I have always missed horses the most at this time of year. There is something about the autumnal trees and misty mornings that make me long to ride through the woods and enjoy a good gallop. For a long while, I haven't really had the time to ride because I've been so busy with my studies, but I knew that once the Masters degree classes were finished, I would get back in the saddle.
I really enjoyed my first ride on the autumnal equinox, and I have been riding regularly since then. It's wonderful to be back in the saddle and out in the fresh air. As a writer I spend a lot of time cooped up indoors, so it's lovely to get out riding once more. Although I can't spend as much time at the stables as I would like, it just feels amazing to be back there at all, especially after the pandemic. I feel like I will never take stable-life for granted again!
Riding is hard work. It's a fantastic workout and it has the added adrenaline rush of a risk attached, because horses do spook and throw their riders from time to time. But that's one of the things I love about it. It is unpredictable and the horses keep me alert and thinking ahead. Autumn is a busy time for wildlife and so the horses do tend to spook a lot, as birds fly out of the tree line, or squirrels dash around looking for food to store. All this sudden activity can scare a horse and make them shy, so you do have to be ready for the unexpected!
When I worked at the equestrian center some years ago, autumn was my favorite riding season because it is still sunny, but neither too hot nor too cold to make riding and stables chores an arduous task. The weather is just right. The woodlands are stunning in all their autumn colours, and while the deer tracks can be muddy under hoof, it all adds up to an enjoyable and exhilarating riding experience.
Although I no longer work with horses, I still love the smells and sounds of the stable yard; the shuffling of hooves through shavings or straw, the chomping of the bit and jingling of harness, the smell of fresh wood shavings as beds are put down, the grassy scent of hay as hay nets are filled, followed by the rustle as horses pull wisps of hay from the netting. I love the scent of saddle soap and old leather, of molasses mixed into feed with fresh apples and carrots. I love it all.
As the days grow shorter, stable routines become much cozier. Beds are put down earlier and filled out with fresh shavings; horses are brought in from the fields, groomed and put into their pajamas - that is they are rugged up and their stables bandages put on. Hay-nets are filled, weighed and put ready for the night checks. Tucking the horses in for the night was always a pleasure.
One of my favourite jobs at the equestrian center was mixing the night feeds. The feed room would always smell like a summer meadow, with all the varieties of feed in their bins. I enjoyed mixing up the meals for individual horses, adding in the molasses, the sugar beat, the appropriate supplements, stirring it all up and then leaving it to dampen down, before it would be given to the horses last thing at night. Feeding time is still one of the things I miss about working with horses - but I am so glad I'm free of that job come the winter time or a summer heatwave! Still, the scent of horse feed always makes me feel nostalgic for my very first job at the stables when I was a teenage girl.
That said, at this stage in my life I am much happier to just ride and leave all the hard work to a whole new generation of pony-girls! It's someone else's job to clear the ice from the water troughs, or dig the ragwort from the fields! Now I love that I can just go and have all the fun, with none of the discomfort of working long days in pouring rain, or freezing winds. Now I ride, I take joy in the outdoors, I see my horsey friends and enjoy the camaraderie - but then I get back in my car and drive home to my warm little house, where my writing work is waiting for me.
I feel like I have a good balance of writing and horses in my life again and it makes me so happy. It's as if the two things feed off one another - the writing pays for the riding and stable time, while the fresh air of a woodland hack or a lovely lesson blows away the cobwebs, leaving me clear headed, inspired and ready to write when I get home. Since childhood, horses and books have always been the two main staples in my life, keeping me happy, healthy and motivated. I am grateful that I am still in a position to enjoy both to the full.
I'm currently working on some brand new projects too, which is very exciting. My summer deadlines were met and so now it's time to bunker down for a dark season of new writing. These two new projects are quite involved and there is a lot of work to do for them, but I am so thrilled that I get to create in this way that it doesn't really feel like work at all. Writing is what I love to do. One of the projects is a dream come true for me and something that I used to imagine for myself, but then dismissed as a pipe-dream that would never happen. Well, now it IS happening and I feel so grateful for the opportunity. I can't wait to share it with you all! The second project is also something that I have wanted to do for a very long time, but again, I didn't think that I would ever get the opportunity - I thought I'd missed the boat on that one completely, but now the chance has come along for me to bring that vision to life in my writing as well. I feel very lucky.
To my mind, there is nothing better than riding beautiful horses and ponies in the morning, then returning home to settle into my study and start writing my dream projects. I'm also planning to return to ice-skating at some stage this winter too, all being well and I am going to an ice-dance show in December, so that should get me in the mood for skating again.
It's awesome that this is my life and that I get to do all the things I love once more. After months of restrictions and lock-downs, it is wonderful to have my horsey, happy writer's life back again; to have things to look forward to again. I never take it for granted and I'm sure I'm not the only one who is just thrilled to have a life again, because life after a pandemic feels even more magical!
Blessed Be
Marie x
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