Return of the YAYA

I have many excuses for the lack of posts since the New Year started. Here are 2.
1. Surgery. Nothing like a little surgery to knock you out of the saddle and leave nothing horsey to write about. Also, recovery is never as quick as expected - probably because if you admit that you are OLD - then you will be more worried about the whole anestesia/big hole in your neck thing.
2. Weather. As a professional (i.e., paid) weather person called the big blizzard of aught 9 followed by the ridiculously low temperatures of aught 10 (hehe) - the big... WHAM. I heard it on TV. The excessive rain just before Christmas saturated the ground. Then the Christmas Eve blizzard dumped snow drifts in our driveway of 3 or 4 feet. Roads up our way stayed slick for a couple of weeks because the temps were so low - exept major streets which did get clear. Now - finally - we have melting. The snow/ice is almost gone. And so is the base of our driveway. We have standing water in the round pen, areana, at every gate, and everywhere else.
So the good news is that I didn't miss any preemo riding weather while I was under the weather.... haha. The bad news is that Splash had a month off. He is not complaining.
I went back to work on Monday and tried to return to my normal Zumba/Step schedules. It wasn't pretty and I wasn't 100%. I returned to the lo-step level and tried not to move my neck much. Even begged a spot just behind the instructor so I could minimize neck turns.
When the Sat. temps were predicted to hit 50 degrees, I emailed Patty about the party lesson. We were on! Yeah!
By Friday our driveway had a pit of quicksand/mud that threatened to swallow the Honda. I was planning to take Splash to Patty's on Sat. The situation was grim. Could the truck with trailer escape from the Wild Orban Ranch?
Steve worked on the "pit" for a couple of hours Sat. morning and hauled about 8 huge rocks and tried to build a bridge across the abyss. He drove the trailer with-out the horse across - there was lots of slithering and mud slinging. We loaded Splash on the other side and I went off to Inola. Reverse the drill when we got back home. Additional driveway repair REQUIRED.
The lesson was GREAT! I did NOT fall off. My neck felt OK. Splash was pretty good.
Marsha and Sherry didn't make it but Kathy B with Call was there. Call was feeling fresh so Kathy lounged her for a bit before mounting. Splash and I started warmup at the walk and then did a little trot work. I was using the German Neck Stretcher but did not use spurs. We worked on trot/walk/trot transitions both directions and life was good. Then Patty asked for canter between M and C. Splash took the correct lead and we cantered a 35 m circle a few times. We stopped at C and did a turn on the forhand - not to bad. Asked for canter and Splash picked up the correct lead - yippee since right lead is not his strong lead. Then, just past M he decided to express his opinion. Head shake/crowhop thing for a few strides, but I didn't fall off and I kept him going and we continued the large canter circle until I asked for halt. So Far - So Good.
Kathy and Call joined us for more trot work and Susan H brought Webster in for some lounge work before she mounted for a little western pleasure. Both Splash and Call were pretty good. Webster is always good. We finished the lesson with some turns on the haunches at the walk. Splash was ready to quit but did a few nice turns and we called it good.
Then, the most important meal of the Day. Lunch at Graham's. Carol, Paul, and Nancy joined the 4 of us and we had a lovely time. Next Sat. is the ODS annual meeting so no time for lunch and I will take Splash early to crash Carol's 9 Oclock lesson so that I can get to Sapulpa by noon.
Today, Steve spent another morning working on the driveway. He installed a bunch of fence posts in the pit on either side of the big rocks. Grouted with excess material squished out of the hole earlier and covered the hole/whole mess with 4 stall mats. So, I loaded Sunny and took him to Dawn D for a little work. Alaina got a quick ride before we came home. We have ride night on Thursday night and then another lesson early Sat. so wish us driveway luck and drying weather so Steve can get a load of rock in to really make repairs.