Refreshed

I had such a nice weekend! We had a bit of a staycation, spending two nights in Whistler (about 2 hours from my work if we count the ferry ride), and the weather was fantastic and unseasonably warm.

 At first it felt a little weird to leave work with just an overnight bag and to drive right past EC's on the way to the ferry. Like, aren't we forgetting something? Like a pony, a horse trailer and a truckload of horse related tack, apparel and supplies? I guess it's been ages since we went on the Vancouver ferry without a horsey event to attend!

"What about me?"

Obviously, Whistler is normally associated with skiing and other outdoor adventures. I've had trying the Olympic bobsled track on my bucket list since...2010 :) Apparently, equestrians might be suited such sports? It being the shoulder season, a lot of the things that appeal to me (the downhill mountain biking being my other big wish) were closed, which we knew when we booked our hotel. G and I had a plan of lounging by the hotel pool and only leaving when we got hungry, a plan I'm happy to say we strictly followed. The hotel served drinks and appies poolside, so it definitely felt a little like we were on a tropical vacation. Maybe that's a bit of a waste of the stunning local area waiting to be explored, but we both enjoyed not having any schedule or really anything much to do for a couple of days.

Maybe next time

Home away from home, lol. Photo from hiltonwhistler.com

I missed the horses and riding, and watching the Badminton live stream really had me missing  eventing (at lower levels...I think I'm done with following a lot of the upper level stuff - everyone has their own feelings about it, I'm sure, but I feel like the horses' welfare is not adequately prioritized by the powers that be and sadly, even some of the riders.)

Gorgeous afternoon at the track

On Sunday, we drove into Vancouver and went to watch some horse racing. I was on fire, picking 1st or 2nd in 5 of the 7 races. Sadly, that doesn't mean I'm any richer, because I'm a cheapskate and only make $2 bets to show. My big wins were only earning me anywhere between 75 cents and 5 dollars, lol. Still, it's always super fun to check out the horses and watch them run - they really seem to love their jobs and they always look so fantastically cared for it makes me want to up my grooming game. Gorgeous horses for sure, I wanted to take a couple of them home to be my eventing/dressage pony (But lets be honest, I'd also seriously love to gallop one of them around the track just once in my life).

Pro level grooming skills required for this mane

It's back to real life this morning. I'm back at work, and pretty sad that I didn't take the day off to go home and visit my ponies. Now I'll have to wait until Thursday night to say hi to them...and that will have been a week since I saw them last! Never fear, though, G being the bestest horsey husband is going to go say hi to them today and muck out paddocks, and there is a fantastic barn owner cares for them like her own, too. I'm sure I miss the ponies more than they miss me :)