Trail Bound

This past weekend Quest and I enjoyed a lovely reunion with the trails we left behind nearly 4 years ago. My husband had a virtual meeting in the morning and was wonderful enough to watch Caleb while I got some sorely needed, undivided barn time. 

For readers with eagle eyes, the bridle and rein setup probably looks quite familiar. Earlier last year, my good friend Nicole was looking to part with some tack she was no longer using. Coincidentally at the time, I had been keeping an eye out for a tack set for my husband. I reached out to Nicole and she gave me not only the tack but also an Orthoflex saddle that her husband had used. I nearly cried happy tears at her incredible generosity towards my family. 

Sadly due to the timing of my pregnancy, hopping on Quest to try out the saddle and tack had to wait a few months longer. The wait was SO hard. I had heard tons of good things about how comfortable Orthoflex saddles are and was impatient to see what the rage was all about. I did have my husband help bring the saddle out to the barn shortly after it arrived so that I could get everything fitted and sized for Quest. 

This past weekend, I finally had the opportunity to get the full setup together and hop aboard. Before we hit the trails though, I wanted to see how Quest fared with the new tack in an arena/somewhat contained space. It had been raining on and off all morning so the small indoor was feeling pretty crowded with a lesson that the BO was doing with a student and a boarder who was riding bareback. Despite the buzz of activity around her, mareface did fine- we did a few laps of walk and trot with no issues at all. The rain was starting to let up just when another boarder showed up to use the indoor, so I decided that it was time for us to head on out. 

Quest was all business from the moment I pointed her towards the pasture path that led to the trail head, asking me to let her trot. The less than ideal weather kept most of the normal trail users at home so as soon as we hit the trails, I let her open up and we flew along at all gaits, unhindered the entire time. True to all the things said about it, the Orthoflex was amazing. It felt secure and we had no issues with slipping. I definitely could feel the rust coming off both of us as I got back to using old riding muscles, remembering to change trot diagonals and cuing for canter on both leads. 

Gliding along the open trails, I was able to take my first deep breaths in what felt like forever. We ended up doing about 4 miles in less than an hour and mareface felt game for more. I really missed her, riding, just everything about this lifestyle so much.

Back in the Saddle

The long awaited moment finally happened this weekend. Quest and I did our first real ride after nearly 10 months and it was the perfect way to start the new year. 

W was wonderful enough to watch C in the car while I did my ride without worrying. He really is the best husband. The extent that he understands how much riding and my ride goals mean makes me so grateful for his complete support <3 

Mareface was foot perfect and awesome. We did about 30-40 minutes of walk-only since I'm still healing from the incision and didn't want to do anything that would set my progress back. I felt great though and it was tough not to keep going or be tempted to do more than just a walk. Quest was definitely feeling good as well and she asked politely to trot at a few points during our little jaunt. 

I guess it was a good thing I didn't do too much since I felt a little sore later that evening- definitely need to build up those riding muscles again haha If the weather stays decent, I'll probably be going out to the barn most weekends and might try to fit in a longer trail ride at some point! 

Reunion

A few weekends ago, we did a barn trip out as a family of three for the first time! 

C was super during the drive (lots of sleeping) and woke up briefly to check out his new surroundings. W stayed in the car with the little guy while I went out to the pasture to go fetch Quest. 

During the winter months, the upper pastures are closed to the main herd so thankfully I didn't have to slog through a ton of snow-laden terrain in order to get mareface. I was also still technically on medical leave and have been trying to be good about not overextending myself so I could heal...and get back to riding sooner!

I found Quest dozing happily in the morning sun with a nice fluffy winter coat going on. After doing my usual look over (cleaned/checked feet and ran hands all over), I did a quick grooming session before leading mareface over to the fence for the highly anticipated meeting. With C still a newborn, we made sure to bundle him up for the outdoors. The temperature difference in the pasture vs at home is big enough so we played it safe with winter wear. Poor kid's jacket was super oversized but at least he was warm haha 

As expected, Quest was just amazing. Always ears up, she was quietly inquisitive, gentle, and seemed to "check in" with me from time to time. There was lots of praise for her and we made sure to snag plenty of photos together. 

I wanted to stay at the barn longer but the weather was pretty cold and I didn't want to risk C getting sick. Good news though is that as of last week, I had my final post-op appointment and got full medical clearance from my health care providers so saddle time will be happening. 

With winter in full swing and a baby in tow, it might be a bit hard to get in those focused rides that I was used to doing but all in good time!

Baby Boy C

My little guy arrived on November 9 at 10:14am, weighing a solid 8lbs 6oz. After a 3-day hospital stay, we have been recuperating and bonding with lots of newborn snuggles at home since then. 

The weeks and days leading up to C's delivery were super tough on me emotionally as I struggled to come to terms with a scheduled c-section due to C being breeched at 32 weeks. For two months, W and I tried everything to get him to turn but he was stubborn to the end (...maybe perhaps much like me in a lot of ways.) The procedure itself was textbook perfect though and recovery has been relatively smooth thankfully.  I'm still mentally coping with how things ended up but in this process, I got a jumpstart on learning one of the biggest lessons in parenthood: Things rarely go according to plan. 

It's been three weeks since we got home and I'm surviving motherhood so far. The feedings at 3-4am are the toughest part but all in all, C has been a good baby. I have my final post-op appointment with my health care team in about 3 weeks and if recovery continues to go well, they will give me the all clear to return to full activity...which will definitely include some much needed saddle time with my best mareface.  

Nine months away certainly feels like an eternity. Though as much as I want to rush back into the swing of things to make up for the time lost this past year, I'm trying to remind myself to slow down and enjoy the moment- which includes giving Quest the winter months off as I've done so in the past and pick things up in late January/early February. I've been chatting with a few equestrian moms on FB and their experience has said the same. So as the nights grow longer and the temperatures colder, I'll enjoy the newborn days before they come and go in a blink of an eye. 

Big Changes Ahead!

It has been incredibly tough not to completely spill the beans on this big news for the past couple months. but...I'm expecting and found out yesterday we're having a boy! And fun fact, the little one and I may possibly be sharing a birthday too.

Obviously with insanity happening in the past couple of months, I've been especially careful since finding out we were having a kid. With a lowered immune system right now, the hospital is the last place I wanted to be so I have only bummed around bareback on Quest one time and stayed within eyeshot of my husband. Mareface was totally perfect though and probably bored LOL

I'm sure I could continue riding until I physically can't but in these times, its better to be careful and to be honest, I've been enjoying my time on the ground with Quest. She's still doing well at the new place and I'm yearning for the day when we can hit the rail trails again.

But for now, I'm enjoying being a mom-to-be and looking forward to what this next adventure in life will bring (: