best ride of my life

Maryland's governor announced last Wednesday that, effective the next morning, our Shelter in Place order would include "safe outdoor activities" as allowable exceptions. Even better - the order specifically noted horseback riding as one such activity.

That Friday, the Maryland Horse Council (an organization previously unknown to me that's emerged as the self-professed interpreter of state law for Maryland's horse industry) clarified that this order did in fact allow boarding facilities and lesson programs to resume operations.

Plus they released recommendations and guidelines for how to do so safely. For instance, barn owners were encouraged to schedule separate blocks of time for barn staff, visiting professional practitioners (farriers, vets, etc), boarders, etc. Social distancing remains the law of the land, and masks are required in shared spaces.

Then followed an interminable weekend while my barn worked on said schedule. Sure, plenty of interested parties (including yours truly) have offered unsolicited suggestions for weeks. And there's no shortage of other MD barns who have already figured out how to do it -- so you wouldn't think they'd have to reinvent that particular wheel.

But every place is different, I guess. And mgmt preferred to take an aggressively careful approach, so it took a few days to settle on a tentative plan..... Admittedly some of us I have been sliiiiiiightly impatient, haha. Tho yea.... obvi I don't disagree with the motivation.

home again <3

BUT!! But --- it is happening, yo. The Week 1 schedule was released yesterday morning, and I'd logged my first ride by midday haha. Bc... ya know.... technically I work a 9-5 job, but realistically I've worked from home for 4 years now. My colleagues basically only care that my work gets done and that I'm responsive. Otherwise I can spend my time as I see fit.

Which means I volunteered for daytime appointments at the barn since obviously many other boarders don't have the same flexibility. So let them have dibs on the evening slots, right?

The schedule itself is.... limited. Boarders get exactly 1hr per visit - mgmt is adamant about this. My inner #dramabrat wants to point out that it takes 15min to retrieve my animal from the farthest reaches of his pasture. And state for the record that some folks at this farm have been allowed to ride throughout the entire shutdown (acknowledged to me in actual writing by one of the managers, wtf), and that the last time I drove in to drop off supplies, there was a friggin party going on in the front field.

But. Never mind all that. Water under the bridge. Bc guys --- I got to ride my horse <3 <3 <3

wheee chasing bobcats!!!!

And OMFG guys. Charlie is fucking WILD right now haha. Hahahahaha. Holy shit, yo.

This horse is so feral and feisty, it's unreal lol. Luckily I managed to fling myself onto his back without much issue, and not fall off while he spooked and snorted at a 4-wheeler and bobcat I let pass us. Which like, I let them pass us bc I figured we'd just get out for a relaxing meander. Haha.

Yea. Instead, it actually turned out to be useful to have the machinery in front of us so Charlie couldn't just bolt off into the sunset as we made our way to the trails <3

Once in the woods... Oh man, how to describe?? It was friggin glorious. This horse is so full of beans right now, I love it. We trotted and cantered and leapt over all the little streams and logs and natural ditches. Charlie pranced (!!) around, scooting at all manner of invisible goblins, and almost straight up dropped me when a branch got stuck in his tail. And basically just felt like exactly 1 Million Dollars of Grade A Thoroughbred haha.

Plus, obviously on the last little rise headed back home, racing the clock naturally, we rolled on into one big ol' run up the hill <3 <3 <3

i had no idea at the time, but charlie's groom happened to observe the first half of our little run home <3
is this a zoomed gif of a zoomed video? yes. pixelated as all hell? yes.
#dealwithit <3 <3 <3

What a feeling, guys. A feeling I have so so desperately needed these past few weeks. Exactly 8 weeks since my last ride on Charlie, not that anybody's counting...

It was very challenging to fit my entire visit into exactly 1hr... But y'all know me. "Ruthlessly efficient" is basically my lifestyle, so we made do. And I'm on the books for 3 more such appointments this week. Hopefully after this first week they'll be open to feedback on optimizing the schedule to keep on smoothing out a safe routine for all involved. Fingers crossed.

And meanwhile, holy crap I'm just so relieved to finally see some light at the end of this particular tunnel. Obviously I don't want to celebrate too early bc... well. You all know. Nobody really knows what is going to happen and things could change really fucking fast.

But I'm hopeful. And armed with masks, gloves, sanitizer, and my own personal brand of charm that makes social distancing a breeze <3