Two, Four and a Half, Ten

It's been an exciting couple of days around here.

Today has been exactly two months since Lex's surgery. This was supposed to be the day I got back on her, and that clearly wasn't happening. But it was a great day for us nonetheless, because I finally turned her out. She had been doing pretty well in the round pen, although she had another I'M FREE bucking spree, at which point, I decided enough was enough. I called my vet and we decided to turn her out today with a nice old quarter horse gentleman named JR. I made sure they had a brand new round bale. Lex was SO. FREAKING. HAPPY. to be outside. She nosed with JR, she rolled in the mud (and rolled, and rolled, and rolled). She ate huge mouthfuls of hay, she walked around, rolled some more, and then was like, "heyyyyy... I could... buck?" And JR pinned his ears at her: "You're embarrassing yourself." She stopped, hung her head, and went back to the hay. Consider me the present of the JR fan club. Things were going so well that I got permission from the vet to leave her out for the day and to just put her on an AM turnout routine. In a week or two, she can go back out overnight. When that's been going well for... who knows? A few days? A week? We'll see if we can get back to riding. I hope she thinks it's fun, like she did when I started her under saddle and she was so good all the time. I think she just needs time to be outside and be happy and we'll be okay.

Yesterday marked roughly four and a half months since Rocket was born, and was a big day for her. She was weaned! It went about as well as weaning can go. Mom has decided to sell Rocket's dam, Somara, which is the right decision. So the trainer she is sending Somara to for the sale came and picked her up. He also worked with Rocket a little before he went, and he really liked her. Who wouldn't? She's fabulous. Rocket was upset, of course, but this is how horses work. She'll be fine, if she isn't already, and I'm guessing she is. We're getting closer to her being a real grown-up horse!

It has been ten days since my kick to the arm. It's getting better, but not at the speed at which I'd hoped. The bruises are pretty and the swelling is going down, and I can tack up and ride horses now. But it's painful enough that I wonder if there is a hairline fracture in there. I suppose we'll just have to see where it goes from here.

I'm going to try to get pictures of all these horses soon. Zephyr, Jethro, Mira, and Veronica are all doing well, and I hope to have updates about them in just a couple days.