Horse Work Horse Work Horse.....

The weekend was a blur with horsey activities and I never got to ride once!

Friday night was time for mighty show preparations including trimming (done by eagle-eye mom who NEVER missed a single hair.....) and then washing, etc. Splash, Sunny and Pico for the August 4-H point show on Sat. Up early to get to the show and band/weave various manes and do the show thing all day long. It rained a bit but didn't get mushy.

Nancy and Madeline stopped by to check out 4-H and I coached M in how to beg for a horse. Perhaps she can join Quiz Bowl until she has her own mount.

Ivy didn't get to jump cross-bars but did ride the speed events on my/her best dressage barrel horse. Alaina rode Sunny in all English, Western and Trail but skipped the speed stuff. After the show, the girls hung out with their friends while the fabulous show horses grassed on expo pasture.

Then, on Sunday we attended the 4-H County Record Book Award Banquet and both girls earned Bronze horse medals.

I am headed to Kansas for a conference this week and will miss the girls' first day at Central Upper Elementary but I did get to go meet the teachers tonight. The girls are in the same Pod with Ms. Bacon and Ms. Edson in classrooms across the hall from each other - so a new school with 6th grade only.

In other news! The great 2009 Wyoming Pack trip is almost here. After I get back from Kansas on Thursday, just in time for 4--H ride night, I will take Diez to Dr. S for a founder check-up on Friday and then, Sat. morning early, head out to Jackson Hole for a pack trip into the Tetons.

I have been in denial since early July when Diez developed acute laminitis after the July 4 rain caused lush grass growth in the middle of summer. Poor Deezie-Doo. After 16 years in our back pasture - through drought and monsoon, Diez foundered on grass. The culprite? Equine Metabolic Syndron. EMS is more likely in older, mares of a certain body type (easy keepers) and Diez, although thinner than in her pudgy youth, was not thin. Hormons and reduced exercise may have been factors as well. I will write a full update after the check-up.