Half Saturday Down...

Saturday is my favorite day.  This morning we were up early, and after a quick breakfast for us and the animals, we are out the door.  Two vehicles, headed in roughly the same direction.  Cabbage took Beep to the racetrack, and I headed for the barn to ride Sam.

At 8:00 this morning, the outdoors were just starting to heat up.  The light was soft and bright as Sam and I walked to the outdoor arena.

We had a great ride. 

And by "great ride" I do not mean perfect.  We are flawed, and definitely imperfect.  We are both lacking condition, have stiff spots, and have skills needing sharpening.  That's to be expected after the last couple of years, which have been pummeled by emergency surgery (his), career (mine), lameness (his), and pregnancy (mine).  We are just getting back online, and are not exactly a well-oiled machine.   

Today, Sam was hyper and took too much...ummm... creative license with his canter.  There was hopping, and head-throwing, and unruly behavior.  He was generally a butthead.  He got in trouble.  He was in good company, though.  I cursed myself for my overweight butt and my slow reaction time.

But we are partners, so we get through it.  Even a disorganized, off-kilter ride is a great one, because it's always going to be challenging and interesting, athletic and exciting.  That makes it fun. 

After our ride, Sam had a bath and some grazing time.  I look at him during quiet moments like this and simply think "What a lovely horse."

(Of course, that's not exactly what I'm thinking when he's hopping, head-throwing, and generally being unruly.  What I think then would make this blog NSFW.)

Anyway.  I then took my sweaty, horse-hair-covered self to the racetrack to find Cabbage and Beep.

I found them cleaning stalls. 

Beep was picking up poop.  Does this violate some kind of child labor law?

What about wheelbarrowing?  Is that bad for toddler development?  She only had about 8 stalls to clean.

Next, clean shavings.  "Are these the right ones, Dada?  How many bags?" 

We expect our child to toil.  Preferably in hot sun.

We also expect her to spread the shavings in the stalls.  After she gets them clean, hauls away the dirty shavings, scrubs the floors and polishes the silver.  Hello, my little Cinderella.

 Nice job, Beep.  You're hired.

And for your reward, you get to ride Junior!  Good thing you did all the work for Daddy and Papa, so they had the energy to hoist you up there. 

(No toddlers were actually expected to work in the making of this post.  And Beep did not ride anywhere, but don't tell her that.)

We also met the vet to have a look at the inside of Junior's throat (more on that in a future post).  Then a quick lunch of Chipotle burritos, complete with Beep shrieking at the top of her lungs just for the sake of the echo... and on that note we headed home for Beep's nap. 

Now, I can hear Cabbage down the hall, sweeping and mopping the floors.  How cool is he?  I'm sure he's wearing his cowboy hat, which might make him the only cowboy in the universe that is mopping floors, in his hat, right at this moment.  He rocks.

All this, and the day's only half over.  This afternoon we will find some kind of adventure...  To be determined.