A good day

My father has been my kid-sitter when I go riding.  Last night when I called him up to ask him to watch the kids today, he asked if he could come along.  Hell yeah, I said.  My dad basically grew up on the back of a horse.  He and his father went out and rode everyday tending (someone else's) cattle.  They also participated in local shows.  My dad has tons of horse (and cow and grandfather) stories and I used to love to hear them. 

So, today, I picked up my dad at 12:30 to head out to the stables.  I got the kids set up on the gazebo with the iPad and my laptop, and we went to meet Marie.  We bathed her sorrel gelding - she wasn't kidding, he has some serious nastiness going on. 

Poor guy.  He has spots up his neck, face, ears, and flanks too, but his chest is the worst.  He has rubbed his mane and half of his tail out.  We washed Bounce (love his name) with a medicated shampoo. 

I'z so pitifulz. I can haz more treatz?

 

We squeegeed him off and walked him around until he dried, then Marie put some medicine on all of his boo-boos.  Poor Bounce is California-bred, and lived in Arizona most of his life...and he seems to be allergic to Florida.  With treatment, he's getting better- hopefully enough to stay with Marie here in FL.  When he was done, he got put back in his stall - which he hated.  He's used to being out on pasture, but Marie's hoping that keeping him out of the rain will help his skin. 

 

Then it was stand around and wait for the vet time.  So, we scritched horses and swept the barn isle.  Marie had an older lady show up that wanted to talk lessons (she had talked to her earlier in the day, but the lady had said that it was too long of a drive...then she drove) for her grand-daughters.  We met the owner of the stables.  And I met an adorable QH (I believe) mare.  She was standing in her stall with her muzzle in the grain bucket - waiting for dinner.  So, I started rubbing and scratching.  She wanted her ears rubbed, so we did a lot of that.  Then Marie walked over and said since she's been at Schalamar Creek (1.5 years) the owner of this horse had not come to the stables once.  She lives 4 days a week in her stall, 3 days on pasture and has her feet trimmed a few times a year - that's it.  There could be a number of reasons for this situation but it made me sad for this mare.  There are horses that don't really care for people but this little mare enjoyed the attention. So...I did something a bit foolish.  I asked Marie to try to get in touch with the owner to ask if I could groom and work with the horse - as long as she's sound and sane.  We'll see if anything comes of it. 

 

And...we're still waiting for the vet to show up to do Confetti's teeth (love his name too!).  So, Marie asks me if I want to take Eclipse for a spin.  I told her I didn't have my helmet because I wasn't planning on riding - so she let me borrow one of hers.  Yay! 

 

Eclipse was a total mud-ball today - there were even chunks stuck in his mane.  It took me quite a while to get him groomed.  Finally, we were ready.  I haven't ridden Eclipse in a couple of weeks (have ridden Dixie the last two lessons), so I was excited - I just really like this horse.  The stirrups were a bit too short, but it was hot, so I dealt with it.  My dad took a couple of pictures with my phone from across the arena, so forgive the blurriness.

 

Not too shabby. 

 

Leaning?  Check *sigh*

 

 

And finally, the cheese shot.

 



 

 

I kept it short - it was incredibly hot and there was no shade in the arena.  Besides that, Charmont was flipping his lid that his bestie was missing.  He was actually doing sliding stops up to the fence.  Eclipse couldn't have cared less.  I stopped and got everyone a zebra cone on the way home - the kids were fabulous.  They even admitted that riding looked like fun, and K wanted to pet Eclipse's nose afterwards.  Yep, it was a good day.