For the last two weeks we’ve been busy plugging away on our January issue–the first issue of our 50th anniversary–and there hasn’t been a lot of down-time around the office. 


Combine this whip-crackin’ work schedule (which is definitely a good thing–work = progress and exciting goodies for our readers!) with a no-time-to rest personal schedule, and you get one very tired assistant editor. The whole not-having-a-lot-of-free-time is my fault. With three horses to keep in tip-top shape for weekend barrel races and the sun setting behind the mountains by 5:15 every night, I’ve been getting up most mornings at 5:30 to ride all three before work. On days when that doesn’t happen, I load up all of them up (and my dog Rena of course) and head to either a roping or an open arena at the Boulder County Fairgrounds to make sure everyone, including me, gets their workouts. 


I took yesterday “off” from all of that training, just planning to clean my girls’ stalls, feed them, and then go relax before heading to the movies with some other H&R staffers to see the Harry Potter premiere. (Proud geek here!) But then I looked at the sun setting behind the mountains, and I realized I’d have just enough light to hop on Onyx bareback for a few laps around the field. 


Maybe it was laziness or exhaustion that made me think about not riding that night, but I’m very glad the little voice inside my head always talks me into riding, not out of it. 


Because if I hadn’t have gotten on her, I’d have missed out on this view: