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August 17, 2013

Winter and Spring 2012/2013

As the weather changed and the trails closed down yet again, my life changed in the most extraordinary way. My beautiful son, W, joined our family. Life warped and priorities changed and he became the center of my universe. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Winter came fast and hard and lingered forever. I grew weary of late night treks to the barn in sub zero temperatures with a foot of snow on the ground. I didn't want to spend time away from W and knew something had to give. I could no longer fit work, W, hubby, Gem and running all in if I wanted to remain sane. Unfortunately, work had to remain if we wanted to eat and live indoors. W and hubs were here to stay. That left Gem and running. Running went away. I do miss the races from time to time and may pick it up again when he is grown, but for now I am perfectly content to leave my running shoes in the closet.

Gem did get ignored quite a bit though. It really had little to do with W and more to do with my lack of cold tolerance. Usually, the hubs and I spent winter snowshoeing and playing in the snow with the dogs, but this year we stayed inside with W. We also jacked up the heat from the usual 58 degrees to a balmy 65 so he wouldn't freeze which meant going outside felt even worse. I probably rode on average every other week. My portly pony got even bigger. I had the second most annoying conversation with the BM about it one day. Gem wasn't in much work at all. She had free access to hay both inside and out. She didn't need grain. The BM said that all horses in the barn got the same amount because it was easier. Um....? I asked her to change, she declined to do so. I couldn't go every day to feed her myself and we weren't going to move them, so Gem ate.

Spring came or at least per the calander it did. I thought I'd have more time to ride, but life got in the way time and time again. There was work. There was W. There were job interviews all over the place. There were my surgical boards that I studied endlessly for (good thing to because I passed!) and eventually there was the BIG MOVE to prepare for. I did get out once a week in the beginning and then about twice a week once it actually did start to warm up a bit.

The hubs and I wanted to get one last trail ride in before we left Wisconsin and it never really happened. I tried to go solo once and that was a mistake. Maybe that will be tomorrow's post. It is kinda funny. We managed a one hour ride at the Experimental Forest and had a decent time. Both horses were out of shape and we took it slower than usual. It was nice to just stretch the legs and we wanted to get them into the trailer again before the BIG MOVE.

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