Mud Spa Membership 2021

 From December to March I cease paying for board and instead pay for a mud spa membership. This is Goose's favorite time of year where he has full permission to act like the feral yak he is and live his best natural, disgusting life. 

Recycled from my last post but seriously he is so gross.

In the Carolinas, we don't get snow, we just get tons of rain with a few lovely sunny days in between and a few weeks of very cold (for us) weather. Part of me really misses the snow of the northeast, they're having a real, snowy winter this year, but I live for the sunny days in between rainstorms down here. 

I love my boarding barn. It's all pasture board with sheds for the horses, no arena, but plenty of space to ride out in the fields. For a horse like Goose, it is the absolute perfect situation for a coming-17 year old goober who weaves in a stall and gets stressed out in intense, program-based barns. He is the most happy here that he's ever been, and come May we'll have been here for three years. I wish we had an arena, but even if we did it'd probably be too wet to ride in through the winter unless it's covered so we do what we can for the wet months, trailer out when possible and do bareback muddy rides when we can. It works and I don't hate for him to get some downtime each year. 

"But mom I am a potato, I am supposed to be dirty!"

This weekend we finally had two sunny days in a row, and after a week of torrential down pouring rain,  I was hoping to get a walk ride in Saturday and then we had planned to trailer out on Sunday for a ride in Camden. Saturday morning started with a hike to King's Mountain with a few friends and our collective five pups. The trail was empty and when we got to a few creek spots we let the dogs enjoy some time splashing around the water. You know, because that's what normal people let their dogs do on a 39 degree morning in FEBRUARY. They didn't care at all, stayed plenty warm as we kept hiking, and I arrived at the barn later that morning with two very sleepy dogs. 

I think I should be a professional dog-poser. Is that a thing? 

The day had warmed up a bit, and I was hoping against hope I could get in at least a walk ride if it wasn't too sloppy. Note: talking about the mud is not a jab at this farm. It's winter. Mud is a thing for every single farm whether it's five star or our pasture situation (which is five star care in my eyes, these horses are all happy and fat and so well cared for). I just need to laugh about the winter or else I'll get swallowed up in a bog. Anyway, two people were trailering their horses out for a Pony Club thing so the horses were all a little Up with the commotion of the trailer, because winter. Goose and Scarlet galloped around their field like actual idiots, and I caught the tail end of it where Goose continues to snort like a dragon at absolutely nothing and then spooks at my hand. 

This boded well for a ride. I pulled him out of the field, cleaned up his feet and spend a good thirty minutes currying him and checking him for rain rot or scratches. All clear! I threw tack on since he was still snorting like an idiot and took him to the back field where I hoped it'd be a little less mucky for some stretchy walk and bending. I sat on him for five minutes according to my Apple Watch, took this picture, then hopped off. Walking a 1400lb yak through mud is just not my idea of fun. At least I sat on him, right? He was mostly well behaved, only flew sideways once at the boogeyman in the back field (which Goose LIVES IN) but honestly for how he behaved when I got there, no complaints. Sometimes I think tacking up and getting on for a minute and then right off is good for their brains. 

Proof I sat on him for five whole minutes.

Yesterday I went out to the barn and we ended up drinking wine instead of riding. It was delightful. The dogs ran around and had a blast, a few people had dropped off boxes for me to pack so I was able to grab those, and we made plans to go to Camden on a weekend that would work out better (this weekend didn't pan out, obviously. Also I think the horses would have been NUTS so I wasn't too sad about this decision). 

Now that I've written many paragraphs about absolutely nothing of importance, I'll share an update on the condo. It was listed on a Thursday afternoon, and within 24 hours we had an offer that we accepted Friday night. Woohoo! Last Thursday (a week after listing) was the inspection, and I haven't heard anything yet so fingers crossed they don't want anything crazy. Now I'm on to packing up 900 square feet of my life so I can move it to my temporary rental at my friend's house so I can start house shopping and hopefully move again before too long. Zuzu is beside herself about my packing - she is positively convinced I'm leaving her behind, poor girl. I have about two weeks before I have to get out, so packing will be my main focus with barn time sprinkled in as the weather allows. Wish me luck!