Breathing the fresh air

With the return of milder weather, I have noticed more smiles on people's faces, and everyone--indeed everything: us, the horses, the earth--seems to be taking deep breaths.
And at the same time, there is a rush, a release of energy to start now, get up and going, moving toward whatever goals we have at hand.
In northern Vermont, this spirit and rush of the season continues all through the summer, perhaps with a small break when we slow down a bit for our local county fair. We feel the time we have to get things done in the good weather is brief--and it is, since frequently our season gets abridged even further than normal with occasional snowstorms in May or even June, that can return as early as late September.
Remember these times. Take a break to just look around as each day passes. Getting caught up in the rush is fun, but all too often we hear "Where did the summer go?"
Our joy should remain deeply rooted in being with our horses and realizing how privileged we are to have them as partners, not in how many shows and scores we get in a season.
Backyard barbecues with friends for no reason, days spent sitting in the yard listening to birds and watching the horses graze and swish their tails are so very important, as is the mindfulness to appreciate where we are and what we have in those moments.

My favorite summer time activity is sitting on my glider, watching the sunset over the Adirondacks while the dogs play in the yard and my horses graze in the pasture in front of me, and the sounds I hear are finches arguing over trees and the frogs and peepers in joyful chorus in the streambed at the end of the pasture.
Sometimes it is hard to quell the feelings of guilt that I am not riding, or cleaning, or fixing. But I also remain aware that these moments are exactly WHY I spend the rest of my time doing those activities. It is hard to relax, and to make myself stop and enjoy.

You know what? At the end of the season, and all winter long, what I remember best are not the horse shows, and how much I fixed or painted or the number of horses schooled each day. What I remember are those summer evenings when I was sitting in the yard, surrounded by the true fruits of my labors glowing in the light of sunset :)

The peepers are back--time to get to work and start enjoying what we have!