Just Horsin Around

All day...every day.

I should be ashamed to admit I'm not missing work, but so far the fun of unlimited horse time far outweighs any financial guilt or embarrassment. In all honesty, I do have some remote database work coming my way with a company I worked on a project with this summer so I'm not as stressed about the career thing as I usually am when I'm living here at the end of the world. I'm just enjoying my freedom while I can!

My life. Every day :)

So, what does a girl with unlimited time do all day? I start out by waking up super early because I'm way too excited about my upcoming day. Then, because it's still dark out, I read all the horsey blogs with a nice cup of coffee :)

 Finally, when it's no longer a 'weird' time to show up at the barn, I head out. It's 50/50 whether the horses will have been turned out yet or not. If they're in, I toss them a little more hay and go about grooming them both. If they're out in the pasture, life gets a little more interesting. Because Ginger is all "OMG I LOVE YOU YOU ARE MY BESTEST FRIEND EVER!!!1!" she usually comes running. Which used to be sort of cool, but now Bridget has also decided I'm pretty interesting and follows closely behind....which in turn seems to tip the balance into the full herd stampeding my way, complete with fighting and kicking over who gets to say hi first. I tried to take a picture yesterday to post, but it turned from "oh cute, here they come" to "look out, you might die!' a little too quickly. Thankfully, only my two seem to have any inclination to follow me back up to the barn, so we are saved any further drama after the initial meet and greet.

Calm before the storm, The other horses are just out of view.

After grooming them both thoroughly, I take one or both out for a ride, rain or shine, sometimes with company, sometimes without. And I enjoy every second of it - it's just so, so cool to be riding my own horses again after so many months away. After my ride, when everyone is put back away, if G is otherwise busy, I've either been doing a little work on the footing at our local ring, or volunteering time at our big arena at our club grounds. (Because volunteering is what us 'retired' types do ha ha.)

Bridget just patiently waits at the gate after our ride while I get OCD about a spot I missed and do a little more raking,

Then, when I get back home, I've been reading some of my favorite training books and getting ideas for my following day. This, of course, led to me wanting some jumps and poles to set up in 'my' ring, which has led to a whole new project this week - building jumps!

Sneak peek. Don't judge the purple, it was free paint and therefore it' s the best color ever :)

I don't think I've ever been as excited about my horse time. It's probably at an unsustainable level of fun, but hey, I'll enjoy it while I can.


As for my most recent 'horses aren't always fun' reality check in the form of Ginger's separating hoof, she's still a bit sore from the more aggressive trim. I have the vet coming out anyways next Tuesday for fall shots and teeth. He's a licensed farrier as well so he's the perfect man to take a look at the foot in question. I'm remaining optimistic it's something easily fixed and we'll get my high maintenance big mare back into regular work soon.