why we can't have nice stuff

Try as I might to poke and prod all the photographers who attended the cross derby at Loch Moy two weekends ago, no action shots of Charlie have emerged. Sadness. I had hoped that maybe someone would have caught a lucky shot during the warm up schooling break, but alas.

our only pro photo from the derby at loch moy, when charlie and i camped out next to the photogs while waiting for brita's run. charlie immediately ingratiated himself to the photographer,  who had cookies lol. photo credit Samantha Haynie

Tho one photographer very generously supplied the above picture - a super close up bc charlie was actively mugging her for cookies. At least he managed to pull on a majestic look-of-eagles expression for this one moment tho haha.

My inner media junkie is still sad tho. I guess it just means that next time we better be ready to do our timed round instead of just the schooling!

back at home, it's mud season. blech.

Things at home continue to just chug on along tho. The ground conditions have been absolutely bi-polar. Swinging wildly between very muddy, slick conditions, to freezing even when it doesn't actually feel that cold out. Plus a fair bit of rain, just to keep us on our toes.

charlie. buddy. i leave you without your sheet for one day, and THIS is how you repay me??

Blanketing Charlie through the season hadn't actually been that challenging, up until now. This barn is different than literally any barn I've ever worked at or boarded at before, in that blanketing is simply not a service offered. There's a very small add-on fee for checking blanket straps at turn in and turn out, but staff doesn't change blankets as a rule.

(Tho I've seen some staffers who will make the executive choice to pop on a sheet or blanket when the weather is doing extreme yo yo stuff, so it's not like they're totally heartless -- it's just simply not a service included in board.)

sigh...... sometimes i really miss our vacuum cleaner from the last barn.

This legitimately had me freaked out going into winter. Every other place I've been, staff members checked forecasts and changed blankets at breakfast and dinner as needed. At Isabel's barn, I *was* one of those staffers changing blankets constantly. Charlie, being the delicate hot house flower that he is, certainly appreciated his regular changes at the last h/j place.

He doesn't grow much of a coat, after all, and is kinda a pansy about nasty weather (particularly wet or very windy conditions). Plus the last thing I wanted was to see him drop any of that hard gained weight over the winter!

at least he still has a sock?

Luckily, one of the staffers in a different barn on property (there are three barns that operate under slightly different mgmt) set up her own little side business. For a small monthly fee, she will change and adjust blankets as needed on week day mornings.

I quite happily paid her up front for the whole season, tho I've also been happily surprised in not actually needing her help as often as I expected. (Obvi it's very reassuring to know she IS there to help when I need it!). Mostly I've been able to keep Charlie blanketed to my preferences when I'm there on week nights and weekends.

random aside, i had major rig envy the other day while strolling through my baltimore city neighborhood only to stumble across this police rig. which, obvi, naturally i went stalking around trying to find the horses themselves. only spotted them from a few blocks away, going the opposite direction. oh well!

Lately tho it's been a little more of a challenge. We're in that strange period of time when it's still dipping below freezing often, and days can be cold. But then we have the occasional rainy day where temperatures soar up to the 50s.

Since Charlie only has two blankets (a light and a medium, which I layer together in very cold temps to make a heavy), it's becoming challenging to play musical chairs with them, esp in the rain. Nothing dries very fast in this weather either. Idk. Tricky tricky. Probably Charlie just needs another set of clothes to help with the constant rotation of late. Maybe.

and bc it's been too long since i've fulfilled the internet-mandated cat quota, here are two of them. trying to act innocent. not being innocent.

I guess these are the little aspects of horse ownership, esp with boarding somewhat far from home, that are harder to anticipate. In my ideal world, I'd board at a farm with more services included in the board.

But.... I had that at my last place (and it was closer to home) and still ultimately came to the conclusion that this new farm was the place for us. Mostly bc of the wonderful facilities that naturally are less accessible during the winter months. Like the cross country course! So we stay put haha.

yea. not innocent at all. via GIPHY

It helps that Charlie legitimately seems happier at this farm. I might grumble about the challenges posed by having to change my own blankets (grumble grumble lol), but Charlie hardly seems to notice. Actually, his whole personality at the new place is more relaxed and friendly.

Remember when I wrote about him going after and biting a staffer at the last place? And I'm not sure I mentioned it, but when they blanketed him they had to do so on cross ties bc.... he could be a nasty sonuvabitch.

Naturally I warned all the staff at the new place to watch their backs. And literally all of them have, at some point, come back to tell me they can't understand why on earth I was worried. That he's so easy and friendly and laid back. Even the lady who helps with his blankets (who I encouraged to tie him up while doing so) told me he's a perfect gentleman. Go figure.

"don't look at me, it wasn't my idea to bring that one home!"

But I'm never gonna argue with a happy horse. And Charlie is currently a happy horse. So we stay put. And I'm meanwhile fantasizing about days when blanketing is less of a concern. And when the ground conditions improve beyond either constant mud or constant dastardly frozen peaks.

Because we want to go out and do stuffffff!!!

and bc not a lot else is going on this time of year, why not make overly ambitious plans for the future??

To help feed the beast of impatience, my riding buddies and I all sat down last week with a printed out version of my list of potential 2018 events to see what strikes our fancy. That list isn't even fully up to date yet - there are still a couple venues that haven't published their starter trial schedules yet.

But there is a LOT on the list that looks exciting to us! And actually, after discussing it, I'm not so sure after all that Charlie and I will play around with anything recognized this year. There are just so many fun and excellent unrecognized options (which, naturally, are at least half the cost) that it doesn't really make sense considering we're not working on qualifications for anything.

sticking to last year's planning framework, we just looked about six months ahead, with the expectation to regroup in july/august

All the same tho, we took a good long look at vacation schedules and what kind of intensity we think is sustainable for a competition schedule. Only really looking out for the next six months with the idea that there's usually a midsummer lull in July and August (lots of recognized stuff those months but not many starter trials).

I highlighted days on the calendar above that correspond to events that are denoted with a "*" on my events page. We identified potential volunteer opportunities too - knowing I want to volunteer in 7 of 12 months, per my goals. It's kinda an ambitious schedule looking at it like this. But naturally it's all very flexible and will depend entirely on how the horses are feeling.

It's exciting tho. Lots to look forward to. If the mud ever goes away, haha. And if we survive this interim period of not knowing from one moment to the next how to get my darn horse blanketed appropriately for the weather..... We'll see how it goes lol.