July 12, 2010 – First… I’m so sorry for not getting an update out last week. I’ve had a number of  subscribers ask me how come I didn’t do a post last week. In truth, I just didn’t feel like it…LOL  I was wiped out after spending a hot day over at Teen Ranch watching Alyssa and her new horse Aullie (they rocked it, btw ) and then coming home to laundry, grocery shopping, outside work, etc. so I just was in one of those moods where all I wanted to do was play a game on my computer while I vegged in front of the TV. So, my sincere apologies to everyone for not getting an update done. I will try not to let that happen again but I can’t promise, especially during the summer, as we always have so much on the go. And congrats to Alyssa on a great showing with Aullie!

When I first started this blog, there was so much to talk about in my weekly updates. With a new farm and a young horse, there was always something to talk about and share (not to mention relate to and laugh about) with others who have a passion for horses. From a bit of a background about myself, my family and our farm life, to Charlie and his typical young horse antics (including his journey to finally riding in the trailer without any problem), to working with the horses to get them ready for show season… it’s all been great fun. And now that I have people asking why there wasn’t a post or telling me that they love to read (and laugh) at my updates, it feels like every keystroke is worth it.

However, some weeks I feel like I am boring you with ramblings about our horsey lives so it is hard to write about what has been happening and still feel like I am keeping you interested in the goings-on at Shady Ridge and Equine Web Design. But, I guess you wouldn’t be a subscriber if you didn’t enjoy reading my updates so I guess it is probably a case of familiarity… generally what happens to one horse person has either happened to or is familiar to other horsey people. Whatever it is, I want to thank you for being a loyal subscriber and I hope you will read back through some of my posts and offer comments on those that you like. Would love to hear what you are thinking when you are reading any one of my updates (and other helpful articles as well).

So… now that we have cleared that up, let’s get back to our regularly scheduled blog post.

Last week was a scorcher in our neck of the woods. The temps here (and from what I understand for a lot of areas in North America) have been hot… I think we hit 35C on one day and then there was the humidity levels. Holy kamoly… mid 40s… yuck. It was awful. I feel so bad for so many people who do not have air conditioning. I couldn’t survive without it, especially with asthma.  And now they are saying this coming week will be another scorcher as well. Sheesh.

The horses did not like the heat last week either. They were sweating out there in the paddock just standing there. We went out each afternoon and gave each of them a shower to help cool them off a little bit. We also picked up a salt lick for the paddock for them. Charlie still doesn’t go for it much but the girls love it. When we first put it out in the paddock, both Ellie and Bella were licking it together. I wish I had my camera with me as we stood looking over the paddock fence while both of them were slobbering all over it. LOL It would have been such a cute picture.

The weather also makes horses not want to work…. and who can blame them?! It was still pretty hot around 7pm on Thursday when Megan and Charlie had their lesson. Charlie was sweating in places that I have never seen sweat before. And, you could tell he didn’t want to be out there with tack and a rider on him. He was doing some pretty big bucks. Thankfully Megan has good legs as she stuck through them all without falling off but it wrenched her neck a little so she had to rest that for a couple of days.

Then on Saturday, he was awesome. The temperature was MUCH cooler that day and he did some great jumps and seemed to get his leads every time (correct me if I am wrong, Carole). He was awesome. Ellie, on the other hand… Harley started to ride her but you could see that she was still not 100%. It doesn’t look like she is in any pain but you can see that the muscle on her one back side is not as firm as it was so she felt a little wobbly under saddle. We have decided that it might be best to bring her back slowly and not push her too much by making her jump too high or show in the next Tottenham show. So, it looks like Harley will be riding Bella at the next show or two and Ellie will get some rest. One good thing about it… I get more time to ride her. She needs the slow exercise and I can do that .

We have a couple of busy weeks coming up with a show each weekend. Again, we are trying to get some more mileage on Charlie. He is a pro (or close to it) at trailering now but he still has his little issues in the ring that need to be worked on. I hope the weather isn’t too hot and Charlie is a good boy. We’ll see if the new bit helps

By the way… we are still looking for a used 2 horse bumper pull trailer with a tack room, if you happen to know of one. And we will be selling our 2 horse when we get the bigger one. (Fingers crossed… we have one we are interested in seeing so hope it is as good as the owner says it is and that we can organize our schedules to go see it.)

That’s about it for this week everyone. Hope you all stay cool and have a great week!

And don’t forget to offer your comments on any of my posts and/or let me know what you would like me to write about.