~El Nino~ is coming, or so says the weatherman.  I know we need the rain.  I acknowledge it’s a good thing. I don’t have to enjoy it.

It has been raining all this month.  It stops for a day or two or three, and then starts back up.  We got five whole days of sunshine this week.

Here’s the thing:  I’ve been riding on the trails since summer 2011, so winter 2011 was the first year the weather made any difference for me, and that pretty marginally.  I know 2010 was wet, and maybe 2011.  I remember going to the barn, getting on in the rain, walking circles, going home and doing productive things at home that one does in the middle of a rainstorm.  2013? 2014?  We rode year-round, pretty much, and I suspect the same for 2012.  This whole not-conditioning due to rain thing is new to me, and I don’t much like it.

My barn schedule these days consists of some quick round pen work, cleaning her paddock, refilling her bale bag once or twice a week, checking water, and going home in the dark.

I also brushed my muddy pony. Efficient, Confetti, and very thorough!

I rode twice this past weekend, with two of my favorite people, and it momentarily kicked me out of my winter funk. Confetti was well-behaved: the round pen work paid off! (Not that turning her out in the arena for a good run first would have anything to do with that…) Bareback, relaxed, easy trot. Life is good again.

This weekend, if I’m lucky, I’ll repeat the process. Life has been crazy lately and my poor horse has not had much of it, and we both pay the price. Fingers crossed that improves soon, even if it is just circles in the rain.