Partial Clearance

One day I'll have a better schedule for posting updates! I'm now in a two week frenzy of packing, Rolex, moving and then Kentucky Derby. Maybe by the end of May I'll have an ounce of sanity, but not likely. My June vacation / time off is looking better and better. 

In good news... Echo has farrier AND vet clearance to start ground work! My farrier was confident she would be fine two weeks ago when he was here to trim / reshod but I was hesitant so I put off talking to my vet about it until this week. Today marks week 8 post injury and my vet agrees that if I go slow she should be fine and just to let her tell me when she's had too much. 

I'm going to go as slow and light as Echo will allow. She's going to be her beastly self.  I figure I'll start with 10-15 minute walk and trotting on the line and slowly build up from there. Maybe building up time first and then attempting cantering and then going to tack and side reins etc. 

Sorry hoof is kind of dirty... I had hard time getting it cleaned up yesterday!

Weight Gain Update - Week 14

While at the barn yesterday, I realized it's been far too long since I've updated on Echo's weight gain, 8 weeks to be exact. See the last update here.

She's been without some or all of her rice bran pellets for 2 weeks. There's apparently a shortage of rice bran? At least that's what I've been told. Thankfully it doesn't seem she I'd loosing weight without it but she isn't gaining either. Without the grass coming in strong and fast it might be a different story. I know she only gets hand grazed but I'd like to think the 30-45 minutes she gets in a day has SOME impact. 

I apologize she's not the cleanest, I had to do a quick groom since someone was antsy for her dinner. I'm guessing this is the truest example of her with the winter coat being 95% gone. I'm glad I didn't have to see her when she arrived from Texas without some sort of winter coat. Also keeping in mind that since my 6 week update on her weight gain, she's been through her injury and stall rest - something she seems to be handling without too much stress. Thoughts?

Basketball: Four Days Four Ways

Oh how I love you basketball. More specifically, college basketball. I enjoy NBA/Pro but I just don't get into it like I do college. One of my friends wanted to go to the Women's Final Four in Nashville TN and basically paid my way for everything so it was a trip I couldn't refuse. 

Last Saturday night was a thrilling night as Kentucky Men's basketball defeated Wisconsin down to the last shot by a freshman. Ok - the freshman part, not so impressive when your whole team is basically freshman. Anyways, we had gone out to eat to watch the games and the vibes in Lexington were insane and wonderful all at the same time. Best part were the idiots at the college contained themselves and didn't burn any couches. Yes they burn things when we WIN (should be opposite).

Sunday we packed up and headed for Nashville around 11:00am and got in around 2:00pm, checked into our hotel and headed downtown to get involved in the Women's Final Four pre-game activities. The first game was at 6:00ish and we got free food pre game. Notre Dame (who I love) won the first match-up and UConn (who I despise) won the second. Had to buy a Notre Dame T-Shirt to try and offset the number of UConn fans that flooded Nashville for Tuesday's final.

Tickets!

Monday we spent the day sightseeing around the city and ate delicious BBQ. For the evening, we had scouted out the best place to watch the Men's Championship game against UConn. Yes UConn had their team in the Men's and Women's championship game at this point. We found a local SMALL bar that the Nashville division of UK alumni was having a game party. Talk about being crammed like sardines. It was great though to be in the company of all Kentucky fans when the city was full of UConn nut jobs (sorry to any of you that are UConn fans but holy crap!). In the end, Kentucky lost what would of been the college's 9th Championship but super proud of the team! We got farther than anyone expected and I love being part of the Big Blue Nation insanity.

Downtown Nashville from the pedestrian bridge.

Tuesday I slept in as late as possible before having to get up, shower and grab breakfast before hotel checkout. Game started at 7:30 so we had plenty of time to kill again. Not a huge country music person, so the Country Music Hall of Fame was cool to go to, but definitely more worth it for a die hard fan. My goal for the day turned into finding any reference to non country music possible. I succeeded somewhat. After walking around the city more and more free pre-game food it was game time. Notre Dame didn't show up to play, it was a terrible game and in the end UConn won... Was still a fun game to watch, and the girl that I was sitting next to was a nice UConn fan so it was a nice break from the others surrounding us. 

Sightings of non country names in the country hall of fame! Made my day.
 

Championship game time!

We drove back after the game, getting back to Lexington around 2:30am on Wednesday. I slept on and off most of the day fighting what I think ended up being a slight stomach bug. I had no appetite and had cold sweats for 5-6 hours. I finally saw my ponies yesterday. This weekend I work Sunday, which would normally be my day off but at least I don't work late either day. Horses are being switched to nighttime turnout today so yay for less dirty stall from Dakota. Echo is still in when it's rainy / muddy / wet out so I'm sure she will be a beast tonight since it's rainy today. Hopefully I can ride Dakota at some point this weekend!

Nashville = capitol of Tennessee. Capitol building...

Full size replica from the Parthenon in Greece. I just know it symbolizes Nashville as the Athens of the south. No idea what the building was / is in Athens. I didn't go in, but it was cool building. I think the one in Nashville is an art museum inside. 

Delicious BBQ!

I became slightly obsessed with the architecture/ shape of this building. 

Entrance to the country music hall of fame.

Won't lie - saw the work jockey and it took me far longer than I wish to admit to realize they didn't mean racing jockey's. 

Whole lotta gold and platinum records. 

Inductee plaques at the hall of fame. 

More non country!

This is how I feel about anything Elvis. A giant thumbs down. 

Solo Hack Part Two

Hacking is something I love. Hacking solo however, is something that has always eluded Dakota and I. I had yesterday off work and spent late afternoon and all evening at the farm. I had some other stuff to take care of, but after finishing stalls, I knew I'd kick myself if I didn't take the opportunity to ride. Echo was hanging out in her paddock so I pulled Dakota in for a quick grooming and we headed to the arena. 

I got on with zero expectation, as I usually do, and let Dakota just have full rein length. He was loose from the get-go and was freely walking and completely relaxed. Note to self, now going to try this from now on. No more getting on and pulling in my reins to get him on the bit right away. 

We walked, we trotted, and we trotted for the entire time without him trying to create new gaits. There were a few moments he was off in his front left that's most recently caused problems but I'd push him forward and he'd be fine. I'll keep an eye on it in the future but there was no heat and he had just gotten trimmed so he should be fine. Finished up in the arena, and he was sweaty so I decided to go out for a hack. 

Yellow is boundaries of the farm as far as I know.

The red highlight is where Dakota and I ventured last night and we went 1/2 down the driveway as well. We finished up the night with a lap around the track area. 

Other news, Echo is in heat and driving everyone nuts. Farrier is happy with how her hoof is looking. Depending on how the next 2 weeks go I may be in the clear from the vet to start lunging her with tack etc.