Slacking Again ....

Sorry guys, I know I have been quite the slacker with posting lately. I have just been super busy with school, the pony, and freelance work, etc.

Ok so let's start with the most important topic the pony. Well yesterday the princess pony cut her leg. I don't know how she did it, it happened in the field at some point yesterday. Anyway the cut was not deep at all it was just long and the leg was swollen. So of course she was off and quite stiff since it is the leg she already has a touch of arthritis in because of an old injury. After walking, cold hosing, betadine, furazone, and a little bute she was much better today. The swelling is gone and she was running around her field bucking like a bronco. I rode her, but we kept it at 20 minutes or walk, trot to help circulation flow, unstick her, etc.

On Tuesday we went barrel racing. Now that we figured out the key to her turns I was looking forward to trying it out. My friend K rode her in the barrels as well since at the last minute she was unable to bring her pony. She ended up getting a better time than me at a 19.2. I got a 19.7, but I also slowed her down more than necessary to ensure tight turns since the last few times her turns were half the ring. Anyway I also rode my dash the opposite direction that I usually do, to the right rather than the left. Her turn was good and we got an 8.7. Our poles ended up being our best event of the night. We had our fastest run yet with a 25.9!!! Unfortunately we knocked our last pole which gave us a 5 second penalty. Obviously I was disappointed at the knock but I was absolutely thrilled with our time. We used to get 30s then the last couple weeks we had been getting 27s so a 25.9 was awesome not just for us but in general!

Last Friday we went team penning with our dream team partner who I call Sunshine but also known as our barn owner D. Anyway we had pretty good runs. Two in the 30s and a 23 then one we didn't get the cow because he was a little butt but then we almost got him and I admit it was my fault he got away. But that's okay we still had a good night. I did one run with our friend DNs friend J and we were set up for a perfect run. They called our cow and all the other cows ran left but ours stayed right in the middle. We began to run him down and he cut left and no matter how many times we got him and began to run him he would get away at the last second. He was a nasty little bugger. He wasn't afraid of the horses. Satin bit him and he just tried to kick her. Then my partner's horse almost jumped on him and he didn't give a second glance. It was the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. But like my other friend DR said we took one for the team because now no one else would have that cow.

In other news I went upstate to J's last weekend. They had a clinician coming to her neighbor's farm and she invited me to come ride Flo in one of the spots she had reserved. Saturday I just watched the clinic and Sarah who rides Flo for Jill did the clinic. I did ride Max around for a while though and did some ring work with him. I spent Saturday night visiting my friend's that go to college up there for Halloween. Then Sunday it was my turn to ride. Flo was very good though a bit quick at the canter. I got some good tips and overall it was a good experience (though I still think my trainer R could teach circles around this guy :) ).

School has been busy, busy. I had midterms and papers and all kinds of fun stuff keeping me up to all hours. I took my last midterm today thank God.

I also had two freelance projects I was working on. Both were due last weekend. One was an article about trail riding in Allaire for the Paint Horse Journal and the other was about the SPHO-NJ and the race world supporting them for Hoofbeats. Fingers crossed the Hoofbeats editor likes it and decides to publish it. They were both really fun to work on. As I told you I enjoyed riding in Allaire. As far as the Hoofbeats article I learned some things and talked to some interesting people. I got to talk to Dr. Patty Hogan one of the leading equine surgeons on the phone and she had some great things to say. She gave me phenomenal quotes and I would love to get to do an article just on her. Scratch that she needs her own book!