We All Need Therapy

Everyone needs their own therapy. I don't mean the lay on a couch how does that make you feel kind of therapy, I mean everybody needs something that soothes them, that makes them whole. For me (and most horse people I know) that is my horse. Whenever I have a hard day, whenever the stress just gets too much to handle, or even just when somebody makes me feel not so great about myself I can go out to the barn, tack up my horse and have a therapy session.
From the time I put my boot in the iron to when my feet hit the ground again there are no problems. Yes, my horse may be acting like a douche-bag, he may not want to give into the bridle and that can be frustrating has hell, but even a bad day riding is better than a good day without riding. I feel sorry for the people that don't have an escape like riding. What do they do with their pent up feelings? How do they deal with life in general?

Self Proclaimed Southern Wimp

When I go look at Daun's wintry excursion pictures I feel kind of bad. As a self proclaimed southern wimp, I do not do cold very well. As a matter of fact, it turns me into a shivering, miserable, sometimes-whiny girl. For the most part I am a true eventer play-through-the-pain kind of rider, but when it is below freezing I just can't seem to muster up enough balls to go exercise my pony.

I tend to rationalize it by telling myself I'm doing my horse a favor, because hey - if I don' t wanna work in this cold, I doubt he does either. He is snug as bug in his two blankets and a warm stall, why should I go and drag him out into the cold. Of course I tend to overlook the fact that Coaster is a close relative to the Yaks with his shaggy overgrown hair...but oh well, what ever makes me sleep better at night, right?

I guess if I want him to get his topline back (he looks absolutely horrible right now!) then I need to cowgirl up and get out there. Yesterday it was in the 40's and I had no problem...at the moment it is in the low thirties, but supposed to warm up to at least forty. So I figure I'll head out there around 1ish and just grin and bear it. Wish me luck!!!!

Reunion!

I was so happy to see my horse this week! And I believe he was actually somewhat happy to see me...though it may have been the carrots.

Attempting to be an Adult

When I woke up this morning I had great ambitions of going and spending all afternoon with Coaster. I was going to ride, clean him up, clean my tack, etc etc etc... However when I got out of bed and had to wade knee deep through all of my stuff - laundry, books, boxes from moving back after break...the list could go on - I decided that I was going to make an adult decision. I wasn't going to go ride until after my apartment was clean, therefore turning riding into my reward... Five hours, two broken nails (ouch!) and countless trips to the dumpster later I'm am ALMOST ready to mop and vacuum. Where did all of this crap come from? I figured it was safe to throw away the gag gifts of a stick horse and the mechanical (freaky) cat my uncle gave me two years ago. I even (*tear*) threw away an old pair of heels that had broken but I could never find it in my heart to get rid of until today. Though I found a lot of stuff I had forgotten about: my full tail wrap, a rope haynet, one caveson and one figure eight noseband, and a halter that is practically new! See, I just have to find the bright side to cleaning - the main one being if I do this now then I don't have to do this deep clean again for at least another year or two...I wish!
So no riding today, but my mission is to get the apartment sparkling so I can spend tomorrow with Coaster. I miss him, he's my rock. Classes start on Tuesday for me, Monday for most everybody else! I only have classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays so that leaves me plenty of time to ride, train and teach a couple of lessons...gotta get ready for show season - even if we are most likely just going to stay local for this semester!