It would appear that it is in fact the spice of life. Well at least my life, despite the fact that there is nothing I detest more than complicated. Very funny, world, verrrrrrrry funny.
So many things have happened since I could last type with two hands...that has been about 8 weeks for those of you marking off the days on your calender like I was. While I do now have two hands to type with, they are still really not very useful as far as anything else goes. Zipping up a jacket is actually quite difficult one handed, go ahead try, I'll wait. Try shaving with only two fingers on one hand, and no there was no way I was not going to shave for 8 weeks before you even ask that question. Even better try taking care of 10 horses, 8 of which are in full work, and riding all of them....I have mastered one handed polo'ing, saddling, and blanketing. None of those things I ever wish to do again...well after I heal.
I initially hurt my hand in February when I was XC schooling a horse for a friend and my hand just slammed into her neck...the horse people, not the human. I went to the doctor, they said it's not broken. Ok. I go to Pinetop three weeks later, hit my hand again on little Nic's neck when he couldn't decide which foot he wanted to put forward, so he just put both! Back to the doctor...looks like I tore ligaments. Four weeks later...cast comes off and my hand hurts worse than before. Back to a specialist (getting fancy, I know), looks like: 1- Torn ligament 2- Torn Tendon 3- Bones separated in the back of my hand 4- Thumb is broken through the joint (Did I mention during this little catastrophe that I also manged to fall and get carried a ways by a lunge line?-- breaking my thumb). So now, all my hand questions have been answered, but my hand is still not healed....obviously, since each visit to the doctor results in a longer list of ailments. I am still riding, haven't stopped riding, and will continue to ride until someone really lets me have it that it is a terrible idea--all my horses are so well behaved, I see no harm!
The fun news is that Tess is pregnant, Aly is the baby daddy! She wants to be A BABY MAMA! YAYYY BABY MAMA'S! I am already coming up with names, I'm so excited to be a grandmama!
Clif is also back in light flat work, which I find quite fun. It only took 8 years, but has completely figured out his job and what exactly I expect from him, which he will gladly do for about 20 minutes until he is bored, good thing is light flat work only lasts 20 minutes! He will start full flat work in May and hopefully start playing around jumping in June. At some point I guess I have to give him to my mother...but I'll wait as long as possible for that...she did break her ankle after all, wouldn't want her rushing back to riding! I'm so thoughtful... I know.
Little Doby is turning into a real horse. He is now jumping, putting his little head down and hacking all alone! So Cute!!! He is seriously a beautiful horse. He will do his first shows in the next month. I am trying to find him the perfect home, he needs to be someone's child. He is 1/2 horse, 1/2 lap dog. If you gave him a bed I have no doubt he would sleep in it and make it every morning before going back out to his pasture. He trys SO hard to make you happy, and he would like everyone to know that cookies do not hurt, in fact, they heal!!
Africa is also going quite well. Still building lots of muscle, but she has figured out her job in general and is starting to think dressage rings might not kill after all. She is going to have a very fun future ahead of her, I am very excited to be able to ride her! Check out www.witsendeventing.com for more info about their great breeding program.
Little Nic is great. He is really starting to come into his own. He actually loves to work, loves to do a fancy trot and jump big! He thinks he is pretty cool, if he were a person he would be a Ralph Lauren model. They seem to always have the most classically good looking people! Go Nic, maybe Ralph will give you some extra bucks for shopping, which I will gladly talk off your hands.
Baby Irish is no longer a baby! That said, her name is not changing. She went to KHP two weeks ago where she was just completely beside herself all weekend that she was actually at a show! She loved it! She loved the atmosphere and the competition. She was very consistent and obedient in her test, just a bit tense so she was in 5th on a 33 out of about 23 or so horses. I was very happy with her score, especially since I know there was at least 5 or 6 more points there with a bit of relaxation! Show jumping was highly entertaining, she went like a little dirt bike through all the turns and just kept going forward, which was the goal. She jumped a very solid clear round. If she wasn't so young I'd says she is ready to go prelim! Which in reality, she will be soon; but me being me, she will have to wait until at least the fall! XC was, once again, quite awesome. She storms around like an old pro; I let her actually gallop a bit and she finished way under the time, which I was happy with seeing as I was still in a cast and had a broken thumb! Irish is convinced she is the best thing since sliced bread, and unfortunately, I do not do a whole lot to tell her otherwise. Irish will do the training at VA HT, possibly something in June, Champagne Run HT in July and from there I will pick and choose another training or two to get her very solid before her big prelim debut sometime later this fall! Very exciting! Her ego barely fits through the barn as it is so I will leave that bit of info out of our conversations until she is getting ready to go into SJ at her prelim. I highly doubt she is going to notice a difference on XC, she'll just think someone got a personality and made the courses more fun!
Overall, everything is going well. In May we will be at the CHP Unrec. HT, Hillcrest Farm CT/Derbycross event, Fenridge Unrec. HT and Virginia HT---think my head will spin?! It will be quite fun I think, everyone here will officially be an event horse by the end of the month! There are lots of horses here, lots of things going on, and lots of lessons being taught! It is nice to have such great people around all the time, I'm so lucky!
Hope all is well-
Hillary
