Welcome to 2024… In some ways 2023 sped by, but yet time crawled at the same time. Anyone else feel that way?
The last two months of the year were a blur of busyness, including two sets of the grandparent visiting, the quick decline and loss of our golden retriever Obi Wan due to liver or spleen cancer, and only a few rides to be had on non-rainy weekends. 

Oreo was turned loose over Thanksgiving and has become very demanding for attention, especially from Skyler. Just this weekend she caught her first mole! She also stalks the bunnies and is exploring the yard more and more. We have recently noticed on our camera another cat coming by super early in the morning to look for food … might have 2 outdoor kitties on our hands!

The end of the year also brought a surprise diagnosis for Scooby – chronic Lyme. We had noticed some changes in him and thought it was his eyes/vision. His eyes checked out good with no visual impairment noted (barely a cataract starting, retinas intact), but the images the vet consulted on that were not normal were deemed indicative of inflammation by the eye specialist. While there, I asked to pull the bloodwork on a gut feeling. It wasn’t often, but he had been a bit grumpy this fall about touch and I thought his arthritis was acting up (he is almost 18 and worked for the Amish most of his life) so he’d been on an herbal Equioxx essentially and it seemed to be helping. He’s been started on meds for the infection and inflammation (off his herbal stuff) and can still be ridden. It will be interesting to see if his “in no rush” attitude changes after this infection is cleared! He’s been on the meds a week, and I’ve already noticed he’s more bright and seeking some attention after his meals, and not worried about walking through his gate as much. In hindsight, what I thought was soreness from misplaced shoes and arthritis could have been signs of a Lyme flare-up. I’m hoping we caught things early enough that there is no long term affect on his eyes and we can manage future flare ups with some homeopathic remedies.

This past fall I also delved into the world of Easy Care Octos and super-gluing shoes on Scooby and Breeze for the winter to give them a break from the nail on shoes. Normally we’d just decide to use boots – but Scooby is way more comfortable in shoes when the ground gets frozen, and it is hard to leave boots on all the time, even with the best of drainage. I’ve had limited success, the most with Scooby so far with them staying on for more than 2 weeks at a time. In hindsight, I should have re-measured Breeze’s hooves when the shoes came off to start looking for boots for him! I’ll do that at the next trim. Keeping the shoes on his hinds has proven more difficult than Scooby’s but that is also usually the first shoe to pop-off him as well! My hope is to make this work full time for at least Scooby, which will be a bit of cost savings for me, as at this point he doesn’t do as much as Breeze, who I will probably put back in BP Nail on for competition season unless I can get the glue-on to stay on more than a ride at a time! I’ve also been following the Easy Care page and there are even more gluing options coming out this spring, so who knows, I could change paths again lol

I’ve had a difficult time writing my 2023 “summary” post because it was another not so banner year when it came to riding. In hindsight though, there has been a lot of good things. First, I rode again – after my heart was crushed by the loss of Sully, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do when it came to horses/riding. Breeze is not a substitute, he is an entirely different horse in his needs, brought into my life I think to teach me even more about patience and emotional needs, versus all the physical challenges I’ve faced with other horses. While we didn’t make it to competing and logging any AERC miles, we did rack up 203 miles of working together in 2023; 25 of that over a two-day CDR which I finally got to do with Skyler and Scooby, and 14 at an intro ride with another friend I’ve been trying to ride with for years. I’m still learning Breeze’s “buttons” and how to best communicate with him, and I’m hopeful 2024 will bring us more breakthroughs and miles together. Another positive thing in hindsight is the introduction to Tom Moates and working with him for a few clinics in 2023. It is raising my horsemanship and understanding to another level, with more tools and insight to be gained this year I bet. We’ve just passed the 1 year mark of me paying his bail and movement to QT boarding. Crazy…

Skyler’s growth has been impressive in hindsight too! I never would have pegged her for a kid that wanted to get into horse shows, but she is! She did well using not only the lesson horse but Scooby as well. Ideally she wants to show Scooby this coming season, but we will see how that all shakes out. She’s made a great transition into middle school, which I can’t believe is nearly 1/2 over, and got bumped up into the more compacted math class which she loves. She’s still doing soccer, though is becoming very torn between that and riding and showing. We have ‘plans’ to go to the Eastern Shore ride together this spring and ride on the beach; hopefully no storms will drive us home early like it did to me in 2019!

Asher’s had a great Freshman year so far, trying new things including track over this winter. He’s already made huge improvements in his race times and his endurance, which will benefit him when spring soccer tryouts come up. I think in hindsight we’ve learned that “Honors” classes doesn’t exactly mean what it used to when we went to school, and had originally restricted him to only 2. He’s bumped up into another already, and they are looking to do the last subject with the change of semesters if there is room. He’s already working on his schedule for sophomore year – all honors plus an AP class already. Sounds like he is going to take a break from Marching band, but continue on in Jazz. His braces came off finally after nearly 5yrs on, and now he’s looking forward to learning how to drive and constantly begging already!

So here’s to a great 2024!