Three days, a thousand miles, and two cups of coffee later, I’m back in Virginia. And really, I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to leave Florida. It seemed like everything I touched this winter fell apart, and I refuse to let it get me down, but I’m really quite glad to be home.
I’ve gone through all the plans from A to about Q at this point, so we’re on Plan R:
– Midge is staying in walk work to try and keep good muscle tone while he heals.
– Fender is going to get some down time; he worked his tail off in Florida, and I feel like there’s not a lot of point in showing ad nauseum, so we’re going to work on thoroughness and elasticity and fluff around a bit.
– Ella is brilliant, hoping for a mid-summer national show and CDIs in the fall.
– Young Horse Quest is ongoing.
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– Triathlon is three weeks away, and since I now own a swimsuit that will not fall off me when I push off the wall in the pool (this was actually a much more complicated process than I’d ever thought possible, good grief), and the running is going well, I can focus all my efforts on biking. Problem: doing 15 miles on flat Florida land does not equal similar ease on 15 miles of Virginia’s Blue Ridge foothills. I seriously considered just flinging myself onto some barbed wire fencing rather than complete the piddly 7 miler I set out for last week. Ruh roh.
– My clients and their horses are all in GREAT shape, and the first show of the season is this weekend. This is a show that sometimes is 40* with sideways rain, and inevitably has some fresh ponies and fresh people, so I said, “Guys, only the diehards for this one. Let’s keep this show manageable.” And it looks like we’ll have 13 people there, so yeah, no biggie.
– I have a clinic scheduled in Wonderful Wytheville soon, but I’m also doing a clinic at a new place for me, the lovely and wonderfully-named No Worries Farm near Richmond, Va.
– And lastly, I celebrate my return to a full-sized kitchen by doubling down on my efforts to eat more healthily, including a smoothie every morning from frozen fruit, a splash of greek yogurt, and a green leafy veggie like spinach or kale. Less disgusting than you’d think, but certainly not appetizing yet. I’m tweaking my recipe.
The high is 52* today with nary a cloud in the sky. That’s 30* colder than south Florida, but there’s no contest as to where I’d rather be.
