TIPSY TUESDAY

Jun 19, 2018
3 min read

This is a segment I hope to continue every other week. I'd like to say we're doing it every week but as Bill Maris once said, "Humans are terrible at predicting the future. We really overestimate what we can do in the short term and underestimate what we can do in the long term... If we can glimpse even a couple of years into the future, even that's difficult to do."

Yeah, so I am shooting low here and hoping this still isn't too high. Anyways, welcome to...

This segment will be tips of all sorts for all sorts of people. This week, I am guiding this tip to mamas who also have horses. More specifically, moms with little ones who have horses. You've done this incredible, amazing thing after 10 months of not owning your own body and now you want to get back to have just a minute or 30 to yourself.

I remembered the first time I rode after having my baby...

It was almost 6 weeks to the day from Teal's birthday. My own horse was pretty heavily in foal at the time so my MIL let me borrow her paint mare and offered to babysit so that I could join my husband and FIL as they left to gather cows.

Side note: I heard this joke a few weeks ago, "Do you know why indians rode mules and paint horses into battle? Because by the time they got there, they'd be fighting mad!"

My Mother-in-law's paint mare tried to buck me off twice and she took off with me... my first ride back in 6 months.

Such fond memories, right?

Anyways, for my 30th birthday, my husband and I bought a cute little three year old mare who had about the equivalent of 90 days riding. Her name is Billie and if you follow me on Instagram, you know that she's coming along so well (and that she's super cute for a sorrel). I can only attribute this to the fact that I try to ride my mares 5-6 days a week. This started when Teal was three months old. Yep. Everyday, I am able to juggle being a momma and put time into my two mares (we also bought a young palomino mare when Teal was six and a half months old) plus I ride another horse a few days a week. It's not always an easy task. Sometimes, it's a really, really hard task.

I have a whole arsenal & a tribe behind me to help get this done and today, I am sharing two of my tools in my tool shed that allow me to ride, keep baby happy, and keep mama sane.

1. THE PACK N' PLAY

Yep. A Pack N' Play. I keep one stored away in my tack room, and then pulled out positioned so I can clearly see it from the arena, and have since Teal was 5 months old (before that, he would hang out in his stroller with a bottle and/or a toy.) Teal LOVES his Pack N' Play time. I'll take some puffs and a few of his favorite toys down with us and usually a bottle. He laughs, talks to me while I am saddling/unsaddling, yells baby words of encouragement when I am round penning, or talks to the kitty/goat/or one of the dogs who's taken up the position of sentinel while I am in the arena.

For now, the Pack N' Play keeps him contained (I am sure this will change within the next 4 months.)

The Pack N' Play is mama's best friend.

2. THE JOLLY JUMPER

My child LOVES the Jolly Jumper (doorway jumper). He also has endless amounts of energy so it works out perfect. Sometimes Teal hangs out in it when I am saddling/unsaddling, cleaning pens, or round penning.

The Jolly Jumper that I have has toys hanging from it so when he's taking a break from jump-jump-jumping around, he has something to gnaw on. Plus, Teal's insanely happy in it which is so infectious so I usually end up just taking 10,000 photos of him being adorable before I actually continue with what I was supposed to be doing.

My biggest tip is to keep your baby happy and entertained... and to just go with the flow!