The wild ones

Barn tales, Life with Circe, Life with Jezebel, OTTB, Training
[caption id="attachment_890" align="alignleft" width="300"] Circe being good[/caption] It finally melted... the snow, it finally melted. I made plans with my trainer to ride both the girls Saturday afternoon. Sunday is our usual day but she was working down the road with a friend of mine and her horses so we switched it up. Besides it was sunny and warm and by warm i mean it was 45 degrees out. Being the first warm day in what seemed like forever and a weekend the barn was crowded. Everyone wanted to ride. 2 people were riding up the driveway, another was tacking up for the trail and the resident natural horsemanship guy at our barn had back to backs at the same time as my girls training rides. We elected to split…
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I’m on a horse

Barn tales, Life with Jezebel, OTTB
[caption id="attachment_877" align="alignleft" width="225"] Jez View[/caption] Finally! I rode my horse! Okay I mostly walked because the ground was harder then i thought when i first got on and i didn't get to ride the red-head because she has much more sensitive feets then the wild one. But i did tack up and get on. We did one trot set but that was all because i was worried about ice. It was about 25 degrees when i got on and gave it a go. Jezebel was a real trooper and for a horse that hadn't been ridden in a while because if weather she was a right good girl. No spook, no zoom, just happy to be working. If you can call what we were doing work. I was just…
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Old man winter

Barn tales, Life with Circe, Life with Jezebel
[caption id="attachment_844" align="alignleft" width="225"] That looks delicious[/caption] It snowed again the other day. About 6 inches at home stuck and about 8 inches at the barn. It has been very cold out, highs in the low 20's or teens and wind chill factors making it feel at times below zero. Which of course means that the ground's covered in snow, under the snow the ground is frozen, i can't ride, i cant have my trainer out to ride, I don't want to get out of bed, i cant get motivated to do anything, my broken hand hurts like a motherfucker, i'm a bitch to be around and i miss California.. blah, blah, blah. Yanno the usual winter complaining bullshit. I read somewhere that this is the worst winter in this…
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Clippity

Life with Jezebel, OTTB
[caption id="attachment_802" align="alignleft" width="225"] Gettin' clipped![/caption] Jezebel gets fuzzy. Shes got no issues growing that winter coat. Since she back in full work and with her trainer 2 days a week she really gets a work out. The other days i ride, i take it a little easier on her. Basically i'm taking it a little easier on me but the result is the same. So Jez has been getting sweaty and cooling her out takes longer. Usually I  have to toss a cooler on her, wait for her to dry, blanket her in whatever weight the weather dictates and then I get to leave the barn for the day. Wait, that's after i do that two number two lovely Circe as well. So I've been wanting to clip her.…
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Lazy Days

Life with Jezebel, OTTB
[caption id="attachment_774" align="alignleft" width="200"] Oh Hai[/caption] My first day back at the barn and my first day out of the house in a week. It was a warm 55 degrees, It almost felt like spring. I headed on down to the barn to see the girls, happy to be out of the house, finally! Still congested but not contagious. The girls were in their mud field just hanging out. I slogged though inches deep mud to get Jez who was laying down on a round bail. "Hello Besos"  I said as I walked up to her, she didn't move just squinted at me and gave me lovey face. I love when she lets me approach when shes laying down, it shows real trust. I slipped her halter on her and…
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Bird Flu, Ebola and the Plague

Barn tales, Life with Circe, Life with Jezebel
[caption id="attachment_766" align="alignleft" width="171"] Damn It Jim, I have the flu[/caption] I did get sick, even though i willed myself not to, yeah that didn't work. I think its the plague or maybe the bird flu. I've been home in bed unable to see the girls for days and really unable to do much of anything but lay in  bed in a stupor and read Facebook on my phone. Good times. I feel lucky though that i have a great farm owner and friends down at the barn to keep their eye balls on my girls. At least i don't have to worry about them while I suffer from Ebola, or rabies or whatever debilitating bug i'm suffering from is. I was laying in bed, under the covers, unable to…
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The wind chill factor

Barn tales, Life with Circe, Life with Jezebel
[caption id="attachment_750" align="alignleft" width="251"] I'm wearing ALL the clothes[/caption] When I got up it was zero degrees out. ZERO. Zero's not even funny, as a friend of mine says. One is funny but zero? Zero is nothing. With the wind-chill factor according to my weather app it felt like -17 yep, thats with a negative in front of it. My god. Around noon i got my ass going and went to the barn. It had warmed up to 6 by then with a wind chill of -5  improvement of sorts. I was bundled up as warm as i was going to get. Smartpak base layer pants, fleece lined breeches, Smartpak base layer top, t-shirt, red mid-weight Dickies hoodie, black sherpa lined Dickies hoodie, sock liners, smart wool socks, paddock boots,…
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Gooooooal!

Barn tales, Life with Circe, Life with Jezebel
This should probably be an actual page not a post. Yanno so i can look at it all the time with it starring me back in the face every time I see my site, for motivation. Not that I need a ton, im a self motivated person. I've been a freelancer for the last 12 years. When I was a fancy shmancy art director in La La land I learned right quick to hit your motherfucking deadline. Of course that means you have to manage your workload, your clients expectations and make sure you buffer in for the unexpected. Setting goals is no different. The expectations you are managing are your own, the unexpected buffers you need to build in could be injury's and changes to your time-line. This is…
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Snow day on the farm

Barn tales, Life with Circe, Life with Jezebel
[caption id="attachment_725" align="alignleft" width="300"] Snow day[/caption] When I got the the barn it was all covered in a soft white layer of fluffy snow. It looked beautiful but I know better it was cold out there. My car temperature gage read 23 degrees. Thats cold for this Southern California girl. I was prepared, I had all the clothes on. I thought maybe I'd ride Jez as Circe hasn't been ridden in a bit due to her sore hoof. Tina was working so the trail was out. She's my trail buddy and Jezebel isn't ready to hit the trail alone, we'll get there eventually but right now its just not possible. I checked out the ring and it looked usable. They snow hadn't turned to ice yet and it was all…
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Under the wire

Life with Jezebel, OTTB, Trail Riding
I met up with Tina early. The plan was to get out on the trail before the snow hit. It was cold. I was wearing all the cold weather stuff.. i mean all the stuff [caption id="attachment_696" align="alignright" width="300"] My jacket is lined with fur from this Muppet. Really![/caption] SmartPak's SmartShape Base Layer Tights. I got them on sale a while back and had yet to try them out. Over those i had on the Kerrits Power Stretch Winter Tights. For socks I had on sock liners and Smart Wool crew socks from REI. I hate spending that kind of money on socks but my feet were toasty at least for a while. My boots were my Ariat paddock boots. No half chaps, i own several pairs i never wear…
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