No Riding for Me

The horse I ride is being spiffed up for a horse show tomorrow so he's off limits to me today. I probably could go help out but there's enough work here on the old homestead to keep me busy. Last Friday my trainer was unavailable but she told me to go ride him anyway, which I did. I carried my whip to let him know I was serious and not to try any guff with me. It worked, even though I never summoned up enough courage to go faster than a walk.

I finally got around to arranging our cold storage area so that we can walk in without tripping over stuff. Hopefully I left enough room to store the lawn chairs this fall. Fortunately, once it gets cold we don't need access in there again till spring so it can be a bit more cluttered.

I have five large hanging baskets. I can water them using a long wand but deadheading and fertilizing with a watering can requires a ladder. I bought what I thought was a nifty pulley system to raise and lower them. Of course the darn things don't work. They either extend their full length and won't raise back up or, my personal favorite, won't extend at all. I wasted a lot of time fooling around with them yesterday. Oh well, growing season is only about six more weeks.

I finally got all my perennials in the ground and have resolved not to buy any more until next year. They need a while to get established and the aforementioned six weeks may not be long enough to make them strong enough to suffer an Alaskan winter.

I think I've mentioned how we have practically no water pressure. A guy came out a couple of months ago and gave us an estimate for some kind of system involving a holding tank and a bigger pump. I got the funds together to pay for this but he seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. We've left four or five messages with no response. I really, really want to get this problem resolved. I'm going to call the company again today. "Hey, I want to throw tons of money your way. Doesn't that deserve some sort of acknowledgment?"

Horse 1, Me 1

I think I mentioned that I got dumped in the dirt a few weeks ago when the horse shied. Well, he did it again Tuesday but this time I stayed on! Admittedly, it was a much smaller spook, but still...

So, I am now seeing a chiropractor. My left leg has been giving me a lot of grief and it is sometimes damn near impossible for me to mount the horse (I hate it when that happens) Turns out my left leg is longer than my right leg. I have a small lift to put in my right shoe and we'll see if that helps. I had a CD with an MRI of my spine taken seven years ago which I took to my last visit. He asked me if anyone had ever mentioned that I have curvature of the spine. I recall a school nurse had mentioned it when I was 14, but that was a long (LONG) time ago. So I'm going for adjustments a couple of times a week. I hope it makes a significant difference eventually (so far, not so much)

Still gardening. I had some plants for ground cover that I bought back in May. Our original use for them has altered so yesterday I finally put them in the ground around some perennials. Poor little plugs were so root bound that it will be a miracle if they survive. I only have three perennials left to plant so I may stop by the nursery after my chiro visit today.

Sue Kolstad is coming back to Alaska later this month so I'll probably take at least one clinic with her. After all, she needs a little comic relief amongst all those serious dressage riders. Unfortunately, I still haven't mastered posting without stirrups as she mandated. My trainer insists I'll be able to do it eventually. Uh huh.