Thursday's Threads

 

OUTFIT DAY! Since it's summer, I decided to bust out the pastels today. Plus I've been slowly accumulating all the pieces for this outfit and I finally have them all! And no, it's not a Barbie outfit. Though I do have plans for one of those at some point. Eros prefers not to model pastels (nor pink!) so Al stepped up to model this week. Shiny might be the more obvious choice, but she just had a turn. And truthfully, I LOVE Al in both pastels and neons. He really is fun to dress up. We'll start with his outfit:

Dawwww!!! Look how cute he looks! Also, we need slightly cooler weather (only slightly, I prefer quiet Al) so Al can get to working harder. He's developed a bit of a dad bod.

Bridle: Winner Special

Ugh. Blogger is being awful about photos lately. It's a struggle to access them and the quality is terrible too. Hopefully they fix that soon! Anyway, I'm not sure if you remember, but I found these super cute brown and rose gold bridles from a tack store in Italy for an absolute steal. I'm still impressed with how much nicer crappy Italian leather is than crappy English leather. Like seriously. So much better. Soft like butter. I'm not a fan of the buckles at the bit connections, but since these are rose gold I've made an exception. 

Boots: Eskadron

These are only fuzzy on the edges and the rest is a mesh fabric so they aren't super hot which is nice for summer. I love the color! They are a few seasons old already so a little tough to find these days in this color. But they are readily available in other colors.

Saddle: Butet

Saddle Pad: Ogilvy

Half Pad: Stephens

Equus Now had a big summer sale a bit ago, and had I think it was 20% off Ogilvy baby pads that were in stock. And what luck, they had this one available! Love it. The half pad I've had awhile now. It's not my favorite because it doesn't have a channel down the middle. But the horses don't seem to mind it and I don't use it all that often. So it's doing the job I need it for. It's a little hard to tell from this photo, but it's a cute baby pink color.

So that's what Al wore today, and here's what I had on:

That's right, we match! Of course!

Helmet: One K CCS MIPS

Soooo.... I had to retire my gray One K AND my lilac with pink Charles Owen due to age. Which was a sad day. But a happy day was when I saw this new gray (with MIPS!) One K on overstock sale at Horseloverz. And an even happier day was when I saw that they had released new insert colors and lilac was one of them! I had to get those from Hypostore because they're not in the US yet. But I don't mind shopping overseas. I used the rose gold rail I already had to really match my boots.

Tank top: Marika

My outfit was kind of thrown together because I'm  little behind on laundry and the weather. What I really wanted to wear with this outfit was my light pink seamless shirt, but it was too hot for that. So I dug through the closet and found this tank. It's very thin as evidenced by being able to see my sports bra through it... And was perfect for the hot day here today.

Belt: Mane Jane

This strap is little darker than I might prefer for this outfit, but I've deemed it close enough. And the rose gold buckle was the obvious choice!

Breeches: RJ Classics

Again... laundry problems here... Ha. I have a pair of Tailord's that match the boots better, but they are currently in the laundry. I considered pulling them out and wearing them dirty, but I had already sprayed them with oxi clean so I opted out of that. These are close enough anyway.

Boots: Celeris

I think these are finally almost finished bleeding onto my saddle. I noticed it a little bit on Al's saddle which is the darkest, but not nearly as much as past rides. I do love these boots. They're nearly broken in which is very exciting! Only three of my many pairs of Celeris boots are my current measurements. This pair, the mint ones, and my show ones. All the others are my old measurements which are too big these days. They're absolutely still usable, but it is really nice to ride in boots that are actually custom to me as I am now once in awhile. 

So that's it for today! Any favorite things from today?

What's Up Wednesday

 

Another busy week around here! Thursday was nuts. I rode lots of horses and even jumped Shiny and Eros too. I feel like I haven't jumped Shiny much this year since her kid has been having so much fun with her. But finally this week it was my turn! She was great, though it did take a few jumps to get her engine revving. 

We're working on getting back to her twice a day rides. The last couple of weeks we've had trouble getting both rides in. Some days due to weather and other days just due to lack of time. It happens. But this week we've been better about it. Tomorrow and Friday are supposed to be in the 90's with very high humidity. So we may not double up in those conditions. Playing it by ear!

Eros was pretty good for his jump day. He's been a little spooky and well... rude lately. But I think that's my fault. I've been taking it easy on him, but I think it's time to buckle down and get back to really working. He's feeling sound again, so I don't feel guilty making him lift his belly and work his hind end. He was less of a torpedo for this jump school than he was last week, so I'm calling that a win. He still was jumping me loose over a small 2'3" oxer though. Ha. Never change E.

Eros got his feet x-rayed on Friday to see how far the white line was up his foot. And it was actually pretty far, almost 2 cm. Just in the one foot though, thankfully. Our farrier came yesterday to finish cleaning that out and repack it with medication. He feels confident that he got it all without having to cut away the whole wall around it, so we'll see next shoeing how it's doing. We're going to stick with a five week cycle for now until we get rid of it entirely. Which honestly is better for the other horses. Since they're barefoot, they are usually ready for a trim by then, and pushing to six weeks can get a little hairy. 

Al's been great! I have no media from our most recent lessons because I didn't get Pivo charged in time. But, SURPRISE! We went to our second show on Saturday, so I have a video of our second trip to share.

I again opted to just do two of the three trips. I don't see any reason to keep jumping jumps if we accomplish what we set out to do in two classes. Save the other jumps for another day! Anyway, we again did the Low Child/Adult Jumpers which were set at .90 at this show as well. Al was a little fire-y when he came off the trailer, so trainer and I both thought it wouldn't hurt to let him have a little lunge. I've always been all, who lunges a jumper?! But after last time with all the bucking, I decided I am who lunges a jumper. He didn't lunge long, maybe five minutes. Just enough to get the sass evened out. He was polite and not crazy, but definitely appreciated getting to blow off a little steam. Then I got on, and had a lovely horse! He was a little spookier at this venue than he was at the last show, but we were in a back ring that had a lot to be looky at surrounding it. He was super honest at the jumps though, and that's what is most important to me. Both classes I did were Table 2, Sec. 1 which is a speed class. I didn't try to go crazy fast, especially the first round. I just wanted him to see the jumps and be a good boy. And we achieved that, though we did add in the first line. He was spooking at the "timer" (It was a corgi planter on the fence like the ones I have under the one jump) and just generally distracted which caused the add. But he never acted like wasn't jumping out of the line. Just got squirrelly. No biggie. 

In between our two classes, a deer appeared at the far end of the ring. A DEER! As you can imagine, Al was like "MOM! There's a weird looking pony loose over there!" Fortunately, it had wandered away by the time I had to go back in the ring. But Al had already seen it, and was not going too close to that end of the ring. Honestly though, that was to my advantage since it was a speed class after all. (These "speed classes" had hunter courses, so there really weren't many places to make up time.) I just turned early which helped us be a little faster. You can see in the video above that we totally faked the fact he was spooking. Or at least, I think we pulled it off pretty well. 

We ended up being second in the first class and third in the other one. I was really happy with him. I haven't stepped on the gas yet, but he more than held his own against some decent horses and their riders who WERE on the gas. So I'm calling show number two a success! I'm not yet sure when the next one will be. I was thinking Fairfield, but their fees are insane. It will cost me $245 before I even enter a class there! So yeah. I'm skipping that one. Stay tuned I guess.

We also brought my trainer's daughter and her pony with us for her very first show ever! She did the short stirrup and did a great job. She even won a class! Her pony is adorable. Eventually, I would love for her show Shiny, but first I need to see how she'll be at a show. She's never done one other than the schooling show we had at the boarding barn that time which was just in house. She was pretty spicy for that, so I feel like I should be the guinea pig. 

Eros and Shiny wound up having Friday and Saturday off this past week. Friday because the vet came earlier than expected which was great, but threw off my schedule for the day. By the time I finished that appointment, rode at the other barn, and got Al worked it was close to 4. I still had to clean all my tack and pack the trailer, and I just didn't want to be up late. So I gave them the day. Not planning on the horse show taking FOREVER. I was done pretty early, but trainer's daughter didn't even get to get on until 5pm. So it was a LONG day. I think I unloaded Al around 7:45. We left at 9:15 that morning, so obviously, there wasn't time to ride the other two that day either. So, I decided to give Al Sunday off instead of Monday while I rode at the other barn and Shiny and Eros. Then I skipped my usual Monday off to ride everybody. I had to take my mom to an appointment on Tuesday, and I wasn't sure if I was going to get everyone ridden. (Hence not taking Monday off.) Fortunately, her appointment was moved earlier so all worked out, and everyone has been worked all week so far. I'll still ride tomorrow even though it's going to be hot, but we'll keep it light. Friday is supposed to be the hotter day, so we'll see how that plays out. 

So that's the low down over here! How are things with all of you? I shall leave you with a very cute photo of Rita having a snooze:

Truthful Tuesday

I’m attempting to write today’s post from a waiting room on my iPad while my mom is having a test done. So far it is proving to be challenging. Blogger really needs to work on its photo issues. Anyway, that’s a confession for Blogger more so than me.

My confession today is that I really want to see the new Barbie movie. Like a whole lot. Have any of you seen it yet? I hear that it’s a lot more feminist than you might expect, and I’m definitely here for that! On the other hand though, I feel like I’ve been running around like crazy and would rather stay home for a night than go to the movies… so I may wait until I can watch it at home. Boy am I old. I shall leave you my own silly Barbie graphic:

Thursday's Threads

 

Outfit Day! I'm calling this look "Neon Light" because we have some neon and it's amazing, but we chose to only do a little neon. So it's light. Which is rare for me! I was going to go a little more neon heavy, but I had six horses on the list today at three different locations and I had to make up some time somewhere. And that place was in not changing my boots when I got home. But I am planning to do another neon day, and I promise it will be heavy!

Anyway. Al modeled for us today. Here's what he wore:

See? Just a lil' pop of neon for Al. He looks so good in neon though! Perhaps he'll be our neon heavy model too. We shall see.

Bridle: Joseph Sterling

Obviously spikes and neon go best together. If you were alive during the 80's you know. 

Saddle: Butet

Saddle Pad: Dover 
Half Pad: Ippico

I think my favorite iteration of the farm's logo is this neon version... Like not favorite enough to actually adopt as my barn colors, but favorite for a saddle pad anyway.

Boots: Anatomeq

I had briefly considered making these into interchangeable boots, but I have since changed my mind. Not because I don't like them. I like them a lot, and plan to use them often. But the OG interchangeable boots have two straps not three. And I don't want to make that many more interchangeable straps. 

My neon was a little bigger than Al's. Here's what I had on:

Love me some neon. So much!

Helmet: Samshield

I know, I wore this ALL winter and now I'm wearing it again now. But it's my favorite. And I don't have a neon helmet. (Yet.)

Shirt: MathCat

I got a little behind on laundry and that coincided with Prime days. And this seamless tee happened. They were crazy cheap and I didn't have a neon one yet! I have no regrets.

Belt: LV Inspired

I've had this belt for many, many years now. It was from eBay. I'm impressed with how it's held up!

Breeches: Tailored Sportsman

These were a Poshmark find. I don't frequently find TS on there, but every now and then I get lucky! They're already dirty in this photo as I was halfway through my riding day by the time I got home for outfit photos.

Boots: Celerius UK

Hey, I already warned you no boots were changed today. These are looking a little tired. But they're still going strong! 

And that's it for today! Thoughts? Isn't neon amazing? If your answer is no, you are incorrect.

What's Up Wednesday

 

I don't have a ton to report on this week. We've been getting a LOT of rain, but somehow I've really only been rained out of riding completely one day, which was Sunday. I still rode at the other barn, so while my horses got to have an extra day off, I still was able to close my exercise rings. Phew. I'm on a 583 day streak. Would hate to end that!

(Last week's photo)

Eros hasn't jumped yet this week, so not much to report with him. We're planning to jump tomorrow though, so next week we might have a good story! He's been mostly good this week, though today he was zero percent interested in working. I don't blame him, I was only about 50% interested since I did him last today. He's getting his foot x-ray on Friday, and then I'll have the farrier out next week. So hopefully we'll get a better handle on his white line disease. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be bothering him. 

Sooo... Shiny had a jump school at the end of last week, but I forgot that Al had licked the phone after its last use, so this is what I got for media. Looks dusty! Ha! Anyway. She jumped around well, and is starting to feel more like her old self. I'm excited to pop her over some things again tomorrow. I finally got to ride her for real again today. She started out pokey but once she was warmed up she felt great, and was nice and forward. 

Also last week's photo

Al got to have a lesson today, and it was fun because I finally got around to changing the course on Monday. We kept the fences low to work on some things. Mainly going forward through the turns. I have a hard time getting Al to move off my leg and he especially likes to stall in the corners. So we're working on fixing that before we jump big jumps because it's a lot easier to jump big jumps when your horse is going forward! It's not a problem I'm truly worried about as far as showing because I have a lot more horse at shows it seems. But it would be nice to have a listening horse at home too. We're planning to go to another little one day show this weekend, so hopefully we'll have a good report from that. Despite his lack of interest in listening to my leg, he's been good this week. Not overly spooky, and generally a good boy. I'll take it!

In other news, one of the other horses spooked on Saturday and I re-tweaked my stupid torn meniscus. Which kind of messed up all my rides that day. But I got them all done, even if they weren't the most productive. It's feeling better now, but I talked to my PT and got some advice on starting my exercises over. I really don't think knees ever actually heal. 

Monday I changed the course (as mentioned above) and put together some outdoor furniture. After 17 years, I finally bought some real patio furniture. I've been using the super cheap, not at all nice folding chairs that I bought to use temporarily until I found something I liked for the last 17 years! Which, for what I paid, they held up very well! But Prime day got me, and now I have nice furniture that will hopefully last another 17 years. The lounge chairs haven't arrived yet, but the adirondack chairs are lovely. They're a composite material, so they should last a long while. 

I'm getting different cushions though. The ones in the photo were tan and these that came are gray (they came with the chairs). I already ordered tan ones for the lounge chairs, so I'd prefer they match. 

I also put together this deck box for my pool cover to go in.

It was surprisingly a lot less sturdy than I expected. But it should do the job anyway. 

Saturday I had a quick braiding job in the morning:

He REALLY didn't want his forelock braided. And especially didn't want me to tie it off. Thankfully that duct tape on the nose trick really can work and I was able to get him done without a twitch. I HATE twitching horses. But sometimes it's my only option. Thankfully not the case for this one though. Duct tape really can fix almost anything. 

My crops are doing well this year (must be all the rain...). This is the first year my apple trees are really making an effort, and the apples getting ripe is the only thing I'm looking forward to in the fall. The blueberry bushes are incredible this year, with enough berries for me AND the birds to share.

And that's about it from here! I shall leave you with a cute photo of Rita because that's the best thing to end with always.

Truthful Tuesday

 

Today's confession is that I have not been working my fat pony enough lately. Some of it is my fault, some is mother nature's. I had been riding her twice a day every day for several weeks. But then it got very hot and humid and I didn't feel like twice a day rides were appropriate. So we were still riding every day of course, but only once. Then this weekend came. Saturday was fine, but Sunday it just poured buckets all day. I rode at the other barn, but my horses had the day off. They also had Monday off as I had a lot of things to do and I like to try and keep their schedule the same. Then today, she had a free lunge as work #1. But when I got on to ride her, it started lightning 5 minutes in. We don't ride in lightning. And then the sky opened up. So she wound up not riding AGAIN! Sheesh. Hopefully we can get back on track soon. I swear she's looking fatter again already. 

Thursday's Threads

 

Outfit Day! We didn't get too crazy today since we had a fun theme last week. But I think we pulled off something cute! Shiny is our model today. We'll start with her outfit.

Bridle: Riviera Equisports
Browband: Wizzard's Creations

I almost never use this bridle on Shiny because she doesn't really love the figure 8. But I thought her princess browband was appropriate for our pink and green outfit today. After using it today, I've decided to retire this bridle from our collection. So it will be for sale if anyone is interested. It's cob size, and will sell with it's actual browband. We're keeping this adorable princess one for use on another bridle. 

Boots: Anky

I picked these boots up after holiday time from Epplejeck when they had their buy 2 get 1 free sale. That's a favorite sale of mine since I always need three of everything... Anyway, I wanted some boots that weren't fuzzy for the summer and figured I'd give these a try. I really like them and I especially love this shade of green. They're a little dusty in this photo, but they are a nice deep forest green color. 

Saddle: Custom Saddlery

Saddle Pad: Premier Equine

It's been around 90 and super humid here lately, so I thought this shaped pad might be cooler for Shiny this week than a square pad. I've had this one FOREVER. It's one of the OG Premier Equine pads. I like the color combo. The fit is a little more all purpose than jump shape, but it does the job okay.

That's what Shiny had on today, and here's what I wore:

Even though I'm not a huge fan of riding in tank tops, I've been doing just that. I HAD to fix my stripes guys. Plus it's hot out. So tanks it is.

Helmet: One K CCS MIPS

I love the shiny gold inserts on this one! BUT, I'm even more excited because they just came out with a matte tan color, and I think that's going to look just as fun with the green top. While I find my Samshield to be a little more comfortable than the One K helmets, I really love that you can switch out the parts on these and have some fun with them. I also like that they are a lot more affordable than Samshield. And the MIPS is nice too of course. Safety first and all that!

Tank: CRZ Yoga

After realizing how bad my tan lines were last week I took to Amazon to stock up on some tanks to ride in. I really like riding in those seamless tops I've been wearing, so I got a few of these seamless tanks. I think I maybe should have sized down, but I hate when shirts are too clingy and show my old lady rolls. But the neckline is a little lower than it should be. Does the job though. 

Belt: Tory Burch

I think gold is the perfect accent to a green and pink outfit! So cute!

Breeches: RJ Classics Harper

Poshmark for the win here! I saw these on there for really cheap, and they were basically brand new. Had to snap them up. I like the Harpers a little better than the Gulf. The fit is just a hair different, and seems to work better for me. Though I also like the Gulf well enough. 

Boots: Tuffrider Regal

These are the ones I painted with glitter paint, and I love them so much. What's better than green accents? GLITTER! Duh. It's holding up pretty well. I rinsed all three horses in them today, and didn't notice any glitter coming off. So props to the paint for holding up despite abuse!

That's it for today! What do you think? Any favorites?