Its beginning to feel alot like Spring!

Some fantastic rains recently have filled up our pond completely. Pics below. The fish should be happy. Lots of green grass for the horses if they can get to the other side of the fence.

Rode Gunner last weekend. Knee did very well for 45 minutes of trotting. No loping yet but will soon. Still lunging Classy and trying to put some muscle on him.

Had a major pipe repair yesterday after the 3rd small repair in Gunner's paddock in the last 2 months.  My hubby is so handy!!! And I am grateful for that!

Back in the saddle again

This Sunday was my first "official" ride since dislocating my patella and spraining my MCL.

Rode Gunner for 45 minutes.  Lots of trotting and circles. Felt really good.  Gunner did really well given the fact he hadn't been ridden since October. Even the loud 4 wheelers and barky dogs didn't bother him.

We rode down by the pond but couldn't get too close because a dead tree fell over after all the rain last week right in the path of the pond. From what I saw the pond looked full....I mean really full! I will have to take pics as proof this weekend.

My thighs are a little sore today but I jumped right back into P90X and started week 5 of my round 2.

Cheers to riding again and the ability to workout again! Thank the Lord!!!!

Dad's cousin Bob Dodge came in town on business and got to meet him for the first time. We took him out to Saltgrass Steak House for his first chicken fried steak.

Our pond has water!!

Took some great pics of our pond with water from the recent rains. It seems to have filled up at least a foot within the last month or so. Hope it continues to rain as the pond still needs another 2-3 feet of water just to be at normal levels.

New Year!

Yes its been a while and quite a bit has happened since last I wrote.

The cliff notes version:
October - I was at an Aggie football game (Baylor) and hopped off the bleacher seats in front of me and dislocated my patella and had a grade 2 (partial tear) of my MCL. After one month of wearing a brace and then one month of physical therapy and another month layoff from extreme workouts and riding I am now on week 3 of P90X and will take my first ride this weekend barring any bad weather and mud.

November and December went by so fast with holidays and here we are week 3 January.

All of the animals at L5 Acres are doing well. Winter has been mild but wet. The pond is looking a little better. Will have to post pics later to show the progress since this summers drought.

Just found out we have Paperwhite Narcissus plants in our back yard. They smell so good!

Classy's first sweat in one month!

This morning as I was feeding the horses, I saw Classy had sweat around the base of his neck!  The last time he sweat was the first week of June.

I left the horses outside today as long as the weather was permitting.  The skies were overcast and we even had a few sprinkles of rain today around noon.  At about 2pm the clouds parted and the sun was beating down.  Classy was breathing heavily so I hosed him off and put the horses in their stalls for the remainder of the day.  Classy still had sweat around the based of his neck and between his back legs; but was still panting and warm to the touch.

I may attribute the sweating to some supplement changes I made that I started this past week.  Classy is now on One AC twice a day, a hoof supplement, a Senior horse supplement and electrolytes in the evening.  Today I started making the switch to a full Senior horse feed from Nutrena Safe Choice.

The only problem with leaving him in his stall all day is that he stocks up.  Mostly the back legs get stiff and swollen but today all four were stiff and swollen and he was walking very slowly.  With his dinner tonight I added 3 scoops of Aspirin powder to help with the swelling.  I will add it to his AM feed routine and see if that helps.  I may need to start wrapping his back legs with standing wraps to help contain the swelling and discomfort.  Will take that day by day.

Other than that, Classy hasn't lost too much muscle tone since I haven't been able to ride him as regular as I did in the spring.  I am waiting another 3 weeks since starting this new supplement routine and then possibly start riding in the evenings again.

Gunner is doing fine.  It has been so hot overall that I have only ridden him once in almost 2 weeks.

We've had our new kitten one week today and I believe we will stick with the name Murphy.  He is a brown tabby and is 7 weeks old.  Brad surprised me with him last Friday.  He is such a brave little kitten and he and Peanut are great friends now.  Remi has learned to not bother him as Murphy will hiss and arch his back at the first sign that the dogs are getting too close.  Bucky really hasn't learned so we will just keep incorporating the two of them until they both learn.

Our new kitten, Murphy at 7 weeks old.

Yay for Rain!!

About 6:20AM this morning I heard a huge crack/boom....what I thought was Peanut knocking over something was actually Thunder.  I didnt recognize it!  Right after the thunder, the rain started and pouring hard.  I never thought I would be so happy to see rain.  It has been raining all day so far here.  Plants and animals are loving this.

The pond is depleting even more.  As of Sunday, there was no water under the bridge.  Our island is now a peninsula.  Brad submitted a photo to Channel 2 news weather facebook page and it was featured on the 5 o'clock news on Friday afternoon.  We were told by a friend; I didnt actually see it myself.

My new riding routine will be Tuesday - Thursday ride Gunner and on weekend mornings ride Classy before it gets too hot.  Thats my plan at least.

Gunner did very well yesterday.  We rode for about 45 minutes all around the property all 3 gaits. I am making an effort to get him into "sticky" situations to make him think before reacting.  Saw some deer, walked over by Classy who spooked at me raising my hand.  Gunner was a good boy.   We were back in and out of culverts and all around trees and trunks.

Will see how dry it is today and ride again.

Classy is doing well....knock on wood

I rode Classy yesterday and we walked around the property for about 30 minutes then I checked his breathing and he seemed fine.  So we trotted around the easement for about 5 minutes and then came to a stop.  I checked him again and he was breathing heavier and a little out of breath.

I called it quits for the day.  I think he did very well considering the heat.  But the heat really isn't his problem.  It's the humidity.  These last few weeks with the temperatures rising, the humidity has actually stayed relatively low compared to most Spring/Summers here in Southeast Texas.  There has been a great breeze in the early evenings that helps keep the humidity down and keep Classy from completely overheating.

I have added electrolytes and a hoof supplement to his One AC supplement regime for this summer.  He isn't eating the electrolytes so I will start mixing a little water in his feed to sort of mash up the supplements with his grain.  A trick I learned from my friend Christine.

He cooled off quickly last night after a brief rinsing with a hose.

Today would've been Gunner's turn for a ride, but we had to run errands instead.  I will ride Gunner tomorrow and hopefully have Friday off to ride both horses (weather permitting).