Allergies....

So.... When will it end? That's all I want to know. To have something happy, I have added Tempi, Sand Dog as the picture of the day. She's loving it here; she runs all day, keeping up with the big dogs, then crashes hard as soon as we get inside.

Ok, day started the same as usual, except that Deli's eyes were no better. In fact both were now starting to swell. They started to swell yesterday mid morning. Not good.
But I went about my bussiness, figuring MD would think that it was nothing. SO i too my RC lesson. Boy was he bad at the end. I thought that he started out really well, I mean he was stretching forward and down and it felt like he was really swinging through. And that was the best we got all day... His trot work wasnt that bad, in all honesty. I did many leg yields, trying to keep the bend through his body and not letting him throw that hip in or out. The I did some shoulder-in to renvers, which really helped our straightness. The difference was amazing; turns out that I need to actually USE my outside leg. Damn it. But after those exercises, RC executed our best yet half-passes. The was wonderful. Then came the canter work... This is where it went down hill.
Instantly, RC locked his back, drove his shoulders down and popped his butt up into the air. Charming. It took me ten minuted to move his shoulders out in line with his hips. And then, since "No horse has EVER been able to do this!", according to RC, he started locking his neck and swpping behind. Finally he got so upset that he actually reared (it's ok, it was a mini rear) with me. Thats when MD got on him. He was awful for her! He was throwing body parts every which way, trying to fall when his feet weren't where he needed them and bucking up a storm. I felt kind of bad; I mean, if anyone is going to be bucked by RC it should probably be me. But as it turns out, loose 10 meter circles are only impossible in THAT spot. He could do them every where else but there. It was a cursed-horse-eating corner of the arena. When I got back on him, we did two 10 meter circles in THAT spot, and two canter-walk transitions, then called it a day and went for a trail ride. No race horses this time.
After I put RC in his new turn out(he's been moved for being a jerk to everyone), I went and worked with the cremello. I really wish she had a name. I've been calling her Sunny, but that's so generic. Awful. Anyway, Sunny was pretty goood. I mean she only freaked out three or four times while I put the bridle on her. She was fairly decent while lunging, but going clokwise was way scarrier for her then going to the left. She is the anti-Deli. Everythgn Deli takes in stride, scares the shit out of the cremello mare. Go figure, Blondes....
After Sunny was back up,I went out to catch the pony colt, Buttons. At least that's what he's being called for now. I brought him inside so that he could stand in the wask stall while I groomed him. MD sticked him at 11.3h. I thought he was smaller then that. Other then flirting with Diva and making an insane amount of noise, he was pretty well behaved. I think he was making the noise because MD was telling me about how much he's changed. Evidently he used to be all body with a little head and skinny legs, like a tick. I think that should be his nickname. It would stick about as well and the Galloping Sea Cow....


As I put Buttons in his new pen, MD looked Deli over. She said to call the vet. So we did, and an hour later, Deli was loaded and on her way to see the vet. By the time the vet saw her, her left eye was nearly swollen closed (you can see in the pict, she is NOT blinking). That's the side that we thought had knocked into something. The right side was beginning to swell too. The vet, Dr. Garza I think, took one look at her in the trailer and said allergies. Evidently sometime yesterday, Deli was stung or bitten by something and voila. Here we are. So now I have to put some steroid paste in her eyes every 4 hours or so and feed her an anti-histamine twice a day. He said to call him back if she doesnt improve by tomorrow,so here's to hoping.
That was my Tuesday. Wow, huh?

Mondays Suck.

Yep. Read the title. Mondays Suck. Epicly. As anyone who bothers to read may know, last Monday I got bucked off and my pride was horribly bruised. How could anything top getting bucked off of a horse? Well, read on....
So MD had to take a mare to the vet to get checked for pregnancy (Amy isn't pregnant, so she stayed at the vet), so I did all of my morning chores, then rode RC, sans lesson.
I only worked him for about 35 minutes, then we both got a little bored (plus, he was being really really good), so we went on a trail ride down the path where the race horses exercise in the mornings. It was all gravy until there were the morning explosions, and a race horse came sprinting up behind us. I wouldn't let RC wheel around, so he just sat low and held it, in case I changed my mind and we did decide to flee. We didn't, so he just looked like a loser, but I got a smile and a laugh from the exercise rider. after about 10 minutes out, i decided it was time to turn around. This time when a new race horse came up behind him, he acted like he had never been afraid of anything in his life. I saw Martha's trailer pull into the deliveries drive as I made it back onto the property. Perfect timing.... or so I thought.
This is where my day went down hill, and down hill fast.
MD went inside to change into riding clothes, and while I'm untacking RC, I hear her yell. She grabbed a halter and rushed to Derringer. When I had turned him out this morning, he had a slightly higher then average (for him) temperature of 104.6, his heart rate was racing (per his usual) at around 75 bpm, and he was sort of panting. I wrote it up to not receiving his banamine injection in the morning, as MD wanted to talk to the vet before giving him anything more. His feet were finally not swollen, and he was eating his grass hay, so I turned hin out.
I rushed over to where MD had haltered Derringer, and he was sweating, but felt icy. Bad. Very very bad. When I checked his gums, they were white as a sheet. He was still panting and his heart rate was still high and erratic, but now he was pawing and reaching around and nosing not his stomach, but right in front of where the girth would be. MD and I tried to get him out of his pen, but he seized and collapsed before we made it. He fell and sort of rolled under the fence. He made it halfway under then he died. Right there. It took a few minutes, but when he left us, we both knew it. I doubt there was anything either of us could have done. He was buried this evening in the desert.

Wow. Great day, huh?

To top it off (for me) I didn't ride Deli today. RC ran her into the door, and her eye looks like she came out of a prize fight. So either flys mucked up her tear duct and I'll have to get the vet out to flush it, or RC is a major bully and beat the shit out of my poor Deli. But the poor little mare stood like a champ when I held an ice pack on her eye for ten minutes. The she didn't even flinch when I rubbed hot pink Swat fly repellent on it. It still looks like she was playing in her mom's make up.
On the riding front: I got my lesson of the day on Diva. I think that the lesson made me a whole lot more comfortable with riding her. This way I know what she does, how MD handles it and how much to expect of her. After Diva, I rode Sonnet (the one who bronced me). She was thinking about it again, especially since I was riding her while the back hoe was digging Derringers grave. She was decent until they started to move Derringer. Then it was get off or get thrown off. I opted to vacate the saddle by choice. After Derringer was out of sight, MD got on Sonnet to school her, then I got back on. It was really fun, again knowing how MD handled her and what to expect made a big difference to me.
Finally, last horse of the day, I got to ride Avril after MD. I got to do a 9 extension, play with her half passes and ride her passage. Awesome. Majorly awesome. Then MD wanted to school Avril's piaffe, with me as the pilot. It wasn't easy, but it sure was fun. I have never sat on a horse that moved so... springy. Sitting on Avril is like walking on the moon, I imagine. The hang time in the trot is amazing (and my abs are killing me just to prove it). It was pretty cool.
So the day ended much better then it began... But it still sucked.

Late night update: Boys suck..... (so do mondays.)