January 14

Today. Today was long. And to be honest, I'm really over being here I think. I just want to be back at school with my friends in my bed making my own schedule again. Nevertheless, I'm still chugging away up here and it was my 3rd morning doing all the stalls myself. Thank god there's only one more morning of that... more horses went out today normal normal normal. Just cleaned some tack and took care of Willies, Elsey, Chablis, and Bristol's legs. Ugh they all just need normal clean stalls and the problem might very well fix itself, but whatever.

Something I'm Reading: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. SO GOOD. I started it yesterday morning and I'm already about halfway through even though I've been working all day. Its very good so far, and defiantly living up to all the reviews and hype. I really want to see the movie now too.

January 13

FRIDAY THE 13th!

Eerie!

Everyone was still stuck inside today for the most part due to the snow. We got some freezing rain as well which put a crunchy ice layer on top of the fresh snow ):

I also managed to get kicked for the first time in 11 years of being around horses! Baby Sounder was all riled up coming in from turnout and she somehow managed to get my leg (right below the hip) with her hind legs. I was stunned for a second (as she continued to run circles around me bucking) but we got all three babies in and it was fine. My leg isn't actually hurt, though it is QUITE swollen and warm where she got me. damn baby.

Turnout in general was tough today, as the last 3 of the day were also jerks and managed to get away from us. Everyone made it back safe, but some lessons were taught and it won't happen again.

In My Bag:

SO MUCH STUFF.

3 wallets

pink hat I'm knitting which I don't like.

EOS lipbalm

Jergen's hand creme

Trader Joe's moisturizing hand sanitizer

Checkbook

Glasses

Eye prescription

Poptart

...I'm sure there's lots of other things but I don't feel like getting out of bed to find out!

January 12

Today it snowed! we got about 6 or 8 inches I believe? Ponies spent the day tucked inside, and I actually took a break in the morning and finished Ishmael which was a great read. I went out in the afternoon and groomed and powdered Chablis, Bristol, Elsy, and the Babies (Sounder, Raptor, and Bailey) and then called it a day. Everyone was very well behaved, and MAN do the grown ups like it when you powder their scratches, their little lips go crazy as if they are grooming back, it must be horrible have itchy legs and no being able to do anything about it, so I can understand why, but its still so funny! The babies were much improved over their first time on cross times and all of them stood like rocks for the most part. Bailey still needs some work, but he seems to be the least mature when separated from the other two. He also jumped into the stall STRAIGHT onto my foot with incredible accuracy, but it feels fine now so no harm done. I should work on that with him soon. I've lost some motivation and it was nice to have an easy day.

Close up?

No thanks, all appearances have been let go working up here!

January 11th

Today I rode Grace and Chablis again, both of them out in the field this time. Chablis was a hard ride just because she is a bit of a brat and didn't want to go where I wanted and got mad when I made her do it! We had a trying trip around the field in both directions and then settled into the circle area and managed to end with a nice realized trot in a mostly round circle, so I called it a success. Grace was better then Chablis, but I didn't ask as much since this was just my first time in the field with her. We headed straight to the circle (which has a fence on one side, and the treeline on the other, giving you a corner) and worked on an easy walk and trot where I wanted her to be on the circle. She was also not a fan of going where I wanted her to, but she got over it and again, we ended with nice easy trotting in a figure 8 within the circle so I called it a day. I hope the weather cooperates and I'm able to work both of them out there again because I know they'll only get better as time goes on!

Where I sleep:

Currently, in this weird house with no doors! I have 3 rooms and live in 3 places at the moment, so this is an interestined question. I love both my real rooms, with my one at school probably being my favorite. Currently though, this bed is not bad by any means and I sleep ALOT (usually from 7:30-9 until 6:50 in the morning. I don't know that I've ever gotten that much sleep for an extended period of time, but man, I defiantly need it up here!

January 10th

Today I can tell you at the very least I rode Bristol since I have this picture from Facebook:

She was very good! I also have these pictures that my boss took:

She was a good girl even though I wasn't asking for too much. She's the first horse I've ridden here who feels "drafty" when you ride, so it was a surprise in that sense, but she was probably the easiest ride so far. Good girl!

I also logged with a pony this day! I got to harness and drive Dice all by myself to bring two trees up to the wood stove. Photographic proof! Pretty cool! Also, note Turbo, the dog, making sure the tree didn't get away :) I was more surprised by his barking and growling then Dice was!

This was a cool day for sure!

Childhood:

This is vague and I don't feel like writing too too much. My childhood was good! No complaints. I don't like to dwell on the past since everything that happened (good or bad) has contributed to the person you are and the place you are in, and for that alone you should be thankful. I'm very proud of who I am and what I've done and what I've yet to do so my childhood must have been good!

January 9th

I know for a fact that on this day I rode both Chablis and Grace because I took these wonderful pictures:

with the tag line "Better than a JTerm class? Oh Yea!"

I also took a picture of "shire kitty" the house cat who occasionally goes out side. Its funny here, almost every animal is black and white! (Except Chablis, she came out red for some reason) but Shire kitty is no different!

Daily Routine: Well, currently daily routine is as follows:

6:50: Wakeup, brush teeth, get dressed

7:00 Start chores (water/feed/turnout/stalls)

9:00 Finish chores, head in for breakfast

~10:00 Head back out to the barn to do things. Usually finishing chores, changing turnout at some point, feeding and watering again, grooming horses, and riding or driving if its the right day.

12:30 Lunch

1:00 Do more stuff!

3:00 Bring in horses and water/feed

4:00 Head in for a break

6:30 Eat dinner

7:00/7:30 Night check! water and feed and close up the barn for the night. Repeat tomorrow!

January 8th

Guess what? I have a record of something that happened today! I must have groomed Truffles because I uploaded a picture to Facebook of her :) Pretty girl, huh? Apprently she's harder to sell because hard-core shire owners don't like that her blaze isn't perfect. I think its cute :) she's ready to be broken in so I was fitting tack to her and leaving it on for a while to see how she reacted. She seems ready to go, but I don't know that I want to be the first.

Also, we must have driven Bristol because I have this picture of her all tacked and ready to drive. We used her to bring in hay from the hay barn to the real barn so it would be ready for the night. V drove, but it was my first time working with chore driving so I just watched and learned what was going on. At the end I drove her to take the sled off, and it was good :)

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Your Sky:

Well, look at that, I took this awesome picture of the sunset on the 8th. Talk about convenient. Also, this is from Tuesday, but still, HOW PRETTY. This is part of why being up here is so awesome :)