Thursday's Threads

 

Outfit Day! I ALMOST did green again this week, but then I remembered a very cute set I'd had made quite a long time ago but haven't shared here yet. Shiny is our model today because it absolutely is cutest on her. 

Though this photo isn't all that cute. She wasn't at
interested in standing up nicely in the sun for a photo.

I know, you can't tell what the print is from this far away. Be patient, you'll see!

Bridle: Winner Special

This is the brown and rose gold bridle I got from Italy for such a great price. I haven't had then on here much, but I really like the bridles! They are soft right out of the box and are wearing very well so far!

Saddle: Custom Saddlery

Saddle Pad: Equine Star

This Eskadron under pad has been so great! I love getting to put silly outfits on Shiny too! Anyway, now can you see the print on the pad? They're PUGS! Lil' Pia's on the pads! Ha! I think these came out so adorable. 

Boots: Equine Star

And of course, boots to match!

Here's what I wore to complement Shiny's outfit:

Fortunately, I snapped photos BEFORE my unplanned dismount from Al... Lol. 

Helmet: IRH

Glad I didn't smack my head with this one on since it's practically new and doesn't have MIPS... I watched the video to make sure, but this helmet should live to see another day in the saddle.

Top: B Vertigo

A month or so ago I was hunting for a cheap martingale to replace the one Al ate. Equus Now was having a sale on clearance, so I found one there for $25. Perfect! Of course, once there I was perusing the rest of the sale section. This sweater was a sample and was 50% off so I snagged it. I love the color, and it's such a nice weight. It's perfect for fall and will be nice as a layer come winter too. It's actually a new item for B Vertigo, just releasing now, so I'm guessing Equus Now just decided not to carry this line. I'm just hypothesizing. But regardless, I snagged a great deal on a merino blend sweater!

Belt: Hand Embellished by me

Buckle: Mane Jane

I'm actually pretty happy with how this belt turned out! It fits nicely and is comfortable, plus it's holding up well so far!

Breeches: Tailored Sportsman

Nothing new here, you've seen these. I scored them pretty inexpensively from Poshmark I think last year?

Boots: Dover, embellished by me

For inexpensive boots, these are actually pretty nice. They broke in quickly and are very comfortable. They are sized a little generously in the calf, these are regular calf and are a little loose on me. I added the little rose gold stud at the top, and they also have rose gold eyelets for the laces that I added. 

And that's it for today! How cute are the lil' puggies?!

What's Up Wednesday

 

Heh... I nearly forgot to write this post today. It wasn't even a busy day! But I'm here now, so let's go!

Autumn has made itself known around here with temps dropping down to the 50's and 60's and it seems to be windy just all the time. The horses are all kinds of spooky. ALL. Kinds. 

Since I'm here alone, I try to stay smart about my saddle time. Also, I'm a weenie. But mostly, I just don't want to die in my ring all alone, so I do my best to be smart about what I'm doing with the horses on any given day. (Don't forget that not only do I have to contend with the weather, but also the neighbor who has spent the last two weeks making as much noise as possible next door whenever I'm on a horse.) Al and Eros both have a really hard time on windy days. They are startled by everything it seems. So those are not good days for jump schools. Could I safely jump them around while they're being spooky idiots? Probably. But we don't have any set schedule, so why tempt fate? 

On the other hand, if it's ALWAYS windy, when do we jump? I tried for Sunday but the neighbor made that impossible. (I really have had about enough of that guy. Someone want to offer him a bunch of money and come be my neighbor?) So we only jumped Wednesday this past week. I was hoping for today because the weather channel said it wouldn't be too windy. But the weather channel lied! I still was going to give it a go. I popped over three little fences with Al. They went fine:

Until this happened. 

He ran himself around for a bit before I could catch him, and while less of a spooky idiot after that, I opted out of doing any more jumping today. I'm not injured or anything, but between the neighbor being an ass and the wind... I just was done with hard things for the day. Maybe we'll try again tomorrow. Maybe this weekend. We'll just have to see how things go. I wasn't heading to a jump when this happened or anything, so it's not like he got away with anything. I got back on and flatted him for awhile. And I still considered jumping Eros but then he was also spooking at nothing, and I was like eff this man! And he just flatted too. Same with Shiny (she wasn't spooky, I just mean I didn't jump her either). I was over it for the day. Some days are like that. 

There really wasn't much to report back on this week otherwise with the horses. But it was a busy/kind of stressful week otherwise. I mentioned last week about our boat trip to see the swallows... Well turns out, one of dad's friends came down with Covid right after. And then another, and another... Figures, the one time I do something with people in attendance and it's a freaking super spreader event. So far I'm still okay. One of my nieces and my dad both tested positive though. Niece is already feeling back to normal (she was sick over the weekend) but dad first tested positive this morning. He's feeling crummy but said his breathing is fine. So hopefully it won't be too bad. He had dinner later in the week with one of the other positives (before either was feeling bad of course, my dad and his friends aren't ass holes or anything!)so he had a later exposure than the rest of us. Of course I've had psychosomatic Covid all week but don't actually have any symptoms. And tested negative before having dinner with my mom last night. So hopefully I'll be in the clear! It's been seven days and these newer variants don't seem to hide for long. Cross your fingers for me... and for my dad that he gets through it easily. (He's in his mid 70's so not a spring chicken!) Oh and also, I got my booster Friday morning. So it should be like a super booster with an exposure on top of it, right? Sheesh. Ugh.

I got to do some braiding over the weekend, so that was a nice distraction. I had one horse Thursday night, but he's the one with a TON of mane, so it was like braiding two... Lol! He was in a weird mood. I've braided him a few times before, and he's always sweet as can be and easy to do. But this time, he didn't want me to catch him in his stall. I wonder if he got wormed or something earlier in the day. Sounds like he was good at the show, so who knows what his drama was about. He came out decently though. Not perfect, but not bad. 

Then for Saturday night, I had PONIES!!! Well behaved ponies, so that's the best part. Plus they're all smalls. So short necks. Ha! 

I thought I wouldn't have any more jobs this year, so it was nice to get these calls. A little surprise work is never a bad thing! (Well, that's not really true. But in THIS case it is.)

Hopefully the horses will adjust to the weather soon and my neighbor will move out or something... So maybe next week we can have a more fun post on here! Until then, I'll just watching that video of me getting pitched off over and over. It's really entertaining!

Truthful Tuesday

 

Well it's official! Pammon has the most wonderful new human! She's an adult amateur currently jumping around 2'. She absolutely loves him and all of his little quirks. And as I had hoped, the feeling is mutual, and Pammon is very happy at his new home. He gets lots of turnout and even gets to snuggle his new human brother! Human brother is learning to ride too, and someday will probably get to ride Pammon too. I couldn't have asked for a better home for him. His new human reached out to me on the Insta over the weekend to tell me he has a forever home, and he'll be their family pet no matter what for the rest of his life. That makes it so much easier for me to let him go. When she threw in the term "dream horse" I knew everything had turned out wonderfully for him. 

I'm very grateful to the trainer who helped me to sell him. She found him his most perfect home in under a month, which is so fast. Some people are just really good at matching horses to riders, and she's definitely one of those people. 

Not much of a confession today, but I've been keeping this secret for awhile because I was terrified if I said anything too soon the deal would fall apart. So I'm letting my breath out finally, and sharing with you all the wonderful, bittersweet news. It's always hard to see them move on, but it feels so wonderful to be a part of helping someone else find their dream horse. It also helps that I know one of the instructors at his new barn, so I'll get updates from time to time. 

Thursday's Threads

 

Outfit day again! Since it's officially fall, and navy season is probably coming, I'm getting all the green in that I can. So it's green again today! I reached into the archives for the horses' outfit today. Al is modeling for us this week. Here's what he wore:

I think the few weeks of light work weren't all that bad for him. He's looking relaxed and, well... a bit chunky if we're being honest.

Bridle: Pinnacle

Browband: Boy O'Boy Bridleworks

He sure is cute... And look, his fake overbite isn't showing too much here!

Boots: QHP

I've mentioned before that I can't help myself when I see green horse boots. So when I saw these, obviously I bought them. They're really cute on the horses, but especially cute on the pony. Tiny, fluffy horse boots are just adorable. 

Saddle: Butet

Half Pad: Mattes

Saddle Pad: USG

I'd forgotten all about having these pads. They are pretty old. I bought them when I still was riding Rio and Jampy. They've been tucked away in a tack trunk ever since. I rediscovered them this weekend when I was hunting for something else. I'm so glad I found them! I have three, so I'm guessing I must have bought these when Ducky was still around. They're nice pads. They are a nice thickness, not as thin as a baby pad, but not a bulky pad either. 

So that's what the horses wore. And here's what I had on:

This photo shows a teal hue to the breeches, but they're really a brighter green color. Photos can be so deceiving! 

Helmet: One K

I shuffled my One K's around a bit after I finally found yellow gold parts for them! I had my black and rose gold pieces on this wide brim helmet, and the not wide brim one was green and rose gold. I decided to make the narrow brim black and rose gold, and moved the green center piece and the gold parts to this wide brim. If only they would make a green or brown mips helmet I could have one that's fully my colors... Until that day, this is as good as it will get. I like it though! The gold is very shiny!

Shirt: Dover

Iv'e had this awhile too. It's perfect for fall with the dark colors and I like the stirrups with leathers motif.

Belt: Vintage Dior

I found this belt years ago, either on Ebay or Poshmark. I can't remember where. It was old then, and now it's really old. but I think it's really classic and pretty. I should probably oil it though, it's starting to crack a bit. 

Breeches: RJ Classics

This color is June Bug. It photographs a little different than it looks in real life. In photos it's almost the same as my TS breeches in Ocean, which is like a pastel teal color. But in real life these are sort of a more yellow hued hunter. If that makes sense. I wish I could get them to photograph more accurately. Even the stock photos aren't quite right. 

Boots: Mountain Horse Sovereign Lux

I snagged these on sale I think last year? They're very nice boots, pretty comfy and I love the crocodile on the top. I don't think I'd pay retail for them, but would recommend if you found them on sale someplace.

And that's it for today! I shall leave you with a photo of the outfit in action on each of the horses.

What's Up Wednesday

 

Phew. Today was a busy one. When my dad and stepmom are around in the summer we do family dinners on Wednesdays on the boat. It's lovely! But today, they invited a bunch of their friends to join us to go watch the swallows murmuration. Lol. Yeah I googled that term. At dusk what appears to be thousands of swallows return back to this one particular area by the river. I didn't think it would be that exciting, but it actually is. And evidently I've reached the age where bird watching becomes entertaining. Anyway, the birds fly into formations and then all funnel down to their nests. It looks like a tornado! Pretty cool! Anyway, my reason for telling you about this is that I had to be all done with horses by 3 so I could shower and be at the boat by 4:30. This was challenging as it's a jump day. Tomorrow is supposed to be bad weather so we may get rained out and I didn't want to risk missing jumpy day! So we hustled and got it all done! But now it's after 11:00 pm and I'm first writing this post. 

The horses had a lot going on last week. Our body worker came Thursday and we were very happy to see her! 

If you remember, Shiny had a moment a few weeks back in which her summer kid and she parted ways. After shiny tossed the kiddo, she took off to the end of the ring, but then got her leg caught in the reins. She panicked and flipped herself over. I knew she was feeling the effects of that and the body worker confirmed my thoughts there. She was VERY sore in her withers and a little more crooked than normal. The adjustment did her good though and she's feeling better. We're still having some canter transition struggles, but they're improving each day this week. 

Interestingly, Eros was a little out of whack in his ribs. If you remember I had added some shims to my saddle pad and the body worker thinks he didn't approve of them. So I had her check the saddle, and then had her check Pammon's saddle on him. Eros' saddle has me sitting in a hole a bit, hence my wanting the shims. Pammon's is a little better balanced on Eros now. (Wasn't the case back when I got it, but I think E has changed some recently.) So I'm switching him into that one for the month and we'll see how he does when we have our next appointment. So far I'm really liking the switch. Hopefully Eros is too.  (That one IS my favorite saddle.) He's definitely feeling better after the adjustment and he's been more willing to come up through his back which we have been struggling with. 

Al wasn't too bad for the body worker, so that was nice. At least one of them wasn't a disaster! He had some crookedness around the sore foot, but nothing too crazy. Hey, one out of three is better than none out of three. I'll take what I can get. 

Since they got worked on Thursday we didn't jump Friday. I had planned to on Saturday for Eros and Shiny. Eros popped over a few fences but I dunno. We weren't really feeling it. The magic canter was elusive. Nothing was bad, but we quit early while we were ahead. Some days are just blah. 

Shiny told me in no uncertain terms that she was not jumping that day. I think she was feeling sore from her body work still. So I listened to her, and we just did some really solid flatwork instead. It was exactly what she needed. Some days don't go to plan, and that's okay. 

But in exciting news the farrier came Saturday for Al! (He didn't have time for the other two, but he came back for them on Sunday.) Where we had trouble before with the cracked foot was that despite the foot being floated, it had kind of just sunk itself back down, so the float wasn't really doing it's job. This time, instead of just floating the foot, our farrier added leather pads, and cut away the area where the foot is floated giving him more space in there. That seems to be doing the trick and Al is MUCH more comfortable. Also because his hind feet are trimmed again too. He really hates getting long behind and I can feel a huge difference back there when he gets trimmed. My little delicate princess. 

Now that his feet are happy again, I let Al pop over a few jumps today! I feel like it's been FOREVER since we've jumped, but really, it was just a few weeks. Even still, I didn't put anything up higher than 2'6" and we only jumped a handful of fences. I was feeling a little anxious because that's just who I am as a rider. But I needn't have worried. Al bopped around like no time had been lost. He didn't even peak at our scary jumps. Granted, he's done plenty of dismantling of them in turnout so he's quite well acquainted with them. But even so, I was proud of him for being so brave. Can't wait to get back to work with him!

Eros and Shiny were both pretty long in the foot also, so I was really happy when they got done Sunday. 

Since it was Sunday we didn't do much on the new feet (Sunday is funday not work day). But they both felt a million times better on Tuesday. Shiny was still testing the waters a bit today (Wednesday) but we worked through it and finally got to jumping around the course. I kept the jumps small. Mostly to give myself confidence, but for her too since she was feeling very backed off when we started. I think sometimes after she's been feeling sore, she expects things to hurt. And it takes a little convincing for her to realize it's okay again. After cantering a few jumps, she finally clicked in to her proper pony canter and she jumped around really nicely. I didn't raise the jumps, and just let her finish on a good note over the smaller ones.

Eros made me laugh today. He started out incredibly lazy. Like he did four strides in the three stride line. If you know Eros at all, that's very much not like him. But I kept on kicking and after a few more jumps he opened his step back up and was truly lovely to the fences. Then we walked for a couple minutes and apparently that's when my quarter ran out. I picked up canter, planning to just lope around one more course. Which... we mostly did, but torpedo Eros made a brief appearance mid course. But he let me get him back and organized and we had a lovely last jump so I let him be done with that. But boy, was it a tale of three horses in today's ride! That's why I love him though. Keeps me guessing! And he never says no. Just gets a lil unruly. Regardless, we still got some cute snaps.

That's what the horses and I have been up to. In other news, P went back for a recheck and is still slightly anemic. Her ultrasound didn't show anything, so we're still not sure what the cause is. We're trying a round of panacur to see if maybe she picked up a parasite somehow. She's acting herself still, so whatever it is, she seems comfortable enough. So we'll just keep on keeping on for now. At 16, things are going to be happening. It's just nature. The weather has been gorgeous though, so we've all been spending lots of time outside.

Also, I actually made good when I told my bananas they wouldn't get thrown in the trash this time and made some banana bread (in a muffin tin because I have no self control). 

And that's really it from here this week! How are things with you guys? How are the ponies?