go, go, go

 I feel like things have gone from pretty quiet and predictable, to 11/10 busy this spring.

My work is absolutely crazy right now, and I've got a lot going on outside of work at the moment too. 

The horsey blog relevant things are that lots of riding is happening and I'm in the process of organizing either some clinics or lessons (depending on whether there is enough local interest or whether I will just travel to her). I am reluctant to attempt to organize clinics again, and am most likely going to arrange to just meet somewhere for a lesson, but we'll see. 

In the meantime, we went trail riding all by ourselves and she was very excited, but excellent.

Our Covid situation here isn't currently great and travel outside your community isn't advised. I'm fully on board with riding lessons and shows not being essential so you won't see me out there until we're able to do it safely. Many shows and outings scheduled for this spring/summer have already been cancelled. This of course puts a bit of a damper on my lesson scheduling, but I'll cross my fingers I can get something organized as soon as it's safe to hop back on that ferry.

With shows and out of area clinics off the table this summer, my focus has shifted to buckling down and getting things done at home. 

We've made multiple offers on properties these last couple of years, but the market is red hot and nothing really works out. The last one had 15 competing bids for a 400k listing and finally went for 150k over asking, all in about 24 hours. So, we're going to start work on the World's Tiniest Horse Property this week. I think I've mentioned it before and shown you some plans, but then I got sidetracked :) Anyway, I have a little 1.2 acre property that is zoned for horses. I bought it many, many years ago before I met G. We have been renting the house on it out for the past 15 years or so and the remainder of it sits unused.

 I'll give you a recap post this week and get some before pictures of the disaster that is the 'horsey' part of place. (To give you an idea, I've hired an excavator to clean it up - it's just been slightly overgrown/neglected and there may or may not be a tree fallen on the barn. I've been travelling and living elsewhere a very long time lol).

This is the space I'm working with - I think it ends up being about 3/4 acre, so it's TINY. I wanted to leave a nice yard for the house, and have my access off the back laneway in case we keep the house rented long term. You can see some of the old paddock fencing and the barn.

Plans include upgrading the rustic 'barn' a little, clearing paddocks and planting grass seed, new fencing, and, if I'm lucky, the contractor will be able to fit a riding ring in the back beside the lane! While it's not going to be what I had envisioned having, I am grateful to 'previous me' for getting into the market when I did and I'm super excited about having my own space again. The hope is to move the horses there next fall. 

Bridget's going to be a backyard pony :)