Return of the Friends: Part 2

 Day two of Nicole and Carlos' visit dawned overcast and cool. The four of us were up early to get a head start on the day. We had already decided that we were going horseback riding that morning. Originally, I  had hoped that Felix would prove quiet enough to be a second guest horse, but it hasn't panned out that way. This meant Mike would stay home while the rest of us went out on trail. This worked out because the landlord was working on our washed out driveway and Mike was eager to help. This way we wouldn't feel guilty about ditching him, and he wouldn't feel bad about helping the landlord instead of hanging out with our friends.

Episode 6: Return of the Friends (Part 1)

 Har.

You wouldn't know it from the recent influx of posts, but I really haven't been feeling blogging lately. 

Don't get me wrong, blogging has been a staple in my life since I got an internet connection. I have met some of my favorite people on earth through this space. I have gotten jobs and clients from the blog. I ended up getting married in West Virginia because of connections I made through the blog. My favorite thing to do at the end of the year is to recap the last 365 days by re-reading the posts I've made. This is my most organized social media space and I cannot imagine giving it up.

However, there are times when the blog feels really shallow. It is that way by design. This is a space I want to look back on and smile. It's a collection of photos and good stories and memories that I don't want to forget. It has to be a space without drama, and it is structured accordingly. If it seems all sunshine and unicorn farts around here, it's because I've intentionally built it that way.

But the real world is not sunshine and unicorn farts. In fact, lately, the world and humanity as a whole are disappointing and disgusting and depressing. I spend a lot of time distracting myself from the things I cannot change, and a lot of other time raging not so silently against the injustices all around us. 

And so finding the cheerful energy to blog feels fake. The happier the memory, the guiltier I feel "bragging" about it. 

A murderer walks free, dismissed by a jury of his white supremacist peers, setting a dangerous legal precedent in a society that prides itself on being built on gun violence, and here I am about to photo dump and talk about good times I had last month with two of my favorite people who also happen to be POC with Spanish accents. And if you think Puerto Rico being a part of the United States gives the people who would harm them even a moment of pause, you are living under a rock....

Every time I've sat down to start this post, I have found myself grinning from ear to ear and laughing out loud at all the inside jokes and good memories we made over the course of this weekend in October. And every time I've done that, I've closed the laptop and walked away because I just don't have the spoons to capture that in writing. And so the blog has stagnated because I cannot gloss over this weekend like it wasn't one of the highlights of the year, and yet I don't feel I will do it any justice on here. 

Then again, what is justice any more?

Anyway... I guess dropping my friends off of buildings, taking them to a bunker in the middle of nowhere, showing them all the refineries and power plants in the state, and having them get mauled by my vicious pit bulls in my haunted apartment wasn't enough to scare them off because they voluntarily came back for a second visit at the end of October.

This time, we agreed to "take it easy" and not try to plan every moment of the visit. Except none of us actually knows the definition of "take it easy" so we crammed an impressive amount of stuff into a little over 48 hours.

#soulsisters

Girls Nights and Jumping Photos

 Eryca and I continue to get together on Wednesday nights for our weekly riding date. Last month, Juli also joined us pretty consistently. I try to vary the routine week to week. Sometimes we toodle around bareback. Sometimes we jump. Sometimes I set up the dressage court and we run through various tests. Sometimes I set up my growing collection of working equitation obstacles. I also try to alternate which mare I use each Wednesday so that they both get to participate in fun activities and share the ring. Booger has actually fallen in love with Quite Quiet and seems to particularly enjoy the nights when Juli joins us. 

Last month, I actually remembered to bring the camera to the barn for one of our jumping nights. The light was glorious. Of course, I'm a jackass and forgot to check the battery level before I left the house. Camera? Check. Memory card? Check. Battery? Whoops. The fully charged one was at home. The one in the camera barely had any juice left. Damn! So I only got limited photos that night. 

I am slowly getting braver with Booger, but of course her night was the one where I ran out of battery. I use one of the barrels in the ring as a tripod and take video of myself. I really should get a Pivo....

Chipping in, as per usual. This photo makes it look like my shirt, Boo's tack, and the jump standards are all the same color, but they are not. Booger is a sky blue. My shirt is a royal blue. The standards are actually teal. I did secretly enjoy the accidental matchy matchy look though. I'm a nerd.

The Horse That Never Stops

 Booger has a theme song. It goes as follows:

This is the horse that never stops
It just trots and trots and trots
Some people started riding it 
not know what it was
And they'll continue riding it forever
just because
This is the horse that never stops....

Seriously, Booger never seems to get tired. If one of my horses wants to do endurance, it's definitely Bug. I just need to win the lottery and grow a pair, maybe not in that order.

The day after Lucy and I finished Virtual Tevis, Eryca and I met up for another trail ride. This time, I gave Lucy the day off and took Booger instead. 

Booger was pretty up that day and being a little fresh and spooky. A few months ago, we would have stuck close to home and I might have hand walked a lot. On this day, I stayed mounted and we did almost eight miles. 

Virtual Tevis Finish

 I signed Lucy up for the Virtual Tevis again this year. This year, I only counted miles we did on trail. On October 16th, I only had four miles to go for the virtual finish. Eryca and I planned a trail ride so I could check that goal off the list. With the limited trail hours and the seemingly constant rain, Eryca and I hadn't managed to get out on trail together since the hunter pace at the beginning of the month. I think both mares were happy to get a change of scenery. 

October Riding Media

 I think it's possible that I take too many photos...

I am still chiseling away at the mountain of October pictures that didn't make it into the monthly recap. I still have at least three horse related posts to get through from last month (and have already photographed an endurance ride and ridden a hunter pace this month). I'll start with the pictures that don't need their own posts.

One of my accomplishments for the month was taking Booger for a short trail drive. It was her first time off the property in the cart. We just went around the big field at Pine Twig for two and a half miles. Booger was pretty good about the cart rumbling around behind her. This rig is definitely not designed for terrain, but I am in no place to upgrade right now. I did order a kicking strap from Two Horse Tack. I don't think she could get her leg over these shafts, but it's better to be safe than sorry! 

Riding with Bob

Bob has been trailering in to ride with me for the last month or so. 

I'm not sure I've formally introduced Bob around here. Bob is one of my all time favorite clients and I adore him.

Oodles of October

 October was super busy and I am further behind than usual. Here is a short list of things I still have to blog about for last month:

• Trail riding with Bob
• Discovering new trail with Eryca
• Multiple other trail adventures
• Lots of new riding media in general
• Jumping photos
• Nicole and Carlos coming for another visit
• Photographing another endurance ride

In the meantime, I need to drop my assorted October photos somewhere or they'll never see the light of day. Here is an assortment of other things that happened in the last 30 days! 

The biggest development is that I picked up a part time office job. My old boss from the vet clinic/dog rescue contacted me about doing her bookkeeping again. It's honestly just the type of work I love to do. I make my own hours, have the option to work from home, am the only person in the office when I go in, and make more money than I do horse training. I just wish I could switch to book keeping full time. I am being not at all ironic when I say that I love hours of mindless Quickbooks. Seriously, if anybody needs a slightly OCD person with a tendency to hyper-focus on minute details, I'm your gal.

The new office. And yes, it is located in a horse barn. This is actually the farm I used to lease back in the day. My old boss has been building a state of the art horse facility from the ground up. I've been consulting on it for the last few years, which means I basically got to design my dream barn. If it ever gets finished, I'm hoping to be able to run clinics and maybe even shows on the grounds...