What's Up Wednesday

 

It sure does get busy once summer hits doesn't it? All good things though! My old trainer is back from Florida for the summer which I think I mentioned already. She's home for two weeks at a time and away showing when she's not here. So we're trying to fit in as many lessons when she's home as we can. Which works out to two lessons a week because I don't like to jump more than that. 

Lessons are going great! (Pivo was being a bit challenging though, so light on media. I think I have it working again now though!) Our first lesson was an easy one for trainer to get to know Al. It was lots of fun and didn't fill me with anxiety so that's a bonus too! The second lesson the jumps went up a little and the turns got harder. And it was even more fun, and not at all scary. I like when things aren't scary! None of this means I didn't make tons of mistakes, but every time I messed something up, I was able to come back and fix it the next time. And Al never got mad at me. No matter how stupid I got. Worth his weight in gold, this horse! 

And then I changed the course for the most recent lesson. As mentioned yesterday, I hate what I set, but it's good to work on the things that are hard. And so we did. Oddly enough, I didn't mess up that line where I thought I would. Instead I messed it up the easy direction. Ha! Come on, we all knew I would at some point. But still, Al just laughs of my idiocy and tries again. We worked on some crazy hard turns, but broke them down to the point they really weren't that hard. And we also practiced doing the add stride, then the correct stride, then back again in the line. Al is really good at that game which is nice, because I'm not sure I'm always so good at it. The harder the courses get, the better Al is for them. I think he enjoys a challenge and it makes him pay attention. We really only run into trouble in two instances. The first being when I take out of the corner which is my favorite mistake to make. The second is when Al get distracted by something other than what we're doing. Both are easy enough to work on though. Just lots of practice. Trainer really likes him though, and thinks it's a perfect match. I agree wholeheartedly! 

Eros wound up just having one jump day last week. I forget why exactly... I think it was mostly weather related. He was a good boy though the day we did jump. He's feeling pretty good with his maintenance done, definitely jumping a lot harder! Which makes me giggle because we're only jumping 2'3" and yet I'm getting tossed out of the saddle a little. Glad he's feeling good! 

I popped him over a few jumps today and he was a wee bit spicy! Watching the video back, it doesn't look as difficult as it felt, so I guess that part is good. I didn't even attempt any related distances though. I know Torpedo Eros would have made an appearance, and I wasn't here for that today. Despite his excitement, we got a couple of cute photos at least!

Could he be any cuter?! I don't think so. 

In a shocking turn of events, my vet had a cancellation on Friday and was able to come out to recheck Pammon and do Shiny's treatments. It wasn't the best of news for either of them, but nothing too terrible. 

Pammon's injury looks fantastic (the good news!) but he was quite back sore again when the vet was there. I had noticed it some that week as well. I honestly think it was from getting off the ace. That was his first full week completely sober, and I think it was caused mostly by tension than anything else. Pammon is a worrier. He startles easily and is always kind of ready for anything. When he was having some ace mid day, I think that tension went away and his back stayed relaxed. I've been working really hard this week to get him working stronger. More through his back and really making him lift his belly. And he already feels better. He's also been more relaxed in general even in the barn. So I think he just needed to detox a little. Hopefully this hypothesis is correct. Because of the soreness in his back, doc suggested it might be best for him to consider a lower level dressage job rather than a low level hunter job. The thought being that a low level dressage rider will be focused on having him travel correctly through his back with his belly up. A low level hunter rider will not be able to do that. So for the sake of his longevity and comfort dressage might be the better job for him. I don't have a ton of connections in that world, but I do have a few so I'll need to start reaching out. He's ready for that job now, but would definitely need some training to fully convert of course. I can flat pretty well, but I'm not trained in dressage so I'm sure there are differences in how he should be going. My vet's tech did all the young rider dressage stuff as a junior, so I let her hop on and see what she thought about him. She thinks he can absolutely go through second level and possibly even third. I think there's probably someone out there who would love him for that job. Hopefully. It was nice to see him go! I don't think I've watched any one ride him... ever actually. My trainer went and tried him for me initially before I bought him, so when I went to try him myself she didn't get on first. I don't think I've ever seen him ridden other than a couple of jumping videos from his sales ad. 

Earlier last week I let Shiny pop over a couple of these little raised cavalletti. They were the first "jumps" she has seen since last fall! She was really excited and took me right to them, so I think it's time we start jumping again. We'll go slow and keep the fences small. 

As for her vet appointment, it was interesting. We already did her evaluation last time doc was out, so we just planned to do the injections we talked about. We did the alpha-2 in her hocks and did use steroid for her SI. SI went smoothly, but the hocks were where we got the less than stellar news. Her hocks were very painful to inject and the joints were pretty dry. Meaning her hocks are in terrible shape. It's hard to tell with her, because her flexions are always perfect. Doc says this is pretty common with quarter horses. They just don't tell you when they need help. So we did the Alpha-2 this time, but next time we need to switch to steroid. Which ugh. Ponies and steroids gives me anxiety. I asked if there was anything I could do to help her and also if I should or shouldn't allow her to jump anymore. Doc said jumping is fine, the hocks are what they are and we don't jump very high with her. Plus, Shiny isn't shy about telling me she can't do something. So I just have to listen to her. As for helping her... He just said pray. So... not the best news. But since Shiny doesn't really have a job or goals, it's fine. I'll make sure she's happy and as comfortable as possible. And if she has to stop jumping at some point, we will. And if someday all she can do is plod around bareback, I'll still enjoy her for that job. She's the most level headed of the bunch, so her real job is to keep the peace here at the farm. She can certainly do that even with bad hocks. 

So you might be wondering why I'll keep Shiny no matter what but not Pammon. And the thing is, I just can't keep them all.  I'm happy to lease Pammon out and get him back when he's done. Or sell him to a wonderful home if someone wants him enough with all of his baggage. But he's kind of the disruptor of the group. The breaker of the peace if you will... Plus. he's broken my heart so many times in the few years I've had him. I will make absolutely sure that he goes someplace he's well cared for, and will do my best to take him back if that home is no longer appropriate for him. But I think he'd like to have a real job with someone who loves him so why should I deprive him of that? Ideally, a lease would be perfect. I could get a little money for the lease that I can put toward his retirement so he'll at least help pay his way some. We'll just have to see what happens. Chances are he'll still be here awhile. I'm terrible at moving horses. In the meantime, we'll keep plugging along! And probably start popping over those little cavalletti that Shiny's doing. 

Now that you're all caught up with the horses... I spent Monday this week catching up on some crafts I've been wanting to get done. It took way longer than I expected, so I still have a few to do. The most important (and already very late) one was my dad's Father's Day gift. I had planned to have it done in time, but some of my supplies arrived late. It happens these days, what can you do?! I made him a belt out of beta biothane and used the Cricut to put his boat image and name on it. I also put the image on a polo shirt for him. They came out great!

(Yes, my dad's boat is ridiculous. But he earned every inch of that 
boat all on his own. He's the son of immigrants and worked ridiculously 
hard to build his successful business. PPE! It's lucrative.)

I also had a couple coffee cups waiting for decals, but only was able to do one. The other one I need to try again. Another day. The one is cute though!

I also made myself a fake nameplate belt with biothane and the Cricut. It's hard to take photos of because it doesn't lay flat nicely, but it's cute once on. I'll wear it soon for Thursday's Threads so you can see. 

That's mostly it from here. I have a few more crafts to do for a future Thursday's Threads outfit and some braiding jobs coming up. All kinds of things on the calendar! ALSO, trainer and I talked about finding some one day shows to attend when she's back from Vermont. So things are happening! 

What's Up Wednesday

 

Things are a little nutty around here this week. I mentioned before that I was waiting to set my course until the ring was re-graded, and that was set to happen this week. Along with that project, I'm having some privacy fence replaced and a few other odds and ends tended to. I'm glad it was scheduled for this week because my dad's boat captain returns this week also (he stays in the apartment here in the summer) and I noticed this when I was grazing horses the other day:

That's the deck to the front door.... I had thought the boards were just warped, but turns out some of them were also rotten. And then it turned out that the stairway was not good anymore either. So almost the cost of my new saddle later... I have to replace the whole thing. It's good timing since the carpenter is already on premises doing the other projects. But geeze. Horse showing gets more distant every week. Perhaps it's time I create myself a business of some sort. I need more income!

On the plus side, the ring looks SO MUCH better:

And I got the course set on Monday!

Looking forward to popping over it this week! Then maybe next week I can start thinking about some lessons. 

Things are going much better with the horses too! I was super angsty about riding on Tuesday with all the construction happening right next to the ring. But I need not have worried. They were all perfectly fine. Horses are so weird. The things you expect them to be spooky about they aren't. But heaven forbid there's some wind and the leaves on the trees move....

Al really seems to have settled right in here. This horse really just goes right along with whatever you throw at him. He's been much less spooky here than at the boarding barn. I think the difference is that here he goes outside for his turnout time before ride. At the other barn he was on the afternoon schedule for turnout. I think it's great for him to go play before working. If anything, he's been a bit lazy, but I'll take that over spooking at everything. Lazy we can work on easily enough. I haven't done a lot of jumping since the course wasn't set and we're just getting settled here. But we did pop over some single fences a couple times last week. 

He was perfect. Just jumps whatever you point him at. Such a good pony!

Eros is STILL waiting to get his hocks done... If you recall, our first appointment was thwarted when the boarding barn scheduled spring shots the same day as Eros' hock appointment. Can't do both on the same day, so I paid for an evaluation with the plan to inject at future visit. Then my vet got Covid and had to cancel. So he was supposed to come last Friday. Unfortunately, his father passed away and he had to cancel again. The only problem there was the office neglected to tell me that, so I was sitting in the barn waiting for him to show up to see Eros and Shiny. I had worked the other two horses but not them since I figured they would both need a ridden evaluation anyway. Well that was time wasted sitting there doing nothing. Around 3 the scheduler called me about rescheduling and I was very confused. I said I thought he was coming this afternoon? And she was all, oh I have note here that we left you a voicemail that we had to cancel. Uh... nope. No voicemail here. Wonder who they actually called? I mean, I'm not an ass hole. I'm really sorry about his father and totally understand the need to postpone. but I am upset that I wasn't informed. That, and I feel like a real shit horse parent knowing my horse has been in need of maintenance since April. Poor thing. So we rescheduled for this Friday. THEN on Monday they called and asked if I would ship over to the boarding barn for my appointment. I don't mean to be a full on ass, but I said no. It's incredibly inconvenient for me to do that, not to mention I think Pammon will come unglued if I take some of the horses away at this point. He's finally settling in. So I guess we'll see if he even shows up this week. I really love my vet, but it might be time to consider looking into other options. It's just not fair to my horses to not get the care they need when they need it. And obviously, I'm not a big enough client to get priority over someplace like the boarding barn. He's been there five or six times between when Eros got evaluated in April and now. He's been here zero times.

ANYWAY, rant over... Despite being in need of maintenance still, Eros is being a good dude. I haven't pressed too hard about a lot of collection. It's clearly very difficult for him at the moment and I don't want to make him do something that hurts. So his topline is disappearing, but he's happy about not working especially hard. I have let him pop over a few little things too. He enjoys it, and I haven't tried to do any related distances so that keeps it easy for his him too. 

He's not been dragging me around so that's nice! I can't wait to get him feeling his best. Hopefully this week. Fingers crossed!

Pammon seems to be settling in. He's not screaming anymore, and the last couple of rides he didn't whinny at all! Are we still using some ace? Yes. I am weaning him off though, and so far so good! Yesterday I rode him while they were rebuilding the deck AND one of the jumps blew over right behind him, and while that did startle him a little, for the most part he was a steady eddy. And we're almost back up to his full prescribed workout too. We're back to his full 20 minutes of trotting and we're just a few laps behind at the canter. Next week we'll be back where we started. He's feeling good, and I'm hopeful he'll be able to start jumping some little cavaletti and cross rails soon. Though maybe before that we have to try riding without the equiband. Heh.... details. 

I can feel him using his body better these days, and I think it will just be a matter of being really cognizant of how he's using himself moving forward. He's pretty lazy in general, so if he can do it easier he will. It's my job to not let him. Noted. Riding is hard. Lol!

Things are going better with Shiny pants too! I finally got a little tough with her. I'm not sure still if she's sore somewhere or what, but now that I've been a little more demanding, the canter departs are getting back to decent, and she's just working better in general. I swear sometimes I think she just wants to you to be a little mean. She's like a younger sibling, pushes your buttons till you get mad, and then she's a little angel. Mares. Sheesh. Hopefully she'll get seen on Friday. That hind leg is definitely improving but still has some fill. So we'll see if he wants to re ultra sound, put something in there, or maybe just keep on keeping on. Time will tell. Hopefully she'll be able to start jumping again soon too. She hasn't seen a fence since last fall!

In other news, the pool is open!

It's obviously not ready for swimming... but it's open! And that's the first step. Hopefully it clears up soon. I can't wait for some post ride floating!

I also got my annual bracelet order from my favorite horse show, so I pumped those out on Monday:

And I made myself a wrap bracelet while I was at it:

I have some supplies on the way for some fun crafts too. Things have been busy and I haven't been making much lately, so I'm excited to get back into doing some of that. 

And that's about it from here! Did you all have a good week? How accessible is your vet? Do you have to wait weeks for maintenance type appointments or can you more or less do things whenever? I'm trying to gauge where my patience should be... 

Truthful Tuesday

 

Back at the end of the summer, my mom came to hang out while I rode one day so we could see each other outdoors safely. And she brought me a little bag full of old needlepoint belts that were mostly finished but none of them had been made into belts. She and I had both started doing them when I was in high school and traveling to indoors in the fall. We got our first ones at Harrisburg one year, and I think must have gotten new ones there each year. I'm actually glad none of them had been finished because back then I wore a size 24 breeches and clearly, those belts would no longer fit me. But since they weren't finished off, I found out they can just make the leather parts longer so they'll work for me now. Some of the canvases weren't cut though, so I am able to make the needlepoint section the correct size for me now. Most of them I'm not that in love with and probably won't bother finishing. (It's around $100 per belt to finish them so that could get expensive!) There are just a couple I want done. My most favorite one though, is one that wasn't cut, so I've been slowly working on it the last few weeks. 

My confession though, is that I never actually finished this belt back when I started it. I have no idea why. It was about 90% finished so I have no clue why I would have abandoned it so close to the end. I'm glad I didn't since I can make it in my size now, but still. I'm surprised by that. I'm not one to leave things half finished. It's kind of been bugging me.

Confession number two is that since I started working on this one, I've been really into it and just ordered another canvas for when this one is complete. The new one is candy bar wrappers. Ha! I usually do horsey themed ones. Though aside from this one with the crops my other favorite was soda labels. It's super vintage because none of the soda logos are the same anymore. My plan is to send this crop belt and the soda one off for finishing. And then we'll see if any of the others get done. The others are a few horse show scenes and one purple one with horse heads. The saddest one though? I DID have one belt that was sent off for finishing years ago. It was horse butts, and I had customized it some by making some appy and pinto butts. I loaned it to one of the little kids at a show one day and never got it back. Not gonna lie, I'm still a little bitter about it. Though obviously, it wouldn't fit anymore anyway. I'm trying to find the canvas though, so maybe I can make a new one.

Have you made any of these belts? Or other crafty things lately?

Thursday's Threads

Happy Outfit Day everyone! It's still wintering here in the northeast, so I have no riding outfit to share. I was going to have a running outfit instead, but I overslept, so you don't get that either. But I do have a work outfit! And some fab boots to go with it...

As you can see, due to the freezing cold weather, I've basically given up on looking good. But the boots you guys!

Sweater: H&M

I love the variegated greens in this one. I saw it at H&M in Florida SUPER on sale, and I got grabby hands for it.

Jeans: Twentyone Black

These jeans are stupid comfy. They have lots of stretchy to them, and I think the zipper pocket is really cute.

Belt: Mane Jane

I know, you're probably getting tired of it already. Or are not so patiently waiting to see the flip side. Sorry guys, we'll get there soon, I promise!

Boots: Donald Pliner

Ahhhhh! Aren't they pretty?! They're hunter green with a bronze undertone, making them slightly metallic. I have an awesome hunter green leather jacket that goes really well, but it was too cold for it today. I have a confession about these boots... They're not exactly my size... By the time I discovered these, they were already closeouts. While I did find a pair in my size, it was a really expensive pair. I figured I could make the bigger pair work since they were $125 cheaper. So far so good. I may go get a nice thick inner sole for them, but I haven't fallen over my feet yet, so I don't think they're too bad.

Arm Party!
Lefty:

Lefty is sporting my most favorite Gucci bit bracelet along with a really cute beaded bracelet with a pewter pug on it. I bid on that little guy at the Pug Rescue of New England charity auction. I was so happy to win him!

Righty:

Are you tired of my home made bracelets yet? I hope not. There are a lot more to come. I LOVED this metallic faux leather when I saw it online. I was pretty confident it would be cute with a pony clasp. Not to brag... but I was right. This one is a little more kelly green than hunter, but I have some hunter that just arrived that's very similar, so expect to see that soon!

And that's what I'm wearing today! What do you have on? Any favorites from today?

Thursday's Threads

Outfit DAY! Sorry I'm late, it's been a busy day at work and Romey had a visit from Doc. But I'm ready now! Let's see what I wore today:

Why, yes, that IS a Mario phone cover! Thanks for noticing. I wore green today, because well... I often wear green. But also because I was wanting to wear my green moto jacket. So I'll show you that first and then we'll get to my outfit.

Jacket: Black Rivet

I love the knit insert that comes with this jacket. You can zip it out if you don't like it (the hood goes along with it though), but I love it. This jacket is faux leather. I've been on the hunt for a similar one in real leather but haven't seen anything affordable. I found this one at the local Wilson's leather store. They're closing that one, so everything was 50% off. Making this around $40. That's in budget! Ok, now we can see my outfit up close.

Sweater: Rue 21

I love the mixed textures on this sweater. It has this basketweave look on the front, but the sleeves and the back are a smooth knit. My FAVORITE thing about this sweater? It was $1.00. Rue 21 has a rack of sweaters and long sleeve shirts on sale 5 for $5. Making each of those five items $1.00. Can't beat that!

Jeans: LC Lauren Conrad

I definitely don't go out of my way to buy celebrity fashion lines... But I found these jeans at Kohl's last year on sale and I loved the color. They're a coated denim. I think the coating is black but the pants are blue, making these a neat sort of midnight color.

Belt: No brand

This is one of my go-to belts! I got the green strap on ebay, so it doesn't have a brand. It is real leather though! My H buckle fits it perfectly.

Shoes: Kickers

I forget where I actually got these. They're really soft suede and ridiculously comfortable. You've seen them before, I've had them quite awhile.

Arm Party:
Lefty:

I've been keeping it home made on the wrists lately. Lefty here is sporting one of my new horse bracelets that I made along with my trusty apple watch.

Righty:

Righty is wearing a wrap bracelet that I made along with my Rio bracelet. I love that photo bead I made using the prisma app. I might have also put that same image on a coffee mug...

And that's what I'm wearing today. No riding outfit since it's been about a hundred years since I sat on a horse. We're getting 5 inches of snow tomorrow and a possible blizzard on Tuesday, so I don't think that will change any time soon. Wah. #ihatethisweather

What are you wearing today? How's the weather where you are?

Thursday's Threads

I'm baaaaaack!!!! I have to tell you, waking up to an email from blogger stating that my blog had been deleted was NOT a pleasant way to wake up. Not at all. Not even a little. And just to make the morning a little more smooth, I spilled half my coffee on the kitchen counter. But hey, at least I didn't spill it all over myself right? And thankfully, blogger gave my blog back to me, so here I am! With a better-late-than-never outfit post.

Outfit pictures with Pia photobombing are my favorite! I went for casual today. I was going to get super neon on all of you today, but I was grumpy after the horrible email and wasn't feeling the bright happy colors. So I went with blue and gray. Let's look closer!

Sweater: Sonoma

I actually think I may have worn this once before for Thursday's Threads. Not positive. But possibly. Anyway, it's from Kohl's and I found it last year for practically nothing. I love the little pops of color throughout. I decided to match my pants to the blue that's in there.

Pants: Tinseltown

These are great. I think they may be considered jeggings? Not sure. Maybe just cotton pants? Who decides these things? Anyway, they're stretchy, and super comfortable. I LOVE the electric blue color!

Belt: Louis Vuitton

This looks like it's off-white, but it's really gray. It's a great color, and is almost the exact same shade as the sweater.

Boots: Ivanka Trump

I love these boots. They are the softest suede ever and fit perfectly. Last winter was so snowy and wet that I didn't get to wear them, so I was excited to bust them out this year!
**Disclaimer: the brand on this shoe in no way reflects any political affiliations or opinions on behalf of Amateur at Large

Arm Party!
Lefty:

Please excuse that line on my hand, I'm not even sure what I was leaning on before taking arm party photos. I thought this bangle from BaubleBar went so well with this sweater! Not to mention the blue is the exact same color as my pants. So fun!

Righty:

Righty is 100% handmade by me today. First is a macrame and Czech Crystal bracelet that doesn't photograph very well, and the other is a wrap bracelet made from charcoal gray metallic thread and glass beads.

I'm SO GLAD I was able to bring a Thursday's Threads post to you all today. I really was worried that Amateur at Large had died a sudden death! Yikes!
What are you wearing today?