in like a lion, out like a.... deer?

One of the most under-appreciated aspects of 2020, as far as I can tell, is how basically every single person - regardless of background, interests, circumstances, whatever - had to kinda come to grips with accepting how full of fuckery life can be... And how absolutely not special most of our individual complaints actually are....

"i had a meltdown in 2020"
me too, mr snowman. me too haha

Which weirdly, to me at least, was kinda liberating. Like, "Oh your life sucks too?? Cuz I feel so bohemian like you...." 

a very covid christmas, and a picture that would have made exactly zero sense 10 yrs ago...

"We're all in this together, alone" haha. And the holidays kinda drove that home, I think. 

christmas eve and STILL ON GRASS WAT?!?

Baltimore City is under a fresh set of restrictions, but.... It's not that scary this time around. We know what's up, we know what we have to do, AND we know how this story ends now. So we carry on. 

just look at all that gras--- wait, what the fuck

Which, obvi is much easier this time around since it's just the City under new orders. My barn out in the county continues to operate under the same policies as this summer (masks in the barn; closed during feeding shifts). 

"excuse me, waiter, this is not what i ordered"

Which means Charlie and I still got in some excellent relaxing rides (between fun jumping adventures) to close out the year. 

what bird's feather? eagle or owl?? or something else???

And I gotta say -- Charlie is living his best life right now. He looks like a glossy plump Thanksgiving Day Turkey under all the various layers and liners I keep dressing him up in. Aided no doubt by the fact that his herd is still on grass. 

lol and another one, this time a doe...

I guess they did some construction in this field over the past year that meant no horses have been turned out at all on it, so the grass was basically pristine and lush and still growing through our mild fall weather. 

clearly not concerned

With recent rain and ice, tho, the grass is just about totally dead by this point, so they'll probably switch to a round bale soon enough rather than risk destroying the field for next year. Tho obvi the round bale has it's own problems ..... more churned up mud with horses packed more densely together (ie more bites etc). So it's all a balancing act I guess. 

who would be with all that GRASS THO OMG

Still tho, Charlie's never been out on pasture this late in the year at this farm, so I was moderately taken aback when I discovered two deer carcasses out there lol. They appear to have been cleaned and dumped, presumably by one of the family members who lives on the property??? 

#strollin

I'd spotted a bald eagle a few times out in the field -- something that's kinda unusual since we have a pair of nesting hawks that have lived on the farm forever. I guess the eagle was just there for the deer tho?? Idk haha.... 

It's kinda gross tbh but the horses don't seem to mind. And they're not turned out overnight plus we don't exactly have many natural 4-legged predators in the mainly residential area. So it's probably just the birds (and maybe local dogs ew) scavenging off the bones....

DIY shims doing great!

Anyway, tho, it was so so so nice to get out for so many daytime rides during my little stay-cation between x-mas and nye. Deer carcasses be damned, haha. 

footing removed from the indoor!!!

We obvi didn't go into the woods, much, tho -- considering this city slicker is absolutely ignorant about when hunting season begins and ends, but is very very averse to the idea of getting sprayed with buckshot haha. 

not goin anywhere in particular but enjoying the ride anyway <3

I'm still very much in the "Given Up" phase of our dressage work tho (sorta, kinda.... am sorta kinda doing some pseudo dressage as part of our conditioning work that I'll probably talk about later) so our rides have basically been all about finding some balance. 

hi sheep!

Meaning: get enough movement and mileage in to feel physically good -- loose fit and fierce! -- for our schooling adventures. Some light trot and canter sets. Cavaletti and ground poles. And.... Strollin. Lots and LOTS of strollin the farm haha. 

hi pony!

Seems like a pretty fitting way to close out an unexpectedly quiet year, and ring in something that'll be undoubtedly new and different -- even if in ways we can't really predict yet. 

hello fishies!

I'm not at all sure what I want from 2021 yet. Like.... Not even close haha. 

Except... One thing is clear: I don't want to get all bent out of shape about the small stuff. Or... make any crazy impulsive changes under the false impression that "this'll fix everything!" haha, if that makes sense. 

So.... We stroll. And stay ready haha. And we'll see what happens!