knowing when

We enjoyed a couple days of arena time with our horses earlier this week.

The first day, Brad hopped on Nemo right away and rode. Meanwhile my chunky monkey decided to act like a four year old feeling his oats. Crow hopping and spinning me dizzy as he twirled around and around, and around. Literally. Eventually, he decided to slow his roll.

Our daughter walked into the arena. She was surprised at what she saw and asked "is that normal for Koda"? I was busy being a spinning top, so Brad responded. "It's just Koda being Koda". He always says that about Koda's antics.

Koda is 14 going on 4 and full of Appytude. He may not have spots, but he is all Appaloosa. Apparently he is never going to change. In my opinion, age has little to do with behavior. Most will disagree with me. I am glad I decided to lunge Koda and see where his mind was at. At this stage of my life, I won't ride him when he acts like that. Brad has no problem with it, so he rode Koda first. Koda was the well behaved boy he can be. I enjoyed my riding time next, at a walk. I ended with doing two almost perfect turns on the forehands.

The following day, Koda was visibly stiff. I can't help he decided to act like a kite on a string. Timing is everything. Trust me, I stopped lunging when the time was right. I dislike lunging, but it can serve a purpose. I look forward to the day I can once again just get on and ride. With him, that requires consistently being worked with. He does come around quickly.

The following day, Brad worked with Koda a little to loosen him up, before riding Cierra. My shoulders were sore from twirling, saddling and even grooming. Now that I am older, I feel every "new" activity. I am thankful for Brad's help. 

my boy shadow dancing

WI has been in an extended cold single digit pattern, dipping negative. We've been waiting to let the horses out until the sun comes up. It amazes me our arena has been staying above freezing. I feel very fortunate and still can't believe we have a giant sandbox to play in.

Hopefully we can all find our groove and 2022 will become a riding year!!

look up

Sunrise clouds

Full of hopes and dreams

They are there, or so it seems

Look up to see, what might be
 

south eastern (7:24am) sunrise

1/18/22

my old self

The changing of the year was nothing like I hoped for. I looked forward to the quiet closing of an emotional year, and a soft beginning to a new chapter. I got neither.

Holidays have always felt odd, for different reasons. This year was no exception. Add to that, after Christmas I got sick. No happy start to a new year for me. It felt like more of the same 2021. It took two long weeks before I began to feel semi normal again. Whatever that is.

I miss the woods. The Labs missed our walks. I miss riding and spending time with our horses. I missed interacting on Blogger, and pretty much everything else. Most of all, I missed being me. I had zero energy. Brad was my superhero! He helped out in every way he could, and was understanding. I had little to nothing to give, altho I tried and did what I could. It was a good reminder, that health is everything.

Happy to say I am more or less back to my old self and feeling a bit like Tank:

our snow dog catching snowflakes

  

sunday stills ~ bundled

 

me bundled up & back in our woods
(Jan 11, 2022)

see more bundled Sunday Stills