As the government shutdown goes forward and I find out Monday if I get my furlough letter, I decided to post the stuff I have for sale. Okay it is only a portion of what I have. I also have a 74" stable blanket with a belly band not pictured. All prices are open for negotiation and do not include shipping. Let me know if you need a size since some are not listed.
Whew! I have been so busy at work with all our inventories. Still have more to go, but at least some of the big ones are completed.
13500 stitches, 30 days work
Time certainly flies though. I finally finished my Blogger gift and was able to send it to my fellow Cob owner Erika. My sister was a big help completing the gift. Especially since I caught a cold that totally kicked my butt. The cold, bad weather and work kept me grounded. Luckily all three times Lauren came to ride Roscoe it was warm enough to have good footing.
Sadly just before the show our temperatures dropped again. I worked until five on Saturday and then did a quick Roscoe clean up. I used a bucket of hot water with a dash of whitening shampoo to clean his muddy stockings. His feathers froze pretty quickly, but they were cleaner. A shave and some mane pulling made him look less winter rough.
Show day dawned and it was freaking cold. I told Peggy the wrong turn so we were a bit later than I wanted to be. That seemed to be the theme. Lauren was a bit later and so was the judge. Since I was supposed to work, I asked for an early ride time for Roscoe. She was going to ride first, but ended up going second. This was a tough show from the moment he got off the trailer.
Roscoe gave Peggy a hard time because there were cows in the field by the parking area. My bug eyed little stallion did not know how to handle the bawling aliens. I had to hold him while Lauren tacked him up. We decided to bring him to the warm up ring before putting his bridle on. Of course the farmer decided to feed the cows at that point and it took a bit to get Roscoe to leave the area. He did not want to turn his back on those weird things. Then he kept looking for cows around every corner.
Ready Set..Spook
My pony looks awesome
When we got him bridled and Lauren on, he was full of it. Then the farm owner wanted to try and drag the arena. Horses running and the tractor pushed his buttons. Roscoe reared up and needed to move. They let her go into the indoor. Well Roscoe has a long memory and remembered the scary waterfall at E and decided the sun beams were just as scary. Lauren did not get much of a warm up. She walked him, a bit of trot and cantered right a couple of circles. Then the cranky judge kicked everyone out. The outdoor was too frozen to allow for anything more than walk. When it was time for her test Lauren asked for a little time. She got two left lead canter circles in before the judge rang the bell. Roscoe was not ready, but time was up.
Overall the test reflected the lack of warm up. He spooked big time at E and a bit before. He cantered and maintained, an improvement from last time. Then spooked again after the walk transition. He scored well for his trot transition and was better to the right, though he was late on his canter transition. He is determined to be crooked on his halts. That is something we will be working on. I know Lauren was not happy. She is very competitive. I told her these shows are for experience and he did work. They ended up third out of five with a score that was close to his December score.
For me it was good to see that a lot of what we are dealing with is young, green show pony and it is not aggravated by my nerves too much. That will give me more confidence at the next show.
Sprieser Sporthorse Plug :)
I finally got on him today and was pleased with his willingness to work. He was a bit slow on the canter transitions due to the footing. Gotta love winter crunchy sand. Considering he has had three rides and the show in the last month, he felt good.
I had my follow up appointment for my gastro issues and got a prescription that will hopefully put me in remission. I am looking forward to having more energy and being able to build back my muscle so I can keep up with Roscoe.
Ah well now to get to bed and get ready for another 14hr day of inventories.
As my sister and I work madly to finish my blogger's gift, my own came in the mail today. I always have a hard time thinking of gift ideas, but one thing stuck in my head since Roscoe's inspection. I wanted a framed shot of his final inspection jump.
Aimee (sprinklerbandit) knocked it out of the park with her gift. It is so cool! Thank you!!
The picture is integrated into the material somehow and she added his registered name. Asuper way to remember that awesome final jump.
This is an update post since I have not had time to write. Some of you may have noticed that I have been NQR since my accident in September. Shortly after the accident I started having horrible GI issues and losing weight. I thought it was stress and started taking my probiotics. I was happy about the weight loss, but not the method. Unfortunately matters got worse with the appearance of blood. I finally made the decision to go to a specialist, but it took a month to get in. Then when I got in the doctor told me I needed a colonoscopy. And unless I wanted to wait until after the new year, it would be the Monday before the horse show. Prep for that is no joke. Everyone just hope that you don't have to go through it sooner than you have to.
The procedure went smoothly and it looks like I have ulcerative colitis. They put me on medicine which will hopefully put it in remission. Considering I have a family history of colon cancer and crohns, this is a somewhat better diagnosis. I had to do a ton of lab work too, which mostly came back within normal ranges except for showing inflammation in the colon.
The worst part was the day after the procedure. I went to work and had the WORST gas cramps from them putting air in my colon. It was horrible. I gave up after about six hours and went to the barn. Walking around seemed to relieve my colicky symptoms. As a horse owner I seriously should have thought about that solution sooner.
Anyway if you are tracking, all that medical stuff kept me from the saddle for five days. I had my mom get on Roscoe so he got a ride in before the show. Good thing too since it snowed the day before. Rosemary and Roscoe were doomed to show "winter grungy."
This was the Ugly Christmas Sweater show so mom bought me one to wear. I got Roscoe reindeer ears and Rosemary wore snowflakes. The only part Roscoe protested was when we went to put his red nose on. He was totally convinced the makeup tube was the dreaded wormer. Peggy ended up having to break a piece off and rub it on his nose. He looked so cute!
The show was cold and Roscoe was fresh and distracted. The warm up ring was outdoors right next to the round pen and a turn out field. That brought out the wild thing in my pony. He was acting like it was his first show. Only this time he is fitter and his drama was more skilled. He even Cob trotted, Holy Suspension people. I was intimidated. Mom had to talk me through while the audience looked on. We put on quite the show. Slowly, my pony found his brain and I remembered I am not a raw beginner. Good thing since show time came. The indoor did not present an issue since he had seen it during his inspection. What did cause a problem I found as I tried to circle at E, was the waterfall noise of snow melting off the roof. That caused a downhill roll for our trot circle and followed into the canter. Then he had to gawk at his audience, spook at E and then walk his diagonal. Going to the right he was a different horse. I guess horses really do have two separate brains. We finished better than we started except for a crooked halt. All considering, I was just thrilled to have been able to do the test. And bless dressage scoring, even with our spooks, he still pulled off a 64% to land in 3rd.
My fire breathing mare
Then we had to switch to Rosemary. She had been calling in the trailer and acting silly. At the warm up she though about Cob trotting, but remembered how tough it is. So she just trotted around with her head up. I just barely had time to canter before it was time to go in to the ring. Bless Rosemary she has such a good head on her. She settled into the indoor as I showed her both directions. I learned my lesson from Roscoe. Rosemary felt so grown up as we started our test. I was a bit lost since they shrunk the arena and the letters seemed off. Even though she called at times in the test, she was consistent. I have to work on keeping her in the outside rein and staying in the center. Shows bring out the lean in me. My phone ran out of room so her last trot was cut off. She had to end with flair. After the judge made her comments, Rosemary did a full body shake and managed to demolish her snowflakes and send them flying. I had to dismount and pick up the sparkly bits. She pulled off a 68%, tying for 1st place.
We left before the placing so I don't have any ribbons. And as a bonus, my Christmas sweater was the judge's pick. Though the show did not go as I would have hoped, the potential was apparent. Roscoe's naughty behavior was like a vision of Christmas future. I can't wait until I can control that movement.
Next up is the January show which Lauren will be riding Roscoe at. She had her ride on him last Wednesday and will ride him twice more before the show. I was happy when she said he felt better than when she last rode him. All our hard work in November came through.
Okay I have to get back to work on my Blogger Gift so I can get in the mail soon.
Roscoe gave Peggy a hard time because there were cows in the field by the parking area. My bug eyed little stallion did not know how to handle the bawling aliens. I had to hold him while Lauren tacked him up. We decided to bring him to the warm up ring before putting his bridle on. Of course the farmer decided to feed the cows at that point and it took a bit to get Roscoe to leave the area. He did not want to turn his back on those weird things. Then he kept looking for cows around every corner.
Then we had to switch to Rosemary. She had been calling in the trailer and acting silly. At the warm up she though about Cob trotting, but remembered how tough it is. So she just trotted around with her head up. I just barely had time to canter before it was time to go in to the ring. Bless Rosemary she has such a good head on her. She settled into the indoor as I showed her both directions. I learned my lesson from Roscoe. Rosemary felt so grown up as we started our test. I was a bit lost since they shrunk the arena and the letters seemed off. Even though she called at times in the test, she was consistent. I have to work on keeping her in the outside rein and staying in the center. Shows bring out the lean in me. My phone ran out of room so her last trot was cut off. She had to end with flair. After the judge made her comments, Rosemary did a full body shake and managed to demolish her snowflakes and send them flying. I had to dismount and pick up the sparkly bits. She pulled off a 68%, tying for 1st place.