EOW No. 35

Is it the back half of March while I've still been living in February?  Yes.  Has an entire month passed by and left you ill-prepared?  Also yes.

I have a guess as to where the missing weeks of February and March went.  We had a week of subzero temperatures and frozen waters at the barn - the poor horses were cooped up inside.  Then Dalton had his annual joint injections.  I also spent one week suffering from an allergic reaction to something (still unclear what) that left hives on my entire body.  And lastly, I was out of the country for a work trip, which always seems to suck time away like a black hole and leave my immune system and internal clock completely wrecked.  

So here we are!  In spring!  The wind has been BLOWING but the sun is shining and flowers are popping.  Bowie and I are both so glad we have more daylight hours in the evening.  All the ponies are in great shape - except for Dalton who we are getting back to fighting fit.

As a side note on a very large warmblood who is still quite young, the growth pattern on this guy is insane.  He stopped growing upward but has been filling out but sporadically and not evenly over his body (because of course not).  All of the training we are doing now is focused on building his hind end strength, where he really has been lacking since we've had him.  A few weeks ago, we added back shoes to give him a little more grip and our flat work lessons have been centered around connection from front to back and encouraging him to carry himself instead of relying on his poor rider (me) to keep the front half and back half of his body together.  Overall, it's a really fun thing to experience because he finally does now have the maturity to listen to training aids and respond accordingly - he is very willing and doesn't hold a grudge.  Unfortunately, he still gets distracted very very easily so keeping his attention during a training ride is quite difficult.

But progress isn't linear (reminding myself) and to have two healthy horses that I get to hang out with and ride in good weather (yesss) is really so so nice.

On to the links!

Continuing with the healthy eats, I've been able to introduce Bryan to farro - a chewy super grain with high fiber and protein content.  We made this salad with it and it was SO SO good, we added grilled salmon to it and it was such a good and healthy dinner.  I doubled the paprika for the chickpeas and they were so tasty.  We'll definitely be making more farro in the future.

New sunscreen!  I've worn EltaMD's sunscreen for years now and have no complaints, however I recently discovered this sunscreen by Allies of Skin and am almost through my first bottle.  It hasn't gone through the depths of Texas summer but goes on smoothly and CLEAR and has been doing its work this winter.  I frequently switch up skincare to see if other things are more effective and this one was a good swap.

We had some crumbly hooves this past fall and were strongly advised to apply Fiebing's hoof dressing pre- and post-ride.  Have I tried a multitude of hoof oils / dressings before?  Yes.  Have any of them smelled quite so badly as Fiebing's?  No.  But this stuff works and is easy to find (aka you don't have to order it from special store on the interwebs).  Have you tried this stinky stuff before and have you found it to be better / worse than others?

 Have a wonderful weekend and happy spring!