Today was marked by a horrible lesson in which I couldn’t canter at first and then when I did I was an arrhythmical bag of nerves.  Maybe noting it here will help my poor brain go from 150 mph to its usual 110, still pretty fast, but livable.

 

dagoba lavender blueberry

Originally uploaded by flippybits

A surprising mix of lavender and blueberry, with 59% cocoa content, which doesn’t seem quite enough. It seems a little floral — almost too floral at first — but it’s quite tasty. You just have to avoid thinking about soap. It would be great with a pot of English breakfast tea. Never quite got around to making tea as it was too easy to eat square by square, but maybe next time.

another view

IMG_0065

Originally uploaded by flippybits

Timmy has a hoof abcess, so the farrier fashioned an attractive slipper made of Vetwrap and duct tape. Hopefully, Timmy will be back in action next week after the abcess heals.

Finally, an easy way to add pics to the bloggie! Timmy usually looks quite a bit happpier.

But it seems to have screwed up the lovely formatting. Will look into this.

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Testing posting with the iphone. Could this be the year of blogging? Maybe.

Somehow updating the ol’ blog is right up there with keeping the area under the bed free of dust bunnies.

That said, we had a good lesson today, working on cantering a small vertical at a decent pace. Of course, I had to work on both him and me to get anything resembling a pace. Trotting to the jump and then having the horse heave himself over it is not fun. Or pretty.

I knew it was going to be a jumping day because the flatwork went way too quickly. We trotted and cantered with changes of direction, and then she set up jump poles to trot across and then canter over! I did a little deep breathing, but everything was ok. And then we did a cross-rail, trotting and jumping again.

Timmy is a superstar! He has slowed down a bit and seems calm and happy in his work!

Well, I haven’t been posting much because lessons have been going pretty well. Up until yesterday, that is. It’s been super cold so I’ve been a lesson-cancelling fool. But yesterday wasn’t bad, so I got to the barn, gave Timmy a quick turnout, and then tacked up. All systems go, or at least I thought.

He seemed a little off at the walk, worse at the trot. A little bit of a shuffle step in the corners and a tiny bit of head bob were the main symptoms. The weird part was that it was so intermittent. He’d be all right for 1/3 of the way around the arena and then do a little shuffle and bob. Debbie felt his legs, chest, neck, and shoulders and said that she thought it was probably his shoulders and that I should come back tomorrow (actually today) for some light walking and trotting. And that he was probably going to need some DMSO — ick, that stuff is nasty — to bring blood flow to his injured muscles.

This morning she put the DMSO on after I tacked up. He seemed much better in the arena, though we only walked and trotted for 10 minutes or so. He was a tiny bit fresh and spooked at some pigeon cooing or some normal barn noise, and took off for 1/2 of the arena. He might have done that twice — can’t really remember. But he is obviously feeling much better. More walking and trotting tomorrow, maybe some cantering.

I’m just relieved it isn’t more serious.

Had a lesson today on Timmy, and that went pretty well, considering I haven’t ridden for almost three weeks. Oh yeah, and the last time I rode Timmy, we drifted a little to the left, he tripped, and he went down. Not much to do when there’s no horse under you. Oh well, these things happen.

And then after that I spent a few days in NYC for work, we had a consultant in for almost an entire week, and then it was super busy at work. So there was a long time between today’s lesson and the last one. It doesn’t look like the weather is going to cooperate next week, either. Debbie, our fearless leader, is going to Las Vegas next week, so I’ll be hacking on my own, weather permitting.

Today, I was a little “loose up top,” so there was no jumping, just flatwork. Sort of disappointing and relieving at the same time. Going to the gym would help that. We’ll see if I can make it.

I guess there’s not much time for the knitting update other than to say I’m almost done with the blown-out elbows on Amy’s sweater.