Horse work versus house work

There is a project here I'm neglecting for the ponies, I'm sure of it.

Those of you who know me and love me know that I am not, nor will I ever be, Susie Homemaker. I don't cook--except when forced by absolute necessity and then a bowl of cereal is often the go-to meal. I do not go into psycho-germ-killer mode when cleaning house, and dusting is at best a semi-annual activity.

Luckily, Steve not only likes to cook he does it well and with conscious thought to both our waistlines. He also does the grocery shopping which means we actually have good things to cook. My own choices are often expedient, get-me-out-of-here-fast choices.

Because he does the cooking and grocery shopping (and car/house/trailer maintenance)--not to mention 98% of the paddock cleaning so all I have to do is show up and ride--the house cleaning is my chore. Let's rewind a minute--NOT Susie Homemaker. The best I can say is I keep chaos (and outright toxic conditions) at bay. Dusting usually occurs to me laying on the floor doing yoga staring up at wisps of cobwebs highlighted by the sun coming in the skylights.

It is a good thing that Steve does not require a spotless, sterile house with matching drapes and bed skirts. It is also good that he tolerates the "I-don't-want-to-forget-this" pile next to my purse. A pile that frequently gets recycled a few months down the line anyway.

Before you say it, yes, I know--I am totally spoiled. Rotten. To the core. Just like my ponies.

I used to clean a little more regularly every weekend--when I had a smaller space to worry about and, you know, BH. Before Horses, weekends were the time for movies, laundry, weekly cleaning and even yard work when I lived somewhere that was required.

After horses, well, honestly--it is much more fun to ride than scour my toilet. Heck, it's more fun to pick up horse poop than it is to scour the toilet. Yesterday, we re-graveled a few spots in both Lena and Bar's pens, moved mats around AND cleaned up horse poop--all way more enjoyable than dusting, let alone toilet scouring.

But today I beat back the chaos and germs and helped with the laundry so that next weekend I can put on my marketing hat and help represent Neigh Savers and CARMA at the Western States Horse Expo in Sacramento. Granted, this is not horse time with my own horses, but it is horse time of a sort--as in doing something that involves supporting and loving horses.

Even my version of cleaning knows that going two weeks will only make it take longer to get to the barn.