Really?

He looks so innocent!  It took nearly an hour to get him clean, then after the longeing, very brief ride, longeing again & even briefer ride, shwmnshp; it took another 45 mins or so to repair his laundered blanket liner.....

I need to ride in Debbie & Larry's arena every day!  No jumps, it's huge....I need to get back to riding over there regularly.

Busy!!!

Guess I'm just TOO busy to take time to post on my blog(s)as well as read & post on facebook, read & respond to emails, write Christmas cards & get them to the post office, grocery shop for Christmas menus, Christmas shopping (albiet, not much of that), going to the feedstore to buy horse treats to put in the horse's stockings, cleaning, decorating, wrapping, more cleaning.....chee, ain't the holidays grand?  Ha!  Actually, I don't mind most of the above, but there's really not enough hours in the day; guess that's why I was making a list of things to remember to do today at midnight!  Couldn't sleep.  I got up with Frank & we did our 6 am workout downtown.  I'll be heading to the barn(after a stop at World Market)in a bit.  I don't want to wait too late as traffic in that area will be chaotic. Posting random pics sonce I'm so far behind.  Some are the Renaissance Fair & some of Kramer.....

I forgot about the pics taken while Gare & Allie were putting up her Christmas lights.  The first picture being an example of my fine, photo taking skills!
Little J watching from inside the house.  Definite Supervisor potential.  ; )

Ye olde Fahting bench, lol!!

The giant Scot & me!  I bought my cool Anderson plaid scarf in his tent.

Ahhh, nothing like chips , salsa AND cocktails to end a good day!

Brrrrrrrr!

It was really cold this morning, around 26 degrees.  However, it's a beautiful, sunshiny day so that helps alot!  I'm going to "do" my hair while Frank goes to the "Y" this morning as we both slept in(we couldn't get out from under those flannel sheets!)and I'll go visit Kramer after lunch when the temps are a little higher.

Last night we went to G's to make some cookies for Verge (& a few for us). Took these pics of Faj & Gare during the baking process.  Your Dad had to decide just where he wanted to place those "rabbit ears"!

The picture of the goodies are in different stages: the baked and unbaked spice cookies (before icing)and G's version of reindeer poo (heehee) is chocolate covered pecans.  It was difficult to keep Gare from eating all of them!

Roxanne kept an eye on all proceedings.....

What a difference a day makes

Very happy to report that Kramer acted much better today as far as his movement.  I took him out of his pen & let him get about 20 mins worth of grass which always seems to make the rest of our time together better.  I then longed him for aobut 10-15 mins at the trot mostly but a couple of times he had to "act out" and he squealed like a little girl horse and bucked.

Since it was very quiet at the barn, I turned Kramer loose in the arena to roll...

...and run!  He had a good time and finally settled down to just study everything around the farm:

I just had to take a couple of pics of his pretty head!

Looking back, moving forward

After returning home and finding Kramer still very gimpy behind even after 5 days of rest & bute.  Paul had the same thing going on with his horse, so we made an appt. with the vet for the next day (Tues. Nov.29th).  After some preliminary lameness exams which showed Kramer was a little sore in his hocks; Nelson (the vet)began examining Kramer's back.  He was sensitive along his back but extremely sore in the back area between the hips.  When Nelson pressed down there, Kramer actually bucked!

It was determined that Kramer needed to be injected in his hocks and back to relieve any inflamation and soreness.  Soooo after being given some tranq and thoroughly being scrubbed (that's what all those little white gauze pads are)and I mean THOROUGHLY scrubbed, he was then injected.  The back injection req'd an ultrasound to help Nelson guide the 10" long needle to the correct place in the back.
Kramer was to be given several days off and then I could start riding him again.
The reason for all of this?  He's not been getting enough warm-up time before being ridden in a demanding manner.  "Demanding" meaning rounded back, on the bit, using his hind legs to drive forward.  Thoroughbreds with their long muscles need more warm up time before intense riding sessions.....geez........an expensive lesson.
When I went out to see him Sunday, I expected him to be moving free and he looked pretty much like before he was injected when I longed him.  The more he longed, the better he got but that's not saying much.  It made me angry (plus the fact that he pulled a front shoe again)& I'm sure that feeling transferred to Kramer as he was in the foulest mood I've seen since I've owned him.  I realized that after I got home and I promised myself to be more understanding & patient today when i go out.  We'll see what Kramer's attitude is today!

Thanksgiving visit with Allie & J

I can't believe it's been since Nov. 17th that I last posted anything, cheez!  There's been many things that have happened in between blog posts.  I traveled down to Baton Rouge to visit with Allie (& Jackson of course)for Thanksgiving.  Had a wonderful visit and meal. 
We did our regular thing like taking J for walks & watching tv, but we also did a little bit of decorating in the Thanksmas transition period.

On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, Als & I went to Barrel Buddies to have a wonderful breakfast before visiting with Nicky, Patsy & Gwen at the horseshow in Gonzales.

Nicky asked Allie to keep "Catfish" warmed up for him since he was showing two horses which Allie did in a brave & cheerful way!  We wound up staying much longer than either of us intended; Allie was sore & tired from being up on a horse for so long after not riding for an even longer time and I practically froze to death standing around on the ground being constantly assaulted by a cold, wet wind!  Still, it was a great visit and I hated to leave.  My heading home was made easier with the knowledge that I'd be back down in two weeks!  Looking forward to some Renaissance good times!