Friday, January 28, 2011

Groan, more snow

Excited to get to the barn today. Have time blocked out - ring to myself. Get there early to pre things. Chat with M for a bit and then set up indoor with pedestal, cones, barrel. Get all my equipment and saddle out and ready. Head out the back of the indoor.

Into more snow. Snow, snow, snow. Another 14-16" fell yesterday. My past hard work shoveling the path to the paddock was not evident anywhere. There was no path. The snow was smooth. And deep. So I began digging. And digging and digging to create a new pathway.

Sides are getting taller and taller. Casey sees me working my way down to the gate and comes and watches. As I get closer he sticks his head through the bars....where are my treats?!?!?! you were not here yesterday!!!

Dig my way down to the gate, and start shoveling out the gate. Casey can easily keep in touch (that means nipping me through the gate) as I work my way down the gate. When I finish on the outside of the gate and open it to work on the other side, he is now very interested in nosing the gate open and enjoying a bit of liberty. Without me! Keeping one eye on him I continue to shovel out the gate area. Worry about things freezing and then I won't stand a chance of opening the gate until a spring thaw.

Where is Cici? Eating her hay. With the temperatures low she is getting lots of hay. And she is eating it all. Every last morsel. She lifts her head up, while still chewing, and gives me a hello look. And drops her head back to the hay. She has fluffed it quite a bit so that keeps her busy - walking around eating up all the scattered hay.

I finish up around the gate and glance over to their shed. Boy am I in for a shock. From the other side it looked like there was a way in. From this perspective it is clear that there isn't! Snow from the indoor roof combined with snow from the shed roof have completely closed in the doorway. There are tracks on the flanks of this avalanche pile that show me Cici tried to get in. She must have sunk into the snow up to her chest. No way can I do this by myself. So I enlist the help of M to join me in shoveling out the door way.

I get to the barn around 10:00 and I leave around 1:30. And I never even get to put a halter on either of my horses. I'm exhausted and thinking about how sore I'll be later. I'm just plain worn out and don't even take another picture of the lovely path into the shed. And I still need to put away all the play things, my tack and equipment! I know someday I'll ride again.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Some days it is harder to adjust to fit the situation .... harder emotionally! Awesome demonstration of putting your principles before goals and putting your relationship with your horses first.
This morning while enroute to the airport I got a call that my flight was delayed one hour and thus I would miss my connecting flight. Argh.....Deep breath as she tells me she can get me on a flight from San Francisco.... Deep breath Yes we have time to get there. Emotional fitness baby ... Glad I had it today.

JMG said...

The wait paid off as I finally had the indoor totally to myself this morning and got to ride. Cici was awesome on the ground and under saddle.
I ready your blog about your flight. Making new friends wherever you are! Friendly game, I'm sure circling game was also used, as well as a bit of driving perhaps?