Truthful Tuesday

 

I'm sitting here watching election coverage... And the anxiety is HIGH. I'm not sure whether to eat my feelings or drink them? I'll probably eat them though. 

Anyway, that's not my confession. Today's confession is that so far, my horses have really surprised me with this move. They've all been handling things quite well considering what a big change this is. EVEN AL! Sometimes it takes a little while for Al to decide where all the terror resides, so I'm not optimistic that he'll stay as reasonable as he's been so far. But I am going to appreciate that he's has been! I'll talk much more tomorrow about the new place and what we've been up to so far. But after a few days, I am so far feeling like this was a good choice for us. 

Thursday's Threads: Halloween Edition

 

So my Eros photos are a little lacking, but we'll make do. For Halloween this year, Eros dressed up like Eeyore and I was Winnie the Pooh. We celebrated on Saturday which is lucky because I would have been way too hot with two shirts on today! Here's what we wore:

It's an action shot, because Shiny was facing us 
and was making her attack move.

I had really wanted to get Eros one of those full body slinkies for the costume, but they were $90 and that seemed a little excessive just for fun. Also I didn't get a close up of Eros' wraps, but they were just cheapo generic ones from Amazon. 

Bridle: Joseph Sterling
Bonnet: A maker on Facebook

I laughed a lot when I put this bonnet on because the ears on it weren't actually longer than Eros' ears. Which is funny because his ears aren't particularly large. I got this bonnet quite a few years ago, and I can't remember the lady's name that made it. But it is ADORABLE! 

Saddle: Butet
Saddle Pad: Ogilvy
Half Pad: Ippico

Yes, this is an old photo, and also yes, it's not even Eros. But this is the exact set up we used. So it's good enough!

Tail: Fun.com

This was a challenge to tie in because SOMEONE has been rubbing his tail. They've all been wormed, and everyone is pretty clean, so not sure what the drama is. Horses! Anyway, this Eeyore tail still looks ridiculously cute. 

That's what E wore for Halloween, and here's what I had on:

And yes, I did already have Winnie the Pooh colored breeches! ALl I had to buy was the red crop top and the headband. Costume on a budget! Even for E's outfit, I just had to buy the tail and the polos. So also a pretty inexpensive endeavor.

Helmet: One K
Headband: Fun.com

I wasn't sure if the headband would fit on the helmet, but it was actually PERFECT! Isn't it cute? 

Yellow Shirt: Luyaa
Red shirt: Bestisun

I'm not sure I'll ever have another use for the red crop top because I'm a 44 year old woman. But the yellow shirt is useful. Plus I already had it!

Belt: Amazon

This belt you've seen before but with the bee buckle on it. I swapped it for something less eye catching since Winnie the Pooh doesn't wear a belt. I, however, require one to hold up my pants.

Breeches: Vestrum

These are the same style as my orange breeches. Farmhouse Tack occasionally sells their clearance stuff extra cheap on Facebook and that's where I saw these. They were $60 and I had been considering buying a pair of yellow breeches, so I jumped on them. And when I decided to dress up like Winnie the Pooh, I knew they'd be perfect! And they were!

Boots: HKM

Half Chaps: HKM

I know, they're filthy. I should be ashamed, but hey. It's a dust bowl here since it hasn't rained in weeks. I still really like these half chaps, and would definitely recommend them if you're in the market. I haven't worn them too much this summer, but they are still holding up well. 

And that's it for this week! Next week's outfit day will be at the new barn! They're colors are pretty similar to mine, so expect to see lots of green still!

What's Up Wednesday

 

Geeze guys. October is the WORST. I honestly have no idea why people love fall so much. Sure the leaves are pretty, and pumpkins and apples are delicious and all that. But the horses! They're all nuts! Well. The geldings are. Shiny is fine. Because she's a reasonable mare. 

Today for example. I was actually really pumped to go ride these animals today. There was barely any wind (we've been living in a turbine I swear), it was warm, almost 70, and the sun was out. A perfect day for October! So I get on Al who is seemingly quite reasonable for tacking up and walking out to the ring. I get on. We walk about four steps, and suddenly he's petrified of EVERYTHING. That jump over there. The tree out that way. And that tree. AND THAT ONE! All of them! TERRIFYING. I try to push him forward, ask for bend. Ask him to move his haunches in and out. Nope. Nothing is getting his attention. Mind you, he's doing what I ask, but still spooking. Then he just about loses his marbles entirely, so I concede that maybe we need a little work on the lunge first. That helped. He had a couple big spooks on the line, and then went to work. So we did maybe ten minutes on the lunge and then I got back on. And he was only mildly better than he had been before the lunge. I finally settled on using just part of the ring and just kept him working for awhile. It was fine. But man. I'm tired of it. I'm zero percent afraid of his antics. At this point I'm just fed up with it. It's total nonsense. I mean not to him, he's full of anxiety for reasons I cannot deduce. It may be time that I admit this is a professional's horse and not the one for me. But also, I probably shouldn't make decisions like that in October when he's always terrible. But I am not enjoying him at all currently. It's a good thing he's pretty and talented. 

So then I got on Shiny and she was a perfect little angel. We even jumped a few fences which was lovely because I've barely jumped anything in months. I love this pony. She always shows up when she knows you need it. I love sharing her with her kiddo in the summer, but I'm glad to get to jump her around again myself. She may have her short comings (who doesn't?) but she's reliable, kind, and loads of fun. We dressed Shiny and Eros on Saturday for a little pre Halloween fun, and Shiny was so happy to wear bows and polos (on all four legs!) and get her picture taken. She ate it all up. Eros was equally enthused, and you'll see his photos tomorrow. I don't have great ones, I was relying on kiddos parents, and the quality was eaten when they transferred. But that's okay. Something is better than nothing!

See that horse in the woods?! TERRIFYING!

Once Shiny had restored my faith in my riding abilities, I got on Eros. Guys. Perfect Eros! He was a lunatic! As bas as Al almost. Which, made me feel a little less frustrated about Al because if Eros is acting like that, then for whatever reason there must be something they're picking up on that I'm not aware of. But man. I put Eros to work because he knows better. Though, even with him, I had to make the ring smaller to get his attention. And even then, I think I only had about 60% of it. Better than Al who only gave me about 25%. It was exhausting. I earned the big dessert I'm about to go inhale shortly. 

It's interesting though. I had kind of been dwelling on my riding and feeling like I hadn't been working hard enough lately. (Definitely worked hard today though!) But despite all the antics from the tall horses today I felt pretty strong in the saddle. And I never felt afraid. Annoyed, yes. Irritated. Frustrated. All of that. But never afraid, and never like I wasn't doing the right thing. So there's that at least. The rides might have been shit, but at least I did my part to the best of my ability. Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer, so I'm hoping for a redo and hopefully slightly more tired horses. 

On other news, I've been working hard this week getting us ready for our big move. I'm SO nervous about going to a new barn, especially with my horses behaving like feral beasts. But I'm also excited. We have some new blankets, so Monday I got them all tagged and packed up. Rita helped too.

I also got their grooming stuff packed, and our first week's set of pads and boots to ride with. The super cool new med box is just about packed up too. I just have some meds to pack, and the first week of supplements to make up, and then we'll be ready to roll! My plan is to do supplements tomorrow evening because my house looks really dark even when the lights are on, but the barn lights up nicely. So even though I haven't had a single trick or treater in 15 years, I'll be out in the barn and ready in case that changes! But also being productive because there's always so much to do. Ha. Anyway, I'd like to get the trailer packed up Thursday if I can, because Friday evening I have some plans that I'd like to be cleaned and showered for. So I won't have much time after I ride. And Saturday is moving day! 

I'll make two trips Saturday. The first one will be all the stuff and Eros, and I hope to leave between 8:30 and 9. If the new barn people are cool with it, I'd like to just drop everything off, go get the other two, and then unpack and get settled once all the horses are there. I have a friend meeting me to help load Eros, and then my (nice) neighbor will meet me to load the other two. I really should teach them to self load, but now's not the time!

I just really hope they all settle in well. I'm very much looking forward to being able to ride inside where it's not windy. Especially once the temps fall back to where they usually are this time of year. Maybe there will be some nice people and horses to ride with which I think would really help Al. He hates riding alone, which is our only option at home most of the time. I'm going to reach out to a trainer too, once we get the move done. So hopefully we'll have good things on the horizon! Fingers crossed.

Truthful Tuesday

 

Okay guys this isn't my confession, but it's me adjacent so I'm sharing it. A few weeks ago, my dad called me up in the morning. Which was weird because my dad doesn't call me that often unless he got a weird bill that I was responsible for... And rarely does he call in the morning. So I was at first concerned that something was wrong. Fortunately, I quickly found out nothing was wrong. He just did something very irresponsible that he knew I would appreciate. 

So he calls, and tells me he did something kind of impulsive that was maybe a bad idea. Oh dear. Guys. He bought three mares in Argentina. THREE. MARES. And they're YOUNG. 2, 3, and 4 years old. Oof. They are well bred though. And they won't be my problem so that's all good at least. 

The short story is this: My stepmom has a trainer she really likes in Florida who is from Argentina. A friend of the trainer's is a breeder and is in poor health so the horses all went to auction. Trainer felt that a few of them would be good investments, and talked my dad into bidding on them. So here we are.

They're all nicely bred. And there is one I'd kind of like to keep... It's the youngest one, so we'll have it awhile before I have to decide if I beg for her or not. (I'm not sure Dad will let me have one... we'll see!) The plan is that the oldest one will go to Florida to the trainer this winter sometime and start training. And it will be for sale. Then next year the three year old will do the same (it will be four then), and the following year for the youngest one. Wanna meet them? Sure you do! Disclaimer, I think 2 is young to be jumping big in a chute, but auctions, ya know? Filly is back out in the field, so hopefully no harm done.

Chacotina is the oldest at four. She seems lovely and I think will be pretty easy to train up and get sold. She has a nice jump and looks athletic enough.

Caramel's ears are so big it's possible she's part mule. For the record, I love giant ears. This is my least favorite. In this still her knees are up, but that's not really a regular occurrence for her based on the few times I saw her go through the chute. But she's just three so she might learn to jump better. She does look smart though. And sometimes smart is better than athletic, ya know? So I'm not writing her off. 

Chacoo Star is the one I want to keep. She wants to be a hunter. Before this oxer, they bounced over a couple cavalletti, and she jumped every single thing just like this with her toes above her nose. SO CUTE! I hope she stays relatively petite and keeps the same form when she jumps. Time will tell! For now she's back living in a field with her friends for another couple of years. I'm excited to meet her when the time comes though!

So that's today's confession. My dad did a stupid horse related thing, and now I can use that to my advantage the next time I do a stupid horse related thing. 

Thursday's Threads

 

Outfit Day! As much as I don't love fall, the color pallet really does work well with my barn colors. So this week, it's a Winthrop Corner Stable edition of Thursday's Threads. Eros might have been the obvious choice to model, but Shiny said she really wanted to do it, so I let her. She looks fab in autumn colors too. Here's what she had on:

I couldn't zoom in on her for this one; I had to get the trees in the back in the shot. It was a nice day here today. I thought it was supposed to get cold, but it was almost 70 and the sun was out much of the day. It was blustery though, which I can assure you Al did not approve of that part. 

Bridle: Pinnacle
Brow Band: Boy O'Boy Bridleworks

I haven't used this bridle on her much because earlier in the season that bit rubbed her cheeks. And it looks like it irritated them a little today too. I am planning to take this one with us this winter though, so I'm going to switch the bit over to a full cheek like her other bridle.

Saddle: Custom Saddlery

Saddle Pad: Mattes

I didn't realize what a bad angle I took this photo at. Sorry guys! Hard to see the pad well. After my marathon braiding weekends back in August, I very responsibly used the money I made for adulting things. But I did splurge on ONE thing and that was this saddle pad for Shiny. The boys have tan Ogilvy baby pads that you've all seen frequently, but Shiny didn't have a tan pad, and I really wanted one for her. This came out better than I expected, and I love how it looks on her. It's almost the same color she is! It was my first time ordering through Pink Equine, and it went very well. Prices are quite as good as when Hufglocken sold Mattes, but still pretty reasonable, and the wait time was as expected. If you're looking for a new Mattes dealer, definitely check them out!

Boots: Uhlan

You've seen these a bunch now, I still am really happy with them. They're mesh so hopefully keep the legs a little cooler, and they wash up great in the washing machine.

That's what Shiny wore today, and here's what I had on:

Lots of logos. You can't see them, but my socks also have logos.

Helmet: One K

We're back in a drought here and you can probably tell by the state of my dusty helmet. There's actually a forest fire raging about an hour north of us, which is zero percent normal for this part of the country.

Sweatshirt: Artscow

Okay, yeah, I did a poor job of aligning the logos on this hoodie. I was being lazy and didn't proof it. But whatever, I still love it, even if it's a little messy. 

Belt: Zazzle

I didn't mess this one up though! Love these belts from Zazzle. The reverse side has the composition portrait of all the horses and Rita in black and white.

Breeches: Tailored Sportsman

These are the canyon color that I was obsessed with finding on consignment. Totally worth the wait, especially since I found side zip! 

Boots: Horka

Admittedly, these were not the right shade of brown to pair with these breeches... But I did it anyway. I thought about wearing the darker Mountain Horse ones, but these are so much more comfortable. And some days you need comfort. 

And that's it for this week! Next week we'll probably share our Halloween outfit from this weekend. Cause it's pretty cute! 

What's Up Wednesday

 

I say this every fall, but this time of year is always kind of unfocused with the horses. Al and Eros are a little extra spooky with the longer shadows and for some reason near constant wind. (Thank goodness for Shiny and her sensible mare brain!) With the tack sale last week, I kept the rides short, partially to give me more time to get stuff done but also because the attention spans of the equine were pretty short too. Despite the lack of real focus, and not doing much jumping right now, we're still getting our daily rides in and enjoying the foliage.

I had switched Al to powdered Omeprazole about a week ago, and unfortunately, he's behaving like he was before I put him back on Misoprostol again. So I don't think that's working for him. I'm going to reach out to the vet tomorrow and see if I'm dosing wrong (it says one scoop for maintenance which is what I'm feeding, but maybe that's for a smaller horse? I dunno!). Or maybe I just need to switch back to the more expensive option. Horses man! It's never easy! 

Shiny's been good at least. She doesn't love when it's super windy this time of year, but she's much better at dealing with things she doesn't like than the boys are. Her kiddo has been coming pretty regularly, so they're having lots of fun jumping around and doing kid/pony stuff. Saturday we're going to dress them up for Halloween since kiddo heads back to Florida before actual Halloween. I'm going to dress up Eros as Eeyore. It should be adorable. 

Eros is feeling pretty good lately. So good in fact that he's been extra destructive. 

That used to be my three step mounting block. RIP. I ordered a new three step block, this time a plastic one to hopefully stand up to Eros' hulk smashing feet a little better. The new one arrived and I thought, that box looks too small... Sure enough, they sent the wrong one. So now my new new one will arrive like two days before we move for the winter... Lol. Always the way, isn't it? We're making due with the little two stepper, but honestly, it's a CLIMB! I'm only 5'2" and the boys are both 16.3. But after all the climbing into and out of the bed of my truck this weekend, I'm getting pretty good at climbing. 

In other news, the wildlife around here has been something! Saturday while I was cleaning stalls, all of a sudden I hear Eros out in the ring having an absolute fit about something. Before I could even get out there to see what was happening, Al had joined in from the run out paddock. So I get out there and hear an absolute ruckus coming from the little tree line between my house and the neighbor's. It was a TURKEY! A huge turkey. It came barreling out of the trees straight at me! So I did the same thing as Al and ran away. Hahaha! The turkey also did not want to be in this situation and it flew out over my gate and left. There used to be a rafter of turkeys that lived in the area and we saw them often, but I haven't seen a single one in several years. Guess they're still around though! 

But turkeys aren't the only animal showing up where they're not expected... Monday I went to get in the shower only to find a mouse sleeping in there. Sigh. So I went and got my mouse catching vase (not my first rodeo with the mice in the shower), caught the little guy and brought him outside. Guess it's time to load up the mouse traps again. 

Sunday was the tack sale as I've been babbling on and on about. I had tried to get my previous weekend helper to work Sunday so I could just deal with the sale on Sunday, but she was traveling this past weekend. I also asked our weekday helper, but he wasn't able to either. So I was up at 4am so the horses could have some turnout time and I could get the stalls done before the sale. Only trouble was that it's dark out here until almost seven right now. Rather than getting everyone out at once in different spaces, I just opted to give everyone some time in the ring one at a time. (Mine don't play nicely so they can't go out together. My vet bill allotment does not have room for that nonsense with these hooligans.) I figured I'd put Shiny out first because as long as she has food, she doesn't care what's going on around her. Also, there ARE lights for the ring, so it's not like it's pitch black out there. They are motion lights though so the horses do have to move a little to keep them on. 

So Shiny went out first. She was perfectly content with her hay net. So content in fact that I had to walk out there every so often to turn the lights back on. What was funny to me though, was that Al was very upset about Shiny being outside in the dark. He kept looking out the window at her and then nickering to her. He was not happy about it. 

Once I brought Shiny in he settled back down. I figured I'd put Eros out second, since Al was probably not going to enjoy being out in the dark. Eros was not thrilled out there either. He barely ate any of the hay I had out for him and mostly just stared out toward the back of the ring. Al was not at all concerned about E being outside. Kind of funny. I guess Al just really loves his pony. E was very happy this torturous turnout session was pretty short.

 

By the time Al got his turn it was light out. He still had feelings about being out there since his friends were all inside. Totally uncool to abandon him outside like that. All by himself. The poor thing. Everyone was back inside and chores were done by 8 am. I started loading up the truck and texted to see how early we could set up. The sale was supposed to start at 10 and I definitely had two loads of stuff to get over there. 

This wasn't quite all of it. 

So I ran over with the first load of stuff and got semi set up. I knew I was going to be gone for lunch time feeding, so I gave them half their lunch before I left with the second load and also let Rita out. The sale was set to end at 2, so I figured they could have the other half of their lunch when I got back. I'm sure they were annoyed by this, but it worked out fine. 

It was actually a pretty fun day. My little area was buzzing all day long, and I got to see so many people I haven't seen in awhile and also met some new horse people from the area. Only one person from my old barn stopped by which I guess isn't surprising, but I was hoping to see some friends from there. The sale was on the same road, about a half mile away from there. Still, I did see lots of great friends and made new connections, so what more do you need? Overall, I came home with almost a grand, so definitely made up for the missed income earlier in the week. And also, I only had ONE truck load of stuff for the return trip. So I'll call that a win. 

Rita's been a big help with all the sale prep, though I think she thought it was boring and stupid.

We spent several late nights out in the barn last week. Not her favorite. She would have preferred to be burrowed under a blanket in the living room. But it was nice to have company! I made sure to pay her back with a nice walk around the cul-de-sac up the road from our house. 

We often meet new doggo friends when we take this route. And it's awfully pretty this time of year. My property actually backs up to this street. Some day I want to try and develop some of that part to either have more turnout, or maybe put an indoor back there. It's a bit of an incline there though, so the site work will probably be pretty costly. It's on the wishlist not the to do list. 

Anyway, that's the lowdown on the past couple of weeks here. This week and next we're getting ready for our move! I have a few things packed up, and am waiting for my new blanket tags to get all that stuff labeled and packed up. I also need to make some iron-on labels for our wraps and our new tack box. I got one of the Stanley rolling trunks because the new barn's trunk room is upstairs, and I'm not schlepping a big wooden box up a flight of stairs. Nope! I also got a new rolling tool box thing for a first aid kit. I plan to use it year round, not just at the new winter barn. It has wheels so is easy to move around, and lots of compartments. 

It's my new favorite thing. If I ever get around to showing again, it will also be easy to take with us for that. So now I won't need to have multiple first aid kits all over. Win-win!

So that's it from here! Hope you all have had a good couple of weeks. I'm going to catch up on all of your blogs soon!

Truthful Tuesday

 

Sorry for disappearing last week. Prepping for that sale was WAAAYYY more work than I expected. But got it all done, and sold a BUNCH of stuff. I have a few things left still, which will be going up on Facebook in bits and pieces probably after I get the horses moved for the winter. 

Anyway, today's confession? I very impulsively listed a bunch of blue blankets on Facebook ahead of the sale. Not because I wanted less things to bring with me (though that would have been a nice side effect) but I literally did it as a knee jerk reaction. To what you ask? Something that surprised me not even a little bit, but still irked me. 

So I was asked by a friend of mine to braid her lovely horse for New England Equitation Championships. This horse lives at my previous winter barn. I had a feeling though, that once they knew I wasn't returning, I would probably lose the job. And then I did. Not my friend's decision obviously, and I absolutely knew it would turn out that way. But still it bothered me some. Mostly because I could really use the cash. But also, it's just kind of ick ya know? So my knee jerk reaction was to try and find new homes for everything navy in my collection. I didn't get it all moved yet, but another friend of mine is coming Saturday to hopefully buy a bunch of what's left. I have no idea what to do with all my "team" outerwear though. Donate it I guess?