Sorry!

Christmas break was rather uneventful! My new business is in full swing now, and that combined with college has taken away my blogging time. So far, everyone seems to be loving their Freedom Feeders. I am so happy to be able to educate and help so many people! I've also never had any sort of business before, so I am enjoying that. It is all very low key, but I have sent out about 15 orders so far and it seems everyone has been pleased. Romeo has finally decided he loves his net, and Johnny has always been very attached to his.

If you are unfamiliar with Freedom Feeders, feel free to visit my facebook page: facebook.com/freedomfeederMS

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So, back to my personal horses:

-Johnny is swell! I haven't done much with him, and he's a hairy beast, but he is a happy, healthy camper currently.

-Romeo...not so swell. He is lame again but I can't really figure out what is causing it. It doesn't feel like hocks anymore, so he goes back to MSU vet school for a full lameness exam on Friday.

He was doing so well over Christmas break, but when school started, I wasn't riding as much and he got about 2 weeks off. When I started back he got worse again. He has better and worse days, but there is still something definitely going on. Today when I was grooming him, I noticed swelling in the sacral area. If anyone has any clue what this is please let me know :)

Lovely, right?

I have only been trotting him about 5-10 minutes a day, just trying to keep him in some type of program. It was definitely warm. The other side has very minimal swelling if at all.

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I also ordered a trailer! I read so many CoTH reviews on Risa and her Hawk Trailers, I just had to have one! That also meant that we needed to purchase a trailering vehicle. We ended up with a diesel Excursion, which we named Mr. Big.

I will be sure to take lots of pictures when the trailer  comes in! Should be in 3-4 weeks as it is custom. Extra tall, long and wide 2 horse, with a 5' dressing room, fan in horse area, extra tail lights, drop down windows, extra shoulder windows, etc. It will be so nice to just be able to go somewhere when I need to!

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If all goes well and we figure out what is wrong with the Romes, our first planned event is at the end of March at Poplar Place in GA. He really enjoyed the course there this fall and I hope we can figure out what is bothering him.

Dressage Basics Failure

I drove back down to MS for 2 more lessons while Romeo is in half training. Oh dear...I always forget how bad I am at dressage.

I did hunters all of my life, where hands in your crotch and tipping your pelvis makes you look just as good as anyone else. I try to hard to sit on my "pockets" and keep my hands up...but then I forget about going forward and just about everything else.

Yesterday - We went back to basics. Like...I felt like an idiot basics. A whip was put under my thumbs to keep my hands on the same plane. I fought against it so much that I have welts today! Romeo is getting better though, and is really relaxing over his top line and using his butt, which he couldn't do when his hocks hurt.

Today, we still did all basics, but at least I didn't feel like I had only been riding for 3 months. I just still don't feel completely comfortable in a dressage saddle, and I know I must look horrendous, but it is so hard for me to do 239483 things at once that are mostly new! Keeping my hands out of my lap is hard, and I love to cross over the neck with my reins instead of opening my other rein. Also, I so easily forget about keeping him forward and not getting him to curl around the bit, but kind of at least be on it.

I got mom to take some video...but she had never videoed on her phone before so its the tiniest thing you ever did see. These were also taken at the beginning of the lesson before he really loosened up, but at least you can tell my hands aren't in my lap!

Looking Good

I drove down to Starkville on Saturday to check on Romeo, as I hadn't been out in almost 2 weeks! He hasn't been jumped really since his last failure of an event at the end of October. In fact, the last few times I rode him, I felt bad even asking him to trot, and when Betsy, my trainer, sat on him over Thanksgiving break, she completely agreed.

After a little help from the vet school, it appears that he is feeling almost back to new! I rode him yesterday very lightly since he is out of shape, but he felt much, much better. He bent to the left easier, and was tracking up well. Happy day! So back to work we go! I have so much to improve on, but I haven't been able to really do anything because he was so uncomfortable. We got rads of his hocks, and he has mild osteoarthritis in both grade 2/5, but it's more pronounced in the left. His left fetlock also flexed mildly positive, but rads showed nothing on that.

Here's my handsome man!

19 years young in 2012.

Awesome Product of the Day: #4

No Romeo update yet, I haven't gone to visit him yet. Hopefully I will get a chance to go this weekend. So anyways...



Are you lazy? I am. I'm not going to deny that fact. This is the world's greatest and easiest brush EVER!

Enter...the EasyClean brush!

Isn't it great? I have one for both barns. They combine a stiff brush and a soft brush all in one! It's simply fabulous, dahhling.

They retail around $18, and if you divided that in 2 because it IS two brushes in one after all, that's a pretty good price! The quality of the brush is great, and I have found that it works really well.

Relaxing Day at the Barn

I love normal barn days. Seriously, after a bunch of hectic happenings, like an emergency, intense amounts of school, or sickness, aren't you happy when there is nothing exciting to report? I just got done with exams, and I just wanted to be with my horse and enjoy listening to him munch on hay.

I had a nice lesson on Johnny today and we practiced the 2 stride in and out in the covered. We got it up to 3'3'', and we decided to quit because he's just honestly not in great shape.

I set up his new Freedom Feeder. He previously had 2 mini/trailer size nets, but it was just becoming too much work for my lazy self to stuff them EACH full of hay. So he got an extended day! It was extremely easy to set up, and I am excited that the new Freedom Feeders have safety snaps. So if, per say, a hoof got over the top (no idea how that would happy but just in case), it would simply break the snap! Happy day.

Isn't it beautiful?!

Here are Beezie and Happy enjoying a nap in the office. Life is rough at the barn. Did everyone else have an uneventful weekend?

ZzzzZZZzzz