Glorious spring!

When the cherry trees bloom at the barn, they are an inspiring sight. The trees line the driveway on both sides, and all that luscious soft pink is absolutely beautiful. I've had the joy of seeing them over the course of two spring seasons. Both years, the blossoms met their end in the same way - a storm blew through and the trees quickly lost their blooms in a flurry of petals. This year I knew to spend time taking in their fleeting beauty with appreciation while I grazed Bestie along the driveway.

So funny - in the photo above, the bright pink object in the grass is an abandoned dog toy. The first time I ever saw the toy, a week or so prior to taking this photo, I was driving down the driveway and thought, "How did a hot pink bra end up here??" Just something about the way it was positioned. I know, crazy.

Celebrating a break in the winter weather by riding outdoors

On our most recent rides Bestie and I have enjoyed a loop or two around the paddocks. On the first ride about a week ago, the indoor was in use, and although it would've been ok to go in and share the space, it seemed like a better idea to stay outside. After our early January frigid temperatures, mid-month the temperatures had warmed up and felt positively balmy. So refreshing to shed a few layers and take a deep breath without freezing your lungs.

Yesterday's ride was a replay of that earlier ride, except I decided right from the beginning to stay outside. We did two loops around the paddocks, which takes about 20 minutes - sometimes longer if she's in a moseying mood. Yesterday we did one loop pretty quickly and the second loop at a moseying pace. Again, it was in the 40s, warm enough but with a bit of a brisk breeze. The air felt fresh.

Heading out on this route outside is such good exercise for Bestie because on each loop we encounter two uphills and two downhills. I can always feel her working on the uphill portions. Although it's hard to tell from the photo above, the little hills are just steep enough to give her more of a challenge than walking or trotting around in the indoor. And she seems happier, taking in the scenery. Maybe she feels like me - I always feel a bit stir crazy at this time of year - too much time on the treadmill indoors leaves me craving fresh air.

What better way to end the day than coming back to a plushly bedded stall and a waiting mound of hay?

Bye bye 2017

This past weekend I went through my 2017 calendar in order to transfer any nuggets that needed to be inserted in the new calendar. I came across a few entries like the two above. For a while I had done a quick synopsis of my rides in the pages of the calendar - maybe for about three weeks. Reading these cracked me up. Such an illustration of the ups and downs of riding. (And that word, "mowed." That little word represents at least an hour, maybe more, of mowing on that day - as part of a weekly or biweekly total of hours and hours of mowing to get all 10 acres at the house taken care of. But I digress.)

Lessons learned in 2017 (some relearned)

You can worry all you want when moving a horse, but if all the ponies look happy at your destination and your gut tells you the people seem like good people, everything will be all right.

Winter ends earlier in Virginia than Vermont. Bestie moved in at Joe London Training Center on February 9, and wore a blanket a few days that week, and then winter was done.

Winter can appear with a vengeance in Virginia, just like Vermont. Witness the current stretch of temperatures from the low 20s into the single digits that started after Christmas 2017.

Winter will appear with a vengeance when you have decided not to blanket your horse. In consultation with the barn folk, I had decided to try not blanketing Bestie. It's a bit of a challenge because the barn gets closed up at night, and the horses warm it up. The few days last winter she had a blanket on, she got sweaty. She has grown an appropriately fuzzy coat, and I am monitoring her during this cold snap.

Clover (actually a fungus on it) will make horses drool. A lot. This was a problem early in the summer when the clover first bloomed, but it became a veritable Ripley's Believe It or Not amount of drool late in the summer. It seemed that Bestie found every single patch of clover left in the field - she was the chief drooler in her gang of mares. Worries about dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. Me holding her Himalayan salt brick for her to lick, because if it was left in feed bucket she'd go to town and stock up from the salt. Just a little Horse Mom-ing.

No matter what is going on around them, horses will find something "not to like." See the first entry above about the bathroom construction. A few days later, we had a nice ride and the same exact activity was going on in the construction area. Until she became irritated by sharing the arena with the much speedier Walkers.

The ride following a non-relaxing ride will usually be a good one. Usually.

When a mare has been inside for a day due to extra cold temperatures and is a little irritated by that arrangement, do not walk her down the paddock lane between the two fields of geldings. If I read the situation right, there were some "hey baby" messages followed by a lot of "get the f--- away from me" responses, and my hand muscles clenching the lead rope paid the price.

When your farrier tells you that something feels tight on your horse, listen. In this case, it was Bestie's left hind, and a couple rounds of massage and Reiki fixed her right up.

When it's super cold and you fill your horse's bucket with lukewarm water and they drink it right up, then blow happily and return to their hay, you'll feel good too.

When you're riding in the outdoor ring and your horse goes bananas, don't doubt there's something there. Yep, to her eyes - mountain lions. To my eyes - minutes later - two barely visible horses tucked into the shrubbery. We went in the indoor and had a nice ride in there.

Love you, Bestie Best. Looking forward to what 2018 brings.