Friday, May 15, 2009

HALLELUJAH!!








Yea, thats right! Those two pictures above taken with my cell phone before 7 pm this evening are proof I did not have to chase my horse tonight! She was in the furthest corner of the pasture, which she did make me walk most of the way to her, but she still closed the gap between us ON HER OWN. I didn't even have any treats with me. I am so ecstatic. I almost peed my pants a little. Ok maybe not, but I'm pregnant, so that can happen over anything.





She did get her very last spring vaccine today which was actually very entertaining. We did the intra-nasal strangles which many horses do not appreciate. I did get to watch a performance from one particular horse tonight at my barn that definitely does not enjoy having her nose violated by a long, skinny tube that shoves fluid up towards her brain. Poor Sunny (aka Squealer or Squeaky Pants as I call her) is a previously abused, high spirited Pintabian. She trusts as little as possible and did not like the idea of being held by one person and approached by another weilding the nostril invading syringe. She put up a pretty good fight and managed to drag Kristy (Barn Owner) and Rebecca (Sunny's Owner) around half of the arena, head butting them a few times as well. Meanwhile, Summer was tied on the other side casually napping, unknowingly awaiting her turn. I don't think I ever saw her flick even an ear in their direction.





Once Sunny was finished and put away we untied Summer and led her towards the middle of the arena. We rubbed her nose for a few seconds to desensitize her and I slid my hand just above her nose to help keep her still and Rebecca moved in for the kill....er I mean injection. Summer struggled a bit and at the end it looked like the tube part had come off the syringe making the whole mission a fail. Rebecca and I both stepped back and noticed that all of the vaccine was gone from the syringe. At the same time Summer stretched her neck out and lifted her lips away from her teeth and made the most hilarious face I've ever seen. She then managed to sneeze all over poor Rebecca who was still standing in front of her. We were both laughing hysterically at this point. Poor Summer.

All in all it was a good night. I rode Summer for about 45 minutes. We worked some more on having her move off my leg, neck reining, and backing. She's starting to get much better at the first 2 but the 3rd is an ongoing issue. She is still a bit hardmouthed and doesn't give to the bit as well as she should so her backing is pretty resistent. Instead of freeing up her shoulders and tucking her head when asked to back she will lean into the bit and slowly drag backwards. Tonight I saved the backing for last so that when she backed twice while giving to the bit and freeing up her shoulders I could jump off and loosen her cinch as her reward. Summer always seems to remember training sessions beter if I'm quick to reward her with a job well done. It helps us end on a high note as well. She definitely made me work tonight too. Her body control wasn't very good so I spent alot of time holding her together with my legs tonight so I'm a bit sore since I haven't actually ridden like this in a few weeks to a month. I realized though that I've been getting lazy lately when I ride and its my fault for not using my legs as much that she's having a hard time keeping it together. It'll also help my impending labor a little easier if I work with my legs more and get the muscles in better shape so that will be my new personal goal when I ride.

Off to bed now, need to feed in the morning for Kristy since they are off to a QH show this weekend. Hopefully all of you ( I think I have 3 or 4 readers now!) have a great weekend. I'm getting a new mattress and bed frame and paint for the baby's room!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Pet/Owner Look-A-Like Contest?

My horse is starting to look like me. Round. Its kind of amusing. I went out to the barn yesterday and with all of the green grass and constant turn out she is beginning to look quite, um, pregnant. Or maybe she's just gaining weight to make me feel better. Either way, her weight gain has me motivated to actually ride her tomorrow. I'm going to see if I can get her to break a sweat. Just a tiny one though. She is not going to be very happy with me. Oh well, I need the exercise too. I've been spending entirely too much time at home.
Lately when I have gone out to the pasture to bring her in she has been so stubborn I've had to chase her around a bit until she'll actually stops and stands still. This has not amused me but I'm sure Summer finds it pretty stinkin funny. Nothin like getting chased around a huge pasture by an overweight pregnant lady waving her arms and swinging a lead rope at you to keep life interesting. Its been taking less and less time when she realizes that if she just lets me catch her then I don't continuously drive her away from her "herd" until she stands still. Usually after a few rounds in the pasture she'll stop, turn slightly to face me, and stand there licking and chewing with this smug little look in her eye. I'll huff and puff up to her, trying to catch my breath after my min-marathon, and halter her while she acts like "OMG, you just got here? I never saw you there!" Yea, funny horse that one is. She definitely has my sense of humor though. I would do the exact same thing if I were her. In the last week I've finally realized that chasing her is not a good idea so I've started to cheat. Yes, I'm using treats. I know, bribery isn't the best thing and can sometimes make them lippy and grabby but I really don't want to go into early labor from going out to catch my stinking horse. When I got out to clean her stall I put her in the indoor arena. I push the wheelbarrow through there to dump it and will keep a handful of treats in my pocket. When I have to go through, if she approaches me on her own, I'll give her a treat or two to sweeten the deal. So far she has not become aggressive from this but I am keeping a very watchful eye on her. I do not tolerate bad manners and will stop the treats immediately if she starts to act that way. Its definitely made her more friendly and when I went out to the pasture yesterday to put her fly mask on she came up to me almost immediately. Yay, progress! I'm going to start cutting back on the treats and only give them every once in a while to keep from creating any bad behavior in her though, just in case. Summer enjoys her rubs and scratches so I incorporated those yesterday in the field and she followed me all the way back to the gate. This will be the majority of her "reward" for approaching me rather than the just the treats. Hopefully things will continue to improve and my barn lady won't have to look out her window and see a huge pregnant woman chasing a horse around her pasture. If she does though, I hope she gets it on video for America's Funniest Home Videos. Or at least YouTube.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen....

Yep, thats what happens when you're unemployed. Of course, the pregnant part happened back when I had a job, but my last day of work was April 30th so now the title of this post fits me. Sort of....I've been in the kitchen some, but as little as possible. I was working as a receptionist at a temp agency which wasn't too bad. I didn't particularly like my coworkers, but who likes everybody all the time? Our customers and employees were great though and I loved working for/with them. Unfortunately, my company was bought out completely by our sister company and they decided to merge. Lucky for me and one other coworker our sister company was already fully staffed so we got screwed out of jobs. I am currently almost 29 weeks pregnant, neat huh? I've been looking for work but who really wants to hire someone that will be taking maternity leave in 2 to 3 months? The upside is I do get unemployment which means I'll have a paid maternity leave. Bad news is we are losing about $200 a month and I'll be home enough that I'll be forced to clean the house! Not acceptable, but seriously what other choice do I have? I will get a chance to spend more time with our son though rather than rushing right back to work, which is great.


So anyways, I took a ton of pictures on friday with my cell phone and I know you are all dying to see them so here you go.....

The new baby at the barn. She is sooooo cute!
Look at that face! I may steal her.....
Summer got wormed, she was SO not thrilled with it.
Giving me the evil eye after worming her
Back in her stall trying to sniff out more treats. Look at her crazy eyes...lol
Going for the windswept look.....she wants to be a supermodel
Mad that I didn't have anymore treats so she tried to throw her grain bucket at me




Sid sunning himself in the backyard

Took the dogs down to the park near our house


Sid following Thor trying to figure out what she's staring at

Thor loves to chase the grass (yea she's a crackhead)


Silly puppies
"Mom, look how cute I am!"

Going home