Getting Things Done

As the title would imply, I got a LOT of things done this weekend.

Friday, we traveled down the coast and moved out of my rental down there. I thought it would just be a couple of hours of cleaning, but apparently in 5 years I managed to accumulate more things than I thought. Let's just say my tack and riding clothes are about double what I thought I had...apparently I've been keeping an entire set of everything there for the odd time I ride at my coach's barn, and obviously I have everything here too. So, that was kind of eye opening :D

It is a pretty ferry ride, though. I can't believe the snow in the mountains is almost gone already!

We still managed to make it an easy day trip. It was pretty disappointing to see the ferry full of vacation goers, but it was nice to get out, and I'll miss it there. 5 years ago I somehow found a pretty cheap rental in one of the more exclusive waterfront areas of the coast. Let's just say I'll probably never be able to afford to live in that neighborhood ever again in this life time! We had fun checking out the yachts and fancy 'cottages' one more time, but it's honestly a huge weight off my shoulders to not be split between two homes and all the assorted financial commitments that go with that. I'm much happier living in our much more modest neighborhood here with my husband.

I also quite enjoy being able to afford to keep both ponies together here and have grazing for them - prices for all things equestrian are also significantly more there and with the cost of land being so high turnout options are pretty limited.

I spent a good part of Saturday sorting all my stuff into sell/giveaway/keep piles and attempting to fit the stuff I just can't part with into my space in the laundry room. The laundry room here is huge, but  at this point more resembles a tiny tack store than anything else. We do have a basement storage room that I might need to re purpose for exclusively horses but we're thinking this isn't our forever house. I'm not sure an in house tack room will really up our resale value lol

While going through everything, I found a big envelope full of ribbons and old test sheets and show programs from our last proper show season. It really made me miss showing and all the accomplishments that go along with having a structured program and goals. Fingers crossed hard next year we will all be able to resume a more normal lifestyle including more opportunities to get out with our horses.

For now, we rest ;)

And finally, Sunday I RODE! The outdoor arena is nearly finished and Bridget and I got to be testers.

So much new sand.

The ride itself was depressing, but fun. We're both so out of riding shape and both of our bodies weren't totally with the program. I could feel my heels creeping up and my right shoulder tipping forward and I'd correct it only to feel myself back at it a few strides later. Those were my two worst habits and I was so hopeful all that time with EC's eagle eyes on me had eradicated them forever! But, I guess when your life includes sitting at a desk and many hours of hiking each week the heels and the shoulder will be a thing to watch forever. My general floppiness was also pretty depressing. Bridget is also out of practice so falling out through the shoulder and defaulting to a counterbent pony banana who can only turn left is a thing again (Although we can partly attribute it to my lack of effective management in the saddle too).

Never mind, though, not sure why I'm even focusing on that - it's pretty normal to be out of shape if you haven't been riding! The real focus of the day was just getting out there and we did.

 I kept it to a short, easy ride in the ring and a nice long rein hack home.

It was super fun to be back in the saddle after such an inconsistent spring. I'm forever grateful for Bridget. I probably hadn't ridden since a short hack three weeks (!) ago and just hopped on in a very different than normal looking arena (the middle fence got taken out and the perimeter landscaping has had a few changes) and had zero issues. She seemed quite happy to get out and have a job.

On another pretty great note, we left Sophie at the barn alone in an old round pen (no risk of fence smashing!) and she happily stuffed herself with grass and didn't make a peep. Turns out she is a pony after all - apparently food solves any problem :D Can I also hope this wasn't just a fluke and she's maybe growing up a little?

"Oh hi, there! Sorry, did you go somewhere? I was busy eating."

Since I have the best husband in the world who now has time on his hands, we've come up with a plan to make riding more realistic this summer. He's going to help me with waters and mucking, moving ponies and cleaning pastures every second day, so I'll have more time to ride on the alternate day. (I SO appreciate having this space, but I think I've mentioned just due to the layout and paddock sizes, in the summer picking paddocks is a minimum of an hour to an hour and a half every day. Add in rotating fields, feeding and cleaning waters or a quick grooming and I'm usually there two or more hours and out of time to ride. We tested out doing paddocks together every second day instead and it worked well - about 90 minutes and we were done! If we do that, then 3-4 times a week I will have nothing much to do but ride!)

Because picking poo out of long grass is an experience we both should share, lol.