After-Work Barn Routine

Loving this idea from Karen at Patently Bay! All us ammies have our own schedules and it’s so fun to peer over the fence to see what we’re all up to.

Here’s how things usually go for me:

5pm: change into riding boots. I usually just wear my breeches to work because they’re so much more comfortable than jeans to me at this point and I SWEAR EQUESTRIAN CHIC IS TOTALLY TRENDY RIGHT NOW. So my changing is pretty much just my shoes.

5:05pm: Get in the car and call my mom. She is wise. Sit in a little bit of traffic, but make it there in ~20 minutes.

5:30pm: Make the rounds. Check the lesson board to see who’s riding that day, pet some ponies, say hi to the cats, help as jump crew for lessons if needed, just chill and decompress.

6:35ish: Fetch Frankie from his field. I like him to be outside as much as possible, so I’ll wait until the last possible moment to bring him in. Usually he just stands there and waits for me to go get him, but last week he trotted up to me and I almost cried.

6:40pm: Groom and tack up. I don’t groom TOO intensely before riding, just picking feet, curry, soft brush. Everything else waits until after we get sweaty and gross. Tack is basic: open front boots go on first (for the simple reason that if I wait to put them on, I will forget and he will go sans boot. Not the end of the world, but homeboy kicks his own legs sometimes and I feel better having some protection on him), then saddle, then I get my helmet/gloves/crop, then bridle. Nothing fancy and it’s the same day-to-day.

7:00pm: Hop on! If we’re lessoning we’ll do about 20-30 min of flatwork before jumping, but otherwise we focus on flatwork. Sometimes I’ll drag out poles to work through to mix things up. Usually sharing the ring with at least one other person.

8:00-8:10pm: Hop off. Run up stirrups, loosen the girth, undo his noseband, pick his feet, and clean up any poops before leaving the ring. Usually end up standing in the ring chatting with people for a while before ACTUALLY leaving the ring.

8:15pm: Eventually make it back to the barn. Depending on how sweaty he got, we’ll (a) curry the crap out of him, (b) sponge off the saddle area and any sweaty areas, or (c) hose off his whole sweaty body. He gets some Heal Quick/Healthy Hair from the Herbal Horse put on his various scrapes, and then some Shine Bright coat conditioner. Can you tell I’m a fan? Francis smells so purdy after this.

8:45pm: Fly spray and turnout. Big Man is on night turnout so he gets to go right back out when I’m done. More often than not, he sticks around for smooches at the gate, takes a good long drink of water, and then heads off for a good roll. And more often than not, I stand there watching him roll around like a dork and take snapchat videos of it. It’s never not funny.

8:50pm: Clean tack, put away all gear, sweep the aisles, clip up crossties. Basically taking care of everything that ISN’T Frankie. Also chat with Trainer, other ammies, the cats, etc.

9-9:15pm: Hit the road. Hope that manfriend is coming over and bringing food. Call Dad to gush over how great my pony is and give him the low-down on what we worked on.

9:45pm: Make it home, shower, eat whatever is easiest to grab, and fall asleep before doing any of the laundry I’ve been needing to do for weeks now.

This happens pretty much every day during the week except Tuesdays! Those are super busy lesson days at the barn so I skip the craziness and let that be Frankie’s day off. So far it works great! I’m lucky enough to have some great ammies to hang out with at the barn and be social, so some nights I’ll stay later. It’s not hard convincing me to stay at the barn 😉