Witchy Woman

Happy Halloween! Abbey was kind of a nut ball last night. I lunged the crap out of her after she threatened to kick another horse as it rode by. She finally settled down and we had a pretty good ride. She is still not herself, but she's not in pain, so I'm chalking it up to time off, plus no trainer rides, plus cooler weather, plus being a mare, and some barefoot transition. Letting her sit won't fix anything, so we will just go to work and do what we can do instead. Trainer is back in a little more than a week, so I'll get some feedback after she comes back.

I got to sign a 'welcome home' sign for the rider and her horse who just won nonpro horsemanship at Appaloosa Worlds, so that was fun :) She is an amazing rider and a really sweet person, and it's pretty cool that she's a student of my trainer. Another girl is at the youth show at MSU this weekend, and yet another is going to Color Breed Congress and finally realizing a life-long dream. It's really awesome to ride with people better than me because it makes me work harder. It doesn't hurt that they are the sweetest, kindest kids I've ever met either.

Two sad notes is that the sweet older lady who has been taking lessons fell off her BFs horse this weekend when he spooked and she broke her shoulder. Not ideal at 65. I hope she gets back in the saddle again after she's better, but maybe on a more reliable horse. My closest barn friend is another axing kiddo who I have gotten to know pretty well, along with her mom. She was finishing up her ride and standing in the indoor just hugging her horse when I was walking through to go change. I could tell it was one of those horse hugs that is the only thing that makes something awful seem okay, and I asked if she was alright. She said no, that her mom might have breast cancer and is going in for more screening. I didn't know what to say, so I just gave her a huge hug until she was ready to let go. My heart aches for her; their family has had a tough couple of years with loss of jobs and health stuff, and I wish there was more I could do.

After witnessing such a range of highs and lows, it was really nice to just lean on my pony for some quiet time after my ride. I love to put her muzzle in my hands and rest it on my chest and lay my head on her nose. She leaned into me and we just stood there and breathed for a minute. It was heaven on earth. Wishing everyone a happy, healthy, and safe Halloween!