Rain Rain Rain

Right when the horses are doing well, we have another rain storm to deal with! I was lucky to be able to drag the arena right before it started raining. The rain started on Sunday and it's still going strong. I think it goes away officially on Thursday and then I have to wait for the arena to dry. 

As much as I'm eager to continue this work with the horses, I'm also kind of enjoying having a winter like this. I might need to do winters like this from now on. The horses still have large paddocks (they get locked in off the pastures to preserve the ground/grass) and I'm heading down today to do some massage work and maybe take them down the road and back. 

It's so beautiful, even when it's rainy! This was
before the rain though, ponies still on pasture

I think the hardest part about the storms is not the actual rain, but the days where it's dry but I still can't ride because the arena is wet. I don't mind not riding when it's raining, I actually love that he's got such a big paddock and such good care that I don't have to go out there when it's raining. It was also excellent timing because I had four interviews yesterday, so I actually managed to look nice for them and not take any of them from my car or the barn. 

But I am not looking forward to later this week when the weather is excellent but the arena is a swamp. 

I'm still considering what to do during that time. My options include: 

- Go over to the local covered arena that is literally right around the corner (can't ride to it though). I can pay $10 per horse to ride over there. The only issue is that the footing is SUPER hit or miss. I might take Sunny over there first and if the footing is good, I'll take him home and then bring TC over. 

- Message the neighbors and see if their arena is usable before mine (they have better footing and I assume it drains better, but it's not a covered ring). 

- Message this barn up the road that has a covered arena, I rode there with Rico a long time ago but fell out of touch with the owner. Problem is that she might require lessons with her and I'm not interested in taking dressage lessons right now. 

- Wait until Kate's arena dries and go there. I assume her arena will dry faster than mine. Even if it doesn't, I really want her to do some bodywork on my horses and help me with them, so I might just do a lesson with her to use the covered arena.

- Take the horses to the trail facility and do the bottom paved loop. This would be great for Sunny, but TC has been feeling way too good lately (and he's been locked off his pasture which he utilizes for galloping at least once a day) for me to willingly take him off the property on a trail ride where there are going to be TONS of people wandering and cycling and pushing strollers and running and skateboarding and riding scooters... I dunno, I trust him but I also value my life. 

- Learn to just chillax and stop caring about getting back on ASAP after a rain storm. 

I hope it warms up enough to bathe this dirty
creature, he is living his best muddy pasture life

So we'll see what ends up happening! I have a lot going on this week outside of horses (Christmas party, interviewing, work, Christmas shopping, wrapping presents, etc), so it's really not the end of the world if they hang for a bit. This is *literally* why I kept TC at the ranch. But I'm just so eager to continue working with him on this stuff! He's doing so well and I'm getting so excited about the future.