My Daily Routine

I am also stealing this idea for the "unofficial" blog hop.

I work, full time M-F from around 8:00ish - 4:30ish. I have always done better in the morning if I keep my perp to a minimum and then pretty much head straight to work so I get up around 7:30 (I'm lucky enough to have a 10 minute commute) and that leaves me from around 4:45pm-12:00am in the evening so that's when I ride.

Normally my routine is to take a day off riding on Monday and Thursday to just to do other chores at home, spend time with friends, veg out, and/or work out,.

On Tuesday I have my lesson at 6:30pm so I get home from work, eat a quick dinner and then drive the 35 minutes to the barn (45 if rush hour traffic is really bad) which means that sometimes I get there just with enough time to groom and tack up quickly.

The way the barn looks in the evening

Wednesday and Friday I leave the house around 6:00-7:00 after playing with Veggie, eating dinner and changing into my riding clothes.

Weekends are my favorite (really who can say differently) but I sleep in a bit normally until around 8:00-8:30, make myself some coffee, grab breakfast and then head to the barn. I usually get home by noon which includes the extra time that I spend at the barn over the weekend.

Not my pictures but my weekend cold press looks very similar :)

Since Katai is in full board my time at the barn, other than when I have a lesson, normally consists of pulling all of the stuff I need out of the tack room and putting it on hooks/saddle stand near her stall. I  grab my helmet, grooming bag, saddle, saddle pad, saddle shims, girth, pink dressage boots, and bridle. I put my boots on and then get the pony. During the week she's already in her stall so I just lead her the 5 or so feet from her stall to the crossties but on the weekend I pull her out of her paddock. I get her groomed and tacked up, boots, saddle, I put my helmet on, and then put on her bridle and finally put on my gloves. Then we go into the arena where I normally ride for 30-45 minutes but sometimes more if she needs it.

Katai would like everyone to know that she would prefer
to be doing this on the weekends

I usually don't lunge before I ride unless I have reason to believe that she's uncomfortable or going to be especially naughty. For some reason the lunge is both of our happy place and even if she ends up being naughty under saddle it almost never shows up on the lunge so I'd just as soon hop right on since it doesn't seem to make a difference and where if she is naughty or tight I have more tools to correct it.

Part of my current riding playlist

Normally I listen to music on my iPhone speakers while I ride. After we're done I pick up poop and hand walk her for at least 5-10 minutes (thanks to my first instructor when I was 12 and reading Jec Aristotle Ballou) since I believe in walking to cool down and I may as well join her and walk next to her rather than staying on her back.

Then I crosstie her, untack her, and turn her out or put her back in her stall. I love cleaning up after my ride and after putting all of my tack away I sweep, grab any empty supplement baggies, and then head home. On the weekends it's usually around lunch time and I'm hungry so I normally stop at Taco Bell, since that's the only fast food place in the area that has vegan food,  and then head home. On the weekdays I get home right around 9:30-10:00pm so I usually watch a movie and play with Veggie or do some work and then head to bed.

I'm lucky(?) to have very little going on in my life outside of work and Katai. I have friends and we hang out enough for me to get all of the social interaction that I want but most of them are in a different place in their lives (married with kids) so that doesn't happen as often as it did. I have to admit that selfishly I'm happy to be able to spend as much time as I want doing the things that I enjoy most.