Calm, Forward, Straight

Calm, Forward, Straight

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

In the Arena #154 - Laissez le bons temps rouler!!

Happy Fat Tuesday! Don't know about you all, but I'm giving up complaining about the weather for lent, which doesn't start until tomorrow so.... I AM F*CKING OVER IT!

There - I feel better. Time to catch up.

After the less than encouraging set of x-rays in January, I researched homeopathic remedies for bone growth, and ate those babies by the fistful. At the final appointment (!) Dr. Dreamy cleared my arm for regular activities and raved over the plentiful new bone.

So, the arm is mostly back to normal. There were issues with my hand feeling weak, and with a scary amount of numbness once I ditched the brace, but that's improving daily. The broken arm saga is officially over. Bye-bye Dr. D... parting is such sweet sorrow.


That was right about the time the most recent bout of cold + wind + snow/sleet/freezing rain-fest started. I have (finally) returned to work - weather permitting. I love my job (landscaping) but making a living has been trying lately. Too many days we can't work, and too many when we can work, that are super miserable to spend outdoors.

Yep. That's my girl in a flowery hooded doggy raincoat. SO excited to wear it (not)...

This past Sunday brought a brief visit from the golden orb in the sky - finally time to hop on the pony. First ride since October. I tacked Val up with the bareback pad and scrambled on - admittedly a little apprehensive about putting my full weight on the arm. It felt so good to be on my horse - I threw my arms around his neck and gave him a giant squeezing hug. Thought bubble over Val's head said 'Oh - get on with it lady!'

We happily tooled around the arena, did some circles and turns on the forehand, but mostly - we tested out our new tack acquisition. Val now officially sports a Micklem Competition.

Disclaimer: There is no room in the budget for indulgent tack purchases here. Nor do I believe in changing tack every time you encounter a problem. However, everything I have read - much of it from you my fellow bloggers - suggested that this bridle would be a good fit for Val. I've always thought he had issues with the noseband on his old bridle, and getting him to accept contact has been a struggle. With Smartpak's generous return policy in mind, I went for it.

The Micklem is anatomically designed to be comfortable on the facial nerves, and to stabilize the bit in the horse's mouth. Also, Val has a big tongue and a low palate. All three times he has worn it, he was chewing to beat the band, and made lovely lipstick. The turns on the forehand Sunday were like butter. I'll need a few more rides in it to confirm, but I have high hopes that some of what I assumed was bad riding might have been discomfort. Fingers crossed.

Stay tuned for upcoming posts about this year's garden (theoretically), and a project related to some new additions - coming soon to a farmette near you!

Handsome - even with the yak hair
My favorite view

ummmmm - cookie please!!
 ♥♥♥ (hehe - forelock resembles a toupe)

13 comments:

  1. So glad the arm is finally better and you are back in the saddle. Now if Spring would just show up....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wonderful news about the arm - over! Done! Hooray!

    And great photos of riding the sweet pony! They are the best. So glad you are finally getting to enjoy the regal one.

    Love the snow pictures!

    ReplyDelete
  3. So glad to hear the arm is better! And I would have let you try Keil Bay's Micklem - I have never used it with the bit and since I took his cavesson off, his bridle is actually less restrictive than the Micklem is in terms of things strapped around his face... we use it occasionally when he doesn't want the bit but lately have been using Salina's halter with clip-on reins, which I like a lot.

    Great to hear that Val is going better in the Micklem!!

    Hope we will soon be dealing with spring in these parts. We just had a day with high of 32 and ice pellets all over the ground from the day before.

    ReplyDelete
  4. So happy for you that the arm saga is over! And very happy that you got to ride the pony! There is nothing better than that!
    I am with you on the weather. . .we can have spring any time now!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow, great news about the arm! So happy for you.

    Val is handsome as ever ( even with his toupe forelock) and Im so happy you finally got in a ride. Things are looking up. Now if the weather would start cooperating that would be three great things in a row.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Another Micklem convert - they truly are great!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Glad to hear that you are officially mended and that you've finally had a chance to get back on Val! The snow pics were lovely, even if it's not lovely to be outside in the snow. Here's hoping for better weather for lent!

    ReplyDelete
  8. The comment about your bones by your doctor remind me of this episode of Invader Zim, where Zim fills himself with lots of human organs (too many( and the nurse xrays him and says "What a healthy boy you are. And so FULL OF ORGANS!"

    ReplyDelete
  9. Happy for you!!

    And I hear you on the weather. Despite how miserable our winter has been we have had no snow. We had one day we had maybe a half inch of snow on the ground but it had melted by about noon.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yah for riding again!!! So glad you got the Micklem - hopefully you'll like the differences you see. Sydney definitely goes better in it; it didn't solve all of our problems, but it was definitely an improvement. Looking forward to hearing more.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh, yah!!!! Glad you're back at it. :0)

    ReplyDelete

I love, love, love my readers, and knowing that you've stopped by - it really makes my day.

However, to avoid the new illegible blogger word verification, I've added comment moderation. Lesser of two evils.

Please don't let this stop you - keep those comments coming!! :)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...