seis de mayo

How on earth is it May already??? Time is absolutely flying by right now, and Ms Mondeuse is officially 7 today! Hard to believe, considering she still acts like the silly 5yo I brought home more than a year and a half ago lol…

the handsomest mare <3

With life outside of horses quieting down a little bit again, I’ve been able to enjoy more quality time with the princess herself. 

her coat is looking so good — will this be the year i finally beat the skin funk??

Which… was definitely timely, since Ms Thing was getting a little wild with no routine and a new pasture / friend group. Well. Not a *new* friend group — just a subset of the ponies she spent the winter with, as they got divvied up according to their grass sensitivities. 

looking innocent lol

Interestingly, there are very very few TBs at this new barn, compared to the last place where TBs were the norm vs the exception. So a lot of the paddocks are managed with fat ponies in mind vs skinny fruit loops lol, but so far Doozy has continued to hold her condition quite nicely.

omg the controversy of … saddle pads drying in the sunlight

Anyway. It’s been nice getting back to a routine. Especially with feeling more hopeful again with the addition of Equioxx to Doozy’s diet. 

such a pretty time of year in the woods

It’s still probably too early to tell if it’s making a difference, but ya know. That’s never stopped me from hoping before haha. 

ferns are starting to come back in again

And besides, we’ve mostly just been putzing around anyway — like with little walkies around the fields and woods <3

good mare <3

Tho you know me, I’m not immune from occasionally indulging when temptations present themselves lol…. Like this past weekend after the mare had seemed sound for a few rides in a row, and there were a couple very inviting jumps and ground poles set up…

omg we tested the waters again!!

Obvi we didn’t do anything crazy, but I figured we’d pop over a couple more or less just to see if she’d be sound or lame again the next day. 

just a little bit of play… we’ll see what happens

And ugh, this horse is just so fun to jump — she was aces at all the canter poles and handled the two 2’3 jumps we did (the vertical in the above pic and the earlier swedish oxer) quite neatly. 

getting some much-needed rain this week too

And even better — she was still sound for our schooling session the next day too!! Yay!! Again, probably too soon to tell if it’s a durable soundness or not, but we’ll see.

happy birthday, lady

It’d be a big weight off my mind if the Equioxx is enough to keep her comfortable. Tho obvi we’ll keep investigating other options (like potential shoeing changes?) as needed.

here’s hoping for many happy returns!

For now, tho, it’s enough. Mare is lookin good and feelin fine on her birthday — what more could ya ask for?