The trouble with winter...........

......is the darkness, for me anyway, . Don't get me wrong, the weather is freaking atrocious and getting worse and more unpredictable each year.......frost/snow/hail/wind/storm all in one day?! But the bad weather is a given, in Ireland anyway.

In the morning, the sun is coming up just after I've hayed them out, so there's no hope of riding. In the evening I get home and it's dark. I get in from work, I change and I go straight outside to get the stables ready and bring them in. I feed the horses and then the cats, AND THEN myself.......obviously it's done in order of importance 😂

During the week, I'm limited to what I can do in the evenings outside, so it's as above or we might go over to the indoor arena to practice. But that's all.......so I usually have a list of things I need to do at the weekend, in addition to riding and mucking out. If I'm lucky I may get a half hour sleep in, whoop-de-doooo. The weekends do not allow for being sick, tired or de-energised.............So after my last post, I was wrecked. I had to have a power nap. My energy was completely zapped. On the Sunday I did SFA bar letting them out and feeding them, to try and get over my cold. It did not work. Taking the Sunday off meant all of my extra jobs were put on hold for another week. But then the following weekend, I mucked out, rode 3 horses and still had a cold on the Saturday. Then Sunday I had our first competition and I helped out some friends earlier in the day and again, I was zapped. So there goes another week with only the imperative jobs done. On Sunday evening I couldn't even muck out because I was on my last legs......

So WINTER = NO TIME. Once I have the boys (incl. the cats) fed and watered and mucked out ( usually every second night), I get in and I eat and then I plonk on the couch and zombie like watch tv until I can barely keep my eyes open. Yet it feels like time has flown.......I'm not 'well rested'..........some days I wonder how I get so much done when you have the light in the evening ( and weather that isn't snow/hail/frost/wind/torrential rain).

 So we're all sick of Winter.........