What's Up Wednesday

 

Oof. What a week! I mean, it actually was a very productive week, but not much riding was done. Wednesday and Thursday we had terrible air quality from the Canadian wildfires. Numbers in the 300's. I have asthma, and a couple winters ago Shiny had some breathing stuff going on, so I err on the side of caution with air quality. I know a lot of people were still riding and showing and what not. But eh. We have zero goals this summer. 

Sun spots aren't usually orange here.

Then we had a beautiful Friday! Clear skies, sun... So nice!

Which was promptly followed by torrential rain Saturday. Sunday was nice though, and Shiny's kiddo came to ride. So it as a fun day.

While all that not riding was going on though, I did get several things checked off my lingering to do list. The boys had their undercarriages cleaned which was much needed.

iykyk

I also cleaned and conditioned the majority of my tack. I haven't looked at my show tack in the trailer in like three years. Some of it was a little moldy so that all came in along with the leather leads for a good scrubbing. Then I tackled everything in the tack room.

Befores on the left afters on the right
Saddles were cleaned AND conditioned

Show Tack, one bridle was missing from this photo

I'm not sure why I have this many leads in the trailer

This all got cleaned!

And these too

I spend the Saturday rain day giving the floor some extra attention. Cleaned bird poo and hoof picked between the pavers in front of the stalls where the shavings tend to get extra stuck. 

Yesterday was ANOTHER rain day, but we spent the afternoon enjoying good groomies. Looks like things will be better for riding the rest of the week, so I'm excited for that. Shiny's kiddo is away this week, and my helper is traveling Thursday-Monday so I'll be busy. But it will be a nice change after all this down time. 

The horses are content despite the lack of work. They've had their turnout time every day, and the rain has happened around that, so they got to stay dry. Al bumped his eye last week, which coincided with the smoke days, so while he required a couple days off, he had them anyway. It's back to normal now thank goodness.

Stuck in a mask for a few days.

Monday I finally got my truck fixed. It's been sitting dead in the driveway since January. I tried jumping it with my jump starter last weekend but the batteries were too drained for it to work. So Monday I had AAA out to replace both batteries. I also finally sprayed the neutralizer stuff in the air vents to get rid of the rodent nest smell that's been plaguing it for years. I can now drive it with the windows closed again! That will be nice come winter.

That's about it from here. Nothing too exciting, but got a lot done that needed doing. Hopefully more fun with horses this week!

Hope you all survived the weather this week!

Truthful Tuesday

 

Oh man guys. My confession today is that barely any riding has been getting done around here lately. We had two smoke days last week (Wed and Thurs) and then Saturday we got rained out. Now today, storms again, this time with lightning. I thought we'd get rides in first, but I checked the weather just now and there's a 100% chance of storms between 1 and 5. I may be able to get one horse done. Fingers crossed. 

It's not really the end of the world to have days off from riding, but after such a long winter of not riding, I hate to miss it when the weather doesn't hurt my face. Can't change the weather though! So we shall do what we can when we can.

How's it been your way? Are you getting your usual rides in?

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.