February 2, still cold...

No surprise, it's still really cold but at least we don't have the snowstorm that hit Chicago! Getting to the barn and staying warm while at the barn are the two biggest challenges in my riding world right now. I keep daydreaming about driving out to the barn in a t-shirt, pulling my horse out of the pasture and after a quick brush just throwing the saddle right on and going out in the field for a warm-up ride. Instead right now it's: drive through snowstorm to get to the barn, put toe heaters in boots, get horse out of pasture and put in stall, get all equipment out including the bit blanket and quarter sheet, debundle the horse and myself, bundle back up in winter riding gear for him and me, quick try to warm up and get to the trot work so that we can get feeling back in our extremities. Someone please remind me of all this when I'm peeling sweaty breeches off in the tack stall at an August show...