my sanctuary

The barn is my sanctuary. It is the place I like to go to unwind and relax from my job and life in general. I like that I can be the only person there, surrounded by horses and nothing else. I actually missed the smell of hay, manure, and horse on my work trip! Who would have thought?

Miss this? Never. . .

I may have become selfish with my time at the barn. I choose when I want to talk to people and sometimes it is nothing more than a mere hello or good bye. If I feel like engaging in conversation, I do. Otherwise, I do my thing with Shyloh and leave. Sometimes, after a particularly challenging day at work, the barn is just what I need to recharge myself for the next day. The last thing that I want is the barn to be a place that is stressful. I need my barn and my Shy time. 

Which is why I find it fun to just goof off with Shy on a regular basis. I teach her how to honk, to wave, to kiss. I just hang out with her in her stall. I watch her in the pasture. I take her for little trail walks on the property and play ball with her in the arena. I don't have her take a lesson for 3 (!!) weeks. . .oops. Oh well, we are in no hurry.

From past vacation experiences, I was not under any impression that Shy would be excited at my return. When I went to get her from her pasture, she was near the gate and let me walk up to her and put her lead rope on her muzzle. Maybe not jumping for joy, but at least she wasn't running from me! Improvement. 

We have a show coming up next weekend and I wanted to practice the mane roll. I have a better idea how it is done, but we are not quite there. . .yet.  This attempt was better than previous attempts, but still we are missing some step in the process. I'm going to keep trying. I also ordered a show halter. We are going pro, haha!

This weather is insanely hot! It was 90 degrees today, and it is not even June! I hosed Shy down to cool her off. Silly girl was drinking water from the hose. During her bath, I discovered that she is rubbing her lips on her muzzle and they are getting raw. 

On another note, her whiskers grow fast!!

Poor girl. I made arrangements with Beth to keep Shy in the short, short grass pasture so she can heal from her muzzle rubs until I can figure something out. . .any ideas? This way she will be wit her herd when they go to that pasture and she will still get outside when the rest of them go to the pond pasture.

I took wet Shy in the arena to apply her "fly deterrent". Rolly pony time!

Adding just the right amount of sand. . .

Apply to both sides, and done!

Then we went outside to dry off. And Shy got a chance to perform all of her tricks for another boarder! Happy me. . .I mean us. . .

Wish her mane would grow like her tail

No one wanted to hug her today after she applied her fly deterrent. . .

Now I am going away again for the Memorial Holiday. Everyone have a great weekend! When I get back . . . show boot camp. We will be square and hold our heads up. We will back up through an obstacle. And we will do the best we can!