What's Up Wednesday

Happy Wednesday! (Or is it... Work is such a nightmare on Wednesdays.) It was a weird weekend here. Saturday I woke up to this:

Looks like spring huh? Sheesh. It wasn't a lot of snow, maybe an inch or so, but I didn't think we were meant to get any. That's New England for you! Fortunately, it was all gone by Sunday afternoon.
Obviously, any plans of trying to take the horses outside were canceled. I was hoping to get Rio on a lunge line and maybe finally ride Eros outdoors. Ah the best laid plans. It was a productive day anyway at least.
Eros had a nice ride in the indoor, and when I was done at that barn, I headed straight home to make the old guys less feral.
Jampy had a good curry and his mane shortened.

He doesn't grow much leg hair, so no feather trimming was required. Rio on the other hand... He was starting to look like a draft horse. And don't get me started on these ergots...

They were so long because they were hiding behind the draft horse feathers he was sporting. His legs are all trimmed up now though. Shortened his mane too. He's looking so  handsome this year, but I'm anxiously awaiting the return of the dapples.

Not bad for almost 23, right? Ugh. He's so handsome. I wish I could afford to clone him. Although, I imagine baby Rio was a real pain in the ass. Old man Rio is perfect though. In every way (except his gross ergots).

By the time I was done with all the horses, it was after six, so I spent the rest of the evening doing some bracelet making. I've had a few things on the list to make, and finally had some time to do it.

I'm pretty excited about this one:

One of the borders where Eros lives is an Italian leather importer, and she gave me a bunch of scraps to play with. This gorgeous purple is from one of those scraps. Love it with that half of a bit! Wish I could find that metal piece in brass or rose gold.
And of course, finished the evening up hanging with these two:

Sunday was lesson day! So, full disclosure, I was kind of pissed when I got to the barn to discover I was riding the one poor school horse who does almost all the jumping lessons. I really want to get some practice on a jumper so if and when I go to Germany I'm not totally over faced on everything I sit on.
But then I told myself to stop being a spoiled brat, and that a nice easy horse is a good way to ease back into things. He's an adorable little pinto quarter horse. About 15 hands. So little!
I was pretty excited because we were lessoning outside in the giant ring.
So I hop up on the little guy, and start heading to the ring. And he's all nope, not going. So someone leads me out like a small child on a pony. (Or a chubby adult on a small horse... whatever, same thing.) He feels rather excited... We get to the ring a little early, and I said to trainer, he seems a little hot, am I going to die? And she said, no, he'll be fine, but he will be fresh because he hasn't been outside this year yet. "That's why I put you on him! To school him up for the IEA kids in the next lesson," she says... Ah. Ok. I'm not feeling good about this... Remember that I'm incredibly out of shape, and not really in any condition to be schooling anything at all, not even a lesson horse. But I'm trying not to be an ass or a chicken (I mean, who chickens out on the ancient lesson horse). Trainer is running a little late, so assistant trainer starts us out flatting. Well, little horse is all, nope not going to the end of the ring, gonna plant my feet and jump up and down. Hmm. He really feels like he might blow. So I said to assistant trainer, I'm not sure this is what I need today... He feels really fresh. So she said, ok go talk to trainer. So I do, and she says ok, you can switch to the gray mare (who is doing the lesson before us). Phew. So I hang out while they finish. Then trainer says, you know what, let me hop on him and just see. I was like yeah that's cool. If you get the sass out I'll happily get back on. Well she hops on and little horse is just bouncing in place. She was like oh my... He needs to go have a lunge! So little horse went off with assistant trainer, and I got to ride a very lovely mare. Yay for me! She's one of the sales horses, a lovely 17 hand hunter. VERY quiet, and super easy other than a lack of motor.
The lesson went really well. I learned that I am SUPER dependent on my spurs, so I probably need to ride Eros without them more often to get my leg stronger and working more correctly. I didn't jump too many jumps, but we did get in a few singles and a full course. No big time misses, though I did add in a line from lack of a go button. I imagine some of the laziness was due to already having done a lesson. She really was wonderful, and I felt super safe. I was relieved to discover I can still find the jumps, and was proud of myself for keeping a soft hand and legging up to the fences. We all know by now that my go-to ammy move is to pick pick pick my way there. Definitely would be the wrong option on one with no motor!

This is the only photo I got of her... sorry. She's a pretty lady!

After my lesson, I finally took Eros outside for a ride. He was mostly good. The peepers were out in the woods, and a flock of geese was tormenting us, but he mostly kept his marbles in place. At the end of our ride, he did scoot once, but quickly apologized. Poor guy REALLY needs to have a romp in the indoor, but I can't let him do that until the vet gives the ok. Last night indoors he was pretty spooky. I can't blame him, though he could play a little when turned out outside to get the edge off. He's just not really a free thinker that way.

And then it was home to pamper the old men. Rio was really grateful.

In other news, I finally had to retire the Regals. I rode in them Friday night and the zipper fell all the way to my ankle three times during our ride. Plus the soles looked like this:

Not the worst shape ever, but I can't deal with the zippers. And with the soles nearing the end, I just had to let them go.

RIP Regals

But fear not! I keep back up Regals around, so I have a new pair in the rotation. You'll see them tomorrow.

Not too much else going on. I found a horse nearby (in Rhode Island) that I was thinking I'd like to try, but trainer didn't like him. Feeling a little discouraged on the horse shopping front, but hoping to book that trip to Germany... Obviously, that's not yet on the horizon.

That's about it from here! I'll leave you with this gorgeous sunset over Walmart (way to ruin a photo, right?!) from Monday evening: