Plans that either come to naught, or half a page of scribbled lines

I've been terribly uncommitted to riding lately.  I wish I could will myself to get up early and ride before classes, but working late nights is getting to me, and I find myself unable to do anything but hit "snooze" at 8 am.  I think I'm going to start keeping a Red Bull on my nightstand - or maybe setting my alarm to that terrible "HONK HONK HONK" Nickelodeon alarm and hiding it in my bathroom.

I haven't ridden since Sunday.  SUNDAY.    On Monday, I worked until midnight.  Tuesday, I had class from 8:25 AM until 5:30 PM, and then had to hike up to Manhattan.  Stayed in the city until Wednesday around 11 pm.  Thursday, class from 8:25 AM until 9:00 PM... and I was just toasted.  I'm heading out to ride today, though, and I think I'm just going to hug my horse a bit, do some walking, and tell him how much I appreciate his patience with my inconsistency.  Starting this upcoming Sunday, my personal schedule slows down a bit, and I think I'll make my goal of riding 4x.

As an aside,

"Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies - or else? The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation."
                                                                                  Martin Luther King, Jr.

and 

"False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil."
                                                                                  Socrates

 

As Good As It Has Been...

First of all, sorry for the lack of blogosphere activity, crazy busy here. I've been reading but not commenting, mostly because I've only had time to read on my phone.

Anyway, big changes coming to Gali and me in the next month, but I'm not going to say more until I know more.

Gali got his feet trimmed early Saturday morning, but I had to head home before I got a chance to ride.  I did get to spend some time grooming him and he's shedding out so nicely.  It makes me happy, because I am fairly certain there will be a time when he doesn't shed out so well and is a cushings horse, and since he's turning 16 this year, every winter that I get a good shed, I appreciate.

I had no time to ride Sunday or Monday before I drove back out to school, and have been swamped with work for school this week, so I don't think I'll have a chance to ride until Friday.  I'm disappointed by the fact that I seem to have no time to ride when I'm at Rutgers, but I know that'll change this summer, and I'll be at the barn nearly every day.

In other news, since I've been at Rutgers I've been looking for ways to stay fit without killing my knees.  When I'm home I have the barn - but here, it seemed I was limited to machines, which give me a good workout but leave me in pain for days afterwards.  Last night I overcame my "I don't know what I'm doing here!" anxiety and swam laps at one of the school's pools, and I've found my solution!  I didn't look too ridiculous among the swimmers, with their fancy caps and fancy not-needing-to-breathe, and really enjoyed the workout.  I'm not sore today, but I am exhausted, and I look forward to swimming more as the weather gets warmer.

Juggling.

Sometimes, I get so sick of juggling.  I feel bad complaining, because everyone I know is juggling, and many friends have it much harder than I do.

Still, school is a lot right now - I don't do all of the readings I'm assigned, and I still have well over 200 pages a week to read.  Most of it is interesting stuff, and I don't mind the work, but finding time is not easy.  Work isn't awful, but my hours put a strain on me sometimes.  Tonight, my shift is 6:45 PM - 2:00 AM.  I know I won't get to sleep until much later than that, and I have an exam tomorrow afternoon, so I am going to have to wake up early enough to eat breakfast, review my notes, and get to class.  I just get tired.  I'm lucky that tomorrow's latest class is cancelled, so I can go to see Gali right after my exam.

It's really tough having him an hour away.  I don't know how much longer I can do it.  When I have time on the weekends, it's fine, because we have all that time together - but more and more frequently, my weekends are being taken up by work, family, and academic responsibilities.

I am thankful for the farm, though.  I don't think I'll find a facility as nice as this farm any time soon, or anywhere around here.  The fields are meticulously maintained and massive.  The trails go back for miles and miles - as far as you can ride, there will be trails.  There's a track!  The jump ring is big enough for any sort of riding, and the dressage ring is small enough and fenced in enough that I feel secure when Gali is acting up - almost as secure as I would feel in an indoor.

I have so many friends there.  I'm not a competitive rider by any stretch of the imagination, so having friends at the farm is one of the most important parts of choosing a farm to me.  Riding is about myself and my horse, yes, but it's also social.

It's not even like I'd get much closer.  If I find a farm near Rutgers, I have to deal with 287 traffic and nearly all of them are over half an hour away if I go west or north.  Allentown/Horse Park area would be a super easy trip from school, but it's much farther from my *real* home. 

Still, I don't think I can deal with the distance much longer - if my schedule doesn't lighten up. Plus, if I'm going to get an NYC internship and take summer classes, which I really should do, then I'll be at Rutgers most of the year anyway.

So, now, in addition to juggling school, work, and horse, I'm trying to decide if I should move him closer, and risk a crappier facility or poor management, or deal with the distance and not get to see Gali nearly as frequently, but know that he is in good hands.

Help.

Bad Pony Mom!

Ugh.  Sorry for the lack of riding-related posts lately, but I just haven't been riding.  When I am at Rutgers, the farm is just under an hour's drive away, and just under 100 miles, round trip.  All of my classes start at 1:40 on the farthest campus from my apartment, so if I leave time for myself to grab lunch and run to class, I have to be done at the farm by about noon.  In order to get a decent ride and leave enough time for a proper cool-out, I have to leave my apartment by about 9:30 AM.  I know that doesn't sound early, and well, it isn't early, but I've been working until 11:45 PM or 2:00 AM most nights this week.  Yesterday, I had an early meeting that prevented me from riding, and today when the alarm went off at 9:00, I couldn't help but hit snooze.  I'm working until 2:00 AM tonight, and after being run down all week, I just couldn't do it.  Luckily Lynn brought Gali's food out for me, and I was able to snag a few extra hours of sleep.

After this week, though, I'll only be working late one night of the week, and should be able to make it out to the barn to ride on Wednesday mornings, as well as my usual Friday, Saturday and Sunday rides.  Still - 9 feels early, and I'm going to have to come up with creative ways to make sure I get up, because today I'm feelin' the missed-the-good-weather and miss-my-pony guilt full force.