WW: Our form is improving

A letter to school

Dear School:

Please stop making me so busy. I know I must keep up with you and that I have no other option, but I miss seeing these lovely faces daily:

I love them very much and due to the demands you place on me weekly I'm lucky to see those blazes once or twice a week. My new Woolback pad has come in and I'm not even sure I'm going to get to test it out for awhile. I know, I know, you want me to give you my undivided attention - as I should - but you're just not as fun, or cute, or warm, or wonderful to be around. I know I said I missed you, and that I missed college, but I think I lied a little bit. So, please, oh, please, just calm down a little and let me see my hooved freinds? I promise I'll catch up and then some this weekend.

xoxo,

Liz

Sunday Stills: Parade shots

The happiest 4 year old you ever did see.

We're alive

It’s been a relatively slow week for horse activities. Full time job + 8 hours of graduate courses [online] have kept me rather booked up. Forgoing horse time isn’t my favorite thing, but to conquer everything on my plate it has become a sad necessity. The quarter is only 10 weeks, and I’m finding time on weekends to ride and play, but week days? They’re sadly becoming a thing of the past.

On Thursday I just couldn’t stand it and decided to go out just to see them. I needed to smell that horse smell; it never ceases to calm me and help me release all lingering tension from worrying about how I’m managing my time to conquer everything.

I drove out, turned in my board check, discussed the travel plans for seeing Buck Brannaman this Sunday [SQUEE!], and then went down to the barn. The horses, per the norm, were out in the field – but fortunately within calling distance. I knew Q wouldn’t come when called, but Griffin always does so I whistled and called his name and he slowly ambled over.

© Liz Stout

I never put a halter on him. He came in the gate, waited while I closed it, walked by my side to the barn, and stood patiently waiting in the aisle while I got him a tiny bit of grain + mineral supplements. He nommed while I took burs out of his mane and forelock. He was a snot in the beginning, so I told him to move his feet and get away from me, pushing him into a tight trotting circle around me for a few circuits in the barn aisle. I stopped, he stopped and asked to come back in, I obliged. He continued to nom and be more polite while I brushed him a bit, scrutinized his feet, and then turned him back out. No halter, lead, anything the whole time. He’s such a good boy! He’s my lover, Q’s my worker.

© Liz Stout

Hoping to take this pretty lady out for a day on the town (literally) tomorrow. Looks to be a bit rainy for an hour or so. Going to be chilly in the 50s, too! But that’s okay. I’ll just toss some SmartWool or UnderArmor on beneath my shirt and show jacket. The parade route is the longest of any parade I’ve ever been in (used to be in marching band). It winds all around my town and hundreds and hundreds of people will be there watching. I hope all goes well – I enjoy getting out to do random non-typical horse things like this. Its fun for me and a really phenomenal experience for Q – hopefully Griffin, one day!

Hope your weekend goes well – I’ll be sure to update on the Buck clinic, parade, and other shenanigans soon!

Just to make you laugh...

Catching up...with photos!

Blister Swamp; this is where we planted balsam fir trees to help revive the forest that once was

ASpiranthes orchid in the swamp

Pounding in a fence post for an exclosure for the balsam fir
to keep out deer and cattle

Rolling out the wire fence

Tree in its exclosure

Fence my office built a decade or so ago to protect the core of the
swamp that is home to many globally rare plants

Sunrise at my house

Another view of sunrise from the house looking down the valley at the rising fog

Looking west from the top of Spruce Knob (WV's highest point at 4,863 ft)

It was so windy!!

Me crossing the Via Ferrata bridge at Nelson Rocks Preserve

The bridge!

Looking toward Otter Creek Wilderness area and the Blackwater Canyon from Olson Firetower lookout

Another from the tower view with some post-camera processing

Film Friday: Visions of Mustang

I'm fortunate enough to know some really, really incredible people. To celebrate the achievement of one of those people, today I request that you watch the above YouTube trailer. More information available on their Kickstarter page about the project. It was funded and produced and is now a finalist for the Banff Film Festival. Congratulations Daniel & team!

WW: Q as lesson pony

Just workin' on my fitness

Life has been whirlwind busy from one weekend to the next lately. I’m not complaining by any means, I’m just not quite sure where the time goes! I’ve had two really awesome-fun weekends in a row. My work weeks haven’t been too shabby either between getting out into the field and getting out and away from the office for meetings.

Due to the advent of busyness I’ve not finished the book as soon as I’d hoped. I’m still about 5 chapters away actually – like half the book. Fortunately, Mel summarized a lot of it in numerous posts so I know sort of what’s coming up in the book. Thus far I’ve been in more of the exercise part of the book and no diet stuff thus far.

I’ve been making an effort to do high intensity interval training work outs 3 times a week for 30 minutes or so. I got in several of these workouts two weeks ago and one last week. But then I was in the field for two days, on my feet and on the move all day pursuing some semi-strenuous (fence building, post pounding) activities. I was so tired upon arrival home after those days that I just couldn’t bring myself to do anything else. Exhausted. Utterly and completely exhausted. Walking around in a swamp is sort of like walking on sand in that you put forth a lot more effort to move yourself over unstable ground. I ended up even being a little sore – but I’m totally okay with that! && then this past weekend was full of hiking and climbing and exploring and adventuring...more activity and thus no HIIT workouts. The cardio workouts for me aren’t so much to become some crazy athlete so much as I want to be healthier. Heart disease is super mondo bad on my dad’s side of the family and combating that is important. Additionally, building good fitness now will help with this ski season.

While I haven’t gotten to the diet chapter(s) yet, I have been tweaking my diet trying to eat better. There are so many different ways and trends to fuel your body. I have a lactose sensitivity, which means I tend to get sick if I eat things that are excessively rich in lactose (cheesecake is NOT my friend, nor are mass amounts of cheese, yogurt, ice cream – milk itself has never been an issue, strangely). Additionally, my stomach does not handle high levels of grease (I get sick in the same way I do for high lactose). So high fat/grease and rich lactose have never been major players in my diet. I feel much better without them.

In a quest to feel even better I’ve been toying with gluten free and less grains/sugars/etc. The idea of a paleo (veggies, meats, fruits) intrigues the hell out of me. But until I move and start my pantry/kitchen over again, this would be impossible as all things I crave are at a very easy reach right now. But I’ve really been trying to incorporate more gluten-free and paleo-esque things into my diet. Its healthier eating overall and I really like it. I get full and don’t feel guilty about it and my body doesn’t feel burdened down by too much heavy, “bad” food. Think lots of quinoa and tofu or meat and veggies and eggs all combined in some way with some yummy seasoning/spices. That’s a lot of what I’ve been consuming as of late. Its pretty quick and easy to cook usually, and overall really healthy! I recognize that I don’t need to lose weight. That would be silly, but feeling awesome all the time is a pretty good goal to have, I think.

So there you have it. A brief update. I’m sure there is more to be said and I will have more to say, but with the whirlwind that is work + school + horses & life, my scattered mind can only come up with these thoughts currently.

West Virginia from one of my favorite [secret] vistas this past Sunday. Leaves they are a changin'

Ah, so busy!

Unlike me to be this busy and not crank out at least one post...but, c'est la vie lately.

• The odd, slight swelling in the back of Q's hind fetlocks appears to be her stocking up slightly in the field. (I noticed at the endurance ride that she would stock up in the hinds before the fronts. This swelling is ever so slight, just enough for me to notice something isn't normal.) She hasn't been ridden for more than 5-10 minutes at a walk for 2(?) weeks now. I work her from the ground a lot and have ponied her and have yet to see her take even the slightest of mis-steps indicating that she is uncomfortable in any way. Nor is she uncomfortable to me palpating the area.

She looked cute in the western
saddle during our 10 minute walk
the other evening.

• Q's back appears fine other than the hair growing back patchily white. I'd never spent so much time assessing her muscles until now, so its hard to tell if anything is abnormal. She's never been sensitive to the lightest or more forceful palpitations or massages to the area. I'm truly beginning to believe that the solution will be having a better pad that breathes. While I've had no experience with a heat rash scenario, others have suggested that it looks much like things of that sort they have experienced. Her lack of being lame, showing any signs of discomfort, and never faltering even when under saddle lead me to believe it isn't a saddle fit issue so much as a heat-friction issue. Because she has shown no signs of discomfort I'm going to start riding her again and just see what happens. It seems silly to not ride a horse that shows zero signs of discomfort or ill-health, no? 
• I'm ponying Griffin more and working with him. I plan on taking him along for a fairly significant trail ride today while I ride the ever-tolerant Mayer. He doesn't respect me in the saddle like he does on the ground, so we shall work on that today. He gets rather nippy to both rider and saddled horse when he's ponied; this must stop. Guy wants a job so badly...
• I have thoroughly been enjoying the beautiful WV autumn weather and was fortunate enough to spend two days in the field this week. Between last weekend in Canaan and this week in the field I have spent a lot of time in my favorite parts of WV - high elevation Appalachians. Watching the sun rise and the rays kiss the changing leaves 'good morning' has been wonderful. This is the time of year I absolutely live for. It is beyond beautiful and beyond words.
• My field work took me to a globally unique swamp full of very rare plant species. There are less than 6 places like this in the world. It has been incredibly rewarding doing work there and learning from some top botanists and geologists in the country/world. 

Hope your weekend is beautiful and fun. One day soon I will blog again - for realz.

Face Game

Hope your weekend was as full of laughs and good times as ours!