Another Photo Dump

 I've spent the past couple of weeks wrestling with very irritating eyestrain, which annoyed me deeply. I only have to be at my desk 4-5 hours a day, unlike so many of us who are chained to their offices for 8 or 9 hours, yet still my eyes decided it was too much, ungrateful brats. Anyway, after DH (yay! I finally get to call him that!) dragged me forcefully to the optometrist, I'm getting my prescription glasses next week and then I can settle back into writing and blogging as much as I please.

So for today, enjoy a photo dump.

Faith looking resplendent, as usual. HOY is only a month away!

Thunder had a much nicer two weeks with me not hanging on his face and also not expecting very much of him while I sorted out my hands. I ride him without a whip on alternate days, and this is going much better than I'd hoped.

Our newest livery, Vortex, was rescued by his lovely mother from a horrible situation. He arrived in heartbreaking shape two weeks ago this Saturday, with a body score of maybe 2/9, so many ticks that I'm still soaking the scabs out of his mane, mud fever, and tendonitis in all four legs. So far, his rehab is going better than expected.

Red and his kiddo just enjoying one another 💜

Riding carefully between the beans to keep from squishing them!

Watching E2 jump a little log on Ladybug. Thunder coped with this mini-hack really well

I have enlisted riding school kiddos to make sure Arwen gets thoroughly worked (cantered and jumped) on the days I don't have time to ride her, just to shake off some of the dragon chunkiness

Schooling Lancey has gone much better now that I don't try to nail his head down all the time, although I am still bad at downward transitions, no surprises there

Baby Azai and his mom, Tarka, got demoted to sleeping in one of the small paddocks at night when their rehab-needing brother Vortex arrived, but Azi is handling everything with aplomb. He is, obviously, the life of the party right now

Lancey has done plenty of hacking, sometimes ponying my mom on sweet little Spirit.

Looking down at the yard from a hillside 💜

Ladybug starting to look very grown up under E2.

Sahara's mane is amazing. She has a new lease kiddo since Dawn was sold (to a fantastic home), and they seem to be getting along pretty well.

First Mugg n Bean breakfast as husband and wife 💜 I love being married to this magnificent creature

After much debate with myself, I moved Diablo in with Tarka and Azai. They mostly ignore each other, which is OK for now, since I worry Diablo will get bullied with his one eye. He's very shut off from the others at this point. Hopefully Azai will bring him out of his shell.

Stardust is really starting to recover from her horrific abscess. She roams the yard pretty much freely during the day and the grass is starting to make a difference, even though we're desperate for rain. She'll need several months of self exercise before I start to consider if she can slowly return to gentle school pony work, but I'm more optimistic than I used to be.

I reduced Skye's food because the old lady is CHONKY this summer! They had their shots last week and she had quite a big sore lump from her tetanus shot, but it resolved in a few days.

He had a few days off, and felt a bit flat on Monday, but was back to his usual perfect self on Tuesday.

Flashy is also getting very chunky, so he spends his days inside eating hay instead of grass and babysitting Vortex. When the others come in at night, he goes out to the herd. So far he still looks like a pregnant pony sausage.

One of Dusty's students gave her some love and she absolutely lit up. Motivation for us to try to bring her back to work, even if it's just lead rein ploddies.

Fat ponies are becoming a recurring theme. Ladybug regained every kilo she lost in the winter and then some.

Midas has been extremely good lately. He will forever be half Welshie, but he'll be 9 this June, and he's finally maturing into the sweet little superstar we need in the school.

More hacking 💜 No complaints from me!

E2 fell off someone else's pony and hurt herself. She'll be okay, and recommended a friend for the interim, E3. E3 was mildly horrified when I suggested we herd the cows in but she was a good sport about it and Ladybug didn't mind.

I put the double back on Arwen for schooling. I do regret introducing her to it as easy as I did, in my cluelessness, but she's happier in it. I think the curb sitting quite low has something to do with it since she has that melanoma on her inside cheek. If she's happy, I'm happy, a view J shared in his lesson with us yesterday.

I've surrendered to the fact that I can only really enjoy nonfiction or thrillers as leisure reading. I love spec fic but I get paid to write it, so my brain counts it as work. Deaver is my ultimate favourite, followed by Francis and then Patterson.

A teaser of the rain that's hopefully coming soon 💜

So happy with his coat and body fat this summer, although we're working on building more muscle.

Arwen was in the veld when I wanted to school her Thursday afternoon and behaved perfectly to be ridden in with a halter.

Obviously she followed that, once I had her tacked up and turned away to put on my spurs, by thundering off and spooking the cows. When I reached her she turned around and came up to me. My sweet geldings have lulled me into complacent habits, which the Dragonchaos factor will surely break.

Baby bod is slowly vanishing.

Wynnie is still growth spurting hard, although at least the front end has caught up again. I like the long neck and shoulder she's developing.

Arwen had her first ever lesson with J yesterday. As expected, he focused heavily on the basics of rhythm and contact, and she worked her body in a way she never has before. It was hard, but good!

Finally, some of our wedding photos 💜

God is good.