Thursday's Threads

 

Hey! Did you guys miss me yesterday?? Sorry about that... I completely just forgot to post. Wednesday evenings in the summer we have family dinner. It ran a little late and I just forgot all about it. But honestly, it wasn't a particularly exciting week, so we'll just catch up next Wednesday. But fear not! I do have an outfit to share today. Al is our model this week and here's what he had on:

Bridle: Pinnacle
Brow band: Boy O'Boy Bridleworks

If you're thinking, "Huh? That Pinnacle bridle looks different than Eros'," you would be correct! It's the same bridle, but a different color. Eros and Shiny have the chestnut color and Al here has havana. I just don't prefer the lighter color on him, so he got the dark one. 

Boots: Busse

Pardon his feet, we're just about at the end of our cycle. And when they're barefoot they can get a little ugly. Anyway, I really like these boots. They have fuzzy edges for comfort but are mesh otherwise so they don't get too hot. They were also super affordable. 

Saddle: Butet
Half Pad: Mattes
Saddle Pad: Wilkers

Sometime last year I tried to order some chocolate colored Ogilvy baby pads, but they had discontinued the brown. I was very sad. But then I discovered this new model pad from Wilkers. It's a half weight, so a little thicker than a baby pad, but not as thick as a regular pad. And it's shaped like an Ogilvy which is what I really appreciate. They're pretty affordable so I went ahead and ordered two of them. I really like them. Not only are they very nice, but they make them insanely fast. Totally custom, you pick all the colors you want, and mine shipped out within two days. For a custom pad! Color me impressed. I do kind of wish the brown and green shades were a little darker... but let's not split hairs.

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

I know. The shirt and the pad are like exactly the same shade. What are the odds??

Helmet: One K

You've seen this one before, but I'll mention it again. I snagged it on Horseloverz on sale super cheap, but it's a recent date. It was a great find! I like the brown. I'm still lusting after a brown Samshield, but this one is definitely filling the void.

Shirt: Fit Eq

I'm usually pretty cheap and stick to my Amazon brand shirts, but the FitEq ones are really nice. They shot their last ad campaign at the boarding barn and my friends are the models, so I felt like I should support the brand. So I bought one of these when they had a sale. But then sadly, FitEq ran into some trouble because I guess the name is too close to another brand, so they're closing up shop. At one point she had the tops marked down to $10 each, so I grabbed a couple of each color and sleeve length. They're back to $32 for long sleeve and $23 for short sleeve until they sell out which is still a decent price. If you're wanting one, now's the time before they're gone for good. 

Belt: Tory Burch

You've seen this one a bunch. I got it in Florida lots of years ago.

Breeches: RJ Classics Harper

Also not new. But I really like these!

Boots: Horka

I just wore these for Thursday's Threads a few weeks ago, so you've seen them recently too. They're just so comfy, I've been wearing them a lot! 

And that's it for this week. Nothing new or terribly exciting, but it's all stuff I really love. Have any favorites?

Truthful Tuesday

 

I had some great confession for you guys. I remember this weekend doing whatever it was and being like, "well I have my Truthful Tuesday for the week now." But then I didn't write it down and I can't remember what it was that I did. I've really gotta remember to make note of these things. If I remember I'll share another week. 

In the meantime, I'll confess to something else. Admittedly, I have a lot less disposable income than I used to. Which I believe is the same for most people these days. And I've been pretty good about not buying stuff I don't need this summer. Which doesn't mean I don't window shop and keep a list of all the things I wish I could buy... But I haven't bought them. I've been good. 

Until a few weeks ago. Celeris has a list you can get on that if sample boots become available in your measurements they will offer them to you first before listing them for sale to the public. OBVIOUSLY I'm on this list because we all know I have a boot problem. So they contacted me a few weeks ago that they had a pair available in my size. But it was gray with turquoise which sounded lovely, but I already have a pair in a very similar color scheme. So I did the responsible thing and I passed. But I did request to still keep me in mind for future pairs. 

And then... they had another option for me. Navy with silver. I have a pair of gold and navy from Pioneer that I bought second hand. But they're very loud and not for everyday type use. I also have a pair of navy DeNiro, but they are out of commission with a broken zipper. So I did the very irresponsible thing and bought the navy Celeris boots. 

They arrived last week and are beautiful. They are pretty much exactly my measurements and I love them. Of my other navy options, the Pioneer aren't a perfect fit, and also I'm not sure they'll hold up for very long. And the DeNiro are a little big in the calf and a little too short. Plus they're broken. So this new pair will likely end up my everyday pair this winter, until the bitter cold sets in and I switch to full chaps. I like having a semi plain boot for everyday so my crazy ones last forever and also sometimes you don't want to be crazy. These are very simple, with just a little silver piping at the top. Otherwise they are all navy.

I find I feel the most secure in the saddle in my Celeris boots compared to the others. Someday the full collection will just be those I think. 

So that's it. I bought more boots. I shouldn't have. But I did. And I don't really have any regrets. Thank goodness I have some braiding work lined up in the coming weeks!

Thursday's Threads

 

Outfit Day! It's been so hot around here this week that I thought breathable and perforated should be the theme today. Eros wanted to be the model so we'll start with his outfit.

Here's what he had on today:

Okay, I know he's still sporting the dad bod, but he is slightly trimmer and definitely sporting more muscle. Still could work on that core though.... 

Bridle: Pinnacle 
Browband: Boy O'Boy Bridleworks

It makes me really sad that Blogger doesn't respect photos. This shot looks so clear and bright on my phone. Yet dark and meh on this platform. Anyway, I am really happy with these bridles, especially for the price point. 

Saddle: Butet
Saddle Pad: Anatomeq
Half Pad: Mattes

I really love the Anatomeq Perfeq junmper pads. They're expensive, but they really do a nice job of being breathable and they stay in place nicely without needing attachment pieces. I would love to add some more to our rotation one of these days. 

Polo Wraps: Alessandro Albanese

Ugh, again with the photo quality, but this time it matters because you can't see that these are mesh. They aren't as breathable as I would have expected because despite the outer layer being mesh, the inside is actually fleece. It's really thin, so I still like them a lot, just wish it was a different material on the inner layer. 

That's what E had on today, and here's what I was wearing:

Yep, back in my colors. I can't help it, most of my stuff falls into this color scheme. 

Helmet: One K

This one could benefit from a cleaning... Ha. I like these helmets a lot, but I do feel like the liners lose their fit after awhile. Or maybe after being ridiculously sweaty on the regular. Regardless, this liner is feeling a little loose these days. Not a big deal to replace it, but kind of annoying.

Shirt: Annva

This is a really comfortable shirt from Amazon that's pretty similar to other brand I like to wear. I honestly don't know why people spend so much money on Lulu Lemon or even TKEQ when Amazon has the same shirts for so much less.

Belt: Unbranded

Nameplates: Halter Tags

I had ordered these nameplates intending to make bracelets with them, but when they arrived, they were much larger than I realized and also really good quality. So good in fact that I couldn't get them to bend to be bracelet functional. So I stuck them on this belt instead. I'm happy with the change in plan!

Breeches: Tailored Sportsman

This is the color Canyon. I spent a lot of time hunting for a used or consignment pair of these and eventually they popped up on my Facebook feed. I was extra thrilled when they were side zip. Probably my current favorite pair of breeches.

Boots: Cavallo Weatherproof Linus

These are the waterproof boots from Cavallo. They're like a nubuck leather. They look brown in this photo but have a slightly more green tint in real life. The color is olive, but I do think they lean more brown than green. I like them though, they've broken in nicely and are very comfortable. 

That's it for today! Any favorites? Anything colors or themes you want to see soon? 

What's Up Wednesday

 

It's funny how busy the summer can be for an unemployed horse farm owner. You would think it should be all slow days, but they're all pretty full. And I'm not complaining! Summer is my favorite, and I've really enjoyed seeing friends here and there too. Fortunately, despite being busy we've gotten plenty of riding in. 

So I was planning to jump Al on Friday but he went and hurt himself in the morning. It was perplexing initially, very swollen and I had a hard time finding any kind of wound. (He's the type to absurdly swell from the tiniest knick.) I did eventually see the booboo which you can see pretty plainly in this photo with the flash on.

But this was it:

It's barely an abrasion. But with that much swelling? My working hypothesis is that Shiny probably kicked him through the fence. It's the same height as the mark she made on the fence post another time. And we all know that Al doesn't read social cues. Based on how the leg behaved through the weekend I think the hypothesis holds up. But because of how ugly it was I decided not to push him too hard this weekend. We flatted very lightly Friday because I wanted to make sure he was sound on it (he was). Saturday we actually got rained out which I think was probably a positive in getting this leg to calm down. 

We spent the day pulling manes instead.

Then Sunday we did a short flat ride again. I also washed it everyday, iced it, and wrapped it through the weekend. 

Was the hock ice boot necessary? Hard to say. 
More is better though right?

It's completely back to normal this week, so whatever it was, it looked worse than it really was. THANK GOODNESS. We finally got a jump school in today, and he was AMAZING. Like was looking for the next jump rather than out at the trees, moved right off my leg when I remembered to use it... The whole thing. He was great. I'm so proud of him! 

I'm starting to get itchy to jump a little bigger. This horse, when he's sane, makes me feel like I could jump the moon. He's so special. Just depends on the day which kind of special he is... Currently we're working with the good kind though!

Shiny's kid is back for the summer so she came to ride her on Friday and they did great. It was raining a little, but they just kept on doing their thing. Jumped around and everything! Kiddo's mom isn't back yet which is a bummer for me, but still nice to see kiddo! 

Saturday we were rained out (as previously mentioned) but she got her mane done instead. I need at least another session to get it to where it should be, but it's a good start at least. She hates having it pulled, but she's getting better about it. 

Sunday was funday so we rode bareback. She's the most fun bareback, even when she decides towards the end that she wants to trot 100 mph. I'm not sure why, but when Shiny gets tired she likes to go faster. Which is what I spend most of the ride trying to achieve generally.... Very confusing. When you're bareback, it's just ridiculous. But also really funny. One of these days I'm going to get trotted right off. 

We jumped around today, but again, I'm struggling to get the gears engaged. I think we need to work a little harder on our flatwork in between jump schools. She jumped around, but she was a little on the forehand, and just not very adjustable. Which makes it very difficult to find the fences. It was pretty hot today and VERY humid though. So I imagine that also played a part in her lack of spunk. It's supposed to be less humid through the weekend so we'll see if I get to have more pony when we jump again later in the week. Fingers crossed. 

They're all due for body work too. They should get done the end of next week though, so we'll see if that helps too. Regardless, I don't think anything is really wrong other than we need to work a little harder. 

I often forget how short I am until I see photos of 
me standing next to one of the full sized horses.

Eros is feeling pretty good this week! I've been setting his saddle just a hair further back and his balance feels completely better. Turns out, I think I've been putting it too far forward on him. Those enormous withers are tricky sometimes... But he's starting to engage that hind end better. I'm excited with this new development! I need to check in with doc, but I think we're about ready to start hopping over some tiny things and cantering some rails on the ground. Which is very exciting! I miss jumping this good boy. 

Eros also had his mane pulled Saturday. Like Shiny, he needs at least one more session, but he also hates it, so we just do a little at a time. Still looks significantly better than it did before! 

We repeated last week's rehab schedule this week since we've been a little inconsistent with holidays and weather. But he's feeling pretty fit so I'm not too worried about the inconsistency. 

That's about it on the horse front this week. Rita's been pretty bored because the heat and humidity make it too hot for our regular street walks. She doesn't seem too worked up over it though.

We've had a lot of wildlife around the farm lately, so I'll leave you with photos of all of them:

This bunny likes to hang out for my last ride of the day

Dragon Fly hitchhiking on my shoe

Wounded Butterfly

Frog!

Truthful Tuesday

 

Oh man. You guys. This is a good one. And it's entirely, 100% my own stupidity. I mentioned last week that I had a braiding job Friday night. It was supposed to be three horses, but then was only two when the time came. Which was totally fine with me. The barn I was braiding at was an hour north of me. Since I only had the two to do, I headed up that way around nine forty at night. Which was perfect because I was able to do night check before leaving. I arrived in an hour, and started getting my tools organized. And that's when I realized what I did. Know what it was? Guys. I DIDN'T CHECK IF I HAD THE RIGHT COLOR YARN. How long have I been doing this? (Forever.) Why would I not check that? So I thought no, no it's okay. There's tons of big Walmarts in this area. Yeah. Well, they all close at 11 and are a minimum of ten minutes away. Can't make it. Anyone else remember when Walmarts were 24 hours? I really miss those days. I rarely needed to go there at weird hours... but this time it would have been nice. 

So I weighed my options. I had green yarn I could use which would like nice on chestnut horses. But I know this trainer is pretty conservative and prefers to match yarn to mane. I had a tan color for flaxen colored manes. But these horses were darker maned than that. It would stand out a lot. Soooooo, I got in my car and drove the hour home to get my brown yarn. (Thank goodness I had plenty at home at least!) It was in my truck. If I had simply driven the other vehicle I'd have had the yarn... But the truck still stinks like a mouse nest so that would have been a miserable drive. 

Once I had what I needed I hopped right back in the car and drove the hour back. It's now 1 am. Let's not forget that I have to do the barn in the morning at seven. THANK GOODNESS it's only two horses now. 

Oh but also, as I was driving back, I very nearly wrecked my car. There was a person pulled over on a motorcycle in the shoulder. Seemed fine, didn't appear he'd wrecked or anything. But a little further ahead of him was another car (maybe two) and a bunch of teens walking back toward the guy on the bike. No one appeared in distress, I'm guessing the bike guy had an issue and his buddies came to help him. Just a hypothesis but nothing on the news about a motorcycle accident or anything, so it holds up. Anyway... the car ahead of me maybe saw something I didn't? Or I dunno what. But they just stopped in the middle of the highway right in front of me! I wasn't following that close to them, but because my eyes had gone briefly to the kids walking on the shoulder, I didn't realize the car in front me was stopped until I very nearly hit them. I slammed on the breaks as hard as I could, and somehow didn't hit the car, and was fortunate that there wasn't anyone behind me. (Thank goodness it was late at night.) Anyway, just as my car came to a stop, the car ahead went back to driving so I did the same. No harm done. But seriously folks. Who stops in the middle of the road like that?! 

I guess the good part about that was it really woke me up. I was no longer worried about being sleepy on this drive. Ha. Thankfully things went fine with braiding the horses. 

I got them done in about an hour each give or take, and was home by 4 am. Had myself a two hour nap and then headed out to tend to my herd. Fortunately, it was pouring buckets, so I fed them at seven and then curled up on a tack box and took a nap until the rain slowed down. Haven't had a good tack box nap in years! 

That's my confession today. And the lesson is always check your supplies before going to work!

Thursday's Threads

 

Outfit Day! I have a fun one today! Al wanted to be the model because we wore bees today and Eros hates bugs. And Shiny modeled last week. So Al it is! If you follow Pinsnickety's socials you might have gotten a sneak peak, but they attributed the outfit to Shiny. We know the truth though! It was Al! Okay, let's get to it. Al's outfit is cuter than mine, so he'll go first:

From afar, it looks relatively classy. But you know me better than that. It's full of cute. You'll see.

Bridle: Joseph Sterling
Brow Band: Home made by me
Charm: Pinsnickety

I always forget how much Blogger murders the photo quality. So I will include a closer photo of our silly brow band and cute charm here:

I love how silly these brow bands are. The beads are from Amazon, they have all different themes of these wooden beads, and I just think they're ridiculous and adorable. I've been trying to use more of my Pinsnickety items in everyday life since I don't show much, and I thought this was the perfect use for the charm. 

Saddle: Butet
Half Pad: Ippico
Saddle Pad: Ogilvy with some embellishments by me

Pin: Pinsnickety

I think this set up is pretty cute. I also think I need to clean and condition this saddle... Here's another close up because you can't really see the ribbon trim in this above photo:

Aren't those bees cute?! I'm not a big fan of real life bees. Stings hurt! But these kinds of bees are adorable. 

Boots: Premier Equine, embellished by me

I used this fabric with the crowns for my interchangeable boots to match the Pinsnickety pin. But they definitely work with the saddle pad trim too! I think they're pretty cute. Queen bees!

That's what Al was wearing, and here what I had on this week:

I do have some kind of bee print tee shirt, but it's cotton and the humidity here this week is not cotton friendly. So I went with this yellow top instead. It was a smart choice.

Helmet: Samshield, embellished by my friend

Okay, so full disclosure... This helmet has expired. But I wore it maybe ten times in it's lifetime before that happened, maybe even less. So I still wear it now and then. It was a regular brim, but I had this wide brim that snaps on to it already so I've been using that with it. I like how it looks! A friend of mine just retired and is trying to start up a little side gig blinging helmets. She did this one for me. It has black crystals along the rail, and some green ones just below the shield. She also put my initials (SS) on the back with green crystals. Nice and small so it looks really cute. I should have grabbed a photo of the back. Sorry about that. 

Top: Luyaa

I'm such a fan of these Amazon shirts. They're perfect for summer. I want to get rid of most of my sunshirts and just wear these. 

Belt: Amazon

I tried really hard to find a bee belt buckle that was black and yellow like a normal bee. But this was all I could find. It does the job. The belt is reversible, it's yellow on the other side, but not the same shade as my shirt. 

Breeches: Hadley

These are super old, I haven't been wearing them much. I think they'll probably end up in the sale pile. I still like them, but they are a bit too big and I have other black breeches I wear more often. (I'm a little behind on laundry or you'd have seen those instead!) 

Boots: HKM
Half Chaps: HKM

I haven't worn these as much this summer as when I was at the other barn still, but they're still around and going strong! I actually really like them, and would recommend them. 

Alright, that's it for today! Did you like the bees? What should we wear next week? I've been having trouble deciding.