You are who you are: Easter

Ah, Easter long weekend and boy did it go FAST! I rode (lots!!) to Oats’ chagrin, haha. Did a lot of running (with a friend and a trail run with Ian), enjoyed a lovely Easter dinner with my in-laws and generally just enjoyed myself, my company, my animals and the weather.

Hoppy Easter from Tucker Bunny! 

I also ate a LOT of chocolate…Yum. No regrets!

And I did a traditional Easter photo-shoot with Gidget and Tucker. They were absolute chaos to wrangle, hahah.

Two friends.

And struggled greatly with terrible allergies. My sinuses felt like they were being drilled from the inside-out. UGHHHH wtf is with these allergies??? I am suffering! Plus this week is very busy, with double riding lessons, work is busy, horse show on Saturday and the TC 10k on Sunday. Busy busy busy!

Better buckle down, me!

Saanich Fair 2015!

This year we went on the Saturday- because we had a race on Sunday (my next recap post) and the weather was supposed to be nicer on Saturday. It turned from pretty ok summer weather plunging deeply into October-type weather in oh, a week or so. Naturally, the week I took off work, of course.

Now that I am back to work, it is summer again. WTF>! Effing..grumble…grrr….

Anyways, the fair.

I wouldn’t go on a Saturday again. It seemed like all the activities I really loved – miniature horse show, llama packing obstacle course, SuperDogs courses- weren’t running. The horse show rings were empty for most of the afternoon, light horse and heavy horse shows. Blah.

So, there wasn’t as much to look at.

The animals were great though, I love bunnies! The vegetables and fruit displays were neat, as always. I did hear some grumbling about the judging at the pie displays, hahah, I guess judging is subjective no matter what you’re judging–rabbits, horses, hunters and pies! Hahah.

Cuddle bun!

We didn’t go on any rides, as the lineups were totally crazy and quite frankly I hate rides mostly…They make me feel really sick, I guess my motion-sickness has gotten worse as I got older. Can’t say I miss them that much though! They are also mega pricey.

The weather was so chilly that we had to go back to the car to grab our jackets. I know, crazy eh? Usually it is so hot!

I was glad we went at all but I wouldn’t recommend Saturday to people. Plus, the horse show part was so boring, walk/trot classes only. Sunday is clearly the best day for the fair.

Hoppy Easter!

Sadly, back to reality today but I had a really GOOD Easter, complete with going off the grid up-Island and some nice Easter candies courtesy of a lovely friend. Oats got the weekend off, and I did a quickie night-time longe on Sunday PM when we got back from my in-laws dinner (which was delicious, I ate WAY too much) and then I rode him on Monday over some small fences and he was great!

I’m going to do up a separate post for the off-the-grid trip, but in the meantime, Buster and I did his annual Easter photoshoot, so please enjoy! I love Easter, it’s one of my favourite holidays.

Easter Buster

Buster’s Easter haul

Spring has sprung at the farm~

So, not only did I run this weekend up Island, but I had a great opportunity to stay with my in-laws, who have a lovely farm about 45 minutes up Island from us.

They have so many animals, and baby animals right now! Lambs, bunnies, chicks- love it~

Lambs!

So, I rode Oats on Saturday and my husband was able to get some pics and a video  (that showed Oats VERY behind my leg, arghhh) but we did get a very smooth, lovely left-lead two-point canter, and then we packed up the dog and headed to the farm!

Saturday riding

(Oats then had Sunday and Monday off while I recovered from the run, and I rode him last night- cancelled my dressage lesson because I had an inkling it would be very unpleasant on my legs…Smart move, as I was still a bit sore).

And we spent a really nice time at the farm. We had lunch, hot-tubbed, cruised around checking out the lambs, and even picked Bracken fern fiddleheads to cook at dinner. Apparently they are poisonous if you don’t cook them correctly, with oxalates much like rhubarb leaves, so we had to blanch them, them steam them. They taste a lot like asparagus mixed with aniseed. Interesting, but not sure if I will seek them out again.

Bracken fern fiddleheads

We had a really nice time, and the little lamby-kins are so cute! His parents are very generous, treating us to dinner whenever we make the trek up, and dog-sitting for us on a pretty regular basis. Gidget can be a little jerk at the farm though, barking, chasing sheep, getting dirty, and being a VERY restless sleeper (much to our chagrin the night before the run?!! arghh).

Bunnies

Anyways, after a busy weekend it’s good to get on track again. So, I’m riding again tonight, and then we have our jumping lesson on Thursday.

Springtime

A ‘hare-y’ tale

Love this story- about a man and his Irish hare. A hare is not like a rabbit!

Lovely and heartfelt, thanks to my sister for sharing it with me:

A hare about the house, by Cecil S. Webb

Adorable!

Here is my rabbit a few years ago, exploring in the snow in Whitehorse, YT.

Buster exploring in the snow

I have long had an affinity for rabbits…Grew up with a pretty wild dwarf rabbit named Nitchka, who had a guinea pig friend named Earl. They were pretty hilarious those two!

Buster digs deep

We had several other rabbits, but none lived as long as Nitchka, who was 10 years old when we put him to sleep- as he was declining rapidly, and blind.

Coming up for air

Now I have a surly little dwarf named Buster Bunny, who is not a very friendly rabbit and kind of a jerk to strangers and my husband- but he likes me, and will eat Goldfish crackers out of my hand when I’m holding him!

He likes to hop around the house, he sometimes gets chased around by Gidget, our little dog, but he likes to sniff Gidget and will sometimes see if she wants to play too! We do have to watch them closely, as Buster is older than Gidget and gets tired easily. He needs his downtime more than she does.

Buster is like my hare about the house, though he would chew the house to splinters if he was allowed to live free-range in it!