ice-blerg

Perhaps my last post mocking Baltimore’s meager snowfall in the last storm, um, angered the weather gods. Because they were back with a vengeance this weekend, with blustery cold winds and enough snow to get their point across.

Fortunately, the storm was actually worse than forecast. Which might be a weird sentence to say, except that around these parts we are prone to that nasty icy wintry mix that honestly is much harder to navigate than just pure snow. So the colder-than-expected temps spared us from the most difficult conditions.

 

Which, naturally, meant Doozy was not spared from our regularly scheduled dusty laps around the indoor…

 

This horse is just such a menace in the winter. The change in turnout schedules (from overnight to daytime) means she’s quite literally penned up in her stall for a larger proportion of the day. And even when she is free to roam in turnout, the nasty ground conditions and lack of grazing mean the little herd mostly just hunkers around the round bale. 

So lucky me, I guess — our time in the ring is really her one and only outlet for all that pent up red TB mare energy. And god help us all if I feel like slacking off bc… c’mon, isn’t that literally what the off season is for????

 

And so it goes lol. I’m trying to stick with a schedule of at least 3 consecutive rides in a row, minimum. Bc real talk: Doozy’s first ride after a day off is… hard, and bad. Bad as in, “might not be able to reliably w-t-c in both directions in the indoor, esp if lesson kiddos are involved. Day 2 is probably… still hard, but maybe it’s hard and good. As in, “can do the things, even tho it’s hard.”

 

Day 3 is usually when the mare more or less reliably copes. Usually. Except for those other times lol….
(and there are ALWAYS ‘other times’)

 

“Don’t listen to her, she’s lying. Also. I miiiiiiight be about to lose my shit if those boys keep running around like goons!” — Doozy, 1,000% about to lose her shit

Pictured: two goons, going bonkers. Fun fact: not long after this, they actually broke down that gate and joined me and Doozy on our walk back out to her pasture. Much “FUN” was had by all LOL….

So ok. Maybe everybody is feeling the effects of sudden onset winter lol.

Maybe it’s just that time of year lol. 

Rumor has it that our barn’s voluntary isolation policies may be lifted this week (assuming the EHM landscape remains stable), so maybe Doozy will get a chance to remember that the wider world can be a LOT more exciting, and maybe she should appreciate the boring dusty laps haha. 

A girl can dream, right? Hope y’all are staying warm and not going too stir crazy either!