The winds of change

Lately the weather around our place has been nothing helpful about being productive outside. Unless of course you count the neighborhood recycling going on... It has been windy. Not a gentle breezy kind of wind, but just windy. They are forecasting 55 mph winds and heavy gusts. Working out in it can be just downright miserable for us and the horses. The neighborhood recycling, you ask? Oh, that's where the trash blows from yard to yard. Mixed with the weed seedlings of course. So that next year when the rains come- you have unplanned hedges- everywhere!

So the wind just continues to blow. The dust flies, feeding = hay in your clothes and it is just a steady thing to deal with. At least it is sorta consistent. The horses are either bouncing around or they just turn their backs to the wind and relent. Working them is interesting since you never know when something is going to come blowing on by and startle them. (Remember the neighborhood recycling program?) The older horses are over it, but the youngsters need to learn to deal, pay attention to the rider and listen for the cues. And so it goes...

With the winds of change have come a few realizations lately. Like a sailboat reliant on the wind, we may change our direction or focus. While the wind may blow a lot of dust around, clouding our vision, at the same time it can be a good thing as it clears our minds.


After losing Tess, I no longer have a jumper to ride. Not one to call my own anyways. So I put my jump standards up for grabs on Craigslist. I found a pattern for standards online and I still have a small stash of jump cups, so if and when the time comes- I can always make more. I received two responses on them. The second one from a young person with students who are getting ready to jump, but she lacks ground poles, lacks jumps and lacks money to buy it all. So she offered up her services to help out in any way she can in an effort to work off the amount I am asking for the jumps. Weed whacking, stall cleaning, lessons, training- whatever she can do. I emailed her back with my number and told her to call me. I'm sure we can figure something out. I had already thought of something too.

Since bringing home the WB mare Patience, (aka Aruba), it has literally been hit or miss on getting her going and in shape to start under saddle. At first, it rained- A LOT! We put horses out, only to have to bring them all back in, to wait, and wait, and wait some more until things dried up, the ground wasn't so slick and we could put a few more out. Which seemed to trigger another storm and more rain. Bring them in, let things dry, put another bunch out and bring on the rain. ARGH!


So now that the weather has finally cleared, everything has dried up and the footing is safe to work in again, the weeds have taken over. To the point of killing our lawnmower and taking out the metal blades on the head on the gas weed eater and trying their best to kill the electric weed eater too! Burning the weeds is not working for some reason either. They are dry but won't ignite. Can you believe that?

So while JR has his hands full continuing to try getting the weeds brought under control, I have opted to take the girl up on her offer of helping out in any way she can, to pay for the jump standards, poles and ground rails. Aruba is leaving to go to her place tomorrow. She lives 2 miles away and will be taking her for a month or two to get her back into shape. She will be lunging her to build up the muscles and get her ready to go to work.


The wind has cleared my mind and helped me focus more clearly. She will be off our feed bill for a while, she will be close enough I can go check on her often and she will be fit and ready to go into long lines when she comes home. She is going for conditioning work only, so no worries about anything major to fix, no worries about harsh bits, bad hands or big spurs... When she comes home the work will begin. For now I have shifted my course and changed direction. Time to let the wind take control of things for a while. It's really nice being able to let go.