Five day countdown!

I have sat down to write about six or seven times to no avail.  School’s been hectic and I haven’t been spending really any quality time at home.  Not to mention my internet is (as always) pretty spotty, and the motivation just goes down the tubes.  Today I’ve got a little bit of time between everything, so I can finally give an update!

I’m getting very excited for Tough Sucker.  It’s been a pretty hairy go so far—Wayne’s grandma passed away on Saturday morning (it was pretty expected—she’s been sick for some time), but the funeral has been scheduled for either tomorrow or Wednesday.  He’s going to be exhausted when he gets back from Washington DC, but he’s still on board for taking Jasper down to Boise on Thursday.  I love that man.  Then this morning our surgery room flooded and our neuter was cancelled and rescheduled for NEXT Monday, which means we have patient care all through the weekend.  I was so worried I’d have to cancel TS, but I spoke with the professor and have been able to find a stand-in for this weekend’s patient care.  Whew!  Add to all this the fact we’re doing a last-minute small animal nutrition short-course that takes up two hours of every afternoon, and I’m feeling hard-pressed for much down time. 

The weather has been on and off lately, too.  One day it’ll be in the 50’s and gorgeous and the next the wind is blowing hail at 40 mph.  Ah, well.  Spring in the Palouse is always interesting.

In other news, I finally got Jasper’s S-Hackamore last week.  We did a quick “trial run” in the arena and when I was satisfied he understood, we called it a day.  Then on Saturday, Moscow “Mountain” had FINALLY thawed enough to do a ride on the roads, so I trailered Jasper over and PJ and I did a nice 11 mile ride.  It was mostly walking, but the roads on the mountain are beautiful and we had a nice time catching up.  Jasper was excellent in the S-Hack, even when a pitbull/boxer looking dog came rushing at us through some bushes and scared the pants off all four of us.  I’m pretty happy with the level of lateral control it has—I could still make Jasper look at the “monsters” that seem to pop up all over the place when he’s leading the pack.  I’m still debating doing the TS with it—I may start in his snaffle and switch to the hackamore at the end.  He’s fairly level-headed, though, and may just try it with the hackamore.  I’m still packing his snaffle around in my saddle bags anyways, so if things got bad I could switch mid-trail.

I’ve got a million things to do before the ride.  I’m so glad we went camping a couple weeks ago, since I think I have a much better of an idea of what’s needed for camping with our ponies.

To Do:

1. Strip sheepskin saddle cover off and wash it.
2. Wash both saddle pads.
3. Try my hardest to get as much shedding hair off Jasper as possible.  If the weather looks warm, then I may do a conservative clip on his neck.  His coat isn’t terribly thick, but I don’t want to take any risks.
4. Pack trailer! Remember to bring a larger water bucket!
5. Figure out what to do with Sammy over the weekend.  She’s having her anal glands removed on Wednesday, so depending on how much post-op care she needs, she may have to stay at the hospital all weekend. :(

Get a hair cut!  Graduation pictures are being taken next Monday.  I don’t want everyone laughing at my picture 20 years from now like we do to the people that graduated 20 years ago.  I probably shouldn’t wear my glasses—they seem cool now, but just look at the ones from the 80’s.  I bet