Gone ponying

Adulting is dumb.  Between the snow and the job hunting, I missed out on seeing my pony for most of the week.  Not that he minded since we had a cold snap and he was bundled up in his heavy.  Some days it's better to just leave him to his own devices.

Today I blew out of work early and headed out to the barn.  It was about 40*, sunny, and glorious. 

I have a policy of not pushing Theo after several days off, so it was just trotting around for the most part.  A lot of walking, some cantering, popped over some cross rails when a lesson finished using them because mi papi was completely convinced they were for him.  He got excited and pricked his ears every time they were reset.

Then we cuddled and I got all of the itchy spots that he can't reach under his heavy blankets.  He's finally shedding and we had a pretty good pile of fuzz.  I also treated his mane with MTG to encourage it to grow back in.  He's really thin in the mane from about the middle of his neck back.  I'm pretty sure his neck rug is rubbing out his mane.  It didn't do that last year, but last year, he didn't have that bulge of muscle in front of his withers.  Oh, the price of a developing topline.

So long as the weather is decent, I'll let him go out with a naked neck and try to preserve what's left of his mane. He appreciated my choice.

Even with all of the extra grooming, I must have missed some spots.  He wallowed and dug his bare neck into the snow.  Probably managed to rub out all of the chemicals I'd just used on him.  Thanks, papi.

Yes, that's about 20" of snow in his field from our Tuesday blizzard.  It's been cold enough that there's been very little melt.  We're supposed to have another system this weekend.  And just when we were able to see half of the outdoor and had started considering riding outside.

Tomorrow morning we have a makeup lesson from the blizzard.  I'm banning myself from doing any adulting this weekend.  It's all about brunches and shopping and quality time at the barn.  I've had enough stress to start eyeballing Theo's ulcer supplements.  I need to unwind this weekend.  Unwind = tack cleaning and locker clean out and pony cuddles.  I might have to try another trail ride in the snow.