I came down with a cold about a month ago.  It eventually turned into a sinus infection, and it is this week that I am finally feeling normal again.

Confetti’s back is looking better.  We decided it was likely caused by the electrode.  Last season I rode with the woolback pads in competition; at Quicksilver I rode with regular English pads.  The difference, combined with my lack of core strength + imbalance, could easily have resulted in the electrode shifting and rubbing at the hair.  Lesson learned: competitions will be in the Woolbacks from here on out.

The weather turned super cold the week before Christmas.  Despite my best efforts to take Fetti out for either a brisk hand-walk around the barn, turnout, or work in the round pen every other day, I came out that week and found her quite lame.  I know I’ve said I won’t put her on Previcox until she’s retired from competition, but.. I called up the vet the next day and picked up Previcox on Christmas Eve.  Merry Christmas, pony!  She’s feeling much better now.

Current game plan: keep her on the Previcox through the rainy season (when rides are few and far between, and work is near-impossible in our arena-pond and muddy trails).  Restart conditioning in March (?) when weather permits.  Pull her off Previcox after resuming conditioning.  If she remains sound and her breathing looks good, we’ll aim for a summer LD. If she’s not conditioned enough for it, we’ll shoot for the LD next summer instead and take this whole year to condition.  Breathing or soundness issues = retirement from competition, resume Previcox.  Hock injections are not off the table.

I got a really fabulous gift from Maddy for the Equestrian Blogger Gift Exchange. It showed up right before Christmas (yay!), then I left for vacation for a week, got two rides in to start the year off right, and.. well.. I have one sneak peek picture for y’all:

pink + yellow boots!

There is more awesome.  It will be a post of its own, but.

I rode the first two days of the year, and they were fabulous rides!  I am so out of shape, so is she, but she was really good and I was very pleased.  I decided to make a point of getting in the saddle once a week for some real work.  She got Tuesday off (or a walk? I can’t remember!) and on Thursday I learned we were preemptively evacuating the barn the next day, expecting it to flood.  Er.. great.  I did not ride on Thursday.  I cleaned up my tack room, assessed what was going on, figured out where she was going.  Thursday night we turned her out with the “baby” and they went flying around full of energy.

Friday, her previous owners were kind enough to take her in at their place, complete with hauling her up.  She was supposed to be a good older sister and share with the baby pony.  Instead, she kept the shelter to herself and politely kicked the baby out into the rain.  After repeating the process the next day with her sister, she was relegated to solitary confinement.  Bad pony!

pony jail

Although rest assured she was allowed into the bigger paddock when it was not super-stormy, she was not confined to pony jail for a week!

Friday afternoon I heard that the tack rooms might flood, too, and that it was suggested we move our stuff.  My very tolerant boyfriend came with me after work to load up my car; it now holds 75% of my tack room.  I left the hay bales (lifted on buckets) and bottles/grooming stuff, deciding that wasn’t worth the work to move, and it’s high enough in the tack room it’s probably fine.

backseat of car, filled with saddle + boxes + pads + a zillion other things

trunk of car: two more boxes, bridles and breastplates, bareback pad, a small pile of saddlepads, who knows what else

Saturday it rained.  Sunday it rained.  During the week the roads were closed or blocked or just jam-packed; mudslides and fallen trees and more rain made for absolutely horrendous commutes.

blanket not-intact

Somewhere in there ‘Fetti caught her blanket on the panel, ripped it open, and de-stuffed it.  Near-new waterproof blanket is not even worth replacing.  Blanket suggestions, anyone?  I’m currently thinking the Smartpak blanket with the 10-year guarantee may be the way to go.

river gauge height

The river peaked at 20 feet Wednesday night.  That’s flood stage, but the barn doesn’t flood then – just enough to make us all nervous.  Grateful she was up on the hill!

forever grateful for friends who take her in during a storm!

Thursday and Friday the Haffies got to stay in the bigger paddock all together, as they had apparently decided to all get along by then.  (The baby pony still got her own paddock for safety’s sake.)  Hillside paddock romping ensued, and I had a delightfully muddy and more-in-shape pony by the time the ponies returned to the barn over the weekend.

I.. have no idea.