When life throws lemon fastballs at you...

YIKES. This week. Ugh.

At least the pony is happy!

So let's play catch-up:

Beauty is settling in very well, she was moved out of the quarantine paddock early because she was pacing and having tantrums about being alone, so now she is out with a group of five other mares in a gorgeous pasture. The mares gave her a pretty good beating the first few days, but now they have settled their differences and at least tolerate each other's presence.

Battle scars

Spa treatment (in the quarantine paddock)

I was mostly lunging her for the first week or so (partly because I didn't have my saddle - my mother brought it down a week later) and got to ride her four whopping times before everything went to hell. She was excellent, of course! She even gave pony rides to my friends who came out last weekend. She was having issues with canter (when isn't she??) but I think most of it is because she isn't used to the footing - it is MUCH softer than she is used to and not kept in the best shape.

Things are so exciting! How can focus?

But then I got sick and felt like a train had hit me, so I took a day off from the barn and when I went out to ride, despite feeling like a giant blob of mucus and sick, she had a lovely cut on her leg. The cut itself isn't too bad, but when I cleaned it and put ointment on it, she was very touchy and it looked swollen, so I gave her the day off. I've been cleaning it and ointmenting it, but it is not improving. The barn manager isn't concerned, and I don't think it is anything that requires a vet, but I'm going to play it safe and give her some time off. I tried to lunge her today to see how she felt and she gave me grumpy faces and her stride was short behind, so I gave up and let her graze while I pampered her.

Can't really see how swollen it is from this pic...

Then last night, the barn manager texted me that I was almost out of grain (they only provide sweet feed which my fatty mc-easy-keeper CAN'T be on, so I have to provide my own grain). Okay, except that no where down here sells the brand of grain that I brought from home, and I was not given much time to find another one to transition her to!! So I freaked out, was up late researching feeds/feedstores and took a 45 minute drive to a feed store to find out that they didn't have what I drove so far to get! AUGH! The lady recommended another kind, but I was skeptical and called my instructor from home, who then complicated things by having me ask the lady to look up the ratios of various brands and types, until we found the right balance. The lady was peeved and it took forever, but I walked away with Purina Ultium, which I am pleased about.

Barn cats love to sit on the horses! Beauty doesn't mind.

All in all, crazy week, hopefully it starts looking up for us!