The belief is in my bones.

With a high in the fifties and rain enough to sog the ground, I'm seeing fresh sprouts of green grass and furling forms of vibrant moss on the trees.

Yes, I'm feeling springtime in my bones and the excitement is quivering there like a trapped beast who knows the doors about to be sprung. Despite the very mild winter we've had so far (and despite the fact that we have another month or so of the frigid cold (or should have) I'm already sick of it and the frozen ground (especially mucking the paddocks at work when the manure piles are frozen to the ground, that just sucks) and I welcome the rain and the warm and the soggy ground the way the farmer welcomes it, knowing we'll all soon be back in action.

I can't help but think back a year and remember, almost exactly, what last January was like.

It was like sitting in prison. I would wake up every day, sometimes with my then-boyfriend there, sometimes not. I would scrabble around the filthy apartment (filthy because A: We were lazy, and B : because we didn't have enough room for all of our stuff or the money for a storage unit, so everything just kinda sat in the floor or on the coffee table, or where-ever) and try to pull together a meager breakfast (Hello, slice of bread, how are you today?) and then I would sit on our bed and play on the internet, half the time crying because I was lonely. I had no car, couldn't go anywhere, no real friends who lived near-by. Just an empty, dirty apartment and no food. I couldn't get out to go visit my horse or do anything fun or see friends. Nearly my entire month of January was like that. That was the month that really started to shake me, made me realize I had to get out of there.

By March, I was free, and by April, so was Siaga.

I have to be honest, I really hate hauling water when the hose is frozen. But hey, at least I can. I can haul him water now, instead of sitting in that apartment alone, wishing I could see the winter fluffies of his coat, feel the coarse hair of his mane, pick up each hoof and pick it out, rest my forehead to his, and tickle his nose while I tell him his star looked like a funny and squashed version of Texas.

Now I can do all of that, and while I wait on the weather to warm up a bit more and his weight to return again after the initial winter loss, I look forward to the first ride of the year.

Recovery

Well. Rain rot is gone. Or seems to be. No more scabby bumps, and none seem to be forming back. Thank you very much, MTG.

For his weight, he's gone from a 3.75 back up to about a 4. I refuse to ride him still, want him to get enough weight back on to actually look like he could handle it. I know he could now, but hey, I waited 6 years or so to swing a leg over that back, I can wait another month or whatever until he's filled back out a bit.

I'm beginning to accept that I'll probably never cover up those ribs I always see (as he ends up with signs of being too fat every BUT his ribs (gutter back, plump belly, fatty deposits around rump, tail head, elbows, neck, etc)) but I would like to get his rump and his top line filled back out. Right now he's on a grand total of 4 cups of straight oats and 3 cups of sunflower seeds every day, with about 6 flakes of hay total, too.

Diet Change (Again!)

I've taken Siaga off the sweet feed. The horses at the other barn are on whole oats and with an additive of black oil sunflower seeds and/or chia seeds depending on their weight. This is what I'm moving to with Siaga, whole oats and sunflower seeds, with a hoof supplement, as well.

Also, an ode to a new year. Happy New Year, everyone. :)

Resolutions I made last year:

Fit in a size 10 pair of jeans: Check. Made that.
Ride Siaga on the trails by ourselves by the end of summer: Check, made that by mid-spring, and were riding with other people by mid summer (or one other person).

This year:

Fit in size 8 jeans. Working on it. xD
With Siaga, I want to become more comfortable riding bareback.
Master trot and canter.
Start taking dressage lessons.

:)