Friday, October 12, 2012

Stuck in Neutral

Today I realized why I've been stuck in neutral with the horses.  We moved barns back in May and I haven't ridden since. I know this sounds crazy, but perfectionism has kept me from riding and working my horses.

The arena is too deep, the round pen is too deep, there is grass in the round pen, etc.- I have plenty of excuses.  Because conditions aren't perfect like I think they ought to be, I shut down and give up. In the meanwhile, my Kid and Rupert are fat and out of shape (much like their owner). If you follow Fly Lady, you know perfectionism can ruin your life. I finally am working my way to a clean house

October 12, 2012

I started the paragraphs above probably 2 months ago. After the fall shot vet visit in the middle of September, I felt better about where we are. We cut back on the boy's food and now they look great. We started working them in the round pen (OK, just started yesterday) and it was a great experience.  The lighting is wonderful, the footing could still be better, the grass needs to be gone, but all in all the workout was good. Kid's cantering and trotting were better than I had seen in a long time.  He seemed excited to be getting exercise again. Rupert was spastic, alternating between nice trotting and cantering to full-out body twisting bucks.

Once the round pen time was complete, we turned them out for pasture time. One of the downsides of the place we're out in we are limited to 2 hours per day. Thank goodness, they do have big, individual paddocks.  While they were chomping away on grass, Steven and I bagged their food and meds for the next 4 days. Actually I did the bagging and Steven read Vice-Presidential debate twitter posts to me. Food prep done, we got the boys out of the pasture where they were treated to half-assed grooming by yours truly which means hooves were picked, thrush stuff applied, massages given, and fly spray sprayed. Both Kid and Rupert were VERY relaxed during their massages which made me happy.

What made me even happier was the entire process from leaving home to getting ready to leave the barn only took about 2 hours. I'm not saying this because I don't want to spend time with my horses, but rather I get overwhelmed and don't think I have enough time. Yesterday proved that there is time during the week to spend with Kid and Rupert to give them the exercise we all deserve. With lighted round pen and lighted/covered arena, we have no excuse.

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