I noticed that my mood was deteriorating and my patience was wearing thin much quicker than normal when it came to the kids. And quite frankly, during a particularly rough evening trying to get Hazel to sleep, I had visions of throwing her down on the bed for Eric to deal with and storming out.
That's my cue that I need some horse time.
So yesterday once she was napping for her long afternoon nap (like... 3-4 hours, this kid is a marathon napper right now!) I came out to the living room and asked Kaylee if she wanted to ride Gwyn. She did.
It worked out well for the both of us. She got some one on one time with me, outside and I got some one on one time with Gwyn. Kaylee didn't ride for very long before asking to get down, but she did 'help' pick Gwyn's hooves and then was content to baby talk Saffron while I got on.
Gwyn was a dolt with me but we did get some good work done. Since I didn't want to rely on Hazel staying asleep, I only used the bareback pad just in case. So we worked on simple stuff. Halt/Walk/Trot transitions and relaxing. I could feel myself relaxing the longer I sat on her back.
And don't fret about miss Hazel, I have a baby monitor that reaches from the house to the arena without losing signal so I'd hear her if she started to wake up.
Gwyn was a little sweaty so Kaylee helped me hose her off and then I went to corral Saffron back to their grazing paddock and off the winter pasture. I learned that she leads quite willingly when I entice her to walk forward toward a bucket of grain. TIL! I feel silly not having tried this before now.
After hosing Gwyn down, Kaylee was playing in the dirt, so I hosed the kid down, then we had a water fight that mainly consisted of Kaylee spraying me with the hose. It was so much fun to play with my kid without having the baby attached to me.
After all that, we stripped naked on the back porch, because who the hell would see us anyway, and went inside to change. Hazel stayed asleep through all of that, so it was a good afternoon.
I definitely feel the positive change in myself. More patience, I'm calmer. I definitely need to keep making time to do this.
<3 these girls
The Goober Pony teaches the tiny human about proper equine care by standing very still for her bath
Tiny human likes to play in dirt that is likely 90% manure bits
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