Saturday, June 27, 2020

ponies, ponies + more ponies

Happy weekend, everyone! It's gonna be a sweltering hot day here in Maryland... BUT!! If everything goes to plan, we'll be heading out for our first post-quarantine horsey adventure!! Yay!!

Things in Maryland are slowly opening back up again. Like the Waredaca Brewery, that held an outdoors-only Charity Night in support of City Ranch last Thursday!!

Personally, tho, I admit to feeling faaaaairly pessimistic about whether we'll be able to keep it up. All the numbers in Maryland look pretty good right now after we were completely shut down for two full months. We've also been required to wear masks in places of business for just as long. 

And ya know, it's worked for us here. We've slowed the spread and new cases are down. 

Other states have taken different approaches and are experiencing very different (and alarming) trends, tho. And being totally honest here, I feel very little confidence that uncontrolled outbreaks won't spread again.

Which.... the prospect of potentially losing access to my horse AGAIN is.... really disheartening. We'll see what happens tho, I guess. 


In the meantime... I'm just focusing on making good choices and enjoying each moment with my horse at the farm. 

Which... Thankfully has been helped in large part by having NEW BEBE SHETLANDS at the farm OMG!!!!!


These ponies are so frickin cute and friendly and playful, omg, and Charlie and I just love walking past their pen before and after all our rides <3 <3 <3 

So obviously I had to catch a couple cute videos of them - including this second video where the little brown Hop A Long came over to try to touch noses with Charlie omg! 

Despite all the craziness and uncertainty happening elsewhere in the world, being able to come visit all these sweet animals is really the absolute best. Like the two little Shetland stallions (like new daddy TT, the black stallion!) who live in a pen right next to where I park. 

Getting out of my car after the ~40min drive to be immediately greeted by those noses is basically amazing haha. 

As is, obviously, new barn cat Mikey. This cat has settled in to barn life so freakin well. He's friendly, sociable, actually hunts mice, and basically immediately decided that the barn was indeed his home. And boy, does he own the place lol. Literally every time I see him, he's lounging around in some other new little nook or cranny lol. 


There are more than just domestic animals at the farm, too. It's entirely possible that I'm imagining things, but it really seems like there's been a distinct uptick in wild animal activity since quarantine. 

We've seen everything from birds, groundhogs, deer, and foxes omg allllll over the place. And gosh I just love them -- esp this little fox above who I guess has an evening commute that cuts through the jump ring, since I've encountered her a couple times during my rides lately lol. And she is bold omg

So ya know. Things around the farm are good haha. Charlie is good. We're having a good time right now. And who knows, maybe I'll be proved wrong in my pessimism about the fall lol.

But that pessimism has to be good for something, right?? So. As a little hint, here's a look at some recent crafting efforts that may or may not be related to today's planned outing. Yesssssssss.

Any guesses what we might be up to?? Virtual cookies to anyone / everyone who figures it out lol.

So yea. Here's hoping for a fun socially distant summery weekend of horsing. Are you getting into anything in particular? Any fun plans? Or maybe it's gonna be a quiet weekend for enjoying some down time?

Am I the only one feeling increasingly anxious about the prospects for another shutdown? Or maybe you're not even thinking that far ahead haha?





21 comments:

  1. Is it that cross country ride where you all dress up? Awesome. We’ve had no new cases for a few weeks and no active cases for a week. So we’re starting to open up. We just announced a ‘maritime bubble’ which means you can travel between the 4 provinces without isolating. I know tat, as we open, we’ll get more cases but hopefully not a huge surge. The numbers from your country are horrifying.

    But those ponies, OMG. 😍😍

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    1. Yes - it was a hunter pace :D

      And yea the case numbers are unsettling, but even more so are the infection and hospitalization rates. I’m so worried bc it seems like people don’t want to take action unless they see actual death, but the individuals dying today became sick three weeks ago and we won’t see the death rate impact from today’s surge for another three weeks...

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  2. "Other states have taken different approaches and are experiencing very different (and alarming) trends" you can say Florida. It's okay. We know it's bad. And don't even get me started on the wild life. The "nature is healing" memes are hilarious, but animals have really started to move back into so many spaces. Two trees on my street have suddenly become home to a large (and loud) flock of parrots.

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    1. I mean, you can say Texas too.

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    2. Lololol what would we do without good ol Florida man and Texas??

      And yes the “nature is healing” memes have been ahhhmazing. True story - I almost straight up ran over a baby fawn yesterday while out galloping Charlie thru a field where it was sleeping in the tall grass.... whoops!!

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  3. The hubs and I had planned to go to Kentucky for our 10th anniversary in October. We're already thinking it probably won't happen. The number of people I saw today not wearing masks or not wearing them properly was appalling.

    Enjoy your horsey adventures while you can!!!

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    1. Yea.... honestly I’m not at all comfortable with any sort of formal plans for fall either. Luckily in the city masks are nearly universal but I’m not so sure about anywhere else....

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  4. Yeah things are not heading in an ideal direction down here, but I have a hard time imagining this state actually closing things down again... people are angry enough about having to wear a mask.

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    1. Yea :( I honestly hope it doesn’t get any worse, but I’m also not optimistic. I also have a hard time understanding the anger about masks. It’s such a small thing to do....

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  5. Enjoy the adventures!

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    1. Mission accomplished - adventures enjoyed ;)

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  6. I hope you had a wonderful time out and about! My weekend remains stuck at home rehabbing, but there are worse things.

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    1. ugh yea.... we didn't have to rehab, but we were stuck at home for actual months too. it's so hard :(

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  7. I actually had a weekend horse adventure, two days of dressage clinic with DLB, horse was sound (if booted) enough to attend, truck ran well. Except for a slight bobble on day 1 (In a sudden gust of wind, the shade-awning thing jumped over the fence to flop about in the ring with its legs in the air -- Bird objected to working under such trying conditions but I got him stopped and hopped off, so it wasn't a wreck for real and I can't really blame him for being horrified. I was horrified, too.), it went well and I have stuff to work on until our next visit with DLB. The event was entirely outdoors and we tried to stay socially distant as much as we were able... but yeah, cases are going up in my state, too, and I'm not super-hopeful that this will end well.

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    1. yay i'm so glad you were able to get out and have a good time!! bc yea dear lord, i don't have a single idea what's going to happen next but the picture feels a little dark :(

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  8. What a fun Charity event! Bars are getting closed down in California again, can't say I didn't see that one coming lol

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    1. it was super fun!! tho actually, yea, bars have remained closed here, and indoor seating has only just started to become available with reduced capacity. personally tho i have very little inclination to do anything indoors at this particular moment in time :(

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  9. Right now I think our state is doing fairly well, with some counties being the exception. However, I share your pessimism about the future. I work on a college campus and the students are coming back this fall for in person classes. No matter what precautions are taken, I think the surge of college aged students along with colder temps (more people indoors) will cause another shutdown.

    Get out and enjoy your time while you can! (Within reason)

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    1. oh man, yea that's so hard. there just really is not an easy answer when it comes to colleges and schools and whatnot, is there :( definitely agreed tho about enjoying the time we have now bc yea... doesn't seem like we should take the future for granted at this point ugh. stay safe as the students come back!

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  10. Things in CT are actually going okay, but I'm so afraid once things open more that will change. Right now most places are open, even indoor restaurants, but it's very limited capacity. And still no bars. I think we're supposed to move toward the next phase in another couple weeks. Hoping really hard they don't make me go back to the office. Seems unsafe.
    Anyway, glad you got to have a fun adventure! Can't wait to read about it!

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    1. Oh! Also, those baby shetlands are adorable and I don't know how you don't steal one.

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