Steps forward, steps back.

Yesterday was supposed to be the first time I got back on Gogo in almost two months. Well of course, it didn't happen because of eternal circumstance. After Gogo went bouncing around on Halloween, I cut back on her exercise and went to just one 25 minute treadmilling and one 15 minute handwalk daily. Wednesday was my day off, and I ended up riding a couple greenies for my roommate at the place where she works, and didn't have time to come all the way out to this barn (*cries!*). What happened that day? The guys that work here put my horse on the treadmill, and rewrapped her when she was done.... and did a HORRIBLE botch job of it. So of course, when I arrived bright and early on Thursday, her bandages were around her ankles. The kicker is that her stall was already clean, so nobody apparently noticed when they were in there with her. Awesome. As a result, the LH was pretty hot and much bigger than normal. AWESOME. I gave her 5cc banamine right away, got to icing those legs (3x a day for 30 minutes each), and let her have one treadmilling followed with immediate ice. She had more banamine in the afternoon, and I am happy to say the legs both went down and remain normal today. I'm restricting her for a week to stall rest with one treadmilling a day, and no leaving her stall except for a groom and some grass. I'll banamine/Surpass as I need to, although hopefully I won't anymore, and will keep icing 3x daily and wrapping as I have been.

So in short - I'm giving it a week. If those legs don't continue to stay as they have been (which is slightly filled, something I don't really expect to change anytime soon, probably for the rest of forever), then we go back the vet next week for an ultrasound. If they stay fine, I'll get on her in a week. But I'm not taking any chances here.

I have lots of pictures from Halloween, and of Gogo in her palace... but I'm at work, and I guess that means I should probably, you know, get back to work.

Gogo's Yearly Demon Possession (or, Happy Belated Halloween!)

The shiny internets have still not retured to the house, but hopefully that situation will be remedied shortly. I want to talk about the Big Brego and our wild ride at the New England Hunter Trials, but that will be for another day. In the meantime, I want to report that Gogo is fine and well for the most part, except for one thing. Every Halloween, Gogo gets possessed by demons.

No, seriously. Every year without fail, something weird happens on Halloween. I actually on purpose avoided working with her last year on Halloween and just gave her a day off instead. This year, however, with working being so hectic I very nearly forgot what day it was and went ahead and long-lined her anyway. And, well, you'll see what happened shortly.

Gogo's Yearly Demon Possessions began in 2006, when I had only had her for about three months. She was just starting to really get the whole steering thing down, and jumping small fences from the canter. So you can imagine my surprise when on this particular Halloween, my instructor Bud upped the ante a huge notch. We were having a lesson in the outdoor at school, and everyone was milling near the gate end of the arena. Three jumps were set up on the centerline, but sideways, so that you had to do a three loop serpentine to take them all, changing directions after each jump. You started at the gate end of the arena, and ended up at the far end. I thought it looked challenging but okay for my green bean. Gogo thought it looked like a death trap. She, who had been perfect the day before, took the first fence and refused to turn left for the second. She wanted to go right, I wanted to go left. We compromised and smashed into the fence bordering the arena. I tried again, with the same result - a fence smashing. Alex has showed up at this point and was watching the lesson, and as we hadn't quite started dating yet I was keen to impress her. The third time around, I cranked as hard as I could on my left rein and we managed to turn left to the next fence. Succeess! We jumped it without incident, and I landed in a strong place for our turn to the right in order to head to the last fence. Gogo, on the other hand, landed left despite my efforts and BOLTED back towards the herd of milling horses. DEAD bolted. No steering, no brakes. Now, my poor roommate was nearest to us on this sweet saint of a chesnut named Sporty. Sporty was not paying attention to the situation, but Nicole was, and as Gogo came steaming towards them she realized we were on a collision course. She started thumping and wailing on Sporty, who sort of went, "did you say something?" Too late - my wildwoman who at that point has lost all steering and brakes smashed headlong into them - totally t-boned poor Sporty, who finally went scrambling. And Gogo? She just kept going - Sporty didn't stop her! I'm pretty sure neither Nicole nor Alex nor Bud nor anybody else who witnessed this event will ever let me live it down.

Fast forward to Halloween 2007. Dr. Giedt and Alex and I are going on a Halloween trail ride yay! Gogo is wearing her witch's hat and everything. She had been an angel the year before (actually, she was wearing her angel halo the day of "the Sporty incident" if I remember correctly..... so I wanted to get more appropriate headgear for the next year), but this year she had on her witch's hat, complete with hair. She had been wearing it for the better part of a week while I was riding her, only I guess that day she actually took it to heart. Off we go on our trail ride, me bareback (of course), and we make it most of the way around. The final hill back to the barn is a big, steep one, and suddenly I find myself riding a rodeo bull - we are running, leaping, plunging, twisting, galloping up this hill. I did not fall off, thankfully, but where did THAT come from?? Surely it was the demons.

Halloween 2008? I convince myself that it is demons and I refuse to work my horse. She instead eats her year Halloween pumpkin treat and we go on our merry way. No demons, because I didn't get on her and therefore saved myself from a violent fate.

And this year? Whoops, forgot about the demon incidents of years past, so I went to long line her at the end of a very long day. Now, I've been long lining Gogo for what, three years now? I started her without handler. I've long lined her all over God's creation. I've never, ever, ever, ever, ever had a problem with it - she's always been an angel. Until this Halloween. We are in the indoor, thankfully, and we are passing a door that had been rattling in the Halloween winds. We pass it once, twice, three times, five times. On maybe time number seven, suddenly it's REALLY SCARY and Gogo goes leaping sideways away from it. She hits the lines and wheels around to face me - and I am cringing watching those legs - and now has caught one of the long lines underneath her saddlepad. She continues to spin, and now has both lines wrapped around her neck, simultaneously strangling her and trapping her... and we all know how she feels about her mouth being confined. She starts to lose it, jigging around, backing rapidly, eyes rolling in her head and mouth gaping. Somehow, by the mercy of the gods of long lining I managed to soothe her with enough verbal whoas before she went smashing into the line of gymnastics set up. Mucho yikes. I have not long lined her since, just because I worry about those legs. She got Surpass the first day and has been on strict treadmill and handwalking since, but I'm not sure if I am imagining some extra fill in that leg - or it is the same amount that was there before? It's hard to say, but needless, I am not taking any chances. I'm still going to get on her and walk tomorrow for the first time, and we will see how she feels them, but still. Gogo. Seriously. Why. Demons. Why.



I have a bunch of pictures but the internet won't cooperate. So later.



Happy November... the crappiest month of ever, besides February. October, you treated me very well, thank you for that.

No internets!

Well, my silence has said it all - the internet is down at the house, and while I am at work I have had zero time this week to take a moment to write anything out about Gogo's treadmill adventures and yearly demon possession that happens on Halloween (no seriously, EVERY Halloween she goes nuts!). So hopefully I can actually write a real entry soon..... soooooooo busy but having soooooooooooooooooooooooo much fun.

Gogo.... is nuts. And awesome.

Juggling

As you can no doubtedly tell from my recent lack of posts, I am a very, VERY busy girl this week. There is SO much to do at the new barn and not enough hours in the day, and I am working my BUTT off trying to get all my projects under control AND do all my daily tasks AND stand in for a lot of things that the guys can't do when we are short-staffed. But it's impossible to do my job when I have to do someone else's job as well, so I certainly hope that we can get that situation remedied soon. As it stands, I need SO badly to go to the store and get supplies for the farm that I might just be doing that at 6am tomorrow, because I need to make sure the guys know what's on tap for tomorrow since I didn't write it down on the white board tonight (I quite honestly just forgot... didn't leave the farm until almost 8). But despite all the CRAZINESS and not knowing anything but trying to do everything all at once, I love it. Once everything settles down and I actually complete the 29,000 projects she wants me to work on, I'll be able to really settle into a rhythm and take things as they come instead of struggling to juggle them all at once. It's insane but it's great. It's also very exhausting and takes up pretty much my entire life at the moment, which I will need to figure out how to balance. My room is littered with boxed and clothes, all things that need to be unpacked and put away... but I'm just too tired at the end of the day to do it.

And the extra horrible part of it all is that Gogo is getting less than her usual amount of daily attention. I've been so busy these past few days that she didn't get groomed or longlined from Monday through Wednesday, just walked. She hadn't even gotten to handgraze at all because it's been either pouring or completely dark out by the time I can actually do it. We also have some seriously slacker staff on some counts so her stall hasn't been done until like 11am these past few days, which REALLY annoys me, so much so that I've just been doing it myself. Unfortunately for me, she's stuck in the older barn in the smallest stall, which is only about 10x10. It does have the ComfortStall system, but I'd still like to get her somewhere bigger. We are about to be totally full up though, so I dunno how that's going to work. It's a little bit crazy and there is much to get acclimated to.

She is, however, getting to know and love the treadmill, and so am I. That thing is AWESOME! It has all sort of different speeds and heights that it can go to, and you can set it for different programs with varying levels of speed and angle for a real workout. Gogo, however, is just getting the Level 1 set, a totally flat and steady walk for 25 minutes at a time. The treadmill is ideal therapy - it's in a totally straight line (no drunken sailor weaving or turns or hills), it's a hard surface (good for stimulating tendon regeneration), and it's covered so it can be used rain or shine. Gogo was, as usual, totally the proverbial cool cucumber when I put her on it, although it took her a few minutes to really get it - every time I told her good girl, she'd stop, which meant she'd go backwards and hit the butt bar! It only took a few minutes to really understand, and the next day she was totally fine.



More pictures of Gogo on the treadmill coming soon.

Today I had to run allllllll the way to Waterbury to get grain from the sole Buckeye dealer in the state of Connecticut, and I ended up back at the barn quite late. Gogo is now scheduled to go on the treadmill at 11am every day, and hopefully if I ever start to take a lunch break (still haven't taken one all week), I will be able to long line her then. She got a nice grooming and a long lining session today when I got back, which was great and made her a very happy kid. There were several sets of trot poles set up around the ring, and we walked over those a good number of times, which is very useful for losening up those tight hips and back. I never ended up putting her on the Robaxin because her back soreness went away rather quickly (I think it HAD to be related to that vaccine reaction), and she's been off Surpass for nearly 2 weeks now - I hope to NOT put her back on. I haven't iced her hinds this week because quite frankly, they've been tighter than they've been since the injury, and cooler too. They're still not normal and they're still not as cool as I'd like, but give the circumstance I'm impressed.

And the best part.... ONE WEEK til I can get back on her and walk again!!!!!!


Now hopefully tomorrow, after I get Sophie bodyclipped, Pilgrim's mane pulled, all the needed barn supplies from the store, the new hay schedule set in place with the non-English-speaking workers on board, the maintenace guy called about the broken stall front, the folders for the new horses set up, two stalls prepped for two new incoming boarders arriving tomorrow morning, the blanket room measured for new racks, the board and billing book updated, the grains premade, and the 25,000 other things I'm forgetting here all done, then I will be able to maybe unpack some of my stuff from the trailer and figure out where to send my winter blankets to for cleaning. I also made friends with our exceedingly pro-barefoot farrier... more on that later. As for now..... SLEEEEEEP.

The Reign of Tedi

I am a busy girl. Busy busy busy busy BUSY and given my last job, I am not accustomed to a job where I actually can take a lunch or sit down in a chair at some point. Therefore, I am exhausting myself at work out of sheer exuberance because I have been working up to 11 hours without sitting down or eating or taking a moment to myself, and you're not actually supposed to do that in a real job. Tomorrow I shall try harder to not try so hard. But there is so much to DO and so many projects and I hardly even know where to begin, I want to do them all at once.

But I will write more about that tomorrow. As for today, an era ended. My favorite school horse of all time, an old fleabitten Thoroughbred named Tedi, was finally laid to rest after 29 years on this earth, 12 of which were spent at his final home and resting place, Bit by Bit, which is also where my two boys are buried. Karen bought Tedi as an 18 year-old to be a lesson horse in 1997, long before my time at the barn, and who even know the number of kids he packed around? He taught the tiniest ones to post and steer, taught the older teenagers like me how to jump around a course (not in a stylish way, certainly, but no matter how many times we bounced around on his back or yanked on his face he just kept trucking in the exact same rhythm), went to a few shows, and lived outside 24/7 and wouldn't have it any other way. He was a very hard keeper and a severely chronic cribber til the day he died, so much so that he had to wear a wire muzzle to keep from demolishing every fence in the paddock. This did not deter him however; I distinctly remember watching him place his head over his friend Sunny's back and managing to crib on nothing overtop this horse's withers. Quite a feat for an old man. At 29 this year though, he started having difficulty getting up when he was down, and recently stopped eating. It was time to let him go with dignity before the hard winter came, and he got to live out his last day in the gorgeous, warm fall sunshine with his friends in the field. His reign ended this morning, and it's amazing to me how despite the fights we've had and the distance between us, we all come together as a family for things like this. He touched all our lives, every last one of us. He was the original Fuzzman, before Quincy was Fuzzman. That's how special he was.

When Quincy's falls because too much of a risk, it was Tedi that I rode in the interim between horses. I had ridden Tedi plenty before this time in my life, but I was never closer to him than during that winter when we spent every week together. I spent that winter before Quincy's retirement riding him bareback every day and nothing more, and learning confidence again with Tedi over fences. I hadn't realized how afraid I had become of jumping until I started jumping other horses. I was never afraid when I jumped Quincy, but as soon as I got put on dumpy old QHs like Barney, I suddenly freaked out, and I fell off a good couple of times when Barney pulled his signature leave-from-a-stride-and-a-half-out-for-no-good-reason. That didn't help my confidence at all. I was so nervous about jumping that - get this - I thought for sure that I wanted to do dressage and only dressage forever. I even looked at dressage horses exclusively for a little bit while I was hunting for Metro. But Tedi - sweet, patient, steady Tedi - was the one that really got me going again. Week after week, he'd pack me around sweet as could be, and even at 23 he and I did some pretty big and complicated stuff. We jumped all sorts of weird stuff - lines of never ending bounces, yawning spreads that we covered with tarps, all sorts of angled lines, and more. Through Tedi, I learned to trust and let my body figure itself out, because he was always going to be there for me. He just recently retired from still giving walk-trot up-down lessons to little kids, a job he excelled at. Amanda sent me pictures of his final day yesterday and I accidentally deleted them, so I will have to get her to resend them. She also sent one to me today of him down and already gone with Nataly laying on him, which made me cry but also made me feel like I was there with them for that moment. He went peacefully and I know he's off with the rest of those boys in horsey heaven, especially Quincy, who was his pasture-mate for a long time.

To all those horses from Bit by Bit that made our lives truly special when we were kids - Magic, Pork Chop, Tedi, Flair, Ziggy, Leroy, Tina, and Quincy - we miss you all.

Here's just a couple of pictures of the boys in their field in wintertime, 2003.







The grey with the honking muzzle (chronic cribber remember?) in the blue blanket is Tedi, the very handsome black with the little white dot on his forehead wearing the grey and black Taka is Quincy, the little chestnut with the red and black Taka (which I desperately wanted for Quincy) is Chris, and the lanky bay with the too-tight cribbing collar and green blanket is Sunny. Such was every memorable winter scene of my teenaged years, right here.

Rest in peace Tedi. We miss you.

Two Fatties Back to Work

As of Thursday, Gogo's rehab schedule has changed again, and now included one 15 minute handwalk in the AM (up from 10 mins), 10 minutes of handgrazing AM, and 15 minutes of long lining in the afternoon. She is far out enough from the injury to start toying with variations on her daily handwalks. She still needs flat ground, pavement, and straight lines, but she also is craving mental stimuation. I think she's acclimated to the whole idea of stall rest pretty well, but that didn't stop her the other day from doing some serious aerials during her afternoon handwalk. She's very well behaved about her obnoxiousness though - she might be shooting forward or bouncing off the ground with all four feet, but let me tell you something, she NEVER puts tension on the lead! Nevertheless, the last thing I want her to do is to start pinging around like that, so once she hit the 15 min 2x daily mark, I decided it was high time to start long lining/ground driving again. It was cute - when I pulled out the surcingle and the rest of the tack, her eyes about popped out of her head and her ears looked as though if she put them any more forward they'd snap right off.



(It's kind of cute actually... my whole little family minus kitten and parrot are in this picture. Dog, truck, mare, me!)
Boy those are two serious fatties right there. I myself seem to have put on 10 pounds over the course of the past 11 months and I am NOT happy about it. Despite the fact that I am half starved, the boarders are nonstop bringing Dunkin, brie, bagels, and more crap food to the barn, so that's what I've been eating, and it's really showing by now. Nobody is going to stop and look at me and call me morbidly obese, but I know the difference in myself, and that's what bothers me. Once the move is complete, I fully intend on shedding that extra grossness by being able to actually afford all sort of delicious fruits and veggies, and exercise. And as for Gogo, well, that's a bit trickier. I've cut her already meager grain ration to 1.5lbs daily spread out over 3 feedings (and remember, she's not actually getting grain at all, she's getting a ration balancer - I can't actually cut it any lower than it already is for fear that she wouldn't be getting all her daily needed vits/mins in), and she's munching on about 8 flakes of really crappy quality grass hay. I know next to nothing about our hay - no idea where it comes from, what's in it, etc - and it changes every time the supplier brings it, but there is one consistant thing about it: It's always crappy. Normally I'd be very unhappy about this, but given the circumstance, it's actually a good thing. We've been keeping Gogo happy by essentially keeping a constant flow of hay in front of her, and by having less than beautiful hay, it takes her much longer to chew on (she'd gobble it if it was nicer, this way she takes a long time to pick around her favorite parts first... she still hoovers it all, it just takes a lot longer!), and it doesn't fatten her up like a nice quality grass hay would do. Still, all that extra fiber in the form of stemminess is showing up in her increasingly pendulous belly - her colon is stuffed full! Her topline is decreasing too, but not in the way I expected. I assumed it would just melt off of her, but it's only sort of diminished to the way it looked last winter. I worked VERY hard to build a nice topline on her (the Ewe-Necked Wonder remember) so I'm very, very sad to see it go.

Wednesday, Gogo was bouncing around like a porpoise on the end of her lead, like I was saying, so I figured that with the change of schedule on Thursday, it was high time to start long lining again and give her something to do. A disclaimer for the picture: this is NOT where you normally stand while long lining. It can be very dangerous to stand this close, and it's generally much safer to stand about 6-8 feet behind the horse and off to the side a bit. We're not exactly long lining per say though... we're just ground driving. I have tried attaching the long lines at varying points on her surcingle and back to the bit, but given her tendancy to curl under and lose steering when she feels confined, I'm not willing to play with that right now during rehab, so I just run them from the bit through the side rings on her surcingle and back to me. At this point in our lives, Gogo's long lining experience includes steering and the commends walk on, trot on, whoa, back up.... yeah, that's about it. That to me only qualifies as ground driving. Still, it's something, and we're doing nothing more on the ground than just walking for the purpose of therapy (and tossing in a few halts and the occasional back up just to keep it fresh), so it serves its purpose. I see videos like this and go wow, one day perhaps, but that day is not today. (Also, those of you who know me know that I just can't stand Friesians... but I admit that what was done on the long lines with that one is pretty interesting). I don't have a clue where you would even begin to teach piaffe/passage on the long lines. Then again, I don't have a clue how you would really teach piaffe/passage at all, beyond the vague theory I've read about in books. Someday, Gogo... but not today.

Today, you and I are just going to go for a walk.





And admire the barn scenery while we're at it.








I officially move in to my new apartment on Sunday. And work begins Monday. I'm starting to get nervous at this point. Hang on to a stranger's galloping horse in the middle of the woods? No problem. Start a new job? Oh god help me. Bravery only gets you so far sometimes.

TALLY HO!

First of all, I'd like to announce that today is National Do Something Totally Random With Your Best Friend Day! This was a picture of Nicole, erm, dumping me into Niagara Falls. Sweet.

Also, the Eventing-A-Gogo blog has reached a new milestone - our 100th official follower! We're not even a year old yet, and this offical following doesn't count all the people who follow anonymously, or just read on their own. I never had any intention to ever create something like this - I had no idea in the slightest that it would ever take off in the way that it did. People have really responded to this wild ride Gogo and I have been on, and it's been awesome to get to meet and talk to so many interesting people over the course of this past year. I get a lot of e-mails filled with encouragement, stories, and thanks for writing about all the things that we do from day to day. So really, thanks to all of you, because you're all a part of my life now. I have so much fun with this, and I'm glad you're all a part of it, from those of you there with me in the very beginning to those of you just reading now.



And now for something completely different.





Two weeks ago, I headed up to the Great North (Connecticut is pretty much the Deep South of New England, at least longitudinally) to go foxhunting with Daun. However, due to Mother Nature's bipolarity, we had to settle for other fun things instead. I must have been a decent enough houseguest because Daun insisted I come back up again in two weeks for the meet at Tamworth, this time on a guest horse so we all could ride. I had one hell of a whirlwind weekend, and after this first hunting experience, all I can say is I hope Gogo's legs are good enough to give it a go next fall - it was serious fun.

My Friday started out on a happy note - Thursday was my last day of work at this job ever, and it had been my 9th day in a row of working, so I got to sleep in that next day. Let me tell you, not worrying about an alarm is THE BEST FEELING EVER. I woke up feeling refreshed and happy, and spent a large chunk of my day happily packing away. That evening, Shan and I were invited to go over to Judy's house, who is one our fabulous boarders, for a delicious homemade dinner and a haunted hayride. The company was excellent, the spiked cider even better, the hayride totally enjoyable (and freezing), and the ice cream that followed THE BEST. But needless to say, I still had to depart for Daun's that evening, and after Judy insisted I shove even MORE food into my mouth (she gave me a bag of cookies for the road too), I finally headed out at around 10pm. Now, my ETA at this point was midnight. Very late, but I had warned Daun that my arrival was going to be either very early or very late. Not ideal, of course, but I was assured that it was all right, and since Judy has been staving off my starvation and attending almost all my horseshows this year, I certainly was not about to turn down her dinner invitation. Anyway, so I'm on the road. I'm cruising steadily up I-84 when suddenly there are a million brake lights. Oh, for REAL? What is going ON? Apparently some sort of accident had happened, so then we sat. And sat. And sat. FOR TWO HOURS. Finally, after what seemed like a very long eternity, we started to move, and eventually crawled up to the scene of the crash. As it turns out, the crash was on the OTHER side of the highway... and that side of the highway was moving along JUST fine. It was just our side who weren't being shooed away by police that all wanted to stop and gawk at the carnage. WHY.
So now, it's past midnight and I still have at least 2.5 hours to go. I'm utterly exhausted, so I take a break and doze. I don't feel better after this, so another hour down the road I have to take another break and doze. Caffeine isn't helping either. Even though I was in contact with Daun during all this, I'm sure she was probably peeing her pants wondering if I had crashed and died by this point. 3am rolls around and I am STILL not there. By this time, I just couldn't physically drive anymore without slipping into unconsciousness behind the wheel and crashing and dying, so I just gave up and pulled over, snuggled into my coat, and PASSED OUT. I managed to very woozily rouse myself a couple of hours later, continuing on to Daun's farm and arriving a little after 6. As I stumbled out of the car, I was met by a totally incredulous Daun - "You're CRAZY! You have to hang onto a galloping horse today!" - and of course, with a little breakfast in my system, once we were on the road with the horses I was OUT again. We pulled up to Red Horse Farm in Tamworth a little early, and I opened my eyes to a full-fledged New England autumn morning glittering before me with the remnants of frost, our breath steaming as we shivered our way down to the main farm, our bellies filled with hot cider and rum once we got down to the main farmhouse. After dressing (in many, many layers... it was DAMN COLD!), we located Dana, the woman whose huband's horse Media Luna was to be my mount for the day, and I helped finish tacking and hopped up. Media Luna was once upon a time an Argentinian polo pony, and came complete with some seriously ragged hair, an ill-fitting and horribly slippery saddle (one of those generic ones that you get out of a Western catalogue with the label "English saddle"), and a totally sweet disposition. After a brief speech by our fieldmaster, we hacked down the road to the field where we would be releasing the hounds, and I had a chance to socialize a little bit with the other members of the hunt in the first field with us. What a hack - we traversed backcountry roads beneath great overhangs of golden leaves, flirted with the flanks of a crumbling stone wall, blinked and smiled as the dazzling morning sunlight flashed through the swaying leaves overhead. And suddenly, we were in the field, and the hounds were bounding about the feet of the staff horses, leaping straight up into the air to catch cookies tossed to them by Sue. She rallied them about her, calling each by name, and then we made to sort into our fields and move on.

Now at this point I had a moment of, wait a second now. You're on a horse you know nothing about and have never even seen before, are about to participate in a sport you've never done before, and are going in the first field - i.e. keep up with the hounds at whatever speed they're going, no matter what the terrain. Am I nuts? Well, yes, by mere mortal standards I guess I am; then again, I've done things like this before. For instance, when I drove across the country for three weeks with a friend in 2006, he insisted we go white water rafting on the Arkensas river in Colorado. Sure, why not, I thought. I don't like to get wet but we'll be fine in the raft, it's just like the Lazy River at Cedar Point right? Wait a minute... these are Category 5 rapids? As in, kill you rapids? Well.... okay, sure, why not! And we neither died nor captized the raft, so I am here to tell the tale today. Such was the case with Media Luna... I neither died nor fell off. Quite the contrary - I had some SERIOUS fun. Off we loped, the sparkling green of the fields a sharp contrast against the red and gold on the mountain overhead. We swung round the edges of the fields, trotted single-file through the woods, and followed the occasional direction from a voice behind us ("ware hound left!" as one of the hounds would come bounding up behind us). It felt like a step back in time, watching the huntsmen ahead of us working, and whenever we stopped (and hit the flask, which Daun and I merrily polished off), we were treated incredible views of what every perfect northern New England fall morning should look like. It was gorgeous. At the stirrup cup, we watched the hounds play in the water (and some of the horses too), chatted merrily with old and new friends, and looked out over the pond at the great view of the mountain behind us. And then, it was off again, re-negotiating some risky terrain (which, on the way to the stirrup cup, was the only thing Media Luna had a problem with - a very scary, yawning ditch, and I had to give her some big pony kicks to get her ungracefully over) and doubling back once in the woods when we lost the path. Media Luna was a charm - she trotted when the horse in front of me trotted, cantered when the horse in front of me cantered, and stopped on a dime when the horse in front of me did the same. The second half of the journey, I managed to squeeze my way back behind Brego (got stuck behind some morons capping in from Myopia.. they talked the WHOLE TIME and had a pony that wouldn't stop jigging and rearing), and we crossed some increasingly rough terrain, including a very rocky river and some shoe-sucking mud. When the hounds finally gave cry near the end of the hunt (only the second time they had done this during the whole hunt, lol), we had just unbogged ourselves from a particularly thick section of muddy trail. The staff, hounds, Daun, her SO, and myself were OFF! Unbeknownst to us at the time, however, the horse and rider behind me were mired in mud up to the horse's hocks, and the rest of the fields all piled up behind them. But the chase WE had was WILD! Ducking under treebranches at speed, negotiating all sort of wild terrain, exploding out from the forest, tearing up a grassy hill into the big field, and watching Brego boink around in front of me for a few moments, clearly enjoying the thrill of the chase. (He was on his best behavior for this hunt - only one little dolphin-buck going up the hill, and a brief moment when the war-horse in him prompted him to bounce forward on his hind legs when the staff took off in front of him. That's drive baby!) The hunt ended on his note, once we had rounded up all the muddy stragglers. It happens!

It was OUTSTANDING. I really, really hope Gogo's legs heal well enough to consider maybe going out in the second field next fall. Given the kind of terrain we negotiated, I doubt I'd want her to go in the first field unless it was at an exceptional venue, but still. If you're a good jock with some guts and you ever have the chance to give it a try, DO IT. You'll love it just like I did.

Awesome. Just... awesome. AND I got to see my baby sister that night for the first time in almost a year (baby = 21). Couldn't have been a better weekend.

RIP Lemgo

I have plenty to write about - I always do! - but I had to put this little blurb in here about Gogo's daddy, who died peacefully at the ripe old age of 28 a few weeks ago. I just found out. His final days were spent in a pasture at New Bolton Center, with two pinto pony geldings as companions. He was donated to benefit a behavior study, an old stallion fertility study, and the Barbaro Laminitis study, but he lived most of his retired life at the breeder's farm where I got Gogo from. Some of his lifetime accomplishments include numerous wins at Spruce Meadows, galloping victory laps with Tami Masters to the Radetzki March, a second place win with Anne Kursinski at The Ox Ridge Grand Prix, and many more. Other professionals riders who were a part of his career included Wash Bishop, Peter Wylde, Nicohol Shahanian Simpson and Laura Balisky. He has over 200 offspring, many of which are premiums, with one final one on its way this coming spring. After having Gogo, I'd take another Lemgo kid in a heartbeat.

RIP Lemgo, 1981-2009.

Photo Adventure Fridays

This week's Photo Adventure...





Paparoa National Park, Punakaiki, New Zealand.
Actually these pictures were taken next to the park itself, not in. My roomie and I took a rather whirwind tour of the South Island during our midsemester 3-week holiday and this was one of the later stops. It included beautiful sunsets, an insane mad gallop through the brush on some crazy Quarabs, riding on the beach, getting totally lost without a flashlight in a pitch black cave (seriously, I can't even describe that kind of dark, it was scary), and itching the night away as we discovered our beds were infested with bedbugs.

And we also learned that apparently, I am bionic:

Fate loves the fearless.

I've been quiet this week because I've had something huge brewing in my everyday life that has finally come to pass and finally can be announced. As it turns out, my plans to return to Michigan aren't going to happen after all. Instead, and quite by chance, I had a managerial position at a totally superb h/j and dressage facility about 45 minutes west of where I am now just fall into my lap, right when I needed it the most. The events leading up to this couldn't have worked out better. A month ago, after the AECs, I was so convinced I'd be moving back to Ohio to be with Alex that I essentially gave my one month notice right then and there to Vicki. As you know, I am broke - so broke! - and there was just no way it was going to be financially feasible for me to maintain this position and not starve any longer, especially with all my unexpected vet bills this summer. I love it here, I really do, but god, I really do need to eat you know. Unfortunately, the whole working student thing is not designed for financial success, and it wasn't what I really wanted to do with my life anyway. I have no desire to teach or train. I don't want to ride for a living. I don't like giving lessons, and I'm not good at it. I came out to New England mostly because I knew I'd fall in love with the east coast, and I wanted to establish Gogo out here against the big northern East Coast dogs. I never expected to stay at my current position for very long - actually I stayed quite longer - but I just love these people to death and it's very sad to be leaving. When it became apparent that moving back to Ohio to be with Alex was just really not going to work, and that I needed to just suck it up and give it up as a lost cause, I realized 'wow, I really don't want to leave Connecticut.' Michigan was all right, of course, since I really do love it there and it is always going to be home for me, but when it came down to it, I was essentially about to be jobless and even poorer than before, if possible, since my original plans completely fell through. I hadn't planned on that part. And I really did not want to be the 24 year-old loser going back to her parents' house because she couldn't make it work where she was. But really, when you get paid like a working student, you are VERY hard pressed to actually take in more than you actually spend and save. I managed to scrape along for most of this year, but it wasn't easy. Last year, I took the first position I could after my summer off, just to get out of where I was and to try and make something of my life. But at some point I had to stop and go, wow, I have a degree in Equine Facility Management, and I have nothing to show for that. It's time to get real.

But of course, my plans were collapsing. I was NOT going to go back to Ohio after all, which was the original plan. So what did that leave me? Michigan, and my parents' house? That's great... except then what? I really was not keen on leaving New England when it came down to it, but I was at a loss as to what else I was going to be able to do. And then, my friend Karen, who I went to college with and who also lives and works out here in CT, texted me last week while I was up at Tufts, saying, "I have a potential job to tell you about!" Interested, I texted her back, not knowing anything about it or what it was for. As it turns out, an amazing private boarding facility about 45 minutes west of here was looking to hire someone to help manage the place, and I jumped on it. She liked what I sent her, called me, and we set up an interview for yesterday evening. It seemed like a great fit, and voila, today I had an offer to take the position. And just like that, I'm onto my first really big job.

I mean, the timing of this could not be better, and neither could the terms. Today was my very last day of work for Vicki, and I was supposed to be packing up and going back to MI this coming week, so I'm free to start whenever needed. I get a stall with my offer - and I mean, a STALL! - and an unbelievably good salary. I mean, I could put almost a thousand bucks a month into my savings after all my expenses are taken care of. I could have real meals. I could go out once in awhile. I could pay off my vetbills. I could get Ti that new coat I've been wanted to buy. I could give people nice Christmas presents. I've never had any sort of real money to my name before. And while housing isn't included, I have the opportunity to live with my friend Karen, who originally networked me to this job. She lives about 20 minutes away from this barn at a gorgeous little private farm in an apartment over the barn, and works off her rent by taking care of the two horses, pony, and mini donkey that live there. Essentially, if we were to split the shifts of taking care of these critters (and it's easy, picking stalls and turnouts and feedings, and that's about it), we'd be living there for nothing at all, or at most like $75 per person. Which is very, very easily doable. The actual position itself is stuff I've great at - organizing schedules, keeping track of stuff, making sure things get done, interfacing with clients and the staff, and keeping everyone smiling. It's not so much about barnwork, as there is a fulltime staff to muck stalls and do turnouts already, but more about keeping the machine well-oiled. It's a big step for me in this world, but it's a big step in the right direction. I'm nervous, but I think I'll do just fine.

And as for Gogo? Well, she'll be in horsey paradise. There are a million custom, gorgeous jumps at this place, a big indoor and a big outdoor with special TravelRight footing, a treadmill (AMAZING for rehabbing tendon injuries!), and those giant stalls complete with the ComfortStall system. I'll be working somewhere gorgeous, somewhere I can really pour my heart into and be proud of, and she'll be in rehabber's dream paradise. I get to live at a gorgeous farm, work at a gorgeous barn, and actually make MONEY doing it. This is a dream come true, really.

Very excited.



On the Gogo rehab front, everyday life continues to be about the same as always. She still has another week of two daily 10 minute handwalks with 10 minutes of handgrazing each time, but she'll end her Surpass on Saturday. Dr. A told me that some Robaxin would probably help her back, but I haven't ordered it yet as I wasn't sure where it was going to be delivered! She is also still getting her ice boots once a day for 30 minutes, and of course a good daily grooming. The rough outline of her schedule goes something like this:

October 8-22: 20 mins handwalking (10 hw + 10 grass 2x), ice boots 1/2 hour 1x, Surpass 2x (ending the 17th), wrapping
October 23-Nov 4: 30 mins handwalking (15 hw + 10 grass 2x, if there is still grass!), wrapping
Nov 5-11: 15 mins handwalking 1x, 15 minutes tackwalking 1x, wrapping
Nov 12-18: 15 mins handwalking 1x, 20 minutes tackwalking 1x, wrapping
Nov 19-25: 15 mins handwalking 1x, 25 minutes tackwalking 1x, wrapping
Nov 26-Dec 3: 15 mins handwalking 1x, 30 minutes tackwalking 1x, wrapping
Vet recheck

If all is going well at that point, we will hopefully be about to start trotting for 5 minutes a day, if she is sound. We will see!



Gogo says, Happy Fall!



And also, it is still only October 15th.... SO WHY IS IT SNOWING LIKE CRAZY.