friday foto finish (part v)

Work (+ play) trips took over my life a little bit last week, general sadness about my horse's latest ding reigned supreme the week prior, and the week before that.... Idk, who can remember that far back??

how now, brown uphill cow

Suffice it to say, tho, that over the past few weeks I've had all manner of random pictures collecting on my phone. Shots I'd like to share, little tidbits if you will, but that don't necessarily merit an entire dedicated post. Like. Uh. How my vet shot the above photo for Charlie's coggins and somehow managed to make him look more uphill than he's ever looked in his entire life. 

I'm sure it's some sort of optical illusion or black magic haha (or run of the mill sloping ground...), but I'll take it!!

our second-to-last evening hack of the season!!

Likewise, before Charlie decided to take his little splint-induced hiatus, we'd been doing a fair amount of hacking. I'm the kind of rider who drives into the barn giving myself little pep talks like, "C'mon Emma, sunset is at 6:30. Just knock the dust off that horse in like 5min, throw the tack on, and hit the trails while there's still light!"

Except.... 30min later I'm still mindlessly methodically meticulously swiping away at Charlie's fuzzy winter coat, scratching all his itchy spots, rubbing his ears, etc. So.... evening hacks are basically done for the season, esp now with the upcoming clock change. Sadness :(

ooooh it's an Austen! and a Bast!

The competition season is also rapidly coming to a close. Tho happily I was able to make it out for Austen's most recent schooling dressage show with Bast! This would have been the day before Charlie's last event of the season, so.... ya know.... a while back haha.

austen is trying to massage some sense into that noggin. it might have worked too!

It made for a busy day on my end since I had to hustle back to my own barn to walk my xc courses and then get Charlie ridden in preparation for our own event. It was totally worth it tho! I've only gotten to meet Bast in person a handful of times since Austen brought him home, but he's growing and maturing and settling so much, he's almost a different horse every time!

lyra: not impressed

What's not different, tho? The dogs haha. Esp Lyra. She is such an old world weary pro at these horse shows lol <3

meanwhile. charlie takes his lunch to go plz!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Charlie's leg does actually resemble a reasonably normal appendage again. This picture is old (but adorable so I'm posting it haha), but the leg basically looks the way it did pre-aggravation. The calcified bump from April is still there, but that's it.

evening hacks are out now, but weekends are fair game!

I'm hugely relieved, obviously, but still skeptical. Charlie's legs are so high mileage, so ..... not clean haha, that sometimes I can convince myself of anything when I assess them. And spending a week away from him only makes me want to second guess myself even more....

"Has that blood vessel always protruded so much?"   "Is this spot normally so squishy??"   "Did his fetlocks get even bigger or is that just my imagination?!?"

random rainbow bc why not, who doesn't need a rainbow every now and then

So idk. He felt surprisingly keen (in his own special quiet lethargic lumbering kind of way) for our 20min ride spent walking around the dressage ring on the buckle. Doing what I consider 'supervised wandering:' Testing the whoa and go and steering, pushing laterally to see what happens, encouraging a lighter front end with the occasional square turn.

it's hard to tell exactly what's happening here tho.... except there are dogs

But all the same, our season is over. There is nothing important on the calendar. And honestly I'm broker than a joke right now so even lessons are a stretch. All of which means: We'll ease back into it. I might have to get a little creative to keep us interested now that we're back to nighttime riding.... but it'll be fine.

oh yea, that's right. jump judgin. so so so much jump judging in my life lately.
also let it be known: Asterid and i are BFFs #4lyfe <3

As will surprise exactly nobody at this point, I've been otherwise filling my time by volunteering. Really I swear there was such careful planning that went into this too... For instance, the Stephen Bradley clinic that I entered (ya know, it was scheduled on the day when I discovered Charlie's fun new splint injury...) was to take place on Loch Moy's competition course.

drama of another flavor on my morning walks!

This meant that the standard cross country schooling passes I've been earning all season as a volunteer weren't valid for this -- a limitation I was not aware of previously. But volunteers at their last big recognized event of the year (which included their first annual BN3DE!!!!) would be granted the special passes that would cover the $75 schooling fee normally charged on top of the clinic lesson fee.

birds are cool, yo

Obvi, bc of aforementioned "broker than a joke" status, it seemed highly prudent to volunteer haha. I signed up to be xc warm up steward (my fave!) but ended up getting shuffled out on course as a jump judge bc they were short handed. A bit of a bummer, but at least Austen et al. kept me company after she finished her scribe shift!!

Obvi even more of a bummer was not even being able to ride in the clinic after all that anyway.... Ugh. I might just have to stop signing up for clinics with Charlie bc this whole "non refundable" business has really screwed me this year. Sigh.

coloring books are more fun when auntie em gives you a new design to color in

Life goes on tho, as always! The horse appears healthy and happy and fuzzy, so what more could I ask? Meanwhile, my niece and nephew apparently have not forgotten watching Charlie's and my last competition. Especially the, erm, gas powered stadium round haha. Suffice it to say: my nephew is officially a huge fan haha!

iz a work of art

I got to go trick or treating with them this week, and made sure to promise my nephew a suuuuuper fun video soon, full of all his favorite sound effects. Bc oh yea, the down time has also given me the perfect opportunity to get a head start on my annual "best of" and "blooper reel" compilation videos. It's gonna be a good one, toot toot!

You'll just have to wait for that, tho (unless I get impatient and upload early haha). In the meantime, Happy Friday, everyone! Hope you all have a great weekend too ;)