How Do They Know?

Work: day off. Too distracted.

Ramblings for the Day: This is the third (fourth?) time Mathilda has gotten injured on the weekend. My personal favorite was when I was out of town, called home on Friday night, and got, “Hi, can’t talk. The vet is coming up the driveway.” Having worked in an ER, Greg is sensitive about emergency calls. If he called the vet, we were at DEFCON3 and falling. So there I was, set to have a night on the town in the big city, and all I could do was go back to my hotel & eat crackers to settle my stomach.

This weekend was less vet, more drama. Usually on our walk, Mathilda & I dawdle along the edge of the field [Two Horses]. Saturday afternoon, Mathilda & Greg came along on Rodney’s obstacle course walk to keep him company. M decided to try one of his exercises. Mistake. By the time we got back to the barn, she was holding her leg at a wonky angle and wobbling at the walk. All of the standard fears are magnified when the patient is a 28-year-old geriatric with a hitch in her git-along to start with.

Between Greg’s knowledge of anatomy, Google surfing, and these images, we diagnosed a groin pull. Nothing to do but administer pain meds, hose the sore spot, and wait. We knew she was feeling punk because she allowed me to console her.

Even with the most obsessive checking of the patient, you have plenty of time. You certainly aren’t sleeping. You go out to the pasture to feed carrots. Granted you might be too worried for concentrated tasks – such as working the Thoroughbred – but there is no reason you couldn’t do mindless chores such as another load of dishes or folding the laundry. But you don’t. You sit. More carrots. You watch bad TV. Another carrot run, only you stress when she’s too full to eat yet another carrot. You fill out crossword puzzles that you don’t remember the next day. Invariably the one part of your first aid kit you need is the one that has just gone out of date. Why don’t horses ever do things to themselves first thing Tuesday morning?

We’ve all had horses come sound the day after a show. What is the most calendar-sensitive stunt your horse has pulled?

Ding!

Work: obstacle course, 1 lap in company.
Report: Although only ~15 minutes, one lap is enough. I get exhausted. Today, he got excited enough to jump one of the logs rather than walk over but it’s hard to get annoyed. He’s so pretty when he jumps.

Ramblings for the Day: From triumph (over 100 possible show names!) to tragedy (the news of Amy Tryon) and back to work. Today’s project was to install our zippy, new, over-the-stove convection/microwave. The first things we zapped were Rodney’s heating pads. That tells you all you need to know about the priorities in our house.

How do you mix horse and house?

Foto Friday: A Short Tribute to Amy Tryon

Rolex 2008.

A course walk with Ms. Tryon was always intimidating. She’d wave her hand at some enormous pile of wood and say, “Oh, just kick over this.”

I interviewed her three times: on fireproofing barns [The Horse], winter exercises [Eventing USA], and time management [Eventing USA]. That ties her with Michael Poulin for the person I have written about most often. She was always well-spoken, thoughtful, informative, and gracious about making time for an an interview.

Amy Tryon is the reason I am a firefighter.

Help Me Name My Horse, Prize Offered


Update February 4, 2013: Winner declared.

Rodney is looking for his new show name.

I am terrible at names. Our 16 (?) year-old, roadside-adopted black Lab still goes by the name of Puppy, among other things. As a writer, the mot juste is of utmost importance to me. The responsibility of selected the perfect, appropriate, clever, long-wearing, easy to say/spell name paralyzes me into inaction. So, I am cloud-sourcing this. From what you know of or have read of Rodney, suggest a show name.

Seriously. He has to get his spring shots & the vet is going to ask what name to put on the Coggin’s. I need your help. Here’s what I’ve gone through so far.

Just Roscoe – He came with the name Roscoe and no show name, just Roscoe. Plus I had recently finished an essay in honor of a horse I used to ride with the show name Just George and I was feeling nostalgic. [George’s essay appeared in Horse Illustrated, Feb 2011]

Perpetual Motion – In a spirit of reinvention, we changed show and stable name. Rodney is staying as a stable name. We’ve been calling him that for too long to change now. [Square One]

Start Your Engine – Once we finally sorted out his meds, he calmed down – for a relative, Thoroughbred definition of calm – so PM was out. I’ve always liked SYE as a name but he’s not a racecar, more a high-performance, luxury sedan. [Gentlemen … ]

Joie De Vivre – This sentiment is more him, but a) he’s not Selle Francais, and b) can you imagine how this could be mangled over a loudspeaker?

Rodney’s Saga – Great free publicity but current plan is for blog life to be shorter than show career.

Please spread the word to anyone who might be good at pondering pet names. This is not a requirement, just a request.

The Fine Print
Winner: In the event of ties or similar entries, the winner will be the first to cross my eyeballs (or eardrums for the low-tech among us), regardless of any order or date on comments, messages etc. Some days you’re the windshield. Some days you’re the bug. If none of the entries tickle my fancy, the prize will not be awarded.

Deadline: The contest will be over when the vet draws blood and asks me what name to put on the test tube, most likely sometime this month, April 2012. (Update 4/20: Looks as if vet appt & therefore deadline won’t be until early May 2012.) (5/18: Make that at least JUNE 2012. Good thing we don’t have any shows planned.)(November 2012: No vet appt. No name yet. Fire away. At some point, I will have to pick a name, I will award the prize. Eventually.)

Prize: $25 gift certificate on Amazon.com.
OR
The same from the independent book dealer of your choice, provided I can reach their store online.
OR
Perhaps simply my undying gratitude, if the offer of money turns out to be a can of worms.

Rules: Rules will be added to, amended, or arbitrated at the sole discretion of the judge – me.

Entries: LMK. Blog comment, email, Facebook, phone, smoke signals. Of a preference, it would be nice to keep all the ideas together as comments on this post, but that’s not a requirement either, just me being OCD.

Caveat: Void where prohibited. Plus, I reserve the right to ditch the contest without notice if it turns out I have done something stupid &/or illegal.

Final note: If you help me find a brilliant show name, I have every intention of honoring my promise. The blather is CYA in case folks with briefcases start sending Cease & Desist letters.

Another Day, Another Set of Poles

Work: reverse poles, hither & yon, as Saturday.

Report: workmanlike & unexciting, which is the point. Although I was tempted to go for the third & farthest set of poles, I am learning from past mistakes [Doom, Nevermind]. The plan is to solidify what works before moving on [Boredom].

Ramblings for the Day: I’m not going to stop grooming. I’m going to stop yapping about it. Mainly because it ceases to be grooming after the first few minutes. He’s so fat and shiny that the dust just slides off. The rest of the time I am currying, brushing, toweling an already clean horse in an ongoing attempt to fill his bottomless need for affection. Let’s skip listing the grooming sessions from here on. Just assume massive amounts of attention are being being showered on the horse unless otherwise noted.

What is your horse’s favorite part of being groomed?

Retail Therapy

Work: PM1 groom & walk, 3 short loops with off-side leading for variety & the dog for distraction/PM2 groom.
Report: An easy day as a break from having to concentrate (him) & having to be patient (me). Given that, he was pushier than required. Pass but no star. The dog’s temporary barn reinstatement is hereby revoked.

Ramblings for the Day: I’ve never been one for shopping as a cure for what ails. I wait in the parking lot while hubby goes into the grocery store. If poke my nose inside, the checkout total goes up by $25 for snacks. (Yes, he cooks. Yes, I’m lucky. Very.) Clothes shopping is agony. I have friends who act as personal shoppers when I absolutely have to buy new clothes. Before the LEGO store opened, I’d go to the mega-mall once a year, maybe. Even tack stores aren’t a money sink. I’ll buy what I need, but don’t usually stray off-list. I’m talking about shopping for things when you already have way more than you could ever use. Shopping itself as a soothing activity. Nope. Not me. Can’t see it. Except for ….

I do NOT need more horse books

Books. I spend hours in bookstores. I buy books even though my to-read pile threatens to take over the house. More than one bookstore cashier knows me by sight. In any new town, I will head for the local bookstore. New project? New trip? Buy a book. While the ebook will never replace the codex in my heart. they do allow me to indulge in buying books NOW!

This year I gave up buying LEGO & books, specifically books as therapy, for Lent. This is the second year I have chosen a money-related Lenten discipline. One result is learning about my needs and weaknesses. The other result is that Easter Monday resembles a combination of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Today’s post-Lenten splurge was on books for Rodney: horse agility, trick training, liberty work, Western trail. Anything to keep us occupied and entertained. If nothing else, a large stack of books will project a comforting illusion of progress.

Previous post on groundwork philosophy [SIT[uation]REP[ort] II],

What is your favorite horse how-to book?