Hard at work enjoying my horses

 The past few weeks have been fairly quiet as far as working the ponies goes. My husband, Malhon, and I took a trip up to Michigan for a long weekend to visit friends at the end of July. 

At a Ghost concert in Detroit with my best friend

Following that, I've been dealing with inflammation flare-ups due to testing my sensitivity to certain foods, as well as the normal monthly hormone cycle. Unfortunately, it appears gluten AND dairy are out (goodbye beer and cheese 😭), and the inherent inflammation that comes with my period leads to several days of major joint pain each month, regardless of how clean my eating is. 

One of my friends lives the #lakelife 

That said, even on days I hurt and don't feel like working the horses, they bring me so much joy. 

Pyro and Miss both laid down while I sipped my coffee outside their stalls on a relaxed Saturday morning. I love that they're comfortable lying down in my presence. 

The only stressful bit of late (because of COURSE there's a stressful bit) was Missy earning solo turnout for now until Nova arrives. We're not sure if one of the geldings she was turned out with started trying to mount her again (despite her being on Regu-mate), or if something else happened in the pasture. She was cramping terribly, and there appeared to be some bruising to her vulva. We have witnessed one of the geldings trying to mount her when she was in heat (hence she was started on Regu-mate), but we didn't think he could actually reach her. With her caslick's stitch, it's a major risk if any of the geldings WERE able to penetrate her. 

My poor girlie

A dose of banamine improved her comfort (although she was lying down more than normal that day), and since being separated the next day she has shown no further signs of anything being wrong. 

"Ouch!"

She shares a fence with the geldings now and seems content on her own. The only one she occasionally makes a fuss over is her son, Pyro. 

Majestic in all her UV protection, looking for her "baby"

She's definitely due for her annual joint injections, so her "work" has consisted of hacking around the farm and walking over ground poles in hand. 

Western day

Motion is the lotion

These walk poles were set far enough apart that they were a challenge to not fit multiple steps between.

Well deserved wither scritches

Other than that, I've been enjoying just loving on her, giving massages, smooches, and her favorite wither scritches whenever I can. I think the retired life suits her.

Best girlies

Pyro has gotten very little work since our last lesson, but the few times I've ridden him he has been absolutely stellar.

You can't see them in this pic, but we were checking out some deer in the far tree line. He wasn't spooky, just attentive.

That last lesson really sparked a breakthrough with him. Now, I can ask him to be responsible for his own balance, and he just... does it. There's no trying to half halt every stride or feeling like I'm carrying the weight of his front end in my hands. 

It makes skipping around at the canter feel easy and FUN. 

This level-up has made riding him so enjoyable lately. Even though I haven't been able to ride consistently, or practice jumping, or even think about going to a show... I feel like I'm absolutely crushing my goal of enjoying my horses. 

Both when it's literally rainbows and butterflies... and when it's not.

Yesterday, the only things I did at the stable were muck my stalls and traipse into the pastures to smooch noses and scratch itchy spots for both Miss and Pyro. And you know what? I left the barn grinning.