in CTR and endurance. Best of all, she was relatively local to me.

Since no story of mine would be complete without some small world occurrence, it turned out to be none other than our very own NightFell. We took the discussion to private messages and I told Grace about Rori. The mare has been up for lease and excels at trail riding. Before I knew it, Grace and Christy were in touch and setting up an appointment to show Rori off!

As of today, I'm happy to announce that Grace will officially be leasing Aurorapedia and will hopefully be conquering the competitive trail world in no time flat! I couldn't have planned it better myself.

Grace and Rori together!

Bareback in the Snow

I rode my Fat!Pony bareback in the fluffy, white snow yesterday. He's like sitting on a fuzzy couch and I love it. He was huffing and puffing and making a big deal about how hard it is to trot in snow, but as soon as I asked for a canter, he got all peppy and sassy. I was grinning from ear to ear as Mike snapped a million photos.

WW: Shoveling

Mike and Bryce helped our elderly neighbor shovel his driveway last night. They also did it for him a second time before we went to bed at 3am. This morning, we woke up to find an assortment of dog treats (in bulk) on our doorstep. I will miss the neighbors when we go...

The official symbol of "snow is coming".

Campus

The house looks nice with all its new siding, windows, and roof.

Dancer Ground Manners

Just a quick video of Dancer's ground manners. He's such a good and pleasant horse to be around. I swear I'll get riding video some day. The weather, his soundness, and my camera battery just need to get on the same page.

Sunday Stills: Peanut and Sarah

I still owe you guys an S.A.S. cast list. In the meantime, here's the newest arrival at the lesson barn. His name is Peanut and he's a 10 year old Haflinger. He is 100% adorable and we're all hoping he'll join the lesson string shortly. I took some photos of Sarah, one of the barn regulars, riding him after my lessons yesterday. I'm itching to hop on him myself.

Dancer Updates

Dancer has had some pretty bad luck this past year.

I rode him pretty extensively in September and really schooled his jumping. At the end of the month, Christine came down and jumped him. The following week, he developed a case of thrush in his right front, which I wound up battling for the better part of October.

I finally got him sound and started riding him. On November 12th, he got running around in the pasture with Ozzy and JR. When he came in, he was bleeding profusely from his right hind pastern. He had apparently stepped on himself and given himself a decent slice. I texted my vet that I might need him. Then I got the wound cleaned up. As soon as I scrubbed it, I called my vet and confirmed, "Yup. He definitely needs stitches." Seven staples later, Dancer was out of work for another two weeks.

Nice canter.

He healed from that quickly and quietly with no lameness. I put him back in work just in time for the holidays and terrible weather to set us back. At the end of December, Dancer whacked that same right hind on god only knows what in the pasture (I swear he doesn't live in a mine field). It blew up like a balloon and he was gimping around very dramatically. *sigh*

So that brings us up to two weeks ago. I brought Dancer back into work. I finally rode him last week. He has definitely lost pretty much all of his fitness, which is extremely frustrating. However, he continues to be a total joy to ride. I got on him for the first time in two months and he just sort of flicked an ear and went, "Huh. I remember this!" Good boy.

Luckily (for a change) the weather has been very mild this week. I took advantage of the dry outdoor and re-introduced Dancer to jumping. Good news... he doesn't miss a beat and picks up where we left off! He is seriously such a cool horse.

We just did cross rails this week. I'm not looking to rush him before he gets his stamina back. I did lunge him over a little 2'3" oxer just to get him stretching those muscles again, but we'll ease back into it with me on board. Yesterday we did a handful of two-stride lines and tons of trot-in, canter-out.

Mike was kind enough to take pictures of us in the process :) I unintentionally matched my outfit to both my horse and my jumps. Haha.

Here's hoping the weather holds and my horse stays sound so I can do a lot more of this in the future. I really missed riding the big guy. I need him sold, but in the meantime, I want to be able to enjoy him!

I love that he makes such an honest effort, even over the small fences. Good boy :)

Some Things

I have been a terrible and negligent blogger lately. Six days since my last public post! This is totally unheard of for me. It's not that there's nothing going on either. It's mostly that I'm waiting for the right timing to do some major life-change posts.

Seeing that I reached 300 readers this morning was sort of a kick in the pants to get writing again.

Things are finally moving along with the apartment that I haven't told you guys about in any kind of detail. Suffice it to say that it's our dream place and we are thrilled to finally get the ball rolling. We have dropped $1200 on the place this week, so we had better be moving in on the first. It's starting to feel real and I am both excited and anxious. This week we've bought a stove, a washer/dryer, two ceiling fans, and mini blinds for all the windows. We've also picked out a carpet for the living room and are starting to hunt for the perfect couch. We're not paying a security deposit, so that's our excuse. Also, people were very generous with various gift cards over Christmas so that's covering some of the costs. But enough about that... I've said too much already. I promise to post a million photos and tell the whole story when the time comes.

On Sunday, Mike spoiled me with a clothes shopping spree. I basically never shop for anything that's not horse-related, and my last pair of good jeans bit the dust a while ago. I think Mike felt bad, listening to me wishfully talking about nice sweaters I would wear if I had anyplace non-horsey to go. New jeans, new tops, new shoes... it's like I'm a girl or something, hahaha.

One of the big things Mike and I are excited about for when we move is being able to start exercising again. We don't have the space or the equipment here. I've been wanting to start yoga for a long time now, after seeing spectacular results through a lot of you guys. Dev and C got us a yoga starter kit for Christmas and I am beyond excited to start using them. Mike has a work out area mapped out in the apartment already and is drooling over a dumbbell rack that he wants for his birthday at the end of the month (the man never asks for anything, so this is a big deal).

In the meantime, we've started walking again. Enough sitting around on the couch, waiting for winter to be over. We started with a walk around the neighborhood the other night. It was very suburban of us, especially with our two on-leash dogs in tow. What started as a half mile walk around the block turned into an hour-long stroll that included parts of town that I didn't even know existed. It was a good start.

Yesterday morning started off dreary and gross, so my lessons for the day cancelled. Instead, Mike and I got to take the dogs to Mercer Meadows for a two hour mini-hike. We wound up doing almost the entire perimeter of the park. We cut out the swampy section by the insect walk. I mapped it out when we got home and we covered 5.75 miles. Not bad for getting back into it!

I didn't bring my camera because I'm a slacker. It's too bad because the sky was pretty epic when we were heading back to the car.

The dogs were thrilled to be out, and on their very best behavior. Julio was pretty tuckered out by the end of it, but I think Herbie just thought of it as a warm up. That's another thing to look forward to with the move. We'll be in the middle of the Sourland Mountains with endless walking trails a stone's throw from our front door. It'll be so good to get back to the things we love... even though this move may bankrupt us.

Freehold Accident

There was a bad accident at Freehold Raceway today when the starting gate car lost control on the turn and slid into the horses. Redwhiteandbluestone was one of the horses hit. I foaled her out and named her! Poor kid. I hope she's ok :(

Article here.

Friday Foto: Yin Yang Dogs

Finally managed to get a photo of them doing this! Whenever I try to get my camera, they get up to follow me. Some day, Mike and I will live somewhere with lots of light so I can get better shots :)

Available Dogs

I haven't taken photos of the adoptable dogs at the farm in what feels like forever. The horrific weather hasn't helped.

I think everyone I've mentioned has gotten adopted, with the exception of Ruby. Ruby is beautiful, but a little shy. It is taking her a while to warm up to people, but she is quiet, well-behaved, and extremely sweet. She's going to make someone a great little dog.

She also does dressage better than most horses I know (even with a dead mouse in her mouth).

Sunday Stills: Dogs

WW: Dancer Stills