A snowy Sunday with changes in the air.

This blog post is dedicated to my Mother-in-law. 

Both my in-laws have been here all week for the holiday and to help us renovate our laundry room. MIL has been a huge help with Jr. and happily baby sat so that I could escape and get some "me" time. Up until today, that "me" time has included dentist, doctor, hair cut, etc...maintenance appointments. Finally, today though, I got to the barn. So thank you MIL, you rock!

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Snowy entry drive.

We woke up to softly falling snow this morning. I love snow. There is something about it that just makes me happy. I love donning sweaters, and drinking hot tea, and listening to holiday music. Hum, reading that sentence, if you didn't know anything else about me you would think I was a sentimental old woman that has eight cats and spends her days knitting. I am not, and I do not (actually I do knit). Regardless, I love the snow. There was a good couple inches on the ground when I went to the barn this morning and by the time I left the barn there were four inches of snow!

Paddock boots in the snow make for chilly feet...
I must remember to wear my pack boots!

Rose in the snow. Gasp! Standing like a good girl,
albeit giraffe like, outside.

Rose was a disgusting and hot mess when I arrived. EB is home for the holidays, and only rode her on Tuesday. Although...I'm thinking she didn't ride her after all. Rose was hot, hot, hot. She was also completely covered in grime. She hasn't acted like this big of a fool in the cross ties for some time now. Eventually she settled down, but I made sure to longe her before my ride. Since we were alone in the arena I free longed her. She dutifully went around me in a circle. I may not be pregnant anymore, but lord is it nice to longe a horse, classically, without a longeline. That is perhaps one of the best "side effects" that came out of my pregnancy.

Post ride posers. No more baby fat on this momma!

After the longe session I hopped on and she was well behaved and focused. We warmed up, practiced a couple training level dressage patterns, and then I decided to drill her at figure eights with...hold your horses...flying changes at the canter. She nailed them! Her balance has improved greatly over the last year, as have her transitions, so she no longer needs to kick out to get the change. Clearly it is time to start asking and expecting her to do them from now on.  I am so happy that we have finally reached the five year old maturity that everyone told me would eventually arrive.

Sweaty girl modeling her Rambo cooler.
She looks so good in blue!

As for postpartum weight loss, I'm all done! About a month ago I hit my pre-pregnancy weight. I was quite happy about that, but it also became noticeable that I was still losing weight and my milk supply was starting to dip, so I started upping my calorie intake a bit. Now all is well, my weight is staying steady, and I am happily re-discovering my wardrobe. Now I just need to ride more so I can get my muscle tone back. Rest assured though, if you are a first time equestrian mom out there, you will get back to pre-pregnancy weight and fitting in your breeches within six months if you are breastfeeding, without exercise. Just don't over eat and you will be all good. I imagine if I'd had a way to ride regularly I would have lost the weight even faster. But hey, 40lbs in six months with no effort isn't half bad!

Happy trails and swooshing tails!
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