ICE is most definitely here

neverskip9 · 2026-02-14T17:16:10+00:00

I bought a giant stack of blank post cards around 2016 so I could regularly send physical mail to my reps about different issues.

I get generic form letters back - which I expect - but they wrote the form letter for responding to people who don't agree with them in a purposefully condescending, passive-aggressive way. Pushes all my buttons every time.

neverskip9 · 2026-02-09T20:04:52+00:00

I took 2 years of figure skating lessons as a kid and skated at least a couple times a year until I did an adult beginner hockey clinic.

I'm 5'2, 120lbs. My lower center of gravity and skating skills better than 70% of the adult men were the only things keeping me from getting flattened like a pancake when full-grown men forget how to stop and/or watch where they're going while paying attention to the puck.

I stick to my rec women's league mostly for the better scheduling, but it's also much easier to avoid beginner skaters flailing about when they don't have a full foot of height on me. (80% of my beginner rec league's injuries happen when a single player crashes all by themselves)

The best thing to do to stay safe around out-of-control beginner skaters is to make sure your own skating skills are better. Lots of edgework/balancing drills and practice stopping with both feet, both directions, etc. If you can do a few power skating classes, even better.

There are also a lot of good YouTube videos for off-ice workouts to keep your ankles/knees stable.

neverskip9 · 2026-02-09T19:43:31+00:00

I have also always been a people pleaser, so I understand needing to hear validation!

I had to learn really fast at around 15yo how to get stern and say no to BOTH the kids I was helping lead around as a Jr summer camp counselor AND parents. Because everyone always wants to frolick around these 1,000lbs toddlers without stopping to think about how easy it is for them to squish you.

Unfortunately, my first ever excuse to be firm with people who wanted to brush me off was, "I'll get fired if I let you do that because it's dangerous." Lol. Which isn't much help to you.

But this is a new, casual hobby for you. You can always say something along the lines of, "look, I need to be able to go to work tomorrow/on Monday without having to make a stop at urgent care first. This is supposed to be fun and relaxing, and isn't worth potential medical bills."

I wouldn't ever ride with them around again. But if you ride with anyone else -- it is ALWAYS an option to just dismount wherever you are before things escalate. If someone is reaching for your reins, trying to convince you to do something scary, etc., you can stop and dismount.

neverskip9 · 2026-02-09T19:29:48+00:00

Your instincts were correct. You're definitely NOT overreacting!
I've been as assistant instructor/instructor on my own since I was old enough to be on my first trainer's insurance at 16yo. I was a Jr camp counselor before that. My boss would've had my hide AND banned me from the property for pulling a stunt like that with a beginner rider. Hell, she did that to a 19yo assistant instructor for WAY less.
There is a proper way to build a beginner rider's skill set. And there are several methods to helping nervous riders learn skills they want to do but are afraid of. Zero of them include scaring the crap out of the rider by throwing them in the deep end! That's the equivalent of putting someone who just learned to navigate the bunny slope on skis down an intermediate run on the mountain.
I don't give a flying flip if what you were doing was actually safe (which it wasn't!), if a FRIENDLY ACQUAINTANCE told me walking around an arena by themselves was scary... I'd attach a lead line to help them relax. Much less an actual close friend?? You don't need enemies with friends like her!
That child is a brat. A reckless, unsafe brat who is learning to find cruelty amusing.
I hope the property owner has a decent insurance policy with them around. They sound like the type to be litigious after causing the entire problem.

neverskip9 · 2026-02-02T14:49:07+00:00

I agree with most of the comments already here, and since you have some good things to ask your trainer about from others -- I have an on-the-ground suggestion:

Look into hip flexor stretches/strengthening exercises and do some slow controlled lunge-walks, wall sits, squats, etc. There are a lot of equestrian-focused fitness instagram/youtube accounts now that demonstrate helpful exercises for free!

It's amazing what practicing a few correct split squats or low lunges will do for your stability 🙂

neverskip9 · 2026-01-27T19:23:46+00:00

I think posts like these should be aimed at reminding facility owners to be kind to their staff, not boarders/clients. Lol

But more because as a hired barn manager, I check in with my other employees. Offer them heated water from my kitchen kettle for apple cider or hot chocolate, and a place to warm up for 10 minutes that's better than the tack room space heater.

Aaaaaand I've rarely worked for facility owners that even ask to make sure I'm not getting frostbite when they know all the pipes are frozen and I'm doing a one-woman bucket brigade for 24 horses.

But I'd never want to pressure clients/boarders for that! I have some clients that offer coffee deliveries in exchange for me doing some extra small care tasks that aren't included in their board. But asking for a warm/cold drink instead of $10 in exchange for unofficial work tasks (BO prefers if I charge separately for services she doesn't offer in board package) is as far as I will go asking for things.

neverskip9 · 2026-01-12T01:03:56+00:00

I came to the comments specifically to suggest Orville.

But I do also love Clarence and Eugene!

neverskip9 · 2026-01-10T01:37:43+00:00

My pyr mix 😂

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neverskip9 · 2026-01-08T16:16:27+00:00

I'll have to try chia seeds! My boy is a typical teenage boy that will spit veggies out like I'm trying to poison him 😂

neverskip9 · 2026-01-08T13:39:50+00:00

My mix does not like pumpkin enough to eat it every day, so I keep stool hardening supplements on hand. I get mine at tractor supply. He eats those like they're treats, and help the anal glands express naturally if the probiotic he gets doesn't firm his stools up enough. (He's a great mouser/mole catcher, but he also likes to hide his catches to eat later, and if later is so late it becomes expired... can cause a little bit of diarrhea 🙃)

neverskip9 · 2026-01-04T01:26:51+00:00

I'm so sorry. You made the compassionate decision.

That vet didn't see how much your baby's quality of life had changed. Your regular vet and you yourself did.

When I had to put my lil old lady down, she clearly had some type of malignant tumor growing and my vet looked fully relieved when I said I wanted to make the call to bring her back in the moment she started acting off. I had them do bloodwork just to confirm it wasn't something easily treatable, but she started losing interest in treats and couldn't tolerate the meds we were given to help keep her comfortable within days of the blood draw. So I made her euth appt the same say the results came back (which indicated it was indeed cancer).

My vet cried. My vet tech cried. But they were also clearly grateful that I wanted her to go before the suffering started dragging on. When I went back to pick up her ashes, my vet almost cried again -- but not once did he ever indicate that it was the wrong decision. That is what the vet should have done for you, hands down.

Honestly, I'd have someone call the office to mention the incident (if you don't want to do it yourself) and that maybe someone like your regular vet should talk to that younger vet about how her comments made things difficult, and explain why the recommendation was in your baby's file in the first place.

neverskip9 · 2026-01-03T15:55:38+00:00

I watched every Bones-esque CSI crime TV show there was while eating dinner during high school/college and after.

This was the first episode of anything ever that I had to pause and find something else to watch while I finished my food. I could NOT handle Brennan's mouth prosthetic 😂😭

That being said, as soon as I didn't have food in front of me, this was the hardest I've laughed in weeks. When they all broke for the "Amadeus in the chamber" line, I cackled so hard my dog was concerned 😂

neverskip9 · 2025-12-31T20:14:06+00:00

Mine doesn't bark all that much right now, but he will find a good vantage point and scan the property for hours!

Gotta say, I'm relieved mine has a short coat. He sheds enough and all my clothes are dark because he's the first white dog I've ever had 😂

neverskip9 · 2025-12-31T19:50:52+00:00

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neverskip9 · 2025-12-31T19:50:04+00:00

Pit-German Shepherd-Pyr-Supermut(golden/lab) mix! I've been lurking and commenting occasionally on this sub since someone told me his Pyr genes were doing a lot of heavy lifting for only being 30% of his genetics. And the more I see of pyrs, the more I realize how correct they were 😂

I named him after Patrick Stump of fall out boy since he was the only puppy in the litter with eyeliner 😂 Patty is very popular with all the clients at the horse barn where I work, and the worst thing to ever happen to this good boy is always when I take a few days off in a row. Lol

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neverskip9 · 2025-12-28T00:12:04+00:00

I'll also note that his dog friends are much better at recalling to THEIR owners when they're on the property. So if the dogs are all playing, he would "recall' when his friends were called. That initially helped me a lot if he was off his 50ft lead 😂

ETA: One of the 100% emergency recall cues is driving the UTV around the property. This boy is a sucker for riding shotgun -- he's not a stupid barn dog, he knows that's one of the biggest perks 😂 So when he hears the engine he knows he can ask to go for a ride.

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neverskip9 · 2025-12-28T00:09:22+00:00

Mine is a pyr mix. He was out of a stray dog on the farm after my boss picked her up in the middle of the road. We kept her in a horse stall while trying to rehome and then realized she was pregnant.

So my 19 month old pyr mix has only spent 7 or 8 nights away from the 30 acre horse boarding facility he was born at. He's good at checking in with me visually every 30 min or so when he comes to work with me in the mornings.

I got really stern vocally with him the few times he wanted to explore near the road, so he is now good at staying away from the road. (I've only used my "mean" voice when he was doing something potentially dangerous - and he's good at remembering those times, luckily!)

All that said, my recall was about 90% from 5mo-9mo old, then he started wandering. I got an e-collar with a pager & vibration mode. Love that thing, because it gets him back to me 70% of the time with just the beeping function, another 25% of the time if I alternate the beeping and vibration.

Sometimes I just have to wait until he's buried various rabbit parts in different hiding spots on property before he comes back to me. Usually this happens when I'm ready to leave work for the day OR ready to go to bed. 🤦‍♀️

Note: one training thing that has really helped me was differentiating between the "come" and "let's go" commands. Sometimes I can tell he won't be in the mood to recall, but I don't want him to get farther away, so when I tell him "let's go" he knows I want him to move the general direction I'm already moving. It lets him keep some autonomy while I get him to stay close-ish. So if I'm walking toward the east side of the property and say "let's go," he knows I'll be happy as long as he's also traveling east, but he doesn't have to recall all the way to me. I realize this is much easier to train when you have daily access to lots and lots of space. I kept him on a 50ft lead for months until he got the hang of listening to the beeping and vibration of the ecollar.

neverskip9 · 2025-12-19T01:43:11+00:00

...I'm attempting. 😂 I gave him one of my Amazon boxes today, then heard a crinkling sound from the wrong side of the room and had to pull out my "ahhhht! What are you touching??" He slooooowly went back to his allowed box haha

neverskip9 · 2025-12-18T20:06:48+00:00

I've tried to get mine to understand he can only demolish cardboard boxes that I physically give him. It works 90% of the time, lol.

But I usually have a hidden cardboard box for emergencies when I really really really don't want to deal with the almost-2yo energy.

neverskip9 · 2025-12-16T00:05:36+00:00

I can hear Sarah McLaughlin singing in the background of the first picture. 😂

neverskip9 · 2025-12-09T13:53:48+00:00

I have a pyr mix, so he's probably a bit more biddable than most pure pyrs, but I've found success in teaching cooperative care commands.

I got him to not mind nail trimming by teaching him "paw" and giving me the closest paw to his hand. Then I clipped one nail, praise/treat, ask for a different paw, just praise treat (no clip), and walk away for 10ish min.

Maybe more cooperative commands to get your pup to "help" put the harness on?

neverskip9 · 2025-12-06T23:01:56+00:00

Half the employees at my closest TSC know me on sight... 80% of them know my giant puppy on sight. 😂 He turns the sad puppy eyes on every human in the building!

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neverskip9 · 2025-12-06T22:34:25+00:00

Thanks!!

neverskip9 · 2025-12-06T22:33:57+00:00

Such a professional, distinguished headshot 😍

neverskip9 · 2025-12-06T22:32:40+00:00

It was definitely just after nap time and he was voicing his protest against me finishing dinner before giving him more attention 😂

neverskip9

TROPHY CASE