Olympic addiction & more

Let me start off by saying I LOVE THE OLYMPICS!
I am addicted, and check the internet 500 million times a day for updates. Thank goodness I work in a newsroom - because the TV is on all day, with Olympics. Sweet! Tonight, the second group of dressage riders will be on. Including two Americans, and the favorites Anky and Isabelle. It will be nothing short of spectacular, I am sure.

**

T-Bone's tooth is still not fixed. He needs to go to the clinic for Xrays and to have his tooth removed. And since I have no trailer, I am at the mercy of other people to take him for me. *sigh*

**

I am moved into a house now, and it's pretty nice. I've lived in apartments ever since ... err, well since college so the space is awesome. Grover, my cat, is especially thrilled because he has much more space now, and 3 other cats to harass. He gets along with other cats wonderfully ... thank God. I was worried he might fight since he was neutered so late in life, but he's as passive as they get. Need more roommates tho, and then rent will be super cheap. Word.

**

So I checked out my old place of employment's Web site, the Journal Review, and WHY the heck don't they have the story of a FATAL motorcycle crash on the front page??? What the crap?

... yeah this is all I gots for today's lame blog. Go USA!

Tidbits

The sad news:

Randy Pausch, famous for his "Last Lecture" died today from pancreatic cancer.
Go back to my post on Oct. 22, 2007 for the videos, or just search for The Last Lecture on You Tube.

***

In other news:

• The vet is coming to look at T-Bone's tooth issue tomorrow, bright and early. (8:20 a.m.). She'll decide whether he can be fixed up at the farm, or if he'll have to go into the clinic. I rode him Wednesday and he was in good spirits, and went just fine. Gotta be careful with those Morgans, they are so stoic you often don't know there is a problem until it's nasty.

• Since horse shows are out of the question, I've been going to concerts like a crazy lady lately. Tonight, I'm seeing:



I havn't been to a DMB show since 2004 ... where I was a photographer and was so close to the band I could touch them. (I mostly drooled the entire time). I don't care what music elitists say ... I still have a soft spot for DMB, I can't help it.

In the past month I've also had the pleasure of seeing:



(Tom Petty - an OK concert, but sort of got boring)

and ...



Umphrey's McGee - one of the best shows I have seen. Ever. Amazing. Check them out.

Still yet to come: Jimmy Buffet. And what happens at Buffet, stays at Buffet. Word.

***

Um, still working other things out. Money is still so tight, but I'm trying.

More dental issues - this time, the horse.

I am not selling T-Bone.

Unfortunately, the amount of debt I am in now is almost comical to me. If I don't laugh, I just might fall into utter despair.
And it's about to get worse.

Seems as though the horse has a tooth that is growing into his gum, appears to have abcessed and is the likely culprit of chronic low-grade fevers that have resulted in T-Bone developing lines and tenderness in his front feet - possibly laminitis. This could also be the reason he lost weight over the winter. Best case scenerio? It's just an abcessed tooth. It gets pulled, heals and all is good. There may be a growth or some other issue, tho, which would require me sending him to Purdue. Yup. Oh goody.

I feel terrible, altho the horse has not been lame in his front feet EVER - the only lameness i have experienced with him is because of a possibly OCD lesion in his stifle. He has been eating and acting normal - never gave me signs of a fever, or any mouth pain. But, at least it's caught and hopefully I can find the money to get him fixed before it causes more problems. But he obviously won't be sell-able for a while.

So at this point I am at a loss of what to do other than to just pinch pennies as best I can.

I guess I could always be a prostitute. har har.

Changes

So I'm making some changes in my life in order to save money so that I can quit living paycheck to paycheck, and perhaps someday buy a house. Some of these changes I really don't want to make, but in the end things will be ok. I need to pay off some debt, including a big amount of money I owe to the dentist who has caused me nothing but pain and misery. No, I'm not whoring myself out on the corner, or taking up a job stripping. But I am moving, and also possibly selling the horse. I know, it sucks. But I can't afford to have him at this point. I have given it much thought, and I think I need to just not own a horse right now. I will still be able to ride on a daily basis, and even show, so horses will still be a big part of my life - I just won't have to cough up an entire paycheck each month to pay for one. I want to be able to save money for things like vacations, groceries, gas, truck payments, etc. And if I do sell the horse, I'll make sure he goes to a good home.

And in good news, a new boy in my life has made things a little easier to handle. He's great. Stellar. And that's all I'll say for now.

Later, gators.

Compare and contrast

Sometimes when I feel like I'm not getting anywhere with my horse, I go back and look at where we were 2 or three years ago. Examples:

2005's walk


Spring 2008's walk


2005's trot




2006's trot


Spring 2008's trot (only photo I've got)


2006's canter




Spring 2008's canter


Obviously, T-Bone's lost some weight, gained some muscle and has started to really accept contact honestly. I ditched the hilljack huntseat garb, got my legs (mostly) underneath me and learned to sit down.
Here's to another 3 years!

Holy crap she's updating

So the horse show from last weekend went really well. T-Bone was more relaxed at the show than he has been for the past 3 months. Our tests had low scores - mostly all of my mistakes. In the First Level test I rode my 15 meter circles about 25 meters. lol. oops. It was mostly things like that. Of course, several people told me that the judges are nortorious for giving low marks, but I don't know if they were just saying that to make me feel better (or make themselves feel better). Who knows. In any case, we were 1 percentage point away from a qualifying score. Ugh. I guess that's sort of good tho, means if I can do geometry next time, maybe the score will go up. Regardless, I was so proud that T-Bone was no only well behaved, but RELAXED. Next show is this weekend up at Lamplight. I can't wait to show there.

... and now a few photos from last weekend:

Show talk

So May 17 is our first show of the season. Harmony in the Park - conducted at the Hoosier Horse Park. We're doing Training Level Test 4 and we are "winging" First 4. I'm actually way less nervous about the first level test after Saturday's lesson. The only part that's going to really get us is the trot lengthening. Rawr. T-Bone just doesn't have the strength yet for the "umph" - altho he does lengthen his stride, it won't be comparable to the warmbloods who can really propel. It's improving tho, and good thing is that the canter lengthening is no problem at all. So, I figure as long as we're really tight on the other movements, we can make up for the low numbers on the trot lengthening.

After Harmony, I'm really excited about the possibility of showing at Lamplight. We'll be showing against the big guns there, but I've never been there before and hear it's beautiful. That's the only reason I really want to go. Have to come up with some funds tho, money has been tight. And that sucks.

After that it looks like Paxton, (in Ohio) and another show in Indiana before Regionals (if we qualify).

T-Bone has been awesome lately. I need to take pics of him in his body-clipped state.

That's all I gots for now.