Sparky managed to jump off of Red's back in a manner that left the saddle hanging sideways and Sparky a gimp, this weekend. So I rode the little sucker yesterday, and we worked on precision. He was leaning on my legs so hard that they went all wobbly when I got off, like I hadn't ridden in months. Hopefully Sparky will be back to riding the mini horse today, and I can get back on Monkey, with a new appreciation of just how much better he's gotten.
Other than that it's just classes, I have a test in Ag Financing tomorrow, and one in Repro Monday. With the assignment due today we're done with individual portions of writing in Creative Writing, and we'll start on genres this week.
Hopefully my disbursement will be one of the first processed, and I can get the money I need to do things like eat, and have nifty things like internet and phone and TV.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
Amusement
Apparently, I've been providing great amusement for all with my over-energized horse.
See, he's been being a brat lately. Not like "Mom I'm going to buck and snort and try to kill you" brat, but more like "Mom, I don't really feel like behaving completely, so I'm going to throw one crow hop at you while we're loping. It's ok though, I won't miss a stride." or "Mom, I feel like spooking at thin air, so hang on because we're going to make an abrupt right turn right there, and you know, I think I'll throw in a spin to show off how pretty I've gotten at them."
No, really. One jump at the lope, he never missed a stride. And the spinning, well, that's getting annoying. That and sidepassing are becoming his behaviors of choice when he doesn't want to do what I tell him to do. Although he is getting really good at the spin to the right, and I got a compliment from Marilyn for sitting in the middle of him during one of those episodes the other day.
Day before yesterday, I reached the end of my rope on it. So I went to the barn and borrowed a lunge whip, and we went to the round pen, and he got to run.
Well, apparently I looked a little angry. Here are some comments I got from the instructors yesterday:
"I could see the steam coming out of your ears from here!"
"You looked a little frustrated. And by a little frustrated I mean mad enough to spit nails."
"I saw you stomping off with your club."
My answer to the last one.... "I didn't beat the horse. I just reminded him who was in charge."
Of course, after a couple of false starts I didn't even need the whip until he started wearing down a bit. He listens pretty well in the round pen to voice commands and body language. Which frustrates the hell out of another girl in the class who has her horse trained to lunge outside the round pen, but has pretty much no control when she does.
Sure, her horse will go the direction she wants and lope, and she'll turn around when the girl wants... but she has no fine control. She can't slow the horse down, she can't trot or walk, and stopping is a matter of pulling on the line until the horse faces in to her. She was in the round pens yesterday when I was warming the brat up, and I caught her watching me as I worked him. The only times the tip of my whip came off the ground were when he would try to be lazy, or when I was turning him. We're still working on turning.
But, I can move him out at a walk, up to a trot, back to a walk, up to a lope, stop him and hold him in place on the fence, and then turn him, all while dragging the tip of the whip on the ground.
He won't lunge without the pen, but I've tried that exactly once. And, I can push him into a lope, and if he's on the wrong lead, I can bring him back into a trot and correct it, in the round pen.
Working Monkey across from that girl working her horse makes me feel better about the brat. He may not be the best conformed horse in the world, but he does learn quickly. It only took me about three days to get the basics of round pen work on him last semester, and we've been refining ever since.
See, he's been being a brat lately. Not like "Mom I'm going to buck and snort and try to kill you" brat, but more like "Mom, I don't really feel like behaving completely, so I'm going to throw one crow hop at you while we're loping. It's ok though, I won't miss a stride." or "Mom, I feel like spooking at thin air, so hang on because we're going to make an abrupt right turn right there, and you know, I think I'll throw in a spin to show off how pretty I've gotten at them."
No, really. One jump at the lope, he never missed a stride. And the spinning, well, that's getting annoying. That and sidepassing are becoming his behaviors of choice when he doesn't want to do what I tell him to do. Although he is getting really good at the spin to the right, and I got a compliment from Marilyn for sitting in the middle of him during one of those episodes the other day.
Day before yesterday, I reached the end of my rope on it. So I went to the barn and borrowed a lunge whip, and we went to the round pen, and he got to run.
Well, apparently I looked a little angry. Here are some comments I got from the instructors yesterday:
"I could see the steam coming out of your ears from here!"
"You looked a little frustrated. And by a little frustrated I mean mad enough to spit nails."
"I saw you stomping off with your club."
My answer to the last one.... "I didn't beat the horse. I just reminded him who was in charge."
Of course, after a couple of false starts I didn't even need the whip until he started wearing down a bit. He listens pretty well in the round pen to voice commands and body language. Which frustrates the hell out of another girl in the class who has her horse trained to lunge outside the round pen, but has pretty much no control when she does.
Sure, her horse will go the direction she wants and lope, and she'll turn around when the girl wants... but she has no fine control. She can't slow the horse down, she can't trot or walk, and stopping is a matter of pulling on the line until the horse faces in to her. She was in the round pens yesterday when I was warming the brat up, and I caught her watching me as I worked him. The only times the tip of my whip came off the ground were when he would try to be lazy, or when I was turning him. We're still working on turning.
But, I can move him out at a walk, up to a trot, back to a walk, up to a lope, stop him and hold him in place on the fence, and then turn him, all while dragging the tip of the whip on the ground.
He won't lunge without the pen, but I've tried that exactly once. And, I can push him into a lope, and if he's on the wrong lead, I can bring him back into a trot and correct it, in the round pen.
Working Monkey across from that girl working her horse makes me feel better about the brat. He may not be the best conformed horse in the world, but he does learn quickly. It only took me about three days to get the basics of round pen work on him last semester, and we've been refining ever since.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
I'm Working On It....
Yes, I am working on the next installment of Jane, I swear. Finding time has been a bit difficult, keeping a train of thought has been even more so. Hopefully weekends will start freeing up a bit and I'll have more time to sit down and keep a plot in my head for more than a few minutes.
As soon as it's worthy of Public Consumption, I'll post it. All I ask is that you bear with me!
Now, don't take that as "stop bugging me people!!" Actually, you guys asking occasionally reminds me when I do have time to sit down and pound out a few paragraphs, so it does get it to you a little faster.
Not much, but a little. I'll leave you with a quote on Patience in lieu of any real writing genius from me. Hey, it's late, stealing brilliance from others is the best I can do.
"I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end."-- Margaret Thatcher
As soon as it's worthy of Public Consumption, I'll post it. All I ask is that you bear with me!
Now, don't take that as "stop bugging me people!!" Actually, you guys asking occasionally reminds me when I do have time to sit down and pound out a few paragraphs, so it does get it to you a little faster.
Not much, but a little. I'll leave you with a quote on Patience in lieu of any real writing genius from me. Hey, it's late, stealing brilliance from others is the best I can do.
"I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end."-- Margaret Thatcher
Monday, February 11, 2008
In Lieu of Jane...
I give you what I've been working on for Creative Writing. I'm going to look at it again and try to individualize the dialogue a little more, but it's not the character that we developed in class so I don't have the depth to it that I probably should. This is more for the laugh factor because of some stuff that got mentioned in class, and because I had such a great pun once I thought of it... (This is not intended to be a story in itself, it is simply a scene, a snapshot of a story. What comes before this, and what comes after, well, that's up to your imagination.)
It was a dark and stormy night.
Why is it always a dark and stormy night, you ask? Because it has better ambiance for my story than a bright sunny morning. Deal with it.
I didn’t know why I was sitting in this all night diner, playing with a coffee cup across from a private Dick. But, here I was, and if he called me doll baby one more time I was going to have to kill him just to make it stop.
“Listen, Doll, I know what you’re up to. I just don’t know why.”
“If I had a clue what you were talking about, I might be scared.”
“Eddie Farmer, John Smith, Steven Munster.”
“Never heard of ‘em. What’s a big strong man like you doing asking a working girl like me about all those men?”
“They all turned up dead, Doll baby.”
“So?”
“So, they turned up dead in your beat. Your competition told me they all picked you up the night they died.”
“And? I get a lot of dates.” This guy was really starting to get on my nerves. “It’s what I do.” I’d been a working girl for five years, walking the park and picking up lonely men to turn a quick buck.
“Well, I just have to wonder if it’s coincidence. You’re a hard-as-nails prostitute, and they were all found with their johnsons bitten off. It seems to me, that’s a clue.”
Well, I’m the living dead. A girl’s gotta eat.
I swear, you bite a few little pricks, and they’re all over you…..
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Boy Done Lost His Damn Mind!
This morning, I had Monkey in a round pen, mare on one side and gelding on the other. When he started kicking up his heels passing the other gelding I figured he was just feeling good. When I brought him out of the round pen though, he put his head up, arched his neck, put his tail up and just danced his way down the path... all the way to the barn.
The only thing I can figure is that Tara's mare is coming into heat and he figured he'd give it a shot. When I took him back, he acted sane again.
I don't know what he's thinking! He's not proud cut, or he would have given signs of it last semester, when the mares were definitely cycling, but he was sure showing off for someone today.
On the bright side he never pulled or tried to get away from me, just danced around and acted like an idiot, considering that he couldn't manage the act even if he did get in the pen with the mare.
*Headshake* Sometimes I wonder about males, of all species.
The only thing I can figure is that Tara's mare is coming into heat and he figured he'd give it a shot. When I took him back, he acted sane again.
I don't know what he's thinking! He's not proud cut, or he would have given signs of it last semester, when the mares were definitely cycling, but he was sure showing off for someone today.
On the bright side he never pulled or tried to get away from me, just danced around and acted like an idiot, considering that he couldn't manage the act even if he did get in the pen with the mare.
*Headshake* Sometimes I wonder about males, of all species.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Injury Update
Well, my back is better, my neck, shoulder and head are better.
But I woke up yesterday morning with a little tweak in my ribs... nothing major just annoying, the same kind of tweaky "hmm, that hurts" kind of feeling I've gotten several times before when I've taken a tumble, it always goes away.
Well, it normally goes away. I figured I'd just bruised something, but by last night I was beginning to wonder if I'd popped a rib out of place. Sleep last night wasn't as plentiful as I wanted it to be.
Last night and this morning just the tiniest fraction of an inch in the wrong direction (and the wrong direction seems to change depending on the time of day, angle of the sun, direction of wind and barometer reading...) and I'm going "Holy shit that hurts!" instead of "hmm."
I don't know what I did, the painful rib isn't floating around enough to be popped out of place, and it doesn't hurt enough to be cracked. It almost feels like the rib tried to pop out of place, bruised all the connecting tissues and stretched them like old underwear elastic, and then settled in to wait for me to get lively again. There's just the barest hint of what might be a bruise where the rib comes to the sternum. Or it might be the crappy lighting in my bathroom, hard to tell.
So, I didn't ride today, and probably won't tomorrow. We'll see how it feels, and all that. Instead I worked on grooming that I've neglected, getting Monkey's mane and tail back into shape so he doesn't look like so much of a hobo.
Of course, I braided his tail only to realize that I didn't have any bands. So I trekked to my car and dug in my backpack to get a hair tie. Luckily I still had a black elastic in there or Monkey might be sporting a purple scrunchie right now. But he looks better now, tomorrow I'll take the hand clippers out and do his bridle path, and some scissors to trim his tail and mane into something a little more even. His tail is growing out nicely, if it's not braided it brushes the ground, but it's not as full as I might like. I'll probably trim it back to his hocks to where it's fuller and let it grow out again, try to keep it from breaking off as bad. I'll probably trim the base of his tail, too, it's looking a little frizzy. If I'm going for beautification I might as well go whole hog and trim the fuzzball at the base of his tail, too.
As soon as it stays nice for a while, Monkey boy is getting a bath, too. He's all dusty in his undercoat. He probably won't enjoy it, but he'll get it anyway.
But I woke up yesterday morning with a little tweak in my ribs... nothing major just annoying, the same kind of tweaky "hmm, that hurts" kind of feeling I've gotten several times before when I've taken a tumble, it always goes away.
Well, it normally goes away. I figured I'd just bruised something, but by last night I was beginning to wonder if I'd popped a rib out of place. Sleep last night wasn't as plentiful as I wanted it to be.
Last night and this morning just the tiniest fraction of an inch in the wrong direction (and the wrong direction seems to change depending on the time of day, angle of the sun, direction of wind and barometer reading...) and I'm going "Holy shit that hurts!" instead of "hmm."
I don't know what I did, the painful rib isn't floating around enough to be popped out of place, and it doesn't hurt enough to be cracked. It almost feels like the rib tried to pop out of place, bruised all the connecting tissues and stretched them like old underwear elastic, and then settled in to wait for me to get lively again. There's just the barest hint of what might be a bruise where the rib comes to the sternum. Or it might be the crappy lighting in my bathroom, hard to tell.
So, I didn't ride today, and probably won't tomorrow. We'll see how it feels, and all that. Instead I worked on grooming that I've neglected, getting Monkey's mane and tail back into shape so he doesn't look like so much of a hobo.
Of course, I braided his tail only to realize that I didn't have any bands. So I trekked to my car and dug in my backpack to get a hair tie. Luckily I still had a black elastic in there or Monkey might be sporting a purple scrunchie right now. But he looks better now, tomorrow I'll take the hand clippers out and do his bridle path, and some scissors to trim his tail and mane into something a little more even. His tail is growing out nicely, if it's not braided it brushes the ground, but it's not as full as I might like. I'll probably trim it back to his hocks to where it's fuller and let it grow out again, try to keep it from breaking off as bad. I'll probably trim the base of his tail, too, it's looking a little frizzy. If I'm going for beautification I might as well go whole hog and trim the fuzzball at the base of his tail, too.
As soon as it stays nice for a while, Monkey boy is getting a bath, too. He's all dusty in his undercoat. He probably won't enjoy it, but he'll get it anyway.
There's A Naked Black Man in My Apartment!!!
So, E came here after his feed crew, and asked if he could borrow my shower. No big deal.
Then he starts telling me about how the speaker for the revival tonight (that he's been planning since the beginning of last semester) is stuck in Denver, after two flight delays and missing his connection, because he can't get a rental car.
So, online to Hertz and reserve a car for the guy, call him and tell him and he's spotted a rental place right next to his hotel, so rather than take a cab back to the airport he's gonna try them first. No biggie, I can cancel the reservation online when we find out what the deal is.
Now, E is in the shower, but before he went he smarted off with "With all the rumors that are already floating around about me being over here, what would they think if they knew I was in your shower!"
His phone is sitting here, and I have orders to answer it if it rings. If it's one of the people from school, I'm going to be very nonchalant and tell them "Oh, he's in the shower right now, I'll tell him you called."
Of course, if he forgets anything here, I'm going to give it back to him very publicly "you left this at my place the other day, you forgot it in the shower."
(Because, of course, there are already rumors floating around, because of one girl who lives in the next building over in the apartment complex asking everyone "what's going on" between me and E because his truck is over here "all the time.")
He said he'd make sure to take his underwear with him when he left.
Spoilsport.
Then he starts telling me about how the speaker for the revival tonight (that he's been planning since the beginning of last semester) is stuck in Denver, after two flight delays and missing his connection, because he can't get a rental car.
So, online to Hertz and reserve a car for the guy, call him and tell him and he's spotted a rental place right next to his hotel, so rather than take a cab back to the airport he's gonna try them first. No biggie, I can cancel the reservation online when we find out what the deal is.
Now, E is in the shower, but before he went he smarted off with "With all the rumors that are already floating around about me being over here, what would they think if they knew I was in your shower!"
His phone is sitting here, and I have orders to answer it if it rings. If it's one of the people from school, I'm going to be very nonchalant and tell them "Oh, he's in the shower right now, I'll tell him you called."
Of course, if he forgets anything here, I'm going to give it back to him very publicly "you left this at my place the other day, you forgot it in the shower."
(Because, of course, there are already rumors floating around, because of one girl who lives in the next building over in the apartment complex asking everyone "what's going on" between me and E because his truck is over here "all the time.")
He said he'd make sure to take his underwear with him when he left.
Spoilsport.
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