The Swampling - Doing what I can, when I can

Ensi · August 20, 2015

A week of Pure Victory would be awesome!

The horse business... I may have gotten a severe case of whiplash last night on the phone, I was shaking my head so hard...

Just... Amazing. So she said 'she needed to do this for herself'? That's when you go spend a weekend at the spa! x__x Thank goodness it's not your vet who's getting sued, though...

Swampling · August 20, 2015

Just... Amazing. So she said 'she needed to do this for herself'? That's when you go spend a weekend at the spa! x__x Thank goodness it's not your vet who's getting sued, though...

Yup, that's exactly what she said. And I totally agree with the spa weekend as the better option.

She KNOWS she did everything wrong, she even said so herself, but she still wondered why I didn't break into spontaneous applause when she told me the whole story. :rolleyes:

I'll have to check my notes (yes, I took notes while we were on the phone - I hope I'll get the movie rights... ), so I can write down the highlights for you. :lol:

petefeet · August 20, 2015

Ok, I agree, this week has been a complete write off for you, WTF Indeed!

Not sure what I can say other than offer what little support I can, and hope everythig turns out for the best.

LadyGrey · August 21, 2015

I feel you on the trip to Canada/MIL thing too. Because I am in a similar situation! Well, mine included Vegas and Alberta, but long story short.....I have to miss Vegas from scheduling conflicts that I requested not to take place in October. Now I can't go ;;

Swampling · August 21, 2015

Short follow-up on the travel WTF:

The FC didn't know about the time share thingy, either.

Quote:

"I did not tell her that we were actually coming. But I did not tell her that we were not coming, either."

As long as nobody tells me to book flights and check out rental cars, I'll just wait and see.

Que serÃ¡ serÃ¡.

*shrugs*

Swampling · August 21, 2015

Long follow-up on the horse WTF:

NOT GOOD: No one who knows the lady's riding abilites went with her to check out the horse. An acquaintance of hers did sit on the horse but, to quote her: "He never learned proper riding, all he knows is Parelli". Since I don't know the guy and his abilites or lack thereof, I'll just let that stand.

NOT GOOD: She didn't even have the current owners ride him for her. That is usually the first thing you do before you get in the saddle of an unknown horse yourself. You can at least get a first impression how he is cooperating, how well he is schooled, etc.

NOT GOOD: The horse doesn't like to move (or is really sore?!), they pretty much always needea crop to make him go forward.

NOT GOOD: The horse didn't have any vaccinations (not even tetanus?!), equine ID (mandatory in Germany since 2000!), no pedigree (not surprising, and not really important, if you don't want to breed - which is thankfully not an option with a gelding ). Apparently he was advertised as a Spanish breed, but he doesn't look like one. More like a heavy warmblood (possibly Polish?), or even a draught horse cross. Spanish, my a**...

NOT GOOD: The barn where the horse lived was very messy and dirty. The hay was of dubious quality (extremely dusty).

NOT GOOD: The vet who came for the vet check was not the one I recommended, but was an acquaintance of the horse seller. If you don't know and trust the seller (which she didn't), this is beyond stupid. :rolleyes: She says it was a misunderstanding, and that she thought they were talking about the same vet. Turned out they weren't.

NOT GOOD: Turns out the horse has thrush on three of his hooves (basically, the hooves are rotting because he was standing in his manure all day long). And an eye infection. And bad teeth. And a sore back(!). Which probably means that they gave him painkillers on all days when my friend came over, and especially for the vet check.

NOT GOOD: The barn where she wanted to stable her horse went back on their promise that she could bring him. Suddenly they don't have room. They tell her that on the same day that the horse is supposed to move there. She has to find another barn in a couple of hours. Looks like she found a good (or even better) place, but still...

NOT GOOD: The eye infection got worse in the meantime (it started festering), so now OUR vet gets to pick up the pieces: she saw to the vaccinations, took care of his teeth and is now taking care of thrush and the eye infection. AND the sore back. She prescribed some "gymnastic" exercises for him, and I honestly doubt his new owner's abilites at rehabbing him. She's a beginner, for crying out loud. She needs HELP with this!

NOT GOOD: The sob story "we need to sell some of our horses, because we simply can not do all the work any more" turned out to be fake. The guy seems to be a (small time) pro horse dealer. And a shady one at that. :rolleyes:

NOT GOOD: The lady will probably go on a three week trip with her kids at the beginning of September. She has known that for a couple of months, I remember her telling me about this some time this spring. Why do you go and buy a horse (that needs medical care three times a day, to boot!), just to leave it at a new, unfamiliar barn for a couple of weeks, and leave the barn owners with all the extra work of eye treatment and stuff?!

I'm sure I left out some, but I think I got the biggest WTFs covered in the above list.

After writing all of this down I feel like banging my head against the wall.

petefeet · August 21, 2015

After writing all of this down I feel like banging my head against the wall.

That may be true, but I find writing stuff down lets me vent and cool down a bit.

annyshay · August 22, 2015

Hey Swampling! Coming over to support ya back. Seems well timed, WTF indeed. I grew up on a horse farm. My mom trains and teaches. That whole story makes me angry and sad for the poor horsey. Hopefully the new barn is better and somebody will love on the poor guy.

Also, elements, chocolate, and horseys. Clearly this is a place I need to be.

tigertubagirl · August 24, 2015

Long follow-up on the horse WTF:

NOT GOOD: No one who knows the lady's riding abilites went with her to check out the horse. An acquaintance of hers did sit on the horse but, to quote her: "He never learned proper riding, all he knows is Parelli". Since I don't know the guy and his abilites or lack thereof, I'll just let that stand.

NOT GOOD: She didn't even have the current owners ride him for her. That is usually the first thing you do before you get in the saddle of an unknown horse yourself. You can at least get a first impression how he is cooperating, how well he is schooled, etc.

NOT GOOD: The horse doesn't like to move (or is really sore?!), they pretty much always needea crop to make him go forward.

NOT GOOD: The horse didn't have any vaccinations (not even tetanus?!), equine ID (mandatory in Germany since 2000!), no pedigree (not surprising, and not really important, if you don't want to breed - which is thankfully not an option with a gelding ). Apparently he was advertised as a Spanish breed, but he doesn't look like one. More like a heavy warmblood (possibly Polish?), or even a draught horse cross. Spanish, my a**...

NOT GOOD: The barn where the horse lived was very messy and dirty. The hay was of dubious quality (extremely dusty).

NOT GOOD: The vet who came for the vet check was not the one I recommended, but was an acquaintance of the horse seller. If you don't know and trust the seller (which she didn't), this is beyond stupid. She says it was a misunderstanding, and that she thought they were talking about the same vet. Turned out they weren't.

NOT GOOD: Turns out the horse has thrush on three of his hooves (basically, the hooves are rotting because he was standing in his manure all day long). And an eye infection. And bad teeth. And a sore back(!). Which probably means that they gave him painkillers on all days when my friend came over, and especially for the vet check.

NOT GOOD: The barn where she wanted to stable her horse went back on their promise that she could bring him. Suddenly they don't have room. They tell her that on the same day that the horse is supposed to move there. She has to find another barn in a couple of hours. Looks like she found a good (or even better) place, but still...

NOT GOOD: The eye infection got worse in the meantime (it started festering), so now OUR vet gets to pick up the pieces: she saw to the vaccinations, took care of his teeth and is now taking care of thrush and the eye infection. AND the sore back. She prescribed some "gymnastic" exercises for him, and I honestly doubt his new owner's abilites at rehabbing him. She's a beginner, for crying out loud. She needs HELP with this!

NOT GOOD: The sob story "we need to sell some of our horses, because we simply can not do all the work any more" turned out to be fake. The guy seems to be a (small time) pro horse dealer. And a shady one at that.

NOT GOOD: The lady will probably go on a three week trip with her kids at the beginning of September. She has known that for a couple of months, I remember her telling me about this some time this spring. Why do you go and buy a horse (that needs medical care three times a day, to boot!), just to leave it at a new, unfamiliar barn for a couple of weeks, and leave the barn owners with all the extra work of eye treatment and stuff?!

I'm sure I left out some, but I think I got the biggest WTFs covered in the above list.

After writing all of this down I feel like banging my head against the wall.

This lady sounds like a train wreck. It's too bad she's brought the poor horse into the circus... although it sounds like the horse wasn't exactly in the best place before, either.

I hate when people don't do right by animals and people who can't speak for themselves. It's shameful.

Ensi · August 25, 2015

What in the...? That's like from all the horse comics I used to read when I was a kid! Gosh, Swamps, no wonder you're pissed... I hope things turn out well for the poor horse, though :/

Other than this horsesh*t, how have you been doing?

Swampling · August 26, 2015

Thank you all for your kind words and moral support!

I'll check in later today with a proper update. Now... back to work...

LadyGrey · August 26, 2015

I don't know anything about horses but that sounds messed up :S Some of it is just plain common sense anyway.

Swampling · August 26, 2015

Looks like I have a lot of catching up to do... :nevreness:

Last week's Elements practice:

W3 D1 - Bent Arm Bear

I haven't done that one in a while, and it shows. Back to one measly minute before I collapse. Also, the arms get gradually more and more unbent, the longer I practice.

Room for improvement!

W3 D2 - Monkey with Monkey Twist

This one's an easier movement for me: the twists in between the monkey hops give me enough breaks that I can do this for quite a while. I even made it to 6 minutes of continuous practice! :triumphant:

KB class in the evening - it's apparently TGU week, so we practice more Get Ups than usual. Which is a good thing, because I haven't practiced them all that much in the past months. My form has definitely suffered.

W3 D3 - High Frogger

1:20 min.

This one's a bit awkward. I am afraid of faceplanting, so my Frogger isn't all that high.

W3 D4 - Bent Arm Monkey

1:45 minutes

I try to keep my arms bent and not straighten them too much when I push off the ground, but it doesn't always work.

But compared to my last round of Elements, I increased monkeying time by 75% (was at 1 minute 8 weeks ago...)!

(75% sounds like a lot more than 45 seconds... )

No KB class today, thanks to work...

W3 D5 - Frogger Pause

Another nice one for me - the pause in the deep squat between the Frogger hops helps, just like the Twist in between the Monkeys does.

2:30 min!

W3 D6 - Spiderman Crawls

That one was a bust. I had a lousy night with about 4 hours of sleep, and absolutely no energy left in the morning. I don't think I even got through one minute.

I also went on a nice trail ride with Rosie, accompanied by Rosie's owner who walked with us.

We also did some more trailer loading practice, both on Friday and on Sunday, though both times took a lot longer than those 20 minutes we had before.

We aim to practice more in the next couple of weeks, in the hope that at one point this will become so boring and / or annoying for Rosie, that she'll walk into the trailer right away, just to be left alone...

There was also a bit of a chocolate overdose on Friday and Saturday, complete with Sugar Hangover and all. When will I learn?

Swampling · August 26, 2015

One more little WTF to add to the whole horsey situation:

The newly-horsed lady asked me about a trainer/riding instructor who had been at our barn a couple of years ago. She had been an excellent rider, classically trained, great horsewoman. She had also been working her horses at liberty (also riding without saddle and bridle).

I can understand that this way of working with horses has a great appeal, but in my opinion, it takes a lot of work, dedication (and also some talent) to get that far. And I'm pretty sure said trainer has spent many years until she finally got there. And she never stopped learning, althoug she had a solid base upon which to build.

It's tempting to want to skim over the basics and dive right into the advanced stuff. BUT... :rolleyes:

Somehow this situation just feels a lot like a train-wreck waiting to happen.

Swampling · August 26, 2015

Follow-up on the travel planning WTF;

Flights are booked, golf resort time share thingy in the mountains is not.

Current plan is to look for a nice little hobbit hole somewhere around Victoria, BC. :triumphant:

petefeet · August 28, 2015

Current plan is to look for a nice little hobbit hole somewhere around Victoria, BC.

I'm on the completely opposite coast or I would suggest a meet-up! Maybe another time <g>

Swampling · September 3, 2015

Argh... I'm terrible with updating this thing... *sigh*

Short summary of last week... :rolleyes:

W4 D1 - Banzai Frogger

Since we had practiced trailer-loading with Rosie on the weekend, my arms and wrists were still sore from repeatedly catching a 1000+-pound pony before it fell off the trailer ramp. So I only managed one minute and had to leave it at that.

W4 D2 - Stretch day: A-frame to cobra

My wrists were still somewhat sore, so no more than 1:50.

W4 D3 - Monkey 180

Wrists were finally better, but my left knee was acting up again. Stupid thing! But at least I made it to 2 minutes of monkey turns, anyway.

W4 D4 - Beginner flow!

I can either do all the transition practice on this day and skip the flow, or do the flow and skip the transition practice before. I opted for the latter and managed 6:30 minutes of flow! Yay! I think this is the longest I have ever Element-ed around in one go.

W4 D5 - Stretch day: Monkey twist

Been there. Done that. The easiest day of this week.

W4 D6 - Beginner flow!

6:30 again. When in doubt, or getting tired - Bear.

I also made it to kb class on Tuesday, it was military press week. Which I totally suck at. All the more reason to practice, then, eh?

No yoga, our teacher is on vacation (though she's using the time to fix up her new studio - we'll move our classes to the new place in November, I think).

On Friday, I went on my first solo trail ride with Rosie, and she was really good. The weather was perfect - not too hot, not too cold - and Rosie was very brave!

Ensi · September 3, 2015

I also made it to kb class on Tuesday, it was military press week. Which I totally suck at. All the more reason to practice, then, eh?

On Friday, I went on my first solo trail ride with Rosie, and she was really good. The weather was perfect - not too hot, not too cold - and Rosie was very brave!

You've got the right attitude, Swamps! And it sounds like you've had a good week...! Even if trailer-loading must have been difficult, Rosie is a brave one! I hope your wrists get better soon <3

What kind of yoga do you practice, again? I started a power yoga beginner course yesterday

Waldgeist · September 3, 2015

Argh... I'm terrible with updating this thing... *sigh*

Nonsense, this is a update, ergo you are a good updater.

Good going on the military presses! And good inspiration I might do some of them tomorrow, too.

Swampling · September 4, 2015

I'm on the completely opposite coast or I would suggest a meet-up! Maybe another time <g>

Your coast is still on my wishlist. (Hey, this is my first trip to CA since 2004. If I'm lucky I'll make the next one before I retire... )

Swampling · September 4, 2015

You've got the right attitude, Swamps! And it sounds like you've had a good week...! Even if trailer-loading must have been difficult, Rosie is a brave one! I hope your wrists get better soon <3

What kind of yoga do you practice, again? I started a power yoga beginner course yesterday

Thank you, Ensi!

Since our yoga class doesn't have a specific label, and I looked up descriptions of various types of yoga, I believe it ours is a pretty standard hatha yoga class. Although one could argue that the class on Fridays (which I usually attend if I make it there in time) might be almost a yin yoga class, since we mostly hold stretches for a pretty long time.

Though I am definitely no yoga pro, so maybe I got that totally wrong.

I actually didn't make it to any of the yoga classes this week, neither the beginner's class on Monday (which is my usual fallback when I know I won't make the Friday class), nor today. And since I'll be visiting my parents again next week, there'll be no yoga class for me, either. *sigh*

Maybe I can get my Sis to practice a little with me?

Swampling · September 5, 2015

Nonsense, this is a update, ergo you are a good updater.

Good going on the military presses! And good inspiration I might do some of them tomorrow, too.

If you put it that way...

So - how did your military presses go?

Waldgeist · September 5, 2015

So - how did your military presses go?

They didn't happen.... yet!

Swampling · September 6, 2015

They didn't happen.... yet!

I like that "yet" :encouragement:

Swampling · September 7, 2015

W5 D1 â€“ BAB
1:15 + 0:30 (after some rest)

W5 D2 â€“ Monkey with a twist
5:10 â€“ this is actually getting easier. It felt more like a 6 than the usual â€œthighs-burning-8â€.

W5 D3 â€“ High frogger
Aaaaand Iâ€™m back in familiar territory: 1:10 and an effort of â€œthighs-burning-8â€.

Doesnâ€™t help that I went to strenght training class the evening before where I tried to kill myself with a bottom up press. Lost my grip, caught the KB (didnâ€™t want to bash my head in, not even with such a tinywhiny bell), but kind of frakked my left wrist in doing so.

Stupid, really.
I shouldnâ€™t have gone for that last rep.
(Iâ€™m pretty sure these â€“ or similar â€“ words might end up on my tombstone, eventuallyâ€¦)

W5 D4 â€“ Bent arm monkey
And hereâ€™s Tuesdayâ€™s DOMS, tooâ€¦
1:45.
Ouch.

W5 D5 â€“ Frogger pause
1:40
Wrist is not feeling much better, yet.

But I did go on a walk with Rosie, which was fun. Except for the part where she decided to step on my toes. Glad Iâ€™m always wearing sensible shoes around horsesâ€¦

W5 D6 â€“ Spiderman crawls
1:00. Thatâ€™s it.
*sigh*

Yesterday I had another visit with Rosie, which was fun. No riding either, but we played with a large piece of bubble wrap.

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