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Competition, Uncategorized

Full Gallop Farm CT: Dressage

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We got to the venue entirely too early: 9 am for a 1:18 pm dressage time. Trainer had recommended getting there at 10:30 but I’m way too high strung and decided to leave earlier. Yeah, not doing that again.

My crazy Arabian endurance horse spent her 4 hours napping and shoving her face full of hay.

One of my biggest concerns was all the logistics, so as soon as we arrived I immediately signed in then headed to the dressage arena to get a look around. I had 4 hours to kill and it was heating up fast with no shade in sight.

Dressage was in a spare grass paddock with the warm up ring in the neighboring one. The judge was sitting at C in a white pick up truck using the horn as the start signal. I watched a few riders go paying attention to when they entered the ring, how they went around and when they exited after their test. After that I wandered around the rest of the grounds.

The dressage warm up area. It was really spacious and did double duty as warm up and waiting area. Even with a bunch of people just standing waiting to go and those warming up there was still a ton of room
The dressage court. I was a tiny bit nervous going on grass since we have never done that before, but it was actually nicer than a regular sand arena.

Killing 4 hours on a very hot (upper 80s with high humidity), sunny day with a toddler and no friends around isn’t really that enjoyable. By the time the clock said 12pm I was more than ready to get on and ride.

I tacked her up and she looked really gorgeous in the dressage gear. Her mane had been braided the night before and miraculously (well with the help of half a bottle of Quick Braid) stayed in. I just stood back and stared at her for a long while. Gemmie has a special place in my heart and soul.

I can’t believe how very much proper we look! I opted to go very conservative in my attire with the exception of a beautiful belt I found at the tack store last minute. Just enough color to be pretty but not annoying. I had brought my white breeches too but wimped out of wearing them when I realized the night before that all my underwear showed through. 

I was worried she would be a bit high strung walking down to the arena: the path led from the trailer parking, past the stalls, by the jump arena and ended at the two warm up arenas and dressage court. It was a very busy walk. I shouldn’t have worried. She was a saint.

By the time I began my warm up at around 12:30 pm my shirt was sticking to me and sweat was pouring down my face. I worked on halting first since that has been a big issue. Gem has really come around nicely and will now halt with just the slightest request. I’m loving it!!!

I offered her up a drink knowing she had to be as thirsty as I was. She took a sip and promptly spooked at who knows what in her reflection. Maybe she noticed how proper she looked versus her typical endurance wild self and got scared.
I was glad that the warm up area shared the same views as the dressage court would. Gem was able to look at the cross country course where people were schooling.

After that I worked on bend a little. I’m not that great at it and really need to focus on that. She is more like a surf board than a living being with joints. Anyway…I kinda ran out of things to do. It was really hot and she was sweating after working on all that and I wanted her to be fresh but relaxed in the test. With still 20 minutes to go, I hung out at the fence talking to Dusty and my parents who made the drive to watch me ride. I really appreciated them coming specially since all things horse isn’t really their thing.

Wyatt had everyone in tears with laughter. He is just starting to really understand winning and losing. I was halfway across the field when he yelled out “Hey Mommie, are you going to win? Will you get a ribbon? If not does that make you a loser? Don’t be a loser Mommie!” Great support staff I have
Waiting at the gate to enter as I run through the test in my head one last time and try not to vomit. I’ve never been so nauseous on a horse before. Looking back I know it was partly nerves but it was a great deal more the fact that I had eaten exactly nothing all day and drank not nearly enough for the time spent in the heat and sun. My throbbing head by 3 pm let me know I wasn’t doing so good at self care.  I also love Gem’s face in this picture. 

At 1:26 they finally told me it was my turn up next. I’m not sure how these things typically go, but figured 8 minutes late wasn’t so bad. It was around 1:35 when I started.

I spent a bunch of time making a fancy video with all the scores and comments on it. Then I promptly didn’t save it correctly and now I’m too frustrated to do it again. Instead I’ll just run through it here and put the video at the end.

Intro Test B:

When I entered the dressage court, I made Gem walk around the outside and past the judge truck to say hello. I kept her sedate and calm preferring to have to wake her up than wrestle her back down. The judge was super nice and asked if I was ready to which I replied that I never would be so go ahead whenever she wanted. She laughed and honked the horn when we were at E going away from her. At that point I picked up the trot and rode to A where we turned and entered. Gem was moving forward a little behind me, but was relaxed and honestly with how tense I was she was doing a great job at ignoring my negative energy. I asked her to walk about 2-3 strides out of X then she halted. I saluted too soon and she moved during it which just made my stomach tighten since this was the very start of the test.

6.5: straight at centerline, needs immobility at halt

I ignored it the best I could and asked her to trot on to C where we made a left turn and wandered down to E. Gem tried to spook a bit at the flowers, but I put my legs on her and she got the memo that I meant business.

6.5: needs inside leg for bend in the turn


I took a big deep breath here to try to relax in preparation for the 20 meter circle at E. left is our stiffer side (or so I thought) and I needed her to relax as much as possible. Gem was being so insanely good too. She kept the same rhythm throughout without me having to do much nagging or bringing her back. It was just really pleasant to ride.

I tried really hard to look around my circle although I have a habit of not looking far enough ahead. Gem felt much more rigid than she apparently looked to the judge. The circle I was trying hard at keeping large and round was not such a big hit though.

6.5: watch the shape and size of circle. 

My head is looking around the circle, but my body is most definitely telling her to travel straight. Much work to do here!

When we got back to the rail I made certain to straighten up when my body hit E. Trainer had made a big deal about me not ending my circle before then and I wanted to be as accurate as I could be. From there we traveled to the corner where I used it to help her transition to the medium walk between K and A. She listened really well and walked straight off. I was really proud of myself when she started to build as we got to A and I used a half halt to maintain the walk. Trainer is always getting on me for reacting before Gem speeds up instead of waiting until after we are trotting.

6.5: willing 

You can see how tense I am here but my heels are down and my leg is under me so that’s a win in my book!

F came up quickly and it was time for the free walk. I had practiced it a little in warm up and Trainer’s advice rang in my ears: don’t let her break to trot, it is better to be boring and walk than flashy and break. Well, I didn’t go for glory here at all but I think Gem was tired of my tension and she broke to trot twice across the diagonal. It really hurt my psyche to have her do so halfway through the test but I put it out of my mind and moved on to the next one.

5.5: trotting

This screenshot is during one of her trot breaks. I tried to open and lower my hands but she trotted each time. You can still how how tense I was. No wonder she trotted!

Once we were back at E and on the rail I “picked up the contact” and went back to medium walk. Really there wasn’t much difference.

7.0: fair march


The corner came up and I used it to make the transition to trot which she did immediately. Her transitions are really just becoming sharper and sharper without the shuffling steps leading up to and out of them.

7.0: obedient


The right 20 meter circle has always come easier mostly because my right leg isn’t as useless as my left so I tend to have at least a hint of inside leg. We made it around without losing our rhythm which was my main goal.

6.0: needs inside bend

I was really surprised that the right scored less than the left but looking at the video I understand why. Also, from the get go my circle was not very circle like

Back at B and it was a straight trot back to center line at A followed by our last halt and salute.

7.0: overshot centerline, halt almost square


All the above photos were taken as screen shots from the below video. I was really, really happy with Gem. I mean, she did exactly as I asked without any shenanigans or issues at all. I was way too tense and lacked any bend in my own body, so I can’t expect her to be Mrs Bendy herself.

I found out later that we had scored 33.44  which put us in 5th of 9 riders.  Scores ranged from 26-39 so it seemed like the judge was nailing some things hard and being rewarding with others. ​​​Having never done this before I’m not sure what to make of the actual score. Trainer was really happy with it when I texted her my sheet later in the day.

For collectives:
Gaits: 7.0
Impulsion: 7.0
Submission: 7.0
Rider’s Position: 7.0
Rider’s Effectiveness of Aids: 6.5 – use inside leg for bend and balance especially in circles and turns
Geometry and Accuracy: 6.0 – work on riding correct figure


Seeing a 7.0 on all of Gem’s stuff and on my position made my entire day. The rest I can work on and improve but seeing that she didn’t ding Gem for poor movement or anything was a big confidence booster. Plus my position has always been something I am self conscious about so getting a 7 on that made me smile big time. And then there is the little Gem on the back right corner of the test: Excellent first test ever!!!!

 

​Once I was out of there I headed straight back to the trailer to change her tack out. It was already 1:45 pm and stadium was beginning. I didn’t even think to look at scores. It just wasn’t important to me.

 

Gem’s opinion of dressage.




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Ride Times Are Up!!!

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They finally posted at around 10:30 pm yesterday. My phone is thanking me. I’ve never hit refresh so many times in one day before. 

There are 7 of us in the amoeba division. Most of us are seniors. Yay!! I’m curious as to how many are really experienced and on a new or green horse versus me: both horse and rider green. 

I ride dressage at 1:18pm. This means I can easily go Sunday morning and hang out at the show. No sleeping in my truck!!! Double yay!!

I paid for a stall already but it was only $25 and this way I’ll have one for show day. I can stash Gem in the stall and not have to worry about her being at the trailer. Oh wait… do they typically provide shavings at these things or do I have to bring my own?

The only thing I’m slightly bummed about is that I’m the first to go in my division. I was really hoping to have a couple people to watch in front of me to learn a bit from. Oh well. As the hubby said “now you can’t watch someone else mess up and start second guessing yourself”. 

I am really confused though about the jumping. I’ve followed enough bloggers to see that they get specific times for dressage, stadium and xc. That’s what I was expecting. So my dressage time is 1:18pm. 

My stadium time? It’s says 1:45-2:30pm. What on earth does that mean? Can I go whenever I want in that window? I’m confused. 

I’m super excited though. Looks like I’ll be setting the bar for everyone behind me! Ha 🙂 

Competition, Uncategorized

Show Goals

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Ride times were supposed to be posted Wednesday (yesterday) and I only checked it about 100 times throughout the day only to be disappointed each time when nothing was listed. Then again today I have been feverishly checking a million times. Ugh. Why aren’t they listed?!?! The information says they will be and if I don’t have internet I am to call no earlier than this evening, so maybe they will still post them yet.

Love this gorgeous face
Not only am I excited and nervous and hoping my entry went through all right, but my ride times actually matter in my planning. The venue is 2 hours away and Gem can handle the haul no problem. We have done way farther than that for endurance rides. he issue is me. I want to have enough time Sunday to prepare and walk my course without feeling rushed and adding to my already very anxious nature before a competition, even one with the goals I will get to in a minute. If my ride is in the morning, I will go there Saturday night (I already paid for a stall just in case), so that I can get acclimated to the venue and braid Gemmie at night hoping she stays clean and braided for the morning. If however the rides are in the afternoon, I can avoid sleeping in my truck and the overnight away from family and get up and go that morning.

I NEED MY RIDE TIMES!!! WHY AREN’T THEY POSTED?!?!?!

Ok….mini, stress induced melt down over.

Found a local taco place downtown. After eating real tacos in San Diego with L from Viva Carlos, I had to try them. No where near as good, but decent.
Back to the purpose of this post: Show Goals.

I’m not a big goal setter. It is probably a personality flaw or something, but it is what it is. In endurance, my only goal was to not fall off and complete. I fell off at my first 25 and my first 50, so those went out the window. Thankfully I stayed put for the 100 and all the other rides I did in between.

Going into this show, my first ever actual horse show experience, I have some things I would like to walk away with:

  1. Figure out if this is what I want to do.  It is a CT and a small schooling one a that, but I am hoping it gives me a taste of what it is all about. I want to walk away knowing if this is something I want to continue to pursue or if I need to go back to the drawing board.
  2. Have fun. Sounds simple, but I’m actually not that good at having fun at events. I enjoyed my first LD a lot, hated my second and third. My first 50 was a mess, but I loved the second and adored the 100. So we will see.
  3. Complete.  This may sound stuck up or whatever, but I am not worried about our performance. I know our weaknesses are plenty and we have only been doing this for a very, very short period of time. I know we can do walk and trot, how pretty it is doesn’t really matter at the moment, and after my last schooling ride I am fairly confident Gem can jump 8-10 18″ cross rails without killing either of us. What I am worried about is breaking some rule I am unaware of and getting eliminated or refusing a ton and getting eliminated or falling off and getting eliminated. I just want to finish both phases, please.
  4. Maintain Gem’s new relaxed zen.  I wish I had some video or photographic proof of how tense and racing Gem used to be. It was awful. Ever since I started lessons, she has just been so chill about everything. There are a million things to say about it which don’t belong here, but it is something I have zero interest in ruining. No matter what happens, I want Gem to remain relaxed and calm and leave happy.

That’s about it. I’d love it if I showed up and there was someone else above the age of 10 in my amoeba level class, but I don’t have high hopes for that. I have zero goals about being competitive, but I wont feel bad beating a 6 year old either.

Now if only my entry status, ride times and stabling assignment would show up online I would be able to calm the heck down and focus on the lovely hay delivery I am getting tomorrow.

How I am feeling right now. A little sideways and a little giddy. This is also why I have little media. The hubby’s pictures are unusual.

 

 

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Where Have I been?

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Drowning. Almost literally.

It started to rain Saturday night around 10 pm and then decided not to stop until Thursday morning around 7 am. This wasn’t a nice gentle sprinkling either. It down poured. It caused flash flooding. There were tornadoes. It was bad.

Taken Saturday before the rain came in
Thankfully though the ground around here is some magical mystical stuff that allows for standing puddles of water 5″ deep to be absorbed within an hour of the rain stopping and within 24 hours the ground is firm and lovely once again.

I took advantage of the forecast to mow the pasture Saturday. It needed it as our two can’t eat enough to keep the grass down. My capris rode up and this is the tan I ended up with.
Also thankfully, the guy who cuts the hay field in front of our house came by on Saturday and baled it all. This means I can ride at home one again, well at least until it grows up again. Looks like the local hay production was really good for first cutting this year. Hopefully the rain will continue throughout the summer and they can get second and third cuttings this year. Current prices are looking at $13 a bale right now for anything not crap fescue or even worse bermuda which is still floating around $6-7.

My mowing buddy
So that is what has been going on. Rain. Water. Flooding. Cranky mare face who will not leave her shelter if there is any rain coming down at all. A bored Pete who hates being out in it alone, but doesn’t mind being a real horse and getting wet either. A bored and cranky Sara who really wants to ride to practice for the show next weekend, but can’t because the arena was closed and it wouldn’t stop raining.

After nearly a week of rain, her mane is now a gross mess of tangles. Not the best timing.
Hopefully, the 30% chance of rain all weekend translates to sunshine and I can trailer to the arena to get one last jump ride in before the show. I can practice the dressage moves at home in the hay field, but I don’t have any jumps. The wonderful thing is that the arena is actual public and owned by the city and has no entry fee. Its amazing to have free access to a dressage arena, jump arena full of jumps and another arena without jumps.

Ready or not next weekend we will be showing!

 

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Things I Learned Owning My Own Business

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Three years ago I made the incredibly rash decision to quit my high paying, pretty easy job and start my own practice for a 40% pay cut, more stress and longer hours. That was smart. In my defense, not only do I come from a long line of people unable to work well with/for others, but my old boss was stealing from me and making my life emotionally and mentally hell. It was quit or have a stroke at age 32.

The going was really rough for a long time and even now that things have settled a bit and my schedule is staying fuller, there is always, always something to worry about. I’ve learned a ton though in the process and thought I would share some insights.

  • If you want to work for yourself to work less hours, you’ll be bitterly disappointed, at least in the early years. When you are your own boss there is no such thing as paid vacation or sick days. You either work and make money or you stay home and go broke. At my old job I took two weeks vacation and one week for continuing education every year.  In the three years I’ve been open I managed to take 3 long weekends and 4 full days off in a row total and that was for a work conference. If I’m not there, I’m not making money. So I work.
  • Sick days don’t exist. To expand on the above, nobody is paying you to curl up on the couch and feel sorry for yourself. You go to work. I’ve taken one sick day in three years and that was when I was vomiting non stop.
  • There will always be more work to do. At the end of the day your pile of stuff to do will be ever present. This really got to me early on. I needed to be done with everything, everyday. It isn’t possible. You have into learn to be ok with putting things off until tomorrow then bumping it again when a new top priority item comes up.
  • You have to learn to leave work at work. As with the above, it is really easy to never stop working. With so much to always do, it can be hard to turn it off. You have to force yourself to clock out or you will burn out.
  • You have to learn to sell yourself. I know, you are amazing at what you do. But here’s the thing. Nobody else knows that. Not yet. Get prepared to sell yourself and your skills all day every day. Eventually your work will speak for itself, but in the beginning you are a nobody. One of the best pieces of advise I go twas to not hang the shingle and expect the phone to ring. I spent every Friday for months taking bagels around to referral sources and introducing myself. It was hard to do, but it got me business.
  • Stay true to yourself.  Chasing easy money is very tempting when you are broke, but trust me, you will regret it later. Stick to your own morals and beliefs. People will trust you better when they know where you stand, so don’t be afraid to take that stance. It may turn some people away in the beginning, but the long term will pay off.
  • Always be kind. But stay firm. In business, it never pays to be mean. People talk and they are far more likely to complain or bad mouth you than praise, so be careful. You are more than allowed to fire someone from your business, but do it nicely and make sure it is worth it to not only lose that person, but also their entire social circle. Likewise, the customer is not always right, sometimes they are just trying to rip you off. Stay positive, don’t get dragged into a fight, but also stay firm and don’t get taken advantage of.
  • Be prepared to go broke, make some money and go broke again. Starting your own business is a risk and hopefully it plays out well for you. In the beginning though, you will go broke. It will seem like the worst idea on the planet and you will question your sanity. Stick with it, make changes as needed and hang tight. If you put your all into it, have something decent to offer and work hard it will pay off in the long run.
  • You have to have long term goals. In the beginning, just staying around long enough to pay your bills seems a hard enough task, however, if you don’t make long term plans you will burn out quickly. Its very stressful to always worry about paying the bills and getting more clients, so take time to envision what 3 years will look like, 5 years, 10 years.
  • Don’t forget to enjoy it. Its hard work. You work nearly non stop and even when you are at home you are thinking about work. I get it. But you started this business for a reason, so enjoy the ride. Celebrate little victories along the way.
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Almost There: Gear Check

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For some reason I think that if I spread out the purchases over several weeks it won’t seem so bad. Doesn’t make a lot of sense since all the money comes from the same source, but anything that helps this inherently cheap person spend money without having a stroke is good. 

The list of things I needed to get was pretty extensive. I tried to do the internet used tack route, but I got burnt and wasted money and have been a bit hesitant to try again. Instead I’ve been trying to go cheap but new with the idea to upgrade in the future. 

So far I’ve got:

Synthetic tall field boots: I actually really love these. They fit me really well and after two rides and two days wearing them around the house they no longer hurt anywhere. I do find it a bit harder to sink my heel down in them as they are still a bit stiff but I’m getting used to it. $68

Black with white padding cob sized, unknown brand bridle with reins. I had to creat a new hole in the cheek piece but otherwise it fits Gem well. I’d love to replace the reins and brow band at some point. $40

Dark brown stirrup leathers. I grabbed these last minute at the tack store and didn’t look at the price tag. If I had, I wouldn’t have bought them. I’m glad I did though. The are wonderful: soft, flexible and padded. They will be pulling double duty on both saddles for now. $70.

White all purpose pad with black trim. This was a difficult purchase for me. White pads are boring and I didn’t have a lot of selection in person and didn’t want to get anything online that I was not familiar with. I ended up just getting the cheapest one I could that had some nice padding and trim. $54


Noble Outfitters black gloves. Personally I hate riding in gloves unless it is extremely cold out. I tried on some Roekels which were lovely but too pricey. These gloves are just ok. They fit my hand well but I wish they came over my wrists a bit lower and I’m just meh about them. The price was right though and since I plan to only wear them during a show and only have one show on my summer schedule, they will suffice. $22.


Breeches. Ah. Nearly as bad as girth shopping and twice as bad as jeans. Trouble is that I am in between sizes and that just makes the fit hard. I finally got a pair of Irideon Hampton tights with knee patches and a sock bottom and they fit pretty well. They are a bit looser than my Irideon Synergy and Issential tights (all three are size medium) but generally fit very well and are comfortable. $79


So far my outlay is $333. I don’t think that is terrible given everything I have purchased. I could have gone a bit cheaper on the leathers and pad but I adore the leathers and think Gem will appreciate a bit of padding between the saddle and her back. 

What’s left?

  1. Jump girth. Heaven help me if the 46″ doesn’t fit. The tack store was out of that size so I need to go online and order one. Soon. 
  2. A white polo shirt. I’m trying my best to avoid buying a real show shirt because a) they are entirely too expensive and b) I refuse to buy anything that is see through and every white show shirt I have come across has been completely see through.  Not happening.

Not too shabby and hopefully I can snag these two items this week. Then I should be all set!

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Rain

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2016 ended with the region being 10 inches in the negative in precipitation. The local lakes looked like tiny puddles surrounded by acres of sand and red clay. Wildfires broke out as the seemingly endless days of clear blue skies and sun stretched on into the forecast.

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The water should go to the tree line. This isn’t even as bad as it got. 

The winter came and and it was mild. Mostly warm and dry. We got one day of slushy ice and that was winter. Not the norm and it only added to the deficit.

2017 however is trying to make amends for the errors of the recent past. Not only has it been raining, it has been storming. Soft ball sized hail, tree splintering lightning and deluges have been an almost weekly occurrence. Just last weekend we got 4″ of rain in 24 hours.

The region is positive 5 inches for 2017 which is pretty astounding since we only started getting rain in March. January and February were as dry as the last year. That means that overall we are now only 5″ shy of where we really should be. Still a desperately large volume but we seem to be heading in the right direction.

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This was the extent of our winter and it lasted until 12 pm

Unfortunately SC is just not that…umm…tough when it comes to the weather. I mean, when it is nice, sunny and warm 300 days of the year, what’s the point in suffering during those rare days when it rains, snows or is cold? I get it. Sort of.

An example: it was calling for severe thunderstorms. Maybe some hail. Schools let out at lunch. For rain. Really?

This has made riding lately difficult. Indoor arenas are unheard of and covered arenas are few and far between. My scheduled lesson for Sunday got canceled due to the rain. The arena was still under water come Tuesday when I could get there with Gem, so it got backed off to Sunday of this week. Weather looks like even more rain tomorrow then a break and rain Sunday. I’m not sure if any rain cancels lessons or if it was just the absolute downpour we had in store and got that did it, so we will see.

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Wyatt chose my cake. I don’t think I’ve seen gummy worms on a birthday cake before

I also can’t ride at home right now. The hay field is mush and not only would it destroy the hay, but it wouldn’t be particularly safe footing either.

It may be time to hit the trails again if I can find some that aren’t under water. It’s bad timing with so much to work on and not that much time, but there isn’t anything I can do about it so I’m trying not to fret.

In the meantime I’ve been spending money as if I had it and am now anxiously awaiting my packages to arrive.  The sun needs to return to the south or I may just go broke.

IMG_0240
Einstein loves having extra room to run
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Rest Easy Scrabble. I Miss You.

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One more day
One more time
One more sunset baby I’d be satisfied
But then again
I know what it would do
Leave me wishing still
For one more day with you
– Diamond Rio

Scrabble joined our family as a scraggly, sickly 6 month old barn kitten in September of 2004. We were stopping by a friend’s house a few weeks before our wedding which is why I remember it so clearly. He wandered out of her barn and right over to me purring loudly and meowing a hello. I snatched him into my arms and looked over at Dusty, then my fiancee, and told him that we were getting a cat. He could take him to the clinic and treat him then bring him to his house which would soon be our house. Dusty wasn’t too enthusiastic, but he really couldn’t say no three weeks before we were married and so Scrabble came to live with us. We named him Scrabble because we were playing the game a lot at the time.

Scrabble2
We used to have a ping pong table. It was next to impossible to play with Scrabble. He made it interesting and more fun!

Scrabbie was a wonderful cat. Friendly to the point of being dog like, he always met me at the front door when I got home. For the last 13 years, he has been the first face I’ve seen when returning home. Whether I was just gone to the mail box or away for a month, he was equally happy to see me again.

Scrabble6

He followed me everywhere. I can’t recall the last time I looked down and didn’t see him. Or didn’t have him curled up in my lap within 30 seconds of sitting down. He even entered the shower with me and stood patiently just outside the water stream getting sprayed until I was done. When I would be outside he would always been in the window looking out at me. If I went to the front, he would too.

Scrabble was friendly to everyone. He was never mean to any house guest, be it a person or animal and welcomed Echo, Bones and Einstein into our home with warmth. He loved everyone. He was the only cat to allow Wyatt to touch him and never held a grudge. He didn’t knock things over, pee outside the box or destroy the furniture. He was just a great guy to live with and was so easy going.

Above all else he was my cat. He tolerated Dusty because Scrabble liked everyone, but he always watched over me, sat with me, loved me. And I loved him back. He was the best cat I will likely ever have.

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Always watching me. I was never out of his sight if he could help it

Dusty diagnosed him with kidney failure 2 1/2 years ago and gave him 6 months to live. He fought and fought and clung to live until he just couldn’t any more. One benefit of having a vet husband is that he can put him to rest at home without a scary car ride being the last thing he remembered. I held him close and hugged him as he slipped away.

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He adored the cat tree and would sit up high watching everyone

I love you Scrabble. My heart is broken and my world a little less friendly without your bright face and big, round orange eyes keeping close tabs on me and making sure I am ok. I keep looking for you under my feet, around the corner and waiting for you to jump in my lao when I sit down. I miss you, but I am so glad I got to have youth me for nearly 13 years and I wouldn’t trade them for anything. Rest easy, my big man. Say hello to Bones and Hero for me and I’ll see you again someday.

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Farm Sitting Heartbreak

roamingridersite

All my animals are alive and as well as they were before I left which is fantastic. Unfortunately that isn’t the end of the story. 

When M came over to meet everyone I mentioned that while the entire property is fenced that there are two side that are barbed wire. Einstein has run under it, cutting his head badly in the process, and has been found on the busy road much to our annoyance. He hasn’t done it in over a month but the fact is that he could. I told her that his harness and leash would be on the kitchen table in case she felt safer putting him on it. He has a great recall which is part of the problem. If you call him over when he crosses the street he will come immediately – right through traffic. It’s the leaving when not being paid attention to that is the problem. 

As we were finishing up her mother called in a panic. Her dog had run away and was no where to be found. We hastily said goodbye so she could go help. Apparently it wasn’t uncommon as she didn’t seem overly surprised that her dog had gotten away. 

I received a text on day one asking if she could bring her dog over to play. Einstein loves to play and would be missing his day care day, so I agreed. Later that day she texted that her dog had ducked under the barbed wire and nearly got hit by a car on the road. She was losing her off leash privileges. Thankfully Einstein didn’t follow. 

All was then quiet except for some pictures she sent me and a text asking if she could have friends over for a fire in the back yard fire pit. 

That is until the last day. 

When we got off the plane in Texas and I turned my phone off airplane mode I got blasted with texts. Her dog had been off leash again and ran out in the road and was hit by a car. She was leaving the house immediately and had not fed or cleaned anything up.

I texted her that I understood and hoped it was only minor. 

By the time we got on the next flight and home she had returned to strip the bed and finish things up and her dog was being stabilized and prepared for surgery. 

Sadly, her dog passed away on Tuesday. 

It breaks my heart. She loved that dog. Yes, hindsight is 20/20 and all that but it doesn’t change the ending and only makes the loss that much worse for her. She was her best friend and now she is gone. 

For my part I feel partly responsible although I know it wasn’t my fault. I should have said no when she asked to bring her over. In the future, I’ll make it a rule that no personal animals are allowed on my property when I’m away. I know. It should have been that way any way. 

Hug your fur babies close. Make responsible choices at all times. Safety before all else. They are with us for such a short time and their entire lives are lessons to be learned. M is heartbroken and it will take a long time for her to heal. Hugs to her and rest easy puppy.