Not So Much

Greetings from workaholic land!

As usual, playing some major catch up with you guys. Thanks for the continued comments about my "major adulting" post. I really appreciate everyone's support. The last few weeks have been completely insane... to the point I questioned my career choice but now that things have slowed down and I've had a chance to play catch up, I'm starting to feel better about it.

It definitely comes in waves but the ups are always better than the downs. Especially when I get to spend a little bit of time with this blondie. I truly hate when I can't bring him to a job with me and unfortunately I had a schedule the last few weeks where even spending 5 minutes with him was impossible. The final moment I walk through the door with my duffle bag reminds me how unconditional his love is. I'm so lucky.

The mystery of Brantley continues. It went from being head-shy to seemingly painful. I have a list that I'm running through. Supplements, Chiropractor, Tooth Fairy... Not in that order but I'm just checking one box at a time. We've had some good rides though, it's just difficult to put his bridle on and give him a neck scratch... We'll get to the bottom of it though. He's been great about having time off and then letting me hop on when we have a nice day. Of course I put snow shoes on and then the snow melted and no more in sight. Rather safe than sorry!

You can definitely tell he's ready to get back out there, minus the neck thing. He wants to work and if I don't ask him to work, that's when he starts to pull to the gate as if to say, "I'm bored, let's do something else." Which I have to say, is pretty awesome. Fingers crossed we figure it out... I keep feeling a tick thing but according to the vet... That's not the issue. Lyme came back negative and the rest of his blood-work looked great. She kept pushing ulcers but I just don't see it and neither does anyone else that I've talked to... But I ran him through a 10-day treatment to test a theory and there was no change. We shall see! Hopefully we'll be back on track in no time.

The Challenge Continues

And this is how I feel about life right about now.

Adulting to the max and still having time to spend with my boys.

So Brantley had a bunch of blood work done... He's negative for Lyme which means next way to go is, well, ulcers. Yes... Ulcers. Which thinking about what he's gone through over the years in between his restarting and whatever he went through before I got him... I can't believe it's taken this long for it to rear it's ugly head. 10 days of Ulcer-Guard treatments to see if there's a difference and if so, either go for more treatments or do it the right way and get him scoped. We'll see what happens! But I have gotten a few rides in which is good and definitely a couple awesome bareback rides. Can't complain about that now can I? Let's just hope this is what he needs.

So the other battle...

Well here it is folks.

On the left you have Maddy, August 31st, 2015.

On the right? Maddy, January 24th, 2016.

What do we think?

I've got 20 days left of this contest and rocking it as hard as I can.

It's funny what happens when you finally realize that you're important. That taking the time to take care of yourself doesn't mean your selfish or don't care about anyone else. Without you, you can't be there to care for those who mean the most to you. I was getting to a point in my life where I was working so hard to please everyone else that I was slowly killing myself and I could feel it. Especially when it was affecting my riding.

I'm not petite. I never will be. I'm a mini-amazon woman. 5'5" 150-160lbs. I come from a line of farmers, laborers, and who knows what else. I'm built for endurance...

The battle is not over and just because I'm doing this challenge doesn't mean after the 45 days is over I'm going to go back to the lifestyle I grew accustomed to over the last few years. I deserve more... I deserve better. Why? Because I'm worth it.