Truthful Tuesday

 

Sometimes trying to help will backfire on you which is exactly what happened to me on Sunday morning. Let me set the scene for you. It was around 7:45 am on Sunday morning. The last day of this little local finals. It's a final for lower level riders, the max jump height being 2'6". They even have pleasure classes. Super cute, really exciting weekend for kids (and adults!) just starting out. For most of the riders, this is the only show they've ever stayed over at. Many probably haven't even had their horses braided, or maybe only occasionally. I was there braiding for an old friend who is a trainer. They don't do many overnight shows, but they do show a lot, and know how to turn out their horses well. It's lovely to show up to clean and properly pulled manes! 

Anyway, I digress... I was the last braider left on the grounds. Most of my customers were showing in the not before 1 PM classes, so I started at 1 am instead of 9 the night before. I had one horse that had shipped home, so I knew he wouldn't be available to braid until the morning, which also contributed to my deciding to start later. Anyway, the rest of the braiders were all gone, I was the last one on a ladder. I was finishing up one horse, and had two left after that one, when a groom for down the aisle approached and asked if I had time to do a tail. It seems her braider hadn't been able to catch the horse in its stall so left with the tail not done. Tails take like 20 minutes, and I was ahead of schedule so I said I could do it, no problem. I just had to finish the one I was working on. Then the groom comes back and says I'm so sorry, but it seems our braider didn't put it our fake tails on any of the horses showing today. (Which thankfully was just two others besides the one that wasn't braided at all.) I said it wasn't a problem, I can put them in too. 

unrelated tail photo

So I head over there and get started on the unbraided tail. And this is where things go bad... I have NO IDEA what happened, but I had been on my ladder for about five minutes or so. I had gotten the tail started and was working my way down, when all of a sudden my ladder tipped a bit and I felt this insane pain in my knee. I also realized I was falling. There's nothing to stop this when you're standing behind a horse. Fortunately, I was in a nicely bedded, clean stall when it happened so despite being covered in shavings, it was a fairly soft landing. Also the horse was a saint and never moved a muscle despite all that commotion right behind her, But guys... my knee was not okay. I had to get help getting up (so embarrassing) and needed to sit for a minute to get my bearings. I mean, I still had to do this tail and braid two other horses! After a brief sit, I was able to get back up and braid the tail. I opted to do that without the ladder (thank goodness it was a small horse!) and it turned out just fine. Next I headed over to tie in those fake tails. The tails were already braided, so normally you can just pull the fakes up into the braid and tie them in. That is, assuming they have hunter tails. Hunter tails are tapered at the top with a loop. Like this:

They are the more expensive option for a fake tail, but it is the best shape for how we braid. Unfortunately, that is not what this barn had for fake tails. They had the type quarter horse people like to use. Quarter horses don't do tail braids for most of their classes, so the tail can hang below the bone. The top of those fakes looks like this:

They have that huge knob on the top. Needless to say, you can't pull that up into a braid. I wasn't completely sure what to do with that, but played around with it a bit on the first horse. Unfortunately, that horse a REALLY crappy, thin tail, so no matter how I tied it, you could still kind of see the knob. I showed the people before I went on to the next to see if they wanted me to do it over, but they said it was fine. The other horse had a fuller tail, and it stayed hidden. Thankfully. So with those done, I hobbled back up my ladder to finish my other two horses. Thinking that despite being wounded, I had done a good deed. (I mean, I charged them of course, but still, was there when they needed me, right?)

Well. As I'm standing on one leg on my ladder, braiding my last horse, the mother of the kid with the horse with the crappy tail comes up to me and says that her trainer had to re-hang the tail because I put it in wrong. I said, I'm sorry, I did the best I could with what I had to work with. I have no idea what she wanted from me. Her ten dollars back? To tell me I suck? I have no idea. I didn't offer a refund. Maybe I should have. I dunno. She didn't ask. Their groom came over to me and apologized like a hundred times. She was like I can't believe she said anything to you, you were trying to do us a huge favor. I said it was fine, I wasn't sure it looked great and that I wasn't used to that type of tail with the tail already braided. And the groom was like seriously though, you showed them before you left and they said it was fine! So at least I only let down one person I guess? Sheesh. Braiding really is a thankless job. 

Thursday's Threads

 

It's outfit day! It's been a hot minute since I've worn the cow boots, so I figured this was a good week for it. Also, I have to use what's in the barn right now and not the shed because of this...

Okay, well truthfully I discovered this when grabbing the cow stuff from the shed... But I'm not going back in there! Anyway... Here's what we all wore this week:

I have some other cute cow tops, but they're all too warm for ninety degree days. So expect a fun cow outfit day in the fall too!

Bridles: Joseph Sterling
Browbands: home made by me

Snap on browbands are my favorite. It's so easy to switch them around! I just wrapped these in ribbon so they're not super fancy or anything, but I love them!

Saddles:
Eros- Butet
Shiny- Custom Saddlery

Pads:
Eros- Hopeful Equestrian
Shiny- The Hangry Mare

The Hopeful Equestrian I think has closed up her shop. I had to file a claim with paypal last winter to get my money back for something I had ordered that never materialized. So I'm sad to no longer recommend her as she was wonderful to work with until that last time. I'll have to find a new person to sew up my crazy whims going forward... Maybe the Hangry Mare will want to think outside the box!

Boots: Celeris UK

The Celeris brushing boots are SO NICE! They are the same leather as their human boots and are lined with actual wool. The only down side is you can't really clean them. At least not these since the cow print is hairy. Thus, I don't use them all that often. But still. They're beautiful. 

And here's what I wore!

Yes. I wore tights. It's a very rare thing. 

Helmet: One K MIPS

I may or may not be contemplating making cow print inserts for this helmet... I have some extra black pieces that I think could pretty easily be made into cow print. Might be a good winter project!

Shirt: Ralph Lauren embellished via Cricut

Um yeah... that's sweat on my shirt. I should have snapped photos before setting up the grid in the ring, but I did not. Sorry, this is gross. But ya know, just keepin' it real over here.

Tights: Botori

I'm very much not a tights person. Not at all. I hate riding with my shirt untucked. I like wearing belts. BUT. I couldn't resist the cow print patches. Had to have them. Will also admit the cell phone pocket is perfect (these have one on each side). Anyway, as tights go, these are very comfy and I do recommend if you're into tights.

Boots: Celeris UK

Sigh. I just love these boots so much. They're just so perfect. The only down side is that they are way big now. Especially with tights. On the plus side I can probably triple up on socks this winter and they'll fit. So that's a benefit!

That's it for today! Cow print day is one of my favorites. What about you?

What's Up Wednesday

 

What a week around here... I managed to get both jump schools in for the horses at home which was great. Shiny seems to be coming out of her funk somewhat so that's promising. Eros attempted to be a little bit of a torpedo but thankfully came around and decided it was faster and easier to just be a good boy. I even put on my big girl pants and did the bending line with both horses, both directions. It's a little tricky because it's set on the half stride, but I liked the challenge. Lets me know if the horses are actually paying attention to me or not. Spoiler alert: it was 50/50... Lol. Anyway, here are a few stills from our sessions:

That face when you find a great distance and you
look over to make sure Pivo is watching...

I also go to have a lesson with Bellino last week. The jumps were smaller this time, but the courses were a lot harder. It actually went pretty well though, despite a few small mistakes on my part. AND I have media! You can watch a couple of courses here:

But if you're not into video here are a couple screen shots:

I have to miss my lesson with his this week due to lots of braiding, but I'm excited to get back to it with him next week. I'm not sure if I circled back, but it turns out this poor horse was dealing with some of the worst ulcers my vet has ever seen. He's been getting treated for a few weeks now, and I can absolutely feel a huge difference in his attitude and way of going. So glad I pushed to get him checked out. 

I was worried I would have a lot of braiding to do for the weekend as one of our local associations was having their medal finals. But most of my regulars have either already won so can no longer compete, or they had stalls at the show and used a braider on site. (It's a little over an hour away and I didn't plan to be there. Not anything sketchy going on!) So I wound up just with one horse to do. And he won his class! Good boy!

This coming weekend though is the lower level finals and it's going to be CRAZY. That's okay though, it's great $$ for a few sleepless days. 

Things got a little exciting around here (not in the best way...) though because we had a hurricane forecasted to hit on Sunday. So much of Friday and Saturday was spent preparing for that. Fortunately, the storm turned slightly and weakened so it wasn't as bad as predicted. No major damage here. One little branch came down where I normally park my truck, but I had moved it just in case. so it was non event. 

Some of my jumps blew over and that was about the extent of "storm damage"
Also, peep my cute flower holders!

Since we did still have a tropical storm Sunday, I took the day off from riding. I got up early to do stalls before the worst of the storm hit. It was pouring off and on though, so the horses stayed in. I opened their doors so they could access their walkouts while I cleaned though, before tucking them in for the day once I was done. I also managed to get a quick visit with Pammon before the storm hit too. So that was comforting. He was staying out in his field for the storm (honestly I think out is safer than in anyway if you have adequate facilities for that). 

Pre storm snacks for these boys!

I laughed because when I got there it was lightly raining. The mares in the other field were in their shed staying dry, but these idiots were standing out in the rain by the gate. Despite the fact that all of their hay was in the shed. Boys... 

After that visit, I headed straight home as the wind was picking up and the rain was coming harder again. I did a few chores around the house and then settled in to enjoy a stormy day of being a garbage human. I made brunch:

Did some arts and crafts (I've been working on one of those diamond painting things), and hung out with P who basically did this the whole day:

Clearly she was bothered by the weather. Lol. 

Monday was kind of more of the same. The winds were gone, but we were still getting hit by really heavy rains. It was dry in the morning, so the horses had their usual turnout time, but they spend the rest of the day hanging out inside. I did too, and was mostly a sloth. But I did make cookies!

The wildlife has been a little weird around here too. I found a very confrontational crayfish walking down the street... (Seriously, I have photos, because it sounds like a drug induced hallucination.)

And also I discovered the asshole hornets have built a rather large abode in my shed.

I can't even think about dealing with it until next week when my braiding marathon is over. But I think I may call in a professional for this one due to it's being inside. I sprayed several other nests recently and made it out alive, but they were all outside and easy to escape from. This one not so much. 

In other news, I went back to the dentist to get my fillings and turns out, I didn't need them. I don't have cavities, just some staining. So glad the owner of the practice saw me for that appointment. I'm going to make sure he's the only one I see moving forward. If that's not possible I'll look for a new one.

And that's about it from here! That's enough really... Did you all have a good week? Any storms where you are? Hope you made out okay if there were!

Truthful Tuesday

 

I discovered something this weekend while doing storm prep around the farm. It would seem that the tasks I put off doing the longest (because I just don't wanna...) tend to take the least amount of time. Like vacuuming. Or cleaning the bathroom. Or putting up the windows on the barn.  I waited until night check on Saturday night to put the windows up because I wanted to keep the barn cool as long as I could. But we had a pretty serious hurricane forecasted and so they DID have to go up. Fortunately, the storm seemed to fizzle out and we wound up just having some wind and a lot of rain. ANYWAY, I then was all annoyed because I had to take the windows back down as we have another heat wave coming this week. But seriously, all that I-don't-wanna-ing about the windows was so ridiculous. It takes like five minutes to do. So I have to ask the question... WHY AM I LIKE THIS?! Please tell me I'm not the only one.

Thursday's Threads

 

Outfit day!!! I didn't get too crazy this week and went with our barn colors again. I didn't get TOO logo crazy, but there definitely are a few today. I can't help it. It's just who I am. I'll start with the ponies!

Here they both are literally cantering over this purple jump. Guess I've bored them already.

Bridles: Both are wearing Camelot RCS Gold
Browbands: Boy O'Boy Bridleworks
Bits: Sweet Billy's

Shiny also seems to really like the leather bits. Which is only annoying because I just have the one in her size, so I'll have to switch it between bridles. Maybe next month I'll grab a second one for her. 

Saddles:
Shiny- Custom Saddlery

Eros- Butet
Pads: 

Shiny- Mattes

Eros- The Hangry Mare with a Mattes half pad

I love both of these pads. But maybe the Hangry Mare ones a little extra because the quilting pattern is extra fun. Plus I like the idea of supporting a small, woman owned, USA based business. But I'm not abandoning Mattes either because they are very good at what they do. 

Boots: 

Shiny- Punk Ponies
Eros- Equestroom

So a couple of weeks ago I got REALLY EXCITED because Equestroom had one pair of green glitter boots on their site in PONY size! I've been stalking regularly waiting for them to come in so Shiny could have a pair too. Well... they arrived. 

And they're not much smaller than the full. I'd call them cob sized, not pony. So definitely disappointed. No chance they'll fit Shiny. Boo. So she's still wearing her old standby Punk Ponies boots. 

And here's what I wore yesterday:

I had to show the back view, because this is the shirt that I messed up the placement on the front logo... Lol. Still wearing it though! 

Helmet: One K CCS MIPS

I'm not sure if I'm imagining it, but I think the harness might be more comfortable on this helmet than the wide brim. I don't wear this one as much in the summer since I appreciate the wide brim on sunny days, but it was cloudy yesterday so I picked it. 

Shirt: Stacie Original

This is just a cheapo Amazon tee I purchased at the height of the pandemic when I was making all kinds of stuff to stay busy. I like how the back of this one came out. But as I mentioned above, I put a small logo on the left side chest in the wrong spot. It's just a little too far off to the side so its awkward. Good lesson for future shirts though!

Belt: Boy O'Boy Bridleworks

Yes! It matches the browbands! Of course! Haha! I like how the logo is so subtle on this one. You only know it's there if you look for it. 

Breeches: Tailored Sportsman

You've seen these a few times. These are one of the pairs I found on Poshmark. 

Boots: La Mundial aka LM Boots

I don't wear these that much for a few reasons. The biggest being spite. I had such a bad experience with this company that it makes me resentful of these boots. The other reason is that they are now a little bit too big. My Celeris boots are also a little big, but since they use thicker leather I don't notice as much. These actually get a little wrinkly and I can feel that they're loose when I ride. I will begrudgingly admit though, that they are beautiful boots and the leather is very soft. 

And that's it for today! Any favorites? Do you have a theme you want me to wear in a future post?