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Confession Time

870K views 13K replies 218 participants last post by  jaydee 
#1 ·
Today I rode my horse for the first time in a little over a year. Well, more like putting around for about 15 minutes but better than I had been doing. I'm trying to find my "want to" again. I don't know where or why it went away but I'd like it back.

The good news is TJ deserves a gold medal for not forgetting his manners in the past year and I wasn't rusty enough to fall off even though I was bareback. :clap: The bad news is I WAS rusty enough that it put my hip in a bind that took a while to walk off. (I need a smiley that shows a little old woman walking with a cane LOL)

If anybody else has something they need to get off their chest please feel free to share it here.
 
#9,005 ·
@Change LOL ouch! If I could of made it to Krogers for gas I prob would of had $0.20 or so off per gallon :( Oh well! Im just happy gas isn't $4 a gallon right now, then I'd be crying a bit!

Its not a beautiful sunny day here but I am off work so I'm thinking of ignoring my back pain (just had xrays done should know more Wednesday) and getting both horses out.
 
#9,006 ·
@PoptartShop- Camden is so beautiful! Are you going to see about adopting him if he's available?


Beautiful horse @evilamc!




I confess poor baby pig is very sick! :( Not sure what the problem is, but he's very lethargic. He's been drinking his bottle and I have him in a sling on me to stay warm, so hopefully he pulls out of this fast!
 
#9,008 ·
@GMA100 I hope he gets better! Any other symptoms other than lethargic? Have you taken his temp? Normal poops and pee? My first thought would be pneumonia if there's only the listlessness and probably fever. Second would be something wrong with his digestive track if he's having diarrhea. Those are about the 2 main things to go wrong with baby animals. Sometimes the runt doesn't have a fully developed system. I'm pulling for him. I have a soft spot for runts of the litter.
 
#9,009 ·
@evilamc - Jax would go well with Dewey and M&M (who, BTW has been renamed by my granddaughter: M&M = Emnem = Rapper).
@Cherrij - Grand is simply stunning no matter what! And he seems like a really calm, smart boyo. You are very lucky! <3 <3
@GMA100 - I sure hope little Mr. Piggo gets to feeling better!
 
#9,010 ·
@Change - he has changed a lot since he moved there. I guess the different environment and herd situation has gotten him to rethink his life too.

He used to be the most dominant gelding in our situation (at most we had 5 horses, 3 mares, him and a very passive gelding), and now there are at least 2 more dominant geldings who watch over the herd, and a very clear alpha mare - so Grand actually seems to be enjoying the life at the low end of the herd, relaxing and not stressing about everything.

The year and a half old gelding, that moved there a week before us, has an abscess now, so is very very lame, and was sleeping in one of the hay spots on sunday, apparently Grand walked over to him, nudged him with his nose and turned to stand close by and watch over him. I got a picture too, and it is just the sweetest thing!

And yes, I admit that I am very lucky with this horse. He is calm, smart, sweet and attentive, but also quite agile and reactive, so it is not boring with him :)
 
#9,011 ·
Well, baby pig died in the night :( I'm pretty sure he had pneumonia, he had a hard time breathing as the night went on and started coughing. Something wasn't right with him the whole time and I never thought he would have made it more than several hours after he was born.
 
#9,012 ·
@evilamc your horses are so beautiful! :D I love all those colors on her!! :)
OMG that is a lot of money to fill that up! LOL, 34 gallons sheesh! Hopefully it lasts you awhile! :lol: Take it easy with your back today, I'm sure you want to go for a ride though! :)
@GMA100 I'm so sorry about the piggy. :sad: Poor baby, may he rest peacefully. :( Awww. You were there for him the whole time though, and he did not suffer long at least. <3
I am definitely considering adopting him once he's available, she knows I really like him so hopefully she will save him for me. LOL. I am so excited to keep working with him. :D
@Change same, stuck at work! Grrr! One day closer to Friday, right???

I confess, my eyes got worse. LOL. I figured, but I did get some cute new glasses so that's good. I also got 9mos worth of contacts, it's safe to say I won't need any for awhile. :lol:
My eyes got dilated, it felt so weird! But then afterwards I just went home & relaxed. It was a super easy Monday. I was gonna go back to work afterwards, but no point since it was almost 4:30 by the time I got home anyway.

I confess also, I had red wine last night & I was upset because it made my face flush red & breakout...whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Usually doesn't happen! Grrr. Red wine is my favorite. :(
 
#9,013 ·
@PoptartShop Wellll a full tank usually gets me about 300-400 miles, depending on how much I'm towing. I only get about 8.5-10mpg when I tow sadly. Since I work from home though, if I don't get out to many rides then a tank can sometimes last me 3 weeks to a month! I almost always just leave my trailer hooked to my truck then drive my husbands little CX-5 around for errands. Ugh I HATE when they dilate my eyes!! Yay for new glasses and contacts though :) When I get eye exams I always make them give me my prescription then I buy my glasses online. They always want to charge a fortune for them at the dr! I've never got into wearing contacts though. Thats no fun that the red wine made you break out :( Maybe that bottle has a different ingredient in it then the other brands/types you usually buy?
@Change Ask me on a bad day and you can have him to join your guys ;) Hes a little turd sometimes...but I guess hes MY little turd.
@GMA100 I'm so sorry about the baby pig! At least hes out of pain now :( Was he a runt or something?
 
#9,014 ·
@TuyaGirl that sounds really scary. I’m glad you had someone around to help you. I know what you mean about horses and climbing walls. My experience was with a mare who constantly attacked my gelding over the low wall and partial wood barrier between the stables. The wall was a lot lower than the one in your photo. She was around 17 hands so when she reared to get at him her chest was high enough that she was close to the top of the wall and wood. In the process she damaged the wood barrier. I was on my own at the time and had to use a lunging whip to chase her back off the wall. I don’t think her owner was very happy with me but her horse was at risk and I was fed-up with toby being harassed. She got moved to another stable so everyone was happy.

@Change I’ve ridden Highlands like that. No withers and well-padded, although not considered overweight. The last one was a friend’s horse and the saddle would slip forward or over to the side. There was nothing to anchor it. I ended up riding her bareback after it slipped going downhill; my friend got a saddle made especially for the flat backed ‘Mountain and Moorland’ shape. I think it was a lot wider through the gullet and had wider weight bearing areas, amongst other things. We tend towards general purpose saddles so an endurance one probably wouldn’t be considered unless it was for the sport.

@Cherrij Grand sounds like a horse in a million

@GMA100 Sorry to read about the little pig

@PoptartShop I’ve never had my eyes dilated but my parents have and they say it can be sore. I’ll need to visit for a check-up soon as well as my eyesight has changed over the last six months, I’ve realised that I’m having to lift my reading glasses to read while I’m blurry close-up and at distances. I think sitting looking at a computer all day has a lot to do with my bad eyesight.
 
#9,015 ·
@GMA100 I am so sorry about your pig. I know what it is with getting attached to leppies. We must be glutton for punishment because it seems the more unhealthy they are the more attached we get (probably because of the time and effort, but still...).
 
#9,016 ·
Whoops, I'm way behind again!
@ShirtHotTeez, I hope you're feeling better! A good cry helps a lot!
@GMA100, haha. Today might finally be a calm day! But Friday was brutal (which is why I wasn't online) and yesterday wasn't so nice either. Today is MUCH slower, whew. I'm sorry to hear about the piglet :( *hugs*
@Zexious, fair enough! I hope it's good! And it was a good weekend, thank you!
@twixy79, so many beautiful pictures! I hope Duke settles and they become best buds!
@Change, M&M is so cute! He looks like he'd be a comfy ride! What exactly is he? He looks like just what Nick is wanting :lol:
@JCnGrace, yay for feeding! But definitely still take it easy! I hear ya though. I HATE housework! MUCH rather do barn work!
@TuyaGirl, he really is! To be fair, when Izzie isn't home, his toy will be parked in there. Izzie will only be home for rest periods and nights before or after shows. It won't be her permanent stall (no matter how badly I know I'll want it to be). But it'll be nice nonetheless. And he's making it look horsey for me :lol: and yeah, that was NOT fun!

UGH about your weekend though!! I don't think studs should be next to mares. At shows stalls are left empty behind stallions on purpose, and only geldings or tack stalls next to them. Well, typically. How scary though!! I'm glad you weren't alone!
@Cherrij, looks like you had fun! Glad Grand enjoys his new, lower position!
@PoptartShop, yay for riding! I'm glad you had fun! Camden is SO cute! I do hope one day you can own him! UGH about eyes though. I need to go soon too. Ugh. Mine don't normally change much, but Nick ruined my current frames :sad: so I need to get my eyes rechecked and get new ones. I'm way overdue anyway... sorry about the wine. Perhaps you need to switch brands?
@evilamc, you'd give me ulcers riding with you :lol: I fill up often haha!

My parents came into town and we had a great time! Mom and I went to see Bad Mom's 2 :lol: it was hilarious! But overall, we did nothing haha!

Sunday I helped Nick work on the stall some more. It's coming along! Should have the roof on it tonight, woo! Super excited!

Couple of pictures to show the progress made :)



 
#9,017 ·
Thanks guys. He was the first one born and wasn't smaller than the others, so I don't think you could call him the runt.......And I get crazy attached to the sick animals! I guess because it always falls on me to take care of them. I always lose sleep and time over all the sick babies and 99.9% of the time they die, so I don't know why I keep on trying! This is my 2nd bottle piggy to die in the past two years, and Lord knows I have tons of calves to take care of! I'm pretty used to it and some may say I have a hard heart because I'm just upset with myself for not pulling him through! The thought of the piggy dying doesn't really bother me. I know, I'm weird!


I hope you can adopt Camden @PoptartShop! He's so cute!


The pen looks like it's coming along nicely @Tazzie!
 
#9,018 ·
@evilamc - you can keep Jax. ;-) I was just suggesting we get the three matched paints together for a ride! LOL. Or train them up as a 3-wide team? Is Jax gaited?

Wow! My truck gets about 600 miles per tank (16 mpg) when not hauling. Pulling the 6 horse home (40 miles?), and the 2 horse to get M&M (30 miles each way), my mileage dropped to just under 15 - and both are steel trailers. M&M goes to the vet on Monday, so that'll be another 60+ mile haul in the small trailer. What are you driving? Mine is a 2011 F350 4x4 with the 6.7L.
@GMA100 - I couldn't like your post. So sorry little Mr. Piggo didn't make it. Poor thing.
 
#9,020 ·
@Change LOL ok fine I'll settle for a ride! Both my horses are gaited! They're TWH :) Sadly my truck is just an F150 so its not GREAT for towing :( Without hauling I can get 550-600 miles to a tank though. When not hauling I cang et 16-21mpg! I really want to trade it in for a diesel, just waiting to make sure business stays strong through the winter. Dog grooming usually slows down for a few months after the holidays, I don't want to get myself a nice big truck payment then be SLOW! I'm hoping to have most of my debt paid off by Feb/March and then go truck shopping. My F150 is paid off, and only a 2010 so I should be able to still get a decent amount for it when I sell it. Its a 2010 4x4 f150 with the 5.4L :( Its all I could afford when I lived in the city...Its served its purpose well but I'm quite looking forward to upgrading. Sad part is this truck has me completely spoiled because its a Lariat...heated and cooled seats...just all the bells and whistles. I don't think I can downgrade from that!
 
#9,021 ·
@Tazzie, the stall looks like it is coming along really nicely! It's kind of fun to track projects like that, and then when it is over you can see how much work you put in to it. We built a huge horse shelter a couple summers ago and every time I look at it I think of all the hard work - it was totally worth it.

I'm having a hard time doing the conversion in my head, but I paid about $120 for a fill on my truck. I have a diesel and get about 800-900km to a tank depending on if I'm towing the trailer. @evilamc, I was in your position. I had a fully loaded 1500 Dodge Laramie and I opted to upgrade to diesel. Well, no WAY can I afford a 3/4 ton or 1 ton diesel fully loaded. So I had to downgrade and lost most of my options. Honestly, I don't really miss most of them. The leather seats were harder to sit on and I don't miss the sun roof as much as I thought. The only thing I REALLY miss is the heated steering wheel!
@TuyaGirl, that sounds really scary about the stallion climbing the walls. We never had any hard/fast rules at the race horse barn, but normally most of the intact boys were kept away from the ladies.
@Change, M&M is super cute!!! How long will you have him for? Will you be selling him for your friend? He sounds like he is built just like my Amber!
@GMA100, sorry to hear about the piglet. I have tried to nurse sick animals back and have found that most of them die on me too. It makes me sad, but that is life I suppose?

My weekend was pretty low key. I had lesson with Amber on Sunday and it went OK. I did canter her under saddle for the first time which was fun. I've actually joined a dressage club with her and it starts this coming weekend. Hoping it goes smoothly - she is still very, very green so we'll see how this goes. It is just walk/trot so shouldn't be super hard on her - but it is a group lesson which we have never done before. If nothing else it will be good for her to be exposed to this stuff.
 
#9,022 ·
@evilamc and @cbar - I got real lucky with this truck. Great price and all the bells and whistles. Backup assist, sunroof, nav, heated/cooled seats, individual heating control, etc. It's a 4 door fleet-side long bed! We barely noticed any change when hauling the 40' trailer - I had to keep reminding myself to watch the wheels on turns! LOL! I didn't want payments, so I pulled from my retirement account to pay for it in full. The plan is that this will be the last truck I buy. I'm truck poor. I also have a F250 4x4 gas-eater that my live-in (youngest) son drives - thankfully it doesn't get too many miles put on it. And I have a F150 (my old truck) which will probably go to my granddaughter. I also, technically, own my oldest son's Chevy 1500. I took out the loan, but he makes the payments. I've told him if he misses one, I'll trade it in for a cheapo used vehicle they can drive.
@cbar - I don't plan to keep M&M for too long. Just long enough to ensure he hasn't lost his marbles and do any touch up on his training and get him into better shape. The goal is to sell him since he isn't being used and really needs a job. So far he's been a real sweetheart and done, or at least tried to do, everything I ask. He's also talkative. He lets me know (around dawn) that he's ready for breakfast, and he talks to the other horses (across the drive) at least once every hour. If I walk outside, he greets me. He's got a really deep and throaty whinny.
 
#9,023 ·
@cbar - I think joining a Dressage club will be great, especially since she's green. It will expose her to more, and will probably help solidify progress you make, as you make it c:! Let us know how it goes!
@GMA100 - Sorry about your piggy; something like that would break my heart, no matter how many times I went through it.
@Tazzie - Wowee! I can't believe how quickly you're making progress! It looks great so far! Thank you for including us in the progress!

I made it through "Thanksgiving" in one piece! I was even included in the "immediately family picture"! I couldn't believe it; I mean, we have been together almost five years now, so part of me would say that it's time. But the other part of me knows that it took years for Tristan's brother's wife to be included in the shot, and this was my first holiday with them. It's an accomplishment, regardless!
What do you all serve for Thanksgiving? I felt like their 'spread' was a little atypical, but then I've realized my scope is probably somewhat limited, so I'm curious!
 
#9,024 ·
@GMA100, it is! My husband is EXTREMELY talented! I had no idea when we were dating just how crafty he is!

And I'm sorry you've lost a lot of animals :sad: but at least they know love and kindness before passing.
@cbar, yes! I look at it and go "wow, we're building that." To be fair, Nick has done the brunt of it. I've mostly just handed him stuff and held things in place. He's rather stubborn when it comes to this kind of thing. Though surprisingly, when I help, I don't get yelled at :lol: guess he just appreciates me being there!

Woohoo about cantering! And that Dressage group sounds AWESOME!! Have fun!!!
@Zexious, I know! I'm loving it! and haha you're welcome! I'm not even sharing it on Facebook!!

As far as a spread, it's typically turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, some kind of cranberry thing, rolls, etc. We have mac n cheese since that's about all my brother in law likes (and I thought I was picky...). And sometimes cauliflower (my favorite lol). We've also had ham. Then my aunt just basically orders whatever she feels like haha! She caters events as she doesn't like to cook.


And oh guys!! I forgot to tell you some exciting stuff too! So I enrolled Izzie in the AHA Achievement Awards program. Every year we gain more points by showing in classes with other horses at rated shows. I have to kind of guess what my second to last show will have points wise, but it looks like Izzie will be a mere 4 points away from earning her Legion of Honor award! Meaning she will then be known as Written In The Stars+!!! I'm so excited!!
 
#9,025 ·
Zexious,

I grew up in New England, and I actually descend from 9 Mayflower passengers, so my Thanksgiving is boringly traditional. I usually have 17 people, and I do two smaller birds simultaneously. The smallest and fastest done is carved for the children's table in the kitchen (all teens now).

The only things that I have changed from my mum's and grandmother's Thanksgiving dinners is that I add garlic cloves to the mashed potatoes and lots of fresh herbs from my garden to the stuffing. Oh! and I do the Women's Day Make-Ahead Gravy a few days before to save time. Veggies are usually peas and carrots, and dessert is apple pie and pumpkin bread, although last year I made gingerbread cupcakes for the kids (huge hit) and my sister-in-law made to-die-for pecan bars (hope she does them again this year).

Because I live in Spain and nothing American is available, nothing is pre-packaged and everything is homemade, including the applesauce, cranberry sauce, stuffing, gravy and pie crusts. The only thing I really miss terribly are my fresh New England cranberries to make cranberry bread. It's a lot of work and exhausting, but well worth it!


I CONFESS that, now that I am recovering and not riding, it is hard for me not to gain weight, so I am dieting, which I hate. And talking about Thanksgiving has surely made me gain another pound! :-o
 
#9,026 ·
@evilamc oh that's good then! :D Definitely saves you trips to the gas station.
Yeah, my insurance covered the glasses, thankfully! Cause I know they can be extra expensive. :lol: Maybe, I may try a different kind but I've alwwwwwwways had this same kind & It's never done that. Sensitive skin probs. :icon_rolleyes:
@Caledonian I'm sure sitting at a computer here doesn't help either! :( I do the same at work! Plus, dual monitors.
Yeah, I noticed I was squinting a lot more than usual. So not fun!
@Tazzie YAY for the roof going on tonight!! YAYY! :D It looks so good! Love the progress pictures. Yeah, I may try a different brand although I love my Yellow Tail Sweet Red Roo. :lol: I hope I will own him someday too, he's such a sweetheart. <3 I want to see Bad Moms 2! The first one was hilarious. LOL. I need to go see that! AND that is amazing about Izzie! I really really hope so!!! :D :D Love that name 'written in the stars!'!
@GMA100 thank you! It sounds like you are really great with animals and have a good heart.
@cbar oooh, the dressage club will be fun & good experience. Good job on the lesson, too! :) Will be good experience for the both of you, with her being exposed to a group. :D
@Zexious omg I can't wait for Thanksgiving. I pig OUT. LOL.
I go to my aunt & uncle's house every year. They make two freaking turkeys. :lol: Sooo good though. We usually have stuffing, pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce (homemade though, not the canned stuff!), tons of desserts, hors de'vours (sp?) etc. A lot more things but my mind is busy with work right now, lol.

I confess, I have to go to the darn mall after work because I legit have like 4 sweaters that fit right (I lost a lot of weight from my tonsillectomy months ago, and kept it off!) & I need more for work. :lol: SO much for relaxing afterwards! Oh well I need to get it over with. Last time I went a few months ago, I got mostly pants. I need more shirts!
 
#9,029 ·
@6gun Kid - I agree with you on never having too many guitars or bows! My brother makes bows, so we have quite a few. He also has an acoustic guitar, an electric one, my mom has another acoustic, my dad has a bass guitar, and I have an acoustic, so our house has guitars everywhere!

Just a question, how are you going to keep them a secret from your wife, though? Seems to me it won't take her long to find out. :D
 
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