Welcome to Fern Valley

Here in central Alberta prime farm country,my husband Martin and I work together raising beef cattle and Appaloosa horses. Fern valley appaloosas have long been known for their quality of temperament conformation and color.I have recently rediscovered a love of writing and have published 2 collections of poetry. "Telling Tails" and Tails Trails and Campfire stories" . I look forward to a future spreading my wings as an author and as a horse woman .

Friday 21 October 2011

Serious case of the "I Ought to's"


Feeling a little frustrated here . I cut down my "work " schedule  for a few reasons, not the least of which was to get more done here with the horses.
So how is that working for me so far?
Not great to be honest. I have been busier than ever it seems, and not accomplishing diddly!
Don't get me wrong, the colts are cared for , the rest of the herd as well. But as far as productive , tangible progress? NADA!
 I am looking for a new trainer as well. Not because Ernie is not good , but the guy is soo busy with farrier work , he has still not been able to commit a time for Cat and Andee . I don't relish the prospect of trying someone new. Both Ernie and Kate have been very good , and I am spoiled being able to trust them so freely. Kate is working full time these days and not able to help either so...

My choices are , work with the girls myself , until I either get the job done or get to a point where I need to absolutely send them out(hopefully by then Ernie or Kate can take them )

Or start looking for a new trainer right now and ...
That said , I should be riding(or at least working with ) . Annie, Wilder , Phoenix . And Dandy . Need to be handling the colts  as well.
The problem seems to be me and my time management . I have extra days available, and yet I don't seem to be accomplishing what I want to . Extra trips to the city , a pressing need to clean the house , feeding , checking , cleaning stalls ...
So , what am I doing here at the computer?? good question? I need to set up some accountability here , so I am telling you all where I am at .This blog started originally as a training journal, and I am hoping to take it back there at least partially . I will still post poetry and  photos , but hoping more of the day to days posts will be a chronicle of what I am accomplishing . That will mean a challenge for me to "take back the reins" of my own time and schedule . and be pretty firm in my planning .
Wish me luck!

That all said , I am off to visit mom in hosp today , and tomorrow am have promised my sister an outing to the big farmers market in town. So I am not off to a great start . But you have to live your life. I am just hoping to find a balance  here . I know in my "paying job" I am all kinds of motivated , and very focused. So while no one is "paying me to do the horse work, every hour I put in is one less hour the trainer needs to , so I am paying myself in the long run.Hoping this mindset helps

Stay safe everyone

16 comments:

Country Gal said...

Could you maybe find a what we call here a farm hand for you and your horses someone to help with the stalls and what not. Heck if I lived closer and I am retired now I would be there every day I love farm/ranch working with the horses and mucking out stalls I loved it on the farm back I love being with the animals. Hope you can find a happy medium there. Have a good eve.

Nuzzling Muzzles said...

You and I almost had the same post today. Time is so slippery, isn't it?

kden said...

I'm sure soon you will slip into a dedicated schedule. It's nice to have a little free time to do other things. Just don't stay away too long ;-)

GoLightly said...

To heck with the housework...

That's my motto, anyway;)

Sherry Sikstrom said...

Country Girl, I could hire help, but then I would have to go back to work to pay for it . I will hit my stride , I hope soon

Shirley said...

Yeah..... I'm the queen of procrastination lately.... Must be something in the air....
Cat and Andee should be fairly easy to work with, good minded smart girls that they are. You'll get in your groove soon!

Janice said...

You'll figure it out. I'm with Shirley though, although I don't think I'm procrastinating....I seem to be getting less and less accomplished hmmm maybe there is something in the air.

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Finding that balance is huge when it comes to accomplishing daily, weekly, and monthly goals.
I finally realized that the computer and blogging were a big time waster for me and have cut back greatly over the past couple months.

Figuring out your priorities and keeping the focus on them is even more important.

Good luck.

~Lisa

aurora said...

A struggle I am all too familiar with...I am sure you'll figure it out, and then some. But it's not easy. Sometimes I have to "schedule" the silliest things, just to get them done. Best of luck!

CharlesCityCat said...

I am so glad that I am not the only one with this problem!

Linda said...

I'm having the same case of "I ought to's" too! You'll figure it out and I hope to as well.

Leah Fry said...

I know myself well enough to look behind my excuse making and procrastination to what is really going on in my head that is causing me to not want to do something. I'm not saying this is the case with you, but it's something to consider.

When I had Poco, I found myself looking for reasons not to ride. I could have ridden Jaz, but I felt like Poco needed it more (he did), but I always had such a bad time of it. Sounds so silly, but that's what it was about.

Having reached "a certain age," I know I no longer bounce if I hit the dirt. I would be pretty darn apprehensive about working with green horses.

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

Oh girl...I hear ya. I have fallen out of my routine with the horses and it's been hell to get back on it. It's frustrating because I know that these beautiful days are numbered now and I simply must get Beretta started, get back to riding Bugs and start working with the big bay. But every day seems to roll up before I actually get that done and then I am left wondering where the day went and mad at myself that yet another day went by that I did not get done what *I* think is important.

Sometimes just starting the routine is the most difficult task. I am riding Moon and Frosty regularly again, I figured I just need to add one horse to that a day and in a week, I should have everyone back on track.

Crystal said...

It is hard to get back into the groove, i know I gotta get my cold weaned and get legging up more horses, but I havent been either. I have a sign in my house all us horse people need. It says I care for horses not houses ;)

Cheyenne said...

Friend, I read most of this post the other day, but got called away before I could reach the end and comment.

We all have to find our own balance and I do believe it's a tough thing to do in this world. My Uncle Terry, my Auntie Patty Lou's (who just passed away) brother was opened up for surgery and they just closed him up and are treating him as palliative..he was so full of cancer. Now, not trying to dump a pile of family sadness on you...but these things remind me of what truly matters in life. I think when our time comes when minutes on this Earth are limited, we don't look back and look at all the work we've done (not saying I have all this figured out...I just completed a ginormous list of stuff I wanna do today) but I know that what we'll think about are our relationships. That's all that can go with us....land, our homes, our animals can't. In the same breath, we can't just go around visiting all day...I just don't know where the balance is! Sometimes when I'm sewing or working outside I just feel like screaming, "what am I doing!?" We still have a day to day life to live and stuff to get done, but remember to just cut yourself some slack. Don't wear yourself out, sometimes we have to let go of certain things.

You are doing a fine job in life! I am so happy I can 'follow along' through this journal. :)

Nicole said...

Wow, you do sound busy! I actually know that feeling, I just wish I could cut something to free up more time!