Texas.

 I have been a severely absentee blogger, but that's because I just packed up my life and headed farther away from home than I've ever been, ever.

I said goodbye to the best boy in the whole wide world. It was pretty heartbreaking to let him go. However, I have him at a family friends place with some show horses and already got an email that he's doing well. Apparently the weather has been up and down and they've been taking his blankets on and off for me, and he has some buddies. Sigh. Good news, but still makes me a little sad. I miss the goof. I have both his stall sign and monogrammed halter here in my room to remind me of him.

Anyways... between saying goodbye to Jingle, friends and family, I finally got my shit together and packed the day beforehand. My "Bankie" had to come along for the ride, but my suitcases were hitting the weight limit so bankie came on the airport (along with a Tim Hortons sandwich - missin' that Canada!)

Texas is like horse bootcamp.

We have 70+ horses where I am, all disgustingly expensive, mostly owned by people who have disgustingly high amounts of money in their bank accounts.

I wake up at 3:30 am, have breakfast and head to the barn for 4 am. Generally, we saddle as many 3 year olds as we can, and then we begin by warming them up and my boss will come. He will then work each one either on cows, or the flag. We'll switch him a "fresh" horse, unsaddle and bathe the horse he handed to us, and then do it all over again. Once we get through them, he's generally done for the day and we'll take a bit of a lunch break and then myself and two other lopers will switch to exercising "show horses", which is anything 4 and up. Boss man's assistant and the two year old trainer will then work all the two year olds we have on the place. We then have to return to the barn for 8 pm to turn off fans and blanket 40+ horses, sometimes just slinkies, but right now slinkies and stall sheets.

The days are very, very long. The heat was insufferable the first week I was here, and now the humidity is what is getting me. Once my body figures out how to live in Texas climate, I will be a bit more settled. haha.

A 5 am loping shot, I still find it hard to believe me of all people is awake at 3:30 am to ride horses.

The past three days it has been pouring rain, which makes for pretty cramped and uncomfortable conditions with us all squeezed into the covered arena trying to warm up horses between Boss-Man working horses. I'm hoping the rain will let up soon but it's still coming down outside. Furthermore, the dirt here is just .. so... dirty... the clay composition is like a thick paste and just coats everything. My boots are taking the brunt of it.

The lines beside the names mean that all the horses have been ridden aka a day is officially done. The first week my head couldn't hit my pillow fast enough, not it's a bit better but "bedtime" is no later than 9 pm or i'm feeling it the next day. Sometimes it's hard to believe i'm currently living in Texas, a lot of things are different and i'll blog about them soon. A part of me definitely misses home, but a part of me is glad I made the trip down here. Shows are coming up so i'm excited to hit the road and see a bit of the country that way!