Outfit day! Al really wanted to be the Thanksgiving model and who am I to argue? Here's what we had on:
I'm really enjoying the mirrors in the indoor. I think Al likes them too.
Here's a closer shot of Al's outfit:
Post lunge, pre ride. How about that shiny coat of his? We're loving the new feed.
Bridle: Joseph Sterling Brow band: Made by me
I made these brow bands from a dog leash. And they are ADORABLE. Those are little turkeys on it, which is hard to see without enlarging.
Saddle: Butet Half Pad: Ippico Saddle Pad: Equine Star
Turkey for you, Turkey for me... Anyone else have Adam Sandler's Thanksgiving song living rent free in your brain this week? No? Just me? Okay then... You might now though.
Boots: Equine Star
MORE TURKEYS! I just love a good theme.
So that's what Al had on. And here's what I wore:
I know. Ridiculous. Ridiculous happens to be my happy place though.
Helmet: One K
I brought the brown and rose gold One K out for this week's outfit. Al was less then thrilled to be featured in the photo however.
Sweater: Tipsy Elves
If you're ever thinking to yourself, "wow, I REALLY need to find a holiday themed sweater" then you need to click on over to the Tipsy Elves website. They always deliver.
Belt: Designer Inspired
This buckle is still going strong, but sadly this was the last ride for the strap. It's cracking all over and falling apart. Sad day for my orange belt strap.
Breecches: Dover Wellesley
I love my Wellesley breeches for winter. They're just a bit thicker than say TS breeches without feeling bulky. They do run big though, and I may have to consider replacing my collection with a size down. Although after my gluttony at Thanksgiving dinner, these may fit better by the weekend... #noregrets
Socks: Dreamers and Schemers
Admittedly, these are maybe more Halloween than Thanksgiving with the jack o lanterns on there, but they also have PUMPKIN PIE and that is very much Thanksgiving worthy.
Boots: Horka
Mirror selfies win again! These boots have been great for my current everyday pair at the new place. I hope I don't kill them too quickly! But cold weather is coming so I imagine we'll be seeing more of the sheepskin lined paddock boots soon enough.
And that's it for today! Hope everyone who celebrates had a lovely Thanksgiving today! I celebrated with my mom and brother and ate way too much. So I'll call that a success. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
All of a sudden there's so many things to do! This weekend I got to do a clinic AND take in not one but TWO performances of Frozen Jr. Yes. Jr. It was cute. My nieces were both performing, but they didn't have speaking parts in the same show (there were two full casts) so I had to go twice. Aunty duties!
But you're not here for children's theater, you're here for horses. And probably you're most interested in the clinic from this weekend. So let's start there!
I was really hoping we'd get to be outside for the clinic, but alas, it was a rain day. So we were stuck indoors. And while Al is like a million times more rideable in this indoor than the old one, he still doesn't thrive in it. Plus, this one is pretty small. Or rather, narrow. The length isn't bad, but it's only a few strides across. So it invites a big horse to be a little backwards. Especially if it's one who likes to spin his tires anyway.
With Al, you don't always know which horse you'll have until you actually get on and start asking for things. And unfortunately, the Al that showed up to the clinic was Ignore-My-Leg-Al. Which is definitely more preferential versus Spook-At-Everything-Al. But still, not quite ideal.
I really liked the clinician. I was able to watch a dressage rider's lesson before I had to get on, and the clinician pretty much said everything I was thinking while watching the horse and rider do their thing. So that was validating. After being someplace that made me question everything I thought I knew, it's nice to be reminded that I do know some things. Obviously there's TONS I don't know (especially as it pertains to my own horse...) but I'm not a total stupid amateur. Phew.
As for my lesson? I would have liked to have a little bit different horse under me so we could have done more fun things, but honestly, it's probably better that Al didn't bring his best self because that's where I need help with him. I know how to ride Al when he's in the mood to play. But when he's NOT in the mood? That's where we struggle.
He was a little spooky (not terrible, but it was in there) and VERY behind my leg. Which was the first thing our clinician picked up on. She said, "just watching you warm up it's clear he's not on the aids." I don't try to put my horse together in the first laps generally. I usually let them be loose for the first few minutes of trot and canter, and THEN start to put the pieces together and get some connection. So I told her that, just that I hadn't tried to put him on them yet. But she clarified and said, right, but he's not moving off your leg either. Ah. Yes. Busted. Ha! She's definitely not wrong!
So this is where I got the first piece of helpful advice. When he's in that sort of mood, I should kind of skip ahead to getting just a soft connection earlier in the ride. I've often told people that I need to "close the circuit" with Al. Like, he can't seem to hear the aids unless they're all on at the same time. So I need to have some connection with the front end to get the back end going. Somewhere along the way I had forgotten about this with Al. Probably from last year when he couldn't handle being boxed in like that. But we're past that now. (Thank goodness.) Unfortunately, some days, just closing the circuit isn't enough. And this was one of those days.
We did talk a bit about him before starting so she understood that he's not the type of horse you can bully into doing what you want. And when we were having our closing talks, she agreed that he's the type of horse you kind of have to trick into getting what you want. I need to figure out what he thinks is fun and use that to get him moving forward. And hopefully the more we do that and he has lots of fun all the time, the less I should see of Ignore-My-Leg-Al. She also kept saying that she thinks once he's going forward and is less shut down the spook will go away. This is where I think she's wrong because the spook is always there. Even on days when he's moving off my leg and traveling nicely forward. He still spooks.
Even when I was a kid I've had trainers that insist horses don't do naughty things if they're moving forward. But experience has told me this is 100% NOT true. And I won't drink that Kool Aid. Every time I sample it, I get launched through the air. I've seen this horse in turnout run full tilt down the long side and then spook and spin without missing a beat. I'm not sure who these horses are that can only spook or buck when they're slow, but it isn't any of mine! Heck, the times Shiny's nearly bucked me off it comes after she's tucked her butt and galloped off.
But I digress. Even if I think she's wrong about that, she still had some good tips and tricks. She suggested having cavalletti and/or small jumps around for all of our rides so I can find something he finds interesting for him to focus on. Some days that works better than others. Today for example, he was moving pretty nicely off my leg, but he was a little more spooky. (See what I'm saying?!) And ended up just trotting over the obstacles because the canter he was very out to lunch. But at least he was forward!
The other interesting thing she kept saying to me was to keep my reins longer. No one ever tells me this. My reins are ALWAYS a foot too long. But her reasoning was that Al was so sucked back, I needed to give him someplace to go. So that's something I need to work on. It's tricky trying to find that connection but also keep the reins long. When I lose his attention, the first thing that happens is the head comes up which shortens his neck and leaves my reins WAAAYYYY long. And with my reins long, I've got nothing! So that's just something I need to get more comfortable with.
We didn't end up jumping anything at all substantial. I think we hopped over a couple 2' verticals at the end, but otherwise it was mostly cross rails. But the point of this lesson wasn't the jumping. It was trying to get a rideable horse. We all know he can jump. It's all the in between stuff we need to work on. So while it can feel pretty defeating to have a cross rail lesson on my 1.3m horse, sometimes that's the lesson you need. And it certainly was what I needed right now. And THAT my friends, is why riding is hard.
I have a few clips here to watch. My videographer had the phone on portrait so there's a lot of us not in frame. But any media is better than no media!But that's why I just did clips. His one naughty spook is at the beginning and then you can see me trying to get him moving over the little jumps.
When we were talking at the end, she validated me once again by saying it was important to work on all the things we did in the lesson, but finding ways to do them within my comfort/safety zone. As in, I don't need to do things that terrify me all the time. Take small steps at a time that keep both Al and I feeling confident and eventually the scary things shouldn't be anymore. She mentioned how as the pro at her barn, all the naughty behaviors become her problem. And she's learned over the years that there's no shame in grabbing mane! Or a neck strap. Or BOTH! Ha! It's nice to have a trainer understand that fear is a real thing and sometimes it's a thick wall to try to break through. But it can be done safely. And I appreciated that. I wouldn't say I'm scared of Al. But some things are just scary to do on a given day. And that's okay. Which I didn't believe was okay before. So while I didn't really come away from this lesson with brand new information, or a magically fixed horse, I did come away with things to do and try to work towards that fixed horse. And that's all you can really ask for.
Eros suddenly turned a corner this week and is going really well. We've been stuck inside as it won't stop raining. That's how it is here now, it's either no rain for months or rain for days on end. No in between. Anyway, unlike his brother, Eros really likes the indoor. The outdoor sand footing was getting a little deep from the lack of rain (my ring does the same thing!) and deep footing is a challenge for Eros and his questionable legs. But since we've been inside he's putting in some great work. He's engaging his core (which is no easy task with his low hanging dad belly) and really strutting his stuff. I even let him try a tiny bit of extended trot. I won't let him go all out for awhile still, but a little here and there of controlled extension seems to be okay. And it feels AMAZING.
I finally touched base with our saddle rep to get our new panels ordered and I just have to send the saddle off in a few weeks to get that taken care of. In the meantime she suggested adding some shims to his half pad to help Al's extra wide tree fit a little better. So I took that advice, forgetting how Eros feels about shims. Guys, he was DEAD LAME with them in there. So I pulled them out and then he felt amazing. Okay then. Too wide is okay, shims are very much NOT okay. Horses are weird.
As mentioned last week, I clipped most of Shiny finally. I've decided not to do her legs or head. You really can't get the clippers near her face without sedation. I'm not sure why. She stands like a statue for the entire rest of her. But her head? Danger zone apparently. As for the legs? Ugh. They just take forever and I'm not interested. I might do her (and the boys') fetlocks just for cleanliness though. We'll see.
Shiny's extreme dullness seems to have gone away with all her hair. I guess she was just hot? She did have a LOT of hair on her. This photo is just from not quite half of her:
She's been great though! We popped over a little cavalletti mini course today. I should have set some real jumps because she was ready for more.
Maybe this weekend. I do miss just having jumps around all the time. Setting a course and putting it away all in the same day is a lot for a lazy person like me. But it's worth doing. Maybe we can get back outside one of these days. There are a few jumps in the outdoor all the time. Or at least for now. I imagine they'll come in once winter really settles in.
I haven't gotten back in touch with our potential new trainer yet. I think I may just wait until after the holidays, but we'll see how things go. There's just always a lot going on in December, and then the horses will have some time off when I go away with the family. So might just make more sense to start fresh in the new year.
I think that's it from here! How are your horses doing as winter arrives?
Today's confession is about clippers. So, I've had the Wahl KM Cordless for many years now. They last forever because I hardly ever use them. I used them a bit this summer to trim legs, but then they sat for awhile. And when I went to plug them in to charge in preparation for clipping Shiny, they no longer would charge. I've been wanting a second pair, because I'm the world's slowest clipper and I can't get a horse done on one charge. They do work plugged in, so it's not like all is lost, but I find the horses are more at ease without cords wrapping around them while we clip. I took this as my sign to finally get the second pair. They don't make the KM Cordless anymore, but they have a new model called the KMC+. They're the same price as the old ones, so I figured I'd try them. They are wonderful. They clip so much better than the older model. I did half of Shiny with the new ones before the battery died, and then switched to the old ones for a bit so the new cones could charge back up. And the old ones really didn't clip as well. I even put brand new blades on them. So my confession today is two fold. First, half of Shiny looks a lot better than the other half. And secondly, now I want a second pair of the new ones. But I'm not doing it! At least not right now. Maybe next year.
Um... so. I forgot it was Thursday. I was very focused on my main task for the day and forgot all about pretty much everything else. I rode the boys quickly this morning and then got to work clipping Shiny. I only did her body. May or may not do the legs later.... Probably won't bother with her head since she hates that. We're embracing our inner hobos this year. What can I say? Anyway, due to my poor memory skills, I didn't really get photos today. And while I could hunt the archives for today's outfit (as it's a repeat), I'm not going to because I'm lazy.
Instead, I will share you my outfit post clipping in which my very dark green sweatshirt appears to be heathered.
Right? That's all Shiny on there. I made a better choice with the breeches since they match her hair better. Ha! So that's what I wore today. Romfh breeches in Maple, and a big ol' hoody by Hanes that I stuck some embellishment on. The front says Ponies Rule and the back has my logo on it.
I'm sorry guys. I'll do better next week! (Hopefully.) I haven't quite found my groove in the new location yet. But I'm getting there!
It's been WEIRDLY warm and lovely here lately. Like high 50's and 60's. Which isn't warm-warm, but for mid November? It's practically tropical. And we haven't seen rain in... I dunno? Weeks? Which isn't good. There are fires everywhere which is not at all common here in New England. Thankfully we're getting dumped on tomorrow. Which is a bummer for horse things, but we really need it. And maybe I'll take the gross day to finally clip the pony. Maybe.
Thanks to the gorgeous weather, we've been riding outside and not just in the ring! (Okay, yes, MOSTLY in the ring, I am a hunter princess after all.) I love having access to an indoor, but the one at the new place is pretty tiny. So having more time outdoors has been so nice. Especially for Al who prefers the great outdoors. So let's chat about the horses!
I still have very little media, but the between ears photos are pretty great this week, so enjoy those! Let's start with Shiny. Shiny's been a little dull at the new place. But I have a few thoughts on why that may be. I mean obviously I do silently panic that something could be wrong, but honestly, I don't think that's the case. She might be a bit dull, but she's also not angry nor has she done any kicking out. Her ears are up, and she's just super relaxed all of the time. I even spied her having a snooze in the sun one morning this week while she was in turnout. So why do I think she's dull? I think it's possible she's a little body sore. This property has HILLS all over and my horses are zero percent used to any terrain. Even the outdoor ring has a bit of a pitch to it. I can feel both Shiny and Al slow down on the little up hills in there. (Clearly we have some fitness issues to address!) But also? I've been taking Shiny on little hacks around the property and she is MUCH less dull for that. I think now that she's had a taste of the great outdoors she's just not interested in ring work. I know this is at least somewhat true, because every day when I get on (in the ring) she immediately tries to walk back out the gate toward the fields. Not towards the barn! So we've been compromising. A little ring work each day, and then a meander around one of the fields. For Sunday Funday we skipped the ring work though, and walked around the circumference of most of the property. We tagged along with the barn owner and one of the other boarders so we had company to explore the side I hadn't seen yet. There's a very steep hill down to get out there and then up to get back, and I could tell the up part was a bit taxing for my short legged girl. But she made it! The field out there is pretty hilly also, and it's HUGE. It will be so fun to actually ride out there one of these days. (Sunday Fundays are for long walks not working hard.) Also, I decided to take this adventure on in the bareback pad, and that should tell you what a wonderful pony Shiny really is. I wish the boys enjoyed a hack the way Shiny does.
I haven't jumped much lately, mostly out of laziness honestly. But I did a little jump school with her today. She was fine. Slow. I never did get a nice forward canter to have the jumps just come out of stride, but she did everything I asked, so what else do you need?
I've been in contact with Eros' saddle fitter finally about getting his saddle fixed. I have paid that bill so the new panels are officially ordered and I'll send the saddle out in a few weeks to have them put on. I've been using Al's saddle on Eros for awhile now, but he's starting to remind me that it's actually a bit too wide for him. Just kind of going like he had been when his saddle stopped fitting well. My fitter suggested trying some shims to close up some of that space in the too wide saddle. So yesterday I tried with two thin shims on either side. He didn't feel great and it was pushing me back like the old saddle used to do. So today I tried with just one shim on each side. And he felt kind of awful. So I'm going to try without any again tomorrow and see what we have. This horse always seems to object when I try to shim a saddle, even if the shims correct the fit nicely. I think he hates shims. I dunno. I had hoped to jump him a little today but he felt so blah I opted out.
I forget which day it was, but one of them last week I tried to take Eros out for a little exploring. I've never known a horse to hate nature as much as Eros, but I was thinking he might like the grass ring, since it's fenced, and it's still pretty out in the open, so no trees for him to distrust or anything like that. And well... he hated every second of it. Haha! So maybe we'll try another time with a buddy. It's Eros, so he doesn't do much wrong, but you can just tell he's not happy with the great outdoors. I mean he even only tolerates turnout for so long before he's threatening to pull the gate down with his hulk smash hooves. Lol. I love this horse. Boy knows what he likes! Oh, today when I was on him, there was a deer grazing just down the steep hill. E was like, "Mom! There's nature over there. MOM! NATURE!" And then it went away and he went to work. He's too much. Haha.
Guys. Al. I might not be able to bring Al home. He's found his happy place here. He's not perfectly perfect every day, but I've had more good, productive rides than I've had in a very long time on him. There was one day that was last week that was ridiculously windy. Sustained winds at 15-20 mph but gusts in the upper 30's. And I rode Al outside in it. Was he perfect? Oh no. Definitely not. But he did all the things. And when he felt like he couldn't keep his poo together he just stopped and took a moment and then went back to work. Now. I KNOW it's not ideal that this horse occasionally decides he needs to halt and collect himself all on his own. Sometimes mid canter... But for the moment, I much prefer this to showing me his best tornado impression. And just a few weeks ago when we were back at home, he wasn't able to pull himself together and get back to work. So I'm counting this as a win. I'm calling this our rebuilding era.
Speaking of rebuilding, there's a clinic at the new barn this weekend with an event rider named Bevin O'Reilly. I don't know much anything about her, but I'm going to participate with Al. It's less clinic and more guest instructor really as we are all having 45 minute private lessons. Which I think is better for where I'm at with Al right now. Most clinics I've done are two hour group sessions and that's a long time for a horse with a short attention span and questionable work ethic. Plus if things are a total train wreck I'm not holding anyone else up. It's my own 45 minutes to blow up as I need to! The other boarders have ridden with her before and all had really positive experiences, so I'm excited for it. Bonus is that my slot is right after lunch which means I can give Al a little pre ride lunge in the ring we'll be lessoning in. Just in case. I always like to try and set us up for success and sometimes a lunge does that for us. Nice to have the option anyway.
I haven't really jumped Al at all in a very long time. Just a cross rail or tiny vertical here or there. We did some raised cavalletti last week. So I figured since it was nice today I better hop over some things. I set everything really small, probably 2'? And just clocked around a couple small courses. He was absolutely perfect. A little too slow, but I'm not complaining about that right now. He might have been slow, but he was focused, relaxed, and listening. I'll take it! OH, not only that, but while we were jumping around a worker came by and loaded a skid steer onto a trailer and drove off with it. Right next to the ring. WHILE WE WERE JUMPING! And you know what Al did? Whatever I asked. I know. I was shocked too. I just told him over and over how great he was. Gave him extra cookies before I left for the day. And proceeded to tell anyone who would listen how good he was today. Today is our three year anniversary, so that was the best gift he could have given me. And listen, I know the jumps were speed bumps. That's not at all the point. I know Al can jump a big fence. The jumps have never been our problem. I'm just impressed that he did his job while lots of things were happening around him and he didn't spook at all. Not only did he not spook, but he kept the majority of his focus on me. Which might never happen again so it needs to be recorded here. For posterity.
And that's about it from here! Stay tuned next week to see how the clinic goes...
Oh guys this is a good one. Every so often Eros will do this thing that I thought was due to experiencing a very minor choke episode. It happens primarily when he eats crunchy treats, especially the frosted kinds like Snacks 5th Avenchue. But occasionally it would happen while eating other things like hay too. It's not common, doesn't happen all the time, and never lasted more than a moment. I've mentioned it to the vet and he just kind of thought the same thing and said to keep any eye in case we need to start soaking his feed. But it never escalated, and I haven't heard him do it in quite a long while.
Of course, the first week we're at the new barn he starts doing it one morning before I got there and they called me because they didn't know what it was. I said he's probably choking and I'd be there asap. So I get there and find him only making this noise and curling his tongue around intermittently. And seemingly completely at ease when he's not doing it. Nothing coming out his nose, and he's not at all distressed. Important to note, nothing has ever come out his nose when he has these "episodes" but I just always figured he'd cleared it right away. But this time, he just kept intermittently showing this discomfort. So I call my vet. And then I sent him a video of what Eros was doing. And he was like, he's not choking. He has food stuck in his teeth and thus can't chew. He had me rinse the mouth out a bunch and try to help him dislodge whatever was stuck way back there. Eventually he worked it out. (It was just a wad of hay.)
And that is the story of how I learned my horse isn't prone to choke, he just doesn't know how to chew his food properly. What a relief though! The choke thing always concerned me, so I'm glad it's less worrisome than that. And yes, he's had his teeth done recently. We get them checked twice a year but usually he only needs a float once a year. So that's my confession, I clearly had no idea what choke really looks like. I mean, I have seen it before, but I just figured this was really mild. Oops. What a way to make a first impression at the new place! Haha...
Oh man guys. I am the WORST blogger. I remembered outfit day this morning before I left the house... But I did not remember by the time I got to the barn. So I have several recycled photos. They are accurate representations of today's outfit though at least. So there's that. And my excuse is that I had an old friend come and visit me at the new barn and she rode Eros while I rode Al. We had so much fun, and thus I was not thinking about outfit photos. Life happens! Also, can I just talk about how nice it is that my friends can come and ride with me at the new barn? It's so nice. SO NICE!
Today's model was Eros, and here are his recycled photos of today's outfit.
Bridle: Pinnacle Brow Band: Boy O'Boy Bridleworks
He just looks so handsome in this bridle. Supermodel status!
Saddle: Butet Half Pad: Mattes Baby Pad: Ogilvy
I've been riding E in Al's saddle the last couple of months because I haven't gotten his fixed yet, but he did in fact use this one (his own) today with my friend because we couldn't share a saddle and ride at the same time. I really need to send this one off though! I reached out today to follow up on that. Hopefully that will be happening soon.
Wraps: Eskadron
I'm really liking the climatex polos for Eros. He seems comfortable in them too.
So that's what Eros had on and here's what I was wearing today:
There's a lot happening this photo. First, wonder when the last time I dusted this mirror was? Seems like a long, LONG time ago. Secondly, what is happening with the shoe pile back there? Honestly. I need a parent to come scold me for my messy/dirty room.
Helmet: One K Avance MIPS
Yes, still using this photo. I did dust the helmet off though, so might be time for a new stock photo... Lol.
Sweater: J Crew
I snagged this wool blend sweater at J Crew last year after the holidays for like $15. Such a great deal! If they had more colors I'd have stocked up! Also, it's winter here now so this sweater was layered with a puffy vest to ride and a coat on top of all of it when I wasn't riding. Brrr.
Belt: Ponylocks
I chose Jampy's belt for today's outfit. It's so pretty. I just love what they do over there at Ponylocks.
Breeches: Tailored Sportsman
I've been wearing these smaller sized breeches a bit more often lately and I think they actually fit pretty well. I just wish the waist part was like a half inch bigger.
Socks: Dreamers And Schemers
My logo socks are still my favorites.
Boots: Celeris Chaps: Journeyman
And one last reused photo! This one was from last winter. Yep, it's been chilly so I've been riding in the full chaps again! I love them. I don't really know why we all stopped wearing them. They're SO warm! And so grippy. I hope these things survive another 28 years! (Yes, they are really that old, but they took a long sabbatical.)
And that's it for today! Any favorites? Any requests for upcoming Thursday's Threads?
Things are going pretty well over here! The horses really seem to have settled in quickly. The weather has been all over the place, and the wind! Nuts! Yesterday the indoor sounded like a space ship with all the wind outside. Despite that, for the most part, the horses have been good. I also have basically no media, so my apologies. I'll try and do better next week.
Last week, most of our rides were pretty low intensity. I just wanted the horses to get used to the different footing and all the new sounds and views. Everyone jumped a few little cross rails one day and otherwise just had flat rides. We rode mostly outside until Sunday, and we've been indoors since.
Shiny is my most trustworthy outside of the ring, so she and I have done a little exploring. We checked out the grass ring one of the days after our ride, and then Sunday she and I went for a walk down in the field that is supposed to become a mini cross country course one day. There's a ton more land to explore at the new place, so we'll see what the weather allows for! There's a HUGE field on the other side of the property that looks like a good place for hill work. I don't think I'd survive taking the boys over there, but hopefully Shiny will explore it with me. She needs some hill work. The cross country area (to be) is down hill from where the barn is. We walked two big loops down there and then she didn't want to walk back up. Lol! We meandered our way up instead to make it less steep for her. Chubby pony needs some butt muscles! This week I'm trying to get the horses back into a real work routine. It's a little slow going... I think they all thought they were pleasure horses now. Shiny especially. She's so busy looking around at everything she forgets I'm telling her things. She was zero percent interested in carrying herself while moving forward today. I had to get after her some, which always makes me feel so mean! But she came around eventually. I popped her over a raised cavalletti and a cross rail a few times at the end of the ride. Apparently that was what it took to get her to work. She was more than happy to move forward for jumpies!
Oddly enough, I think Eros is the least comfortable in the indoor of the bunch. He'll come around I'm sure, and he's behaving just fine. I can just tell he's a little looky. I think what's tough for him is that the ring is really small. He likes to warm up in a big area so he can really stretch and loosen up. This smaller arena doesn't give him that. So I think he's just a little uncomfortable to start. Once he's working he seems more happy. I think some of the shadows are weird for him too. He has one eye that doesn't see that well, so I'm sure he just has to learn where the shadows and light spots are in the new place. He hasn't quite figured out the waterers outside either. I've brought him over to it, and showed him how it works. He drinks out of it when I press down and fill it up, but I don't think he's made the connection that HE can do that too. I noticed today the footing around the waterer had been pawed at some, so I think he might have been a little frustrated with it. I'm sure he'll figure it out. I'll keep showing him.
You know who has figured out the waterers? Al! He thinks it's the most magical and amazing thing ever. I had brought him over to it, and showed him how to fill it, and he just looked at me like WHOA! Then he tried it himself. Over and over and over. The next day I was riding Shiny while he was out there. His hay was kind of far from the water, and he kept going back and forth from one to the other like he knew some kind of secret. It was so cute. He's using it at more normal intervals now, and I think is less impressed with the magic. But I love that he's so smart about it!
I'm reluctant to sing his praises on here about his behavior under saddle because I feel like every time I do that he reverts to cuckoo crazy Al. BUT! I also like to give props where they are due, so here goes nothing. Hopefully I won't regret this later. So far, Al is pretty comfortable in the indoor. He does occasionally need a stop and stare moment, and he still gets a little snorty sometimes. But we've had high winds that do indeed make weird creaky noises in there and also blows the end doors away from the wall sometimes, and while he doesn't like it, he's handling it. On the occasion he is a bit nervous inside, he's not giving that electric feeling like he's going to try and flee at any moment. He might have a little spook, and then he gets on with his work. So I'm very pleased with him. We are still having some issues with the go button. When something grabs his attention he wants to stop and look rather than keep going and look. So that's something we need to work on. But truthfully, as rude as it is for him to break and/or stop completely, I still prefer that to the prop and spin. The gas pedal is easier to work on than the panic reaction. I popped him over the cavelletti and the cross rail today. At first I was thinking it wasn't a great ride, because he wanted to break in every corner after the little jumps. But then I stopped myself and realized that he didn't actually spook the entire ride, and though he was sticky and lazy, he was listening to me. So once I rearranged my expectations I was happy with him again. I have reached out to a trainer and he's happy to come and work with us so now we just need to figure out a time and day. I'm excited to get to work!
In other news, I'm chipping away at the horse laundry at home. I want to get all their home clothes washed and packed away this winter so the mice don't get into them. Hopefully I'll actually do it this year since I didn't last year... Ooops! Also, it's a good thing I've been working on it, because I came home to my barn flooded on Thursday evening.
I keep my worker on in the winter because you don't let a good employee go! He spends the winter really scrubbing the barn from top to bottom and doing various other projects that are hard to tackle when the horses are home. While it was warm last week, I asked him to wash the trailer for me before I put it away since it was pretty dirty. He had used the hose I use to fill the pool to wash the trailer, which is of course totally fine. He brought it inside and connected it to the wash stall spigot so he could have warm water. But the problem arose when he didn't shut the water off at the spigot, just turned it off on the nozzle end. The old outdoor hose that is older than I know because it came with the house, is leaky at the connection and also likely has a few holes in it. (Okay, yes, maybe I should replace the hose at some point.) So yeah. Good thing I popped into the barn, because what a mess! I swept most of the water back into the wash stall, and the rest dried in a couple days. No real harm done.
Something unexpected came up a few weeks ago. I had commented on a post on Facebook looking for opinions on LM boots. Which if you've been around awhile you know I loathe the company. LOATHE. Normally I try to just ignore those posts because you know, if you don't have something nice to say don't say anything. But I dunno. Sometimes I like to try and save someone from throwing a bunch of money out the window. Well. One of the LM reps reached out to me privately. She was very nice and wanted to see if she could somehow change my opinion of the company. And I was like honestly, both of my bad experiences were many years in the past, and I didn't feel like it would be right to ask for something. But she insisted on working on it, and went to the owners and they offered me new boots. For free. Guys. It's probably been ten years since I bought my boots from them. So as much as I want to keep loathing them, I may have to come around. The very nice rep was down the road from me today at my friend's barn so I got measured and they should be here in a few months. I also brought my old half chaps from them that never fit to get altered. The height is good on them, they're just too big, so I'm paying for that alteration obviously. If all goes well I'll have a nice new pair of boots and half chaps that aren't new but will fit soon. Or if thing go like before I'll have nothing... Haha! We'll see what happens. Maybe I'll be able to speak nicely about them soon.
I know you want to know what I got for boots, and honestly I just went boring. They don't have interesting colors for the base, and my free boots wouldn't include custom leather (obviously) so I just went with black. The options were several shades of brown, black, or navy. I have lots of brown and navy so I wouldn't let myself get those colors. I was disappointed they didn't have green anymore. But black is great, and this way I'll have back up show boots. They'll have the pretty brogue toe like a few of my Celeris have, and a punched top. I'm leaning toward excited to get them, though I'm holding my excitement in check until I actually get into them.
And that's all the excitement here. How are you all doing??
My confession today is that since the time change, when I'm not riding or with my horses, I'm kind of a garbage human. By that I mean, I've been sitting on my butt quite a bit lately. For example, Monday. Monday is my non riding day. So normally I use it to do all the house chores and whatever other projects are accumulating around here. This Monday though, I stupidly scheduled a dentist appointment smack dab in the middle of the day. Which really put a cramp in my getting things accomplished. (I broke a tooth a couple weeks ago, so had to get it patched up.)
The day started out well enough. I got up on time and did my PT exercises. (Twice a week minimum to keep the knee functioning!) Took a shower so I wouldn't be smelly for the dentist. Got my tooth fixed and treated myself to an overpriced coffee. I did actually get some organizing done in my home barn after that, then walked the dog. I had to run over to the winter barn to wrap Eros and swap blankets since it was going to be cold overnight. They will blanket for me there, but I haven't learned all the schedules of who works when so I don't know who to ask yet. Plus I love being able to go on a Monday and just put eyes on them. And after that? It was dark out and I didn't want to clean the house anymore. So I didn't. Rita and I had dinner and we sat around like a couple of sloths for the rest of the evening. And now? I still need to clean the house. Tonight I'm doing laundry, so while I'm being partially lazy and sitting on my butt between load changes, at least something is getting done!
Anyone else struggling with all the darkness this time of year?
It's our first outfit day at the new farm! Which obviously means I forgot a couple photos... Ha. Shiny asked to model today, and her dapples definitely need sharing before they disappear for the winter. Here's what she had on today:
Obviously, we kept it toned down for our first outfit day. But I feel like with this group we can bust out the cow print again at some point. Try to ignore this interesting stance she's chosen. It was insanely windy out there today and I just snapped this super fast before she tried to wander off to eat leaves blowing around. And yes, that's the wind blowing her tail away. She's not holding it like that.
Bridle: Pinnacle
Brow Band: Boy O'Boy Bridleworks
I brought two bridles each to the winter barn, the ones like this with the green ribbon brow bands and the ones with the spikes. Those are our favorites.
Saddle: Custom Saddlery Saddle Pad: Mattes
I really love the Mattes pads. I have a little running wish list of other color combos I'd like to get for Shiny eventually. Might have to order sooner than later before all the new tariffs hit...
Boots: Anky
I really like these boots. I hope they last a really long time because they don't have them anymore!
So that's what Shiny is wearing this week. Here's what I had one today:
It's still weirdly warm out here, so I didn't even need layers over this! I know climate change is terrible. But I will make the best of a bad situation and really enjoy these warm November days!
Helmet: One K Avance MIPS
Yes. This is one of the photos I forgot to take. But this is the helmet I wore today.
Shirt: Luyaa
I really love these shirts. They're my go to riding shirts for three of the four seasons.
Belt: Noble Outfitters
This belt fits a little better with lower rise breeches. But I love the color scheme (obviously)!
Breeches: Romfh
These are the Maple color Romfh breeches. I don't really know how this is maple color exactly... Maybe Maple candy? But the syrup is definitely not this shade! Regardless, I love the color. It's a pretty close match to the interior of my car.
Socks: Dreamers and Schemers
I just love custom socks.
Boots: Horka
Yeah, that's the other photo I forgot today. I decided to bring these boots to the winter barn for now. I wanted a comfy pair that I wasn't afraid to beat up a little. These fit that bill nicely! I also brought the sheepskin lined paddock boots with matching half chaps, and also the full chaps. So I have lots of warm options! I'll probably rotate out for some fun boots now and then though. So fear not, Thursday's Threads won't be too boring!
