December is not usually the coldest part of our winter around here. December is usually pretty mild. We get our crazy cold streaks in January and February. However, this morning it was 24 degrees out and our high is supposed to only reach 33. Brrrr.
Though it's cold, it's also sunny. I have been really wanting to get Licorice out on the trails. Unfortunately, I'm just not ready to go out all by myself and most people are riding in the afternoons and evenings, when there isn't much in the way of sun. It's important to me that Licorice not get too burned out, so I put the word out to my trainer that if there was anyone wanting to go out on trails, they should take Licorice.
Nothing new on the riding front. I have a lesson today. My first one in over three weeks! Yeah!
Last Sunday I had a super fun ride. There was a lesson going on with Sarah (a trainer) and her student Ben, who has Autism (I'm not exactly sure that's what he has, but it's probably the easiest way to describe him quickly). Her student was weaving through the cones. Sarah then decided to pull a horse out and hop on bareback. We were then joined by another rider, also riding bareback. On the spur of the moment we decided to do a little drill team action.
We did figure eights. Follow the leader. Weaving the cones. Threading the needle. Another boarder was out and saw how much fun we were having and pulled her horse out and hopped on also. Since Ben was challenged enough with steering and keeping up, we did everything at the walk. It was so fun to do something different though! I really wish there was more of that.
I still struggle with the question of what I want in a boarding barn and what my priorities are. I like laughing a lot, but I also like working hard and progressing. Dressage fills the need of working hard and progressing, but let's face it, there's not a lot of laughing going on. Not that we don't have a sense of humor when working on dressage, there are smiles and some laughing but it's usually not flat out fun. It is incredibly satisfying though.
I'm not looking to move barns anytime soon, but the questions are still there.
Maybe you should con some of your barnmates into doing quadrille! That would combine the drill team fun with the process-oriented dressage. Can it get more fun than that? I have ALWAYS loved drill team!
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