Here's a really quick recap so that I can get back into the swing of things with posts for 2025.
As fantastic as 2024 was, our plans did fall off the rails a little toward the end of the year. Although Arwen rocked our socks in October by winning Medium 3 at Champagne Tour and we had another really fun show after that, we didn't quite manage to get our ten grading points for Advanced yet. No regrets - we had an amazing year of showing together.
Thunder also went to Champagne Tour and had a very tense warmup, but settled in the test for a decent score. He started his 2025 three-legged lame with the kind of swelling that makes your heart turn cartwheels, but after a set of ($$$) x-rays, the vet proclaimed that he was merely bruised and would be sound within ten days. I was riding him again the next week and he is completely fine now, having lost much less fitness than I expected over the holidays and after his injury, so good for him.
Lancey went to our provincial Arab show in the end of November to finish off our show season. He was absolutely superb in every way, not putting a foot wrong for three full days of classes, and we brought home a little bit of satin to boot. Our highlight was coming third in a large and strong hunter pleasure class even though, truth be told, I have absolutely no idea what hunter pleasure even is. Someone told me to ride forward so we just zoomed around basically. He makes everything so fun.
Faith was diagnosed with bony change in her left front navicular, the result of an injury she likely had as a foal before we got her. It explains the chronic short-stepping issue she has, as well as the tightness in her back. We gave her a shot of Legend and put bar shoes on in front and I put her into boot camp with me for four or five weeks to lose weight, get supple, and regain the musculature she needs to move comfortably. It worked insanely well, and Faith was going the best she's ever gone by the end of November, when she somehow ripped a hole in her right front. After (more $$$) stitches, it healed like a charm and she lost hardly any fitness. She and K are looking incredible together.
Skye is beautiful, perfect, and still living her best life with no apparent signs of slowing down even though she'll be about 37 this year at our best guess. Her joints remain creaky, but honestly, I'm not seeing anything get worse. She had biliary when the first round of ticks came out in the spring and recovered like any young, healthy horse would. I even had to reduce her concentrates because she was getting rather portly on the summer grass. I know she won't be with us forever, but I'm grateful for every happy, healthy day we get to have with her.
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| this is me teaching K to ride on Skye like a thousand years ago |
Raya handled her weaning with aplomb and is living out now with a cute little two-year-old colt friend who is, in fact, smaller than she is. She has a super-sweet, submissive, totally calm personality with nothing pushy or dominant about her - very similar to her mom's, but more expressive and personable.
Finally, and most excitingly, I started working with Wynnie in November. She already had all the citizenship skills nailed down (after all, she's been to three Horse of the Year shows), but as her third birthday approached, we started playing with ponying off Lancey and then little bits of groundwork. Wynnie has an insanely active and agile mind and is the only horse I've ever seen who actively gets bored in the field. I also took one look at her big personality, loud opinions, and girl-boss energy and decided to sit on it sooner rather than later, thanks. Her physical maturity was there, too, so we did very gentle and basic groundwork and then I popped on for a few little sits in December and January. I'll try to do a full post just about backing her, but in case I don't, here is proof that the baby dragon did not, in fact, launch me during her first few rides.
The stableyard is chugging along fine, with plenty of training horses to keep K and I busy and a few new darling retirees. We nearly closed our doors in November when the terrible drought persisted, but Abba provided the most beautiful rain in December, and now we are full steam ahead with breeding plans for this season and a string of ponies getting ready for HOY.
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| this child raked in the ribbons on Sunday riding dear old Mawarda |
Looking forward to staying caught up as much as possible now, although with so much richness in our lives, it's not surprising when we get too consumed with life to journal it.
God is good.
