What's Up Wednesday: The one where you should read to the end...

Wednesday already... Where does the time go?! It's been pretty busy around here still, but it was a really fun week!
I got to ride after work Thursday and Friday which was nice after a rain day and a book club day. I'm already completely over having to ride in the dark however. How many days till spring? My town had a big Halloween celebration on Friday night. I really wanted to go, but since the horses had a few days off AND I was hoping to jump Jampy on Saturday, I decided to skip it and ride instead. My brother and sister-in-law took the kids though, and they had a great time. They stopped over on their way home, and my older niece got really brave and helped me groom Rio. In her princess costume!

He thought she was a tad over dressed. But he'll take any attention offered really.

Saturday morning arrived way too quickly. I was running the half marathon relay with my best friend, and the alarm went off at 5:30. The worst part was the terrible sore throat I awoke with. Fortunately it seemed to dissipate the longer I moved around, so I was hopeful it was just allergies or something. (Spoiler alert: Nope.) My bestie and I met up at the train station where the race started at 6:30. It was still pitch dark out and FREEZING. Well, not quite actually freezing, but pretty close. We donned our matching outfits (Team Magical Milers obviously dressed up as unicorns, complete with rainbow tutus.) I was running the second leg, so I would get to ride the steam train to the transition area. We second leggers boarded the train at 7:15 and the runners lined up for the 7:30 start.

My friend and I realized I could bring a bag with some extra layers and waters that we could switch off when we swapped places. I was SO glad we thought of that because I also brought a blanket to stay warm with. It was much appreciated on the chilly train ride! Anyway, bestie's leg was just about 8 miles, and she ran it FAST! I was pretty excited that she did because it meant we stood a chance at beating the train back to the station. If your team could beat the train back, you win a train whistle in addition to your medal. I didn't think we'd have much chance of beating the train given my current lack of fitness level. But since bestie was super fast, it was still possible! My leg was 5.2 miles. Since I haven't run more than 3.1 in quite a long awhile, I planned to walk up the hills and run everything else. Little did I know it was almost all hills!
Anyway, my leg started right up a good sized hill. Since I was just starting out and also was pretty cold, I ran right up that first hill rather easily. Surprised myself! I managed to keep up a steady running pace all the way up through mile 2 when I got to the base of a really long and fairly steep hill. I decided there to take my first walk break. It was a little longer of a break than I wanted, but the thing just kept climbing! I ran/walked the rest of that beast which turned out to be much of mile 3. After that it rolled along pretty nicely, and before I knew it, I was running along the street back to the train station!
You guys. JUST as I was crossing the tracks the train arrived! I beat the train!

Photo Credit: FlashFrame Photography

Mostly thanks to bestie of course, but still, I helped! It was especially exciting because I was the last one they let through before closing the train crossing. They actually stopped all the runners behind me to let the train through. The rule was if you meet the train it counts as beating it, so many people behind me got whistles too. But it was pretty cool to get through there without getting stopped.

Magical Milers! (Have I mentioned Bestie and I are complete opposites?)

The medals were really cool for this race, and I thought the train whistles were pretty neat too.

I have no idea how long it took each of us to run our legs. Bestie doesn't run with a watch and mine decided to stop recording at 1.4 miles. But collectively we ran the half in 2:14.

Anyway, after all that excitement it was only 10:00 am. We decided to get showers and meet back up for some lunch. It was a lovely morning!
I got back home after lunch and met up with another friend for a bit. My dad and step mom stopped by too, and they had this with them:

I know. I can't even. I wanted to smoosh it and steal it and call it mine. I didn't though, because they got that adorable puppy for my step mom's dad. He just retired and realized he needs a dog for all his new spare time. Meanwhile, she will be here for a few weeks getting some training. So I plan to get as much puppy time as I can before she moves to Wisconsin. And yes, she will likely get to meet Ducky! (Remember him? The stationary hony?)
So now it was around 4 pm and I still needed to ride. Also my "allergies" were letting me know they were actually a cold. I decided to just flat both horses because my body was a little grumpy with me. Apparently running 5.2 miles untrained along with being sick pisses off the old lady body. Such a wimp. So I have no fun pony media this week. You could just stop reading now I guess. But you made it this far, so why not keep going?
I was pretty thankful to not really have plans for Saturday night. We were getting a pretty bad storm on Sunday, so I took the free night to fill up a bunch of bins and what not with water in case we lost power, and otherwise just took it easy for the evening.
Sunday I was planning to be a total sloth and sleep in until 9, but all the lazing around Saturday night meant I was wide awake at 7. It was already raining, with no end in sight. The horses had a nice day off, and I spent the majority of the day doing laundry and resting my cold. I haven't had a full day of nothing like that in a really long time, and it was pretty fantastic despite the congestion.
Monday was a Monday. Nothing special of note. I rode Jampy and gave Rio a lunge. Tuesday was Halloween though, so that's fun!

Halloweening at work

I didn't plan any costumes for the horses, but decided to wear my unicorn hoody to ride. I mean, if ever there was an appropriate day for a unicorn hoody, right?

Twinning. Rio is an actual unicorn. I was just pretending.

I don't normally get trick or treaters, but I always get some candy just in case. Some friends did stop by and they had costumes on, so they count! I made them wait outside until I had Jamp put away (I had just gotten off) because I was CERTAIN he'd be petrified of my friend's costume.

I was wrong. Jamp loved it. I think maybe he thought it was a huge banana...

Once my friends went home and the ponies were tucked in, it was time for the annual Halloween torturing of the pups!

That's right! The twenty minutes we spend in costume trying to get a decent photo! We were bacon and eggs in case you can't tell. I have to say, the pugs hated these costumes the least of any of the others over the years. I wouldn't say they LIKED them. But they hated them less than most.
Which brings us to today! I did a thing last week and the thing arrived today... I'd like to introduce you all to Stutty the Stuttgart:

I've been casually stalking the used saddle sites, ebay, and Facebook (totally casually) looking for a Voltaire Stuttgart. They are a little tough to find used, especially in the configuration I wanted. I did find one awhile back but it was grain leather which I didn't want. Then I found another but it turned out to have the wrong size flap. Well low and behold, the exact size I wanted (17" with a 2A flap) was available with the right panels (pro) and in the leather I wanted (buffalo) on ebay! But it was an auction listing not a buy it now, so I really didn't think it was going to happen. I didn't want to spend more than $3200 for a used saddle (cause holy crap that's a lot of money and I still love my 17 year old Hermes, thank you very much). The bright side to it being an auction was when I found it, the price was really low for a used Voltaire. Like $1500 low.  I know. Crazy talk. I stalked the listing all week, just biding my time. I had no plans to bid until the very end. It always baffles me that people go about bidding when there's days and days left. Long story short, I got it for a few hundred less than my max and the seller threw in the matching stirrup leathers. It was a great deal, and I was SO EXCITED for it to arrive today!
It's in excellent condition and fits Jampy pretty well. He seemed to really like it. Miracle of all miracles, I was able to sit his right lead canter! Magic I'm telling you! Rio will test it out tomorrow. I haven't jumped in it yet, since it was dark out when I got on. But hopefully this weekend I can see how it is to jump.
And that's what's up this Wednesday! What's up with you? Get any fun new tack? Do anything for Halloween? Tell me about your week in the comments!