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dancinghorseOK, I admit it. What I've really been doing is watching a foalcam mare circle her stall for three days straight. Stage 1 labor or a reasonable approximation thereof. Jokes are being made about pulling the stopper, and padded walls because if she sneezes, that baby is going to fly out and bounce off the wall. (The farm she is at is wonderful, highly experienced, and has a vet on call. She's just taking her sweet time.)
Foalcam addiction is a sad, sad thing. And no, no foal yet. Usually I have my own to watch--my dad helps me rig an old camcorder in the barn rafters, run a cable up to the house and attack it to a small tv, et voila. Live From the Barn. It's saved me many sleepless nights curled up in a horse blanket beside the stall.
This year, both babies are elsewhere: the Pooklet (or Pookletta) in California, and the FILLY DAMMIT in Seattle. Pooklet is due any minute now. Filly Dammit is officially due around May 7th--so we have a while to wait for that one. (If it's a colt, he goes to one of the people on the waiting list. The mare is the top-rated Lipp mare in the US. No problem selling her first foal.)
So that's why I haven't lj'ed much. Keeping the window open for the cam.
At any rate life has mostly settled back into its comfortable pattern. The page count is still pretty pathetic, but it's happening--word by word--and I'm always slow in the first third of a book, so this is normal. The latest scene is spawning a whole subplot, which is a good thing. I work from a sketchy outline and fill in as I go. Filling in is happening. Good.
Yesterday I ventured to ride two horses. It's a lot of work--grooming, saddling, riding, unsaddling, cooling down, lather, rinse, repeat--which is why the Feelthy Reech have grooms, but when I'm on my regular schedule I can hit a stride and do three or even four in an afternoon. Getting up to two was nice progress considering how life has been lately.
So, Capria got a ring ride, doing lesson homework--position and aids for me, straightness and rhythm for her. Then da Pook got a ride Out. That was an Adventure. He had not met cars before while under saddle, and he handled that nicely. The dog who came to investigate, not so nice. He got jiggy. We do most definitely have steering. And brakes. Brakes are the best thing. He's figured out that he should stop when he hits overload--rather than bolting wildly out of there--which is a useful thing to have learned. We stopped a lot. He eventually settled down and relaxed, and was happy about the ride.
So was I. A lot of dressage riders won't leave the ring at all. Won't ride stallions, either. I won't have a horse that won't go as well out of the arena as in it, and I don't care what his equipment status is. Pook is suffering challenges right now, with spring hormones and his instincts screaming at him not to leave his mares, emphatically not helped by the fact that Ephiny is tormenting him with her luscious supermodel self, but he's coping awfully well. He did start sweet-talking her at a great rate during his warmup in the arena, but as soon as I reminded him that Saddle On means Work, he settled right down.
All in all, then, a good horse evening. Followed by more bits of chapter, and an early fall-over-go-Thud.
Today's agenda: Work on book. Ride ze keed. Keed was in major sulks yesterday because I didn't ride him. He pulled a stunt he hasn't pulled in years: untied his mom's halter from the rail, got a grip on the leadrope, and started twirling it high, twirling it low, flipping it, spinning it, whippity-whip. He knows this will bring me running, [a] because I don't want him to break the rope or trash the halter and [b] because I don't want him to bean one of the other horses with one of the dangly metal attachments.
Twerp.
Foalcam addiction is a sad, sad thing. And no, no foal yet. Usually I have my own to watch--my dad helps me rig an old camcorder in the barn rafters, run a cable up to the house and attack it to a small tv, et voila. Live From the Barn. It's saved me many sleepless nights curled up in a horse blanket beside the stall.
This year, both babies are elsewhere: the Pooklet (or Pookletta) in California, and the FILLY DAMMIT in Seattle. Pooklet is due any minute now. Filly Dammit is officially due around May 7th--so we have a while to wait for that one. (If it's a colt, he goes to one of the people on the waiting list. The mare is the top-rated Lipp mare in the US. No problem selling her first foal.)
So that's why I haven't lj'ed much. Keeping the window open for the cam.
At any rate life has mostly settled back into its comfortable pattern. The page count is still pretty pathetic, but it's happening--word by word--and I'm always slow in the first third of a book, so this is normal. The latest scene is spawning a whole subplot, which is a good thing. I work from a sketchy outline and fill in as I go. Filling in is happening. Good.
Yesterday I ventured to ride two horses. It's a lot of work--grooming, saddling, riding, unsaddling, cooling down, lather, rinse, repeat--which is why the Feelthy Reech have grooms, but when I'm on my regular schedule I can hit a stride and do three or even four in an afternoon. Getting up to two was nice progress considering how life has been lately.
So, Capria got a ring ride, doing lesson homework--position and aids for me, straightness and rhythm for her. Then da Pook got a ride Out. That was an Adventure. He had not met cars before while under saddle, and he handled that nicely. The dog who came to investigate, not so nice. He got jiggy. We do most definitely have steering. And brakes. Brakes are the best thing. He's figured out that he should stop when he hits overload--rather than bolting wildly out of there--which is a useful thing to have learned. We stopped a lot. He eventually settled down and relaxed, and was happy about the ride.
So was I. A lot of dressage riders won't leave the ring at all. Won't ride stallions, either. I won't have a horse that won't go as well out of the arena as in it, and I don't care what his equipment status is. Pook is suffering challenges right now, with spring hormones and his instincts screaming at him not to leave his mares, emphatically not helped by the fact that Ephiny is tormenting him with her luscious supermodel self, but he's coping awfully well. He did start sweet-talking her at a great rate during his warmup in the arena, but as soon as I reminded him that Saddle On means Work, he settled right down.
All in all, then, a good horse evening. Followed by more bits of chapter, and an early fall-over-go-Thud.
Today's agenda: Work on book. Ride ze keed. Keed was in major sulks yesterday because I didn't ride him. He pulled a stunt he hasn't pulled in years: untied his mom's halter from the rail, got a grip on the leadrope, and started twirling it high, twirling it low, flipping it, spinning it, whippity-whip. He knows this will bring me running, [a] because I don't want him to break the rope or trash the halter and [b] because I don't want him to bean one of the other horses with one of the dangly metal attachments.
Twerp.
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no subject
Date: 2004-04-22 02:27 pm (UTC)I dunno. The guy who teaches across the hall from me and his wife have a human baby due on May 7, and they've been to the hospital twice in the past two weeks with false alarms.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-22 02:52 pm (UTC)As for the Filly Dammit, most likely the mare will go over due date. They cook 'em slow at this particular farm.
The mare I'm watching (in upstate NY) is at 376 days. Normal is around 342, though 30 days on either side is not abnormal.
376 days?
Date: 2004-04-22 07:03 pm (UTC)Re: 376 days?
Date: 2004-04-22 07:19 pm (UTC)I missed it, of course. Was feeding horses at the time he hit the ground.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-22 03:09 pm (UTC)Da Keed is clearly considering a second career as a rodeo cowboy, and is practicing for the calf-roping event....
no subject
Date: 2004-04-22 07:21 pm (UTC)Ze keed has long yearned to be a trick roper. He practices and practices. Someday, he prays, someone will come along and Discover him, and he'll go on to a life of fame and fortune. And All The Cookies.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-23 12:20 am (UTC)