Truthful Tuesday: Birthday Edition

 

It's my birthday today! I'm ridiculously old. So birthdays should terrify me at this point. But they don't really. I still love birthdays. A day you can eat all your favorite things with zero guilt! You get flowers! And maybe even some presents. But here's my confession for this birthday... This is something that probably only happens when you're really old like me.... 

Guys. I forgot to make plans. I didn't reach out to anyone to join me for birthday dinner. No one. Of course, I suppose I could also say no one reached out to me either... But it is a Tuesday which is kind of a lame day for a birthday. Tuesday and Wednesday birthdays typically require some planning. And I did not. So I'm kind of just hanging around like a loser by myself tonight. Which would be kind of sad, except that it's really not. I mean, the dog is here. Plus, it's not like my birthday was ignored. I got some cards and flowers.

And lots of texts and messages. I just didn't make dinner plans. I thought about taking myself downtown and having a nice dinner at the bar at one of my favorite restaurants. But then I was feeling kind of lazy so I didn't do that. I think I may pop over to the grocery store and buy myself some cake though. Cause you really can't have a birthday without cake. PLUS, Passover finally ends at sundown so I really deserve some cake. 

Any of you ever forget to prepare for your own birthday? No? Just me? Lol. Wait till you're my age. It will happen!

Thursday's Threads

 

Outfit Day! And I have to confess. I made a mistake this week. I completely forgot to get horse photos this week. Eros was supposed to be our model and I do have photos to recycle of his bridle and leg wear at least. But the saddle pad... well... you'll get to see it. Just not on him. I've been really scatter brained lately. Hopefully I work that out soon. I nearly wrapped Eros behind today instead of up front... Sheesh. Focus Stacie!

Also, I wanted to report back about what a good horse Al was today! I was worried he'd be permanently traumatized after yesterday, but he wasn't. I rode him indoors first and he was an angel. So then I took him outside for our first real ride outdoors of the season, and he was perfect out there too. Al being perfect is a bit of a rarity, so I felt it important to interrupt Thursday's Threads to document that. Good boy Al!
Okay, back to our regularly scheduled post.

We'll start with Eros since I've already admitted the error of my ways.

Bridle: Joseph Sterling
Brow Band: Dark Jewel Designs

He's still rocking the jumping bridle. He's been pretty willing to come round in it without too much effort on my behalf so maybe he's not needed the leverage bit anymore now that he's officially entered his mid teens. Time will tell. We haven't cantered yet.

Wraps: Eskadron

I've decided I'm a very big fan of these liners and wraps for Eros. I want to get them in more colors. Of course. Because I have a problem. Lol. #tackhoforever

Saddle: Butet
Saddle Pad: Ogilvy Baby pad
Half Pad: Mattes

Since I failed at a getting a photo on the horse, I also included a close up of the pad that shows its colors more truly than the photo above with the saddle and half pad. I love this tan pad. It looks good on both horses. (And would on Shiny too but she doesn't use this type of pad.) I tried to also get chocolate brown ones, but sadly, Ogilvy discontinued that color before I had the chance. Maybe they'll bring it back one day.

Okay, my turn! Here's what I had on:

And MAYBE I forgot a couple photos of my helmet and boots too... But fear not, I have reruns for those. I think I've subconsciously been choosing to wear my barn colors as a form of self soothing. Like maybe wearing my colors will make me less anxious about the current situation. 

Helmet: Samshield

Thankfully this photo is recycled and that thing on my chin is slightly less angry than as seen here. (Because of course I would also have a freaking boil on my face this week... Okay it's not a boil, but might as well be.)

Sweatshirt: Quur

I got this hoodie ages ago (also have it in navy) but it was a little snug when I first got it and didn't wear it much. Fits great now though, so I plan to wear it a lot more.

Belt: Zazzle

I just love these belts. I wear them all the time and wish I had more extraneous cash so I could buy more of them. 

Breeches: Tailored Sportsman

These are my Canyon color breeches that I waited SO PATIENTLY to find used and/or discounted. Finally my moment came about a month or so ago. The color is most true up above in the belt photo.

Socks: Dreamers and Schemers

I just love my custom D&S socks. Another thing I would waste more money on if I had it. But for now, I'm well stocked, so no biggie! If you want to support my sock habit, I do have a D&S affiliate link. Use that bad boy if you want to invest in socks of your own and get me some sock money too! Just click here. (If you want. No pressure.)

Boots and Half Chaps: HKM Killarney

I introduced these last week. Very happy with them thus far! Do recommend if you like half chaps.

And that's it for this week! Any favorites? 

What's Up Wednesday

 

It's been a weird week around here guys. WEIRD. First, and kinda fun, we had some semi famous visitors at the barn over the weekend. 

This is Bucky

And this is Trumpet

I'm not sure if you recognize them, but they are currently touring with Bad Bunny. Bucky has been the one seen most so far as he's the more seasoned guy. Trumpet is younger and learning the ropes of being a concert horse. When they're not performing at major music venues, they are actually roping horses. I think from Texas. Bad Bunny was playing nearby on Friday so the horses laid over with us to rest up. They were very sweet and wildly unfazed about life. (Perhaps my next horse really should be one of these unfazed quarter horses.)

Another weird thing? I had ordered what I thought was a pair of fetlock boots from Ebay for Al for turnout when he gets home. But this is what arrived:

Right. That's a single boot. I guess for my one legged horse? Seriously, who sells a single boot?? Clearly I missed something in the description... Fortunately, they accepted the return with no issues. How silly though, right? (I told you. It's been a weird week.)

I finally went Friday for my consult with the ortho about my knee. He advises I get it repaired, but said I don't have to rush into that. So... for now I'm not doing that. It's a lengthy recovery time and likely a minimum of two months out of the saddle. That's a long time. Plus it's my right knee so I wouldn't be able to drive for awhile either. I live alone, so that's a real burden. I'm sure I'll repair it eventually. Just not right now. Instead, he prescribed me some more PT and suggested getting a real brace. (As opposed to the Amazon one I've been using... Lol. Doctors are so proper.) Can you believe all the great news this week?? The knee, the truck, the oil tank... The one boot. THE SADDLE PAD. Seriously. I wasn't kidding when I said it was weird around here. 

Things with the horses are... you know. Fine. I'm definitely looking forward to getting them home. Since everyone has returned I waste SO MUCH time just trying to get my horses ridden around everyone else. I'm the lowest rung on the ladder of boarders again so my needs are of zero importance. It's pretty uncomfortable. Just generally in life, I try really hard to not be a problem. I like to blend into the background. But sometimes I let everyone go ahead of me so much that I then get really frustrated because it's never my turn. Know what I mean? It's certainly a flaw on my part. But the consequences are frustration and annoyance. 

One such instance I mentioned last week. All winter I've been lessoning Al and Shiny both on Thursday and Saturday mornings. But with the BO home, the Thursday lessons are an inconvenience for her as we are in the way of her training rides. (She doesn't teach my lessons. If you recall the drama from December, that is why I will no longer lesson with her.) So I'm down to just Saturday for my lessons. And then I realized that this weekend I have a baby shower to attend Saturday, so that means I won't get to jump at all this week. Kind of disappointing. But we'll survive. 

I did get to lesson this past Saturday though. My usual instructor is on vacation, so we rode with assistant trainer. She's a young pro, just promoted from barn manager. The horses were great, and we had a nice lesson. I was especially proud of Al. He used nearly the entire ring and jumped a full course. He's been great since his time off while I was away. I'm starting to wonder if he's maybe not a six day a week horse. Like maybe he needs an extra day off each week or some other different schedule. Once I'm home we can experiment. 

Unfortunately, today he had a no good, very bad, day. They got shots yesterday and I think he woke up on the wrong side of the stall from that. He was spooky just walking to the cross ties. Which isn't normally him. But he tacked up fine. We got to the indoor (it was raining AGAIN), and did our one lap of hand walk each direction. Got on him. All good so far. But after my first lap of walk under saddle, he suddenly started snorting up a storm. Head in the air. Heard pounding. I didn't hear anything at first. But turns out one of the workers was spraying the sides of the indoor with weed killer. You could just barely hear him out there, but you couldn't see him. Poor Al was beside himself. He's really not confident in the indoor, but has been SO GOOD this whole week. (We're trying very hard to get outside, but the weather has been awful.) Anyway, I was trying to just get him to walk it out and relax, but then another horse spooked and Al full on ran into a standard in a blind panic. So I hopped off to fix the jump we knocked down, and figured I'd hand walk again until he came back down to planet Earth. Unfortunately, he was a snorty snort machine, and the BO had just gotten on one of the green horses for the vet who was out. She made a comment and I figured it was best to leave the ring. (Believe me, it was best.) I planned to ride him again later in the day after he had his turnout (and hours to chill the eff out). Unfortunately, the early afternoon lessons ran very late, so the break that was supposed to happen didn't and I wound up not getting him worked today. I did take him back out for grooming though and he was in a much better head space. So I don't think the lack of work today will cause any more problems. Time will tell of course. I'm a little worried that the noises today are going to stay with him like the door problem though. I REALLY hope not. But it is a concern. I just wish they'd tell us when they're going to be doing stuff like that. Of all the horses to be in the ring for it, it's particularly unfair to Al. I would have just done one of the others first.

Funny enough, somehow the guy was back out there when I was finishing up Eros' ride too. Poor dude was pretty freaked out, but since he's Eros, he trusted me and kept his poo together. There is something to be said for a nice 15 year old gelding... Lol! Eros has had his own ring challenges this week though. OH! But more importantly (and to be celebrated!) he's bumped up to ten minutes trotting! I'm still not convinced he's 100%, but he seems to improve the longer we trot rather than get more lame, so hopefully what I'm feeling now is just the maintenance stuff that's coming due. Regardless, he's doing well at the ten minutes. We'll go to 15 next week. And if that goes well for a week we can add some canter. Moving right along! 

Anyway, back to his ring drama. Sunday was ridiculous. It was cold and windy but for whatever reason, BO decided that a course would be set outside finally and all lessons would be out there! Which was fine with me, I figured I'd get the indoor to myself. But you see.... Almost none of the horses have been ridden outside yet this spring. So the training ride horses needed free lunges before going out to ride. And none of those free lunges were done early like normal. Nope. They were done as needed throughout the morning. I wanted to do Al inside so I did some waiting. Got him done. Yay! That's a win! I took Shiny outside since she's been out there a bunch and she gives zero poops about where she rides. But it was cold and miserable and I think we both hated every second of it. I didn't want to go out with Eros. He hasn't been out yet, and is still just rehabbing so despite him being a perfect specimen, there is an edge there. He doesn't need to be out there acting a fool on his questionable leg. Anyway, I had him all ready to ride, but then one of the amateurs wanted to free lunge her horse before her lesson outside. No problem. I waited. And waited. She was out there awhile. I finally get on. Walk our six minutes. Get five minutes into our trotting (so just the left) and as I'm trotting across the diagonal another ammy comes in with her horse. They had been in the lesson outside but her five year old horse was trying to launch her to China. Her five year old horse, who hasn't been ridden outside yet this year, let alone jumped out there. Did I mention his ammy is a novice level rider? (Does no one see a red flag here? Not that they're a bad match, I don't think that. Just the circumstances of the day was screaming red flag) Anyway, she needs to free lunge right now. Why he couldn't go on a lunge line outside is beyond me... but anyway. I had to dismount and leave the ring so the horse could lunge. I was so fed up I just let Eros quit with half a ride. He didn't seem to mind. And I was just over it. Needed to go be any where else. I mean, I wasn't mad at my fellow ammy. I would hope if the roles were reversed, I'd get the same consideration. I was just annoyed at the full day of waiting around and still not getting my rides done. And while it's really none of my business, I questioned the thought process of not prepping these horses appropriately. Shiny can go ride outside after months inside and she's fine. But young warmbloods aren't built like that. For me, I like to take a horse out slowly. Like maybe we lunge out there first. Or maybe we ride inside for a bit and then finish up outside the first day. And the first day I like to just be a flat. I don't think it's wrong necessarily to "see what happens" IF you have the tools to work it out. But if you know the riders don't have those tools... I dunno. Not the route I would take. OR if I KNOW a horse is going to be a nutter out there, I'm going to try and set us up for success, not just go out and see what happens. Cause you KNOW what's going to happen. As a kid I had trainer say you have to be more game to ride through the bad behavior. But in my old age, I'd rather set the horse up to not have the bad behavior. If tossing the horse on a line for five minutes lets him get that out, and then have a nice ride, why wouldn't you do that? (Exception of course is a horse like Eros that will likely lose a limb on a lunge line. No small circles for him!) 

What do you guys think? Is it wrong to take that approach? I'm not saying I'm right. I'm just an amateur, and lord knows I'm not very brave. So maybe my approach is wrong and it's just being a weenie? What are your thoughts here? Do we need to be willing to ride out the bucking and running? Or should we find ways to not invite that behavior? I'm not sure either way is right or wrong. But I'm curious what your thoughts are. 

I realize this post is pretty whiny too. Sorry guys. I have some angst I need to work through this week and this blog seems to be where it's happening. But I feel like sunshine and roses will be on the horizon soon! 

Hope you've all had a better week than I did! But if not, I applaud your tenacity for surviving it. Hopefully all good days ahead!

Truthful Tuesday: The one in which I whine. A lot.

 

I always feel a little angsty as we approach moving day for the horses. And that goes both ways; be it moving home or moving away. There's just always a lot to organize and whatnot. But the universe seems to find great pleasure in making moving time exponentially more angsty. Remember last year when I brought my truck in for service a month before moving day and then the whole thing was eaten by mice and I didn't get it back in time? And had to use insurance to pay for the repairs because it cost more than Shiny did? That was something! 

So this year, I made sure to drive the truck all winter. With regularity. And when I wasn't driving it as much I made certain to drive it every Sunday. (Some people go to church, I drive my truck.) Trucky had maybe three weeks in a row where I didn't drive it because I actually just forgot one of the Sundays and then was away on vacation for two of the following. I had it scheduled to go in for a recall and an oil change this Monday though, so Sunday I made sure to hop in there to take it for a ride. Well. It was dead. D-E-A-D DEAD! 

I'm talking once I was in it, it used up the last little bit of juice to tell me it couldn't start and then I couldn't even lock the doors. So very dead. Fortunately, I just recently renewed my USRiders insurance so I got that bad boy towed in at no cost. Which... thanks for that because I do have to pay to actually fix it. Fortunately though, it's just a couple of batteries and a fuel filter that appear to be the problems. Oh yeah, and there are definitely mice in there again. F-ers. Those things plus the oil change? Just under 2 grand. Sigh. Could be worse though. So I'm thinking all good, ready to finish getting things ready for the horses! Only I get home from the barn tonight to a bit of an odor in the house. I go sniffing about, unsure of the source. Until I reach the laundry room which is where my door to the basement is located. Ohhh. I know that smell. That's oil. Excellent. Yep. My oil tank is leaking. Thankfully, the oil guys were able to come over pretty quickly to put a patch on it. Of course, that's temporary and I'll need a new tank. You can double the truck bill for that... 

I still need to order grain and shavings before the horses get here, but at least I got the hay a couple weeks ago. (That was about the price of the oil tank but will last me the whole season.) So yeah. I'm feeling the angst. Feeling it hard. Gonna have to find me some braiding jobs asap. Or perhaps I can sell some body parts? My organs mostly function pretty well. I bet I could do something with those. In the meantime, once the horses are here, I'm hoping to get some extraneous stuff listed for sale. That could hopefully help my find some cash AND get rid of a bunch of stuff taking up space. 

Anyone else seem to have tons of extra bills every spring? Or is it just my stuff that all breaks this time of year?

This is just a little extra twist of the knife by the universe.
My washer took a bite out of my Anatomeq pad. Couldn't
have eaten a cheaper pad could it? Oh no. Gotta be the nice one.

Thursday's Threads

 

Outfit day! As promised, we are back to our regular schedule programming this week with a riding outfit. Shiny wanted to model this week, and who am I to deny her? So here's what she is wearing:

She is going to be SO sooty this summer! I thought she was muddy the first day back from vacation and was trying to curry the dirt out, until eventually I realized that was her summer color coming in. I can't wait to see when it's all in! She's going to be extra pretty. 

Bridle: Joseph Sterling

Brow Band: Dark Jewel Designs

Shiny's bridle is the newest of my JS bridles, and I love the changes they've made to them. The other ones we have, the noseband is the traditional type, and goes through and over the crown piece. This newer model is a mono crown and I really like it a lot better. 

Saddle: Custom Saddlery
Saddle Pad: Premier Equine

The Premier Equine pads aren't as affordable as they were years ago, but they're still a really nice product. We've had this brown one for a couple years now, and it's holding up beautifully. 

Boots: Busse

These boots are pretty new. I really like them! They're actually mesh, the only fuzzy part is on the edges. They fit nicely which can be tricky for Shiny. 10/10 highly recommend.

So that's what Shiny is wearing this week, and here's what I had on:

Yeah, it's cold again. All the layers are back out. All of them. 

Helmet: Samshield

See that thing on my chin? I mean, you can't miss it. I have had this happen a few times in the past, but never on my chin. (Twice on my forehead, once on an arm.) What is it you ask? No, I didn't fall or scrape my face on a horse neck. Nope. Nothing that exciting. What happened was first I got a sunburn, and then a bug bit my sunburned face. And now this is what I have. At least the swelling is down. Hopefully it goes away quickly without too much of a scar. It's only ever happened when I'm in Florida, so must be a reaction to a bug we don't have up here in New England. Either way. I hope this is the last time.

Top: TKEQ

Jacket: Columbia

I had some free time and went and wandered around Kohl's the other day while I was waiting for Ulta to open. (I needed moisturizer for my poor sunburned skin.) And I found this jacket in the clearance section. It was the only one there and just happened to be my size. I had to have it. Thinking I may someday get my logo put on the back. 

Belt: Zazzle

I have a accumulated a bunch of these Zazzle belts. You can pring pretty much anything at all on them, so you can imagine the fun I've had designing them. They're reversible too, so you get two belts for the price of one! 

Breeches: RJ Classics Gulf

I like the gulf breeches. I like the Harpers better, but these are fine too. The RJ fabric does tend to pill, but the fit is pretty decent, and they are comfortable. Plus they are frequently on sale which makes them significantly more attractive to me. 

Half Chaps and Boots: HKM Killarney

I really was wanting a plain black pair of boots to wear until I can get some of my zippers replaced, but new boots really aren't in the budget. While I was searching for something affordable that was also nice, I stumbled across this set up. They're a knock off of the Tucci chaps and boots which means they are very affordable (especially if you order from R&R Country in the UK) but look like they're fancy and expensive. They broke in very quickly and are super comfy. I'm not sure how long they'll last, the chaps feel pretty thin. But for the price, hopefully I'll get my moneys worth from them. I like how they work. They don't have an elastic under the foot, but they have a little slit in the front that matches up with a snap tab on the front of the boots. So the tab goes through the chaps and it holds them in place. So far I'm a big fan! We'll see how long they survive. Some photos below of other angles.

That's not a blemish on the one boot. Just dirt. I didn't clean them.
Just keepin' it real over here.

That's it for today! Any favorites from today? I can't wait for more fun silly outfits when the horses get home! It's getting closer!

What's Up Wednesday

 

Okay, so I know this is a horse blog, but the majority of my week was spent on the second half of my vacation. Last week we talked about seeing totality up in Vermont, and I got to ride quickly on Tuesday. This week was part two of the family vacation. So not much riding to cover, but lots of pretty vacation pics! (I will touch on the horses after though, promise!) 

I very briefly considered riding before we left Wednesday, but I had to pick the parentals up at nine and wanted to be showered by then too. Which meant I needed to be showered and in the car at 8:30. So I opted out. If I had less horses it would have been more doable. Anyway, we arrived at our destination around 4 and had just enough time to hit the water park before dinner. (Solid first day of vacation if you ask me!) Our plan for this trip was to fly into Nassau, Bahamas and spend the night at the Atlantis Marina on dad's boat. (Hence the water park.) 

One of the water slides passes through this shark tank

I've been to Atlantis a few times. We went twice when I was just out of college, and had lots of fun back then. I was a much younger, wilder human then, and enjoyed nights at the club and meeting yacht crew guys. I'm too old for yacht crew now. Lol! We also stayed at the Atlantis a few years back. It was my first post covid trip that time, and my brother and sister-in-law both tested positive before we left. Ha. Thankfully we did not repeat that part this time. 

This trip though, we didn't stay at Atlantis. Instead, we we out exploring. The first day, we headed out with the big boat to Highbourne Cay. It's a tiny island with only one permanent resident. I believe he owns the marina. And probably everything else there. It was BEAUTIFUL there! And very quiet. Once we were tied up, we spent a few minutes at the beach next to the dock while captain and the crew got everything settled. 

I know. These beaches, right? 

Then we headed out on the tender for some adventures. First up was supposed to be snorkeling at a pretty well known island... It formerly belonged to Pablo Escobar, and has a plane sunk just off shore that you can snorkel around. (This was also supposed to be the original site for Fyre Fest. We all know how that turned out...) But the current was too strong for snorkeling, so we just zipped around on the little boat. From there we headed to another island (I'm not sure which one this was) and fed the Iguanas grapes. They are clearly used to this because they all come out when they hear (smell?) the humans.

There were lots of them. After touring around all the islands and feeding the iguanas it was time to head back to dock, have dinner, and turn in for the night. 
Captain knows everyone at the marina (he's been at this a long time), so in the morning one of his buddies let us meet the baby goats on the island. They were adorable!

I got to hold this one. I also got a sunburn.

This cute parrot lived at the marina. I don't know his name. But I wish I did. Anyway, after playing with goats and taking photos of the parrot, it was time to head out. We didn't go directly to our next destination though. We had an important stop to make first. My favorite stop of the whole trip!

Piggy Beach!!!!

That's right. We got to swim with and feed the piggies!

They were much larger than I expected. And I loved them. They were adorable, and furry, and SO CUTE! After piggies we headed to our actual destination which was Compass Cay. Another sparsely populated island. It was BEAUTIFUL. Wait until you see the beach. But first, my niece had to swim with the sharks. She's much braver than I. They were nurse sharks though. Those kind don't have teeth which is significantly less terrifying. We sent Jason our deckhand in with her. He's also braver than I.

This is the dock we stayed at that night. You can find a piece of driftwood at the beach (or bring your own I guess) and put your boat's name up on the shack there. We did that before we left and all signed our sign. You'll see it below.

We also took some time out at the beach on Compass Cay. Now I know we weren't the only ones on the island because there were other boats at the dock. But at the beach? It was just us. Look at this place:

So beautiful. The water wasn't too cold either. We swam with the nieces for awhile and then went shell hunting. And then it was pretty much dinner time. (The trip from Highbourne to Compass is about three hours, so that ate up some of the day.) 

Dinner at sunset was pretty lovely. 

The next morning we were up early for some snorkeling. 

And then we took a tender tour of some of the nearby islands. There's a prince who owns one of the larger ones. He's built lots of infrastructure and his island has all the modern conveniences. We also saw Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's island. This one below belongs to Johnny Depp.

That signs says the island is private and there's cameras. So... he does't want visitors.

After our little tour, we headed back to dock, and hung our sign. 

Our boat is called Indulgence. M/Y stands for motor yacht
And the number is the length of the boat. Then we each signed it. 
If you ever visit Compass Cay, take a photo with it and send it to me!

After sign hanging it was time to head back to Atlantis for our last night. It was about a four hour ride back, so we had enough time once we were tied up to have a little more water park fun before dinner. For our last dinner, we had a pre-birthday celebration. My birthday is the 30th of this month, my younger niece is May 6th, my older niece AND my stepmom are May 7th. So lots of birthdays to acknowledge. Dinner was a feast and we had chocolate cake for dessert. Solid last night if you ask me.

Our Stew Abby does the best job with our table scapes. Much more creative than I!

Our flight wasn't until 2, but the boat had to leave the dock by 1, so we got picked up around 12:30 to head to the airport. Dad and stepmom stayed on the boat. They went with the boat to Chubb island for the night, and then back to Florida the next day. They'll stay in Florida until the end of May when they head up this way for the summer. The rest of us hopped on the plane. We had to stop in Wilmington, NC. It was kind of nice though. It split the flight more or less in half and allowed us a potty break in a real bathroom. It was quick too. No one else was there checking in. (This was a pretty secluded vacation other than the Atlantis parts.) 

Customs. View from our plane window. That one in the photo is not us.

We landed around five, but as I drove home it clouded up and eventually started raining. It was a quick shower though, and we were rewarded with this pretty rainbow for enduring the storm. I stopped home to drop my bags, then immediately went to pick up Rita at my mom's house. I missed that pup so much! I hadn't seen her since before the eclipse. I thought it seemed cruel of me to stop by and see her in between and not take her back with me. 

So that was my trip! Sorry to bore you with that. I know it's not horsey. But it was such an amazing trip and who knows if I'll ever get to do that again, so I really wanted to document it. 

The only bad part about coming back on Sunday evening is that I didn't get to see the horses until Tuesday. It was a little nice (I'll admit it) to have a day to get settled back in at home to unpack (and clean my filthy house) before jumping back into horsing. 

I really wasn't sure what to expect when I got to the barn Tuesday. Everyone is back from Florida, so I had some anxiety about that. It's easy to get used to the quiet mornings and well.... I'm just gonna say it, the lack of judgement from others during the winter months. And it's a little hard to readjust to the busy and the comments. But so far it's okay. I also wasn't sure what to expect from my horses. They mostly hadn't been ridden while I was away. Al did get exercise though. He did some free lunges and I spaced out a couple of rigs for him. So at least he shouldn't be TOO crazy. Shiny had a couple free lunges, and her summer kid was home for the weekend so she took a lesson on her. I don't normally let me horses jump after a day off, but I made an exception. I knew she wouldn't jump very high and Shiny knows how to take care of herself. The lesson went well and Shiny is no worse for the wear. Eros just had turnout everyday while I was gone. He was zero percent wild upon my return. So that was lovely. He's just so perfect. 

I've ridden them all twice this week so far, and everyone has been great. Yes I said that. Even Al. I'm sure it won't last... But maybe it will? I think Al appreciates a little break here and there, and that might be something for me to build into his schedule. Maybe all the work all the time doesn't allow him to thrive the same way as the others. I dunno. We'll have to experiment. 

Lessons are down to one a week now that barn owner is back. We are in her way Thursday mornings if we lesson, so those have been discontinued. It will just be Saturdays until we move home. I do have the option of lessoning later in the day during the week, but I really prefer to lesson earlier. Hopefully once my other trainer gets back we can back to more regular lessons. I am looking forward to getting Al jumping real jumps again. Eros is bumping up to ten minutes of trotting on Friday, and then 15 the Friday after that. Once we get a solid week at 15 minutes, if he's still sound we can start adding some canter. We'll have another check once we're cantering 15 minutes and that will determine if/when he can start jumping again. He's feeling pretty good, so fingers crossed! Shiny is feeling great too, so I'm excited to maybe do fun things with her this year. 

Now that everyone is home, I'm not getting any extra rides anymore, which is kind of a bummer. But I certainly have plenty of riding to do anyway. Somehow though, I don't seem to be getting finished any earlier... Where does the time go?