Misc

Here's a random update on the happs. Mario did a mentorship with another PHCP mentor on Wednesday. He will probably post to the blog about it so I'll leave that to him, but I do have to say it was really weird to head off trimming by myself that day... knowing that he was trimming too - without me!? I was very proud of him though!

The horses have of course kept me on my toes as usual with transitioning to a new place. Jordan's eye had a really bad flare up. There was one day where it looked like his eye had been replaced with a big white opal. GAH!! That called for a vet visit, and I learned my old vet doesn't travel to the new barn. So we had a new vet, another transition. ;-p He also kicked/struck at a neighbor and got his hoof caught on some fencing, so we had to remove that fencing and today will be putting up a heavier gaege "stud fence" to make sure my prince and princesses don't hurt their wittle selfs.

Faith had a meltdown yesterday - we suspect from the drama of the ranch moving part of their cattle herd near to her paddock, about 200 cattle moo'd their way by and she worked herself into a total tizzy as a result. Jordan was very irritated by Faith's behavior and made several attempts to place himself in ways that would stop her incessant pacing behavior. Hope seemed to be doing it too maybe, although definitely to a lesser degree. I find it fascinating that Faith was not drawing comfort from the fact that neither her herd, her people or the other pasture horses were the least bit disturbed by the cattle. Always the one to teach me new things, that Faith...

Hope seems to be doing the best, she's fairly relaxed and seems content. Unfortunately her knee is still bothering her so I can't ride her. I did ride Jordan for the first time and other than neighing his head off for his women the whole time, he was a very good boy.

I had a very long day in San Luis Obispo on Friday and had to leave the house at 7am - when I woke up I had a very bad sore throat which has since turned into a full blown cold. Saturday I got up at 5am and went to L.A. to watch Debbie McDonald, a US olympic dressage medalist, give a clinic. It was wonderful, worth the lack of sleep and sniffling for certain to be able to learn from her and spend the whole day/evening with my friends Katie and Jennifer. We spent the day at the clinic and then had drinks and a light dinner before heading home. I unfortunately didn't take a single picture of the clinic / riders itself, but here's a shot of the arena it was held in. Nice huh? The view directly across from the arena looks out over all of the L.A. valley!

I have today off and am trying to catch up on the 12,000 things hanging over my head. I feel like I'm moving through a pool of molasses with this cold!

Here's a pic Mario took of a beautiful filly that was just a week old. I trim her mom, and will some day trim this little one's feet. Her name is Moulin Rouge. :)