This morning Vicki and I headed out on a trail ride.  Vicki was excited because Alex had given her permission to ride Dakota. I could tell she was a little apprehensive when she was grooming Dakota and said: “Mom, he’s big”. I rode King. He was as always great. We trotted and cantered down the roads of Pachaug and Vicki said she loved the pony. On the way home Dakota suddenly started head tossing and acting like he was going to run off with Vicki. She was freaking out. Dakota was upset by her freaking out and the bugs that were attacking his sweaty body. We stopped and calmed down and while Vicki was still a bit worried coming home, all went well. Note to self, Vicki does best trail riding for about an hour, then she is toast. Maybe hunter paces will have to wait a year or two for her.
But, we had a good time and covered 6-7 miles in an hour and a half. Pretty good work out. Now I just need me some bug shields.

As a child I loved to read. I would go to the library and come home with lots of books on the newest topic of interest, or some novels to read. I spent many nights up late reading. Then I would sleep late. I am still a night owl and I am trying to get back into pleasure reading but I am so darn tired I always fall asleep when trying to read at night.
Today I took my kids down to the library. They love to go and immediately disappear in search of their next read. Alex goes upstairs to the young adult section because he’s read most of what interests him downstairs in the juvenile section. Vicki goes off in search of her next horse book or Nancy Drew. Amanda picks out two books quickly and then plays quietly. The library volunteers and the youth librarian recognizes us. In a town with a school the size of Griswold’s this is pretty sad. We go once a week on average, because my kids read a lot. Alex devours books. Vicki will not go to bed most nights without finishing the book she is reading. Amanda insists on two stories before bed. I strongly believe that video games and TV are rotting our children’s brains. Alex reports that is all the boys in his class talk about.
So why do you wonder do I not buy a kindle or nook instead of constantly going to the library? Well we had a tablet with a Kindle reader on it and Alex was a fan, but the kids broke the screen, and we refuse to replace it until they’ve earned the money back. I just don’t want their eyes staring at a screen for hours. The feel of a real book and the library experience is important. The unusual quiet that enters the house after a library trip is priceless.

Every family struggles with juggling all the kid activities, parent hobbies, jobs, volunteering, and so on.  Our family is no different.  It is easy to add on one more thing here, and there, after all, that activity is only 1 hour each week.  Some of the hardest decisions are the ones where you stop doing something and draw back.  We have been having a lot of discussions about this lately.  Obviously, we invest a lot of time and money into our agricultural activities, and in particular, with the horses.  However, as we have added one more thing here and there, we reduce our available time to ride the horses, keep them in shape, and help the kids improve in their riding.

Therefore, we made some tough decisions this week (the kids did get included in the choices).  Alex is stepping out of Boy Scouts.  That was a hard choice since I grew up in Boy Scouts, but I think this is the right choice for Alex and for the family.  Also, Vicki will be ending her participation in Girl Scouts.  I sold my wood working tools because I don’t have time to use them for big projects any more (it has been almost 4 years since I did a real project).

Instead, we are choosing to focus the family on our farm activities, the core of which, is horses.  Both Alex and Vicki will be attending 4-H camp this summer, and will be taking a goat with them for Goat Week.  They will also be riding in at least one Pony Club horse camp.

Sometimes, you have to just draw a line in the sand and re-focus things.  For us, horses are THE Main Thing, and we just have to make sure to keep that priority at the top.

This morning we headed out to the 4H textile arts show in Gales Ferry at the St David’s church. Vicki brought a toy horse blanket she made from potholder squares. The kids made concrete tile stepping stones, paper flower balls and felt bracelets. There was also a fashion revue.

This afternoon Alex and I went trail riding. I rode King, and Alex rode Dakota. Alex grumbled a little for making him leave his game on the computer but then went to tack up his pony. After we crossed the water behind out barn we picked up a trot. We rode for an hour, trotting and even cantering, walking only when necessary, crossing water, going down majorly washed out rocky trails and zig zaging through downed trees. Dakota was such a rock star, no spook, no stop, climbing up and down and over stuff without jostling Alex out of his saddle. He even carefully climbed over a two foot log.  King, who recently has been a handful jigging back to the barn was a pleasure to ride today, albeit a little out of shape. Recently Rob and I watched an 80s outdated endurance dvd about conditioning and one of the veterinarians stated “if your horse is fretful, you are not giving him enough exercise”. Apparently, horses are related to my husband and require exercise to mellow…
I really am looking forward to taking my family of riders to some hunter paces this year.

Last night Longvu Bx Tangueray  Texter “Tang” had a “popped” udder and we put her in the kidding stall overnight checking on her a few times. It wasn’t until this morning around 8.30 that she had her babies, one buckling and one doeling. Stay tuned for names.