6 Months

Oh wow, I haven’t blogged in 6 months! Not too much has been going on, so there hasn’t really been too much to say. Ever since I hurt my ankle and was recovering from that I have been taking it easy. No lessons, and Amber doesn’t need much work so there was no rush on that front. Which is a good thing because it turned out it needed a good 5 months to heal and another month before it felt normal-ish again. I swear I don’t know how I keep injuring myself so badly.

Bestest news within these 6 months tho – my mom is officially in remission!

She still needs regular checks to monitor her blood levels, but they’re still looking really good, so the doctors are pleased (as are we, of course). She’s still been out riding despite the tingles she gets in her fingers and feet. She’s a tough one my mom.

She even tried to show this year at our local show club, but unfortunately it hasn’t panned out. First the weather, and then something aggravated an old injury of Whisper’s, and now that it’s feeling better, she’s got residual lameness mostly in her left hock. She’s on adequan tho like Amber, yet it doesn’t seem to be helping that one hock as much as it should. I wonder if something else is going on – she is 19 – but we have a vet appointment in a few weeks to check her psoas and just get a general read on that hock. Amber will get an x-ray on her foot to make sure things are still a-okay on that front, and Kahlua will get her shots and worming done.

Kahlua has become such a reluctant love haha. Not that we were really doubting that with how sweet she is, but she’s asking for pets and attention a lot more now. I give her her nightly ear scratches, and then we hang out together with my hip pressed to her shoulder with soft pats as she looks out and guards our girls. She’s gotten very good with the daily on/off of the fly mask, and will let me do it now, too. She’ll let my mom fawn all over her, hold her face and love on her. She totally doesn’t want to admit that she loves it, and resists most times, but she adores it. Working with her has been such a boost for my mom as she’s gone through chemo.

Amber has been her goodest self as always. We’ve mostly been doing western since I’ve been giving a friend’s younger sister “lessons” and horsey time when she comes to visit since she doesn’t have the opportunity anymore when she’s back home. Amber really likes her, which is always a plus!

We’ve been doing a bit of english again to strengthen Amber’s right side, although I know it’s because my right side is weak. Amber does get anxious going english, and I think that’s more because of her imbalance compounded by my weak right leg than dislike of the discipline. Helping support that side with my leg really helped our last english ride – she still wasn’t totally steady trotting to the left, but was much less anxious, so we’ll keep working on that side for her and me. Whisper is also doing more english to strengthen her left side. I’ve been doing weekly bodywork on her, but it’s only helped so much. After realizing also how narrow my mom’s english saddle has become, she’s using mine until we can make sure that Whisper can continue to do english before my mom decides to go ahead and purchase a new saddle.

I wanted to do more blogging and post on Insta in the last few months, but with school, new opportunities and new directions at work, horses, and other things I’ve tried to squeeze into any of my free time, it fell way at the bottom of the priority list. There’s just so much I want to do, and have been wanting to do for a while, so I’ve been doing that instead of blogging:

Like assembling my own gaming computer.

Learning how to bind books so I can have a physical copy of my favorite works.

Which all take time, so I’ve been doing that since I haven’t been riding. Temperatures are consistently 105+, and it’s still 100* and over at 8 pm. With Amber needing to spend a night at the vet to get fluids last year, I’m being really cautious about getting her out and doing anything in this heat. Especially when the temps were 110+ for a solid week, both she and I were really struggling. She’s basically getting 2 scoops of electrolytes a day because she won’t drink rein water, and only sort of tolerates pedialyte. Honestly, that horse is picky about the weirdest things lol. (She’s not even sure she likes oatmeal crème pies – now there’s some horror for you haha)

I want to post some of my review posts that are all nearly-finished drafts, and hopefully it won’t take me another 6 months to do so. Even still, I’ve been trying to keep up with everyone and read your blogs, even if I haven’t been commenting much or at all. I’m glad everyone is still doing well!