New Boarder

Long time no write, eh? I'll be frank, life has been very chaotic for me and my desire to write in this space has been nonexistent. The short of it is:

• I had travel for work and followed by a short personal vacation
• Work ate me up when we got sued [again] on a project I've been dealing with for 5 years now
• I took a mental nose-dive due to work being a complete stress-fest (18 months and counting!) and fully embraced my burnout and opened up about it (so very wonderful to receive so much support!). Immediately after this...
• I headed out on a vacation determined to get my head firmly back in place and return with actionable solutions to carry forward in a better light....
• Only to have my mountain bike stolen from my car on the very first day of my mountain bike centric vacation (Fuck You, Louisville.)
• The rest of the vacation didn't fare much better: found out we were missing a key component for our stove and couldn't cook as we'd planned; it rained the whole time we were in the desert which botched any hopeful plans of doing what we wanted to do without bikes (climbing); we were delayed by 6+ hours on our trip home due to snow and a impressively flat tire (biggest blowout I've ever had!) And thus my goals of becoming less stressed were completely obliterated.

But I'm home now. And ohmygoodnessgracious, IT FEELS SO GOOD. I'm never leaving again. I swear. (Not really.)

Behold. A very filthy pony thanks to so much rain this year. In the months since the horses have been living in Canaan, we
 have had 29.9 inches of rain. For reference, last year's total annual rainfall for Canaan was 65.58" and this year's total as of
yesterday is already 65.76"

But seriously, I had THE GREATEST first day home ever. Everything settled beautifully back into place and I tackled my WHOLE to-do list - and it was a whammy!

One of the bigger things on the to-do list for my first day home was to put the wheels in motion to get the horses integrated into their winter boarding situation (i.e., move them down the road and get them introduced into a new [huge] herd). 

So, color me shocked when I not only set the wheels in motion but tackled the whole damn thing! BAM.

An even more disgusting Stanley. With a freshly banged tail because kid
has SO MUCH HAIR and I'm sick of dealing with it + mud.

Just like that, I find myself a boarder again (as opposed to self-care at a friend's place as I had been since June). And damn, it feels SO good to have them in a situation like this for the winter. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED caring for them and doing it all myself - truly! Caring for them myself gives me so much peace and helps me wind down at the end of the day. BUT! The mish-mash of a setup I had wasn't the easiest ever, and while I am BEYOND grateful I had it, I'm glad to not have to worry about needing so much foresight and planning to accomplish small tasks for awhile.

And, ironically, the grey horse is the cleanest in the group!

The horses introduced to the new herd easily enough, which I'm so very grateful for because this is  the biggest herd any of them have ever lived in at 20-some horses. The other horses are composed of 2 different herds (owned by the same people) and were only thrown together yesterday - so the entire social dynamic is very up in the air right now, which is damn near perfect for my three entering such a new situation.

The first thing all three of my horses did upon turnout was to gallop a few strides, add a couple of bucks for good measure, and then immediately drop and roll (the other horses were on the far side of the field making zero attempt to approach my three). After rolling, my three ran to the closest group of horses where they did the initial circling-of-the-wagons circle trotting and smelling ritual. After that they quickly separated themselves from the others and began grazing with no drama whatsoever.

Another shot of his new shorter tail. I regret nothing.

The herd will be in the big field for a month or two until the weather becomes too inclement. At that time, they'll be moved a couple miles back up the road to a barn with an attached arena for the winter (and the herd will be pared down and separated once more into two locations). They'll come inside every night and be outside every day so long as the weather isn't total arctic hell. They'll receive their hay ration in stalls every night and get grain in the AM and PM. With the exception of Stan, they've never had such a royal setup for winter!

In the new field! And choosing to walk away from the boys to greet me.

I'll be able to work off some of their board by mucking and the like this winter. This is fantastic because I plan to be out there an awful lot anyway and it'll be great to knock the cost down and get a workout in the process. I used to love mucking stalls - it was my first job! And how I met Stan.

Also choosing to come greet me!

But the biggest excitement? That damn arena. Helloooooo winter workouts and lessons! No woes about arctic winds, snow, or light if I want to ride in the evenings any more. I don't mind the cold, but those other elements are definitely what keep my riding motivation in check most winters.

No interest in saying hello. Also dirty again.

If I have my druthers, Griffin and Q will come out of winter with a beautiful fitness base of dressage and arena work and be ready for a new year of competition possibilities in their respective discipline realms. Stanley will hopefully get his fair share of riding as well, but with few to no competition goals he will mostly serve as an escape for me and a steady eddy for friends that are adventurous enough to wander about the winter wonderland with me.

Happy horses grazing in their new field.

I'm excited for this change of pace and am eager to get in some lessons through the winter months. This will be the first time I've had an indoor arena to enjoy since owning horses! Fingers crossed for a fun, riding-filled winter!