TC's Favorite Puddle

I have been terrible at blogging. But I'm okay with that really.

It's not a bad road to walk along

Work has been super busy, I've been offered to step in and take over a lot of work from an open position that's above me. Theoretically this lines me up really well for a promotion, as does another few things that I'm strategically doing. So that'll be a really good move for me. It's way more technical and I'm excited to be able to really flex my analytics skills in addition to going deeper into our data warehouse. 

I was also sick for the first time in LITERAL YEARS. Probably since I was super burnt out in June 2021 but honestly it was the first actual flu-like illness since getting mono in 2019. Craziness. 

And right as I was feeling better, the rains started. So TC and the pony have had most of the last week and a half off. I have been road walking them bareback each day that I can. Pony is handling it well, this is his ideal work schedule. 

TC, on the other hand, is always incredibly bored having to be locked in from his pasture and not having any arena work to burn off the weirdness. Not rambunctious energy anymore at eleven years old, just chaotic weirdness. 

Excitedly marching down the road

For example, his recent habit is knowing when the hot wire is turned off and playing with the strands with his nose. He's also taken to screaming at any humans near him. 

When I've road walked him, he seems hyper aware of my rule that if you act like a horse shaped kite, you get put away. So he has been dragging me down the road with his eyes bugged out feeling like a cannon about to go off... but he has not put one toe out of line. 

His favorite activities on the road include walking up peoples' driveways to see what's going on, following people who are walking/driving/jogging along the road, and playing in his favorite puddle. He thinks it's just the best form of entertainment. 

The only good thing about rain, according to TC

The other day, he had the best day, where someone stopped to get their mail near his favorite puddle, so he got to show off his enthusiastic pawing. We had a quick chat while he was playing and I'm glad that she was not positioned so that she got sprayed by the muddy water he was flinging. The entire road got sprayed though, and I thought I got video of it but I didn't, boo!

Then we got back to the ranch (he always tries to stay out as long as he can, poor guy) and he didn't want to go back to the barn, so he tried to climb onto the porch. I let him stare into the house for a while, which I can imagine must have been unbelievably creepy from inside the house if anyone was there. I think he'd be a house horse if he could. 

The creepiest, he thought the screen
was just the coolest texture

So that's my update. It's pretty boring around here, which is honestly just what I need. A nice light, relaxing winter to throw myself into my job so I can come out of the winter with, fingers crossed, a promotion that will allow me to do all the fun horse things I want to next year! 

WW: Road Walking

As much as the words "road walking" used to be accompanied by a lot of fear, now I know that it means that I get to see how beautiful the road is after the rain! Also some fear, given that TC has been a bit wild on the roads lol chill out, TC. 

How is it SO beautiful out here?

Maybe it's just my phone's fancy camera

Either way, wow

Endless Road Walking

Sure enough, this week proved to be my own personal worst case scenario with having TC at the ranch. We had a huge atmospheric river at the beginning of last week, then five days of really nice weather, wherein the arena did let us ride for three days, and now this week we have another storm. 

I didn't care toooo much about not being on the ball figuring out where to haul to this last week. It was a bit of a busy week for me anyway. The ranch arena became rideable on Friday and we had some nice rides through the weekend. 

On the days we didn't haul out, I road walked the horses. They could not be different in their attitudes toward road walking and toward puddles. They have similar attitudes toward pigs, though, which surprised me. 

It was a beautiful walk the other day

TC thinks road walking is stupid. The only road he likes is the access road, which is too muddy to ride down. I had him go further down the actual road and he thought that was garbage. He was also pretty shocked that clicker training wasn't happening too often on the walk. I did bring it and we did some work shifting his weight, but I mostly just kind of wandered down the road and back. 

What he does like about road walking though, is the puddles. He LOVES puddles. He dragged me to every single one to play in them. He'd lip the water, paw, fling his head in it, and nibble at the grass under it. I'd be changing the music on my phone and suddenly be yanked forward, like a child riding a pony in a field, and his head would be on the ground and he'd be dragging me to a puddle. 

TC really likes the pigs, there are three in one of the pastures we walk by and sometimes they are out. On one of our road walking days, they were out and TC thought they were just great. He stared at them for a bit and then we continued down the road, but about eight steps away, he turned back around and wanted to go watch them again. It took me quite a bit to get him back to the barn because he kept wanting to go hang out with the pigs. 

Playing in a puddle

Sunny, on the other hand, would like to petition to only be road walked for the rest of his life. He is so chill and happy on the road. He likes going all the way down to the end of the road and then all the way back. He even took my niece all the way down the road on Friday!

Puddles though? You mean water jumps? I tried to get him to walk into a puddle and because it's been a while since I had a puddle aversive horse, I was genuinely shocked when he said no. TC has ruined me for puddle hesitancy. I tried to coax him through it and he waffled a bit, then sat back and jumped over it. As fun as that was, it was a bit slippery on the other side of the puddle, so I gave up.

Sunny was HILARIOUS with the pigs, probably the first time I've laughed harder on him than on TC, who is constantly doing ridiculous things that make me laugh. At first, Sunny seemed nervous about the pigs, but he kept approaching them. I was wondering if he was just doing it for me, but then remembered what horse I was on. Sunny and I have a business relationship vs TC who would be the kind of friend who would constantly be telling you that he'd die for you to the point where you felt really uncomfortable. 

Slowly it became apparent that Sunny ADORES the pigs. It escalated to the point where he dragged me all the way up to the fence where a pig was standing and Sunny yanked the reins out of my hands. I thought he was diving for grass but instead he smushed his little pony nose up against the pig's ears and back. It took a LOT to get him to leave the pigs alone and go back to the barn. So ridiculous. 

Watching the pigs

So, it's been what I expected this winter so far. Kind of annoying, but I have had a lot of time at home to get through my to do list, do all my Christmas shopping (well, almost), and deal with some jobs that are getting closer to offers. I'm still exploring all of my hauling out options and will hopefully figure out something that works well soonish. 

For now though, I'm just enjoying the free time and feeling very grateful that both TC and Sunny are so good on the roads in the winter!