Mass Hysteria

I had a pretty rough day today. When my 4:30 "You have two hours until you need to leave for work" alarm went off, I knew it was not going to be the best day ever. I arrived at work, we opened 30 minutes early, and I was ready to tear my eyeballs out by 9:00. The day at work was uneventful, making it even harder for the time to go by quickly.

On my lunch break, I stopped by the vet's office to see if I could bring Dewey in for coggins when I got off work. They said that it would be fine if I arrived around 4:30, so now with fresh horse-realted anxiety I went back to work for the last two hours of my day.

I ended up leaving work a little late, and arrived at Dewey's about ten minutes behind schedule. I hooked up the trailer as fast as humanly possible (It took me multiple tries and wasted more time than needed), and headed to the pasture. All the horses (Including Dewey) were plopping up to the gate looking happy to see me, until Dewey spotted the rope in my back pocket.

He turned on a dime and took off running in the oppisite direction. More time wasted. I am sure glad that you couldn't see that part of the pasture from the highway, because I am pretty sure I looked like and idiot sprinting across the field dragging a grumpy horse.

As we arrived back at the trailer, I began to feel wet. Wet? It's sunny.. I looked around and opened the trailer door as a torrential downpour started. This continued for about 10-15 minutes, but I didnt have time to wait it our. Dewey walked right up to the trailer, put two feet inside, and then promptly raised his head and backed out of the trailer as fast as he could. He backed up about another hundred feed, without me touching or making any kind of advance. I was soaked, he was soaked, and tears were starting to form. Mass hysteria. So the battle begins. Lets just say we did not make it to the vet by 4:30. Or at all.

I decided (Dewey did not agree) that we should go for a ride now that he ruined the appointment. I saddled him up and put him on the longe line. He acted as if he was a wild horse that had never had human contact or a saddle on before. He took off bucking, rearing, jumping, and just making a complete idiot of himself. After his little fit, I finally got him going somewhat forward, with a few hops and bucks in between. I mustered up the courage to get on him after his fit, and we got along fine. Time to try the trailer again.

In the next half hour, not only would Dewey not get in the trailer, but he would not get near it. I had to coax him with food to even get him close. Once he realized that he could stand close to the trailer without me actually trying to get him to go in it, he was okay. I let him eat a little while and calm down from his fit and ride.

I tried to get him into the trailer using food, trotting him up to it, switching tack, and even looping a rope around his back legs to pull him into it. He would not budge. The only direction he would move was backwards. By this point I was thinking, "I wonder how much of my homework I could have had done by now..."

But as all horse people, and even some non-horse owners know and understand: You CANNOT let the horse win. This just teaches them that next time you want them in the trailer, they dont have to go, because you will give up eventually. Horses can either make an evening really great or really bad. Problem is that they get to decide which one it comes out to be.

I sat there and stared at Dewey for a while, and he stared back. It was now not a battle of stregnth, it was a battle of wit and endurance. Who would give up first?

Then the lightbulb clicked. When dad and I load him together, I stand in the trailer and pull, while dad stands behind Dewey and smacks his rear. Obviously, by myself I could not use this strategy in quite the same way, but I figured something out.

I clicked a rope onto his halter and threaded it through the front window of the trailer, and around the outside. This gave me the leverage and ability to pull from inside the trailer while standing outside with Dewey. I pulled on him with one hand while smacking his butt with the other. After tons of hesitation and trying to mow me over to get around the trailer, I finally got some ground. Front feet in.... shoots back out. *facepalm*

I try again. Three feet in... shoots back out. Once more. All feet in... shoots back out.

Then FINALLY an act of God happens. All feet in.......... no backing out. Sniff the bucket.... Oh! Food!. I jumped in and closed the slant as fast as possible and got him all set up. I then collapse onto the ground in triumph. I use this system two or three more times until he just lets me lead him in.

Two and a half hours later, finally satisfied, I put Dew back out with his friends. You know what I said before about how a horse can make an evening or can ruin one, but the horse gets to decide? Well I lied. You get to decide what to do after they make their decision. They can choose to ruin the evening, but you can let them, or teach them. And while you are trying to teach them, you just might learn something yourself. So now I am laying in bed physically (and emotionally) exhausted from my day and evening, but I have a little smirk on my face because I won. I found something that worked and got the results I wanted, and now I get to feel like I actually did something productive with my evening.

Dog or Die

As many of you know, for the last few years I have been dead-set on getting a dog. This hasn't really changed, but my perspective has.

I found the perfect puppy for me on Craigslist a couple of days ago, so I have been espically persistant (annoying) and persuasive (driving mom and dad crazy to the point where they are about to suggest that I adopt two dogs, and a few more cats while I'm at it) lately.

Mom and I had a conversation tonight (her talking and feeling guilty, me feeling guilty and crying) about getting a dog. She raised the blunt point that she just doesn't want an animal in her house, but she would talk to dad about it because she just wants me to be happy. Guilt level: sky-rocketing. This made me really question my decision.

I have always had this thought in my head that mom and dad are wrong because they have preconceived notions about dogs, which is true, but I have also had these notions that  my dog will not be like that. This could be true, or it could be very false. If false, I will just end up looking dumb in front of everyone.

So now I am at this problem: Do I want a dog bad enough to make mom go against her better judgement, or should I just shut up and take one for the team ('the team' being all the animal haters in my family... wait... that is everyone.)? At this current moment, I am laying awake in bed thinking about this. I dont want to make my parents unhappy, but they dont want me to be unhappy. Neither of us can really win in this situation.

I would be overjoyed if they told me I could get one, but the feeling wouldn't come without hesitation. As the song by The Fray goes:

"Happiness damn near destroys you, breaks your faith to pieces on the floor.."

This is what is happening now. Happiness is destroying me. I am so excited at the possibility to finally get a dog, but am overrun with guilt because I am the only one that is going to benefit from the situation.

Anyway, I will stop venting and making a huge deal about something as little as pet ownership. I just needed to get some feelings out! Anyway, I would appreciate any non-ignorant comments on your view on the matter...

Why I Love It:

When my KY3 weather text woke me up at seven a.m., immediatley followed by sever anxiety, I really doubted that this day could turn out good at all. Riding lessons loomed ahead of me, with the temperature already topping eighty degrees. I really didn't want to get out of bed, but following Stefanie and Olivia's cruise theme, I decided to press on.

I proceeded to crawl out of bed and locate all of my riding attire (which is more than you would think) and plopped into the kitchen getting that 'I cant believe you are wearing those riding tights in public' look from Mom. I took a couple sips of water and headed out.

Andrea and I decided to ride together, so at least the car ride was fun. We arrived at the barn, giggling about how fat my lesson horse is, and having a good time. The day was starting to look up.

The barn I ride at doubles as a theraputic riding facility. I finished my lesson, and my instructor asked me if there was any way that I could be a walker for one of the therapy kids that was there that morning. Andrea had yet to ride, so I said I would, kind of leary of the fact that I was already exhausted from my lesson and I didnt really want to walk around in circles for another half hour.

After I took care of my horse, I moved into the indoor arena and saw the little boy that I would be helping that day. His name was Owen. Harvey put him on the little pony and we took off. I listened to Owen quietly talk and felt the way that the little pony was so careful with his precious cargo. Then it hit me: this may be what I want to do with my life.

I got emotional as I thought about how much this little pony was helping Owen get stronger, and how much Owen had probably looked forward to getting to ride. I was worried about the heat and getting sun burned, but he was just excited to get to be there and ride.

We finished with his lesson and I came away different. I had quit worrying about the heat, or that jump line that I just embarassed myself with. It was all about seeing Owen smile and wave goodbye to his pony.

I finished the day out with rodeo judging night on Dewey. We had a few problems, but worked through them. I doubt that I will be able to walk tomorrow, but it was worth having a wonderful day.

Sorry Stef!

So I have really always wanted to start a blog, and when Stefanie started her's, I decided it was time for me too. As many of you know from my extensive facebook posts, some pretty funny things happen in my life. I felt like a blog would be a more effective way to share some of these longer stories that facebook wont allow because they are too long.

So begins the chronicles of Kaylene, Mom, Dad, Dewey, Gilbert, and Bob. Enjoy!