Blog Hop: 2020 Summary; COVID Edition

Saw this on Raincoast Rider's blog and loved it. Thanks to Alberta Equest for putting the original together!

What's the best thing that happened to you in 2020?

Personal: Slowing the F down. I have wanted to reduce my chaos and just coast along without over-committing myself for several years now. Call it aging or whatever, but the pace I maintained in my daily life during my 20s is not something I really care to keep maintaining. I've had friends jokingly call me Hermione for years because I do so many things it's akin to Hermione and her timeturner in Prisoner of Azkaban. It was fun - and easy! - for awhile, but no longer. I now crave more "boring" in my day-to-day life. COVID granted me that in spades. 

Horses: Having them HOME. Nothing beats this. 

What's the worst thing that happened to you in 2020?

Personal: Busting the F out of my left shoulder. That injury persisted much longer than I anticipated. I was released from PT in November and am doing much better, but it still plagues me during certain movements. A big goal of mine for 2021 is to regain and improve mobility throughout my body. 

Horses: I didn't write about it on here, though I did take more than enough media to document it, but Q going through my fence 3 times on two occasions was definitely the worst. She's fortunately FINE beyond superficial cuts to every leg, her chest, and her face, but it was pretty terrifying to come down to the barn to find her outside the fence, the boys inside the fence, and her face bleeding all to hell. 

To this day, I do not know what triggered her to panic in such an intense way. I set up trail cams, but captured nothing. My three hypotheses are: coyotes, a bear, or Stan being an unholy asshole. All are more than plausible. re: the animals, I don't think either predator was doing something outright threatening to the horses. I suspect it was just a youngster(s) being curious about all the smells and such around the barn and the presence freaked Q the hell out. Bears drive her into a blind panic. If coyotes did young, dumb coyote things, I could see the same happening. re: Stan. Well, he's a complete and total asshole about food. Perhaps he lunged after her pretty good and it sent her through the fence? I'll never know. All I can do is thank my lucky stars the fence did what it was supposed to in not butchering poor Q, and hope to goodness it doesn't happen again!

What was your biggest purchase in 2020?

Personal: The refinance of my barn/property loan. Or, perhaps because the closing costs for that were wrapped into future payments, I should say new truck tires. That needed to happen, but oi. It hurt a bit! Oh, and tying with the tires (remarkably enough thanks to a RIDICULOUS sale) I also scored the mattress I've been eyeing for literal years for next to nothing. I'm SO happy with that purchase and sleep so much deeper and fall asleep more easily now.

Horses: A new(to me) Specialized Ultralight saddle. 

What was your biggest accomplishment in 2020?

Personal: Slowing down.

Horses: Riding 600 miles in a year. I don't know that I'll set such a goal for myself in the future, but it was sweet to accomplish this year. 

What do you feel COVID robbed you of in 2020?

Personal: Jan's visit. The only direct contact I had with COVID-positive humans (who had both tested negative 48 hours before I was in contact with them but then tested positive 36 hours after I saw them) occurred right before Jan's visit, so I was stuck in a two week quarantine instead of getting to play horse with Jan. Not the worst thing in the world to have to cancel, but still such a bummer! Fortunately, neither Dave nor I contracted COVID. (Which leads me to wonder if my sickness in March was COVID? Sadly, I'll never know because there were no tests available at that time.)

Horses: Off-farm events/competitions. Though, in some regards, I'm really not too mad about being robbed of these for a period of time. 

Were you subject to any impulse buys in 2020?

Personal: That mattress was definitely an impulse buy. But seeing it marked down ~$1000 due to double sales was too good to pass up! 

Horses: The saddle was a bit of an impulse buy, but it was something I'd lusted after for literal YEARS. It fit me, it fit the horses, and I got a stupid good deal on it because my friend opted to not keep it after buying it new and riding in it only a few times. 

Unexpected silver linings in 2020?

Personal: All of the time at home to putter around my property doing chores was so very good for my mental and physical health. 

Horses: Spending all of the time on trails without any push to do something else was just the slow down I needed. I feel pretty rejuvenated with horse things as I end the year, and am even more committed to going forth into the future to do whatever seems most FUN for the horses and I.