Behind Infinity

I took a half day of my precious vacation time today. Was it so that I could catch up on my soaps? Maybe knock off some things on my personal to-do list?

Nope. Today was vet visit day. My horses are now healthier and my checking account is now much leaner.
Jezebelle and Max got off easy, with just a blood draw and their yearly vaccinations. Starr, however, had a much worse fate. She needed her teeth “floated” (i.e. ground down). Domestic horses’ teeth can develop deformities and sharp, hooky edges. These cause discomfort because the horse will end up biting its own cheeks. Ouch. But even worse, it prevents them from chewing properly, which can lead to digestive issues and weight loss due to poor nutrition. So, every year or three, depending on the horse, you gotta get in there and fix things up a bit.

Here’s Todd the Vet, checking out a very sedated Starr. Todd is cool. While he used his powertools to grind away at my horse’s teeth, he asked about my new job and we ended up having a pretty in-depth conversation about conservative politics, free-market economics and how to best help the poor. I kind of can’t believe that I spent the afternoon talking Acton-ese with my vet.

In this picture you can see the vet assistant hanging on to the nylon strap, which was thrown over my barn rafter and attached to the basket halter that Starr is wearing. Vet assisting is such a glamorous job. You can also see how Todd’s baby blue polarfleece jacket and khaki pants are spotless. Even after spending all day in the field doing vet work (we were his last call of the day), there was not even a speck of horse spittle or poo to be found on the man. I really wonder how he does that. At the moment, I’m leaning towards superpowers.

These are the tools that Todd the Vet uses to grind horse teeth. Nice, huh?

And here’s Starr, after her procedure was finished. “Head…too…heavy….can’t…stand…up….”

“sooooo sleeeepy….”

horse lip. hilarious.

After I paid Todd the Vet and he went on his merry way, I worked Jezebelle. Brenna took photos for me. She’s a good girl. Seeing as I don’t have a trainer, photos are helpful to look at and see what I’m doing right and wrong and how we can improve.

I am SO. INCREDIBLY. THRILLED. with this backlit, yellowish picture. That is some SERIOUS trot that Jezebelle has going on there. You can see how she is nice and rounded through her butt, all under herself, and very upright and collected through her neck and front end. Her knee is almost at level. This is the goal. This is a Country English Pleasure horse. This isn’t Nationals material, but it’s a place to start. And it’s only our 4th serious workout since last November. And she’s barefoot. I cannot wait to enter the show ring with this horse this summer after we build some muscles and develop some finesse.

And here…I got carried away with my 70’s fade filter again. What can I say, I just love the look.

So that’s what I did on my day off. I think now I’m going to go make some websites for clients.

This is the most gorgeous video I’ve seen in quite awhile.

A SHORT LOVE STORY IN STOP MOTION from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo.

…because 5 years ago, in a pasture in northern Arkansas, Jezebelle was born. So this morning I said happy birthday to my dear, sweet, lovely horse and kissed her behind her dirty, fuzzy ear.

And she ducked away with barely a glance at me, mildly annoyed, and continued to chew her hay.