one week of winter

Remember when I said last week that at least we didn't have any of that nasty white stuff on the ground? Even tho it had suddenly gotten quite frigid here?

white stuff PLUS ice ice everywhere

Obvi I spoke a little too soon, alas. Bc we got ourselves a nice little storm here last week... Another lovely ice storm, this time masquerading as snow. Really tho, it was just ice. So much ice. Ugh.

snow ponies!

Honestly tho it worked out ok, timing wise. Charlie worked hard and well last week (between the jumping lesson with no media, and a dressage lesson with LOTS of media that I still haven't written about yet... sorry!), so a little downtime wasn't gonna be the end of the world.

"mm hay. no care 'bout no snow bc hay." - charlie

Plus I had some work commitments (DC and NYC) that I would have probably felt less fantastic about had the weather been actually pleasant. Really my only regret is not managing to coordinate a massage for Charlie during the downtime. Except, well... it was kinda nasty enough out that probably the massage therapist had her hands full with her own farm's work anyway.

"maybe i should wear 3 layers more often so i don't look so skinny all the time !!

So mostly Charlie's just been chillin for the past week. Had Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off. A light work out on Thursday focused mostly on moving the horse around (walking for 20+ minutes) with some purposeful trot and canter mixed in for good measure. Horse was very good.

trekking across the "icy tundra"

Then Saturday we missed our OF lesson bc of my own obligations and the nasty ground conditions, so we had a solid school in the indoor at home then a pleasant hack around the snowy grounds. At least by this point, daytime temperatures were starting to boomerang back up to more Spring-appropriate levels and the snow began melting pretty quickly!

brave into the puddles!

Sunday we got back on the "training for real" bus in a big way with another dressage lesson (twice in two weeks - a new record!) so I'll really have to get around to writing about both those rides asap haha. And this week I'm hoping to be more consistent and thoughtful about each of our rides.

Because...

the extra long / shaggy mane is to keep him extra warm. obvi.

We're officially in the count-down phase to Charlie's "eventing" debut! Sure, we're just doing the CT instead of the full event (and therefore may only be riding HC). And sure - the current weather forecast might make the name "puddle jumpers" a bit more literal than anybody intended (or wanted).

But in my mind, this is "it." It's the real deal - our first real event. And I'm pretty freakin excitednervous haha. Will Charlie be cool with side-by-side dressage courts? Or horses running xc in the distance? Will the PA system bother him? Will he be cool with actually navigating a full jump course for the first time ever? (unless we somehow manage to practice this week lol).

Who knows! But I'm looking forward to finding out! Happy Monday, y'all - hope you had a good weekend with better weather than we did!