The hits just keep on coming...

I have got to figure out that this isn't home and just because I've become comfortable with the routine doesn't mean that the bay has.

Got kicked, today, a nice shot right to the crotch-ish area. Got a cut on top of my pelvic bone (the one in front, hell if I know what it's called) and some fabulous bruising coming up already in the crease of my right leg.

I forgot how long that sucker's legs are... from now on we ride in the round pen.

I want to beat my head on the desk, the wall, you know, whatever is handy. 'Cause frankly, I share the blame in everything that has happened to me.

But, I'll get through this stage, I've gotten through everything else life has thrown at me, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna give up on the one thing that I've done purely for myself in many years, just because I got a little banged up.

Determination is not sitting comfy on your couch and firmly resolving to do something... tomorrow. Determination is getting the crap kicked out of you and going on, because that's just what you do.

In the immortal words of T, I'll man up, rub some dirt on it, and go on.

I am, however, seriously considering naming the bay "Buck" short for "Sumbuck" because I can say that at the barn. Since we're not supposed to cuss, "you sonofa...." is out......

Update on the injuries

Well this morning I'm still sore but not quite as bad as I expected... there was some stiffness in my hip last night, and thats gone this morning, so that's good. My bruises are developing nicely, getting pretty colors and nice deep aches behind them, nothing I'm not used to.

The ribs... I think I did bruise one rib, its pretty tender... the other side, where the scrape is, has a nice surface bruise and is a little tender but not more than you would expect from the visible stuff.

No visible bruising on the side that I think I bruised the rib on, which means it's not cracked, which I already knew because it didn't hurt bad enough to be cracked, but I wouldn't be surprised if I came up with some lovely bruising on it in a couple of days.

In the mean time, till the sore goes away, its gonna be fun cleaning stalls... maybe I can bribe a classmate into doing it for me.....

And I can't even whine about it cause I basically did it to myself.... go me! :P

What I get for getting complacent...

We rode in class today, and I wasn't really worried. I expected the bay to be a little frisky cause he hadn't been ridden in a while, but he hadn't been mean about it before, so I didn't expect it.

Yeah. I got my ass canned. I was only good enough to pick where I fell.

Got a nice abrasion where my right side impacted the saddle horn, soreness in my chest on both sides, possibly a bruised rib, and a nice abrasion and bruise on my left knee that I have no idea where it came from.

Tomorrow, I'm going out early and working his butt out in the round pen before I get on him... run some of the fresh off of him, so that he's not so worried about where everyone else is.

I got a feeling I'm gonna be one sore puppy tomorrow.... the aches are just starting to settle in and get friendly......

Serves me right.....

Expelled...

Red done went and got hisself expelled.

Had some of the HTM students test riding the EBM horses today. Red's turn came up, and he let them saddle him, played nice nice... till the kid swung a leg over the saddle.

Then he started stripping the boy. No really.

Little shit started bucking as soon as the kid's butt hit the saddle.

Hat went... belt buckle went.... shirt came untucked and unbuttoned, hooked on the horn and ripped. The belt buckle was found lying in the dirt of the arena....

I owe that kid either a new shirt or a twelve pack, his choice.

And Red? He's going home. The instructor sat there staring, slack jawed, for a minute, then looked at me and said "I can't put any of these kids on him!"

Once I stopped laughing at the little sucker's sneak attack, I agreed with her. So, Red will be going home tomorrow evening at the latest, and I get to ride the attitude out of him all by my lonesome, when I have time.

*Hangs head* I swear, he's never been that bad with me!

(Author's note: If the horse had to strip down one of the kids doing the test riding... at least he picked a good one.)

Why you little.... !!!

This evening I went out to clean stalls, feed, water, etc.

In order to clean the stalls, I had to bring the boys out, and since there were several other people with their horses out and in the round pens and the small arena, I decided to just tie them at the hitch rail and let them look around for a while.

I pulled Red out first, and since all I have here is one eight foot lead and one twenty foot lunge, I had him on the lunge line. Twenty feet is not a good length to tie a horse with, when you're looking to tie him short so he doesn't wander around and get in the way, so I had an awkward knot. Yeah, that won't happen again.

I went back in to get the bay, got him haltered and halfway out, looked up out the door and saw Red go trotting by, trailing twenty feet of lunge line, head up, tail flagged, proud as can be that he got loose.

Crap.

Luckily, he'd pulled loose to go say hello to two horses a girl was leading by, not to go exploring, and he walked right up to her, said "hi howareya you can pay attention to me now" and she grabbed his lead.

Once I got the bay out there and tied beside him, he could have cared less who was around.

Tomorrow evening, someone else will have the task of cleaning his stall, so I'll be able to put my lunge up and use it just for lunging, like its supposed to be.

That, and having the two buckets per horse that I'm supposed to have, will be nice.

Riding tomorrow, YAY!

Settle down, settle down

Got the boys in this morning (Thanks Farmmom and Farmdad!) And they're starting to get settled in, but they're still a little nervous.

Red is settling in better than the bay, he just wants attention. The bay however... well he's being stubborn. He stood at the back of his stall for a while and I brushed him all down one side, got rid of most of the dust and got him fairly shiny, until he started dropping his head and relaxing into it. Then I went to turn him around and do the other side... no dice. So, he's now got one shiny side, and one dusty side. Oy.

I'll take him out tonight when I clean their stalls and brush him down all over, get the rest of the travel dust off of him and get him looking pretty. The big baby.

Testosterone/Estrogen poisoning.

I'm sure I've used the term testosterone poisoning before, and I just used estrogen poisoning over at AD's blog in a comment on his post about how he's not gonna turn into a totally sappy blog but might get sappy once in a while.

It just occurred to me that some of my readers might not understand these phrases, so I decided to explain them. If you knew them already, well, I hope you get a kick out of it anyway.

Testosterone Poisoning: 1. That condition in which a male does stupid things, simply because he is a male.
Some examples of this kind of testosterone poisoning include: Dumb bar fights, dumb shooting competitions, any contest or activity which begins with the phrase "hold my beer," and any activity, the idea for which originated somewhere in the bottom half of a bottle.

2. That condition in which a female is surrounded by males, smothered in testosterone, and then a) does something stupid herself, or b) gets fed up with all of them and goes to seek the company of women.

Estrogen Poisoning: 1. The condition of a male when he is acting somewhat "girly." This includes, but is not limited to, writing sappy poetry, crying during chick flicks, and giving his significant other nicknames such as "pooky," "schnookums," or "snuggle boo."


2. The technical description for the state of mind of a "tomboy" when she is fed up with being eyeball deep in the bull pucky of her own sex. This condition can cause her to use phrases such as: "Good God! Grow a set and get over it!" "What the hell is this? Fashion hour?!?" "Boo freaking hoo, you broke a nail, stop gluing big fake ones on and man up, you little pansy woman!"


So now you know.