What's Up Wednesday

 

We last left off on New Year's Eve when I was happily in my bed by 9 pm waiting for the ball to drop. The next day my family hosted my dad's good friend and his family for a boat ride down the intracoastal. We passed by Dad's house which was fun to see from the water because it's had some renovations since I saw it last. 

And then on Friday I got to ride again! I had gone to visit with Shiny's kiddo and her mom (my trainer from years past) earlier in the week, and trainer had said if I had time to come back I could ride. I'm not one to turn down rides, especially on really nice horses! So Friday morning I headed south again and got to ride Frankie:

Looks like we jumped! But that's actually just a pole on the ground

Frankie is a cool dude. I'm not sure how tall he is, probably around 17 hands... but he's equally wide as he is tall. So I looked like a little person up there. Ha! He was really good for our ride, and then Shiny's kiddo took me for a Florida trail ride. Down in Wellington where the barns are, the roads are dirt, so you can ride pretty much all over. They call it trail riding, but really it's just riding on the roads. Definitely not out in the woods! But it was fun, and Frankie was a good brave boy. He's a hunter, so was a little more my speed than Faith and Verona the jumper mares. 

It's really validating for me to get to ride these horses who are so different from each other, and also different from my three. When you only ride your own horses, it's easy to develop a lot of bad habits that your horse just figures out or knows to ignore. But riding other horses will point them right out to you. I'm happy to report that none of them complained too much about me, and responded as I'd hoped to my aids. So while I'm definitely rusty and out of shape, I still for the most part can ride a horse. Thank goodness!

After riding we went for family mani/pedis as one does on vacation. And that was a wrap on vacation. Or should have been anyway. We were supposed to have breakfast and then head to the airport on Saturday for an early afternoon departure. Unfortunately, the best laid plans, never seem to pan out. We wound up VERY delayed, and didn't end up leaving for the airport until 4pm. The only reason it was annoying was that we didn't have any idea when it was going to happen so we couldn't really make much use of the extra day. But that's okay. Even doing nothing is lovely in warm weather. So why the delay you ask? The airport temporarily misplaced our plane. I can't make this stuff up. The airport had much more traffic than they're used to and somehow failed to make note of where they had parked us. But all's well that ends well, they eventually found it. And no one told my father, so that's for the best too. Haha. Oy. 

Anyway, we were finally in the air around 7ish. I got to my mom's house to retrieve Rita about 10 something. Came home to snuggle the horses and do night check, and was in bed about midnight. Long day! And then up at 6 for chores. 

So much for the restful vacation right? The life of a horse girl. Oh and also, along with chores, mother nature gave us more snow that no one expected. The good thing about that was it hid the mess outside. The bad thing is now that it's all melting I'm aware of the mess outside... Not knocking any of my helpers while I was gone, but no one cleans up and takes care of your place like you do. That's just a fact. Anyway, with all the snow Sunday morning, and then cold temps on Monday, the horses are still enjoying their extended vacations. Sunday once I finished chores (which was a bit late since I was trying to get reorganized and re-settled), I groomed each of the horses. Shiny and Eros enjoyed it. Al hates grooming. 

Monday I had planned to not be horsey because I needed to unpack and do laundry. I hadn't gotten around to unpacking holiday gifts from our family Chanukah party either, so it was a full day. I was kind of hoping to ride Tuesday as we're having a warrm up this week, but the ring is a sloppy mess at the moment. Mostly slush, but still some ice underneath. So instead, I spent Tuesday doing more cleaning in the barn. I had done a make it better job Sunday, but Tuesday I went a little deeper. My regular weekday worker has cleaning stall fronts, dusting, and cobwebbing on his chore list, but I gotta be honest, he hasn't been doing much of any of that. When I got back, the stall fronts had slobber stuck all over them (why? I have no idea, not common here). I hadn't gotten to that on Sunday, and was hoping my helper would Monday but alas, still gross on Tuesday. So I wiped down the stall fronts and bars. Then proceeded to spend three hours getting the floor clean. Which was all for naught because after he did chores today it was like I had never done a thing. Sigh. Oh and he left Eros' stall unlatched again. I'm so frustrated with these things. But I have a plan! I'm going to give him an end of day checklist. And require he check each thing off each day before he goes. May or may not be successful, but it's worth a shot. I don't know if I sound like an ass hole, but I've talked to him about the open door latches so many times, I don't know what else to do. That's a real safety issue.

Looked beautiful for the overnight hours!

Today was almost 40 which is an absolute heat wave. The ring is still defrosting, but I have high hopes that it might be useable after the weekend. We went for very slow and careful hand walks in the ring today which was nothing exciting, but I think the horses enjoyed doing something other than turnout and hanging out in their stalls. They all seem to like eating slush too, which I find adorable.

It's supposed to stay in the 40's and we're going to get a lot of rain Friday through the weekend. Cold on Monday, but then back to the 40's. So while I think we probably won't get to actually ride this week nor coming weekend, I'm thinking there's a chance next week. Fingers crossed! 

I'm still mostly happy with my choice to stay home this winter, but I'd be lying if I didn't say there were moments of regret. Like having to do so much extra work before leaving for vacation. Or so much extra work upon returning from said vacation. And the fact that my horses have had so much time off now... But truthfully, I think a little break is good for them. None of them are out of their minds. A little bored maybe, but not behaving poorly. (Other than grooming for Al... but that's nothing new.) And with the bitter cold temps we had in December, it was nice having a warm barn. Definitely appreciated that! And I think there's something to be said for staying more or less in the same routine that they're used to here at home. Even if the riding part isn't happening, they're going out at the same time every day, having only one person make their meals, and it's so nice and quiet here. (Except for when the neighbor is noisy, but you know what I mean.) 

I'm hoping to get some riding in during the January thaw, and then do expect some more downtime in February probably. And then March comes and we should be getting back on track! Hopefully anyway. If not, then April! Whatever. Spring will come. It always does!