spring, baby time, feeding ponehs and parasites.

The last few weeks of pregnancy are the hardest. I am so ready to have this baby.

I'm officially at 38 weeks and we are on baby time, makes it hard to plan things.
Tax lady: how is Monday the 19th for you?
Me: should be okay, unless I am in labor, because then I would be busy
Tax Lady : oooookay would Tuesday be better?
Me: maybe? But if I don't show it's because of the Baby, cause I am going to be tooooo busy to remember to call you.

It was pretty easy to be well behaved when the weather was crap, like yeah I really want to slog around outside in the freezing rain and mud, wahoo!. Well, spring has sprung. It is in the mid 70s with a light breeze, the flowers are coming out and I want to ride so very badly.

My dragon baby is very wiggly, I am still enjoying having him in my belly but at the same time I feel like we are both getting impatient. I'm trying to do all the things now that I won't be able to do later, like take long baths, read books and waste time online.

You can vote here on when baby is born, Joe is convinced it will be the 21st, I really don't know.

Otherwise not much going on that other people would be interested in. I had horrible stomach flu last Friday and a 9 month (!) pregnant, puking woman is the saddest thing ever. Jeep tried to break and I had to take it in to the shop to get Ujoints replaced, glad Joe is much more sensitive to weird car noise then I am, I tend to just turn the music louder which isn't the best plan. We went yesterday to visit friends (they fed me steak, delish!) and skyped with other friends and family :) It was fun to show off my belly to my parents, and really great to see them although I find Skype a little weird.

Critters are good, although maybe more clingy then normal. Sadie is always watching me. Probably because I am always eating.

Another thing that interests probably only me is figuring out this feeding thing. Ponehs have pretty much free choice grass hay, meaning I am their hay slave and bring them more about the time they run out of the previous feeding. Joy looks good (although hairy, muddy and disgusting) Poppy is slightly ribby and Little Horse is skinny again. Picked up more Triple Crown senior, since it is simplest to have all three eating the same grain, TC SR. doesn't make Joy a spooky mess, it is palatable, easily digestible and fairly high calorie. Only issue is it takes Joy a minute to snarfle her smaller amount of food, Poppy takes a normal amount of time and Little Horse is the slowest eater ever. So I separate them and fuss. I have Little up to three pounds of TC SR and oats and this happens daily.

Little Horse: nomnom, what's that? oh it's the dog,  nibble nibble, oh what's over there? hmmmm, nibble nibble
Me: Just eat your damn food!
Little Horse: but you put oil in it and now it has a funny texture
Me: just eat your damn food!
Little Horse: I don't really like it when there is more then one pound of oats per two pound of TC
Me: just eat it!
Little Horse: I think I will stand over here instead, eventually you will let Joy back in and then we can share it.

This is with food she likes, food she doesn't like she paws at and when it doesn't magically turn into something tastier she will dump it all over the ground.

I had fecals done on Joy and Little in preparation for spring dewoming (they got hit last with Equimax in December) Joy had a very low count and Little had an enormous count, more then four times higher then Joy's! I feel awful because I had gotten Little's numbers down and then figured we were good to go with a more normal deworming schedule. I think because she had such an awful parasite problem when she was a foal (I am seriously doubting if her dam was ever dewormed) that her gut doesn't work properly in getting rid of them, I know young horses often have a harder time with parasites but she is different. So the new plan is hitting her with dewormer every other month and looking into treating her for ulcers this summer, I just don't think her tummy works right.

Silly high maintenance beasties. Mine are pretty easy to keep though still, I think my mom is right and horse people just like to fuss.

looks like i get my indian summer after all

The weather is glorious and I have a cold. Not awful enough to spend the day in bed but bad enough to put the damper on my enthusiasm to do things.

The weather last week was terrible and since HiT was here I had to trail ride in the pouring rain a couple times. HiT has gone home, I got her owner out on some confidence building rides, got the mare much fitter and got her trailer loading nicely. Then I got paid, overall it was very good. I had some interesting conversations with the owner about horses and training since I am not a fan of most natural horsemanship gimmicks.She was surprised that I could start a young horse in a safe and compassionate way without following any natural horsemanship gurus. To be honest good horse trainers have been around for centuries and most of the techniques these people are selling have been in use for generations.

I've decided not to compete again this year, since I am not entirely sure of how I will be feeling and would hate to pay a lot and then not feel comfortable jumping. I am going to put the money towards lessons instead. Will try and get some jumping lessons in soon before I switch to flatwork in a couple weeks. Joy will definitely benefit from lots of dressage and lunging so I am not feeling at all restricted.  Took Joy out on a fast ride last night since whenever I rode her last week it was as a guide for HiT's owner and we had to mostly walk, it was good for Joy to stretch out over the hills and be able to enjoy some speed. The weather is supposed to be glorious for a bit so I plan on taking her to the river one more time before Fall kicks in again.

Sadie has been having some peeing issues, think she might have a slight UTI, so I've been dosing her with apple cider vinegar and yogurt, which must be terrible because the poor dog won't touch it without a generous amount of cat food mixed in. It seems to be helping. She has been getting large amounts of people food recently due to our roommate's toddler and it seems to be adversely affecting her, she is also all dandruffy and itchy.

Had Joe take some belly pics last night, I think I just look a little chubby instead of preggo.

baby belly at 14 weeks

stupid grin, lol

so going to ride, do a little lunging, deburr ponehs again (dunno where they are finding the beastly things), and clean bunny cages.