It is funny how things go sometimes, you are completely depressed and feel really crappy about yourself. You realize the things you enjoy doing aren't being enjoyed and you are too busy with stupid stuff to do anything about it and then something happens and things do a 180. This, my friends, was Friday.
Riding buddy 2 (now going to be called RB2) was supposed to come ride on Friday so I spent most of Thursday night prepping the arena, I watered it and dragged it and even brushed the horses all the while feeling a bit depressed and lonely. SO had "helped" feed the horses and ran inside to watch TV because his show was on and even though it is a rerun he had to watch it. Friday morning I got an email from RB2 saying she had to cancel our visit because she had a work emergency, her storage area became partially flooded and she had to see what she could salvage. Grrrrrrr, was irritated not because she cancelled, as I understand, but because it meant I didn't have any one to ride with again AND I had spent all that time on the arena and wouldn't get to use it. Thus at lunch I didn't take the time to water again, something I've been doing because the arena dries so dang fast.
I got an email about another item I was selling on Craigslist Friday afternoon and they decided to come look at my item around 530p. 530p rolls around, they show up and at 540p I get a call from an unrecognized number. The conversation went like "Hi, this is going to sound really weird but I just cut your SO's hair and he told me you were looking for some to ride your horses?". Uhhh, yeah? Who are you again? I told her I'd call her back, sold my item and called her. She is a hairdresser where SO went to have his hair cut that night and in chatting found out we had horses. She had one that tragically died 4 years ago and she hadn't ridden since. After some talking she asked to come out that night and so out she came. Riding Buddy 3 (now RB3) is fantastic! She wants to ride a minimum of 2 times a week, is willing and insistent on cleaning stalls in exchange for the privileged and while chatty, is very pleasant. YAY, go me! The only downside was that despite working the arena, it was dusty. Argh!
After complaining again that the arena is always dust we bit the bullet and are trying magnesium chloride on our arena for dust control instead of the nonstop watering. We had to go over an hour away to get it because it is out of season (sold as an ice melter) but bought 25 bags and brought it home. We put 4 bags down last night and it has already made a pretty impressive dent in the dust level. We are making an arena harrow as we speak to dig up some of the packed dirt and then will put more down. If this works I won't have to spend so much time watering the arena and MgCl isn't supposed to dry out hooves like calcium chloride does and is much cheaper than some of the other arena treatments I had looked into. Being able to ride in the arena without dust AND having someone to ride with me? If this keeps up I just may break out of my funk yet!
That is fantastic!!! Way to go SO for finding you a new riding buddy. She sounds like a lot of fun. :)
ReplyDeleteThe arena treatment is interesting. I've never heard of it. I'm glad you found something that works. It's such a pain having to water the arena every time you want to ride. I'm glad things are turning around. :)