The Start of the Staycation

 So far, I've done pretty good on my week of staycation, horse-wise. I took Sunday off as my sit on my ass day since the arena was booked all day and it wasn't nice enough outside to want to do anything outdoors.

Cisco had a wonderful school inside on Monday, a lovely hack on Tuesday, and a short ride in the hot sun on Wednesday - which was also vaccination day (for the horses - I get my first jab next week). Phantom had a nice trot on Tuesday and did a bit more on Wednesday since she was feeling pretty good. 

A friend just got a Pivo and this was her first time using it for a ride. It caught this clip of me on Phantom. I thought it did a pretty good job, although it kept losing the horse when they passed the Devoucoux sign tracking left.

Since they both got their jabs on Wednesday, it will be quieter for the next few days. Phantom always needs a week off because she'll have a huge lump at the injection site, so I'll be buting and ice packing her for a few days. I'm hoping that Cisco will be good to go under saddle this weekend, even if it's just a walk ride to get him moving around.

I was hoping to get him back on the trailer for a drive this week, but in typical spring fashion, the weather is swinging back and forth between "beautiful make sure you put on sunscreen" and "glad you didn't take your winter coat out of the car". Yesterday was a hot, sunny 20 degrees, which turned into snow overnight. Blanketing horses for these conditions is fun. Thankfully, I swapped blanketing services with someone - I stripped everyone down in the morning so that they wouldn't bake in the sun and she was out in the evening to put rainsheets on. She got the worst end of the deal - the wind had picked up and putting blankets on was apparently a bit tricky!

These temperatures are in Celsius, so yeah, it's a big swing.

I asked the vet if we need to investigate Phantom's deafness. She said with her age and the congenital possibility we don't need to look into it unless we start to see some neurological issues. 

I finally caught her not noticing me until she saw me on video. Sound up to hear her nicker when she sees me, which is pretty typical of her. Also - I hate hearing my recorded voice.

My broken Pixio parts are on their way to France for repairs. The tracker watch had fallen apart on me while I was wearing it and one of the tripods had broken off in the screw slot of a beacon. It's still under warranty, thankfully.

I have to give the company a shout-out for their service. When shipping it, generally I would have to pay to have it shipped and then if it is under warranty they would refund me the shipping costs. That's what I did when I shipped the robot back last year, it all worked out with no issues.

They recommend that I ship it back via Canada Post, and the amount that they refund for shipping is based on what it should be via CP. If you send it back a more expensive way, you will only get back what it should have cost if you went with CP. Last time I think they actually refunded me a couple dollars more than what I paid, which was around $70.

There are moose on the loose! Not a great picture (at dusk, through the car window), but I saw this pair on back-to-back days just down the road from the barn. I think since I've moved to this barn four years ago I've seen moose every April.

This time, I went to the post office, to find out that Canada Post will no longer ship anything internationally that contains batteries. It looks like it changed last fall. A quick estimate from a couple of couriers showed that it was going to cost upwards of $120 to ship back these two parts.

So I sent a message to Move N See to inform them that I couldn't use Canada Post, with a screenshot of the new restrictions regarding batteries, and asked them if they had any recommendations on a carrier to use. 

Two days later, they sent me a waybill for DHL and had arranged for a pickup. I didn't have to pay for any shipping upfront. Awesome!

It's supposed to arrive in France tomorrow, so I might have it back by the end of next week. Last time it came back to me I think within two weeks of me shipping it. I really want to use it so that I can see how Cisco has changed since we started using the Equibands!