Monday, December 23, 2019

merry almost christmas!

Well the holidays are officially upon us around these parts, and idk about you but I'm 100% looking forward to a little time off!

time off to include: riding in the day time!! 
And as you may or may not have noticed, we're already full blown into the holiday spirit haha. Bolstered in large part by Hillary from Equestrian at Hart's secret santa gift! I'm a little late in posting this, but we've been fully enjoying the gifts (esp those treats, Charlie is pretty sure they're made of pure crack cocaine LOL).

thank you Hillary for your lovely gift!
Thanks so much, and thank you Tracy from Printable Pony for hosting and coordinating every year!!

my parents bake charlie special horse muffins for every special occasion now <3 
Charlie's actually been getting a few gifts already this season, including some homemade muffins from my parents.

these muffins are beyond belief, so sweet and made with love!
Before his (second) retirement, my stepfather spent his (second) career as a muffin maker extraordinaire and is an extremely talented baker. These days he's been plying his craft by developing a horse-specific muffin recipe. And honestly it's pretty amazing haha <3

charlie obvi approves
I'm sure Charlie would be equally pleased with something a bit simpler, but damn he does love these things! Such a nice treat, right?

our ground is alternating between mucky wet or frozen solid.... but hey, daylight helps!
Anyway, tho, we're finally getting into winter proper too. Winter officially began this past Saturday, with the days starting to lengthen again. Talk about a double-edged sword, tho, haha.

I'm already so sick of all the nighttime riding, but we're only just now starting to brace for actual winter temperatures. Combined with fully frozen ground, le sigh.

it really is a pretty time of year to be out there tho
Up to this point, we've been able to ride basically wherever there's light, which includes both outdoor arenas. Now tho, the rings are starting to freeze, esp the jump ring that's just plain pale sand. At least the dressage ring has darker footing and as such stays a bit warmer longer.

if this is all we get for now, it's good enough !
Even that has been freezing a lot lately. Meanwhile, the indoor footing just got redone and is a bit too deep for my tastes at present, so we've been avoiding it completely other than the occasional walk-only ride.

Meaning, our nighttime rides have been pretty boring with no good place to do any real work. And early weekday morning lessons are on hiatus bc.... there's no ground to do anything with, sigh.

these migratory birds that pass through our farm are amazing

At least in the daytime we can hack out -- which obvi we've been doing a lot of lately! Even that is just walking too, for the most part, with the ground either too sloppy or too hard for anything more.

But it's still so much nicer than endless circles inside four walls haha.

lots and lots and LOTS of wanderings for now haha
I'm taking the week between Christmas and New Years off from work tho, AND the weather is actually looking pretty good!! So maybe we'll be able to ride outside in the daylight AND maybe at speeds faster than a walk haha. Fingers crossed ;)

merry christmas, inside and out!
Which is obviously really exciting haha. I don't have too many family events left for the season, either, and they're all local anyway. So most of that time off can be used for literally whatever I want, yessss!

For now tho, I'm just looking forward to tying up loose ends at work and then settling into a nice long staycation !! :D  Anybody else taking time off for the holidays? Do you have to travel or can you stay home and relax a bit? Hoping you all get to have a wonderful season with friends, family, and ponies <3



22 comments:

  1. I gave myself Tues and Wed this week and Wed next week off, but it is full of family stuff. I still plan to sneak in some day time rides because I too am sick of the dark. We just got pummeled with 2 inches of rain in teh last 24 hours and everything is underwater including all the trails and my arena. Womp. Will need to get creative if it doesn't dry up.

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    1. oh man, all that rain is such a bummer tho haha -- we had like two weeks straight of rain too, ugh, but then the winds came and blew everything dry again just in time to freeze. can't win in wintertime i guess! here's hoping things dry up a bit for you soon tho!!

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  2. Happy Holidays! This time of year is tough for riding. We've been confined to the four walls for awhile now, but since I haven't had an indoor in 12 years, I'm embracing it. Mostly. Haha.
    I love that your stepdad makes those treats for Charlie! You can tell they're made with extra love. So sweet!
    I'm off starting tomorrow until January 6th! A trip to Florida in there, and then some days at home off too. So should be lovely!
    Happy Holidays!

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    1. oooh sounds like a great holiday plan! kinda wish i was going to florida LOL... and yea honestly i generally embrace the indoor too and am so happy to have it. ours is very small (20x40m, the size of a small dressage ring) but workable. except right now the footing is WAYYYY too deep. the small space is already hard enough for behmoth charlie.... but now with the deep footing it's basically impossible for him to do anything in there, sigh. here's hoping they fix it tho!

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  3. Happy holidays to you and Charlie! How awesome that your step-dad makes those treats for Charlie? Super cute and I bet they are tasty. :-)

    I'm not taking time off around the holidays this year, since I used a lot of PTO for Hawaii and Florida... We get the 25th, 26th and 1st off and we will likely be sent home early the 24th, 27th and 31st, so it isn't too bad to be in the office. I don't mind getting closer parking spots and having some quiet to get caught up on things. :-) Including planning out some 2020 plans!

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    1. definitely not a bad time to be in the office - the way the holidays fall this year is actually kinda good for exactly that, it seems haha. hope you enjoy it and get some quiet!

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  4. yay for almost Christmas! We all do need a little time off! I'm staying here and happy to not be traveling. It can be a time of year that maxes you out emotionally, and I look forward to recharging!

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    1. agreed completely on looking forward to recharging. so much stuff around the house has kinda been sitting around waiting for some dedicated time (like deep cleaning everything LOL), so hopefully now's the time for it! hope you have a great holiday too ;)

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  5. So sweet of him to make special Charlie treats! <3 Merry Christmas!

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  6. I'm not taking time off but with my work schedule I am only working 1.5 days this week so it feels like a vacation anyway.

    I hear you on the frozen ground. really wish I had walls. :)

    Merry Christmas!

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    1. yea the scheduling really worked out this year for making a nice light work schedule even for folks not taking PTO! and yea.... the frozen ground is such a bummer. it's not as permanent for us this time of year as it is for you, tho, but still a bummer

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  7. I finally have some time off and had great plans for the week -and then I got the flu. So my plans now include watching Netflix and not talking.

    Have a merry Christmas!

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    1. aww feel better soon!! and merry christmas to you too ;)

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  8. Oh man, those muffins look good! Spoiled Charlie :)
    I get off work too late to do anything besides ride in the outdoor arena, which thankfully has lights, but I'm soooo tired of arena riding. Thank goodness for the days getting longer, but I hope it doesn't freeze for too long up there!

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    1. charles is SO spoiled rotten haha, and he/i both love it. and yea, oh man, the longer days are so so so welcome right now. here's hoping for at least enough mild weather to keep things interesting!

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  9. Love those secret Santa gifts!! That card is too perfect.
    Merry Christmas to you and Charlie!!

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  10. I am off till after new years BUT worked 2 hours this am because i am an idiot :) HA HA HA

    Merry xmas to you and Charlie.

    Glad you got your secret santa gift.. havent gottenmine. so sad....I hate when things dont happen after I kill myself to get mine out. UGH bah humbug

    Hope you get to enjoy your time off!

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  11. Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year!!

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  12. That is really neat about your stepdad! Glad Charlie enjoyed his tasty muffins and I hope you and yours had a lovely holiday!

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  13. Hey girl - everything ok over there? I think this is the longest I haven't seen you post in quite a while. :-)

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