balancing the days

Yesterday was one of those wonderful days when everything seemed to fall into the perfect balance: I started the morning editing, spent several hours in the barn feeding and setting up horses for the day, came in to do some chores in the house, took a shower and got on my riding clothes, did more editing, and a few more chores, and then mid-afternoon went out to ride the Big Bay and do groundwork with Cody. I wasn't rushed, and got back inside just in time to go to the grocery store with my husband.

Some days this combination just doesn't happen, or if it does, it feels like I have pushed hard to get all the things I want to do into one day.

I realized as it was happening yesterday morning that part of the charm was my being centered. Now, I normally do feel fairly centered, but there is definitely a level of centeredness that goes beyond that, and that's where I was yesterday. Everything flowed.

The peak of my day was getting ready to ride. It was quiet in the barn, the fans were going and the horses were rested and happy. I switched out reins on Keil's bridle, cleaned the new set, reviewed some notes on the outside rein, and then tacked him up in his stall. I haven't done that in a long time - but Salina and the donkeys were in and out of the barn aisle, so I didn't want to spend time moving them. I assembled everything on his stall door and then Salina hung her head over the saddle and watched, which made me wonder if she misses being ridden. She eagerly smelled the white dressage pad when I offered it to her, but turned when I started to place it on her back, so we agreed that perhaps reminiscing about riding is plenty. While tacking up the Big Bay I talked to Salina about my wish that I'd known her when she was younger, and that she would have taught me so many good things about being a quiet, balanced rider. Even the past few years she taught me a lot about that, but I would dearly love to have ridden her when she had her healthy knees and full power.

By the time I got to the arena, the donkeys were out at the gate watching. Keil Bay and I spent about 10 minutes at the mounting block, back to the work of taking one step at a time, making sure that one step was solid before I moved on. I tried to take out any moments of hesitation on my part. And of course it worked perfectly, and he stood like his old soldier self when I finally did the complete process and mounted.

We had an easy ride, as I wanted to focus more on the outside rein than anything else, and we enjoyed walking and some trotting.

After the ride I sponged Keil in his stall and left him eating his hay. Cody and I did some free longing and then I decided to put him on the line. We worked mostly on getting a nice rhythm at the trot instead of rushing, and ended with some cool down work on the lead line. My daughter continued that in the barn yard and did some trailer loading practice, and we ended the "work" loading Redford. (effortless job, since he saw the trailer doors open, came out, and hopped right in!) I am thinking that Redford might end up being the traveling companion for the geldings, as Rafer is much more happy staying with Salina, and Redford seems eager to hang with the "big boys" in the field. He most definitely seems interested in travel.

I woke up this morning with the instant happy feeling: today can be just like yesterday. There is nothing on the schedule to chop up the day. And now, sitting here, I am hoping it unfolds in just the same balanced manner.