Hi again from the USA!

BunnyDog

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Hi Guys,

Generally there's not much to report here but I thought since our countries and lives are all being run in the proverbial blender on a daily basis that maybe it would be useful to check in and say Hello.

I rode Cudo 2 nights ago for 15 mins. It was lovely. Walk and trot great.... Lengthened gallop...errr "canter" is definitely in the "IT'S SPRING MOM>>>> LETS GET ON WITH IT" mode. So we didn't do much. LOL.

I had ridden for a month or so between November and December. We did his 1 jump school that I shared here mid December and then winter hit. We haven't been very cold. In fact it's been quite nice temperatures, for us anyway. But what we got a lot of was swinging shifts between everything frozen, and then pouring rain so everything was saturated. On a good day my ring takes 2 days to dry so by default I got knocked out of regular work. Plus lets face it... winter in Pennsylvania is a fabulous time to turn a horse out and let them be as wild or not as they like. So that's what we've done.

In February I was more motivated and rode for maybe 5 days straight....then it rained.... for 4 days. SO we waited. By then I was looking at my scheduled first show of 4/28 and thought it'd be fine.

As the virus started spreading more I started to realize that maybe more rest wouldn't hurt. So I let them stay on their schedule and as luck would have it we have been doing some slight remodeling work on our house. It's been completed resided and we are re-doing the first floor bathroom and the guest bath upstairs is next.

So we've done very little and as I watched the shows cancel I have been honestly more than a bit pleased that I had not started pressuring the boys to be fitter and work harder for a season that while maybe it's not all gone, it's certainly a better play to prioritize our horse's wellness and return to show fitness in a planned and purposeful method.

Chad is sort of in work too. And he really needs to be worked this year but right now that probably equates to 2-4 rides per 10 days and that's still a huge increase after the issues he faced last year (Hives, Hole in hoof, more hives, fungus)

I am one of the lucky ones... my job allows me to work from home 8 hours a day (so far) and so I am still as busy as ever even as the hospital is only seeing emergency cases. (Large Animal University hospital)

Left and right my Facebook friends are getting laid off of put on temporary leave, or for some their bosses can't take the agony of talking to them so they've just stopped talking altogether.

John (my husband) is working from home and the company he works for has a plan to get through it. (We hope)

The dogs think it's absolutely fabulous that we're home all day. Right now our county has 27 active cases of the virus, as such the Governor has decreed that we have to stay at home (Unless we are a part of a life serving essential business.) We are permitted to go to the grocery store, the gas station (Where we are all realizing we need to wear gloves and wipe down the pump before we touch the pump) and pet stores or feed supply stores.

So it's not awful for all, but it sure is challenging. I hope you all are doing well and staying as safe as possible.

Hopefully we'll get a better update in the not too distant future.

All my best,

Emily
 

BunnyDog

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We re all a bit in shock as the Prime Minister issued a UK wide lock down this evening...we re all busy processing...but real good to hear from you Bunnydog.

Yea I saw. I figured now would be a good time as any. While we don't have a nationwide lock down yet you have to remember that the individual states are doing what is best for the people. Refraining from any gross political statements, but we have some big challenges to get ourselves as a country back to remembering to think not only about ourselves and our wants but rather to consider our actions against what our family members, friends, school teachers, first responders and ultimately our children need us to do to work as a more unified entity. We're not there yet. The last time we were even close at all was in the hours, days and weeks after 9/11. That was almost 19 years ago. And I truly hope we can get there again.

I'm not worried too much for myself, even though I have asthma and yes am technically at risk, but so too is my 72 yr old mom, my 73 yr old dad (cancer survivor 2x) and my little sister who is 41 and pregnant with her first child due 4/9. My entire immediate family is technically the "at risk" cross section. But we're strong...and we're all hoping our friends, neighbors and countrymen can be too.

Em
 

BunnyDog

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From night check tonight. All the heathens.

Just to explain who is who:

1) Beau is my Thoroughbred who is 10 years old. He's a companion now as he's never fully recovered from a bone bruise in his hoof.

2) Chad is my 6 yr old KWPN gelding. BTW he's grown to be 17 hands and almost 3/4".

3) Cudo... I think all of you know him. He's in the sheet.

4) Max is my 15 yr old Quarter Horse X Paint and he's on stall rest for the foreseeable future with an injury. (That happened when he wasn't with me)

Em
 

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EventingMum

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I'm interested to hear about your restrictions OP as I have cousins in Pennsylvania and was about to contact them! Crazy times just now, hopefully, horses keep us all sane during this difficult time.
 

BunnyDog

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I can't tell you how heart warming it is to have been noticed as having NOT been around. Even for the most nominal and basic reasons. :)

Here's a Video I posted on Facebook a few weeks ago. You'll notice the audio will come in and out that's because sadly I have music playing in the background and the Facebook copyright folks are trying to mute the copyrighted music that was playing on Spotify. But you can see the lack of grass in Pennsylvania then. What I was saying... not that it's easy to hear, is how valuable it is to just do long slow road hacks to allow the horse's body to have what it needs to bring back to business slowly. Not as common here as it used to be here and maybe I'm just old (48) and stubborn (ha ha ha) but I would rather do what's best for my partner who has zero say really in the life I choose for him. It's important to me that Cudo (and any of my horses) have a life where they're happy. That they enjoy the jobs and how we prepare and do the work needed to be fit when needed. I work hard to remember that everyday it's a privilege to swing my leg over any horse, but most especially one as special as Cudo.

But we had a lovely road hack and Cudo was a little bouncy. Ha ha ha.

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This was from Feb 26th.

Em
 

EventingMum

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EventingMum

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They did lock down the Hellertown folks county as of tonight.

Just an FYI.

Em

I heard from my cousin In New jersey and she filled me in on a lot. The two PA families have their kids home from school and college. The ones in Hellerton own a country club so I looked on it's website to see how it's affected too. It seems as if they are facing similar restriction to us. Thanks Bunnydog, stay safe x
 

EventingMum

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They did lock down the Hellertown folks county as of tonight.

Just an FYI.

Em

I heard from my cousin In New jersey and she filled me in on a lot. The two PA families have their kids home from school and college. The ones in Hellerton own a country club so I looked on it's website to see how it's affected too. It seems as if they are facing similar restriction to us. Thanks Bunnydog, stay safe x
 
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