What's Up Wednesday

 

Winter has been a little bit of a PITA these past couple of weeks. Despite having an indoor to ride in, sometimes it still is just plain too cold to work horses. Here in southern New England, that doesn't happen often. Usually once or twice a winter. But it happened twice in the same week already! Fortunately the days were spread out, so there was plenty of riding anyway. The unfortunate part is that it interrupted some of my lesson plans. 

Last Tuesday was one of those too cold to ride days, which meant all the horses had two days off (barn is closed on Mondays). I was a little worried they would all be murderous lunatics by Wednesday, but lucky for me, they were all just fine on Wednesday. Nothing exciting that day, they all just flatted. 

I haven't been jumping Eros since he's not 100% right now. Shiny is also on the flat only train, so I opted to do just my morning lesson on Thursday with Al. Normally I would do either Eros or Shiny in the morning and then Al in the afternoon lesson. But honestly, during the winter, I don't really like waiting around all day for that late lesson. So I decided to do the earlier one. It's a less advanced level class, but honestly, Al and I need some work on the basics anyway. So it was the perfect fit for this week. He was being a bit of a child about the end of the ring (most of the horses find it spooky down there, Al is no exception) but he worked through it. By the time he got to jumping, he'd mostly forgotten about the death eaters down at the end. I'll call it a win! Even when he's being spooky, he rarely actually spooks. He just stares and asks repeatedly if we can run away. If I say no he accepts that. Rio was the same way when he was younger. So I'm hopeful he'll outgrow it at some point. (Took Rio about 15 years...) 

I had hoped to keep the momentum going with a second lesson on Saturday, but alas, too cold again. 

When the feels like is -2F... this is what I wear for hand walking.
And yes, I'm wearing two jackets under that coat. I might have
overdressed though... I was sweating halfway through my first horse.

I felt especially sorry for Shiny as she got clipped again on Friday. Poor thing. She and Al both got clipped right before the two coldest days of the year. Fortunately, we have plenty of warm layers for them, and the barn itself stays quite comfortable. Even on the really cold days, it stayed in the 30's (Fahrenheit) in there. 

She's pink now.

It was unclear initially what Sunday would bring. At 8 am the indoor was 8 degrees. So I stayed home until about noon and then headed over. I dressed to ride just in case, but figured I'd see when I got there what the temp was like in the ring and what everyone else was doing. Turns out it warmed way up and the ring was 30 degrees! So everyone got ridden. I knew Pammon would be fine since he gets a little ace for our walks still. I wasn't so sure about the rest. I suspected Eros would be fine since he usually is, but he was a little spicy! Nothing naughty, but I could tell he was looking hard for a reason to be silly. He kept his poo together though, and we had a nice ride. Shiny was the wild one! And wild for Shiny just means she's a little extra belligerent and she might scoot a little here or there. All of which were things that happened, but nothing tough to deal with. I was most worried that Al might be a little crazy. I saved him for last as the other boarders were heading out, and I figured I'd be able to free lunge him before I got on. Unfortunately, the next wave of boarders showed up so I had to just get on. And I felt like an idiot for worrying. The horse was absolutely perfect. Go figure. 

After my Monday off watching 10 hours of Golden Girls while deep cleaning my kitchen, I was ready to work Tuesday. It's been much warmer here this week, which also helps my motivation. All three working horses were pretty fantastic for a Tuesday this week. Eros especially was on his game. I got some trot work out of him that I haven't been able to access in weeks. And today he even gave me some great canter work on his tough lead. Miracles happen! Al and Shiny both had free lunges in the morning before I got to the barn, so they were both super relaxed and willing. Pammon was good too... you know that 30 minutes of walking is so strenuous. Ha. Sorry Pammon. Hopefully we'll get clearance to trot soon.

Today was also a good day all around! Tomorrow I have a dr appt in the middle of the day which kind of messes up lesson plans. Instead Eros will do the morning lesson, I'll ride Shiny before that, and Pammon after. And Al will have a training ride. I'm going to lesson him Saturday this week. Hopefully next week I'll get on a better schedule with him. I'd like to jump him twice a week, but I've been slacking on signing myself up. Cold weather is just so demotivating! I'm working on it. 

In doggy news, things are still a little touch and go with Rita. The bathroom troubles are real... and she still being rude to Pia. But these things take time and I really want to give her a chance. I'm hoping we can make this work. If not, there were several other people interested in her before I got her, so maybe another family without other dogs would be a better fit. We'll see. She's very sweet otherwise! And I've already bought her collars (yes multiple, I have a problem okay?) and her official tag. 

So that's it from here. Things are going well, just waiting on spring time! Did you all have a good week? Staying warm?