Monthly May-hem

 Another month gone by, and this one was jam-packed. I still have to talk about our road trip to Horseshoe Bend Park, a three mile bareback ride, and a few other trail rides that we did in May. Plus I have photos of Lucy bareback and bridle-less from last week. Mike and I are both fully vaccinated now, and so are all the people in our inner circle. I finally feel like there is a light at the end of the COVID tunnel, and it's really nice to not have to worry about other people's actions affecting our health as  much. Here is your monthly photo dump of everything that didn't make it into a full post.

The weather this month was better than it has been all year. It feels like we were out trail riding every day. In fact, we actually spent a fair amount of time in the ring. More on that subject shortly. Lucy and I had a fun little jump school one day between lessons. I will never be an expert jumper, but Goose is so honest in her efforts and I have so much fun with the process.

Booger Photos and New Outfit

 So the last thing I needed was another saddle pad, but when Kate's Customs on Facebook posted this set, I couldn't resist. I've been riding Booger in Ozzy's old skull and cross bones saddle pad, which fits with her devilish personality, but it's nice to have another option in between loads of laundry. Plus this was a chance to support a small business. Oh yeah, and I'm a hoarder. 

It's very possible that I have gone overboard on the matchy matchy, but I honestly love it. The point of having my own horses is to enjoy them, right? Right.

Booger, as always, was a very good model for outfit photos. Maybe that can be her second career if riding doesn't pan out. 

I also ordered Booger a smaller bit since this one was too wide. After years of trying every kind of bit and having her hate them all, I sort of gave up and just got a single jointed egg butt snaffle. Well, I don't know what changed, but Booger has suddenly decided that bit is perfectly fine and has been going happily along in it ever since. I'm pretty sure that's the original bit I rode her in. HORSES!!!

Meanwhile, I've got my new camera and I need to remember how to shoot horses with it. It's just the new version of the same camera I've had for years so I theoretically should be fine taking pictures with it, but I've mostly been using my camera to take hiking photos and yoga videos. When it comes to horses and riding photos, either Mike is the photographer or I steal his camera. There is no matching that DSLR image quality and I've gotten spoiled.

I finally decided to make Booger my test subject for the new camera. I try not to leave the camera in the hot car all day so I had to pick a day when I was going to be running home after riding and before my lessons. Unfortunately, this meant taking photos right when the sun was at its peak and the lighting was the actual worst. Add a black horse on a light background and it really is a cringeworthy scenario. 

I threw Bug out in the center pasture at the farm. This pasture has been resting for quite a while and hasn't been mowed or anything. As I keep mentioning, Booger doesn't get turned out on grass because she's a fatty. Snacking was definitely her top priority. I was alternately trying to get her moving (at least she's cooperative in that department) and trying to capture pictures when she was on the correct side of the pasture for the lighting (that was her grazing spot of choice). The result was some pretty comical photos of Boo running around with her mouth full. Not my finest work, but I'm going to spam you with it anyway. 

Why yes, she is cross firing even at liberty. 

Connecting the Valley

 After months of exploring, mapping, and planning, I finally had enough time and luck to figure out how to get from the trails I know on our side of the valley to the trails I know on the other side of the valley. As you probably noticed if you've been reading along, it has taken a lot of trial and error. I am excited about this development because it opens the door for longer rides without having to get creative or repetitive. On this day, my goal was just to connect the pieces and make a loop. Adding miles was not the objective. There will be plenty of time for that. Nonetheless, this basic loop ended up being 13 miles. Lucy and I got it done in two and a half hours. 

I can almost see my house from here!

Another Ride with Mike

 I could get used to this.

Dog Walking: Round Mountain

 While this has apparently become a horse blog again (no complaints) there are still other aspects to our lives that I want to share. Last Saturday, Mike and I took Julio to Round Mountain for a quick hike. When Eryca and I rode there last month, I was reminded of how empty that side of the park is. Granted, we had gone during the week, but I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen another soul on that section of the trails. The distinct lack of people made this an appealing spot to walk the dog. Plus, Mike had never seen these trails and I wanted to share. 

Faster and Further

 Last Friday, Lucy and I had the most glorious solo ride. 

Ponying Around the Vineyard

 Wednesday night pony club continues around here, and I've been trying to include Booger whenever possible. Because we meet after work, I usually only end up having time to ride one of the girls. Some Wednesdays I get enough time to ride Booger in the morning, and then save Lucy for my play time with Eryca. Last week, however, the farrier was doing everyone's feet on Wednesday morning and Booger was feeling left out. I decided to pony her along with us for our evening trail ride. 

We started out by heading over to the vineyard because Booger had never been over there before. 

Booger's first time on the vineyard bridge. No big deal, of course. We've done lots of teeter totters and other obstacles at home. She'll pretty much put her feet on anything (for better or worse).

Baldpate with Julie

 At the beginning of the month, I reached out to Julie and told her that I missed her and that we should get together to ride. Julie was immediately on board, replying that she owed Amira some good trail miles. It has been almost a year since I last saw them. Amira has been doing well with Julie and they've done some dressage shows and horse trials, but the gray mare is happiest on the trail. It just so happened that Julie was off during the week and I ended up with a free Tuesday. We marked our calendars and the plan was for Julie to trailer down to Fran's and ride the Amwell Valley with me.

That's not the usual gray mare.

Drone Farm Tour

 How about something a little different? This week, I finally remembered to bring the drone to the barn.

The view across the street. The neat little rows are the grape vines. The vineyard stretches up and left on the screen. You can acually see the entire short vineyard loop that I blog about regularly. The red barns on the right are the boarding barn across the street (I never talk  about them).

Riding with Mike II

 I was already thrilled when Mike suggested riding together three weeks ago, so imagine my delight when he volunteered two weekends in a row! Eryca and I had taken the horses to Baldpate the day before, but Lilly had done so well with Mike the day after Deer Path Park that I didn't think much of it. I figured we'd start with the short loop around the vineyard (Mike has never been that way) and we'd just come straight home from there if the horses seemed tired.

Riding Baldpate Mountain

 Eryca and I got super lucky two weeks in a row. Once again, our schedules and Fran's lined up for an off-farm adventure last Friday. This time, we headed to my old stomping grounds at Baldpate Mountain. 

Ponying Adventure

I got my second Moderna shot yesterday and it kicked my ass. 

About a week after the first shot, I had a lymph node on my collar bone blow up to about the size of a paint ball. It was rock hard and extremely painful and I freaked myself right the hell out before I Googled it and realized that swollen lymph nodes on the injection side of the body are a confirmed side effect of this particular vaccine. I should know by now that my lymph nodes blow up after vaccines. After the chicken pox vaccine senior year of high school, the lymph node in my arm pit blew up. After my rabies shots, my entire groin network got inflamed. So this shouldn't be a surprise to me. Still, it's worth noting for others who might get a similar response. In fact, there's a whole Reddit thread on the subject. 

Anyway, other than the lymph node a week later and a sore arm the next day, I didn't really have a reaction to the first shot. I was hoping to get equally lucky with the second dose. No dice. 

First of all, the second dose hurt like a MF. The needle wasn't bad but the solution burned on the way in and I bled like crazy after (that's a new one...)

The reaction for me started almost immediately. An hour or so after my appointment, Mike and I were in the grocery store and I got a sudden onset case of the stupids. I think the technical term is brain fog. I was basically staring at the grocery list and not able to process what was happening. 

Grocery list: tomatoes
Me: staring at tomatoes
Grocery list: tomatoes
Tomatoes:
Me:
Grocery list: tomatoes
Me: Why yes, those are tomatoes. How does it know???
Mike: Are you gonna grab those tomatoes?

By hour ten post-vax, I was bundled up to my neck in blankets because I was freezing cold. We were watching baseball and my arm was already super sore. Plus my neck was feeling pretty stiff, especially on the right. 

Let's just say that last night sucked. While the thermometer never registered a fever, I certainly felt feverish. I tossed and turned, alternately shivering and sweating through my blankets. I couldn't get comfortable because everything hurt. My bones hurt. My kidneys hurt. My muscles felt like I'd been someone's punching bag.

I took Advil and that helped me fall asleep, and I've been alternating that with Tylenol since. I feel significantly better than I did over night but I still ache and am having a hard time focusing. 

Mike's second dose is on Friday so I'm prepared for us to have a crappy Saturday too.

It still beats COVID-19 though, and I'd do it again in a heart beat. 

The good (?) news is that it's raining so I wouldn't have been riding or teaching anyway. I'm bummed I missed my morning yoga and that Eryca and I won't have our play date at the barn tonight. 

So while I'm laying on the couch, feeling sorry for myself, I figured I'd do some blogging! 

Last Tuesday, I only had enough time to ride one horse before starting my lessons for the day. The weather was beautiful and Booger had had a fabulous schooling ride at home on Monday, so I decided to ride Lucy and pony Booger. I figured I'd see how everyone behaved and then aim for doing the "usual" six mile loop.

I met a random new friend in the woods and she took my photo. More on that in a minute.

Trail Ride with Mike

 I guess we're going to have to stop calling it Mike's annual trail ride. Also, he's going to have to stop telling people he doesn't really know how to ride. Mike and I did and eight and a half mile trail ride together last weekend.

Look at Lilly actually fox trotting like she's supposed to!

April Antics

 The weather this month was all over the place! We had winds that gusted up to 60mph regularly. We had ice, rain, and a day where temperatures reached almost 90℉. Through it all, I was riding and working. Someone asked me yesterday how I desensitize my horses to the wind. My answer was, "They get used to the elements by working in the elements." I can't pay the bills if I don't work, and I can only ride my horses when I'm not riding other people's horses. So, no, I don't make a lot of weather-related excuses not to ride. 

Let's start this month's recap off with a video of Lucy laying down in the ring. And yes, it's raining. Because April showers and all that...