What's Up Wednesday: Fasting edition

Oh man. I am THIRSTY! I'm (semi) observing Yom Kippur today which means I've been fasting since dinner last night. No food, no drink. Which also means no COFFEE. So if this post makes no sense, this is why!
Anyway, you're not here to read about fasting. So let's look back at the last week. On Friday it was a full week without Rio. And it's been weird. Certainly not easier yet, but I've been keeping quite busy, so that helps distract at least.

Pammon was helping to keep me busy by covering himself in actual shit. Thanks?

 Rio's ashes came home on Thursday, and I've been planning what to do with them (and Jampy's since he's still sitting on the bench in the barn too). I think I'm going to make a shelf up high in the barn for them, and underneath the shelf will be photos of them. Or maybe a painting of each of their beautiful faces. We'll have to see what I come up with!
In other horse news, I had a fantastic lesson on Eros Sunday morning. It was kind of split up as the farrier arrived just as we started jumping to tighten up his front shoes. Eros has a really tough time with his feet in the fall and we're trying hard to stay ahead of that this year. We don't want what happened last year to repeat!
Anyway, got the feeties fixed up, and went back out to re-join my group. I'm not sure if you remember but prior to getting his hocks and stifles injected we were really struggling in our lessons. I couldn't get down the lines, which was super weird for him. All last year it was everything I could do to not take out strides. So adding was bizarre. Now that he's all caught up on maintenance though, I have my horse back! He just walked down the lines, easy peasy! And only once did he yank me out of the tack on landing... I guess I have my whole horse back, pulling and all! Lol! Honestly though, I think he does that when I get to pulling too much without leg to back it up. The answer, my friends, is ALWAYS more leg.

Seriously though, just keep the leg, ok? -Eros, probably

Not much to report at home. Shiny's been good, though LAZY and Pammon is handling his stall rest mostly well. I don't really feel like that leg is healing, it's still puffy when I change his wraps. But it's only been a few weeks, so I'm trying not to fret about it.
It's been cold at night, dropping down into the lower 50's, so the kids finally wore their new sheets. I bought these months ago, and so far really like them. They're from Blue Ribbon Blankets.

Speaking of cold... Last Friday my friends and I managed to snag some tickets to the first game of the playoffs!

 Yankee stadium was electric! The atmosphere was definitely different than a normal game, and you could feel it the moment you got through the gates. But it was also freaking COLD!

Fortunately, I was prepared with lots of layers. And they had hot cocoa. I would totally go again should the opportunity ever arise. The stadium was sold out, and it looked like every seat was filled, at least for the middle of the game. Our seats were pretty high up, but no complaints. I mean, it was the playoffs! The game was exciting. Not too many home runs, but great plays. At one point, the Yankees stole two bases AT THE SAME TIME! Nuts. And they won, so icing on the cake, right?

Not much else to report on really. I got to ride Shiny Monday, but last night I had a family dinner to kick off Yom Kippur, so they had the day off. Now it's raining, and isn't supposed to stop until the weekend. We have our annual end of season weekend on Nantucket then, so looks like Shiny and Pammon are going to be REALLY bored for a few days. I'm hoping maybe there will be a break in the storm this evening so maybe we can dodge some raindrops and get them out. But it's not looking good!

How was your past week/weekend? Do anything fun? Lessons, horse shows... SHOPPING? Tell me about it in the comments!

Truthful Tuesday: Eros Appreciation Edition

My confession today isn't really a secret... I've totally fallen for Eros. I mean... he's not Rio. But he's up there on the list of special horses, that's a certainty.

Today is the first anniversary of his becoming a member of the Seidman herd! So I figured instead of gushing about how great he is, we'd just enjoy some photos of him looking bored on the crossties:

Wearing ridiculous outfits:

And being just generally adorable:

So here's to one year of enjoying this view:

Happy Anniversary, Eros! So glad you joined the herd, even if I thought you weren't my kind of ride in the beginning. You definitely are now <3

Thursday's Threads

It's a dreary outfit day here today. Rainy with a high of 59. Brr. Yesterday, however, was 88 degrees. So try to make sense of that! Oh New England...
Last night's riding outfit included short sleeves and lots of bug spray with DEET.

And also tie-dye. Very bright tie-dye.

Helmet: HKM

I was really proud of myself for not spending $400 plus dollars on the rose gold One K that I have been drooling at for a bit now... But then I saw this $135 helmet and was like, welll..... So here we are. I think it's gorgeous. It won't stay gorgeous very long I'm sure as that quilted looking part is all glued on gems. It comes with extras but we all know I would never get around to replacing any that fall off. But for the price, no complaints there. It fits well enough. It's definitely a bit rounder than my more oval shaped head, but since my head is small, it fits safely. It has a dial so you can adjust it too.

Shirt: The Juice Bar

This tee is from my favorite ice cream place on Nantucket. They do smoothies too in case you're confused by it being called The Juice Bar.

Belt: LV

Snagged this one on Ebay years ago. May or may not be real. I did not pay real prices for it.

Breeches: SmarkPak Piper

I haven't worn these in quite awhile because they're a size smaller than what I usually wear. But my laundry situation has reached critical status so I grabbed these. Turns out, they stay up a lot better. So maybe I should be wearing this size? Who knows.

Boots: Tuffrider Regal

I know you're wondering why I didn't wear my boots that match the helmet... Well. I forgot socks. So I figured I should wear the boots that were next in line for retirement which is these. They match anyway. (Note the broken tab on the bottom...)

So that's what I wore to ride last night. Probably one of the last posts with short sleeves for the season. Waaahhhhhh!

And here's what I wore to work today:

Not super inspired and I realized when I was going to put on my bracelets this morning that it was kind of the same color scheme as last week. I made a bracelet change to mix things up a bit.

Top: Haley and the Hound

This top is the same brand as last week's but a slightly different neck style. This one has more of a scarf type neck, much more material involved. It comes up higher and is a lot warmer. Perfect for a cold rainy day!

Belt: Rebecca Ray

This one happens to match my gray Celeris boots perfectly! But also this top pretty well.

Pants: D. Jeans

Nothing too special about these. A nice dark wash. Super stretchy.

Shoes: Irregular Choice

I figured I should spice things up a little somewhere... These shoes did the trick! Unicorns are always appropriate.

Arm Party!
Lefty:

Lefty is donning my sort of everyday go to stack. I've been wearing the middle one more to try and get it to darken. I'm not sure if it will as much as the others have, the leather seems a little different. Time will tell!

Righty:

Righty is wearing the alternate universe version of what lefty has on... A bit bracelet, the gold version of the Hermes saddle nail, and a fitbit instead of the apple watch. Alternate twinning?

So that's it for today. Any favorites? What are you wearing?

What's Up Wednesday

You guys already know most of what's been going on around here. But as they say, life must go on. And when you still have more horses to tend to, go on it does. And thank goodness. Or I'd definitely be a useless puddle by now.

So thankful for these kids keeping me busy!

Throughout the weekend, I would come home to new flowers on my barn bench from all my wonderful friends and family. They've definitely brightened up a hard time.

I got plenty of saddle time in too. I flatted Eros Friday and Saturday, then on Sunday we had a lesson finally. He was so incredibly perfect. I haven't gotten to jump him since he had his injections. He felt fantastic, really using himself and not heaving himself over like he had been lately. I can't tell you how happy I am to have him around.

Shiny got ridden too. I was thinking about jumping her, but wound up just flatting. Sunday we tried out the hackamore (or should I say "snackamore"). She was great in it, and as a reward we wandered the backyard for a bit and did some mounted grazing. Because mom was tired.

 Shiny had an interesting reaction to everything that happened. She lived directly across from Rio, so she saw everything. She was very calm about the whole thing, right up until the machine lifted him up to transport. That seemed to upset her and she did a lot of calling out. We comforted each other though. Whenever I took Shiny out of her stall, she always would drag me over to say to hello to Rio before I crosstied her. The first day, she tentatively approached the stall, looked inside to see it empty, and hasn't done it since. She really seems to know he's not there. Which is kind of heartbreaking. But also, she's much more polite. (Gotta find the good, my friends.)

Since day one of Pammon's injury diagnosis I was told we could tack or hand walk. I have been hand walking mostly because I was nervous about being on in the dark with tranq and all that. But this weekend I tack walked him. It felt great to sit on him. He seemed happy about it too.

Some friends treated me to dinner out on Saturday night. It was nice to get together and eat a healthy meal. After eating my feelings for a few days, it felt a lot better to get some vegetables in my system. And be surrounded by friends.

Sunday evening was the start of Rosh Hashana which is the Jewish New Year. My mom made dinner. It was a perfect time to be surrounded by family. Oh and I lost every single round of Candyland Bingo to my 3 and 6 year old nieces.

Monday when I returned to work, I found this adorable (and delicious) cookie on my desk from one of my coworkers.

I'm not sure where she found a Rio cookie, but it was such a sweet gesture! I was going to save it for awhile, but I got hungry. So I ate him. Cookie Rio lives on in this photo though. (And yes, I ate from back to front because who bites the head off first?!)

And that's about the extent of it over here. I'm doing my best to keep on keeping on with the help of my two and four legged village. (The pups too!) And maybe I've been spending extra time snuggling the Rio pillow.

Hope you've all had a better weekend that I did. Did you do anything fun? Horse shows? Lessons? Shopping? (No I haven't bought anything yet... I do have my eye on a cremation diamond necklace though.)

Truthful Tuesday

I'm sure you can imagine I have lots of feelings to confess today... But before I do, I shall lighten the mood with a different confession...
So Friday, after I got a couple hours of sleep and caught up on a few things for work, I headed out to the barn. I was planning to ride Shiny and walk Pammon before heading over to ride Eros. But once I got out there and fed lunch, I just was having a hard time with the emptiness. Not quite ready to face it. So I decided to head over to Eros first. I remembered he needed his turnout boots and bells replaced, so I opened the drawer where the extra bell boots live to grab a pair. And I found a big ol' mouse nest. Promptly shut that door and decided to donate Rio's relatively new turnout bell boots to Eros instead. I debated whether it was too soon, but decided they are just bell boots. Not like a halter or something personal. And I wasn't interested in dealing with adolescent mice at that moment. My confession? I haven't opened that drawer up since. Those *(#*)%_@ mice are still living blissfully in my bell boot stash. I get the ones with the fuzzy tops so probably I'll have to toss a bunch of them based on what I saw of their "nest".  Mice are jerks.

And now I guess we should talk about the real stuff. I'm struggling a little with what happened Thursday night/ Friday morning. Part of me wonders if I should have waited longer. Tried something else. If it was the right time. With Jampy, everything was so black and white. His kidneys were broken beyond repair, and he was in a lot of pain. But with Rio, he was never THAT painful seeming. I saw discomfort. I saw a horse that wanted nothing but to sleep. But I didn't see a horse in excruciating pain. Which, obviously isn't something you WANT to see. But it does help solidify your decision.
I did, however, look him in the eye at one point and told him he needed to tell me when it was time. And the reaction I got told me he was ready. He looked back at me, rested his nose on me, and closed his eyes. Just for a moment. And then he looked away.
I think I'd be struggling a bit less if our vet had been with us. He's known Rio for a long time. Has seen him through other struggles. The vet who helped us had never met him. Nor me. She was wonderful. And I don't feel she steered me wrong, or did anything less than my vet would have done. I just think I'd feel less uncertain if I had a second opinion from someone who knew us.

On a different note, I was really starting to think there was something wrong with me, because I've managed to talk about Rio an awful lot and haven't cried in public at all. Which is a lot better than how I handled losing Jampy. And that seemed weird because Rio and I were so close and I really thought I'd be a big useless puddle for the rest of my life a long while. But then last night when I threw a load of laundry in the washing machine and his sheet was in there, I lost it appropriately. So at least I know my cold little heart is still functioning.

So I guess that's where I'm at. I miss my boy. But am trying to stay REALLY busy so I keep my shit together.