Feel the Tide Turning....

When you live the life of a horse, some things are thrust upon you.  My name and allll the literary references surrounding, it for instance.  But my Spode and I are content with that arrangement because she has good taste (disclaimer: I am a horse and may not actually know what good taste is. Except apples. They have a good taste. Carrots? Meh, not really.)
Anyway, all this is to say that I'm a Mumford and Sons fan. Surprise, surprise. There's one song I really like at the moment.  It goes:

"But you and I now, we can be all right. Just hold on to what we know is true. You and I now, though it's cold inside, feel the tide turning." 

Spode's been humming it at the barn and it's stuck in my head. I haven't been blogging much lately because so much has been happening. My good friend Striker went blind from the same disease I have. He got it a lot worse than I did, and he passed away last week. I am very sad. While he was in the barn getting treated I said hello to him twice a day with a nose through the stall bars. Senator and I miss him a lot, and I've been hanging out by myself lately.  It's pretty strange not having him around. Spode has been sad too but we're both getting back on our feet humming our tune. 

Striker and I had a few good laughs fooling Spode, that's for sure!

And he was a pretty good teacher, too. 

Much love, dear Striker.

On top of all of that, Spode has her final exams at Queen's coming up and I have my eye surgery. Tomorrow is our big day--we travel to Toronto at 7am. Nervous? Spode is a lot more nervous than I am. But guess who is getting the chill tonight? Me, that's who. I think Spode should take a double dose instead.

The vet has been out a lot lately checking to make sure my eyes are good to go, so I think she's nervous as well. I've been on meds for almost a month now in an attempt to stop my eyes from flaring up before we go for surgery. If that happens, the whole thing is a bust and everything will need to be cancelled and we'd have to wait another month. Ack. But so far so good even though I really want to be done with these eye drops.  My eyes are okay and I have two more doses of steroids before I head down to Caledon. I think Spode might have a heart attack if my eyes suddenly flare up tomorrow morning, so we're all hoping that I'll be just fine!

I'm staying inside tonight to make sure I'm warm and dry for the long journey. Spode promised to come early in the morning so I can have a quick run in the arena before the trailer arrives and I spend the next four days in a stall. Ugh. Stall rest is going to suck but if it means I don't have any more eye problems for the next 3 years, it's worth it! Then I can spend my days relaxing without a worry in the world. Ahh. 

Except of course that Spode is eager for me to stop having eye issues so that she can really focus on my training and stop having these super long breaks where I do absolutely nothing (hmmmm). I have been doing some stuff though. Yesterday we did ground driving and lots of figure eights and trotting across the diagonal. I remember my stuff pretty well. Just saying. 

And Spode's been putting my saddle on periodically, even if just to stand there.  Same goes for my bridle and wearing polos (I don't like standing still for those. Blech).

So, are we going anywhere!? No? Oh. 

Of course, mostly I've just been allowed to run around in the arena so I don't lose my mind with boredom and get myself stressed out. I gotta run sometimes...

Weeeee! 

But yes. For the most part it's been pretty quiet for me while everything else has been going on. I'm hoping for a turning tide when I'm back, fully recovered, and Spode is done with school. Here's hoping for a happy and healthy May for everyone. It starts tomorrow when the specialist gives his opinion on my eyes and says yea or "neigh" for the actual surgery (please say yea!!!!).

Until then, old sports.

Snuggles for everybody!

Jay.