"Another Expense"

1...2...3...breathe...I find myself saying this to students fairly often during lessons when they hit a rough patch. There are moments in riding when you have to ride through the moment and then just let it go, you aren't going to be able to go back and not make that huge spook happen but you can ride through it and then relax and prevent the next spook from happening. We often ride thinking about things that our horses have done in the past and worrying about them, I often find that we often live in this same manner. If you let the past have too much of a hold on your thoughts you won't be able to move forward and prevent the past from repeating itself...learn from it and move on. Sometimes I remind students to breathe to simply make them relax...which is what I am trying to tell myself right now.
I graded my last final presentations yesterday, the baby shower went well on Saturday and now its time to focus on my riding, Spence's training, working the college horses and getting ready for summer camp. On Saturday I hosted a Kentucky Derby themed baby shower for our current head coach/barn manager, Courtenay. Let me just say that planning surprise parties for people that you share a small lobby office with is not easy! But the girls on the team and some of our wonderful barn helpers made it possible. Even though it was a very rainy day down here in the south, we had a bright and happy shower for Courtenay's baby girl who is due to arrive at the end of August. It was great to be able to hang out with all of the girls on the team before some of them head off for the summer and it was nice that they were able to celebrate with Courtenay, especially since she'll be gone on maternity leave when they return to school in the fall. The addition of the races and ponies was also a nice touch with such a horsey group! Congrats to Orb for a great race! And congrats to Rosy...the only female jockey in the race...she placed 5th which is the highest spot a woman jockey has ever taken in the derby!
Now that lessons are over for the college students I have until June to have a fairly quiet barn so I should just relax and take advantage of it. Of course, my mind has been in over drive and relaxing just won't seem to happen. Recent changes in Spence's right eye haven't been helping the relaxing cause either, so it was off to the vet today to see what in the world is happening. I'll start by saying that he is super awesome about loading up in the trailer now! And he was quite content grazing in the "waiting room" at the vet before it was his turn.

Once it was our turn though he wasn't quite so content about the happenings...a nice shot of a cocktail helped out a lot and he relaxed right away! After collecting some cells from his eye, Dr. Jennifer determined that he has both a bacterial and a fungual infection on the cornea of his eye. After going through several different treatment options I decided to bring him home and treat him myself...I am hoping this will reduce his stress level as he will be able to keep his usual turnout and work schedule. He will be getting treatment directly to his eye three times a day for the next week along with some pain killers and then we go from there as to what the next step may be. It is so tough when making treatment decisions and hoping you are making the right one. On another note I may be selling my kidney on the black market if anyone is looking for one! Lord knows that Spence is certainly living up to his show name right now....Another Expense.