Hibernation

Just like many of my fellow bloggers, the winter weather has me less than inspired and longing for spring.  In that same vein, Alex has had a few days off.  I've been so "type A" lately, trying to push us both through this crappy weather, I've been pressuring the crap out of myself and honestly not getting much joy out of our rides.  I decided a little forced vacation would help me recharge my batteries.  I've spent most of the weekend hiding from the cold and watching the Olympics (which actually motivated me a little bit even though there aren't any equestrian events).

We'll go back to work tomorrow... hopefully sans Raccoons :-)

 

Pressure

Some people say, the only pressure that exists is the pressure you put on yourself.  I happen to agree with this statement, although I do think outside influences can indirectly affect you, if you let them.  Unfortunately, I'm a person who puts an extraordinary amount of pressure on myself and feels pressure indirectly from those outside sources.  I'm feeling it now, with regard to Alex... 

I don't really know why I'm feeling such pressure at this very moment, but I am.  Mostly, it's the pressure I put on myself, although if I'm being honest, some of it stems from my perception of what other people think. The logical side of my brain tells me I'm being stupid, the only things that should matter are my own personal goals, my partnership with Alex and that when it comes to horses nothing is easy.  

"I can't tell you what it really is, I can only tell you what it feels like..." -- Eminem

The emotional side of my brain has tinges of insecurity.

At times it feels like those outside sources are pushing... why is it that if I talk about challenging situations, I must be frustrated?  I'm not frustrated, I'm patient, understanding and above all, realistic.  I've ridden my entire life, but I'm not a professional (I did come from one, but that doesn't count).  

All I can do is keep trying to move forward, no matter what obstacles we meet, Alex and I have to get through/over them together.  Although situations like what we faced last night are frustrating (especially when my planning brain had a completely different agenda), they are learning experiences and we just have to deal with them and move on.  I count last night as a success, because it could have been SO much worse.

Maybe I need earplugs.

Bird/Raccoon Fight Club

Tonight I was looking forward to another great ride, full of encouragement from our work last night.  Sadly, the farm creatures had other plans.  Right about the time I led Alex into the indoor and was getting ready to get on, a pair of birds started fighting over various prime real estate in the up near the ceiling.  I seriously haven't seen birds in the indoor since October, where these two came from and why they picked this particular time to fight, I have no idea.  This started Alex off on edge.

About one minute after I climbed into the saddle some of the raccoons that live in the ceilings/lofts of our barns got into a screeching hissing fight and then it sounded like several others were tromping around to see what the fuss was about.  

Alex immediately went into giraffe mode and refused, with more gusto than usual, to go into the scary end of the arena.  

It was a difficult ride and although he stretched, did some flat-work and attempted to do as I asked it was just never a settled ride. I had to content myself with the fact that I had won the battle, no matter what started it and we had managed to get a little bit done.  

It was quite the crazy night, poor Alex, some days he can't win for trying.  Tomorrow he's getting the day off, hopefully there will be less "activity" going on during our ride on Saturday :-)

Birthday Pony!!

Today Alex officially turns seven. I'm feeling a little conflicted about this, because it seems time is flying and we've got so far to go in our accomplishments. 

At any rate, despite the cold nasty weather, Alex and I had a fabulous ride tonight! It was one of those nights, where I wasn't particularly hyped about putting on the layers and trudging out to the farm (so hard to ride in so many clothes!) but I'm glad I pushed myself,  because it was a good night. 

After our ride, I felt less conflict and more hope for the year.  There's no press
ure,  but the pressure I put on myself.

Also Alex got to try out his new "butt warmer" aka quarter sheet. I think it looks pretty snazzy :-)

Stay warm everyone, winter isn't letting go yet.

Snow & Ice

The weather here has been less than stellar the last 48 hours. Snow Sunday night and now we're in the midst of an ice storm... it would be so easy to forget that it was 60 degrees on Saturday! As so many people say, "Kentucky, if you don't like the weather, just wait five minutes, it will change!"  

I did get a ride in Monday night and Alex was fairly good.  He's still got a thing about the "scary" end of the arena and although he'd walked completely around the arena both directions, when we started trotting in that direction to the left, he flat out tried to STOP.  I literally had to "boot" him around through the corner several times, before he would get back to work.  After that little interlude, the ride moved along nicely, progressing to the point of nice bouncy happy trot work!  After all that we've been through (which at times I feel is never ending), it's so nice to feel that Alex feels good.  Our canter work was just ok, although it's still improving, we have a long way to go.

No riding tonight since we're in the middle of icegedon 2014, but I did get out to the farm, before the weather went to shit, to tuck in my big guy and give him a kiss :-)   

Storm Ready!

Super Bowl Anybody?

Being that I'm a Green Bay Packers fan (like crazy insane... I'm not kidding, seriously), I didn't have much opinion about who on this Super Bowl, but I thought both of these pics were pretty funny :-)  

For those who didn't notice, I took a little hiatus from blogging.  Honestly, with all the cold weather we've had around here, it's been all I could do just to keep riding.  Alex and I have been pretty hard core, still working on the flat (in the indoor in a quarter sheet of course) in temps down to about 8 degrees.  Mostly, I'm just trying to keep us in a routine, without putting too much emphasis on meeting goals.  

In other news, I did put Alex on Succeed and he seems to be doing well on it.  We're not quite 30 days in, so once we've done the suggested 90 days, I'll let you know what I think of the product.  We're also in the process of switching feeds from McCauley's ALAM to Hallway Fibrenergy.  Again, once Alex is firmly on the Hallway feed, I'll let you know about that too.  I'm overhauling our feeding program, so there will be more changes to come.

Hope all you in cold, colder and coldest climates are managing to survive this cold weather, I don't know about you, but I'm counting the days to spring!