Ringing in 2009

Lights on the sun in the front of our house

Yesterday (after trimming) Mario and I took the dogs to the barn for a nice lonng walk. We went out the back of the property and spent a good while checking out the furthest back pasture. I really want my horses to be in that pasture... it's got nice safe wood fencing, lots of room, pretty view and a covered shelter area. Mario said he would put up a tack shed for me back there and we could get some big feeders so the guys can feed the horses in them (rather than on the sandy ground). We also talked about putting down some dry stall or DG, something like that, to keep the gate and loafing areas from getting too muddy when it rains. Otherwise it's got great terrain - sandy firm footing most of the year, right now there are some misc weeds... enough for them to browse around and enjoy nibbling but nothing where Hope could get into trouble metabolically (She has Cushings and is most likely insulin resistant).

One of my new year's resolutions is to get my horses into a place where they could have ROOM to be horses, to move around, and be a happy little herd. I want to practice what I preach to my clients... Sporthorse has so many things that I want in a facility - they feed whatever hay I want (RARE!!), they have a nice dressage arena with lights, they are close to the house, there is a place to park my trailer, the people are nice, we can bring our dogs, etc., etc. The only problem has been the horses currently live in 12 x 24 corrals. They are beautiful, don't get me wrong!! But what is beautiful and convenient for me as a human is not what they as horses would prefer. If you think about it, no one would probably even consider keeping a 20 lb pug in a 12 x 24 area, never mind a 1,000 lb horse... I'm thinking positive thoughts that this is going to work out. The barn owners have traditionally not allowed anyone to keep horses in the pastures that are in work, and the pasture I have my eye on has been reserved for babies. However, there are no babies this year - and I am a good long term client... So let's all take a minute and imagine my blog post where I am showing photos of my 3 horses enjoying their new lovely pasture!!!!!

After the barn, where Jordan's eye was flared up uh-gain!! ~ argh! ~ we went home and had a really nice relaxing New Year's Eve. We broke open a bottle of delicious apricot colored sparkling wine that Stephanie & NIck had given us for our anniversary last year... and worked on our new manifestation wall... meticulously cutting out new images for the new year... they ranged from images of prosperity, friendship, working out and good health, to a little decadence, happy horses/riding photos, peaceful or motivating quotes, etc. We haven't put them up on a wall yet, so no photos yet. :) We finished off the evening watching a couple of funny year end shows on VH1 and I learned a new trick. Armpit farts. Who knew they could be so funny? Well, I guess any 8 year old knows. Mario declared that I did them so well that it was not possible I had just learned that moment. But you have to balance the really spiritual new agey stuff with the more uh... immature. So anyway, we were actually awake and laughing when we heard the midnight fireworks ~~ HAPPY NEW YEAR !! ~~

Today - Jan. 1st - Mario made a famous Mario breakfast and we watched the Rose Bowl. One of my clients was riding her horse in it (I trim the horse) -- how cool is that??? She was probably the only one on a barefoot horse, but hey - one horse at a time, right!! Here's one of the photos we snagged off the computer. She's the one on the bay and white horse, she's waving.

We also enjoyed some homemade biscotti sent in a KICK ASS care package gift box that The Bressani's sent us!!! We love *everything* in it ~ generous and joyous ~ thank you both soooooooooo much.

I spent the rest of the morning going through all of my (HUGE) stacks of catalogs, magazines, bills and misc. paperwork on my desk and narrowed it down to one small, managable little square. Yeah!

Mario watched more of my new Pete Ramey DVDs and sharpened my knives and 2 pairs of nippers to a beautiful razor edge. AWESOME! That makes trimming soooo much better and easier.

I'm heading out to the barn now, time to visit the pones and set the stage for 2009 ~ when I was little my friend Maura told me that whatever you do on New Year's Day is a prelude to what you would be doing the rest of the year. Back when she told me that, all I wanted to do on NYD was RIDE A HORSE. Afterwards it became more like getting through the day with a hangover. ;-P Not really what you want for the year. ha! Today it became about enjoyment, contentment, getting things done and setting plans for positive things. I'm looking forward to '09. :)