110% better.  Absolutely back to her normal self and content with life.  Our daily mud knocking session was nice and quiet, with all her sores fromt he rain rot healed she's much happier to be groomed and enjoys it again!   Out in the warm morning sunlight her coat now has the gleam of a brand new penny, SO much improved from the dull brown when she got here.  *happy dance* the MTG is helping the hair grow back, by mid summer when I send the update photos I promised to the girl I got her from she won't recognize her at ALL.

It's been a b*tch the last couple months. Unable to work her to help build her muscle back up and f inding the right balance to keep her gaining weight without feeding her so much she put it on too fast and got sick but its paying off. 
As far as ground work, she's about as de-spooked as a mare can be.  Plastic bags from the bedding can be thrown on her rubbed all over her, she'll wear them as hats and I can shake them every which direction only to have her cock an ear and essentially roll her eyes.
I love that mare! 
It was so nice today I decided to take Laddie for a spin around the pasture now that its dried up significantly - absolutely not the same horse I rode when I first came here in Sept, despite the limited work over the winter.  Far improved on the head tossing and playing with the bit, when he doesn't want to go some where its still somewhat rack and pinion steering but far better than it was, and we added ditches and stream crossings to his resume today. 
The wider spot of the little trickle running through the pasture made him pause a moment but he walked right over it calmly.  Had a nice trot around the pasture in the wooded area, met the neighbor's minis without incident and did some transition work in the arena (also worked on giving to the bit, much softer now, will try again tomorrow and see if it took!)  all in all it was a great ride. Ended with some from the saddle desensitizing. 
Two months ago I never would have tried anything resembling a vaulting/trick riding exercise on him.  He now stands quietly so I can stand on HIM and tollerates me swinging my legs over and turning around on him like the silly little girl I think I still am.  (All with the mares running around being springy and his son trying to compete for my attention)  Ground ties for grooming, tacking, and untacking.  *content sigh* Love my loveys.  They keep me sane.

Two nights ago Winnie coliced.  I caught it very early and it was treated with the quickness, she's currently confined to a stall so I can monitor water intake and manure production so she's feeling a little put out and insulted but much better otherwise.
I was up at 6am Thursday, did not go to sleep finally until around 2am Saturday.   Past exhausted now.
Because she was not drinking, but the vet said she could be back on her feed, she's only getting her pelleted food, soaked in warm salty water which is encouraging her to drink.  Her hay gets watered down and aside from being confined she knows she's getting the royal treatment right now.  Her sister and the geldings are jealous. 
You know you're a horse mom when you're lugging warm water up to the barn, freezing your fingers soaking her hay so it gets wet but her bedding doesn't get flooded by the hose, closely watching the level of water in a bucket and doing insane happy dances with every poopy.
This weather is being hell on everyone.  At the store where I work we've had several customers that have lost horses to colic/dehydration.  Silly horses, DRINK! 
In every other way though the vet his happy with her appearance, and was pleased to inform me that while she tries to tube horses without sedation, 9times outta 10 she has to sedate.  Winny's special, she was a saint for her indignities.

And exciting news is everywhere!

Winnie's rain rot has not made a comeback despite the weather being perfect for it, and I have ridden her twice. Both times briefly as she is still on the skinny side, our trimmer cannot believe the difference in her though especially with the rough winter and the condition she was in when she arrived!  She is decidedly more animated than when I first got on her, and it tickles me pink!  Walked beautifully around the arena until she had a moment of "I feel good lets RUN" and had a tiny tantrum at being told no, but I was so excited she had the energy to throw it I couldn't be mad at her, especially seeing as she calmed down so nicely after it and moved on like nothing happened.  (She has not been ridden since October)
Budgie may have found a new home with a 14yo girl who wants to play with green horses but is not quite ready, so its the perfect blend.  Budgie knows her jobs, but has a lot of energy and can keep you on your toes in a GOOD way so will be good safe energetic practice to work up to green/unbroke horses for this girl, and she'll get all the one on one attention she deserves! 
Once her stall opens up, I have an 8yo WB mare coming here to work/show/help sell for a friend's mother on a $2,000 commission.  I'll be soaking up the cost of feeding her but she's a big fat lazy easy keeper and while she is here she can be used for lessons, showing, trails, whatever and to help get my name out there.  As soon as she is sold, which with show season upon us and her lovely nature/movement should not be long, her half sister is coming here for training. 
I'm so excited!  It's FINALLY happening!  This is what I want to do with my life, not so much the sales part but the working with horses and having it pay more than with the emotional therapy they provide!
And in even bigger exciting news for me, after losing Luna and Tango, there is new life!  My dear friend in NC's mare foaled today!  A stunning creamy dun colt, with the cutest little face and tipped ears and sweetest baby boo eyes, complete with dorsal stripe and leg barring.  We had so expected a filly so he has no name yet, and I only have one photo that was sent to my phone, but I will most deffinately be updating on him and the warmbloods and especially my sweet lovely Winnipeg. (who for halloween is going to be the Winnie-peg-asaurus. I just have to make wings for her and get her used to them)
Hope all is well for everyone! 
PS: I have a new boyfriend, he's kind of a big deal, even if he doesn't ride (YET)

.....is non existent once Snow Days no longer means getting to stay home and play with friends.  I enjoyed the first snow, the second one...it was okay for a while.....I mean I didn't get to enjoy it much because of my hand but oh well.  this snow can go away.  I not just want, I need to ride.  Budgie is getting sour sitting in the field and sharing my attention, so she's been put on the market early as I feel she'd be happier as 'an only child'.  Scout and Laddie are bored to the point we're inventing new games for them to play and Winnie, well she just wants to do something now that the rain rot is gone and she's feeling better, while not 100% back weight wise. 

Yesterday while driving home from the feed store after picking up bedding and grain, fully prepared to unload the truck and then take advantage of the beautiful day and work the geldings before heading to my job, I was KOd

No, really, can it?  The snow has been pretty and all but we've gone through a couple deicers (a certain mouthy gelding likes to play with them)  and the whole frozen ground thing is old.  

it makes for entertaining improvisations up at the barn. The other day i decided i was going to take Budgie for a ride down the street and through the neighborhood. we were by ourselves so i was nervous at first but she was a champ and we ended up having an amazing relaxing ride. Kept it short due to the cold. Crossed ditches, checked our mail, passed cows, horses in fields, cars, a bike, flags, dogs behind invisible fences, she was a rockstar. loose rein the whole way nice easy walk. didnt even rush on the way home! It was leading her thru the gate we had a problem. Winny was so glad to have her back she ran right btwen us. so there i was tryin to close the gate and somehow the reins got wrapped around my hand so despite having let go i was still attached. Budgie tore free at the expense of my bones, but stopped as soon as sh stepped on her reins...oh the visions of broken legs i had! She let me catch her, somehow i got her untacked and everything put away then went inside. my hand was swollen and bruising, pinky and ring fingers grotesquely angled. eventually i get talked into going to the hosp. Spiral break on ring finger, hairline and a chip broken off in my pinky. Im in a 'boxers' splint til i see the ortho. soooo upset. but at least i got a good ride in first!!

Dashing through the snow, without my one horse open sleeeeiigh, in the cold stuff I fellll  laughing all the way ha ha ha.
Okay, no more coffee for me.
Hope everyone's having a good post turkey time of year.  I for one am LOVING the snow we got yesterday!

Quick update on my mares (did I even post anything here about them?! I can't remember, will go back later)  Winny-peg continues to gain weight and the rot of the rain is 99.99999% GONE.  When the ground clears up a little I plan to throw the bareback pad on her and ride around for a little while just becuase she has not been ridden since she came here as I could not justify it  what with the back full of scabs and rot and the 150lbs she still lacked.  I'd like to see her put on another 50-75 and start building up muscle tone.  I'm so proud of her, her butt is starting to look round! 
Budgie has established herself as both the alpha mare and the teaser mare, our halflinger gelding who was cut late (obviously as he is our other gelding's sire) is fascinated by her and his son is infatuated.  Her shoes are off, and so is she for another week, with them having been flipped around by her previous farrier (I reccomend smacking any that suggest this) she has bruised heels, which are almost non existent so she is now barefoot and we are working to build her heel back up and balance her foot.  Her movment is stunning as is, I can only imagine what it will be like when she's balanced and not sore anymore! 
They had their feet done, in the rain, while a friend was loading my car onto the roll back to take it to the shop, not bothered a bit.  SO PROUD!!!  My good girls. 
I got a bug up my tush yesterday before work that it was snowing, there are horses in my back yard and I have NEVER ridden in the snow and always dreamed of it so I was going to, no matter how it ended up what with the horses all having time off because of the weather and footing.    I've never ridden Laddie bareback, but did not want to fully tack him up so he got a bridle and the bareback pad, seemed fine.  We walk to the arena, he got a little nervous, it was still snowing heavily and he was excited (he's excitable anyway)  What happened was my fault, I've never prepped him to have a rider just jump up from the ground, and did not spend enough time doing it yesterday, but considering the power of his buck that I've experienced when a car blew by at 60+mph blaring music and horn (have I told any of you that people here are a-holes?)  He was a very good boy despite the minor fireworks.
I swing up, almost have my seat but he immediately lurches forward, then spins and hops.  If I had found my seat we would have been fine, but I was still off center so WHOOMPH down I go, laughing because of how stupid it was, hit my knees in the snow, spin and slide like it was all part of my plan and I was doing break dancing a-la equine.   He comes back to me very appologetic, lets me mount quietly this time and then prances off into the snow.  His front end cam about six inches off the ground at one point and he did a few random sideways sidles for no apparent reason but all in all he was very well behaved with all the time off and the excitment of the weather and his son runing around the arena like a goober.  We got some great photos, I'll post them when I switch to my other computer. 
And the silly horse, I turned him loose, he didn't want to leave, he wanted to stick right with me.  I run off, he follows, then stops and sniffs me then looks around and snorts waiting for me to take off again.
The girls, this whole time, were very jealous of the attention, and began to frolic themselves.  It was a blast!! Even if my dumb dumby self did come off of the 14hh blondie

And not the pretty kind you set off on purpose.
After working with BudgieWudge (whose papered name I find out is Cumbia, but I still plan to show her as Not Gonna Budge as it fits her beautifully lol) with my friend Elaine, we went to the wi-not and picked up some food and headed to the other barn to wait for Aleasha to come out and ride.  I was stoked, it feels like ages since I've gotten to hang out what with my psychotic busy schedule.
Al comes down to the barn to get the trash to take to the curb, we talk, and then as the minutes pass by I say "You should probably take the trash down before they get pissy about it not getting done, then come back and we can chill." So he does.  Well, apparently a can infront of the woodshop got missed, because about an hour later his stepmother storms down to the barn screaming at him about how it needs to get done and he needs to (explative delted) listen and if he can't (explative deleted) listen he needs to get his (multiple explatives deleted) ears checked.  So he goes to take care of it and I stupidly say "I'm sorry I thought he'd taken it all down or I wouldn't have been letting him sit here chatting"

WRONG MOVE

She begins to unload both barrels on me, reloads and repeats then switches to a fully automatic about how I need to stop (blanking) up his life etc etc.  and how they just got him to get his life back on track.

I'm sorry...uhm...Wow.  I didn't realize that encouraging to stay with his job where he just got his top secret clearance and a $5/hour raise was a bad thing.  Or talking him out of blowing money on stupid things and reminding him that just because he has it now doesn't mean he won't need it for something else later and especially since he plans to buy a house he should set aside as much into savings as possible was a BAD thing....Or that only wanting to see him happy and wanting to be a part of what makes him happy was quote f'ing up his head end quote.  
Seriously.  Yes, there's a few years difference with me in the lead but he's a legal adult.  I'm not taking him out drinking (actually refuse to let him have alcohol til April when he turns 21), we aren't running around all night getting into trouble and he's making it to work on time every day and when they need him to do something I tell him its cool we'll spend time together when you're done or another day.  I can understand they're worried seeing as I'm a ready made family, but I'm not asking him to take care of me and my kids, he hasn't even MET my kids yet.  And as far as them being worried he's going to knock me up, we hardly see eachother for more than five minutes at a time and that's the last thing on our minds!!!

Now when I was hauling horses and working them for her, she had noooo problem with me. Loved the hell out of me.  But now that I'm dating her step son I'm a psycho b*tch.   
So now poor Al is worried that she's gonna run me off, which isn't going to happen. He makes me happy, we're good together, and as long as I make him happy its going to take more than a pissy stepmom to run me off. 
I can understand her blasting off on me, it hurt and was out of no where but that's fine. What really irks me about last night is after she was done screaming at me she stomped off when after I asked repeatedly what I was doing that was so wrong and she couldn't come up with an answer...she stomped off and kicked a horse because he gave my friend a hard time catching him.  I don't CARE how mad you are at me, unload on me but do NOT direct any of that towards a horse and there was NO CAUSE to KICK HIM!!!  

UGH!!!   

On a lot of fronts!

The gas station I work for is moving me to the location w/in walking distance! Super good news considering my car had a disagreement with a gravel road and I am waiting for my new radiator to arrive > . < and to find anew bumper for it.
MMB has been retired to light trails now and then. He came up very lame and upon vetting we discovered what if we ultrasounded would be a very scary/ugly old injury that has healed and for the most part does not bother him but with his advancing age is g oing to begin to.  He's quite happy just getting love and affection from his person though. 
My heart is mended, and venturing into new and scary territory.  The step son of one woman I ride for and I had developed a good friendship, he actually became one of my best friends very quickly, and it's blossomed into something infinately more precious.  Ahhh new relationships.  Its kind of in the 'honey moon' phaze right now, had a rough beginning but things are settling in nicely and I'm quite content.
Dad and I took the two geldings I'm training for the woman letting me rent a room to the Fredericksburg Urban Trail Ride last Saturday.  Laddie (11yo halflinger been undersaddle 6 years or so) was a spaz, but his son, Scout, who has only had about 2 months or so under saddle was a SAINT!  Traffic, people, stray dogs, river, flags, other horses freaking out, shaking his head resulting in the bridle falling off...NOTHING bad to say about him!  So proud of my star pupil!

Sunday (after only sleeping about two hours) I was back up and on the road with the trailer, this time empty, with my land lady.  A friend of hers could no longer keep her OTTB mare, and I needed a project, so it worked beautifully!  Budgie is an 8yo blood bay mare, about 15.2hh and well schooled under saddle, but could use a little me fine tuning.  She should be a blast, lovely gaits. 
On the way back, we detoured to Berryville to look at another OTTB mare I'd seen online.  I call her my skinny Winny...or my Winny-peg.  She's coming 6yo, 90K career earnings at Charlestown, and when pulled from the track was thrown (much like my beloved Luna) into a field and not touched.  She needs at least another 100lbs, I'd like to see another 150, and is getting twice daily brushings to help rid her of the rain rot, but is an absolute doll.  Very laid back, not phased by the dogs running and barking at her at the fence (actually stands there and gives them funny faces) I rode her briefly when we picked her up.  Lovely trot, still a little quick but very responsive and willing.  Has that 'Is this right?" attitude.  
Pictures to come!