Easing into a New Norm

I finished the barn only to be completely inundated by what feels like 80 million photoshoots. Something about autumn and trees and pretty leaves? Regardless, while I've had "more time" to "do things" my time has temporarily been consumed by photography. It isn't the worst!

Blackwater Canyon from Pendleton Point - cell phone photo because I haven't had time to edit my personal DSLR photos yet!

To the defense of everyone wanting to cram in a photoshoot during autumn, it has been a really stellar year for color. Like, I can't remember the last time things were this gorgeous. My daily commute and outside time is spent extending grabby hands toward gorgeous trees, gaping my mouth open and closed like a fish in shock and awe, and babbling incoherent noises about how gorgeous everything surrounding me is.

Sunrise from Table Rock - cell phone photo because I haven't had time to edit my personal DSLR photos yet!

My gratitude for this place is overflowing. I just... Damn.

My backyard Saturday morning *insert all the heart-eyed emojis*

Despite photography-consumed time and my autumn prattle, I have been riding a bit more lately! It's amazing what I'm able to do with a little bit of time when I don't have so many "unfinished" construction projects.

Last Monday, I took the Q mare out to play around in the neighborhood and enjoy a perfect autumn day. She was absolutely perfect!

We went up and down the mountain a time or two, galloped through fields, and gawked at trees. Through everything, she was a solid, reliable partner. Such a difference from where she used to be! (Evidenced by all of the happy, forward and/or listening ears in every photo above!!)

I find myself enjoying riding her and looking forward to the time I spend with him as opposed to feeling apprehensive/anxious about what her mood will be like. I'm getting excited for a winter that I can focus on honing her responsiveness and developing her abilities undersaddle.

Last Friday, a girlfriend and I took Stan and Q out on a lovely 7.4 mile ride. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that it was the first time I'd trailered the horses off-property since bringing them home.

Because both horses are barefoot right now and I haven't dialed in hoof boots for Stan yet, we were a bit restricted in trail options. The choice we ended up making wasn't even one on my radar when we headed out that morning, either! But sometimes last-minute plans are the best plans.

We had a perfect ride in which we saw approximately zero other people except in the parking lot. We had equal parts trotting and walking with one long canter stretch. The conversation was rich. The time spent in nature with horses was much-needed. The horses really seemed to enjoy themselves. And Q - who led the whole time! - was (once again) perfect! I really couldn't have asked for a more enjoyable ride.

On Saturday, amidst a wealth of barn and farm chores, I began clipping the horses.

Feeling fresh!

Yes! Clipping! It's so exciting to be able to do this and not worry about the horses being too cold this winter. If I need to change blankets or whatever, it's only a short walk instead of a 50-minute drive!

I'm starting each horse off with just a bib clip and may upgrade each to an Irish clip (or more) as needed. This means everyone can be more comfortable, I can be less stressed, and - most of all - I don't have to worry about planning my winter workouts around how sweaty/not sweaty my horses may become. I'm really excited.

Unfortunately, my clipper batteries seemed to have kicked the bucket permanently after clipping Grif and Stan. Ugh. Sorry, Q! But I'll get a new battery soon enough and everyone will match. 😂

On Saturday night after a long day of chores and copious photo editing, Griffin got to enjoy a workout at home. The first of many such workouts, I hope!

We enjoyed a steady warm up of walk and then trot, ending with a bit of canter in each direction. From there we worked through 6 trot poles for a time before adding in cavaletti work and eventually a few XC jumps!

We jumped the lower left side of the pile

He looks so chill about his accomplishment. I was psyched he handled it with aplomb because a similar jump gave him pause at Loch Moy in 2017.

He was literally trying to eat the tree 1 second prior... Sigh.

Griffin. Was. Psyched. He's been begging to work for awhile now and it was like he knew he was going to get to go be a jomp-jomp horse again when I tacked him up. (Or maybe it's because I exclaimed, "You're going to be a jomp-jomp horse again today!" when I pulled him into the barn? lol) He excelled at the trot poles, merely cantered over the 18" cavaletti, and didn't hesitate ONCE at our three XC jumps - two of which we'd never attempted before.

IN MY OWN BARN EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I wasn't even going to attempt the two new jumps on this evening, but he was being The Very Best and the ground conditions were primo, so I decided to add them in. I gave him lots of verbal encouragement and kept my leg on during our approach to help guarantee he knew without a doubt that we would be going over the stacked skinny logs and the wood pile. Much to my pleasure, Grif sailed beautifully over both! Such a good boy.

Unfortunately, by the end of barn chores post-ride, my back - which had been feeling increasingly tight after a very labor-intensive day - was not in a good place. I took NSAIDS, soaked in warm water, iced, had Dave massage it, etc., to no avail. By the following day, I was worse and the day after that I was no better. But fortunately, I was able to get to the doctor for some Rx meds to help relax my muscles to see if I gain some relief. Today, I see the acupuncturist. I'm genuinely hoping that between the Rx and the acupuncture, I find some relief and relaxation of those angry muscles. Being such an active person with a back strain is not fun!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Tomorrow morning, I'm finally (after a 2-month phone-tag) getting my hay tested! This is the last puzzle piece before I can start dialing in my horses' diets and supplements. I'm really excited to dive into it all.

Following the hay testing, I'll be (if my back allows) heading to Cape May for my annual raptor banding girls trip. Eeee! I haven't seen Mandy in a year and am very excited to spend several days with her. I'll be sure to put together a photo-heavy raptor post when I return for those of you who love them.

So...yeah! I'm working on getting back to a semi-regular blogging schedule - both writing and reading. It's a bit odd to come up with something beyond barn posts again, but I am eager to get to it! With luck, I'll find time to write about a backlog of things like seeing the horse chiro, the Mary Wanless and Janet Foy clinics, the blogger camping trip to Assateague, and more.

Stay tuned!

October 10 Questions

Well, I'm on vacation in Cape May enjoying a quiet mind for the first time in MONTHS. I'd love to update you on a number of things...but wrapping up all of the accompanying media is more than I can handle at the moment. I also may or may not have solely vanquished a bottle of prosecco that gave me extraordinary squirrel!brain. So, instead. I put together a list of 10 October-esque Questions! Feel free to hop along with these, I'd love to hear other's answers!

1. Most equestrians quote fall as their favorite season to ride. Are you one of those that does? Or maybe not; what is your favorite season to ride, if so?
2. Do you clip your horse in the fall? Or maybe you wait a little longer? 
3. Have any costume riding events in October on/near/around Halloween? What will your horse be dressed as? What about yourself? What would you dress as if money/time were absolutely no issue?
4. Is your horse afraid of any autumn colors? Or maybe has a certain quirk that appears only in the autumn?
5. Pumpkin spice. It's everywhere right now. Find any natural pumpkin [squash] spice-esque recipes for your horse? 
6. We're getting to the end of the calendar year, any final few "big-bang" shows to look forward to?
7. Winter is coming. What are you doing to winterize your trailer/rig/car?
8. Do you have any autumn traditions you/your horse follow?
9. October in many places marks the beginning of deer hunting season. Does this affect your riding at all? Do you wear blaze orange or modify your schedule to accommodate the season?
10. What are you most looking forward to goal-wise as the final months of the calendar year approach?

My answers:

1. Most equestrians quote fall as their favorite season to ride. Are you one of those that does? Or maybe not; what is your favorite season to ride, if so?
   Fall is absolutely my favorite season to ride. Uncharacteristically dry weather and trails exist at this time. Couple that with the vibrant fall foilage that persists throughout the various elevations this month and you've got a visually-attractive experience wonderland. The smell and sound of fallen leaves also wakens a special part of my soul. Horse camping in the fall is also the absolute best with the crisp mornings: you wake, smelling the smoldering coals of the fire the night before, you unzip your tent to check the horses and see their calm exhales lift a misty fog into the crisp air as they rest head to hind, a hind leg resting on each animal in relaxation, as the rising sunshine strikes the mountainside above making the fall foilage light aflame like the most brilliant fire.
   
   
2. Do you clip your horse in the fall? Or maybe you wait a little longer?
   Typically, I don't clip yet. However, as competition goals expand into this time of year, I absolutely will/do. They've already got hefty between-season coats, it would be unfair to make them workout in them on high-humidity 70-degree days.
3. Have any costume riding events in October on/near/around Halloween? What will your horse be dressed as? What about yourself? What would you dress as if money/time were absolutely no issue?
   We don't have any events lined up...currently. With Q, I've always dreamed of dressing up as Princess Merida from Brave (I have the dress somewhere). Q is marked like Aengus. Just, you know, about 5hh shorter! With Griffin, we'd be some kind of epic battle pair in one of the LOTR films. Or perhaps a mythological character of old. Stan? No question. Ruggedly rustic outlaws from the wild west days.
   
   
4. Is your horse afraid of any autumn colors? Or maybe has a certain quirk that appears only in the autumn?
   Q is offended by vibrantly royal red berries/leaves. The geldings just quit desperately snatching green things while on trail rides because clearly, trail rides mean death-marches-to-purgatory-must-eat-all-the-things. 
5. Pumpkin spice. It's everywhere right now. Find any natural pumpkin [squash] spice-esque recipes for your horse?
   The horses have always been given the old jack-o-lanterns and decorational gourds/squash after the holiday season. I'd say they benefit quite a bit from this time of year.
6. We're getting to the end of the calendar year, any final few "big-bang" shows to look forward to?
   Hoping to make the MDHT Fall Starter #3, the final one of the fall series in November!
7. Winter is coming. What are you doing to winterize your trailer/rig/car?
   Trailer is getting a big remodel, so that's helping a lot. Also getting tire covers.
8. Do you have any autumn traditions you/your horse follow?
   I try to go on one beautiful autumn trail ride ever year since 2012. Q has been my partner in many of those, but the annual tradition really started with Stan back when I was a sophomore in college trying to impress my relatively-new-at-that-time boyfriend of how beautiful and fun horses were for adventure (photos of this endeavor featured in this post).
   
   
9. October in many places marks the beginning of deer hunting season. Does this affect your riding at all? Do you wear blaze orange or modify your schedule to accommodate the season?
10. We wear a lot of blaze orange and sometimes avoid riding at certain times of day (dawn/dusk) as much as possible.
11. What are you most looking forward to goal-wise as the final months of the calendar year approach?
    Final event with Grif; snowy rides with all; beginning our solely dressage-focused winter workouts.

Oy With the Poodles Already

Oh man. Where has the time gone? I'm making an attempt to ease back into blogging, but beware, my stress-addled brain is still forgetting things and boggling words in all manner of ways.

The nonsensical things I've said lately baffle even me and demonstrate to myself and the world how much clarity and logic do not exist in my mind. For example, I told my chiropractor I am at my job "40 days a week", and when I left the autobody shop with my keys in my hand  after paying for the repair, I turned back around and asked them to please give me my keys. #somekindofspecial And then, despite slowly writing and scheduling my recap posts from our last event, I totally botched including the placing in the final post until Teresa asked how about it. D'oh!

Work AKA the Reason for the Hiatus

My job since March has been...character building? ...made me a better biologist? ...helped me think and write more critically? ...taught me how to push out quality products in highly expedited [and unreasonable] time frames? Maybe. Mostly. But despite those silver linings, it's been stressful as hell and is resulting in me being a bitter, bitter person.

Most work days I'm ready for a drink by lunch, if not 10am. My dad, whom I eat lunch with most work days when I'm not teleworking, now commonly asks me 1.) how the day is going and, 2.) depending on that answer, offers me a drink - which I typically decline, for the record.

But the majority of the time I'm laughing to keep from crying or tearing up because I am so overwhelmingly frustrated and angry with the direction I'm forced to march. It is what it is, and frankly, "it" sucks!

However, despite the stress (and the absurd number of things I say daily as a result), good things abound in my life and I've been doing my best to focus on them.

The Horses

The horses are all doing well.

Reunited after a whopping 45 minutes apart. Drama llamas!

A post shared by Liz Stout (@estout18) on Sep 28, 2017 at 4:18pm PDT

Long-time readers and keen observers may note that the scenery in the video above isn't the norm for my three. That's because they've been temporarily relocated to Canaan Valley for a month!

My "neighbor", used loosely as we live 4 miles apart, offered for me to bring them up for the month of October and keep them at his house. His two horses are on their summer pasture elsewhere in the valley and he's done haying for the year at home and had plenty of grass to spare.

I jumped on the opportunity and have fully enjoyed seeing my creatures daily again.

Q

I've been getting a lot of rides in on Q since September began, averaging three per week. These rides fluctuate between focus on dressage and hacking out. Originally, I'd wanted to focus solely on dressage with her, but with the realization that I will have only that option in the winter months when it's harder to trail ride, I've decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather to enjoy some time outside of something resembling an arena.

I've been making steady progress in the "spook deconstruction" department. While I don't have it all figured out yet, I do know with much more certainty about the nuts and bolts of why Q spooks. It's helping in our work, but we certainly have a long way to go.

She frustrates the living hell out of me more often than not when we're working under saddle, but I know my focus on those negatives is partly due to my mindset about much of life due to work lately. I don't always see the positives at first and, especially with this mare, the positives are measured over weeks and not days right now. You have to go slow in order to go fast later with some things, and Q is definitely one of those things. I do know how awesome this mare can be, so I'm happy to take the time to bring her back around to that place.

Griffin

Following his successful run at Loch Moy on September 10, I gave Griffin a week and a half vacation. Then, Griffin had a bout with an abscess last week and thus had a bit more time off. He was progressively closer to sound from Wednesday to Friday last week, when I finally observed that the abscess was blowing out (yay!).

Sunday was my first focused ride on him following vacation and the abscess. We focused predominantly on dressage, but I did reward him with a bit of a gallop across the field afterward.

Griffin was very forward and focused in our dressage work which made it easier for me to focus on what I was doing and how I could improve myself. I know there is a very fine line between what the rider is doing and how the horse responds, but when Grif is overly-relaxed/slow, I have to throw my focus on myself to the wind in favor of giving him my full attention. When he is in an overly-calm state, he becomes a "push" ride that really alters what I'd like to do with my body because I'm spending so much of my efforts on driving him forward. On Sunday, I got to really work on opening my hip angle more and cementing that feeling into my brain. Austen's been after me to do more of this and I was so happy to finally work on it. 

THIS frame is what I commonly work with at home! So different from the show version.

Following what felt like a very productive dressage-focused session, Grif and I galloped around a bit. He was feeling exceptionally good and we had two hairy moments where he wanted nothing more than to display some gymnastics above the ground in his joy of galloping. The first was coming up a hill and I was able to get him calmed down relatively quickly. The second though was on a slight downhill and dearsweetbabyJesus I thought I was going to hit the ground from that one! I wish I'd gotten it on film/had a witness because it had to have been quite a show as he dolphin leaped and wiggled left-right-left-right-left-right as I squawled at him, "GRIFFIN, YOU SHIT! STOPPITRIGHTNOW! GRI-FFIN! DAMNIT! STOP!"

Ah, the joys of horses...

Stan

Stan is doing wonderfully, too. He's packing on the pounds and fully enjoying the lush pasture.

He did have a mild colic scare yesterday, but fortunately this BO is very observant and tackled things quickly, giving him some banamine that cleared him out. It still didn't stop me from leaving work in a panicked flurry to go sit out there and love on him for hours! 

I have a really unique and exciting story to share about Stan in the near future, but that will need it's own blog post once I have a little bit of media to accompany it. Suffice to say, I loaned the big guy out for the better half of September and he had more of an adventure than any of my horses have ever had or probably will ever have in the future. As a result, he's earned a bit of time off now to put on weight and be a horse.

So, stay tuned for a fun tale on Stan in the near-ish future.

Autumn

Autumn blew into the Mountain State during early September in the higher elevations and it was really magnificent.

Unfortunately, with all of the amazing weather (low humidity, highs in the 60s-70s) there has come a complete lack of rain. In order to get really incredible, vibrant autumn foilage, you need rain. Without it, the colors become dull and the trees that haven't changed will ultimately crisp up and fall without any blast of color.

And thus, I've tried to make the most of the moments I've enjoyed in areas with peak color while it lasts.

A couple weekends back, Hannah breezed through for a weekend visit with the dogs. It coincided with the local Leef Peepers Festival which is accompanied by multiple social gatherings (3 potlucks) and a 5k for charity (off the couch 5k for me @ a shocking 28:09 on a very NOT FLAT course) so I was hither and thither.

Fortunately, we did fit in one hike together! And arguably, the best hike in this region at that...

I'm continuing to get out and about in this beautiful weather as much as time and scheduling allow. It's such a beautiful time of year!

Photography

I made a goal for myself at the beginning of this year that I would have a public portfolio of my photography on a website by the end of July August September. So many friends have encouraged me to do this over the past several years and I've put it off, not confident enough in my skills. 

This year though, I'm absolutely in love with photos from each shoot I do. Every new shoot becomes my "favorite". I'm learning so much more about the art and honing my craft as I go along. And most importantly? I'm having a freaking blast doing it!

And so, I'm proud to announce that my photography website is finally live at www.lizstoutphotography.com

It's been well-received so far, and I've managed to score some paid gigs as a result. Nothing crazy - this is a side hustle after all - but hopefully I'll be able to meet my unspoken goal of 1-2 paid shoots a month so that the hobby can support itself.

I'm really enjoying the mental break from structured scientific and technical writing that photography brings. Honing the artistic side of my brain helps balance the critical thinking/critical writing side that I utilize more often, which helps me keep sanity.

Kenai

The blog is long overdue for a Kenai update!

He's doing really amazing following our bout with multiple knee surgeries in 2015. I get queries weekly from people about whether or not he's okay to hike/play/run/what-have-you. More than two years post-op, I can say he's pretty damn fine to do whatever he pleases.

I swear he becomes more puppy-like with each passing month. He's got boundless energy and life in Canaan Valley really suits him well.

But he isn't without a strange malady that plagues him! He's a textbook perfect case for alopecia.

Note: back of hind legs, tail, and not visible in this photo but can be seen in previous photo,
the back of his neck is also hairless and NOT due to collar rubbing!

Despite my efforts to treat it (coincidentally at first and then with purpose), it is persisting and growing. The only treatment options remaining are hormonal and tend to have more risks than benefits associated with them.

He isn't in any kind of pain from his rat tail, bare bum, and scrawny neck - hell, he's moving better than he has since early 2013 when his stifles started having trouble! My pride and vanity are the only things saying he needs all that hair, and I can set that aside (albeit, grudgingly at first) knowing he's the happiest guy despite his hair loss/appearance.

He's very much looking forward to winter, and I'm hoping that my gut feeling that we're going to have a legit winter after 5 crappy winters comes to fruition. I'd love nothing more than to have epic conditions for alpine and nordic skiing with this guy!

: : : : :

I have been reading along with many of your adventures during my hiatus. I'm commenting here and there, but I'm afraid my comment game is seriously lacking with the whirlwind that is my life (see: above). I'll continue to do my best to catch up/keep up/live vicariously through you! Looking forward to my life settling a bit as we move into this final quarter of 2017. I'm so ready for my vacation...

I've got lots of updates for y'all in the coming week that I'm excited to finally share, so stay tuned!