Rain Rain Go AWAY!

Even as I begin to write this I know this is going to be more of a rant than a productive post. 

Saturday I got to the barn much later than I planned. I got wrapped up in watching Notre Dame football and taking too many cat naps with my sick kitty. The barn owner and her husband were going out for the evening, as they did Friday night so I was pretty much set to hang out with the daughter for the evening like I had the night before. The daughter, who I'll refer to as K (for her privacy if she doesn't want her name out there) is 14 and is at the point where she's becoming more fun to hang out with. Friday night we had a great time together actually so Saturday I figured wouldn't be too bad. She recently became vegetarian and I've been helping her find new things to eat, which always proves to be an interesting time for a usually picky eater.

K was riding her new horse, Glitch, while I was working on chores. He was well behaved so she convinced me to get on him and give riding a try. I only had my muck boots at the barn so they weren't the best thing to be riding in, but I got on for about 10 minutes. My knee felt great after and gave me the encouragement to try riding Dakota again soon.

Once my stuff was ready and K was done riding I conned her into helping me free lunge Echo. Echo didn't like the concept of two people with lunge whips in the arena at same time. She actually had to keep moving at all times and not play her game of run to one end and stop until someone gets to that end makes me run again game. K got bored of just watching Echo run around and wanted to set up a small jump for her to see how she handled it. I was quick to say no but told her we could to a ground pole. So Echo went to go over it. Freaked out. Got over it and hopped over the pole. Next time around she trotted fine over it and the next time cantered over it like a pro. Such a good girl!

Sunday I planned to have gone to get about 900 bales of hay to finish off out stockpile of hay for the winter. I apparently got there too late though and everyone had already left. So much for keeping me informed of what time they were leaving. So I was at the barn without much to do. I got stalls done and ready for the night and took Dakota out to graze. Echo was too happy sun bathing and I decided to give her the day off.

Sunday night the semi trailer full of hay went got there and because of the constant rain we've had for for about two weeks, we had to park the trailer in the indoor arena until we can get it stacked in it's spot. Which means no free lunging horses. Luckily there's a good area still that we can get a 15-20m circle going on the lunge line.

Since Echo's arrival, 15 days today, we've had only four days free of rain. Because our fields are essentially dry lots with run-ins, you can only imagine the amount of mud we're against. Since she's still not fitting in with the mares completely, she is usually kept in if it's insanely muddy out so that she isn't running from the boss mare and slipping and sliding in the mud.

The rain is seriously hampering my working with Echo this week. Last night (Monday) I get to the barn to find that the horses were kept in all day because of the weather. I get Dakota out of his stall first because he's practically climbing out and take him and lunge him on the line to let him kick up his heels. He was happy to take advantage of the dry ground and acted like a 2 year old, rearing and bucking. Then of course, it begins an insane lightening / thunder storm. Dakota had a chance to work off his energy so put him in his stall and cleaned his stall with him in there while it was storming. 

I hoped it would quit long enough I could lunge Echo for even 5-10 minutes. That didn't happen. We had a SMALL window where it stopped, maybe 2 minutes. By the time I got her out of her stall and toward the arena it started again. I tried tying her while I cleaned her stall but she was too hyped up between the extra energy and the storm so I had to put her in an empty stall while I got her's ready for the evening. 

Hopefully tonight is not as stormy since I suspect the horses have been in all day again today with due to weather. Hopefully my two stalls are still standing when I get to the farm tonight from the angry horses inside. Again, if they've been in I'll attempt to lunge both Dakota and Echo to get the bugs out of them and get a chance to clean stalls / prep them for the night.

Tomorrow I am out of class at 1:30ish and have to run to the barn and clean stalls very fast and get them ready for the evening. I won't have a chance to work them tomorrow since I gotta get home and meet my Dad so he can take me to the airport so I can get to Kentucky tomorrow :D

My flight leaves Kalamazoo at 5:20 and I arrive in Lexington shortly after 9pm. Nothing special planned for my visit, just looking forward to seeing some of my favorite people! I haven't decided if I'm taking my laptop or if I'll even get a chance to post while I'm gone. If not, I'm home late Sunday night and will post then of my adventure. I won't be back to seeing the horses until Monday after work.