The time change can shove it...

I HATE the fall time change. By the time I get off work between 4 and 4:30 and drive the 35-40 minutes to the barn it is DARK. Don't get me wrong, the sunset and the mountains out on the flat open plains is gorgeous, but the ensuing pitch black night a meer 5-10 minutes after I arrive sucks.

Yes, I live in one of the most gorgeous states!

However, I look to it as, we have an indoor arena with wonderful lights. This was one of the main reasons for the move out east of the city. I will be able to work with my horse during this depressing time of the year with the assistance of lights. The last barn had a light; however, you would get fussed if you used it because the neighbors didn't like it, or the tenants bitched that it ran up the electric bill, or the owner bitched that the bulb was expensive to replace. The new barn owner literally said "Stay here all night, I don't care, just don't wake me up unless you have an emergency and shut off the light when you leave." THAT is a quality barn owner!

The kids (from left to right): Deter (Porkchop), Bug (nut job), Dexter (Big Bird), Frosty (FrostyPants, or just Pants). Trinity typically lives between Big Bird and Pants, but she is still inside on stall rest...

Hi! I already ate, can I come out and play?

PLEASE, I wanna play!!! I'm not dirty and rag-a-muffiny enough...

When I got to the barn I said a quick hello to all of the gang. I then let frosty out for a short jaunt around the small arena while I took care of Trinity. By the time I haltered Frosty and led her the 15 feet to the small arena, it was dark...

Preparing for a good dirty roll in the arena...

I then headed up the hill to get Big T out and check her over. Like I said in my last post, the best part of the new barn is that even though I was delinquent for a week, I know that the barn owner and his three daughters treat each horse like their own and Trinity was in excellent hands! I knew that I would walk in and she would be happy and healthy. I checked her feed supplies and she was doing well (thank goodness this is the last month for specialty feed. She is killing me with the full board AND feed costs... As soon as I walked in the mare barn (which really just means the barn that doesn't house the stallion...) I was greeted by the most obnoxious barn pet alive...

Sleeping, taking a break from being obnoxious...

Apparently he has made friends with the owners black weanling...looks kind of like a Trinity baby... though I want Trinity's baby to be a paint :-), I'll eventually have enough resources to make my dream come true!

I am not really sure of the Rooster's real name, but my friends and I call him CrockPot, because that is where he should live. He goes around and pecks people's feet because he thinks it is funny when they jump around like idiots. If you stand there and stomp your foot he leaves you alone...like I said ANNOYING! Anyways, I took Big T out to see Frosty and they cuddled over the fence. I turned Trinity out for the first time (though the small arena is way bigger than the 24x24 pen she is allowed to have this month). I just wanted to see what she would do...the answer...NOTHING. She said hello to Frosty and sauntered around to the end of the arena. I was expecting an explosion...nope. I clucked to Frosty to get her running and Trinity let out a buck then trotted to the top of the arena behind Frosty. Well that was boring. I could tell her standing wraps were probably getting annoying, so I decided to unwrap her for the night. She has been living in the wraps to keep the swelling down in her back legs since she is on a limited exercise plan. They have done the job splendidly as there is NO swelling or fluid build up, but I thought I would let her legs air out for the day. I'll go back tonight or tomorrow and rewrap her if she starts blowing up. Anyways, since it was dark and I was exhausted from a long day of work I just made Trinity up a delicious mash of food and gave her a big kiss and put her back in her stall. But first, I took 30 day PostOp pictures:

She looks like she is starting to fill back out in the stomach...

Her neck still looks depressingly small, and her ass needs some serious help (though that will be once she starts back to work).

Another horrible view of her nasty neck.

Her wither area is starting to fill back out, but it still looks abnormally boney.

Her ribs are starting to go away, though I suspect that is winter hair as well... Better, but not perfect yet...

I can't wait to start working he again. I am going to do a solid rehab workout for the rest of the winter (after Jan 1, when we have the all clear to ride). I am currently thinking we will do a week or two of building up the walk, doing long and low, and a tiny bit of collection work. Then we will start adding short bursts of trot work. Maybe adding 5 minutes at a time each workout. I will mostly focus on long and low again. Then I will slowly add Canter in the same way. I have sort of come up with this by reading a bunch of different information on re-fitting a horse and by reading a bunch of different blogs. Does anyone have any other suggestions or ideas? I want her to be fit back up by spring so we can hit the ground running with trail rides and maybe some gymkhanas and such... As I have said, I am not interested in showing, but that doesn't mean I am not interested in having a fit, beautiful, athletic horse...