Moving Moving Moving

So most of this year has been punctuated by lots of rain, mud, cold weather (Texas cold) and riding whenever we can fit it in.  With spring/summer starting to push though and me just being antsy, I've been riding and saying oh well to working around the weather.  Things have been super hectic, stressy, and just nuts that I haven't really wanted to write anything.  Besides, no one really needs to know the depressing spiral of doom Alex and I have been going through the past month, year, whatever.

Driving really fast, huffing go-cart fumes, eating ice cream... that all helps de-stress btw.

So far we've sold Nessie and Wesley.  I've traded the two paints for a haflinger 2 year old,  If you're keeping track, that puts us currently at 8 horses on the farm with one on her way to Florida ASAP it looks like.  Feels great. 

No one was really biting on Piper (seriously, y'alls loss), so I had bid (and won) on a charity stud fee auction and won a breeding to a reining stallion I'd been lusting over for several years so she was bred last week and we're counting down the days to US her (please please be pregnant, I need a break!).  I gave my vet a $50 Spec's gift card to appease the repro gods with so hopefully that does the trick.

As far as training the horses, welll... here we go....

So Vana's been struggling to maintain weight since the show in January.  I took him to Coach's for a post meltdown ride and we came up with a plan but then he started losing condition so I gave him a month off to eat the foods... instead he... didn't eat the foods and even became disinterested in nomming.  Not like him.  We tried all the normal things and nothing REALLY helped.  About a week or so ago it hit me that he was probably early stage Cushings and we pulled some blood.  He tested really low so that was awesome.  We're going to of course swap his food to a lower NSC one and go from there.  This week he already feels better just from the change in weather and lower the sugars in his current food (need to use it up plus separate him) so I've gone from "he's retired and deserves it" to "wow, maybe GP is still on the plate for... sometime ><"  Either way, the boy doesn't owe me anything but MAN is he jealous I'm working the other horses right now.

Luna has had some solid bites on her as a sales horse, but well, she's not sold and I'm out my big guy until he's better and back in shape (Aug 2018 probably).  In the meantime, I've taken back the ride on Luna and we're working on retraining from a hunter to a 3rd level horse asap.  I expect she will be showing this summer (2nd level for 2018 show year) and then we'll bump up to 3rd/4th level in the fall.  Thinking about doing the CDI next year if she's still here.  Coach says that's a doable plan after seeing where we are now and my plans.

Which brings me to Jaders.  I wasn't liking her work early in the spring/late winter.  She was tense(ish) and just getting gross so I went back to our basics and just really worked on making it a game and now she's hot, responsive, and hilarious to ride but also accurate and trying her heart out. Because I can push and work Luna (she's loving it), it means I can take more time than originally planned to develop Jade.  Realistically, she's ready for 2nd level now, but I'm going to do training and 1st level with her to get qualified for Regionals (maybe Nationals? o.O) and hit some of the Friesian things too.  I really want to get her IBOP this year and try the Dressage sport horse in hand/saddle things too possibly.

Patrick is the other part of this party right now.  I've just pulled him all the way back to restarting him in the round pen.  He's such a super cool horse and I LOVE how Jade's turning out that I'm just going to take the time and fix him all the way.  Hoping for Training/1st level in the fall but getting him correct is more important to me at this point than pushing him for a level.  He knows a lot from previous training, I just have to fix his nerves and anxiety.  Then we should be ready for some fun!

No media, enjoy a puppy pic.

A few other things are going on.  

I've contacted a bank about getting financing for a business so we're working through all that.  Hopefully I don't have to work full time by the end of the year, but I might until things get rolling.  It's a day by day type of thing honestly but we're moving forward.  Scary and awesome and all the things.

I'm working student less.  Not sure that's a phrase, but I'm making it one.  I've loved the time I've had with my lovely people, but I really needed to focus on myself and my horses this year rather than on getting other people to be like "mini me"s (plus they either needed to work, go to school, move, or other obligations so it made sense).  There are some other issues with it, but mainly, after managing things, people, and whatever all day, I need to just come home and work on my horses and destress.  Having to coordinate people and still not getting everything done, and really not getting to ride much wasn't my plan so we're streamlining things (selling horses, tack, etc) and I can ride earlier and more often this way.   I love horses above all else that I do and want to make sure I'm enjoying them on my terms so here we are.  It feels oddly freeing but I know there will be times I miss the bustle of having people around doing all the things.

Breeding...  Well, I bred Piper.  We're waiting on time right now to see if she's pregnant.  My vet and I have taken some serious blows to our confidence (and checking account QQ) so I'm working my way into this slowly.  Next month will be the earliest I can deal with trying to breed Feina anyhow, so one attempt a month seemed a more reasonable way to go.   I'm planning on breeding Feina to Florianus... but I'm still wanting Uno for her and well... Total Hope would make me SOOO excited.... so yeah.... I need another month, more money, and more confidence.  No pressure Piper!  Other than that, we're out mares (yay!).  I really want to do an embryo transfer on Jade next year (this year???) but I'm not feeling too confident or desiring to set money on fire for that... we'll see.

So that's where we are, what we're up to.   I had my first lesson with Coach since early Feb last night and I felt GREAT!  Luna worked hard and has a long way to go but her brain is so happy to be challenged this way.  Jade was a BEAST and looked phenomenal. 

​I'm looking forward to this year!

My sponsor, Dark Jewel Designs, sent me goodies for Jade!