Jason has been on high alert and not made any specific plans at work. I, however, have made some plans in the hope that Oliver may take exception to them and decide to make an appearance. Unfortunately for me at this moment, he seems to have already accepted that the horses come first and he shouldn't interrupt that. I scheduled the vet for Monday afternoon to do coggins and rabies; looks like I'll make that appointment.
I have not let being pregnant get in the way of my horsey lifestyle. I hunted the entire last season until we were shut out by the cold and ice at nearly seven months pregnant. At six months pregnant, I got on the three year old little chestnut mare who was just nineteen days past her last race (I also decided to go for a supervised hack with Gena at eight months and an unsupervised hack at nine months; thankfully some chestnut mares have more sense than others). At five months pregnant, I took the big red mare to her first schooling trial. That was not my best idea given that I apparently did not have the mental capacity to read the dressage test correctly (even after discussing it with the judge), I almost forgot the last fence on the cross country course, couldn't find the start cones for stadium resulting in a round that I was super proud of and a technical elimination, and forgot to wrap for the trip home after making a big deal of borrowing wraps to ship in. I have finally had to give in to being pregnant, though, in the last couple weeks. (I rode both mares last weekend and could barely walk the fifteen feet from the living room to the bathtub.) Despite good road conditions and lovely weather this weekend, I declined to get on a horse. Instead, we focused on ground driving down the road and back. I even decided to leave Gena alone on Sunday feeling my body was just not up to dealing with the antics of a very green horse on her second trip with long lines. But this did give Charles a chance to go for his first real hack (outside the barn yard and down the road) on The Pony; his balance has improved dramatically over the winter.
The down time I've had for the last couple weeks (I even had to stop running on the elliptical) has given me plenty of time to move my nesting tendencies from the house into the barn and think about our goals and how to achieve them this season. Being bored has given me plenty of mental space to think about pursuing lofty goals. This year, Grace and I will focus on our dressage goals. Originally, I had just planned on doing the schooling show series of our local Central Vermont Dressage Association (CVDA) and maybe a schooling trial. Now, however, I'm thinking we should shoot for at least qualifying for USDF Regionals. The big hurdle to this lofty goal is finances.
My horsey plans and goals exist on a shoestring budget. That means that between the saddle I had to buy last fall and the upcoming round of spring shots, farrier, and a very-much-needed-or-don't-even-bother-doing-anything-other-than-hacking-and-letting-the-issue-become-worse chiro session for Grace, plus two schooling shows, all the money I managed to save from a lot of clipping last fall and hostessing at a restaurant all fall/winter a few days a week is about to go bye-bye. A toddler, a newborn, and husband with long, inflexible work hours means that my hostessing job is a thing of the past, and there's very little clipping to be done outside of mid-September to mid-December around here. I am left trying to figure out how to keep shoes on my horse after May 1 let alone how to pay for all the memberships, registration fees, show fees, and lessons required to even attempt my goal of attempting to qualify for Regionals. Hmmmm...
And now my return to foal, I mean baby, watch. Hurry up Oliver, there's only a few weeks left until the first show of the year.
Go ride a chestnut mare.
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