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May. 24th, 2009 08:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickSummertime is here and with it, less frequent updates. One of the things that is taking up my time is the elderly heave-y pony, who needs to be dosed with her anti-histamine stuff every day. It's cutting into my riding time (*sigh*) and also into my updating LJ time.
There were Huevos at La's house for breakfast, the which I had. I did not remember to bring a can of kidney beans for fake-o refried beans so instead we used white beans (italian ones, name ended in -ini) mashed up instead. That worked out better than I thought it would.
I also went out and did the elderly, heave-y horse and also the Ungrateful Babies (Peake and Te, from last year. They're yearlings now.) who get 3/4 of a can of grain apiece and take freaking forever to eat it because they are babies and wander around and lose interest and so forth. They come to the fence when I whistle and holler "Ungrateful Babies". It's hysterical, or maybe I'm just easily amused. To be honest, the Ungrateful Babies would probably do just fine on pasture but they get grain too because it's depressing to just feed grain to something that doesn't gain weight. Meatly does not gain weight. She holds her ground but that's all she's going to do until pollen season is over. (Another two weeks, I think.) The UBs are gaining weight fast. They're soon going to have to be rationed back to less than half a can each -- I don't like too much extra weight on yearlings. Also, it gets them out of the field every day for handling (physical handling, grooming, messing with feet, leading around, etc.) which they need. They catch and lead and tie and stuff, but they just have baby skill levels. They need to improve to "real horse" levels and that happens through practice.
Following that, I gathered up the kid and we went to lesson with Kat. Trys didn't go b/c she hadn't gotten home from being out with Joey the night before. The kid rode Dizzy. I rode Hoshi, whom I usually ride down there. Hoshi bucked when I asked him to steer at the canter. (I do not come off when Hoshi bucks. He is not a very good bucker.) Kat mentioned that here directly I'm going to progress beyond Hoshi and will need to be moved to another horse. (I don't have a problem with whatever she wants me to ride... I don't have to love them to learn from being on them.) That was kind of neat to hear, but progress still feels glacial to me. I'm probably just impatient. I did get Hoshi to go into his corners to the left today, which is an ongoing struggle. (Note to self: check left shoulder. Is it back? If not, fix. Horse will bend.) The kid needs to work on steering with her legs and on not flopping her hands about like they are dying fish.
I eventually got home (while running alcohol across state lines) and then did outside-the-house work in preparation for the Visit of Chez NYR, which will be happening next weekend on Saturday evening and Sunday morning. I mowed the lawn yesterday and today I weeded and straightened up. The woodpile (executive decision) will not all be stacked. It'll just be in a big heap in the middle of the yard. I'm okay with that, really. At least now you can see the flowers and stuff. I need to pick up some hot peppers (I did four of each last year and that worked out well) and get those in the ground now that we're almost to the frost-free date. I also need some dead carpet for mulching the blueberry bushes. I've made a note.
There were Huevos at La's house for breakfast, the which I had. I did not remember to bring a can of kidney beans for fake-o refried beans so instead we used white beans (italian ones, name ended in -ini) mashed up instead. That worked out better than I thought it would.
I also went out and did the elderly, heave-y horse and also the Ungrateful Babies (Peake and Te, from last year. They're yearlings now.) who get 3/4 of a can of grain apiece and take freaking forever to eat it because they are babies and wander around and lose interest and so forth. They come to the fence when I whistle and holler "Ungrateful Babies". It's hysterical, or maybe I'm just easily amused. To be honest, the Ungrateful Babies would probably do just fine on pasture but they get grain too because it's depressing to just feed grain to something that doesn't gain weight. Meatly does not gain weight. She holds her ground but that's all she's going to do until pollen season is over. (Another two weeks, I think.) The UBs are gaining weight fast. They're soon going to have to be rationed back to less than half a can each -- I don't like too much extra weight on yearlings. Also, it gets them out of the field every day for handling (physical handling, grooming, messing with feet, leading around, etc.) which they need. They catch and lead and tie and stuff, but they just have baby skill levels. They need to improve to "real horse" levels and that happens through practice.
Following that, I gathered up the kid and we went to lesson with Kat. Trys didn't go b/c she hadn't gotten home from being out with Joey the night before. The kid rode Dizzy. I rode Hoshi, whom I usually ride down there. Hoshi bucked when I asked him to steer at the canter. (I do not come off when Hoshi bucks. He is not a very good bucker.) Kat mentioned that here directly I'm going to progress beyond Hoshi and will need to be moved to another horse. (I don't have a problem with whatever she wants me to ride... I don't have to love them to learn from being on them.) That was kind of neat to hear, but progress still feels glacial to me. I'm probably just impatient. I did get Hoshi to go into his corners to the left today, which is an ongoing struggle. (Note to self: check left shoulder. Is it back? If not, fix. Horse will bend.) The kid needs to work on steering with her legs and on not flopping her hands about like they are dying fish.
I eventually got home (while running alcohol across state lines) and then did outside-the-house work in preparation for the Visit of Chez NYR, which will be happening next weekend on Saturday evening and Sunday morning. I mowed the lawn yesterday and today I weeded and straightened up. The woodpile (executive decision) will not all be stacked. It'll just be in a big heap in the middle of the yard. I'm okay with that, really. At least now you can see the flowers and stuff. I need to pick up some hot peppers (I did four of each last year and that worked out well) and get those in the ground now that we're almost to the frost-free date. I also need some dead carpet for mulching the blueberry bushes. I've made a note.
