Back In The Saddle

We are finally approaching spring, and I have found it difficult to get back in the habit of journaling, or blogging, online on a regular basis. I fell out of it as I stopped riding this winter. Having found it easier to get my butt back into the saddle than my fingers to the keypad, doesn’t mean that I have been sitting on my hands either. There has been a lot happening this year already, and I only continue to grow with excitement at the thought of the coming summer.

My ponies are starting to stretch their legs and shed the winter weather (and coats), although slower with the hair than the temperature. As many already know, this time of the year brings horses quickly to sweat and slow to wake up from their noon-time slumber. Some of my young ones have given me a constant errand of checking, rechecking and checking again the fence lines as they continued to escape from their paddock this last week. To my dismay, I couldn’t quite get the electric fence working enough to deter them from laying down next to the fence, rolling into it and then deciding there was enough clearance to run under the still in-tact fence lines. One afternoon I found I had to tether two of my escapees in the arena just to keep them out of trouble (and the neighbor’s yard) while I had to give a massage at the Spa I work at. That was enough to keep my palomino mare, Ceylon, safely in the paddock the following morning, but Truman was not yet convinced.

A call from my neighbor complaining that he’d spotted the partners in crime in his yard several times was enough threat that I decided to put Truman in for the evening until I could give more thorough attention to the electric fence issue. Only one small (or not so small) problem arose with this plan however.. Truman is not afraid (or incapable) of jumping over the stall walls to escape back to his buddies. Funny, he’ll jump over a stall wall to be back with his friends but doesn’t bat a curly eyelash to escape the paddock and roam the neighborhood friend-free. So, I had to resort to solitary confinement.. not as serious as it may sound, rather it refers to any horse having to be stabled in the Mare Barn. Our old foaling shed, it has two stalls with a larger wall dividing the two, doors on the front and back and an attached paddock of it’s own. The nice thing about the Mare Barn is that you can close up all doors and shut off any access of escape, thereby dissuading any escape attempts. He settled in for the night and survived to the morning. I fixed the fence come sunrise, only to then have O Man roll into it taking down to bottom lines and having to fix it yet again. Thus far, no escapees! Knock on wood.

Otherwise things have been progressing around here. I’ve had some time off from working at the Spa after developing a bad enough case of tendonitis in both of my arms, and have been spending that time riding and lunging horses. I’ve also been traveling around the Midwest a bit on a search for a horse with my student Lisa. She has been looking for her first horse, and found him today actually. She is now the proud mom of a handsome Paint gelding named Sonny. I couldn’t be more happy for her with him as her first horse.

On the business front, I’m getting things organized here for some website updates. I had a temporary set back with my computer crashing and I’m still working on getting my software installed on my computer, so things are slow as I hand-code all the updates on each page. My book is coming along, though slowly the last two weeks. Actually to be more accurate it has been sitting on the back burner while I’ve been preoccupied with riding my horses. I’ll be housesitting up near La Crosse this week and weekend though, and plan to immerse myself completely to writing, writing, writing.

I have a new student, Julie, who I am really enjoying instructing. I’m considering dates for organizing some short clinics and seminars locally. Besides all of the business I’m really working hard to find time to get to some trail riding, get back to painting and drawing, and otherwise staying creatively inspired.

I hope everyone else is enjoy the spring!