*crickets*

I know, I know. It's that quiet around here of late.

I'd admit that I'm kind of a horrible, inconsistent blogger. But y'all knew that anyway.

I've been a combination of busy and not-busy. Busy with things like work, and the holidays. Not so busy with things like actually riding my horse.

And truth be told, I can only make endless circles in the arena sound exciting so many times. So this weekend, we took a walk around the neighborhood. I think the pony enjoys seeing me hoof it next to her sometimes versus toting my butt around all the time.

The neighbors across the street had a new addition to the front of their property: Goats!

The Pony Who Stares At Goats

Mimi would like a goat. Her best friend at one of the boarding stables was Trixie the pygmy goat. Trixie would, when she was allowed out of her pen, hang out in Mimi's stall and shared the pony's hay.

Four-legged weed whacker

Then we came back to the barn and ate grass next to the driveway for about .5 seconds. (It's non-existent in the pasture right now, so I'm paranoid about her level of exposure to too much green stuff. )

Fortunately my work life is keeping me busy. There's some days I scratch my head and wonder how in the world I got so lucky as to be one of those people who actually gets their dream job?! Seriously, I love what I do. I enjoy talking with people, especially hearing their stories about their horses.

Two weekends ago, I went up to the McDowell ride. My purpose there was two-fold: Friday, I was working, available as a Renegade representative for anyone who had questions or needed help. Saturday, I was volunteering as one of the in-timers, the same job I did at the ride last year.

It was so awesome to be a part of the endurance community again. My goal for this upcoming year is to attend all of the in-state rides that I can as a company rep. Until I'm actually competing again, this will serve as second-best, and it's still keeping me involved and social.

Saturday morning ride start. 75s out on trail, waiting for the
50s to start checking in.
(One perk of not riding: I was up at 5:30 instead of the 3:30
wakeup I would have gotten had I been riding and had to
get ready.)

Color-coordinated. And cold.

The ride went really well, as far as I could tell. The weather was perfect. It was downright cold up until about 11 in the morning, at least for me sitting at the timing table. Around 2:00, the clouds blew out and it warmed up enough to where I was comfortable in a t-shirt...which meant I was sufficiently re-heated to be able to handle the oncoming cool evening.

The last of the 75s were in at 11, which was awesome. I barely had time to break out the hot water, ramen noodles, and cocoa.

Despite what the photo shows, it's actually a
lovely matte cocoa color. I added the custom
Renegade orange racing stripes.

And my one impulse buy at the ride was actually useful: new helmet. I looked at my old one and realized it was about two years past its "best by" date (which is approximately 5 years past the date of manufacture). That's not ideal...

Of all the things out there to purchase, this is one of the more justifiable ones. I've yet to test it out -- it's so pretty and I don't want to mess it up! -- but it's the same as what I already have, the Tipperary Sportage 8500...just about 6 years newer and a different color.