rain, writing, not much riding

We warmed up again but are wet wet wet outside. About the time the snow melted, here came the rain, and it is a mushy, muddy mess out there. 

The horses and pony and donkeys are being good sports. It's too warm for blankets so they are rolling and creating huge grooming messes for me to clean up. 

Except the donkeys. Who wonder why any self-respecting equine would roll in WET dust.

There has been no riding yesterday or today, but thankfully there has been a LOT of writing and this morning I finished my Claire Quartet short, titled Clairette. It will sit for a bit and then go into editing mode.

Meanwhile I am closing in on the first act of claire-voyant, which is a full-length novel and the third in the Claire Quartet. 

And continuing to edit Never Not Broken.

I admit to not keeping up with the housework since Christmas, and that is on my list to get back into the daily routine. 

In other news, I was looking on Craigslist yesterday for Le Creuset cookware to add to my 31-year old set and ended up looking at miniature horses, wondering how in the heck anyone would pay $350. for a pot and lid when you could get a sweet little mini for less? And by the looks of it, get that poor mini out of a not so great situation. Sigh.

Hope to be back in the saddle soon. 

spring preview

64 degrees today - both Keil Bay and Cody had damp armpits and groins!

Daughter got a huge and nasty blister hiking in the snow in my muck boots that are too big for her so it's going to be probably a week before she can get a boot on that foot. 

Lucky me - I got to ride both Keil Bay AND Cody today. They've had a few days off so mostly I was just getting them back in the groove, but as usual, it is really educational for me to ride these two back to back.

Cody is super sensitive and responsive but is shorter, narrower through the back/barrel, and his movement is much flatter than Keil's. I mostly focused on being very very quiet with Cody and was really happy he didn't stick his nose in the air - instead he was chewing the reins from my hands, stretching down, and really relaxing with some soft snorts and nice walk.

He also handled my unusual mounting block with no problem - both mounting and dismounting. 

It looks like we have rain rolling in late tonight - ugh - but several days of warmer temps than we've been having.

I read the groundhog predicts six more weeks of winter so... I guess this really is a preview.

Took the Christmas tree down yesterday because once it gets this warm it seems odd to have those sparkly lights on!

Winter sky and snow

We got just under 2 inches. Horses and pony and donkeys were out all day today enjoying their
hay on the white stuff. Another cold night and then we start warming up again!

This evening's sunset was gorgeous. And I've gotten much writing done today. Happy to move through this and get on with the week. 

the warm before the storm

It was absolutely gorgeous today - sunshine and 62 degrees with a very nice wind blowing. Keil Bay and I had a ride, and he started out by stopping in every corner of the arena, then on the second circuit stopped between B and F and finally did what I think he was meaning to do the entire time - dropped manure. (for those wondering, yes it was quite normal, believe me, I checked!) He's never done that stopping thing before but maybe he decided that since I have become so obsessed with the mounting block being perfect he will create his own ritual!

We got on with the ride and did much more trotting today, which was nice. He was being quite alert to our surroundings and about halfway through the ride, 4 of the November Hill felines emerged from various spots along the woodline, which I think explained Keil's intense focus at times as we passed by. 

I am really enjoying the trot these days and also loving our new dismount routine. I think I wrote here previously that I am now dismounting onto the mounting block, which is a regular 2-step block that I put on top of two stacks of cinder blocks near the far corner of our arena. It puts me quite high up so that I can mount very easily without pulling on the saddle.

However, it is a little precarious - mostly steady but not completely balanced. When I dismount, Keil Bay has to get in the exact right spot and then stand like a stone so that I can take my right leg over and onto the block, then take my left foot out of the stirrup, which I do quickly so I have both feet on the top of the block.

At that point Keil Bay very kindly, in a move he made up himself, steps gently back so that I can use his neck as a "rail" to climb down to the ground. We have got this down pat at this point and as a thank you I immediately rub the sides of his face for him, then loosen the girth and run the stirrups up.

What for awhile was a sort of nightmare for me - mounting, then later dismounting - has become a very sweet routine again. Only now customized to my needs!

Today's high of 62 is dropping to 20 overnight with a high of 29 tomorrow and 2-5 inches of snow in the forecast. The wind is gusting outside, supposedly up to 35 mph, so hay is being served in the barn tonight and we will likely have a couple of days off from riding again. What a roller coaster this winter is being. The ice piles by the troughs just melted down today. It looks like with lows in the teens tomorrow night and single digits Wed. night we can make new ones. Thankfully Keil Bay does well with a 2-3 day on, 2-3 day off routine. I think at this point I'm the one who needs the daily ride!!

warm and a nice ride

We finally warmed up from the very cold days and even colder nights we've had since Wednesday. I was determined to get in a ride and did so. Keil Bay had been looking so young and so athletic for the past few days I was dying to get in the saddle!

I am still riding him in halter and clip on reins, as there are aspects to his movement that I really like when he doesn't have the bit in his mouth. I can't say for sure it's connected, but if he goes well this way I'm going to keep riding him this way. It has to be easier on him and I love seeing his mouth free of the bit.

Today we did a fairly long warm-up. We walked at a slower pace for awhile, then at a nice big walk for awhile. He was going deep into every corner but the one by the hay tent (which was billowing) so we worked on not avoiding that corner and got things back to a full arena work-out.

His trot was really pretty lovely from the moment we transitioned into it, but it got even better as we warmed up. We did a fair amount of leg yield at the trot, shoulder-in/out (there is a wonderful exercise where you shoulder-in through the corner, straighten, the shoulder-out down the long side, then straighten, rinse and repeat. He really got into this and was doing it on his own without my anything but riding it. His shoulders became much freer and the trot was nicer after we finished this.

We trotted a pretty pitiful 20m circle and then cleaned it up quite a bit the next few times.

I did my backbone work-out before the ride today and felt again that it really freed ME up so that I could stay out of Keil's way as we rode.

We had Pixie-kit and both donkeys in with us today - they really seem to enjoy the rides as much as Keil and I do.

In other news, I am cranking along with writing routine each day. In the mornings I work on the new book; in the evenings I am revising/rewriting Never Not Broken. And finally, after several years without a writing group, a new one has started up. We're meeting two evenings a month and we started this past week. It's already energized me and I'm so happy it's back on my calendar again.

Tomorrow looks like a gorgeous day to get another ride in, and then tomorrow night we dip down low again. Tuesday and Wednesday look cold and windy and possibly snowy, so we'll see how things go.