Babysitting Kersey

Kersey, the puppy, is on stall rest after her surgery (spayed) yesterday.  She can't get dirty.  She can't play with Sedona.  She can't get wet.  That's not easy to do with a ranch puppy.  She's used to running all over the place, jumping into any and all water containers (the pool, the water trough, puddles), and being active.  Brett put a puppy pen across the front entry to the house so the front veranda is enclosed.  All day I alternated between having her in the crate and sitting outside with her on the veranda.  Fortunately, it was a beautiful day so sitting outside wasn't too painful.  But still boring.  I tried to close my eyes and listen to the different birds singing but Kersey kept chewing on my arm and that was distracting.   I couldn't leave her alone outside because she was chewing on the cushions and we were afraid she would scratch at the doors and windows.  Brett conveniently had to go down the mountain and talk to a judge about a search warrant.   Suuuuuure, leave me with babysitting duty. 

I did manage to ride Jackson.  We worked on forward and connected.  He did well.  We worked on transitions.  He did well.  I worked on staying off his face so he could go forward.  I did pretty well.  The canter departs are getting smoother and less like charging out of a starting gate.  Which is fun... for me.. but not well liked by judges. 

Question for my blogger friends:  When the nights are above 35, I use a rain sheet on Jackson with a cotton liner.  It's not cold enough for his medium weight but too cold for just the sheet.  But, the cotton liner rubs - no matter the size I buy.  So, I bought a shoulder guard slinky thinga-ma-jig.  He HATES it and it doesn't seem to help.  Last night he was downright unacceptable in his behavior when he saw it coming.  We had to have a little discussion about respect -- he came around really fast.  I had huge issues with respect with my last horse so I was on that one like a fly on honey.  But, I know many of you are dealing with harsh weather and varying temperatures and I'm wondering what you do on those nights that are too cold to go bare but too warm for a medium. 

Brett has been told to watch his diet relative to high cholesterol so I'm trying to cook with that in mind.  Tonight we had whole wheat pasta with spinach, mushrooms, lemon zest and a little ricotta.

After dinner, he wanted me to proof his most recent post.  I don't know if it was the wine or the writing or both but I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe.  He won my heart with words in letters and notes -- and he hasn't lost his touch.  Check it out at Pop's Compost (on my sidebar).