MDW 2020

Last week I really made an effort to get back into a regular routine with the horses (why is this always the story of my life?). I'm still trying to figure out my timing with the WFH thing... like I may broach working later hours so I can return to riding in the morning, like my summer hours from a few years ago -- except with no commute... WINNING! Wednesday I rode Ruby, and shared the photos last Thursday -- I didn't write about the ride, but it was pretty damn great! Thursday night the farrier was scheduled to come out, so I didn't ride.

Farrier day!

Friday I was really stoked to ride Cinna, and she was pretty chill when I caught her and brought her out... and then things devolved quickly from there. Jack and Cinna got even more herdbound as a result of me basically letting the horses be feral for a year while we finished the house. So now when I take her out of the pasture, despite the fact that he can still SEE HER, and the other horses, he runs himself into a tizzy. That's how he ended up with the only colic episode I've ever had to deal with in my 14+ years of multi-horse ownership (knock on wood), so to keep the peace, normally I just toss him out with Trigger and Ruby so there's less screaming and idiotic behavior. This time, I made the tactical mistake of pulling her out and cross-tying her first, and then trying to move him. She was unhappy about that, busted the cross ties, and ran around like a lunatic. I sighed, caught her, fixed the cross ties, and started over. The minute she seemed to be calming down, I turned my back to grab her a cookie so we could move on... annnnnnnd she busted them AGAIN and took off.

First cross-tying attempt. 

Round three, in her bad girl halter. She also spent some solo time in her stall while I fixed the cross ties repeatedly, and screamed herself into a lather about that. Life is hard Cinna, and it's harder if you act dumb. 

Sooooo. Instead of riding, we had an hour of remedial cross tie/groundwork training and reminders that we, in fact, know how to behave like a grown, civilized horse. Which mostly consisted of me sitting on the tack shed steps replying to emails while she stood there and stomped her feet. That ate up most of my riding time (plus my mind was not in a great headspace to climb on at that point lol) so I decided to work on scrubbing some of the leftover winter grime off her instead. Despite lamenting my lack of a dedicated wash stall (it's on the list!), Cinna was actually pretty cooperative for ground-tying-ish for me to scrub her tail, and I KNOW she enjoyed me scrubbing the dirt and dead skin out of her roached mane (she is the itchiest horse I have ever met lol). It was still a little muddy so I took her out front to graze while she dried, because I'll be damned if I was going to turn her out wet and immediately watch her undo all my work!

Finally calmed down and standing like she knows how to do... awkward angle, since I was still sitting there answering emails lol. 

After her bath, making sure the golf cart was a safe place for me to sit and hold her lead rope. 

Just hanging out. 

The baby Robins got really big!

Despite some wild and wacky weather, I did squeeze in some horse time over the long weekend! Saturday I was hoping we might be able to go out and do something fun, alas, it was not to be. DH wanted to take the boat out, but the necessary parts didn't come in on time. I wanted to haul out and ride, but the nest full of baby Robins was still on my trailer, and there was nowhere to move them too. Sad day. So we did some work out at my mom's place, and Sunday was our designated house cleaning/errand running day (and the weather was intermittently sketchy both of those days), but Monday dawned bright and beautiful (albeit hot and humid) and I was ready to ride! The horses were both on board with this plan, and I had everyone worked, hosed, and back in front of their fans before noon! We switched back to night turnout over the weekend, because it got STUPID hot, and I forgot how much I love it and how much easier it makes my life!

Much less dumb about cross ties on Monday. 

A very good egg under saddle too. Didn't have to lunge first, no shenanigans, just a nice ride!

Never dumb about cross ties because she is too adult for that nonsense. 

Also a good ride, although she wanted to canter wayyyyyy more than I did, haha. We compromised ;)

She sweated through her fly bonnet and was not interested in my photos. 

What she thought about her bath and then being parked in front of the big fan to dry. 

The last time I checked the baby Robins they started kamikaze dive bombing me so I ran away. Apparently they were big enough to leave the nest, because I found this later! (One egg didn't hatch). I pulled it down and I need to fill that gap so they stop building nests there and I can take my trailer places! 

The bebe goats think summer weather is bullshit.

Since I finished with the horses before noon I got bored and baked cookies all afternoon. 

Literally all afternoon. Almond cookies.

Toffee cookies. 

Monday night's sunset.

It was a really busy weekend but I ended it feeling great. We got a lot done around the farm, the horses got worked, and I felt refreshed and ready to head back to work. I hope you got to enjoy plenty of horse time too!