Sunday, October 13
Oct. 14th, 2024 01:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gottawonderToday I am grateful for:
No pressing hurry to go anywhere.
We did go see River today.
River was very sluggish again when we started, which is hard for me to be "nice" about (I'm supposed to keep my attitude fun with him) because it actually feels rude, if you feel like it's possible for a horse to be rude.
I started on a very basic level just wanting him to walk with me through part of the freestyle pattern, and it was like he was sleepwalking, and barely paying attention. That's what I mean by rude, it's kind of disrespectful to be so tuned out when I was making reasonable requests.
So I did what I could to bring some energy to things, but of course that ended up feeling like "angry energy" to me, though I was TRYING to just be "forward", it was indeed frustration.
It's incredibly difficult to do any of the work I am trying to do with him if he is sleepy and not responsive to cues, especially when he isn't even managing to muster up an energetic walk.
Anyhow, we worked on things, and he woke up a bit only after it got to where I was tired and frustrated by needing to do so much running myself.
No, I don't have a solution to this. R always feels like I have to be the one to bring energy (I am supposed to visualize a bright orange light) and to always be very positive and so on, and to reward him for small tries.
Well, I do reward him for small tries, but at the end of the day if I ask him for a forward trot, he needs to maintain that trot HIMSELF, not have me constantly stopping to praise him for trotting five good steps.
Anyhow, after a lot of ME being the one running and trying to get him going, we did accomplish a bit of correct work, and then I rode him for a few minutes to practice dragging the "snake", and he did very well with that.
We came home for only a few minutes to get cleaned up, and we went to our "work together on houses" friends for a casual Thanksgiving supper.
My husband had already been at their place this morning while I was still sleeping. They took yet another big truck load of stuff out of the basement of the husband's parent's home. The same house they've been emptying for about two years now.
We were having a really nice visit, and had just finished some very good vegetable soup made entirely from their garden (and I thanked them for being so thoughtful to make it vegetarian), when our friend L (who had been looking uncomfortable for a while) said "I need to go to the hospital".
He was having a heart attack.
We wasted no time, got in our car, and went straight to the hospital in town, about 20 minutes away.
The hospital emergency room admitted him right away, and for a while they were looking at bringing things under control with drugs, so we sat in the waiting room for about two hours.
Then the staff decided that he should be transferred to the big city hospital to have a scope of his artery to see how blocked it was, and likely he will get a stent to keep it open, though that in itself is not a huge surgery.
We brought his wife L back to her house, and stayed with her for a while, and made sure she was okay to be alone tonight. We could be at her house in a few minutes if she needs anyone, we don't live too far from their place.
We did offer to stay with her, but she felt like she was likely just going to go to bed, and see if she could sleep, so we drove home.
Likely my husband will be taking her to the city to see her husband, maybe bringing him home, or maybe going back in another day, depending on how things go.
So, all of that was quite a shock, though I have to say we were all relatively calm in getting him to the hospital. It was pretty surreal.
We've been pretty good friends with this couple for a long time now. Since we've been here, over 15 years now.
No pressing hurry to go anywhere.
We did go see River today.
River was very sluggish again when we started, which is hard for me to be "nice" about (I'm supposed to keep my attitude fun with him) because it actually feels rude, if you feel like it's possible for a horse to be rude.
I started on a very basic level just wanting him to walk with me through part of the freestyle pattern, and it was like he was sleepwalking, and barely paying attention. That's what I mean by rude, it's kind of disrespectful to be so tuned out when I was making reasonable requests.
So I did what I could to bring some energy to things, but of course that ended up feeling like "angry energy" to me, though I was TRYING to just be "forward", it was indeed frustration.
It's incredibly difficult to do any of the work I am trying to do with him if he is sleepy and not responsive to cues, especially when he isn't even managing to muster up an energetic walk.
Anyhow, we worked on things, and he woke up a bit only after it got to where I was tired and frustrated by needing to do so much running myself.
No, I don't have a solution to this. R always feels like I have to be the one to bring energy (I am supposed to visualize a bright orange light) and to always be very positive and so on, and to reward him for small tries.
Well, I do reward him for small tries, but at the end of the day if I ask him for a forward trot, he needs to maintain that trot HIMSELF, not have me constantly stopping to praise him for trotting five good steps.
Anyhow, after a lot of ME being the one running and trying to get him going, we did accomplish a bit of correct work, and then I rode him for a few minutes to practice dragging the "snake", and he did very well with that.
We came home for only a few minutes to get cleaned up, and we went to our "work together on houses" friends for a casual Thanksgiving supper.
My husband had already been at their place this morning while I was still sleeping. They took yet another big truck load of stuff out of the basement of the husband's parent's home. The same house they've been emptying for about two years now.
We were having a really nice visit, and had just finished some very good vegetable soup made entirely from their garden (and I thanked them for being so thoughtful to make it vegetarian), when our friend L (who had been looking uncomfortable for a while) said "I need to go to the hospital".
He was having a heart attack.
We wasted no time, got in our car, and went straight to the hospital in town, about 20 minutes away.
The hospital emergency room admitted him right away, and for a while they were looking at bringing things under control with drugs, so we sat in the waiting room for about two hours.
Then the staff decided that he should be transferred to the big city hospital to have a scope of his artery to see how blocked it was, and likely he will get a stent to keep it open, though that in itself is not a huge surgery.
We brought his wife L back to her house, and stayed with her for a while, and made sure she was okay to be alone tonight. We could be at her house in a few minutes if she needs anyone, we don't live too far from their place.
We did offer to stay with her, but she felt like she was likely just going to go to bed, and see if she could sleep, so we drove home.
Likely my husband will be taking her to the city to see her husband, maybe bringing him home, or maybe going back in another day, depending on how things go.
So, all of that was quite a shock, though I have to say we were all relatively calm in getting him to the hospital. It was pretty surreal.
We've been pretty good friends with this couple for a long time now. Since we've been here, over 15 years now.
