Relief and Reorganizing

TC's breathing was basically back to normal once I'd given the vet the check and agreed to give him two weeks off. Maybe he just wanted a vacation! But that's okay, he can have a vacation. The vet comes out next Thursday and he will hopefully be cleared for work after two weeks of nebulizing and being back on his breathing supplement. 

This last weekend was probably a good one for a vacation anyway because it honestly felt like a vacation. Waking up on Saturday to the news of the election took a weight off my shoulders that I didn't even notice I was carrying around anymore. Then heading down to the barn and it being our first actual cool day since last winter, it just felt like being on winter vacation. The feeling of joy, being able to wear all my warm clothes, TC coming out of his paddock all sassy and rude, it was fabulous. 

The results of the election just made me feel so cosy and safe. I know that we have so much work to do. We still have the senate race in Georgia, we still are in a global pandemic, we still have half the country thinking that the last four years were good enough to repeat and now spewing that the election was rigged (if it were, we'd have taken out McConnell, trust me). But it's also important to celebrate, so I did. By donating to Fair Fight, ordering sushi and a cake with the SO Saturday night, and laughing ENDLESSLY at the Four Seasons Total Landscaping debacle. Please read this and then watch this video.

Love it, he wasn't my first
choice by far but I'm happy

Exactly

And hanging out at the barn of course! 

Without being able to ride for real, we've just been walking a lot. Hand walking with the nebulizer, walking around bareback, sometimes tacking up and walking with the bands. Just walking. 

I've also been reorganizing my life at the barn and in my trailer. The SO came down on Sunday to help me hang up some organizers in my tack room so that I could get some stuff off the ground. I threw out a bunch of mostly empty bottles of things I was certain I'd use several years ago and have been carrying around with me from barn to barn. I moved some things to my trailer as well, in preparation for staying overnight at more places. 

I tend to not have a whole grooming/care setup in my trailer because I usually groom before leaving the property, but we will hopefully be going on some longer field trips to trainers this fall/winter, so I wanted to get the trailer properly outfitted. I added some more brushes/sprays/shampoo/conditioner, put some cookies in there, made my first aid kit more robust, added lights to the tack room so it was easier to deal with in the dark, and reorganized the whole tack room. I also made a list of things to buy, as I'd like an extra set of standing wraps (I'm imagining if he gets hurt/cut somewhere), some 

Let's do it

I also took the weekend to wash all my saddle pads and my show clothes. My show clothes live in my trailer tack room, although when we actually move into a house that's big enough for both of our things, I think I'll move them to a dedicated closet (low key planning on our guest room being my horse room). 

The final thing I did this weekend was brainstorm. A lot. I love my life but sometimes I feel so overwhelmed working two jobs and commuting so far to my horse. My brainstorming was very abstract, but I basically made a list of things that I wanted to work on over the next five to ten years. The number one thing I realized was that I wanted more free time like I had this weekend. More time to putz around the barn and play with TC (and my future horse). More time to spend with family (we stopped by the ranch to chat with my parents and pick up some things, it was nice to not have to run off immediately). More time to decide at the last minute to sleep in a bit and relax. My life is very much solidly set into this really weird schedule where I slip in the things that I enjoy around a rigid schedule that could change at any moment. 

I'm just at the beginning of trying to figure this out, but I'm hoping I can build a better schedule for myself in the short term and set myself up for more free time in the future!