SPRING - I have proof!

 - There is no snow.

 - Copper is not wearing a blanket anymore (and she is so white!!!)

 - Phoenix is spending a huge amount of time sprawled on the warm ground, or rolling, or any other form of relaxation.

 - Tumbleweeds and tornadoes of horse hair.

 - There is a slight, cautiously optimistic green starting to poke through the ground.

 - Parker is bored and harassing the other two.

 - Evening chores happen while there is still daylight left.

 - Every time I walk out the door, I smell melted manure.

 - Baby goat kids!

(Photo by Selina Bailey)

Mildred gave birth to three (!!!) healthy perfect babies on Easter weekend.  Two girls and a boy.  

A couple days later, Lucy surprised everybody with her one little girl kid. It's like a goat maternity ward in the barn these days.  Wow.  

I am starting to think about getting back to work, and I miss all my riders, but my recovery is still going way slower than I'd like.  Generally I'm feeling much better, but I struggle with fatigue and weakness.  I'm getting help and working with my doctor to find the right medication.  I may not feel ready to start up lessons again, BUT I am getting out to the barn twice a day, enjoying spending time with my horses, and even taking my dog out for walks around the yard.  That is all improvement. 

If you would like to brave the mucky barnyard and my dirty hairy horses, we are up for visits - just contact me.  

An update on the First Day of Spring

Yes, it is our annual manure melt and shedding season on the farm.  Yay!

I am slowly recovering, and it is going much more slowly than I'd like it to.  But I've had to learn to be patient.  I'm still not sure when I'll be ready to go back to work.  Soon, I hope.

Some of you might know that my husband was nominated for a Juno, for Recording Engineer of the Year.

He's wearing his Ariat jeans and I'm wearing my formal cowboy boots, haha!

 We spent the weekend at the Juno Awards in Hamilton, and although he did not win, we had a good weekend.  John organized an Engineer-Producer discussion panel event, which was a success, so we were pretty happy about that.

I'm sure you'd like to see some pictures of us all cleaned up and NOT wearing barn clothes…!

This is me having my picture taken with Alanis, although Alanis is not having her picture taken with me.  

I'd love to see my riders again, but March break has come and gone and I have spent it recovering from being tired all weekend!  I will keep you all updated and let's hope we can all get back in the saddle soon!  Until then, here are some pictures of goats for you.

A Progress Report

Hello!  I'm still here!  I thought it would be good to let you all know what's going on out here at Punkeydoodles Corners.

I'm feeling much better, although still having a hard time with fatigue. I can get out to the barn twice a day, and take the pug for a short walk, but I wear out very easily.  I think it's the medication.  I often feel very unsteady on my feet, which is not a pleasant feeling when cleaning up in the barn or walking past a large hooved animal. This has improved though; for about a month I felt like I couldn't walk in a straight line!  I'll be seeing my doctor later in March, and see if we can figure that out.  Otherwise, these meds seem to be doing their job; I feel much more like myself again!

The horses are getting bored.  I think they could use some company, so if you want to come out for a visit, feel free to give me a call.  Most days now I can handle a visit and I think I'd like to start seeing people too.

I'm not sure when I'll be back to work.  I expected to really be back on my feet by this time, so at this point I'm thinking maybe May. At least that way the barnyard will be dry and cleaned up.

Right now, we're getting into my least favourite time of year: manure melting and shedding…. but hey, it's part of life.  I'm just so grateful that I can go outside and pat my horses, when a few months ago even that wasn't working to make me happy.  I'm glad I don't feel like that anymore.

In other news, this weekend my family and I will be in Hamilton for the Juno Awards!  John has been nominated for Engineer of the Year, and I'm super proud of him, and man do we ever need something to celebrate this year!  Here's a link to the official Junos site, if you want information on viewing the Sunday telecast or the Saturday live stream.

I expect to be very worn out next week!  I have decided to not worry about how I'll handle the excitement of all the events.  I have people around me to lean on if I get exhausted and wobbly, and for the most part I get to sit and applaud.  I can do that.  I'll even put on some nice clothes and brush my hair!  (You wouldn't even recognize me!)

(Remember that time Angelina Jolie wore the black dress with her leg sticking out the side?  This is my farm girl approach…)

Beautiful view from the house!

The little kids are growing up.

Ivan is as handsome as ever, right?

And Parker is veeeeery fuzzy.  

But not for long now.  

Winter will be over soon.  Enjoy your March break, and we will be in touch!

Christmas and New Year Greetings

I hope you are all enjoying your Christmas holidays!  I've been spending valuable time with my family and making a point of resting.  My horses are fine, although probably getting kind of bored by now.  I am getting out to the barn at least once a day for chores, and usually taking my dog out for a walk each day.  Otherwise, my recovery is going much more slowly than I'd like it to.  The medication I started in early November hasn't done much (other than make me sick and tired, and that's not what we're looking for!) so I'll soon be trying something else.

Thank you all for your kind words and encouragement.  It means so much to me.  I am probably the luckiest riding instructor in the world to have all you guys coming to me!

I really want to get back to work soon, but I know realistically I have to be feeling well enough first.  I am going to take as much time as I need to get myself back in shape.  And then, we will all be back in the saddle!

Thank you for sticking with me though out 2014, and let's look forward to 2015 being full of health, happiness… and horses!

-H

As some of you already know, I had to take some time off at the end of October.  Now I will tell you know what’s going on.  I am getting treatment for depression.  I’m on some new medication, which unfortunately has nasty side effects, mostly nausea and fatigue.  I’m trying to stay optimistic that soon this will pass and the medication will have positive effects instead, but we’ll have to wait and see.  It could take months to find the right treatment.

For the last couple of weeks I’ve been resting a lot.  I get out to the barn every morning to do my chores and visit my horses, which I believe is important for me.  I need the fresh air and physical activity… and I need my horses!  I’d like to think I’m starting to feel better, although I wear out quickly and the medication has done awful things to my appetite.  So far I’m not losing weight so that’s good. 

I honestly don’t know how long my recovery will be.  Maybe the timing is good, since winter always slows us down anyways.  I had decided to stop lessons here at home for winter.  My plan has been to continue at Jakin Equestrian (RR#1 Tavistock) like I did last year.  It is a beautiful property with an excellent indoor arena, nice horses, and friendly people.  At this point, I’m hoping to get going in mid-January, but I’ll have to re-evaluate in the new year.

I sincerely hope to see you again in the new year.  I spent months wanting to keep this personal stuff quiet, but I think you fine folks deserve to know what’s going on.  

 Thank you!

Heidi

PONY PARTY - come meet Parker!

Sunday September 28
after 2:00

Come out to the Old Homestead, say hi, and get to know our new pony.

No cake and balloons, just come out and pat horses!  Wear closed shoes and be ready to go home smelling like a horse.  Hope to see you there!

Looking back on summer 2014

 This summer wasn't as busy as last year, but there were many memorable moments.

First of all, in early June, we had a very special visitor come out for a ride. This is Lucy, from Kenya.  I don't think I'd ever met anybody from Kenya before!!  She is definitely the student who has travelled the farthest for a lesson!

Lucy had never ridden a horse, and decided this was something she wanted to accomplish while visiting Canada.  She had never even been near a horse in her life, but only seen the from a distance.  She lives in a big city and just hadn't had the opportunity.  Can you imagine??? 

She and Phoenix hit it off immediately.  Lucy caught on quickly and thoroughly enjoyed her time with my wonderful horse.  She was awestruck by the size and beauty and gentleness of these animals, and I was so impressed by her ease and comfort with them.  For me, having grown up with them, I can't imagine interacting with the for the first time as a young adult.  I hope Lucy has more chances in life to see more horses!

This was such an amazing experience for me.  What an honour to help fulfill somebody's dream!!!! 

Another special long distance student joined us in July.  Lucie, from British Columbia, was in Ontario visiting family.  We scheduled some lessons, and a Farm Day with Laura, one of my regular students.  These two girls made a great little team and we're already hoping our girl from BC can come back next summer!

By this time, Copper had come up lame, so the riders took turns with Phoenix while Copper stayed under the shade tree with me.  We invented a few games requiring one mounted rider and one person on foot, involving several barrels and buckets and things hiding in buckets.  Shenanigans and hijinks resulted, fun was had, and all the brushes and lead ropes and gloves eventually ended up where they came from!

In the afternoon, the girls tried sitting bareback (and we had a little photo shoot with my favourite photographer, Selina Bailey).

As summer went on, I realized that Phoenix was getting sore, and I set out to make it right.  After several chiropractic adjustments and saddle fitting sessions, I started on the process of finding a good saddle that would fit him comfortably. Here are just a few of the eight saddles I had for trial.

Hereford Tex Tan 16" show saddle.  I really liked it.  He did not.

Western Rawhide 16" trail saddle.  Too big, for both of us.  

Western Rawhide 15" barrel racer.  I really liked it. It was in consideration.  But it slid back after a short ride and sadly, it was not the right saddle for us.  

Circle Y 15" barrel saddle.  Much fancier than I was looking for, but it seems to fit better than any others.  Still slid back a little but not so much that it was uncomfortable.  Notice how short the skirt is.  I think that is the deal here.  Phoenix has very wide shoulders but a disproportionately short back.  (Other than that, he's perfect; at least that's what I keep telling him!)  So I bought a barrel racing saddle for my laid back easy going slow horse!  

Because of all this, my Farm Day program stalled. I didn't book as many as I would have liked to.  But the ones we had worked pretty well considering everything we had to deal with.  I have learned how to get creative and work with what I've got, even if what I've got happens to be a sore horse.  

In August, cousins Emma and Avey had a Farm Day.  They took turns riding Phoenix - notice the nice new saddle! - while the other would be leading Copper.  This way everybody had something to do, both girls got to ride, and Copper could get back into the routine.  This was Avey's first time here and I thought it was a great day for the girls to spend together!  Sometimes it's just good to hang around with a horse, however we can.  

The girls had a great morning riding and leading.  After lunch, most of the remaining time was spent visiting the chickens in the field and patting the horses.  There were a lot of "horse selfies" taken!

By the end of August, I cautiously put Copper back to work.  With her hind legs wrapped, there was no swelling, and best of all, she seemed very happy to be busy again.  The brother & sister team of "Rawhide" & "Butch" aka Maddy and Ryan, were the first and only to ride together on a Farm Day.

Here they show off their big smiles after a great morning ride.  

I felt so good to have these two kids back in the saddle again, especially with the two horses getting back in shape!

September came, the schedule changed as my young riders started school, and the air felt different in the mornings.  Summer was ending, and we could feel it.  But before summer came to a close, there was one more big change, and it was a change for the good.  Our new friend Parker joined us!

Don't you think next summer will be fun?