senior brigade to the rescue!

I know for a fact that I'm not alone in struggling when my routine gets turned upside down. As of this writing, it's estimated that roughly 98% of the US population is experiencing some degree of shut down, quarantine, social distancing, or other disruption to day to day life.

That's..... Enormous. Honestly mind boggling. But this massive shift in population dynamics and behaviors seems to be working, so major ass pats for all who are sacrificing!! Keep it up!!

Freebee, the absolute legend himself!

My sacrifice is honestly small, in the grand scheme of things. I already worked from home. I already led a somewhat austere life haha.... Honestly the biggest luxury in my day to day is my horse. Which. Ya know. Is indeed quite the luxury haha <3

tried to get a pic of him looking vicious, but he put his teeth away when he saw the camera lol

Guidance on horse keeping during this time has been uneven, unclear, and at times straight up nonsensical. Which means that basically every barn in Maryland is operating under its own set of circumstances as decreed by management.

all dressed up!! homeboy hadn't been ridden in like, more than a year haha, and was slightly amazed at this strange turn of events

I had really really really hoped that my barn would be among the many that have devised visitation policies compliant with social distancing and CDC guidelines, while still allowing owners to see their horses. Alas, that has not proven to be the case.

oh my god i'm on a horse!!!!!1!!111!!! oooh and what a horse <3 <3 <3 Freebee is just ahhhhmazing haha

I don't necessarily agree with every choice the management is making, and have concerns about whether Charlie's needs are being met according to my personal standards.... Not everybody defines "essential" in exactly the same way, ya know?

how cute is this tidy little maryland farm?? Scott is absolutely meticulous in the upkeep of this place

But I do agree with the overall intent of the lock down. Ours is a very large barn with high traffic. Add in some vulnerable and at-risk members of the community and... Yea. I follow the rules, and don't see Charlie beyond once every two weeks when I drop off supplements (a very very bright spot in the gloomy monotony these days!!).

(*Also, yes, if you were curious, I may or may not have put him back on supplements for exactly this reason of being allowed to drop them off haha...)

i swear this 24yo veteran is more sprightly and youthful than 11yo Charlie LOLOLOL

It's hard tho, ya know? I know a lot of you are dealing with that too. Which like. Ugh. Solidarity, yo. The longest I've gone without riding in recent memory was the ~6ish weeks in the fall of 2015 between when I broke my leg, and first hopped back up on Izzy (while still wearing the medical boot lol).

ya gotta love those stately thoroughbred gentlmen!!

Recovering from that amount of time out of the saddle was tough. At least this time around, pretty much most of us will be in the same boat of building back up again. But still... it's hard not to be disappointed at the prospect of going back to square one in terms of rider tone after working so hard all winter and spring to carefully build strength and stability. Womp.

ooooooh but who is this chestnut gelding?!?? why, it's another 24yo retired campaigner haha

But!! Ya know. Every now and then, we can get a lucky break. And in this instance, the universe smiled down on me in the form of a completely-out-of-the-blue phone call from a former lesson mate, Scott.

Y'all might remember Scott from the last time he rescued me from utter misery (when Charlie needed surgery, blech) -- by letting me take his legendary prelim campaigner / fox hunter extraordinaire / 3rd level dressage horse Freebee out for an epic trail ride through Fair Hill.

Red is another tall TB, tho all his height is in those massive withers -- other than that he's actually almost dainty compared to charlie

And it turns out, there's been a lot of change in Scott's barn since then. He lost his main up and coming competition horse in a somewhat shockingly tragic way, then Freebee himself went through a period of serious illness and a couple surgical treatments. Another young horse entered the picture, and another retiree too.

gotta be honest tho, i do love the view between some chestnut ears!!!

This new retiree, Red, was also a prelim campaigner in his heyday, and had since played the role of husband horse and trail companion. But had perhaps been shuffled around a little bit in recent years as his owner dealt with other impending life circumstances, and thus arrived to Scott's barn in late 2018 skinny and with some hoof crises.

if you had asked me two months ago what sort of riding i'd be doing, i probably would not have said rehabbing two senior citizens at the walk for 15-30min each.... but ya know. i will take what i can get <3

Finally, tho, order appears to have returned to this small little 3 horse barn. And Scott deemed it high time for these two elder statesmen to step back up to under saddle rehabilitative walking. And rang me up to do the honors, after deducing I'd probably leap at the chance haha <3 <3

this horse was very cool. his body has been used, and used hard.... but not used up, not yet <3 <3

Neither horse had been ridden in over a year haha. And in Red's case, had never even been inside Scott's tidy little grass ring. But ya know. These horses... These horses who have been there, done that, and seen the world... They are pretty cool customers. Honestly it felt like a privilege to even sit on them.

There's no reason for these gentle giants to come out in anything less than perfect weather or ground conditions. But even so, I'm hoping for a few more repeats as we work our way through the rest of this socially distant period. And next time I'll remember to bring my Bates saddle (which is tucked away in a closet) so Scott and I can ride at the same time haha.