2019 Year in Review

2019 - what to say about this year? I always get my hopes up about a new year and then my plans don't always align with what life throws at me.  2019 was a year of rebuilding and moving forward, after our crappy 2016-2017 and tentative "things might be ok" year in 2018.

In March, we spent 2 weeks in Hawaii and it was fantastic.  It was a big trip for us to celebrate our 20th anniversary (May 2019) and to celebrate the hubby's recovery from cancer in 2016.  Maui has kind of ruined every other beach vacation location - Cuba, the DR, Mexico?  Pffft. I'd rather save up and go to Maui.    We'll see if we ever get back there - the cost and the logistics of a trip like that are hard with the little farm of creatures that I seem to be collecting.

An attempt at an artsy photo.  West Maui

Then, also in March, I sprained my ankle.  Or so I thought. Turns out it was actually fractured.  Which explained why it hurt like hell for months. Ahem. Anyhoo, the lesson here is to trust your gut that something more is wrong and insist on an x-ray.

I spent a lot of time watching the horses from the window.  Fred and Copper had fun playing.

March through June were pretty quiet and low key, as I couldn't do much. I volunteered on the board for small show club and that slowly fell apart as no one would pull their weight. I resigned in September from that club and do not regret it one bit!

In June, I took Fred to a schooling show, but my leg wasn't up for the task. 

September was a bit melancholy - I had been pondering what to do with Spencer - retire him, sell him...?  A solution presented itself with a therapeutic riding center falling in love with him. He went to live there in September and is doing ok, by all reports I've been getting. I miss him a lot, but he is helping people that need it, so that makes it a bit easier.

Farewell,  for now.

In October, I got a new cat! Archie was about 7 months old when we got him and he is fitting in well.  He is super affectionate and playful and maybe a little bitey (!) and I'm so glad I got him.  Does anyone know the # of cats that make you a crazy cat lady? Asking for a friend... 

3+1 = numb legs... lol

Fred also had a rider up and was backed in October.  Things haven't progressed to far in his under saddle training due to life, but I'm hoping to pick up where we left off over the winter.

October was also the month of the new (used) truck and many, many purchases, including paying for a stud fee to breed my friend's mare!!!!!!!!!!!!!

November rolled around and I went to Disneyworld for a week with my Mom and cousin. We had fun, but the place was PACKED with people, so that made things a bit tough. I enjoyed a lot of snacks, bought silly hats and got to see a lot of giraffes, so that sort of made up for it.

December is usually pretty quiet in my world. Mostly because it is dark and cold and we are all just trying to survive the weather and the holidays. 

Snow and cold make for pretty sunrises

 Christmas is almost here, so I'm listening to my odd playlist and wrapping presents. I have to work over the holidays (not Xmas day and Boxing Day tho), but that is ok, since I had 2 big trips this year. 

eclectic Christmas playlist

I also take some time to start planning for the new year, without putting a lot of pressure on myself to drastically change things.  I have to say, I'm kind of excited for what 2020 will bring. My hubby and I are finally starting to feel like we have our lives back and my anxiety is slowly fading away.  I feel more like myself than I have since 2016 and that in itself is a very good thing.

Q3 Goals update

Today is my birthday as well as the end of Q3, so this post is actually timely.  ;-)

44 more candles today...

I didn't really set many goals this year so I was mostly winging it.  In July, I did a post where I outlined some plans for the rest of year.  I thought I'd do a little review and see if I can get things on track for Q4.  I think I'm going to try the "no zero days" concept for goals/life that L Williams posted about the other day. It really resonated with me.

Horses Q3
Fred:

You has fud?  Copper, probably.

• as my ankle allows, work 3-4 times/week - lunging, ground work, poles, maybe working towards being backed - I've just started working with him the past 2 weeks
• continue to get weight on him and develop some topline - Success! Lots and lots of hay is starting to work!
• find basic feed program that works without all kinds of supplements - Success! Hay, one type of grain and some oil seems to be doing the trick right now.
• ponder plans for 2020 for showing, etc. - Success?  Plans have been pondered, nothing decided.
• take baseline height/weight for kicks - Success - long story short, Fred is huge and likely still growing

Spencer: think of a solution - done - he is on trial at a therapeutic riding program. And the latest update is that he is amazing and didn't need any special training to do all the games and activities they do with the riders.  

Copper: kept his weight down and keep him healthy - No bueno.  He is a mega chonker.  Need to remedy this.

Barn/property Q3

• Try and maintain fences, lawns and gardens as best as possible with gimpy ankle.  I'm taking some pressure off myself on this one.  I'm just going to do the best I can as I feel able.   I'll give myself a moderate pass on this one - having a major drought for most of the summer prevented stuff from growing!
• do not purchase any new horse products - like mane conditioner, halters, brushes, combs, or even tack (unless urgently needed - like flyspray or medical items) - This is a pass if you don't count horse blankets and technically I won't have them in my grubby paws until Q4.
• try and use up current supply of "stuff" - this one is a bit vague and hard to measure. LOL
• sort winter/summer stuff in bins so I can actually find things when needed - Fail - I need to bump this to Q4
• clean and sell tack I'm not using - Success - I sold 3 saddles and bunch of other stuff. More needs to go though.

Personal Q3

• bank appt (this is low hanging fruit - it will give me something to check off!) - Done
• Start saving for a vet fund set aside $50/pay to start - Done
• dr's appt's (3 in July! yuck) to get back on track - Done - low hanging fruit.  Got the go-ahead to start walking/doing more with my ankle. 
• find some sort of exercise that is easy on the ankle -  FAIL.  Ugh.  Maybe Q4 will not be a wash here.
• work on ideas to help anxiety (kinda vague, I know!) - Moderate success here
• plan meals and try to limit eating out - Meh.  More to be done here for sure.

Work Q3

• listen to the radio in French - Fail - need to reassess this one
• read work-related news articles in French (fun topics like organized crime, terrorism, etc.  lol) - Success - we've had some big stories in the news lately, so lots of coverage to read in French. 

Well, that didn't go as planned...

Fred and I did make it to the show yesterday.

Fred and Bailey ready to go!

We managed to do our halter class, getting a 2nd out of 4. Halter does a grand and reserve champ as well, where the first and second place horses from all halter classes go in together. We did not do well there but that’s ok, I had a bigger problem.

Fred was having trouble standing still. We ended up a bit out of line...lol

Working on setting up his feet.

He was slightly distracted by the goings-on outside the ring, but it was ok.  He put his ears up and looked cute.


Not only was my ankle sore (really sick of talking about that!) but this last week I developed a cyst in my right knee joint (same side as the ankle) and it made it very painful to walk ( it is called a baker's cyst and there isn't much you can do about it - since it is internal to the joint - until it bursts and goes away!). I had to scratch my showmanship and in hand trail as I couldn’t jog my horse in the deep sand, let alone walk him much. 

Slightly discouraged, but still trying to smile.



Fred didn’t seem to mind. He was tucked into a nice stall with 2nd cut hay, lots of friends nearby and the best horse treats. :-)

The best treats! Locally made and apparently very tasty!

I, on the other hand, was more than a bit bummed out about the whole day.  I did have fun visiting with friends and enjoying the nice weather.  Fred was a champ and loaded no problem.  My friend's difficult to load horse is now walking right on the trailer.  I'm pretty pleased with that.  Somehow we seem to have got it through his thick skull that the trailer isn't so bad.  I hope that trend continues, so my friend can get out and show more. 

This year has been frustrating to say the least. I don't want to be negative, but I do want to keep this blog somewhat realistic with my struggles.  It seems my health is causing more problems than the horse, which I think is a first.  lol  I knew going in to this season that Fred wouldn't be very competitive as I haven't had the ability to work him and prep him as I normally would.  The outcome of this show is that I need to focus on me and getting myself feeling better physically and mentally.  Not any easy task, but definitely important.  I think that will be my 2019 Q3 and Q4 goals!

And I also realllly need to go through my show kit and sort out where all my stuff is. A few things were missing from my toolbox that would have come in handy.  We have a long weekend coming up this weekend (yeah Canada Day!) so my plan is to go through all of my stuff and get organized.

Roxie my feline supervisor is on the job!

So, all in all, the show was a bust. However, it did highlight some things to work on.  And I had some fun...sort of...in between bouts of pouting and grumbling.  lol

Anyone have any tips on mental preparedness and such for shows and goals and life?

Weekend wrap-up

This weekend extended into Monday, so I'm technically not late on writing about the weekend. And, hey, it's my blog, so I guess I can post this whenever I want.  lol

My weekend was one of those that I don't want to repeat too often.  I spent almost 4 hours helping a friend load her butthead of a horse (and another 2.5 hours today).  He isn't dangerous or afraid, just incredibly stubborn and difficult.  He doesn't give to pressure, but fights it.  Actually, in hindsight, that does make him dangerous...yikes.  Anyhoo, we have a system going with him so hopefully moving forward we can get him in in a reasonable time frame. I feel bad for my friend as she was hoping to show this summer, but (rightly so, imho) is nervous about getting him somewhere and then not being able to get him home.

Then, on Sunday, my yellow dog decided to give us a scare.  Labs are the worst for eating stuff they shouldn't - I'm sure most people know a story about a lab that ate something bad - and was either fine, or cost their owners thousands of dollars...Sophie stole my purse off the kitchen counter, rooted through it and ate and entire big package of tic tac gum.  Ugh.  Gum is bad for dogs due to the xylitol.  We found her 30 mins to an hour after she ate it and had started throwing up.  She was lethargic and had a really high heart rate.

Xylitol poisoning can cause blood glucose levels to spike and/or liver damage.  Not good.  We decided to take her to the vet to get checked out. We got lucky and found a new vet close by that was open on Sundays and didn't charge super high emergency fees.

They tested her blood right away and things were good.  They recommended keeping her overnight with IV fluids and monitoring.  I have to say this new clinic is great - the care and attention to details was simply amazing.  We got a call first thing this morning with an update. Her levels were fine this am as well and after one more test at noon, she would be ok to come home.

Heading home from the vet. Would totally eat more gum if she found it.

So, that was an expensive and stressful 24 hours. Luckily she seems to be fine and my emergency vet fund got a workout.

And since I stayed home today to deal with vet stuff, I was able to help my friend again with trailer loading.   After that fiasco sort of success, she rode Spencer for me and ponied Fred. And I took a picture.  Wow - am totally nailing this blogging stuff.  

Around and around.  Lots of trotting!  And it was a beautiful day!

Fred and Spencer were both great. Spencer was puffing a bit since he hasn't been worked in about 9 months.  Fred is a bit of a big slug - admittedly, it is a big red bus to get moving.  lol  

Oh, and the best weird news of the long weekend?  My doctor called with my x-ray results.  I did indeed fracture my fibula (outside leg bone) down near the ankle! F*** me!  It is showing as mostly healed now, but with a lot of swelling.  I have to see a sports medicine Dr next to see if there is anything else to be done with it, or if it will just take time.    I'm totally kicking myself for not getting an x-ray during the first week - damn you hindsight - but I trusted the ER doc that I saw and thought it was just a sprain.  Live and learn, folks. And trust your instincts if something doesn't feel right!

Temporarily sidelined

Usually on horse blogs, it is the horse that has sustained the injury.  This time, it's me!

Winter ice:1  Laura: 0

My horses are usually out 24/7, so I don't do a formal night check.  Whoever takes the dogs out for a last pee break usually does a quick eyeball to make sure the horses are ok.

Lately Fred has been pulling apart my electric fence. The fence is off, since all of the deep snow has shorted it.  He wrecked one section that separated the minis summer paddock and I had to just do some makeshift work to make it sort of safe.

Saturday night I was worried that he was tangled up in the fence - I went out at around 9:30 to check on him.  He was fine.  I was walking on a section of the laneway that I don't normally walk on and it was sheer ice.

One second I was fine, the next I heard a loud pop/crack and I was on my butt.  It took a few seconds to process things - I was sure I had broken my ankle!

I managed to hobble back to the house and get the hubby.  We went to our local ER and the Dr. thought it was just a sprain.  It is likely a grade 2 or 3 sprain, with partial or complete tearing of the ligament.

F**k, damn, sh*t, f**k, me probably.

I've been icing, compressing and elevating and I am just able to bear some weight on it as of today.  Yikes.  What crappy timing - I was just about to start working Fred and get my barn spring cleaned!  I guess it will all have to wait a week or two!

In the grand scheme of things, a sprained ankle is not that serious of an injury, so I'm grateful it isn't broken.  Although, Dr. Google tells me that serious sprains can take anywhere from 8-12 weeks to heal.  Fun.  My right ankle is always weak and I think this sprain will make it even worse.  Off to shop for ankle braces - maybe BoT makes one for people?