Smokey, Me, and the Windy Day

My infrequent rides are making it tough to make much progress, but we still seem to get somewhere.

In a glacial, agonizingly slow, was- that-progress kind of way.

I finished up my chores at the barn and brought Smokey in for saddling. It was odd, none of the horses were much interested in their hay in the paddocks.

That should have been your first clue.

Well, I noticed, but what am I going to do?
Wait for the wind to die down?

Yes. Absolutely. Yesh. I can't believe I
still have to explain this to you.

I'm a little slow.

So we went directly to the arena...

INSTEAD of the round pen.

I just wanted to point that out.

Yes. Because by now I should just get on you and ride.

On a windy day.

Yes! Even on a windy day!

*pout*
What. ever.

I let out my new, extra long lead rope
for a brief lunge session, a sort of compromise...

There's no fun stuff
on one of those ropes.

and
Smokey started out very well. And then
he suddenly scooted over to the other side.

Because of my keen senses. Geez. You
can't see ANYTHING.
Tell me something.
How do you even manage to drive over
here without being killed and devored?

I guess that's because nothing is hunting me.

Oh sure, just lord over me with
the "top of the food chain" thing.

Nothing is hunting YOU either.

That's because I'm ever vigilant.

That's because there's nothing out there.

Ever.

Think about it. When did you ever see anything
out there bigger than a rabbit?

Thinking is what produces all those
carcasses on the side of the highway.

I guess that's ONE way to look at it.

Anyway, together we eventually got over it and
moved on to some basics.

I have no idea why you have
this obsession with straight lines.

It's supposed to be about focus.
That was what I was reading on all the blogs this week.

Blogs. Yesh. I tell you,
we'll get there.
No problem.

I know we will. But sometimes
I think we should be more efficient.

Face it.
We're not
like them.
We like wandering.

Unless it's windy.

Well, duh.

Well so much for that idea

Well, I was going to take pictures of saddles on Cibolo, but when I got to the stables, my horse was out in this.

Eww.



I tucked him into a run, but he was a muddy mess.

Everyone else was out in it - the weather had cleared and the BO let them all out to stretch their legs. They weren't doing much stretching, though. They all stood there in one spot, looking miserable.



We worked on a little targeting, but that was about it.



Lily disapproves of my cursing of the weather.



Bleah. I'll be glad when this wet winter is over.

Backhoes and Clinics

What is it about cold weather that just shuts me down?

As some may have noticed, every time I comment on a fellow blogger who is in the midst of snow or freezing temperatures I post (rather unimaginatively) that I can't even imagine living in a place that cold.

This is not completely true. I lived in Chicago for two years and was forever cured of my need to live in a place where snow and freezing temperatures are a three, four, or even five month affair.

So, I confess, I can imagine it, I remember the night in my metallic green Datsun pick up when I couldn't feel my toes, and wondered if this was God's way of telling me to move my little desert rat butt back home.

I could take a hint.

It's been cold, to me anyway, and I've barely made it over to see Cibolo and Lily. Saturday Cibolo and I did some brief carrot work, then decided to visit the big noisy thing which had finally stopped moving around. The noisy thing was working on a Sisyphus level effort to remove the mud from one of the paddocks.

This big noisy thing is our big noisy thing (we have a concrete construction company - just a little one), so my hubby was driving it back down the road at the barn to park it. Cibolo and I followed it, since it had been quite concerning to all the horses.

Then we went all around it.




And, after a while, through it.



Not nearly as scary when it's quiet.




I dropped by the barn tonight, just for cookie distribution. It's going to get into the teens tomorrow which is my definition of uninhabitable. I'm planning on wearing 17 layers of clothes and a hat.

And I drive from garage to garage. I'm such a wimp.

The horses are in the barn - Lily in her stall, Cibolo with an in and out option. He, of course, is in and out. Hopefully he'll have enough sense to come in out of the sleet.


I resisted the urge to fulfill my horse need by shopping (which my budget will not tolerate) and instead wrote out my check to hold a place at this clinic in April with Kathleen Lindley.

Here's a little about Kathleen:

Once the decision was made to improve her horsemanship, she found author and clinician Mark Rashid, with whom she spent the next 10 years studying horsemanship, the last two years as his full-time assistant. During her time with Mark, Kathleen wrote her first book, “In the Company of Horses” and with Mark co-authored “A Life With Horses”.

Since I'll be attending a Mark Rashid clinic in the Summer (Carmon - is there a date yet?), I think this will be a great precursor. I hope to see some friends there, at least auditing if not riding (Mindy? Rudy? how about it?). I considered auditing, but I know if I do that, I won't even go. Escaping my family requires much more of a commitment, and there's no way I'd get away to just 'watch.' I'd end up at the zoo, at a birthday party, running errands...

I've never attended a multi-day clinic. I have been to one despooking clinic, have a handful of lessons under my belt. Now I feel like I'm diving into the deep end. But I know I can swim.

I'm really looking forward to it - excited, nervous, but glad to be taking this step.

Now if it would just warm the heck up.

Cold, warm and wonderful

It was ridiculously cold today.

Ridiculously cold for this part of Texas. Because we don't do 21 degrees. Period.

And it was, of course, my day to feed at the barn. Because this is precisely how my life is going. I feed one day a week. So of course it's going to be colder than a well digger's ... you know.

Here's Cibolo demonstrating how cold it is by standing outside, surrounded by frost.





Apparently he... ahem... enjoys cold weather. I thought those things shrunk in the cold.


Personally, we don't really have the clothes for this kind of weather. After all, this doesn't happen but for a few days in January. Maybe. Most years it's too warm for us to even light a fire in the fireplace.

So I was freezing. All my warm socks and gloves have long since disappeared (I lived in Chicago for two years and did eventually learn to dress for the cold - but that was about 20 years ago). I decided the mucking of the stalls could wait since I was losing feeling in my extremities.

Only a few of our horses were blanketed at the barn, most were being kept in, out of the weather. This is big Cloud, he's a sweet MFT.




After I finished feeding, I was stunned to find all the water troughs frozen over. After breaking through the ice on all of them, I hightailed it for the warmth of my car. Needless to say, I didn't ride. I haven't for a week! Darn work.


Onto the warm stuff...

We had our annual tree decorating party. We always invite a few people over to put the ornaments on the tree. Everyone gets in the spirit.




Roxie was shocked at the size of the tree this year.




I got a new camera. I'm not so good with it yet.




But the tree, that was easy...




Next week - Shopping!