Truthful Tuesday: The love of my life

It's happened you guys. I've found the one. The love of my life. My sole mate. (You'll see what I did there, and you'll applaud that effort in a minute...)

Other Girls

My best boots yet. They're from Fama-4-All, but I designed them completely myself. And I'm so excited.

I really should have taken more photos, but there was a lot going on yesterday (when they arrived) and so you'll have to wait on that. But trust me, they are perfect in every way. I finally got my measurements exact, so they're not too short. They're snug but not painfully tight. AND LOOK AT MY LOGO ON THERE! Just look at it!

Fama used a little button with their own logo for the ribbon center, which I think is pretty cute. Their logo is a princess crown, so clearly, that works just fine for me.
I really wasn't sure if this was going to work, cutting out the logo and backing it with leather like that. But it DID! And I think they're awesome. Obviously, these are just for schooling. I think it would be SUPER tacky to horse show with your logo on your boots. Also, probably not legal.
But I'm seriously in love with them. Like in an unhealthy, I just want to stare at them all the time  sort of way. I think this is how parents feel about their children. Or their spouses on a good day maybe? I dunno. I'm pretty sure I would marry them if I could.
So in case you couldn't tell, today's confession is that I am now in a probably unhealthy relationship with my new boots. I know they're just going to cause me pain (to break in) but in the long run, they should hopefully bring me much joy and fun in the years to come.
So what do you think? Ridiculous and tacky, or super fun and amazing? I don't think it's any different than the crazy custom chaps we used to have made. Who knows, maybe I'll start a trend?

Truthful Tuesday

You all are gonna judge me for this one.... Have at it though. #noregrets!
So I just found out my favorite local tack store is closing its doors. (We're just about out of tack stores around here...) The owner has decided it's time to retire. Can't argue that I guess. But still. Sad face.
  On the bright side, you know what a retiring tack store owner means? SALES! We all know I love a good sale. And retail therapy always helps when you're sad. Even if you're sad because the retail location is leaving. So at the end of the day, the whole thing cancels out. Emotionally at least. So today's confession is that I had a bit of a shopping spree. This particular store doesn't carry much actual tack that I like, but they do have some great apparel.
I won't keep you in suspense any longer, here's what I snagged in the closing sale:

Let's just address the elephant immediately shall we? Yes that is a Samshield helmet in that photo. Do I need a new show helmet?  Lol. I don't even show. BUT would it be awesome to not have to bring one back and forth to Florida? Yes! Helmets are a drag to pack. You have to take them in a carry on because the fluctuating temps in the cargo hold mess with the integrity of the helmet, blah, blah, blah. Helmets are bulky and stupid to travel with. By having a second one, I can keep one in FL and one up here. Total win. And even better, I paid for this entire haul with braiding this weekend. So it's like it never even happened.
I got Rio some new no bow wraps. He has a bowed tendon (got to the bottom of THAT issue, more tomorrow) so he's wearing wraps all the time now. I like to be able to rotate them so I don't have to constantly do laundry. I stocked up on hairnets, and got a pair of show gloves to keep with my new helmet.

 The boys got a couple buckets of treats. I got a stuffed pony for each of my nieces. One turns 5 on May 7th, and the other will be 2 on May 6th. Yep, one day apart. That should be fun for their parents when they're tweens! Ha!

  I also grabbed a cute t-shirt with a fox on it from Ariat (50% off!)

and a sunshirt from RJ Classics that I've been drooling at for awhile.

Other than the helmet, I don't think I was too crazy. And I mean I do hope to show again some day, so now I'm totally prepared! Right? Right.
Have you done any tack shopping lately? What'd ya get?!

What's Up Wednesday

I think you know what's up. It's snowing. AGAIN. And not like the cute little dusting we got Sunday either.

Nope. This is real snow. Like 8 to 10 inches of it. Gross. Fortunately, it's not sticking just yet. I'm hoping to jet out of work in an hour or two before it gets really bad. Yay for being able to work from home! Though if I stay till three, that "work" might be minimal. Don't tell the boss.
Anyway, enough whining about snow, let's talk about the past week!
I managed to ride almost every day last week after work. It was glorious! Well... as glorious as riding Jamp in the dark can be. He IS afraid of his shadow so there's that. But it was just so nice to be in the saddle.
Riding this time of year is so funny. You can't really work on anything since your horse has no fitness. It's kind of like rehabbing but you can lunge out the crazies if you need to. But if you do that, you can't spend much time in the saddle or you just might cripple your horse. Probably for the best since rider isn't too fit either. So long story short, we haven't really worked on anything other than moving around and starting back to some level of fitness.
All this was for naught though unfortunately. Friday blew in... literally. We were hit with a Nor'Easter on Friday which luckily for us in southern CT came in the form of rain. But very high winds too. Sustained winds between 20 and 30 mph and gusts upwards of 60. I thought for sure the ring would be a swamp. But Saturday morning, it looked like this:

That's not bad! A little wet in places, but nothing crazy. Unfortunately, the wind was still blowing like crazy. It blew the doors open on the hay barn at some point over night, but I was really lucky and the hay was far enough back to stay dry. And while it did blow the door off one hinge, it's still functional and it was all fixed up yesterday. It also did this:

I dunno... that looks expensive to me. I'm waiting until after today's storm to deal with it. No sense fixing that twice.
Since it was still crazy windy, I didn't ride Saturday, but I was fairly productive. I had cleaned out the trailer tack room a couple weekends ago, but I hadn't stripped the shavings that were in it. So I did that first.

Then the mail came with my new rat traps, so I got those all set up and placed.

I caught the little jerk last night! Definitely recommend these traps. We'll see if any more rats show up. And if they do, we'll see if they can catch another one. I'm not sure if rats are like mice, but I swear the mice figure out it's a trap. I keep having to get different ones to catch them. Hopefully not the case with rats, but I hear they're pretty smart. Time will tell. Fingers crossed they just don't show up anymore?

I also got caught up on the horse laundry. Washed all the horse show towels, plus two weeks worth of Rio's wraps, some saddle pads, etc.

And then I dragged the ring! I really need to move the jumps and do a better job, but this is good enough for now. Especially since it's just going to need it again when/if the snow melts.

Look! No mud!

And then finally, I spent some time grooming the boys. They're shedding out really well, and starting to like fancy horses again instead of wooly mammoths.

Shiny boys! And then it was night time. I didn't have any crazy plans like last weekend. Instead, I got to work weeding out the dressers. The great clothing purge of 2018 is nearly complete! Just in time to start the spring/summer version... It will be nice when it's all done though.
Sunday, though pretty chilly and still kind of windy was a better day to ride. And I figured possibly my last for a bit since the evenings were looking chilly for this week. I lunged Jampy before I rode him and he was a bit of a cuckoo bird. Thankfully due to lack of fitness it didn't last long, and I was able to hop on for a quick ride. Since there was no mud, I figured I'd give my blue Pioneer boots their first ride.

He would look so fancy if only he's close his mouth...

I'll talk more about them tomorrow on Thursday's Threads but the quick and dirty is that they are very comfortable, will break in super fast, but patent leather is awfully slippery.
I threw Rio on the lunge line tacked up in hopes of getting on him too. Unfortunately, he was VERY unsound. So instead I sent the farrier a text. Hopefully he'll be here at the end of the week to take a look. If he can't fix it, I'll call the vet. He's comfortable hanging out and walking around, so I don't think it's an emergency situation. Hoping for an abscess or bruise or something simple. But it's Rio... so, we'll have to see.
And that was the last of my riding. I was hopeful Monday, but the ring was already crunching up when I got home from work. So we just groomed instead. Same with Tuesday. And now it's snowing. Should stay in the forties for the foreseeable future though, which makes me hopeful I'll be back in the saddle soon.
In other news, my Boy-O-Boy items arrived on Friday! They're GORGEOUS and I have to say, the quality is amazing.

I should have ordered a little bit bigger belt, but with breeches it's fine, so not a big deal. I LOVE the metallic gold, it's subtle enough to be pretty and not gaudy. And the browbands looks fab on the custom bridles I got from FSS.

I haven't oiled the bridles yet, but that's hopefully going to happen no later than this weekend (maybe tonight if I'm motivated). I can't wait to ride in them! I think the boys are going to look extra handsome.

Well. That's what's up this Wednesday. What's up with you? Is mother nature messing with you too? Get any fun new pony stuff you want to talk about?

What's Up Wednesday

It was a relatively unexciting week as far as horses go around here, but it was a super exciting week as far as getting new stuff goes! And I don't even feel all that guilty because I bought most of this stuff in November! Next week should be exciting too and also guilt free. Because next week my replacement Fama's should be here! THESE:

Photo credit to Fama 4 All

I can't even. If they're even half this amazing in real life... SO PRETTY!
But back to now...
Yesterday my Pioneer boots finally arrived! YAY! So you wanna see?? You've probably already seen some sneak peeks if you follow me on the Instagram. Unfortunately, I didn't get to play with them until late so the photos are crap. Maybe this weekend I can try and get some daytime pictures. Anyway, without further ado... I give you (some crappy photos of) The Vittorios (in navy):

I know. They look black in these photos. You'll just have to trust me that they're blue. So the top cuff part is patent, the outside of the leg is regular leather, and then the foot and inside leg is also patent. I kind of thought patent would be slippery, but I'm reading that it's very grippy. Guess we'll find out eventually, won't we? One thing I love on these is the natural colored heel. Not sure why I love those so much, but I really do.

And (some more terrible photos of) The Clios in Glitter Celebrity:

And a little photobomb by P!

So everything that looks black on these boots is actually black, and those parts are all patent. The outside leg panel is a glittery fabric. I was really curious what that would actually be like. I kind of thought it might be sort of plasticy or worse, be dropping glitter everywhere. But since it's more like a fabric, that doesn't seem like it will be a thing. They're actually pretty amazing despite being ridiculously over the top.  Whatever, I love glitter!

I can't do any sort of review currently since I'm not riding. But I would like to talk about the process a little really quickly, as well as how they fit.
After measuring myself twice for boots last year and kind of failing both times (the purple ones that are ridiculously short and the Fama's that I had to sell because the foot was three sizes too big), I was a little worried this time. I measured myself probably 12 times before sending in my info. The Connected Rider (the tack store I ordered through) supplied me with a measurement chart which really took a lot of the guess work away. I think my measurements were pretty spot on this time. The Connected Rider also reached out to me when I forgot to pick a rhinestone color for the Vittorio's and they also kept me up to date on how they were coming along if I checked in. Really great customer service! I think the were as excited as I was for the boots to arrive!
So let's talk fit. I was surprised that despite using one set of measurements for both pairs, they actually fit a tiny bit differently. That may simply be because they are slightly different styles. The Vittorio I think I could have added a little to the height. I'm always weary to do that because I hate them digging into the back of my knees. But the Spanish top is really high, so it won't be noticeable if they're a hair short. Other than the height, they fit me PERFECTLY. Like exact. I'm amazed. The Clio's seem to be a hair taller, and I think the height is exactly right on them. But the legs are a touch snug. I can get them zipped so I think they'll probably stretch a little anyway and be just fine. Plus, I'm hoping to lose a little of this winter weight, and that should also help. If it happens. I'm not good at such things. Anyway, overall I'm THRILLED with my new Pioneer boots. As far as wearing them around my house at least. We'll have to see when I can ride again how they are on a horse. Even if I hate riding in them, they'll look fab with jeans!

But that's not all that showed up this week... I fell victim to Amanda (from the900Facebookpony fame) AGAIN. I dunno what her deal is, but I think I've been brainwashed. I'm not supposed to be buying stuff! But also it didn't count because I used a gift card that was expiring soon anyway. I also failed to take photos of what I bought from Lux Eq through her, but I will tell you, and you can wander over to HER blog and see the photos. I got a pair of Iquip show gloves that are black with green piping and a quilted TS belt (Lol, I almost wrote girth there...) in a really pretty kind of sage green. And those showed up on Monday.

And then I accidentally went on Etsy. That's never good. I popped over to Sweet Billy's Bits because I was thinking about seeing if I could get a loose ring with brass rings for Rio's custom bridle (Those finally came too, but I'm saving their reveal for a bit since the boys haven't tried them on yet). Turns out, that was easy to do, and then I accidentally also got him a unicorn leather bit too. They came STUPID fast.

So yeah, it was a really good stuff week. I did a few other things besides open packages though... Let's see...
I spent a TON of time this weekend working on the closet. It's getting so much better! I'm almost done, and can't wait to schedule the veterans to come pick up all this stuff and get it OUT OF MY HOUSE! So much stuff. Has to go.
Some friends hosted their annual Chili cookoff, so that was fun. I don't really cook. Almost never honestly. So I didn't submit a dish, but I did taste ALL the different chilis. It's definitely not on my list of favorite foods, but I like it well enough to enjoy the tasting. It's so interesting how one dish can be done in so many different ways.

They take things really seriously. There's even a trophy for the winner! And cash prizes for first through third. Anyone wanting to vote donates $5 to the pot. And free hats for everyone!

This is the trophy. I love that it's a spoon!

I also spent some time making stuff.

It's really amazing to me how much time you can spend doing things like cleaning out your house or making things when you can't ride. The barn really is some kind of time warp/black hole.
And OF COURSE, I still managed to spend plenty of time with the tall kids. They had some nice groomies, and I let Rio have a turnout in the barn. Jamp doesn't understand why I don't let him do that. But the answer is because he gets too rude when you give him too many privileges.

Jampy didn't get a photo, but I swear he's not like the rotten step child or anything. I think my phone was charging when he was out for grooming.
And last but not least, if you follow me on instagram, you may remember I put this poll up:

I've been wanting a Boy O Boy Bridleworks belt FOREVER, and the ECEquestrian has a coupon code up for them! BOB doesn't really do sales or coupons, so I figured I need to jump on that while the jumping is good. But I could NOT decide on a pattern. Instead of being a grown up and making my own choice, I asked Instagram:

I'd really like to get collars and leashes for the dogs, and a couple lead ropes to keep in the trailer, but that's going to have to wait awhile. BOB is super pricey. From what I hear though, the quality is A+++ and being handmade, I think there's a reason for the cost. You DO get what you pay for. And seriously, I REALLY need to stop buying stuff for a LONG time now. I mean... you all saw what happened in the stock market right? Reel it in Stacie.
 So what's up with you guys? Have you been getting to ride? Any fun non riding events happening? What have you bought and or received lately new for riding (or just horsing around). Let's chat in the comments!

Truthful Tuesday

Today's confession is that I am severely lacking in workplace motivation. I've been fairly motivated outside of the job. The house is getting somewhat in order, and the horses are starting to look less feral as Spring approaches... But work? I was 50 minutes late today. That's nearly a whole hour. No one noticed... I'm not sure what that says. But still. I really need to make an effort to start showing up closer to on time.
Once I actually arrived to work, I went through my emails and responded to them all. And then I window shopped at Zulilly for a good 45 minutes... Seriously. I'm the worst employee. Oh and now I'm typing out this blog post.
I better get to work.....


Anything you need to confess today? Are you a diligent, good little employee, or do you sometimes stray like I do? Is your office very strict with start times?

What's Up Wednesday! (And my day at the Equine Affair)

I really miss having actual riding related things to talk about on What's Up Wednesday. While I am still riding, it's mostly in the dark on a very small portion of the ring because I don't have the energy for the spooking and running that occurs when I venture toward the dark side... The literal dark side. I only have lights on one end of my ring at the moment. But let's try and talk ponies anyway despite my doing zero actual REAL work with them.

 Jampy:
Jampy is currently being ridden 4-6 times per week. We work on not being a giraffe and trying not to run away from every little noise he doesn't actually hear but thinks he does. Riding him is a total chore, because he's just so worried the entire time. I can see why they took winters off with him when he lived in Europe. To loosely quote Anna Nalick, winter just isn't his season. But riding aside he's gotten really affectionate lately. Last night he literally kissed my face. With his lips. It was odd, but adorable. We haven't jumped anything in weeks and I'm starting to really miss it. I'm thinking about maybe taking a lesson once a week some place on a school horse just to try and keep going this winter. We'll see if I follow through on that.

Romey:
I've been REALLY inconsistent with Romey. He's being an absolute turd but I'm really not sure if it's because he's uncomfortable or he actually just needs a little tough love. I need to pick my vet's brain about him again and figure out a plan. I did have a nice ride on him Monday though. He only complained for a few strides about picking up the trot and then he actually KEPT TROTTING until I told him to walk. So that was a small miracle. It's really disheartening when your goal has become trot a circle. Literally. That's it. Just trot a damn circle. UGH. No more green horses for me. Lesson learned.

Rio:
Once I remembered how cold backed Rio gets when it's not summer, I decided we wouldn't ride any more until spring. We've been hand walking and doing some VERY LIGHT lunging instead. (He gets turned out everyday too of course.) He's pretty happy about all the extra time for grooming that makes for him.

I headed up to Equine Affair on Saturday. I had several things I wanted to research and had thought about catching some of Guy McLeans's clinic. Spoiler alert: I was so busy shopping and researching I missed that. Oops.
 I have been thinking for a long while about upgrading my trailer. I have a Sundowner two horse, straighload gooseneck with a tack room. I absolutely love it, but because of the needy children I have, I always need to have someone come along with me to help with loading and unloading. This gets expensive because no one wants to give up their day to hang out at a horse show for free. Or at least not anyone that I know. I've been contemplating the 2+1 size for awhile, but honestly it's much too big for me. I don't want to haul around a huge trailer. And I'm not a fan of slant loads. (Just my opinion, not judging them or anyone who loves them.) There is an option of a two horse trailer, gooseneck, straight load, with tack room that has a side ramp, but is smaller than the 2 plus 1. I have seen a few configurations from different companies, but I really couldn't get a sense of space from photos. I was hoping to see some in person over the weekend.

And I did! I got to see a few different versions, though none were exactly what I wanted. Which is good because I just bought a truck and therefore cannot also buy a trailer right this minute. But now I know exactly what I DO want, and I also found out that I can have it built for about the same price as an in stock model. So all good things. What did I see, and what do I want you ask? Most brands that had the side ramp along with a tack room, had a slanted wall between the horse area and the tack room area. I hated this. It gave a lot less room to the horse on the side not next to the ramp. Kingston however, had a nice roomy square area for the horses to walk through. So that's definitely what I would want. It does give less room to the tack room, but it's still absolutely big enough. I think it's still the same size as my current tack room. But I didn't like the Kingston trailer in general. The style was really dated on the inside, and it just lacked a lot of finishing touches I saw from other brands. I think when the time comes I'm going to go custom through 4 Star. There's a dealer within a reasonable driving distance from where I live, and they take trade-ins. I'm already getting itchy to place the order... Settle down Stacie.

I also wanted to pay a visit to Blue Saddles. They're a used saddle dealer specializing mostly in higher end saddles. While I'm really not excited to buy another saddle just for Romey, I do want him to be comfortable. And I also want me to be comfortable. The Del Grange I'm using on him now still doesn't fit him very well, despite his being happier in it than in the Hermes. It also doesn't fit me at all. Again, I didn't go up planning to purchase, just to research. And I behaved and did just that. (I know I'm shocked too.) I sat in a bunch of saddles and really didn't love any of them. I still think my choice for a saddle should I decide to get something would be the Voltaire Stuttgart. But they are expensive and kind of tough to find used. The Palm Beach model is the most popular, but I don't really like that one. I'm also not doing anything until I figure out what's going on with Romey's back. If heaven forbid he can't be ridden anymore, then it's silly to buy him a saddle.
Obviously I didn't walk away from Equine Affair empty handed of course. I still managed to spend my money. I got some new brushes for the boys (they each got their own because we don't like to share grooming tools). The Diva brush from Haas is pretty awesome. I'll probably do a review on it if I can get some good before and after photos using it. I also got a gold glitter crop because everyone needs one of those.

Diva brush, beastie brush, glitter stick. No need to photograph all the brushes since the others are the same.

The pugs even got some Himalayan chews which was nice because I hate to do for one set of kids and not the other, ya know? That was pretty much all I brought home with me. I would have been proud of me except that I did buy something else. But I'm not ready to admit it yet, so you'll have to wait until February to find out about my guilty purchase upon its arrival.
Waiting on my door step when I got home was my order from EC Equestrian.

Look how pretty! (And it all matches my green helmet!) The baby pads are awesome, and I will probably order some to keep in the trailer at some point if I ever start showing again. I like the half pad too, though I do wish the foam was little more dense. The horses seem to like it though, so what do I know? The polos I don't love. They're cute, but the fleece isn't my favorite. I won't order more of those. Customer service was fabulous and turn around time was really quick too! Especially since she ordered special velcro just for me for the wraps.

The pups have been really busy loafing around, but on Saturday morning my dad dropped off Juno for the week. My dad and step mom are at a trade show in Germany so Juno is hanging with the puggers.

The three of them having been causing all sorts of chaos, but only the best kind. And also little Juno rules the roost. P tried ONE TIME to get at Juno's food... let's just say that didn't happen a second time. Pia needs that once in awhile, she totally takes advantage of Artie.

That's what's up this Wednesday! What's up with you? Tell me about your week in the comments!