Absent Blogger

It was a crazy week. I watched Bre's barn last week. It was fun to take care of the animals but it's always disorienting to sleep away from home. Midweek I worked the last three days of orientation on my unit. For the first 6-8 weeks nurses orient to a unit with someone experienced. You are assigned the same patients and as the weeks go on the new nurses takes on the full load. From now on I will not be working with another nurse. It is all me all the time. Luckily I have an AMAZING team to work with who will help me anytime I have questions. The saying "Nurses eat their young" is true in many places but not on my unit. Every nurse there has made an effort to help me feel welcome and confident. I didn't get much done on my work days. There are pros to 12 hour shifts but they are pretty tiring. You don't get much done during work days. If I get home by 8am, crash by 9am it is 4pm before I get up. That only leave a few hours to wake up, do dishes, and make a lunch. I don't like to plan anything during that time. I like to be in a relaxed space when I get to the unit. What that all means is three straight days not going to the barn, or seeing friends. This week was particularly tiring. I had a few patients who needed me in their rooms pretty much every 15mins. That meant lots of laps up and down the hall between my computer and their rooms. I really need to wear a pedometer to see how much a walk on nights like that! I spent the last few days housesitting at my parents house. I can't wait to get back to my routine of a familiar bed, work, my honey, and the ponies.

I have a great pony week planned. Sundays have traditionally been horse days for a years. That went out the window the last year of nursing school and during the first month or so of the new job I worked almost every weekend. Now I am getting into a routine of having a few weekends off a month. I actually have every Sunday off this Sept. Tomorrow I am going to clean tack with my new horsey BFF, ride her adorable draft/appy cross. I just love her horse. She is half draft but isn't too stocky and is light on her feet.

I will be able to head out every day until Thursday to work with the big guy. I also want to work with Bre's BFF Romeo a little too this week. He has been worked western (he is built like a WP guy) and is looking hollow in the back, and scrawny in the butt. A teen was giving a lessee lessons and was very focused on what his face was doing. I want to get on him and feel what is going on. I am hoping that now the the "trainer" is off to college the girl will either take some lessons from me or from the trainer where I now have Dickie at. Some good solid dressage lessons will help build up his bum and back. I also noticed the lessee starting some bad habits with her hands. I was really bummed to see it because when I last saw her riding she was lovely. She is wonderful posture, soft/tall back, solid leg, and her elbows were bent like a pro dressage rider. She was still more of a passenger, than an active rider but at 13 she had all the tools to be a really great rider. She now has her hands back at her thighs and is seesawing and jiggling. It was such a bummer to see that. Most people have to work their tails off to get where she was naturally riding, now someone has grilled bad habits into her. Hopefully all is not lost though. I am thinking if they get out of the western saddle and do dressage and trot over some little jumps he will get moving out again and she be able to forget about fussing with his face.

I am excited to have horse projects all around. After being away from riding for so long it feels great to have horse problems to solve. I love have goal to work on. At the same time I am grateful for miss Bre. Bre has been there done that and it is heaven to have such a connection with an animal. It is nice have an animal you know inside out to fall back on.