Positivity is flowing for change - announcement time!

 Riding at the new barn is slow and sloppy. With no indoor arena and a newer outdoor that hasn't fully "settled", every single step we take is in mud. Yay spring. The only place I have found to do any kind of trotting work is a driveway, and it isn't a long driveway. Oh how I yearn for a indoor, however I am still very happy in my choice of moving barns. 

What are we doing today? - Mia, probably

I have gone to the barn almost every day since I moved Mia, it is super easy since she is now only 5 minutes from my house. Every day she has had water, hay and her stall has been cleaned. It is disappointing that she hasn't made friends, she is always by herself or "close by" the alpha horse. The barn owner even confirmed that last weekend, saying "Yeah, she is always by herself". It would be nice if she would made friends, as I know what it is like to not have friends in the group. Maybe a little more time will help her find a real friend.

Sweaty mare after a long trail ride. More treats?

Last Saturday after I rode, I got a pic from the barn at 730p. I had noticed a bite scrape on the top of her tail dock when I was out that afternoon, it happens when one is out with other horses. It wasn't sore, it wasn't hot, just a 1 inch by 1/2 inch of hair missing. The barn owner saw it and sent me a pic to let me know about it. I am not sure I can convey the happiness I felt at that text, that someone noticed such a minor thing and let me know about it. When Mia was at my old barn, they never seemed to see her injuries and here I am being notified over a quite small section of missing hair at the top of her tail. What a relief it is to feel like someone is looking out for her!

SO MUCH ROOM TO RIDE! This will be amazing when the ground firms up

There are other, small positive changes going on in my life that are really making me feel like maybe life is turning a corner for us. Life for us isn't anywhere near as bad as a lot of people, however lately every time we have tried to do or aim for something good, life has kicked us down. Mia has now been sound since December. Her Lyme came back at super low levels in January. She is now on a Lyme vaccine protocol. She isn't super stiff anymore and can bend. She even loaded right up into the trailer when moving barns, no hesitation at all. Eventually we will be able to ride and become fit again.

Their pastures are to die for...this is a pasture not being used.

But something else has happened. Something big. Something fairly unexpected. We moved to PA from MI for hubby's job. It was a long and difficult process. Hubby has now received a promotion and we will be moving BACK to MI, likely in the May/June/July time frame. Surprise? He was made an offer that he couldn't refuse, and there is some relocation benefits being offered that should make moving SO much easier for us. 

Am I sad that I am already leaving the closest barn I have ever been at? Yes, yes I am.

What does this mean for Mia and I? Likely that our show season is effectively put on hold until fall. I have zero confidence that we will be able to train to compete with the packing/house hunting/house selling that is coming up very quickly. Our plan is to move to an area that I know has an established eventing community and there are a lot of people in the area that I already have relationships with. Fingers crossed that this goes smoothly and quickly, the quicker we move, the quicker I can get back to training and riding!

2016 - A Year In Review

Wow what a year 2016 has been.  Not nearly as bad as it has been for others but I am sure glad to see it go.  Where did we go in 2016?

January:

I spent the whole damn month redoing our farm house which resulted in virtually no riding time.

February:

I posted my first/only before/after post of my remodel and got the farm listed for sale.  I rode during a showing to try to get in horse time and ended up with an offer within 48 hours of the farm being for sale.  Even though it was for sale for 6 months the year prior.  And I squeeze in a trip to see barns in PA before picking the one I am at now.

March:

March was a little sad as I did serious packing and downsizing.  The horses got all of their health stuff done for the season in prep for their move and we start to diagnose App being NQR and I practice solo trailer loading of both horses in prep for the Big Move.

April:

April was the Big Move.  The horses were moved with so little problems it was seamless and we found I could actually fit my entire barn in my 2 horse trailer.  Then made the final trip to PA.  I had my first rides in PA, though it took Mia a while for her brain to arrive from MI, and App is officially retired after an ultrasound and xray.

May:

I determine Mia doesn't like her HSS baucher bit, her HSS loose ring, her eggbutt french link, or, or, or and I went back to her copper eggbutt.  We had our first XC jump schooling in PA, our first lesson in PA AND our first show in PA.

June:

We had our second lesson in PA which didn't go nearly as well as the first lesson and talked about boarding vs at-home care.  And I still stand by it, I do not want to go back to at-home horses.  I loved the ability to have them "right there", but the amount of work far exceeded the joy and pleasure I got out of having them home.  Oh yeah, and I fell off again.

July:

Mia's dressage starts to spiral out of the circle of good and into the circle of "this needs fixed" and I start using a pelham.  I test out 4 saddles in the search to find a new jump saddle and have another XC schooling.  Mia gets sick and I get an awesome stall plate from Olivia.

August:

August wasn't great.  We lost a third of the month from Mia being sick, missed a show and Mia's dressage continued to go downhill when I didn't ride in the pelham.  We had our third lesson which went pretty good.

September:

Mia started going better in her copper eggbutt and I stop using the pelham.  We had our 2nd show which went really, really well despite not placing great.  We had a CWD saddle rep come out before buying a used County Innovation and finding it didn't fit well, but felt amazing.

October:

A total reflock was done on the new saddle and we go to our 3rd show in which Mia doesn't show up to play, resulting in our worst dressage score to date.  I get my saddle back and get my 2pointober time up to a new personal record of 7:09 and aim to go higher before the end of the month.

November:

I finish out October with another new personal high of 8:01 in two point!!!!!!  Then Mia gets sick again and we lose an entire month with her being NQR with fat legs, random fevers and lethargy.

December:

Mia has decided to show back up and play when we work on dressage, though I don't get too much riding in due to the cold and weather and finish out the year trying to fall off when I ride w/t bareback and declare a new thing, No Saddle January.

Here is to a better 2017 for me and for all!

Relocation part 2

On Saturday we rested and relaxed, we bought a couch and loveseat (we sold ours in Michigan), we drove around a lot and then visited the horses.  Mia seemed no worse for wear but App was very sore.  Apparently pushing himself against the back of the trailer for who knows how long makes one's ass sore.  LOL!  He did it to himself, I can't feel that badly.  He was extremely tender for grooming and wanted no part of grooming past his hip.  I gave him another bute and let him just relax.  The horses seemed pretty happy and the manager said they enjoyed my horses, they were easy to handle.  Nice!  Love hearing that about your children!

On Sunday S, SO and I drove all the way back to MI and started the grueling process of moving out.  We packed up the little tractor, refrigerator, stove and everything else and thankfully it all fit in the car trailer.  We said goodbye to our friends and shoved off at 1015a on Tuesday after a final walkthrough.  The drive was thankfully uneventful and a good 11 hours later we arrived at our destination, PA!  We spent Wednesday and Thursday unpacking the trailer and trying to put things back together.  We bought a washer and dryer (also sold in MI, we needed to sell a bunch so it would all fit on the trailer!) and visited the horses.  There were 2 people riding in the outdoor on Thursday and invited me to join.  Uh, okay!  I couldn't find my girths so I threw my bareback pad on.  I've been riding bareback all winter, no biggie right?

Mia could not horse.  It was embarrassing, she would alternate between trying to rear and trying to bolt.  Even at the walk.  Ugh!  The two nice ladies left the arena after about 10 mins and I took the opportunity to throw Mia on the lunge line.  I mean, we have made an EXCELLENT first impression, can only get better right!  Mia GALLOPED for 5 minutes straight.  Full on gallop with full bucks.  Nice.  I had a hard time getting her stopped too.  Ugh mare.  After we changed directions, she was very fast in the canter but at least it wasn't a gallop.  After some transitions where she seemed to think again, I hopped back up.  Mia was much better, relatively speaking at least.  She wasn't trying to rear or bolt but she certainly wasn't relaxed or listening.  We worked on walk/trot/walk transitions and called it a day.  I mean, my mare was a super sweaty mess, why not!  Ugh!

Cannot horse today

Zooms?  We gots em!

Friday I hurt my back and didn't even go to the barn.  Saturday we unloaded the trailer and brought my stuff to the house (note, it is all still in the van, unpacked lol) so I could start resorting and storing it.  Sunday I rode in the indoor with another boarder.  Mia was VERY forward, with a huge case of the zooms, but was manageable at least.  The boarder said she likes Mia's movement, she is very flashy.  Aww :)  I groomed App and he decided to drop ALL of his hair at once.  The pile of hair that came off of him was very large, 2 full pitchfork scoops plus 2 small scoops.  Thanks horse lol.

Tired trots

Last night I went out for my first day of my "new normal".  I will be riding Mon/Tues/Weds nights plus weekends and the occasional Thurs or Friday.  I had hoped there would be more people out at night but I had the ring to myself until I was almost done, a boarder showed up to free lunge her gelding.  Oh well, it is only day one I said to myself.  I rode Mia first and she was AWESOME.  I really wish there had been someone there for some video or to at least see it, she is obviously out of shape and not feeling the "full workout" yet, but she was very nice to ride.  At the end of our ride, I was able to get crisp, clean trot/canter transitions that were balanced and at a speed I asked for.  WOOHOO!  Apparently it took longer for Mia's brain to travel from Michigan than expected.  I am looking forward to working her, I think she will slide back into work pretty easily.

Let's go REAL slow so we can have some control

I rode App as well, he isn't doing so great.  His shoulder is really bothering him still, despite the steroid injections.  I am going to have to have a vet out and see what they can guess.  I did ride him though, as he needs more muscle and stamina, and he was the horse I loved.  He can either be Captain Asshole or Mr Awesome and Mr Awesome showed up last night.  Bareback, in Mia's bridle (which is too big), in a brand new arena, in a brand new state and he walked around like it was old news.  No spooking, no antics and went right to work with everything I asked him to do.  Love him (most times lol)!

Mr Awesome making an appearance

So now you are caught up, it has been a really crazy 2 weeks and I am glad it is over.  The amount of stress reduction is amazing, it took days, DAYS for my brain to realize I didn't have a bunch of stuff waiting on me back in MI.  In another week, I think things will be settled and hopefully a great routine will be developed.  Thanks for joining me on this crazy ride!

Mia being awesome, finally.

Relocation part 1

Guess who was barely able to survive the relocation?  Me!  Holy cow was that not fun but thankfully nothing horrible came up.  Originally I had 3 friends who offered to come to PA with me while I moved the horses and then that dwindled down to two and then a possible one.  Sigh.  SO was freaking out and was considering buying a $800 one way ticket back to MI so I wouldn't drive it alone, I am all "Dude, I am fine.  It will majorly suck, but I got it".  Thankfully S confirmed that she could come on 3 days before we left so he calmed down.

As stated in my previous post, I practiced loading/unloading twice a day until we left on Friday.  I had zero desire for someone to exercise their freedom to say No while we were on the road and on a deadline.  It helped so much, App went from a hesitant loader to one that will load by himself (as long as you have a whip in your hand).  Mia also fine tuned her skills by learning to load into the rear slot of the trailer.  Win!

How much stuff can be shoved into a 2 horse trailer?  A lot!

Thursday was extremely busy.  Originally I had the entire day for final packing of the trailer and house.  Well, best intentions right?  The closing was bumped up from April 4th to March 24th and was at 10a.  Yikes!  That meant I spent Weds night and Thurs morning cleaning for the 9a walkthrough and then didn't get back to the house and start packing until noon.  Of course.  I needed to be in bed by 830p, my all-day plan was just reduced down to 8 hours.  I loaded everything up which took most of the day.  My tack trunks had been reduced to 5, everything consolidated.  Took everything down, filled 4 hay nets, set aside 3 more bales of hay to bring, bought some Purina Hydration Blocks, brought 10 gallons of water, cleaned the barn and was ready.  The kicker is that it was 30 degrees and raining the entire time.  And not misting or sprinkling, but raining steady the ENTIRE DAY.  I got so freaking cold that eventually I went in the house for an hour and hugged the woodstove to try to warm up.  My jacket was soaked completely through despite swapping it out halfway through the day and only being "out in the rain" on trips to/from the trailer from the barn.  Ugh.

You will not count my saddle pads.  Or half pads.  You will not, judge free zone here!

Friday morning, at the bright hour of 5a, I was outside finishing up.  I strapped the 3 bales of hay on the back of the truck (since it had finally stopped raining) and wrapped everyone up.  App was surprisingly calm, usually wrapping for a trailer means 4-7 nervous poops and he gave only one.  Progress!  We loaded up without incident and S and I were off at 610a.  We stopped for fuel and drinks about 20 mins in and App was not a happy horse.  He was shaking and had himself pushed as hard against the back of the trailer as he possibly could.  His hind legs were well under him as he was pushing hard against the back wall.  Poor guy.  I brought him forward off of the wall with treats through the window and let them rest for a good 20 minutes before we continued on.  Sorry App, you are going to have to relax at some point!

Stopped along the PA turnpike

We stopped for breakfast about 2 hours later and App wasn't shaking anymore but he was certainly still pushing against the rear of the trailer.  Mia seemed pretty okay with things, though, which was nice.  We gave them a 30 minute break before continuing on.  When we reached the PA/OH boarder, we stopped at a rest stop and gave them a good rest.  We unloaded them and walked them around on the grass.  Mia was very looky and spooky at the big trucks going by on the highway but App couldn't have cared less.  Sometimes he really is Mr Awesome, I LOVE Mr Awesome!  Both horses LOVED the hydration block and much preferred it over an actual drink of water.  I was able to get about 4 gallons into them as they slurped on the hydration block/mush and it made me happy.  After an hour, we loaded them back up and surprisingly, they both went on without any hesitation.  Woohoo!  Groundwork for the win!

Just where did we end up?!

No matter, treats solve all issues!

We stopped for fuel about 2 hours later and offered them more water, which they didn't want, but when offered the same water with the hydration block they were all GIMME GIMME!  Ahh horses lol.  A 20 minute rest came to an end and we headed back out for the final leg.  Woohoo!  Thankfully the barn is pretty easy off to get to off of the interstate and despite the constant up/down of the mountains, we made it with no real issue.  The horses unloaded easily and gave us no issues as we settled them into their pasture.  I gave App a gram of bute to help him with any soreness and went home myself.  It was a full 12 hour drive and it sucked.  It was long and tiring but at least we had great weather, no traffic issues and I had a friend to help pass the time.

The appys in their new home

Final wrap-ups, the good and bad

Final wrap-ups are underway and this will be a short post with a bunch of points in it.  Bad blogger, but I really don't have time to document it all out.  Sorry folks. TWH has now left, it was so sad but he seems happy at his new barn.  I hope they do well together.

I had our last ride with K.  Since my jump standards are packed up already, I made jumps out of 2 cinder blocks and then used my mounting block to make 2 small little jumps.  Mia was awesome for most of it.  When we started she was very excited and I had to haul on her pretty hard to bring her back after the fences.  At one point she jumped and tried rooting the reins, making me tweak my back.  Thanks mare.  I got her back though and she was doing quite well with a balanced canter after the jump.  Progress indeed.

I our my last ride with 2 different friends, people, did you hear that?  I rode 3 times in one week!  On purpose!  I haven't done that since September!  Unfortunately it was my last ride until I get to PA though, then hopefully I can start riding regularly again.  Mia was great on her little trail ride and App was very behaved. Win!

Dr A came out for App's follow up visit today, finally.  He was supposed to be out over this past weekend and cancelled.  Nothing like waiting till the last minute!  At the last visit, we blocked Apps' leg from the splint down and had no improvement, Dr A thought it was his knee.  I have been thinking it is his shoulder after giving him a quick ride over the weekend.  After blocking his entire knee with no improvement, Dr A had to agree.  When we flexed App's leg all the way forward and up on his right, App had no concern.  When we did it with the left, App almost sat down in an attempt to get away.  We can't xray his shoulder with the travel unit and we wouldn't necessarily see anything with an xray anyway.  Dr A said the three options are rest, injecting the shoulder or a MRI.  I have already tried option 1 with no improvement and I have no time for option 3 so we did option 2.  We injected his shoulder with some steroids with a (OMG HUGE) spinal needle.  He now gets 2 days of stall rest (certainly not cutting it close or anything, right) and if not better, I need to follow up with a vet in PA for further diagnosis.  Boo. Big ol boo.

Originally I had 3 of my MI friends that wanted to go to PA with me.  First K backed out when she realized it was Easter.  Then RB4 backed out as she says she is being offered double time to work over the weekend and needs the money.  That leaves my last friend, S.  With there now being only one, if she backs out I am by myself.  That means my horses now need impeccable manners, since the trailer is packed and hooked up we have been practicing loading and unloading.  I was truly surprised by App.  Back in the day he was horrible.  He was the 45-60 min loader who needed to be pulley roped into the trailer.  We fixed that to have him load, but now you have to lead him on and you HAVE to have a chain on his nose.  The last time we hauled him, it was up to see Dr A at the hospital when TWH had his ultrasound, that was 2013.  I walked App up to the trailer and led him on and he wasn't that hesitant.  Nice!  We unloaded and loaded again.  No problem.  This morning I tried again but this time I had both App and Mia. I asked App to load by himself.  He wasn't sure but a smack with the lead rope put him in the trailer.  OMG people, this is HUGE!  I gave him huge pats, a treat and unloaded him and tried again.  He wasn't happy about it but he got on without being led on.  WOW.  So happy!

I have always put Mia in the front partition of the trailer when hauling, since she was bad when I got her it was just easier when TWH couldn't care either way.  Last night was the first time loading in the rear stall and Mia wasn't sure about it.  The first time she got on but wasn't comfortable.  I unloaded her and loaded her again, she put her front feet on but then hopped out.  I smacked her and she loaded but then immediately unloaded.  I put her back in and hooked the butt bar, let her stand and unloaded.  This AM after I put App on, I put Mia on.  Well tried.  She decided to say Nope, No Thanks.  She put her front feet on 4 times and each time back out immediately, bad mare.  I warned her there would be consequences of her actions and she didn't heed the warning.  I grabbed (what I now affectionately call, thanks to Carly) Mr Spanky.  Mr Spanky introduced himself to Mia a couple of times and Mia hopped on the trailer.  I let her stand there and then backed her out.  We tried again and she put her front feet on and stood there.  A quick spank had Mia up in the trailer.  We unloaded and tried one last time, Mia leapt into the trailer.  Well, I will take that over the refusals.

The plan is to do this twice a day until Friday.  This way come Friday, both appys will have no issues loading and when I unload them during the trip, it shouldn't be any big deal to load them back up.  Fun times!  Keep your fingers crossed for me, the farm closes on Thursday and we leave Friday am with the horses.  Come back Sunday and leave Tuesday for good.  That is only one week away!

One step closer

Geez this is coming fast.  The closing date has been moved up from April 4th to March 24th.  Yikes?!  I leave with the horses in a week (!!!!!!!!),on the 25th, to become PA residents, and we come back on the 27th to pack the house and we are no longer MI residents as of the 29th.  WOW!  TWH leaves tomorrow, for the first time since 2007 I won't see him reguarly.  Awww :(  I am going to miss that fuzz face.  I spent 5 hours cleaning/organizing/packing the barn yesterday and got it 90% done.  Got all of K's stuff back to her, plus 3 armloads of stuff I didn't feel like bringing lol.  And after all of that packing, I was happy to find all of the stuff is all fitting in the horse trailer!  Woohoo!  Tack ho isn't that bad, HA!

Smart horse mom is smart, I am having all work done with the horses before I leave so I don't have to scramble to find anyone.  I had had the vet out for vaccinations/coggins last weekend.  Unfortunately Appy has been NQR/lame on his left front so I had Dr A look at him.  We blocked out his whole hoof and lower leg with no improvement.  He is coming back out tomorrow to block his knee and shoulder and see what we find.  Ugh, at least it is no bony changes in his hoof?  Trying to find the plus side in this scenario but all I see is dollar signs floating out of the checkbook.  Bye bye dollars!

I had the dentist out on Wednesday and got everyone done.  TWH and Appy were really good, minor sharp points and very well behaved.  I LOVE watching TWH's reactions while he gets done, for having blue eyes, they can be super expressive.  The horror in them is very amusing, ha!  Mia had some pretty sharp points in her far back molars, the dentist got them all taken care of but Mia was not very behaved.  She had her head up as high as possible and was getting very pissy about it the process.  I have never had the horses sedated for floats and haven't needed to, though I will likely give her a shot of Ace the next time her teeth are done.  She didn't kick/rear/try to bite, but she was extremely unhappy and was starting to body bump people.  Not okay Mare!

The farrier was out today and everyone got their toes done.  No issues popped up and everyone was behaved.  Now everyone has their teeth, toes and vaccines done and I am not going to have to scramble to have it done in PA.  Phew that is a relief.  Now it is focusing in getting down to the nitty gritty in packing and getting EVERYTHING packed and gone.  It's getting real folks, getting real.  Hopefully I have time for some quick updates but it is possible I may become MIA until April.

What you find when you clean and organize for a move

One of the good things about moving, especially long distance, is that it gives you a chance to go through things and reduce your inventory.  When we moved to MI, I had been saving stuff up for YEARS in anticipation of having my own barn.  And then the buying onslaught that happened after the move.  Buckets?  I had plenty of buckets.  A literal stack of them!  Rubber buckets, plastic buckets, corner buckets, small buckets, big buckets, I haven't had to buy a single bucket in the entire 5.5 years of living here.  If that gives you any idea the kind of person I am lol.  Yeah I am a self admitted Tack Ho, I display my badge proudly.

That said, the reduction in inventory has been pretty dramatic. The yard sale we had last year netted us over $1500 and we didn't even sell many things over $100.  Hell, most stuff was under $20.  What I have now?  I have 3 heated buckets, one for each horse and a backup.  I mean, I had 7, having 3 is an improvement.  I have 4 plastic buckets, 1 for each horse and 2 for shows.  I have 2 tack hooks, down from 8 or 9.  Blah blah blah.  So much reduction.  Why is this blog worthy?  Well, back when I got Mia, I had to buy things.  So I bought things and now, as I have sold TWH, I have only 2 horses again.  I thought I had downsized.  Well......

In cleaning out my tack trucks over the weekend for the move, I found I still had a lot of stuff.  Do I need 2 fitted coolers, 2 square coolers and a quarter sheet for 2 horses?  Well, yes, but no I really don't.  Sold a fitted and square cooler.  Do I need 10 blankets for 2 horses?  Well, yes, but no I really don't.  Grrr.  Now have 3 blankets for App and 3 for Mia. And Mia doesn't even need a blanket lol.  Do I need 5 show bridles for one show horse?  WELL OF COURSE!!!  But no, I really don't. I could only bring myself to sell one though lol.  Sold it to K for TWH.  I mean, it was his bridle anyway.  Do I need 4 pairs of clippers that are all basically the same?  Probably not.  Again though, I could only part with one and K is giving it a new home.

After my reorganizing, I can now successfully fit ALL of my tack in my 5 tack trunks and they all shut!  Woohoo!  That is a huge improvement.  I have a small pile of stuff left to sell, so not bad. And no, we are NOT counting saddle pads.  Don't you dare try.  Yesterday I focused my efforts on my show clothes.  Last year I got fed up with my subpar show clothes and started buying better stuff.  I have gotten some scorching hot deals on things and will look awesome this year.  The issue is apparently I lost track lol.  I sort of ended up with 3 pairs of show jumping breeches, 7 pairs of dressage breeches, 6 dressage shirts, a lone h/j shirt and my eventing shirt.  Plus 3 show jackets. That is only my show clothes.  Uh.....opps?

So I have reluctantly pulled 3 pairs of dressage breeches,1 pair of show jumping breeches and 3 show shirts out of the mix.  I have 2 brand new pairs of dressage breeches (Trainers Choice and Kerrits) and 1 George Schumacher dressage breeches I am keeping plus the ones I ended my show season in last year.  Now I have 2 show jumping breeches (Smartpak and ROMFH), 4 dressage shirts (though I will likely reduce this down by 1 or 2 more) and my 3 show coats.  I don't really need 3 but NEED ALL THINGS!  The 3rd coat?  I am super DUPER excited over.  Like OMG I CAN'T WAIT excited.  I basically STOLE a FITS Zephyr show coat from a tack store that was running a 60% off sale.  Those are the jackets that are mesh but look solid??  So so so excited about it.  Several times I have came ridiculously close to overheating (and succeeded 3x) at shows and am excited to see how this jacket behaves.  If nothing else, I look pretty awesome in it :)  *note, that last sentence proves how much of a tack ho I am.   I have 2 nice jackets but the 3rd...I will look awesome*

It is getting real though folks, I sold our big tractor over the weekend, the horses get their vet visit and travel certificate on Thursday, TWH leaves next Friday (he has been being boarded here since I sold him) and the horses leave on the 25th.  AND the buyers were closing on April 4th but now think they will close next week instead?!?!  We advised we need occupancy and they are ok with it but still.  Talk about being real folks :(

Clock is ticking update

Oh lordy this is simultaneously frightening and exciting.  I am ready to move emotionally, which is good, but there is a lot going on.  It also makes for some really scattered posts lol.  Last weekend we randomly (who randomly does crap like this?) bought an enclosed car trailer for SO to replace the flat trailer.  Like, made the decision and 12 hours later had it hooked up to the truck.  The house closing better go through at this point, that is all I can say!   This trailer has been being talked about for over a year and buying the hosue we did kind of solidified the need for it because SO doesn't have enough garage space for cars plus race cars.  This technically gives him an extra garage spot but the reason we bought it now was to save on the Uhaul rental.  That was coming in at $800 one way and we needed to make 2 trips.  Yikes.  Add in the money we are getting from selling the 16ft flat trailer, it is almost a wash.  Almost lol.

So last weekend we moved a load of stuff to PA and we moved half of everything left here in Michigan to PA.  Crazy!  The place is SO empty now and I have a month left.  The trip went well enough.  I mean...  sure Danica bit me on the cheek because she doesn't like my singing (no, seriously.  Not even joking) and then tried to bite me 2 more times because apparently I wasn't understanding the amount of her displeasure.  Then I fell while having our propane filled and sprained my wrist.  And then about 15 gallons of Super went on the ground because the pump shut off and I wasn't standing at the nozzle at the time.  And don't forget that the 10 hour drive out there turned into 13 because SO likes to stop WAY more than I do.  It was a very long weekend.

I did, however, finally pick a barn!!!!  I had 6 barns on my list that had an indoor.  The closest one was immediately crossed off due to cost, no way can I pay more in board than I do my mortgage.  Sad too because it was less than 5 miles away, so so sad.  Even if I worked off board it wasn't affordable.  The next closest barn never, ever returned my calls so I cold called and just showed up.  And no one was there.  Either time I showed up.  The stalls looked okay and all of the horses were out, SO didn't like the vibe of the barn and said he didn't know why I would want to go somewhere that wouldn't even call me back after 2 weeks of trying.  How well would they treat the horses?  What if something happened and I needed to get a hold of them? Well, ok, point taken.

Barn 3 was about 30 mins away and while it is a nice barn and I got along really well with the owner/manager, I am not sure I would fit in.  They do a LOT of lessons and therapeutic riding.  It seemed as though most boarders were kids and I am just afraid I wouldn't fit in.  Disappointing for sure, I will keep it in my reserves in case.  Barn 4 was only 20 mins away but was a no immediately.  I have boarded in plenty of not great places but this one kinda took the cake.  Very run down metal gate fencing for turnouts, extremely small turnouts that were 100% poo/mud, extremely small stalls, very crowded with junk and chaotic, no thanks.  It was by far the cheapest and I could see why.  No thanks.  Barn 5 was very promising, they did some eventing but mostly jumpers now.  The 2 boarders I met were very nice and the manager was extremely nice however I got the impression I was WAY outclassed.  I feel if they weren't even trying and I felt very out of place, it would only get worse if someone didn't like me or I started to get judged for my Wintec.  I dunno, it was just a vibe I got.

Barn 6 was the furthest away at 45 mins and holy crap guys, the barn is amazeballs.  It has always been a running joke about our farm here in MI that we catered to the people who wanted the step between backyard where ever and chandeliers in the barn.  I am not joking, this place has fricken chandeliers in the aisle.  I mean, no crystal so more like hanging light fixtures but still.  OMG.  They even have pavers in the aisleway and electronic locks on the doors.  However.  The people seemed amazing.  The owner has had the place only 2 years and is doing a ton of improvements to the outside.  Redoing pasture fencing, installing auto-waterers, making bigger pastures, adding eventing jumps, etc.  She was very down to earth and I felt none of the stuffiness that I felt in barn 5.  The bad part is they have no stalls available but they do have pasture board and it is affordable.  So that is the route I am going to try.  They will have their own dry lot with Electrobraid fencing until a dedicated pasture is fixed, will have a round bale with a Bale Buddy in the run in and an auto waterer.  At least with that setup, they shouldn't die before I get moved out there, fingers crossed anyway.

Oh guys, I am so nervous about this but I think it will work out.  The barn doesn't have a resident trainer but has clinicians come in regularly to give lessons.  Get this, they have a saddle fitter that fits Olympian horses that comes regularly!  New saddle problem solved??  Oy!  Both SO and I think this barn will fit me best and provide me excellent opportunities to expand my network so we will see.  The horses move on March 25th, it is getting really real now!

Plans, changes and full steam ahead!

With all of our napkin plans we had listed, I was kind of surprised things changed as much as they have.  But hey, I am pretty flexible and adaptable.  Some say I am way more than most people but hey.  I can roll with the punches.  The inspection came back clean on the house, the buyers came over this weekend and put up some hand railings and spindles to make the place FHA acceptable.  With them putting in some $$ and sweat equity, I am pretty confident the sale will go through, woohoo!  They seem quite nice, they have 4 horses and she rides all disciplines.  She does western dressage but also has a dressage and jumping saddle.  She, like us, is buying the property for the indoor arena :)  I am so happy that all of my hard work is going to someone who will appreciate the property.  While I am looking forward to boarding again, and am really looking forward to not having chores, I am going to miss my little farm and the conditions in which my horses live.

Our planned trips to PA have changed up a bit but I now have the next month and a half completely planned out.  We made a big purchase in an enclosed car trailer, we were originally going to rent a UHaul truck to move our furniture and stuff and use the horse trailer to move everything else.  Instead we made the decision to go ahead and just buy the enclosed trailer now instead of after the closing and move our stuff with it instead of the horse trailer.  Good and bad, I didn't have enough stuff "ready" for a 20' enclosed trailer so we packed the trailer with stuff not in boxes, etc.  That bugs the hell out of SO, but it is totally his own doing so I don't feel badly.  I had packed enough stuff to fill a horse trailer, not a 20' empty box.  Ugh, men.  We move this load of stuff this upcoming weekend.  Next weekend I go back to PA to put some of the stuff away.  I will then stay in MI until we move the horses the weekend of March 25th and then make one last trip to PA before closing.  On April 4th, we should close and relocation should be complete.  OMG!!  Relocation complete.  So crazy!

It means no shows in MI at all, which is a little sad, but I also haven't been riding so it makes sense.  And I also strained my LCL ligament last week which put a damper on riding after I finally had time to ride since, you know, I was unable to fully straighten or fully bend my knee.  SMH.  I am about 90% better so hopefully I can ride this week.  I tentatively have a show in PA written down for July, that would be cool to actually achieve that goal!  I only have one show written down so far, if I can make the one show, I will aim for more.  Baby steps.

So yeah... that update I mentioned

Sorry for the abruptness of the last post, real life and all, you know.  So I ended up with 2 showing requests within 12 hours and a third within 24 hours of the house being on the market.  Wow!  The #1 showing came at noon on Saturday and I took the horses for a trail ride during it.  Mia was pretty good, not really able to walk a straight line again but not super spooky.  I ponied App and he was a huge pain in the ass, despite having a rope halter on and riding on the road, he was charging forward the WHOLE TIME.  Usually he is a boat anchor and I have to drag him along, this time, however, he was practically pulling out of the damn saddle in an attempt to go faster.

We did some trotting and a lot of walking, I knew better than to try to canter with App being ponied.  He sees no reason why he can't try to bolt and just GO FAST.  Damn old horse, I thought you were supposed to be half lame??  Overall the ride went quite well, Mia listened to my seat when I had to use two hands to control App, there were no freakouts and everyone seemed worked but not exhausted when we got back.  I changed clothes and met a friend for lunch for the 2nd showing.  Which they showed up an hour late for and showed up after I had come back and let all of the animals out SMH.

The feedback I got that night from showing #1 is that the buyers were interested.  Woooo.... I like the sounds of that.  The next morning showing #3 came around and they were here FOREVER.  Well over their hour allotted time.  I went shopping at TSC, went to the gas station, washed the truck, and drove around before they finally left.

A very short time later, my realtor shows up with a big smile.  He had a signed purchase agreement, they loved the place well enough they made an offer.  AND they offered $100 more than the asking price!!  WOW!  Just wow!!!  JUST WOW!!!!

We, of course, accepted and later that night showing #1 requested a 2nd showing.  OMG!  I couldn't get find much attention last year, now I seem to have multiple buyers!  I am curious if #3 made the above asking price offer because they didn't want us to wait for #1 to make the decision.  I don't care, I will take it.

So I will be here in MI until the end of March and will be moving the horses the week of the 21st, tentatively of course.  We will be closing in the first few days in April and then we will be official PA residents.  Wow, just wow.  I have called 6 barns to inquire about boarding and have excluded 2 already.  One is SUPER expensive, over $700 a month per horse, the other said no one rides at night so I wouldn't ever have anyone to talk to.  I will be visiting barns on the 21st so we will see how it goes.  I am super excited about this and really hope nothing falls through.  My world is about to get flipped upside down, hope you don't mind the ride!

The ball is rolling - An update...

Hey, guess what?  Guess what I was able to do?  I got the house listed for sale today!  And on top of that, I got 2 showing requests within 12 hours of it being listed!  Woohoo!!!  It has certainly been an ordeal but I am so, so, SO hopeful that something great comes of this.  I have it posted out on several FB groups, hell you may have even seen it already, and so far the comments are that people love the house (but of course have no $$ or want a land contract).  Hey, I will take that over last year when they were only saying they loved the barn or arena.  Seriously though, if I could have an offer soon?  HEAVEN!  AND I am offering a dealio to my FB friends and now to my blog friends, if anyone makes an offer and under contract by April 31st and says they heard about this from YOU, I will give YOU two hundred buckeroos to go all tack ho with!  Or, you know, whatever else you may want to do with it but tack ho'ing it is the best thing reason I can find.  But seriously, have them put in the first offer made "seen (or heard) about from (your name)", that's it.

So you probably want some details, no?  On Monday I worked to get the house ready and the realtor showed up a day early to take outside pics because of how poor the day was to be on Tuesday.  So I rushed to get stuff done.  And did.  He took pics of outside and came back on Tuesday for interior pics.  And I hated them.  HATED.  I did not want snapshots of my home, I wanted beautiful pictures to show the work I have done.  So I called my professional photographer friend who was on standby and he came out Wednesday and took pictures of both interior and exterior.

And on Wednesday night, for the first time in I don't know when I rode my horses.  People, read that again, I rode my horses.  BOTH of them!  Yes!  It was a short w/t/c ride, bareback in a hackamore, but they were w/t/c rides.  Woohoo!  Mia did well, a little fast but that is to be expected.  She was even decent in her right lead canter, woohoo!  App was awesome and tried hard but he is really out of shape and a bit off in his front.  It was funny, here I am riding bareback, in a hackamore, with muck boots on and he doesn't want to bend.  I simply pick up the dressage whip and suddenly he is Mr Bendy.  Ha!  I am really looking forward to boarding again so I have time to ride him regularly.  He is so out of shape and in need of exercise.

Thursday I had to go to the feed store and get grain so no riding, today was the day the house was listed online.  It was a mess too, the realtor used an ad he had worked on instead of the one I had done so it read really choppy and wasn't grammatically correct.  Uh, no, so he had to fix that.  And then he used 2 pictures that he had taken because I hadn't sent him the professional pictures (it was 6am people!) so I had to give him a hard email saying that was not acceptable.  And then I sent over a list of file names for him to use of the professional pictures.  Except he listed all of them.  That took ALL day to fix.

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So that is what I had written Friday night before things went crazy.  Ya'll, I have an update but you are going to have to wait.  Sorry!

Almost to the finish line

One day left.  I have a lot to do in one day still.  On Tuesday a realtor comes to take pictures, eek!  The painting is pretty much done, enough for pics anyway.  The carpet has been installed and looks good.  The garage has been reorganized so it isn't a cluttered mess and the house is 90% clean.  Now to stage the house and prepare for pictures!

Basement in process

Basement with new paint on the floor.  Should have taken
1 gallon, took 3 and I had only 1.5 rollers full left of paint.
Cutting it close!!

Stairs, bye bye brown shag carpet from the 80's!

Hellooooo new carpeted stairs!

Teal bedroom before

Teal bedroom with old, brown shag carpet

Stairway in process, note the helper...

They LOVED their blue... blue ceilings, blue walls.
The entryway with peach walls, blue ceiling.  Peach
covered up already with new Creamy Mushroom.

Peach being covered up!

Bathroom before

Bath with new colors and flooring

Blue floral wallpaper - say buh bye!

Finished living room

With all of the work I have done, and I have done LOTS, I can't see what someone would say "needs work".  But we will see when it is thrown on the market by the end of the week.  Hold your breath guys, let's get this farm sold so I can move on with things and RIDE MY HORSE!

Guess who has an update?!

So I was just posting on Carly's blog how I don't feel the drive to compare myself to others in the blog/social media world or feel competitive with them.  Which is true, I also don't feel a drive to keep my poor, neglected blog updated because I don't have the readership and comments like other blogs do so I don't feel like people are anxiously awaiting my next post.  That is a good thing over this past month, though, as I have been extremely busy.  What am I doing?  Well, not what I had planned when I made my last post, that is for damn sure.

My plan had been to get my butt riding and jumping, I wanted to be seriously jumping by mid-January.  Have I jumped?  Nope.  I have I even had a serious ride?  Nope.  Whomp whomp :(  Just a weekly trail ride.  Instead SO and I had a pretty serious discussion about priorities, what we wanted to get done, when we wanted to relist the house and suddenly things changed.  Originally we were going to list the house in the spring, maybe April/May after "mud season".  Until then I would be doing updates to the house and what not.  Well with his work schedule, the 9-10 hour one-way drive to visit one another and my not wanting to use vacation time (that will be needed for moving!) to drive to PA, decisions were made.  I have spent HOURS and HOURS doing home improvements to get the house up to par so it can be listed for sale.  Asap.  Like, by February!  I had spent most nights and each weekend getting rid of floral wallpaper between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Then repaired and painted walls in the kitchen, dining room, living room, and spare bedroom by New Year.  Then had to do extensive repairs to the wall in our stairway and JUST got that done this past weekend.  Then completely redid our bathroom, with new paint, flooring, medicine cabinet, tub caulking and working my way through grout recoloring.  All I have left is to paint our stairway landing and one bedroom. both of which should be ready for paint in the morning, if not tonight.  Then some light cleanup work and a thorough house cleaning and done.

I have easily put 200+ hours into this project but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I did hire some of the work out to friends of mine, helping with painting and what not to help speed things along, but most of it has been me.  By myself.  While working full time and taking care of a farm full time.  Yeah.... It sucks.  Once all painting is done, I will be getting quotes for the cheapest apartment carpet I can find and then throwing this place on the market.  Hopefully we will have a buyer quickly, no one can say the house "needs work" now!  Every single drywall crack has been repaired (there were many, several in each room, several really big ones too), all trim has been repainted and added where trim was missing, all nasty pastel colors are gone and light, creamy colors have replaced them and the old light fixtures are now modern looking.  Here is to keeping fingers crossed because I really want to hurry up and get relocated.  We have been doing this separated thing for almost a year now and while it works, it sucks.  But not in the way you expect.  Our relationship is still strong long distance, that isn't the problem.  It sucks because I have SO much work here at the farm by myself.  I have no idea how Carson  does it, I can't do the farm full time, work full time and have time to enjoy my critters.  With the round bale, my chores are now 35 minutes twice a day, but it is still 35 minutes twice a day.  12+ cubic feet of poo a day is picked up and put in the dumpster. Bleck.

Once the farm is up for sale, again, I expect things will slow down a LOT and maybe I will have time to ride.  If, you know, it doesn't get sub zero all of a sudden.  Keeping a house staged 24x7 really sucks but I know it isn't nearly as much work as I am doing now.  And it should be slightly easier now that I am down 2 elderly cats that puked multiple times a day :(  I wish I could have those puking faces back with me....  Keep your fingers crossed and if you know of anyone who wants a newly refreshed farm, let me know!

Updates, updates, updates

The good, the bad, and the ugly.  All kinds of updates and haven't had too much time or motivation to type it all out.  I do owe it to you or at least myself to document it all down so, here we go!

The good:

The horses are doing great.  Mia had 3 abscesses in 3 different hooves over the course of a month and is now sound, sound, sound.  She is also very, very good.  That last show where Mia actually felt like a partner? Where she listened to what I had to say instead of feeling like I am just there trying to manage her?  Yeah, she is still doing that.  Listening and trying.  It is such a cool feeling!  It only took 2 years to get here but I am so happy we finally made it.  I am hoping we can develop a really good partnership over the winter and she keeps this attitude.  It would be so nice!

The bad:

The farm didn't sell for what we wanted so we have pulled it off of the market for the winter.  I can't imagine a farm would sell in the winter and it is WAY too hard to live in a staged house 24x7 in good weather.  I have zero desire to continue through bad weather.  I am really disappointed, I didn't even think this was an option when we put it on the market, we thought it would sell extremely fast.  Our property is so very unique, the private indoor arena, brand new fencing?!  I mean come on!  I think our realtor did us wrong by having our start price WAY too high in the spring so we missed a huge batch of people and by the time I had her lower the price to it's "correct" price, very few people were buying.  Let's not comment that SHE never suggested a new price.  The last month the property was on the market, we would have a showing request about once every week or two.  Before that we had barely any showings.  We had one set of people say they were extending an offer but then never heard from them (*sob*) and another that loved the property but weren't "right now" buyers.  That tells me that they are dreamers with no intention of buying so they are wasting their time, my time and the realtors time with their daydreaming.  (Yeah, that one pissed me off pretty badly lol).  I had requirements for showing to hopefully eliminate daydreamers and unfortunately one still slipped through.  

Anyway, that means I am here all winter.  It is the reason I went ahead and bought/made the round bale hay net.  The net, by the way, is performing beautifully.  It is on its 3rd bale and there isn't a single tear or rip in the entire net and it is still doing a beautiful job of keeping the mess down.  It hasn't eliminated the mess but has reduced it down to a single forkful a day.  Win!

The ugly:

Sadly I have lost two of my buddies in the past 30 days.  I had a full blooded Maine Coon cat that I had adopted 7 years ago as a 6 yr old.  A show cattery had been dispersed due to the deaths of the breeders and I ended up with Arimus.  Everyone loved Arimus, he was just the coolest cat.  He didn't meow, he chattered and chirped.  He always met everyone at the door.  He wasn't afraid of anything.  Anything!  Shoot Nerf darts at him?  He wouldn't even bother to stand up.  New dog/cat come in?  He would go up and say hi and would threaten only if needed.  Throw a pillow at him when he was sleeping?  He would just open his eyes.  He loved everyone and was extremely friendly, he was extremely popular with everyone who met him.  Unfortunately in spring of 2014, I noticed a lump on his elbow.  We brought him to the vet who did a biopsy and it came back as cancer.  It was ingrained into his elbow joint, the only options were to amputate, put him through chemo or let him live it out.   Amputation and chemo would give him 2-3 years left of his 14-15 year life expectancy, letting him live it out would give him 1-2 years.  Since he had bad arthritis anyway, we opted to not amputate and chemo wouldn't be worth it for only one additional possible year.

We let him live his life, he did very well.  After surgery he gained his weight back and got back up this normal, not even close to chunky weight of 19lbs.  I would drain the tumor of fluid about every other month and all was well.  This spring I had to start draining the tumor every month and it had quadrupled in size, it was the size of a small apple on his elbow but he was still in good spirits and didn't seem in pain.  Over the summer he started limping and slightly losing weight, but not a large amount.  In July he stopped eating dry food and would only eat wet food.  In September he started losing weight quickly and went to eating only a quarter can of food twice a day when he needed at least a full can twice a day.  He was still in good spirits and I was waiting for one other "thing" and I was going to make that call.  On a Thursday, he was playing with Danica and was his normal self.  On a Friday I went to PA to move another load of stuff and got back Sunday night.  When I got back, he wasn't right.  He moved really slowly up the stairs and didn't meet me at the door but it was 9p at night so I didn't think about it.  He ate normally.  Monday morning, however, he wouldn't stand up and wouldn't eat anything.  Including treats, something he had never refused.  So I made the call and let him go.  It was so sad, he was my buddy, my friend.  That was October 12th.

Hairy cat can make a full 2nd cat

Mouse was a weird cat, we got her in our neighbor's divorce.  No, seriously.  Right after SO and I got together, we moved into a townhouse apartment.  The neighbors were nice enough, they had a 2 yr old daughter and a cat.  We lived there about 6 months before the neighbors split and were getting a divorce, when SO and I came home one day we saw the cat outside.  She was desperately trying to get into a door, any door.  The neighbors just kicked her outside to fend for herself, despite never being outside before.  SO paid the pet deposit as my birthday present and Mouse came to live with us.  She was 9 months old and had been the runt of the litter.  The neighbors took her bc she was so small and had a lazy eye, they figured she would die but she had lived.  We got her fixed and UTD on shots and lived pretty happily together.  She was always a grumpy cat, she didn't like other people, hated to be pet anywhere other than her head and shoulders, despised vets and didn't like other animals.  We made the mistake of sending her to MI to live with SO for 3 weeks during the transition to living in MI.  She was SO happy as a single cat.  The look on her face when everyone else moved to MI was priceless, she was pissed and she didn't forgive us for over a year.  Seriously.  She wanted to be an only cat and didn't let us forget it.  She never, ever played with the other cats and only tolerated the dog.  

Mouse has always been in good health, which is good considering her dislike of vets, but this July she started being off.  She lost weight, didn't want to really eat and finally looked bad so I brought her in.  Her T4 (thyroid level) should have been 2-4.8 and it was a 26.  We had to play with medicine levels and treatments to find what worked but by late September we had her leveled out and pretty happy.  October she did very well, she got ringworm (from the vet's office, its the only place that makes sense) but was in exceptional weight, ate very well, took her meds like a champ and her coat was looking really good again.  After some home remedies/horse treatments failed, I got meds to treat the ringworm was advised I should shave her down too. Yikes, did I want to live?  Lol!  I went to PA over the weekend and got back on Monday.  Mouse was still great and she got a bath with the special shampoo but didn't shave her.  Yesterday Mouse ate her entire breakfast.  I bothered her at lunch and made her sit on the couch for a little bit.  She was fine, her ringworm scabs weren't as prominent.  I was rushed after work and went out to ride quickly, when I came back in to feed dinner to the inside animals she was already gone.  When she didn't come to her bowl, I looked for her and found her in front of the dog's bowl.  She was lying down, looking asleep if not for her open eyes and stiff body.  I am in shock as it was so sudden, I wasn't ready.  With Arimus I was able to prepare and expected it, I didn't expect this with Mouse.  I can only assume it was a blood clot or her heart gave out, I am pretty sure she didn't suffer.  I have now lost 2 buddies in 30 days :(  RIP guys, I am glad I was able to improve your lives as much as I could.

Grumpy cats can still play, just not with others