"I'm Late, I'm Late, for a Very Important Date!"

One basic issue that we have combated for years seems to be our chronic lateness for our riding dates. We are famous for being late, no matter the time of day. I will take full responsibility for this, but some of these issues lie with boarding our boys. The barn was only 15 minutes from our house, but we always seemed to be hung up, trying to not to forget to remember to bring stuff we'd need for a ride, dressing properly, bringing drinks and snacks or money. Sometimes traffic would gig us, missing every single light, rush hour or road construction.

Sometimes we'd get to the barn and the horses hadn't been fed yet or were still eating. Sometimes they had just been let out and didn't want to be brought back in. Other horses would drive our horses away from us. Sometimes we'd have the barn help hold them in, but Skip would be so wound up being left in without the herd he would be soaking wet, weaving in his stall and hard to handle. There were particular incidents that I won't even go into here that were just awful and simply dangerous.

It also didn't help that we had tack and equipment in the tack room, our house, the car, our two horse trailers - the Glick and the KieferBuilt. This has led to having halters, ropes, buckets, muck buckets, manure rakes, etc., in quantity. I know we should try to be more organized. But that apparently takes more time than we allot.

We have ridden probably 5 or 6 times since: Skip's injury; working on the corral project in West Virginia; back-to-back-to-back snow storms; my surgery; my beloved uncle Dellman Eppstein's death; the work-load on the farm; and anything else I've left out. Our boys seem to think they are semi-retired, having only time to visit them, rarely ride.

I do feel that once we are moved we will be able to be on time for a change. We'll know exactly when are boys are fed, where they are in the field, how dirty they are, have the designated trailer loaded with needed riding equipment and have a better attitude about trailering out. We also can walk 50 yards back to the house or shed to get what is missing. Plus I'll be more relaxed not having to deal with people at the barn that seem to want to get in my way.

Our horse life is going to be excellent, soon.