Happy 500(ish) posts!

I was browsing through Blogger this am and realized I have posted over 500 times, this post makes 502. Wow! It all started as a journey to document my evolution from OH to MI as I bought my own boarding farm and evolved again into a training chronicle as I moved to PA. I thought it may be fun to make a quick trip back in time and it turns out it was super fun for me. I hope you enjoy it too.

Dec 2010 I made my first post, it was my first time ever blogging and I had no idea if I would stick with it. I did it for myself, and had no followers. This was about a month after I moved the horses (App and TWH) from OH to MI. We had bought the farm in the fall and it had taken over 3 months to get the property ready for the horses. The horses came to the farm at the beginning of November even though the farm still needed a TON of work. We had bought 2 goats along with us from OH, the goats were a very poor choice. App hated them and the goats were constantly getting out of the pasture. We said goodbye to the goats and got Daisy the donkey in Dec 2010. In Feb 2011 I finally learned how to post pictures! 

Daisy was a good donkey who had been a livestock guardian for sheep. She didn't get farrier care and they were getting rid of her because she "didn't walk well". She didn't walk well because of her 6+ inches of slipper feet. Lots of rehab and x-rays later, she became much harder to catch when she was sound and comfortable. In April of 2013, we sold her to an alpaca farm to be a livestock guardian because we were having significant hay issues. Our main hay had alfalfa and she couldn't have alfalfa. Keeping her separate during hay time was becoming a very big (loud) issue and an alpaca farm was thrilled to have her. 

2011 chronicled a lot of the struggles of getting the farm up and running and we finally opened the doors to boarding in July, we were a legitimate business.. TWH went to his first hunter/jumper show and we hated it. I love my ride times TYVM. App had a disaster of a show but still placed, proving yet again he can be both Captain A-hole and Mr. Awesome.

In 2012 was the year of being broken. I tore my calf muscle. I worked with a horse in training and didn't follow my gut. I predicted the horse would hurt me and he did. I required knee surgery and had to fire a customer over it. It took a good while for us to be friends again. App was in (what ended up being) his very last show and was amazing, scoring a record low for him of 23.5%. I still wish I could have been the one on him for that.

2013 was much better and TWH started to really rock eventing before coming up sore with a hind suspensory that left him on stall rest for 6 months. During that time, App also had a huge abscess that too months to resolve (plus vet visits, drugs, and xrays) and I ended up buying Mia.

In 2014 was full of great things, TWH started to go Novice level eventing and rocked it!  Mia had her very first show and then went to her very first eventing show, TWH and I won reserve champion for year end awards in Novice eventing and I ordered my new truck. I had no idea what was about to happen in just a few weeks. 

In February of 2015 we found out we were relocating to PA. This turned out to be a year long process with a LOT of struggles. I offered TWH to the leasee who had been riding him for 2 years and she agreed to take him. Still to this day I get monthly updates and she gives him way more attention that I could. She is an awesome owner for him. Mia won her first show. We bought our house in PA in August, but I didn't move for another 7 months as I ended up having to completely remodel the MI farm house to sell it. Mia won again and was starting to show that the training was working.

2016 was the big move to PA. We finally got our house finished, listed, and sold. We moved the horses and the farm in March. Within 45 days, App got a lot worse and was permanently retired. Mia won her first show in PA and improved her dressage scores in others.

2017 had Mia's first Novice show and did well. She then proceeded to cut her leg which took her out for the summer. We did go to a small CT show our barn held and my blogging really started to drop off.

2018 had App staying mostly comfortable and Mia continued on with showing and placing. I celebrated App's birthday with a recap post and it is still one of my favorite things. Mia won more shows and we competed in a Prix Caprilli test which was super cool.

2019 was bad in many ways. App took a big turn for the worst and couldn't stay comfortable. I lost my dog, my cat, my horse, and my bio father. A dressage judge destroyed my confidence and desire to ride. At least the year started off well with Mia's Training level debut. I also rode as a unicorn on a unicorn. I let App go after 25 years, one of the hardest things I had to do but I am still 100% happy that I did it. It took me a good while to get back to "normal" and I found an instructor, A, that made a world of difference and brought back my desire to ride.

2020 was going to be OUR YEAR. Armed with lessons, Mia and I were ready to kick butt. Then Covid happened. My blogging took a nose dive. Mia came up lame. And got hurt. But we still took lessons as things relaxed and my relationship with Mia got much better. I bought a Pivo in September to document our lesson journey and Mia immediately came up lame again. After a few months and 2 vet visits, Mia's hoof angle was way out of alignment. It took a couple of months for that to fully resolve. Not a single show was attended in 2020 and the Pivo did not get the use I had planned.

Armed with the lessons from 2020, Mia and I did our homework hard over the winter to really hit 2021 with everything we had. I bought a new (to me) dressage saddle, new stirrups to help my bad knees, things were looking very good even though there were some real oddities. I renewed ALL of our memberships ($$$) and bought an entry to a recognized show during a charity auction so I couldn't back out. April came and the wheels fell off of the bus 10 days before our first show. Mia tested positive for Lyme and her numbers were pretty high. Doxy made her very inconsistent in her comfort so from May - Aug we didn't work and instead just walked. My trainer retired before I was able to take another lesson. Mia was cleared of Lyme at the end of August and we hit training hard. 8 solid days of work to enter a Beginner Novice show, I was so confident going into the show. Spoiler - she was lame again. 4 weeks of stall rest for a possible soft tissue injury in her hoof made a world of difference. Mia came off of stall rest on Dec 15th and has stayed sound (so far). We have been trotting for a week and I am hopeful that things continue on a positive path.

It's been a cool journey looking back over the years and I hope you enjoyed the trip. I am going keep blogging, for now anyway. This look back at my 500 posts really helped reinforce the joy of seeing my struggles and successes chronicled. 

Positive steps in the right direction

Slow. That is the best way to describe how things are going. We keep getting hit with subzero weather plus snow and ice storms which is making riding time scarce. Add in the fact that life has been busy, a recipe for disaster? Not quite, but close. That said, there are some things to celebrate. Since 2020/2021 was so shitty, I am trying to find the little wins. Like what you ask? Let me tell you!

The first thing to celebrate is Mia's Chiro results. 30 days ago she was all out of whack and very tender. The chiro did wonders for her and she was much better but I did another visit after 30 days because I wanted to make sure nothing fell back out of sorts. Which they did. She said while Mia regressed a little, she so much better than before. Lots of back, neck, and poll adjustments were made and we will do one more 30 day recheck. Then hopefully Mia will be ready to go back to as-needed treatments and the chiro thinks most issues will be gone. Success!

Tell me that isn't a beautiful image!

The second thing to celebrate is Mia's Lyme results. When we started this ordeal last April/May, her number was quite high at 4676 (I thought it was 6600, I was mistaken). When we stopped Doxy at the end of August, her number was 1165. Anything below 1000 is considered negative, and because she had been responding to the Doxy so well, the vet wanted to see if her natural immune system would kick in. I had her retested again at the beginning of January because I just needed to know. Did things get worse? Better? Stay the same? Was the soreness the chiro was finding a result of lyme or was it just the stall rest? Her results came back at 480! She is officially negative, and the vet was impressed with how low her numbers were. #BigWin

The last thing to celebrate is our trotting. We've only been trotting for a week, and only 3x thanks to the bitter cold/ice/snow, but it has gone exceptionally well. Mia has been completely nonplussed about the entire situation. No theatrics, no spooking, just happy to move. I have been able to stay bareback to work on my own fitness and intend to start riding in my jump saddle to really focus on my own muscle recovery while she comes back with me. Mia is definitely stiff in the trot and has no endurance, but she went from stall rest to a big pasture that is completely rutted with frozen ground. There is no running around happening so her fitness is going to come back through riding and that is okay. 

Moving well!

I finally threw her on the lunge line and let her canter vs her cantering while I was trying to evaluate her trot soundness, she is still sound and moving wonderfully. She is very weak and had a hard time staying in the canter, but we can work on that. She really wanted to canter and kept picking it back up, but she couldn't hold it for very long. I will likely start letting her canter on the lunge after some of our rides to help her build muscle. I am not supposed to canter under saddle until next month, so if she can build up some muscle and endurance without me, even better.

Fingers crossed things continue to move in such a positive direction. I still have zero expectations on the year 2022. I DO have the USEA show entry in June that I use or lose, but I am not even worrying about that for now. There is also a schooling show in April and a clinic in March, but I need to get us both back into a better place first, one step at a time.

Dusting ourselves off again

 Happy 2022! 2021 was such a crap year. Lyme disease for almost 5 months. Abscesses. 4 farrier changes. Soft tissue injury with 3 months stall rest. I am really putting as many good vibes as I can to make 2022 be decent. Can 2022 be decent? Even a little bit? The expectation isn't very high. At all. Like, barely above rock bottom low, can 2022 do it? Only time will tell.

I bought new boots to lift my spirits! And breeches!

We are, however, off to a good start. Dec 15th marked the 3 month mark of Mia being on stall rest and she had an evaluation. That was the first time she was allowed to really move on a lunge line in 3 months and she went nutso. Lots of bucking, galloping, and head tossing, but also had soundness. That's right, she was sound! We then had a chiro appointment which showed Mia was all out of whack, which I knew. She was getting weird with grooming and what not so I wanted her checked. After the adjustment she really did move even better, I am having her done again next week for a recheck and adjustment. I am hopeful she "held" the adjustments and we don't need monthly adjustments for a while. After that, Mia was also moved out to an actual pasture, which resolved basically all of the behavior issues she was exhibiting. Being bossy and pushy during feeding time? Eating hay out of the net as it is being hung? Throwing a tantrum when a horse is removed from the paddock beside her? All gone now that she has the ability to M-O-V-E again. 

She ate her feelings. Apparently she had a LOT of feelings.

Thus started the walking sessions. We were told 4 weeks of walking. If she stays sound, we can do 4 weeks of trotting. If sound, we can go back to full training. If she comes up lame, she goes back in the stall/jail for 3 months. The first ride was a ride with a saddle and bridle, as I had no idea how she would behave, and the old Mia showed up. Perfectly behaved, completely happy to toodle around. From then on, I've been riding bareback. Sometimes with a halter, sometimes a bridle. We spent a week just walking before introducing contact. Then we spent a week doing that before starting lateral work. Currently we are riding 25-50 minutes, 3-4 times a week. Mia is doing a very nice shoulder in using only the outside rein, moving off of my legs beautifully, including square corners, tranvers, renvers, half pass, and halts with only my seat. 

Our first ride outside in over 3 months!
Bareback, on the buckle like the crazy mare she is.

Let's throw positive vibes out to the universe and let 2022 be a better year. My goals of going Training level this year are non-existent, but maybe we can get back to BN or Novice this year. Maybe. It sounds easy enough, but accomplishing it for the past 2 years didn't happen either. All of my goals and ambition were in a train wreck during 2021 and they certainly have not recovered.