Thursday's Threads

 

Outfit Day!!! I planned ahead this week and got photos on Tuesday. Which was good because we haven't ridden since and I don't think we're riding today either. It's so smokey out! Eros should have been our model today, but I forgot to take pics before I rode him, plus this week's outfit isn't really his colors anyway. So Shiny modeled instead. Here's what she had on:

She looks adorable in every color.

Bridle: Pinnacle
Browband: Dark Jewel Designs

My new helper had quite a few things already on her calendar when she started here, and Tuesday was one of the days that she needed off. I had a few distractions whilst doing chores (someone drove off the road onto my property but thankfully they were okay and no real damage) and had several loads of horse laundry to get done that day too. So it was getting late. I decided to ride everyone in side pulls so we could do a short Tuesday ride, then have some grass mounted, and finish with their showers. It saved me about 15 per horse to graze during our ride rather than post bath. 

Saddle: Butet
Half Pad: Ovation
Saddle Pad: Weatherbeeta

I had gotten this saddle pad in the Forelock and Fringe box awhile back. I opted to use it on Shiny this week instead of one of the horses, but it doesn't fit this saddle at all. So next time I'll let her use the Ogilvy we have in this color and one of the boys can use this one. This Ovation half pad I was trying to sell forever because it was too small for Shiny's old saddle. But it fits great with this one, so now I'll keep it.

Shiny didn't wear boots this week since it was an easy flat day. So it's my turn! Here's what I had on:

If Eros had modeled like he was meant to, my saddle pad would have had silver trim, hence my teal and gray look today. 

Helmet: One K Avance CCS MIPS

It makes me a little sad that they don't have teal inserts for the OneK. Weird omission, don't you think? It's a popular color.

Shirt: Zengjo

I found this mesh top on Amazon last year and bought it in three colors. I keep trying to find other mesh shirts on there because I think they're cooler, but so far this is the only one. The equestrian brand ones are just too expensive for my liking. 

Belt: Mane Jane

I'm so glad Mane Jane brought the belts back! This is an old one, the new ones are just plain leather. I did love all the options they used to have! 

Breeches: Tailored Sportsman

I snagged these gray breeches on Marketplace a couple weeks ago along with a charcoal pair. This pair though is pretty stretched out so they are a little big on me. That's a risk you take when buying used! Better too loose than too tight though, right?? They're in good shape otherwise. No holes or loose stitching anywhere.

Boots: Celeris UK

This was my second pair of Celeris that I ever ordered. Which makes them about seven years old now. Pretty good run! They're still in great shape, just the snaps get sticky so I leave them undone most of the time. 

And that's it for today! Any favorites? What are you waiting to see?

What's Up Wednesday

 

When we last left off I was monitoring Al a little closely for a thick leg that he had. I'm pretty sure he must have just banged himself because it's back to normal now. Not palpating sore at all anymore. Phew. Of course, he had to do something new this week instead.

Puffy eyelid

He's very committed to finding ways to earn vacation days. Fortunately, after a quick text with the vet and a dose of Banamine it is nearly back to normal today. So hopefully tomorrow he'll be as good as new. 

This past week we actually had a full 6 days of rides (though Al was mostly walk/trot, and Friday I lunged him to see what he looked like). Shiny's kid came out twice too, and had great rides. While I always appreciate Shiny, and I know what a wonderful pony she is, seeing her build confidence back for her kiddo is something really special. Shiny may not be a six figure, fancy show pony but she is invaluable to me.

Our streak of getting all the rides in ended today though. We're getting a lot of smoke from the Canadian wildfires and it was very uncomfortable here. The morning wasn't bad while the horses were out, but by about noon it was pretty bad. I found it a little harder to breath and decided if I felt that, the horses would too

This is a photo of the sun at about 5pm

Video above was taken around 2pm. It was pretty eery out. I'm not sure tomorrow will be any better, but fingers crossed I'm wrong.

Today was productive though! The boys had their... boyhoods cleaned which was overdue. Everyone had a nice shower and some grass. And then I cleaned and conditioned all the saddles which... I can't remember when I did that last but it was much needed. They were getting slippery to ride in. I should be ashamed! 

befores on the left, afters on the right

They were so dirty. Much better now! I didn't have time for bridles though. Maybe tomorrow if we're smoked out again. 

Eros, before the smoke arrived anyway, has been taking one for the team as my main riding horse this week. I've ridden Shiny on the days her kiddo doesn't come, but since they usually jump together and Al was semi out of commission, that left Eros to be my main dude. And he sure did show up for it! There's definitely something to be said for the teenaged horses. 

Not too much else happening over here. So far so good with our new helper. She's a hard worker and pays attention to details which is refreshing! I'm hoping to have my mornings back to catch up on some work projects. I also have a lot of calls to make to get some things taken care of here at the farm. I have a tree that needs to come down, some fencing to get fixed, and I really need to get my truck running. Once the truck is functional then the Gator needs to go in because it's having some issues. It's amazing how much things can pile up. I have reached out to get the fence fixed but I've been ghosted, so I guess I need to find someone new for that. 

Anyway, that's it for this week! Hopefully the smoke clears out soon and we can be back to work by the weekend. Hope you're not in the smoke path too!

Truthful Tuesday

 

So... I was cleaning up outside the other morning. I had a pitchfork in one hand and a bucket in the other and this buzzy bug kept flying at my face. So I went to wave it away and clocked myself in the face with the pitchfork handle. 

And that's today's confession! I'm the clumsiest. Should not be left unsupervised. Clearly! Haha! Anyone else like me?

Thursday's Threads

 

Outfit Day! We stuck with barn colors more or less this week, but we did the slightly more fun version. Al is our model today, and here is what he had on:

It was windy today, so his attention was on the moving trees. Because moving trees are demons. Obviously. Must be watched at all times. For safety. 

Bridle: Pinnacle
Browband: Boy O'Boy Bridleworks

His ears look oddly large from this angle. He actually has fairly small ears due to staying a stallion for so long. Still looks cute though!

Saddle: Butet
Half pad: Mattes

Baby Pad: Ogilvy

This is the slightly more fun part, but now I see you can't really tell. The binding on this pad is metallic gold rather than tan. But it didn't photograph all that well... You'll just have to trust me.

That's it for Al's outfit. He didn't wear boots since we're mostly just tack walking this week. So now it's my turn! Here's what I had on:

Rocking the poop colors this week!

Helmet: One K Avance CCS MIPS

Heh... Yeah, I know I look tired. But look how pretty the sparkles on my helmet are!

Shirt: Lauria Garelli

I still get the Forelock and Fringe subscription. It's my guilty pleasure. This top came in a recent box and I love it! It's a nice weight and I love a chocolate brown.

Belt: Tory Burch

This buckle doesn't look quite so scratched up in real life. Thankfully! I've had it a long time though, so it's earned all of its scratches!

Breeches: RJ Classics

I love this weird shade of tan so much! They remind me of a pair of breeches I had as a kid. My second pair in fact. (The first pair I had was gray.) Ah nostalgia!

Boots: Horka

We did photos yesterday when it was still fairly muddy so I went with the brown distressed boots. They're the obvious choice for muddy days.

And that's it for this week! I know better than to get excited or say these things out loud. But there is a chance that things will get back to more normal next week. My new helper is doing a good job and I think she's about ready to work on her own starting next week. So maybe I'll have the mental capacity to do a fun outfit. We shall see.

What's Up Wednesday

 

Today was day 19 of my 5 am wake ups. I'm actually getting used to it more or less. Working on the whole earlier bed time thing which definitely helps! The good news is that I have a new helper. It's not a perfect situation, as she has a lot of already scheduled things on her calendar. But it's definitely better than no help! I'm also now sure how long she plans to stay at the job... but again, better than no help! And she does a great job. So fingers crossed I'll get to sleep past 5:15 sometime in the near future. She is off tomorrow and I plan to work with her again Friday. Then hopefully Monday I'll get to have a real day off (other than feeding of course). 

Things are plugging along here. The horses had a few days off last week because we highs in the upper 90's with very high humidity.

That was Thursday through Saturday. Kind of a nice break for me though... I actually had time to shorten manes and wash tails. I was going to clean tack Friday, but then I didn't. Instead the horses got hosed off and some grass in the shade. 

I went over to my dad and stepmom's for July 4th. My younger brother and his girlfriend came down and my older brother, sister-in-law, and nieces all were there too. We had a delicious dinner and then the weather went a little wild. First a torrential rain storm blew through. Complete with emergency boats having to rescue people from the little island in front of the house. Everyone was fine thankfully. Then it cleared up long enough for people all up and down the beach to light off some fireworks. AND THEN Mother Nature had her own light show in the form of more torrential rain, thunder, and really intense lightning. My horses don't usually care much about distant fireworks (we are fortunate to not have people lighting them off around here close by). But when I got home they were all a little tense. Not freaking out, and the stalls didn't seem like they'd been worked up or anything. But they did seem a little more alert than usual at night check. My guess is the fireworks combined with the storm was a little much for them. 

The next morning though, both of Al's front legs were stocked up. I wasn't AS concerned as if only one had been, but I was a little worried. Shiny's kid was coming to ride though, and since they had three days off, I decided to get on him while she was riding since he likes having a buddy in the ring whenever possible. I mostly walked and did a little trot just to see what I could feel. Shiny's kid's dad hung out while we rode, and he's a really good farrier, so he watched Al for me. We concluded that he was just a hair off on the turns on the left front. But the good news was that after moving around all the swelling was gone. I'm just taking it easy with him this week and we'll see what we have next week. We've been tack walking and just a couple laps of trot to check in. The leg feels pretty good, but I do think there's just a tiny bit of swelling and he is just a teeny bit reactive when I palpate it. I'm really hoping he just banged it and this will resolve quickly. I did get a call in to my vet but he's away through next week. I don't think this is something to panic about though, so I'm happy to wait and see. He's not blowing up overnight and definitely not getting worse. I'll keep icing it and cross my fingers it's not a big deal. 

Eros and Shiny are feeling good though! After riding Sunday, everyone had Monday off. Which, it rained Sunday night through Monday, then again from about 11 am on Tuesday through midnight. So... we did ride Tuesday, but could only use half the ring. And it was VERY soggy. Still counts though! Today we had a beautiful day and both horses put in some really nice work. Shiny has been working on counter canter. It really gets her using her body without me having to beg. Eros has been excelling at lateral work and that does the same thing for him. After a few shoulder ins each way he lifts his core and carries himself so nicely! Shiny's kiddo comes tomorrow so we'll probably play over some little jumps. Al will stick to his mostly walk routine. But he is still doing some good work at the walk. Though he was having a bit of rough day today. Someone was doing tree work nearby in the morning and then my new landscaper was doing all kinds of landscaper things. He hates that stuff. I wasn't at all surprised he was a little weird. I expect him to be better tomorrow. Time will tell!

That's about it from here. Nothing terribly exciting but hopefully things are going to get a little more back to normal soon. 

Truthful Tuesday

 

Okay, this is an icky one. So one of the mornings last week or the week before (who can remember) when I walked under the chain that runs across the barn door opening to start my day out there, I walked into a spider web without realizing it at first. I spent the rest of the morning still feeling like there was web on me, even though I had removed what I thought was all of it. I went about my morning, occasionally trying to pick imaginary (or was it?) web off the back of my neck. 

And then it was time to get ready to ride. As I was taking out my ponytail to do my hair for helmet, guess what I discovered. GUESS!

If you said a spider in my hair, you would be correct. Thankfully it was a small one, and not the absolutely enormous potential tarantula I saw in the hay barn yesterday. So that's my confession this week. I spent many hours doing chores the other day with a spider in my hair the entire time. 

Thursday's Threads

 

We did our outfit day photos yesterday because we knew today would be non riding. It was 98 degrees here today but my thermometer in the sun read 103. It was pretty humid too. Yesterday was hot but not quite as bad. So we did very light rides and enjoyed backyard snacks. Our outfit reflects such things. Ha! Also, I imagine you're expecting a really fun 4th of July outfit today, but I'm going to disappoint you. I'm just not feeling the 'Merica pride this year for so many reasons. Which is sad because I was excited to celebrate 250 years. Anyway, Eros is our model today! His photos are indoors are so not the best quality but when we ride bareback I have to get on in the barn using the arm of my bench. What can I say? He's tall and I'm not!

So... I had to take this photo from above because little Eros was airing out and I didn't think that was appropriate here. Also, I fixed that mane today. Look at it! He looks ready for the western show pen. 

Bridle: Pinnacle

Browband: Dark Jewel Designs

I switched from my La Cense side pulls to these from Pinnacle a couple years ago, and I really am so happy with these! It's not the nicest leather of all time, but we're not showing in a side pull so who cares?

Bareback Pad: Brockamp
Baby Pad: Ogilvy

Girth: Mattes

Yes, I know that girth doesn't fit him. I don't ride him bareback all that often so he shares this with Shiny. Someday I'll get him his own.

That's what he had on! No boots needed for a pitter patter around. So it's my turn! Here's what I had on:

The best way to turn a boring outfit fun is to add cow boots. 

Helmet: One K CCS MIPS

I wrapped some plain black inserts with cow print vinyl to match my boots. Up close it's a little wrinkly, but from afar it looks just fine!

Shirt:MathCat

This one was a little heavier than I should have worn yesterday... but I survived! I do like these shirts a lot but the material is a little heavier than the Luyaa ones.

Belt: Tory Burch

I've had this for ages. It's fun and metallic, but still kind of a neutral. 

Breeches:RJ Classics

I like the RJ breeches. They are comfortable and not too heavy weight. But the material does get pilled. Not a big deal for schooling pants, but they aren't SUPER cheap, so I do wish they held up a little better.

Boots: Celeris UK

I just love these so much. They're fun. They're comfy. Perfect!

And that's it for today! Hope you're all staying cool under this heat dome!