Tuesday, September 22, 2015

4 Things

Jumping on this, since it's been floating around and I don't really have much to update on right now.

Four names that people call me other than my real name:
  1. Meg ... and that's about it
Four jobs I’ve had:
  1. Lab Tech
  2. Field Tech
  3. Assistants in various labs
  4. Greeter
Four movies I’ve watched more than once:(really, there are lots I watch over and over)
  1. Princess Bride
  2. The Last Unicorn
  3. Black Beauty
  4. The Emperors New Groove
Four favourite books:
  1. Any of the Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey
  2. Black Beauty
  3. The Three Musketeers
  4. Most Neil Gaiman
Four places I’ve lived:
  1. Florida
  2. Chicago
  3. Australia
  4. Indiana
Four places I’ve visited:
  1. Puerto Rico
  2. Virgin Islands
  3. Australia (east coast)
  4. Grand Canyon
Four places I’d rather be right now:
  1. Bed
  2. Bed
  3. Bed
  4. Bed (I'm falling asleep here)
To break up all the text. Plotting pony says hello


Four things I prefer not to eat:
  1. Tomatoes
  2. Coffee
  3. Coffee/espresso flavored things (like chocolate)
  4. Beans (except green beans...those are good)
Four of my favorite foods:
  1. Ice cream
  2. Mac and Cheese
  3. Things made from fruit (pies, cobblers, etc)
  4. Chocolate
Four TV shows I watch
  1. Friends
  2. Scrubs
  3. Orange is the New Black
Four things I’m looking forward to this year:
  1. Not being pregnant (ok, this might not happen until January, but I can hope)
  2. The holidays
  3. Getting the house in order
  4. Barn time
Four things I’m always saying:
  1. No worries
  2. No problem
  3. F*** you! You GD moron! (Pregnancy hormones + road rage...very real)
Four horse breeds I’ve ridden:
  1. Haflinger :)
  2. Rocky Mountain
  3. Thoroughbred
  4. Belgian
Four breeds of dog I like:
  1. Corgi
  2. Husky
  3. Mutts
  4. Huge dogs (but I would never own one due to the drool)
Four horse events I want to participate in:
  1. Some sort of trail event
  2. A hunter pace
  3. Any schooling show
Four of my favorite animals:
  1. Horses
  2. Cats
  3. Dolphins
  4. Birds
Four places I would like to go:
  1. South America especially Chile
  2. Back to Australia, especially the west coast
  3. Europe - it's hard to pick a country, Germany, France, Spain would be tops I think
Four hobbies/interests (other than horses)
  1. Spinning (wool)
  2. Weaving
  3. Making soap and body products
  4. Other random crafty project 

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Quickie

This is a delayed post. I thought it had posted last week, but I guess not.  

I rode Max the other day in the paddock since my husband was home early from work. It was hot, sunny, humid and very buggy, so we kept it short. We went over the bridge several times in different directions. I wasn't brave enough to try it on the teeter totter yet, but I will soon. We worked on leg yielding, which he did somewhat well. To the right is more sticky than to the left. For some reason, he did it well the first step. Then when I asked later, he just couldn't get it.


"Sigh....I want to go that way, not be ridden"


Pony is also very out of shape. We did a slow, slow trot each direction a couple of times and he grunted for most of it. I love his slow trot. It's so easy to sit bareback.  It's not at all correct or pretty, but it feels smooth to me. Next year I need to get him into more of a collected working trot since we've gotten into the slow trot habit. Ooops.
I kept trying to get a photo of his cute face before I bridled, but Max insisted on sniffing my belly.  It was amusing.

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Linky Love

How Old is My Horse in "Human Years"? - Originally posted by Dressage Hafl.: Max is well into middle age, but not quite elderly.

King Mufasa's win stirs emotions at Illinois State Fair harness racing -  No matter your stance on racing, this is a pretty amazing story.

An Open Letter To Horse People via Poor Woman Showing -AMEN!  This is why I chose the barn I did when I first got Max and had to board. Actually, before that, when I started lessons. I wanted a no-nonsense barn with minimum of this gossipy BS.  It still goes on, but has a much more relaxed atmosphere than some show barns around here.

My Cubicle - via A Collection of Madcap Escapades - I just think this whole thing is pure awesome!  From outfitting a big camper to the whole idea of the bringing a reduced spay/neuter to low income areas.

Horse Forums...An Inevitable Train Wreck - via The Idea of Order - A web comic that perfectly explains why I tend not to participate in forums aside from reading. 


Wednesday, September 2, 2015

I did....something....

It's getting hot and humid and is expected to remain this way until mid September. We are supposed to go camping and riding (not taking Max) down in Brown County this weekend, and I'll admit, I'm a little apprehensive about the heat, bugs, and just my general state right now. The husband and I are only staying over one night, thankfully, so that will ease some of the potential pain.  You see, it seems like something bad happens, mostly to me, every time we go down to this park.  One year it was a crazy storm that hit while we were driving up the hills to go into town. There were huge tree branches falling everywhere to the point we had to stop and couldn't get around them in either direction.  Then last year was the horse flies. One attacked a horse I was holding and he spooked onto my foot, which remained extremely painful for the rest of the trip and several days after. Oh, and being attacked by bees while riding. I forget what happened in previous years. Maybe that's a good thing.

Anyways, I did what I said and worked with Max a bit before putting him out to graze.  I pulled that bridge I built in the spring into his paddock. He really had no problems with it. Then I put a pole under it to make it into a teeter totter. After trying to go around once, because I was walking next to, not on it, he got the idea and calmly walked over.  No spooking. Good boy!  We only worked on this for about 10 minutes because I had enough of the sun and heat.

On the teeter-totter. "Can we go out now?"


Tuesday, I did some more. I got him to stand on the fulcrum and was able to get him to shift his weight enough that he could tip it forwards or backwards without moving a foot. Next up will be riding him over the bridge.

We also worked a bit on personal space.  Apparently this is now a huge issue. He was very pushy and letting me know he wanted to go out to the pasture. I think as long as he gets what he wants, he's willing to behave, but when I ask for something different, he gets pushy. I'm going to try to continue working on things every day for a few minutes. Especially the pushy.