Uh huh, yeah right. Those who know me at all will know that photo is really a representation of my love/hate relationship with our wonderful country. What I wouldn’t give to be a snowbird *g* The year I skipped winter by running away to Australia was the best ever. *sigh* And winter’s getting its revenge now!
So last night they were threatening a snow storm, so I decided to camp out at the barn overnight to make sure I could get there in the am. Idea was great, practical reality not-so-much *sigh* Got maybe 4h sleep n that was entirely broken up. Blah. BUT, I did have a 20 second commute to work this am, so that was fun.
Get horses fed, good to go. Take Apollo and Nick to go out to the field, open the door and... No. Door won’t open. Push a crack and see way too much snow. Boooo. Ok so put very confused Nick and Apollo back in their stalls, go out and hike around the barn with shovel to see the damage. N then after a 30 second debate went back again and got my camera:
Ugh, so shovelled that out so I could turn out the horses. Yesterday I had rescued all the hay left from the roundbale (about 2 day’s worth for my group of 4) and put it all in the shelter. Sadly though the shelter is only big enough for two. So after turning out the first two, I spent the next 20 mins hauling hay back out of the shelter to where they can get it safely. Fun fun fun. So all that in the snow combined with the hike to the paddock and back was ummmm exhausting. I’m reasonably fit, but by the time I turned the last horse out, even with the now semi-trampled path, was still dragging. Went to ride my horse and realized... Yup, more shovelling. Had to clear the track to open the arena door. Ok fine. Had a short ride cause really, I was too tired to be effective and Si’s not the best horse to ride in that state. She was good though so we finished with something easy and left it at that.
Brief retreat indoors in search of food and warmth for a moment before tackling stalls. Couldn’t believe it was already 10:30 and I hadn’t even started! Yikes. Eventually dragged myself back out and got to work. Had a huge battle trying to push the wheelbarrow through the snow to the manure pile, so got out the handy-dandy shovel yet again and cleared another path. Wasn’t done chores when my student arrived, but fortunately she’s forgiving of a less-than-usually-organized barn. Teaching was a wonderful break from the barn. I could sit. Hahaha haven’t been so physically tired since the first week. Crazy. Lesson went really well, so that was definitely the highlight of the day. Then back to the stalls – by this point I had to shovel out the manure pile again. Sheesh. At least though it was pretty - HUGE confetti-like flakes, almost surreal...
Was just finishing up when a quarter-boarder showed up to ride, so I decided to ride with her. And got to shovel out the arena again. Oh the joy never ends. Rode Lissy though and she was good, so that was another plus. Working on trying to install lateral aids – only kinda there... She’s getting better though.
Was just a day that never seemed to end. Incredibly grateful to the student who’s doing late night for me today – once horses were fed and barn cleaned up I could go shovel out my car and head out. Sweet. Goal for tonight – bed by 10. Fingers crossed.
But hey, on the plus side, I don’t think I’ll ever need to go to a gym again! Hahaha Walking up the stairs tonight I had that “wow, great workout” burn happening that used to require membership fees and lots of unpleasantness.
Despite this all the groundhogs seem to be suggesting an early spring. Fingers crossed :)
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