No More Dread and Merry Christmas!

I'm one of those people who's pretty good in an emergency - I tend to stay calm, focussed and in the moment, and don't stop thinking and don't waste a lot of time worrying. It's when I have time to anticipate things that I worry - I'm a master of worst-case scenario thinking, particularly about things over which I have no control. If there's something that could go wrong, I anticipate it and worry about it. Now this does have its advantages - where prior planning can prevent a problem or allow me to be prepared, I'm there. But there's a big disadvantage - all that worrying can be tiring and stressful (to me and those around me) and more often than not, the thing I'm worried about doesn't even happen, or is less bad than I anticipated it would be. But then again, sometimes it's even worse, which reinforces my tendency to worry.

I particularly worry about the weather - I have to stay on top of it because I'm the one who does blanketing and turnout, and I also have to worry if severe weather is threatening. But I especially worry about ice. Our barn and its surrounding terrain are laid out in such a way that we have significant issues with ice at some point almost every winter. One winter two years ago we had 20" of snow, followed the next day by over 2" of rain and a severe cold spell with temperatures well below freezing - the result was an uninterrupted expanse of ice in all the dry-lots, aisles, paddocks and everywhere around the barn. It was barely possible for people to even get in or out of the barn without falling down, and the horses were trapped in their stalls - we have no indoor for winter riding or turnout - for almost two weeks. All we could do was hand-walk in our very short barn aisle, and endlessly top up water and hay and pick stalls. At the very end of that hellish time, the sun melted a small area of ice directly in front of the south barn door, and it was possible to walk the horses in a small circle out there - their first outside breath of air in a long time. All the horses survived - not a single colic, even from the horses subject to impactions.

This year, I'm trying to stay focussed on one day at a time, and not fret too much about what hasn't happened yet. I can deal with it when it arrives, and dealing with it mentally before it happens is just a waste of time - this is what I tell myself, but sometimes it's less than successful, but I'll keep working on it. Dreading what's coming next is a great way not to be fully present right now.

But then there's the weather forecast I'm keeping my eye on - we've got several inches of snow on the ground, and everything's iced over right now, then it's going to rain heavily and be in the mid-30s this afternoon and tonight, then get quite cold and snow some more . . . Repeat after me: no dread! That's one of my resolutions for 2010 - no more dread! I'm off to the barn to hand-walk horses - no turnout today!

And a very merry holiday season to all of you and your family, friends and beasts of all types!