Step One

Whoa. We've had a bit of an unintended vacation and I haven't ridden for about a month. No worries, there's no dramatic reason for that and we're all happy and healthy. I've just lacked the drive to get it done.

 The weather has been really challenging, (I think we've set rain records and had only 2 rain free days since November - everything is flooded right now) I've been busy, and the days have been short. Plus, my motivation was simply just lacking. Sophie had earned a little break and Bridget and I have no reason right now to venture out into the wind and rain. The place I board just has paddocks with shelters so drying the horses out after a rainy day ride is pretty difficult, plus with all the storms more often than not the trails have either been blocked or unsafe due to falling trees and branches. It's been almost too easy for me to just pop out my back door instead if the weather breaks for an hour and just hit the in town hiking trails solo.

The snow even stayed for a week! It melted during a giant rainstorm though and this paddock and her stall flooded, so one of my potential riding days was spent stripping the stall (all those $$$$ shavings wasted! :( )and moving ponies to new (on site) accommodations.

I have a few strategies in mind for making next winter easier. The barn owner is on side for adding more gravel to the paddocks next fall so cleaning is easier and mud less of an issue. I'm planning on clipping the ponies so drying them off is an achievable thing, and I'm going ask for one of the stalls in the barn so I can bring them in to groom them and tack up on yucky days, even if it costs a bit extra. Fingers crossed I should also have enough funds saved for a trailer by then so we can zip down to the indoor on the truly awful days. Finally, I'm investing in more and better rain gear for myself...it's hard to want to ride when you're soaking wet and cold just from mucking and feeding and you don't have extra boots or dry rain gear to change into.

Looks like new warm gloves might be in order, too, lol

Anyway, I feel like this is coming across as a big old pity party when in reality I'm not actually feeling too bothered by any of it. If there was ever a time for a riding break, this was it, with a 3.5 year old who really shouldn't have too much work, and a mature Bridget who knows everything (according to her, at least;) . But, while the slow winter has been nice, now it feels like spring is just a couple of months away and we're all ready to get back at it!

Bridget's back to school ears aren't as excited as they could be.

Step One of getting back at it involved giving myself some goals and inspiration and signing up for a couple of spring clinics: a riding one for Sophie (gulp!) and a driving one I probably will take Bridget to (she's driven before, I haven't)

Step two involved making the ponies presentable again. To be fair, I hadn't clipped their beards or bridle paths in a couple of months, but with the pile of hair I took off you'd think I clipped an entire horse.

Before

After. No pic of Sophie's "makeover" because it got dark (and I was still clipping). It will be a surprise to see what it looks like in daylight, lol

The days are getting noticeably longer and warmer again, so the issue I've been having finding daylight hours is going to 'magically' solve itself (along with the bad haircuts :)

Snow Day!

Despite living in Canada, we don't tend to see a lot of freezing weather. Snow is even more rare - sometimes we don't get any all winter! You wouldn't know that today, though! We got so much snow that my office was closed and I got to take a snow day. Here's a few pictures of Sophie - she was feeling quite silly. (Of course Bridget is doing great too, but she wasn't in to showing off for the camera today :)

Fluffy

Is it a bad thing that I want to clip both ponies simply for aesthetics?

Fuzxy, fuzzy pony. I clipped her jawline and now it looks weird. But her halter wasn't fitting before, so still winning?

Oh goodness are they hairy and rough looking right now in their natural winter state. I'll leave them be, but they are beyond fluffy and it seems to have really come on just in the past week.

So much hair! It's been so warm and mild out too, let's hope they don't know something I don't re: the coming weather.

Sophie especially looks bad...her winter coat is really light colored and there isn't much of a shine to be found. Add in true pony level coat thickness and some generous helpings of dirt and it looks like she's not been groomed for months.

Can't even. It's all mucky INSIDE her ears too

Forelock decor

At least Bridget is the color of dirt. Also, I feel like Bridget is kind of an oversized Thelwell pony anyway and it kind of suits. Sophie is more of a small sport horse build so the pony level fluffiness makes her look like she's neglected.

I photoshopped her to be more gold colored, and definitely smoothed out the more moth eaten looking parts,  lol

I guess this is the trade off for those lovely glossy dappled coats ponies seem to so easily have in the summer?

Anyway, not much of a point to this post....TLDR: My ponies (especially Sophie) are looking feral, despite all my best efforts. I used up my riding time on Sunday just grooming them. They looked only marginally better. The end :)

In The Dark

Every year I'm somehow surprised when the clocks go back and it's dark after work.

Wait, it's only 4:30!!

I had some plans to take Sophie down to the indoor tonight and quit working at 4:00, but I hadn't even finished mucking out before it was really dark out (5:00, for the record) So, on the to do list: Get Sophie used to the assorted lights and reflective gear she'll need to wear to head down the road in the dark. Her very own brand new reflective quarter sheet and some reflective bands and clip on LED lights arrived in the mail yesterday, which is exciting, but I'd rather try all the stuff on for a practice run before I head out on the road in the dark :)

"It's my bed time now" - Sophie

I rode Bridget all last winter with zero issues (besides that one time it got REALLY dark and my headlamp died and I tried to finish up in the unlit outdoor arena to avoid paying the fee for the indoor. I learned that I get motion sickness at anything past a walk if I can't see where I'm going, ha ha)

Bridget being Bridget, the first time she thought it was weird that my headlamp makes a moving light in front of us, but didn't fuss too much. Vehicle headlights on the other hand were definitely worth some worry. She's rock solid now though.

New camera lens is magical...It was dark out and I couldn't see much and yet here is a cute Bridget only the camera could see :)

I'm no expert in equine vision. They do seem to navigate quite well in low light (way better than me!), but my sample size of one says she's less confident in the pitch black....she definitely chooses to follow any lit pathway then and I feel like she really likes my headlamp lighting our way!

It's going to be interesting to see what Sophie thinks of it all. One day I'll have my own place and an arena with lights, one day sooner than that I'll have a trailer. For now though, if we want to keep getting out on weekdays, it's either mornings or evenings and part of the outing is going to be in the dark.

I spy a rotten banana! She's still in pony jail, hence my extra initiative to get her out on weeknights too.

For now, it's only about a 15 minute hack down a very quiet road to get to the equestrian club grounds so we gear up in our best safety and hi viz apparel, and enjoy the quiet evenings with the grounds all to ourselves.