If You Have to be Lame, You Picked the Right Week

I normally have a Monday night lesson, but we decided to give Cinder the day off after the show. Trainer A usually rides her Tuesdays and either Wednesday or Thursdays, and I have another lesson on Fridays. The weather forecast was calling for snow and very cold temps, so we figured we would play her work schedule by ear. 

I hate winter. Where I live we really didn't get that much snow that stuck, but it did get down to 10* with the windchill

Cin had a little bit of fill in one front leg after the show, so we decided to put some Voltaren on it (from a tube I've used on her before) and throw a set of standing wraps on her. That was apparently the wrong decision, as the combo of the Voltaren and the wraps gave Cinder a chemical burn. Whoops.

It ended up getting a little bit bigger than this pic shows

It looked ugly, and the whole inside of the leg was swollen, but it didn't seem to bother her that much, and she was never actually lame. I was able to leave work early on Tuesday, swing by the vet's office to grab some antibiotic cream with steroids, and go up and doctor Cin. We left the wraps off, and kept her in with hand walking for a few days, which she would have done anyways since the snow started Wednesday night. What better time for your horse to need to be on stall rest than when the barn is covered in 4 inches of snow and ice and the pastures are closed. 

She was very skeptical

 

Trainer A told me not to come up on Friday as the road to the barn was still pretty bad. I did make it up Saturday and with A's approval gave Cinder a free lunge in the indoor. She wasn't as wild as I was expecting her to be, and A said that she had been very well behaved for her hand walks. Cin looked totally sound and since most of the snow was melted off the pastures I said I was ok with her getting turned out again on Sunday. 

Trainer A was putting some horses on the eurociser, and since Cin has never been on it and I don't know how to use it, I asked if I could throw her on as well. We put her with two geldings, and her pasture buddy Jazzy. Cinder was very confused at first, but didn't freak out like I was expecting. I guess she really is growing up. Once we switched directions, and she was behind Jazzy, she kept trying to move the chains out of the way to get to Jazzy. I'm glad she was so good for her first time on the eurociser.

Death Plague

I've been out sick the past week with the death plague.  I'm not one who usually gets super sick from a cold, but this one had me out for a solid week. 

Nurse Eddie reporting for duty

I dragged myself to work last Monday, took Tuesday off, did a half day on Wednesday and went in for a half hour on Thursday till my student worked heard me attempt to talk and ordered me home.  She said she'd come in and work for me on Friday and that I was to go home and go to sleep.  Which is what I did.  I didn't leave my house till Sunday.

I was even banned from the barn.  I'm on self care, so I'm supposed to clean my stall and feed Peebs dinner but my BO (who's like my second mom) told me not to worry and that she'd have a couple of the high school girls take care of Peebs for me.  They even held him for the farrier for me. I did make it out yesterday to clean my stall and play with Peebs. 

So of course today when I had to back to work, it started snowing.  Is winter over yet?!?

Second Best Decision of 2016

My best decision of 2016 was buying Peebs, obviously.  But my second best?  Buying studded snow tires for my truck.  For the past month we've been dealing with snow, ice, and days of below freezing temps.  While each individual storm hasn't been as bad as some in the past, added together this has to be one of the worst winters ever.  It's for sure the worst in the 12yrs that I've lived in Oregon.

So nice to have

My friend asked me a couple months ago if I was interested in buying a set of studded tires from him as he had gotten new wheels and his barley used winter tires wouldn't fit anymore.  I originally said no, but during our first ice/snow day when I almost didn't make it over the bridge on my way to work I changed my mind. I don't usually drive my truck to work, only in bad weather, because my little Scion is absolutely not meant for winter driving. But even with 4WD and weight in the bed of the truck, it was pretty hard getting up the incline of the bridge. I might have leaned forward and clucked at big blue. We were able to meet up later that day at the tire place and swapped everything out.

Poor big blue

Being a SoCal native, I had never seen snow, let alone driven in it till I moved to Oregon for college. While I've had to drive in it in the past, including the time my 50min commute to my last job turned into a 3hr ordeal getting home, I never thought studded tires would make that much of a difference.  I was wrong! I love having them, and I know this last month would have been a lot more challenging without them. But I still don't know how those of you in places that routinely get snow deal with this.  I'm ready to move back down south anytime now!

Should have gotten him drilled and tapped for studs as well so we could go for a walk down the road!

Life

Why does life get in the way of everything? I've been so overwhelmed for the past week it's ridiculous. Except for a snowy trail ride (my first ride in the snow!) I haven't been able to ride in over two weeks.  Come hell or high water I'm riding both Bud and McKenna today!

Last Wednesday I took a ride in the frozen, snow covered fields with a couple other boarders. It was in the mid twenties and I couldn't feel my nose, ears, or toes by the end of the ride but it was awesome.   We just walked around for about a half hour, and it was magical.  Like something out of a movie. 

What was once our summer gallop track between the pastures

That beautiful sunset wasn't heating anything up

It finally started thawing Friday and warmed up enough to start working the horses again.  I lunged both Buddy and McKenna and they were wild.  I had to work over the weekend and was only able to lung both of them Saturday and Sunday.  My plan was to ride at least one of the them yesterday, but my barn owners are gone, so between chores and helping with the 4H ride I lost all my time and motivation to ride. But tonight's the night, especially since I have a lesson on McKenna tomorrow!