Ugghh! 35 degrees! TORTURE!!

Hi everybody!

Day 6 of being sidelined by a chest cold. On the upside of it now, but looking at today's temp & knowing that Juanita & Lynn have been getting out there & riding has been torture!

I almost wanted to get out there & try to ride today, but told myself to wait until Sunday or Monday. One day of riding might set me back longer if I pushed the issue & relapsed. Don't want this crud to turn into pneumonia!

Positive Bling & TAZ don't mind having some time off, right?

Excited & content that Team Purple has already made it to the 300 mile mark! What an unexpected surprise starting out 2012 with this many accumulated miles so far!

Thank you again Tammy V for the Distance Derby!!

Distance Derby, Day 3

Looked out the window this morning & noticed Bling stretching out her neck & sticking her upper lip up. CHOKE! She does this when she's choking!! I throw a coat on & ran out. She was shivering & her breathing was labored. I ran back in the house & called the vet.

Grabbed a blanket out of the barn & halter/lead rope. When I went back out there this time she was lowering her head & coughing, trying to clear her throat.

Walking her around warmed her back up & the shivering stopped. She still continued to cough though. So, I kept rubbing up and down her neck to see if I could feel or dislodge whatever there was...

Vet arrives & as if like magic... SHE'S FINE!! Nothing. Not a cough, no signs of choke. She even started eating the grass in the yard... (good sign, I suppose) Thanks Bling!

Yes, I probably panicked & should have worked with her & waited a little bit before calling the vet. I've seen her do this a couple times before, but never the cough & the shivering...

After all the drama I put her in the round pen which has some grass for her to nibble on & threw hay & put out water. (so I could keep a close eye on her)

Noon came around & it was warming up outside. Decided I would have to take TAZ out today instead of alternating the two like I usually do.

TAZ was a little slow at first, but soon was trotting & loping all over the place! She really does enjoy getting out & moves along. I feel a little bad when I have to slow her down... I hate for her to be wet all night. (She is not happy with me right now, locking her up in her stall until she's dry enough to be turned back out) :( She is braying up a storm!! (hopefully NOT a Winter storm!) lol

Didn't ride as far & as long today. Figured two days in a row, TAZzy did plenty.

Warmer than the past couple days & a couple hours left of sunlight, it was tempting to not go ahead & saddle up Bling. I decided to just wait until tomorrow. Plenty of nice days planned ahead in the forecast...

Feels like I'm rambling, but I've never been a good blogger...

Bling is eating/drinking, pooping/peeing... Tomorrow we RIDE! :)

11.58 miles

2.5 hrs, 4.5 mph average

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/138706747

Distance Derby, 2nd Day

I chose to ride TAZ today.

Temps dropped, high of only 33 & winds still blowing strong! So thankful for having warm riding clothes. The only thing that got cold were my toes & my nose! (really should have worn my insulated riding boots!)

TAZ was my rock as usual, nothing bothered her. She's all business!! Loves it when the truck follows her... Maybe she just likes having her picture taken? :)

Scared up a couple deer here & there & a few turkey. (who says turkey can't fly?!)

A lot of my friends were out there riding too. I was thinking of you all. Are we CRAZY or what??! Fun to get out & ride though. Beats sitting around the house!

13.11 miles

3 hours, average speed 4.2mph

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/138460198

Total to date: 26.71 Top of the leaderboard today! :)

A few pictures~

Had to take a couple weeks off after breaking a rib~ But it was hurting me more NOT to ride!! The weather has been wonderful!! Fall is here & everything is changing over. Beautiful, absolutely Beautiful!!

Good ol reliable TAZzy!

Hi MOM!!

Here's a new post if you find it! Welcome to the World Wide Web!! :D LOVE YOU!!

New Horse ~ New Blog :)

Knowing that I'm already a TERRIBLE blogger, I'm adding another one! :)

One thing I am good about... Pictures & Videos! Enjoy!! :)

http://skysthelimitendurance.blogspot.com/2010/09/new-horse.html

Pictures from the Trail Challenge & Scavenger Hunt

http://horsetrailriders.blogspot.com/2010/09/we-pulled-it-off.html

http://horsetrailriders.blogspot.com/2010/09/stories-from-trail-day-1.html
http://horsetrailriders.blogspot.com/2010/09/stories-from-trail-day-2-part-1.html
http://horsetrailriders.blogspot.com/2010/09/stories-from-trail-day-2-part-3.html

Thank you to the judges for picking TAZ for an award for the obstacle "Candy Man"! :D

TAZ & I had a GREAT day! It was a lot of fun!! We can't wait to give it all another try next year!

Summer Highlights (part 1)

This is STAR, a 4 year old, green broke Paint. A good friend of mine asked if I would ride & put some extra miles on STAR for her. I was excited to do so! What a sweet little horse! I couldn't find a thing that bothered her. Here are a few pictures.

Welcome March!

Sun is shining today! It's a nice warm sunshine! Saddled up TAZ just before noon & headed out. No real expectations, just went out to see what places were clear to ride.

Mainly stuck to the country roads. I knew the gravel roads would be mostly cleared, and maybe enough snow had melted by now on the DIRT roads.

There was just one bad spot we came across on one of the dirt roads. They has started to plow, but just didn't get all the way through this drift. TAZ & I had to navigate around to get past it & back on course.

I started to feel my cheeks getting some 'color' so I dabbed on a little sunblock. I know I should have put it on sooner, but I'm SOOO out of practice remembering to! :)

TAZ had a lot of energy, I mainly let her do what felt good to her. We did some nice easy trotting, some hard bouncy trotting, and even did a good deal of loping (toward home, naturally!) Pulled her back down a mile or so before getting back home to cool her down. She wasn't that sweaty or anything, just feeling good!

Date: 3/2/10

Location: County Roads

Duration: 2 hours 15 minutes

Distance: 8.63 miles

Type of Training: hum?

Difficulty of Ride: Easy

Weather: Sunny, 34 degrees!

http://connect.garmin.com/dashboard?cid=902133

...Time go go make dinner!

Maybe tomorrow it will be Bling's turn?

Signs of HOPE!

Not a good picture, we were aiming for one with TAZzy's ears up! (you horse people know what I mean?) But I wanted to show you all that TAZ is starting to SHED!! Her hair was coming out in the curry brush & all over my shirt! YIPPIE! :)

37 Degrees & SUN! :) Tomorrow, MORE SNOW :(

Hi Zach! Thank you for following my blog! I am a follower of your's too! :) So, I'm posting this one for you!

Nothing fancy, as I'm not always good with words...

We had a NICE, sunny day here in SW Iowa. 37 degrees with no wind! Perfect day to RIDE! Took it pretty easy, as I didn't want to get her wet with sweat with more snow coming in tonight. That & she is so plump & out of shape! lol!

TAZzy & I rode a little over 7 miles today in 2 hrs. Not bad, just nice & easy! Just wanted to enjoy getting out & RIDE again! (FINALLY!!!)

Hope you were able to ride too! Keep us posted!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/24988808

One more...

New Blog

Hi all!

I've decided to keep two separate blogs. One for Bling, one for TAZ.

We'll see how it goes....

Not much riding has been going on at all! Temps were decent for a little bit, but have dropped again. We have about 5 inches of new snow... I keep telling myself, "everyday that goes by is another day closer to Spring!" I know I'm not alone.