LaunchesKayaks

The weather here has been nothing but crazy heat and torrential storms. It's been kicking my ass (hooray chronic illness -_-) and I haven't been going out much at all because of it. Haven't seen Sandy in two weeks and I decided to brave the heat to go visit and give her a good grooming.

I got about three brushes in before the heat got the better of me. I almost passed out and then puked up all of the water I'd drank in the past hour. I drank way more than I realized and had what my mom calls "water belly". I drank too much and my body couldn't process it quick enough and turn it into sweat. So I kept drinking to cool myself and ended up sick and not sweating enough.

Like, I hurled like a goddamn Squirtle doing that mouth water gun thing.

So I got Sandy put in pasture, snapped this pic of her filthy ass getting a drink, then went and sat down and poured water over my head until I was cooled enough to safely drive home.

Been drinking ice cold Gatorade and resting since I got back. I don't plan on going out to the barn until it's cooler but might make a brief exception on Sunday because my bestie is coming to town to visit for my bday and he and his wife wanna meet Sandy. I see my bestie and his wife in person maybe once a year because they live like 3 hrs away, so this is a very special occasion. We'd be going in the morning, just after Sandy has had breakfast, to beat the heat and see her while she's still in her stall. She has to eat before I do anything with her in the mornings or else she's a raging bitch lol. I don't mind planning stuff around her meals. Girl deserves to eat on schedule lol.

Anyway, there will prolly be very little Sandy posts for a while because of the weather. Just know that she's doing very well and is in great hands. :)

I have used it a whopping three times in the three weeks I've had it. I can't complain too much, though, because Rosie has been less of a goblin since I got it.

She's the epitome of the chaotic neutral alignment and is a wild thing. She sleeps a lot more now and is better behaved because she's just in the chair all the time lol.

The tree went from nearly dead to this beautiful over the 4 years I've lived in my house. I have no idea why it's improving lol.

I believe it's a choke cherry tree.

She was being a serious brat in the beginning and trying to show off for Pete the Mule and was not listening to me at all. I got her listening after using my mean horse trainer voice. She did really good for like the first 5 minutes down the road then the wind started picking up and she got overstimulated. Then she saw a bus parked in a driveway and called it quits. She turned and started off towards home and I couldn't turn her around. So I decided to just keep her walking instead of trotting like she wanted to.

We were doing pretty good with that until a pickup truck came zooming past us and she almost bolted. I got her reined in after she went into a trot and we got back to the barn safe and sound without any actual incident.

We both did very well considering that:

1:) she's being ridden after 7 years of no work

2:) I have no idea if she's been road ridden

3:) I am still kind of a beginner at riding properly, especially with a horse that uses a hackamore

I was going to go riding again today, but I overslept and decided to just take the day off to be lazy lol

Stumbled upon a saddle made for Arabians! It was only used once and was sold for $300 less than it sells for new! Nabbed it up as soon as I found it and it's perfect! It's very light because it's made of synthetic leather and nylon. It is super comfy. The stirrups also shortened enough to fit my lil legs.

Sandy adores music, especially upbeat music. I was playing some Crane Wives (my fave band ever.) I was going to try out my second saddle on her to see if it fits enough to be a comfortable ride but there were riding lessons going on and I didn't want to distract the students. I'm hopefully going to be getting a saddle for her that fits well. I had her fitted and got in contact with a saddle selling company that will help me find what I need.

Also, sorry for the lack of Sandy pics lately. There was a tornado pretty much on top of my house a couple weeks ago and I've been dealing with everything from that. I had minimal damage to most of my property, but had to re-home my ducks because their outside enclosure got messed up and the repairs weren't a bit beyond what I can provide at the moment.

For all the Sandy fans out there

Sandy spent the day in the round pen today so I wouldn't struggle to catch her for exercise. We did her usual ground exercises and had a really good 20 minute ride. She gave me some trouble, but after I figured out some more effective techniques, she stopped fighting me. I've never seen a horse respond to jiggling the reins to steer but it works for her lol. I barely have to use leg either. She responds to verbal cues, specifically words super well.

She's a really fun ride once we get our rhythm going. We're both still learning about each other as well, so things aren't gonna be perfect in the saddle for a while. I have a saddle fitter coming out next week. I'm going to hopefully get a saddle that fits her super well soon, so we can have even better and longer rides. My current saddle fits well enough to ride and not be painful or anything, but a saddle that has been professionally fitted will be so much better. RIP my wallet cause it ain't gonna be cheap. Worth it tho.