Thursday's Threads

 

Outfit day! We kept it classy this week, but maybe we'll do something fun next week. We are overdue! Al was our model this week and he looked pretty handsome if you ask me. 

Cute, but psycho

Honestly, he's so handsome, and so capable. If only I could get his brain to function properly! Guess you can't have everything though. 

Bridle: Pinnacle
Browband: Boy O'Boy Bridleworks

I'm still really pleased with these inexpensive bridles. They're holding up nicely, and I actually think they get nicer with age. 

Saddle: Butet
Saddle Pad: Ogilvy
Half Pad: Mattes

Nothing new or exciting here, but this is my go-to favorite set up. 

Boots: Eskadron

I love these boots! I'm hoping someday they'll make this style in a nice dark green too. Sadly on Tuesday my washing machine ate one of my favorite green Anky boots which aren't available anymore. It's still functional, just the edge was damaged, but it's VERY damaged. I really want to replace this washer with a top loader sometimes in the not too distant future. It's very low on the need to do list, but it's on there!

Anyway, that's what Al wore this week, and here's what I had on:

It's giving Autumn. Which I'm already sad about. But I will enjoy the pumpkin flavored everything at least. 

Helmet: One K

I really gotta wear some of the other helmets I have laying around here one of these days. I have Charles Owen glossy one I don't think I've worn on here yet that I got last year. And I can't remember the last time I wore the green glitter one. Probably because it doesn't fit that well. But still I should wear it before it expires. But anyway, I wore this one this week. 

Shirt: FitEq

I like these shirts a lot. It's a bummer she's not in business anymore, I was hoping more colors would happen.

Belt: Zazzle

I'm still waiting for Zazzle to have these belts in stock again. I just love them! Not sure what else I would put on one, but I'm sure I can think of something if they ever come back in stock.

Breeches: Tailored Sportsman

Speaking of things going out of stock... Tailored Sportsman has discontinued my favorite fabric. And I'm too poor to stock up on them. Which is tremendously disappointing. But oh well. Hopefully I will love their new tech fabric just as much. And it is a little less expensive so that's nice.

Boots: Horka

I love wearing these boots. They're so soft and comfy it's like wearing slippers. My only dislike is that the sole is a lot thinner than the ones on Celeris boots, so my stirrups always feel a little long with these on. But not long enough to shorten my stirrups. 

That's it for this week! Anything you've been waiting for me to pull out of the shed? Color scheme you've been hoping for? Something else? Have any fun ideas for an outfit day? Let me have them in the comments!

What's Up Wednesday

 

I don't have a ton to recap from the last couple weeks. The horses all got ridden but it was an easy couple of weeks for them. An interesting side effect of having a horse like Al and my increasing old age is that I'm now very aware of needing to be smart when I have other commitments. And by that I mean, maybe I shouldn't be jumping him when I have to be in one piece to braid a million horses. So we just flatted. And things were mostly just fine. He's had a few weird days here and there. He's still an extra challenge on windy days, but I guess that's just who he is. Some of the trees are already starting to change color and he definitely has some feelings about that. Part of me thinks that makes him extra odd, like, do most horses even notice that? But also, I have some feelings about summer ending so I can't really blame him. Perhaps he's just reacting to my own disappointment. 

Sunday stuff

They all had Friday, Sunday, and Monday off this past week, and while Eros and Shiny figured they'd retired and were quite content with that, Al was for sure BORED. In all caps. Poor buddy. I thought about lunging him before I got on Tuesday, but I was like meh.... he hasn't needed that all summer. But obviously, since I'm talking about it, I was wrong. I will give him credit though. He tried VERY hard to be a good boy while I was on him, and he also very politely told me he was struggling. All of that without coming completely unhinged. Which is a pretty big step in the right direction for him. So I finally listened to him, hopped off, and tossed him on the lunge. And did he need it! He did a butt tuck and scoot. And THEN he did a big BUCK! He rarely bucks. And when he does they're usually pretty sad little ones. (Thank goodness for that, can you imagine if he was a spinner AND a bucker?? no thanks to that.) Anyway, he let out a big one and managed to break one of the top boards of the ring. Crazy kid. Thankfully the wild was short lived and by the time we went the second direction he was all tuckered out. We had a short ride afterwards and he was still a little spooky but was good enough. I had hoped to jump him around today, but he was exhausted from his shenanigans. So we did a couple little things and called it a day. Maybe tomorrow we'll try again. 

I did jump Eros a little last week because I trust him more. Yeah I said it! Haha! Anyway, he was perfect. I noticed he's torpedoing significantly less since he's had his injections. I also think I've already mentioned that. But I'm still noticing it, so it's still a valid statement! 

I let Shiny's kiddo jump him a little today because it was her last day riding for the summer today. She's headed back to Florida for the school year. We'll miss her so much! But obviously we had to do some extra fun things for the last day. So one of them was jumping Eros a little. I don't usually share photos of her here, but I'm gonna today because they were so cute.

Doesn't she look cute on him?? He was so good. It was fun to watch them. 

I've only ridden Shiny a handful of times the last few weeks because her kiddo has been doing most of her rides. For their super fun last day today we put one of the jumps up to 2'6". I don't think Shiny's jumped that high in like three years. The first time kiddo had a mild panic and they kind of three legged it. But I was actually kind of glad that happened because she realized Shiny can absolutely still handle a mistake at 2'6" and so there's no need to be worried. The next time they found it better, and then the last time it was nearly perfect! I was so proud of them both!

Okay, maybe it was a little tight. But whatever, it was adorable, and they were so brave! 

Now that we're all caught up on horses... I have braiding stories! The first weekend went fine, nothing crazy happened. Horses were all good, and customers almost all paid nearly on time. Just still waiting on one... So that's annoying. But whatever. Uneventful. Photos from weekend 1:

Week two is where things went a little.... weird. So initially I was told there would be 10 manes night one, nothing night two, and then nine for the last night. I then double checked if they wanted tails and they did, but that it would be 9 the first night, a few tails night two, and then down to 5 for the last night. I had turned down another of my regulars because I didn't think I could do 14 in one night if they were not in the same location. I still don't think I could do that. Anyway, I turned down the second customer for night one, but did say I could do the other nights. And I gave them a name of someone who could probably help for the first night. And they said they'd let me know if they needed me the other nights. Which they never did, but I just annoying checked in each night. They were all set. I hope I didn't lose that account for the future. But it is what it is. Phew. Okay, follow all that? Yeah me neither, but anyway, let's move along. 

So night one arrives and I get my list. Turns out, three of those nine have their manes roached so I only need to do their forelocks. So that was annoying because I could have done the other account. But I nicely asked trainer of the roached manes if next time she could count those separately because I passed on some other work that I might have had time for. She was very apologetic and said I could charge for full manes anyway, but I said I wouldn't do that. Even if I wanted to, that's just not right. And I still had six manes to do anyway plus a few tails. Plenty of work. So I start braiding around I think 10 pm. Maybe 9:30. Who can remember. First horse gets done easily. Was a little annoying because it was a cribber but I found a spot to tie her where she had nothing to crib on and it was fine. 

The second horse though... Man. I don't know if it had sleep deprivation, if it was narcoleptic, or what. But the thing kept like knee buckling. And I'm thinking wow, this seems really dangerous for me... A few times I had to jump off the ladder because I thought it was going to fall on me. So I'm almost done with it. When I braid, I do all the little braids down the neck and then tie them up the other direction so I finish up at the poll. So I'm literally tying the last braid, and the thing starts to fall again. I went to jump off the ladder, but I wasn't fast enough, and the horse kind of fell into me. Which might have been fine if I was a normal person, but do recall, that at this show roughly three years ago now, I had a ladder accident and ruptured my ACL. So if I twist the wrong way, my leg kind of folds up and down I go. So there was a very loud pop and I find myself laying on the floor of the stall in excruciating pain, and all I could think was wow, how could this possibly be happening again at this same show?! Seriously. HOW? And also, what might I have torn this time because there's no ACL left to tear. Anyway, these thoughts happened pretty quickly and I just as quickly dragged myself to my feet. Well foot. That poor sweet horse, was very concerned, which I appreciated. He didn't mean for it to happen. He probably didn't even realize what happened since he wasn't awake for it. (And no he didn't fall all the way down, nor did he fall ON me, just kind of into me then he caught himself.) So here I am, at something like 11:30 at night semi in tears wondering how I'm going to get all my work done. I think I dropped the f bomb several times in a row. Initially I couldn't weight bear at all on that leg. It just wouldn't do it, kind of just folded up if I tried. So I was like okay, well maybe I can just tie the horses in such a way that the wall can help me up and down the ladder. But I had time to figure that out. This horse wasn't very tall so I figured I'd get that last braid tied from the ground and then I had to braid the tail which I could also do from the ground and I could just stand on the one leg for all that. I figured by the time I finished that maybe I'd be more stable on the hurt leg. 

Thankfully that theory held up. But being the old woman I am, there was much grunting each time I had to climb up or down the ladder. I really hope the other braiders around had headphones in and couldn't hear me. Ha! I've never been happier to be done braiding as I was that morning. Well that's a lie. The other time I busted my knee at this show I think I felt the same way. 

And thankfully the braids all came out pretty well all things considered! I didn't take photos of the forelock only horses, but here's the rest of my work from that night:

Anyway, I finished up just before 6 and went right to sleep! After all that, I was actually relieved I didn't have to do nine manes! These things tend to work out in the end don't they? That all happened Thursday night/Friday morning, so I was very relieved to not have to do barn chores. I don't think I could have gotten the manure tubs into the dumpster with my busted knee. I also had planned for the horses to have the day off Friday which I stuck to as well. Best to rest the leg for a day or two. I forget what I wound up doing all day though. I slept 4 hours and then fed lunch. But honestly I don't remember what else I did that day. Maybe laundry or something. Who knows. I had an easy night's work too which was well received by me. Just one tail! I had hired a nice girl I know from the winter barn to do my chores for me this weekend which turned out to be such a good decision. I didn't really need her for Saturday since I didn't have a late night that night, but given my unsoundness I think it was a good call. She's going to horse and dog sit for me next month when I go to a wedding so it was also good for her to get used to the routine here before she's here by herself. I came out and helped her with some of the chores, but did keep it to light duty so as not to anger the knee too much. And then Shiny's kid came over and we rode the horses which wasn't terrible, but my leg felt super wobbly. I did bust out the old knee brace which helped a lot. Saturday night was also lighter than planned, but still a decent amount of work. Four manes and three tails. It was much easier to get up and down the ladder that night, and thankfully the tippy horse wasn't on my list! (Thank goodness!) This last night went smoothly and I even half braided one while it was snoozing:

These horses were all really sweet. And while initially I was irritated with the disorganization of their trainer and the confusion with the numbers... She actually reached out to me Sunday and apologized and said this was the most horses she'd ever had at a show at one time and it was a big learning weekend for her. She also tipped me $400. So no hard feelings here! It was nice of her to follow up though because the whole weekend I was thinking that she wasn't this disorganized the last time I braided for them and I was convinced I'd just forgotten about it maybe? But no, I think she was just overwhelmed this time. I didn't tell her about the mishap with the tippy horse. I think she'd have felt terrible and honestly it wasn't like it was anyone's fault. 

Nights 2 and 3

I got home Sunday morning around 5 and since I had help that day I slept for a solid 5 hours. It was lovely. And then I popped out to the barn to make hay bags and check in with my temporary helper. She had things under control so I treated myself to a few hours at our town fair that was happening this weekend. The games haven't gotten outrageously expensive (five dollars per dart to pop balloons?!) so I skipped that section which was a bummer because I love a good carnival game. But I did treat myself to a baked potato, ice cream, a smoothie, and some kettle corn. 

Watched the horse pulls which was only three pairs this year so not all that exciting. But the horses were beautiful and clearly well cared for. And the horsemen were REAL horsemen. For the last round when the weight was really high, one pair excused themselves because they knew it was too much for their horses. And then one of the other pairs called it right away when the horses struggled, and didn't try to push them too hard. It was really nice to see. You could tell the horses enjoyed the job, and they wanted to get it done! So it was nice that their humans knew their limits. Very nice to see. 

I also of course checked out the bunnies (my favorites!!) and the birds were in the same building. This year there were pigeons which I don't remember seeing before. Did you know that some pigeons are plumed? I did not know that. 

Fancy pigeons!

So anyway. It's been a wild couple of weeks! I'm very much looking forward to getting back into my normal routine. I'm debating whether or not I want to get the knee looked at again. I'm sure they'll just say I really need to get it fixed now so I'm not sure I want to hear that... It's not feeling too bad right now, but from past experience I know that might not mean it's not actually bad. I dunno. I'm gonna ponder on it for a bit. Have any of you had a knee repaired? If it was your right knee, how long until you could ride? Or drive? I'm hearing minimum of three months to ride. Not sure about driving. Ugh. Science needs to figure how to fix things with less recovery time. 

Truthful Tuesday

 

I'm back! Did you miss me? It was a busy week with a few long nights, and that means I have a couple of really silly things to share with you guys. Oddly enough, both happened after I finally had a full nights sleep which just goes to show that I really do function at my best with a mild case of sleep deprivation. 

The first silly thing I did happened yesterday morning. I went to bed Sunday around 10 and Rita and I woke up around 7 so it was a really full night of sleeping for the both of us. But I think I must have still been sleeping when I fed Rita. She won't eat kibble so her food is canned. And since she's a teeny tiny doggo a can is four meals for her. I have these silicone lids for her food to keep it covered and fresh in the refrigerator. So yesterday morning I feed the dog, and use up the can evidently. But you know what I did? I put the lid back on the empty can and put it back in the fridge. Had no idea until I went to feed dinner and the can was empty. I mean, I had more food, so it was no big deal, but how silly?! 

The second one happened today. Al was feeling a certain sort of way because he didn't work enough last week and Autumn has arrived here all of a sudden too. Which no biggie, he let me know his feelings and rather than argue about it, I let him blow off some steam on the lunge line. Well, he lets out this big buck (which surprised me, he's not much of a bucker) and kicked the top board of my ring right in half! Impressive. Perhaps he's trained in the martial arts? So anyway, I had to replace the board. I successfully removed the broken board no problem. Important to note, my boards are composite so they are screwed on to wood posts rather than nailed on. Which honestly, it's a lot easier to use a drill than a hammer, so yay for that. Anyway I digress, I got the broken board unscrewed and removed. Then I go to screw the new board on, and I cannot get the stupid screw to go through! Tried a different screw even. Guys. Know why it wouldn't go in? Cause my drill was still set to back out a screw not screw one back in. Lol. Sheesh. It's a good thing no one was here to witness that. How embarrassing! And thankfully I figured it out in a fairly reasonable amount of time. Still though. I'm blaming the lack of sleep from the weekend. 

Any of you guys do anything this brilliant lately? Come on... admit it! No? Just me? Okay then...

Truthful Tuesday

 

Today's confession is a quick one! My confession is that I'm taking this week off from the blog. I'm just spread a little thin with all this braiding to do these two weeks, that I decided to take something off my plate. I'll be back next week though!

Thursday's Threads: Nantucket Edition

 

Outfit Day! I was excited to finally get this one put together because it's been something I wanted to do for awhile now. My family used to vacation pretty regularly on Nantucket island... and in fact they still do! they're all there this weekend but I'm not able to join because I have braiding jobs lined up. Bummer for me, but big sigh of relief for my wallet! Ha! Anyway, today's outfit is dedicated to my love for Nantucket. Al is our model because he looks stunning in Nantucket red (which is really kinda pink...) Here's what we had on:

He might be a special boy in many ways, but he is lovely to look at. I think he's actually smiling in this photo. Definitely understood the assignment.

Here's a closer look at his outfit:

He was not as enthused to pose without me... Haha, best I could get!

Bridle: Joseph Sterling

Brow band: Made by me

I'm experimenting with an interchangeable brow band. This one has done the job well enough, but I think if I ever were to market it, I'd want it leather backed with leather loops. But for now, just for me at home, this is working out just fine! Also, you might notice a different bit (again). I was able to find some cherry roller bits like the full cheek he likes but in a loose ring and it's not copper like his other one. This one was only $30 so even though it's not exactly like the one I really like, it's tons more affordable and will work perfectly for his fun bridles so we don't have to keep switching bits around. He seemed happy enough in it. I think he does prefer a fixed cheek in general though. But for a savings of $130 he can deal with the loose ring once in awhile.

Boots: Premier Equine, embellished by me

I love when I can find a fabric with print that fits well onto our boot straps. I hunted for probably two years to find this! I really wanted Nantucket red, and also wanted the island outline. But a lot of prints are too big. This one is maybe a little small for the boots, but it's good enough.

Saddle: Butet
Half Pad: Ippico
Saddle Pad: Ogilvy, embellished by me

Yep, I got a lot of use out of this fabric. And also got pretty lucky that the print was small enough to work for all three parts of Al's outfit! 

So that's what he was wearing, and here's what I had on:

I really wasn't sure which boots to wear. But I thought these felt kind of nautical and islandy. Plus I haven't worn them in forever, so it was time to bust them back out.

Helmet: One K Avance CCS MIPS

Blues are always islandy, plus it matches the boots nicely. Haven't worn this one in awhile either!

Tee Shirt: Not sure on brand

Nantucket has beaches that you can drive on and set up a tailgate party right on the beach! But to be able to do that you have to have a special pass for your car. Every season they switch up the colors, and the pass has become kind of iconic. So that's what is printed on this tee. People leave them all on their beach cars year after year, and my dad's cheap is starting to get a pretty good collection on it!

Belt: BeRibbon (Etsy)

The belt has that same iconic beach pass on it too! I really wanted to do this for the browband instead of the fabric I had, but I couldn't find the ribbon for sale on its own. Probably could have asked this belt maker if they'd sell me some, but it's okay. I think it all comes together fine as it is. 

Breeches: Horseware

Nothing says New England Island like seersucker! So obviously the seersucker breeches had to come out for this outfit. These are roughly 1 million years old, but they still fit! Definitely not as comfy as the newer fabrics though. 

Boots: Celeris

You guys have seen these before but it's been a long while. I snagged these for a SONG in a demo sale from Reiten-Leider. They were super cheap for two reasons: first, few people have tiny feet and full calves but secondly because they have no zipper. Instead they have rhinestones up the back just like up on the tops of these. They're super fun! The no zipper thing is a little annoying, but once you get the hang of fast lacing, it's not that big of a deal. 

That's it for today! Do you like the Nantucket theme? What should I do next?? 

What's Up Wednesday

 

So a funny thing happened last week after I gave Al so much praise... And yes, I'm CLEARLY a crazy person for constantly allowing the hope to creep in. 

Full of hope here!

But here's what happened. Despite my ordering more Esomeprazole for Al on the Monday right after his last scope, for some reason the pharmacy took ten days to send it to me. And I had only enough left for eight days. He is still on the Sucralfate, and I had a different Omeprazole product still from our last attempt at curing these ulcers, so I figured we'd be okay for a couple of days. I was not going to panic nor was I going to jump to any conclusions and create a problem where there wasn't one. Really. I truly thought we'd be fine. 

Obviously, since I'm talking about it, I was wrong. So, SO wrong. After our wonderful and exciting (in a good way) jump school on Wednesday, he was a completely unhinged psychopath on Thursday. We're talking dragon breathing, snorting, head in the air, spinning around in place cuckoo. So bad that I actually got off and just worked him on the lunge instead. And he was even nutty on the lunge line. Talk about soul crushing. But ever the optimist, I hoped maybe he was just having a bad day. Maybe the next day he would be okay. I mean, he's been on such a good roll for SO long, it couldn't all be over. Right?

No. Friday wasn't much better. It was a little better. No spinning in place. But that was the only improvement. Thankfully the correct meds arrived that afternoon, so Saturday he could get back on his scheduled treatment plan. Saturday was a little better than Friday. But still. It wasn't great. Sunday is Sunday Funday over here, but I was not about to ride Al without a bit or saddle this week. So we instead did a walk/trot low pressure ride. And it wasn't too bad. Still angsty on the scary side of the ring, but I didn't feel like he was electrified anymore so that's a good step in the right direction. 

Did earn himself some snackies!

This week he's been slowly but surely coming back to earth. I had hoped to jump him a little today, but with his delicate psyche just coming around and the wind blowing... I opted out. Not quite ready yet. Probably more me than him that's not ready, but whatever. I have to be smart this week because I have a lot of braiding the next two weekends. And what's the rush? There isn't one. And so we flatted. And it wasn't bad. So I'm calling that a win. But I am concerned that these ulcers might never heal. Or maybe it was just acid storm he was experiencing? I dunno. Whatever it was, it wasn't good! But I am relieved he's coming back around. Fingers crossed it was the med change (as it does seem to be) and not some other problem that I'll need to figure out. Because this horse has taught me a lot of lessons, but I could use a little break from all the learning for a little bit. 

In summary, Al had a rough few days, but I think he's coming around. And yes, I'm dumb enough to keep hoping for that!

Eros has been testing the waters a little bit lately too. He's not being naughty of course, that's not who he is. But he does this thing that my mother does when she calls me. She's there on the phone with me, but she's not actually listening to anything I might say. The Eros version of that is this: He will be present for our rides, but only like 40% of attention will be on me. The rest is somewhere outside the ring wondering how much longer till dinner, and how many more years he'll have to work before he retires. You know, just horse thoughts. I didn't fully notice just how tuned out he was until today though. I was thinking about jumping him a little so I came to the ride unarmed. (And by that I mean no spurs and no stick because those things cause torpedos when we jump.) Guys. I asked him to trot and it took three tries until he did it. I chalked that up to not being warmed up. Eros takes a bit to get going, it's just who he is as a horse. But like, it kept happening. Delayed responses to everything. Once I asked him to circle and he was so busy looking out of the ring he just never turned. 

I realized I had been letting him just half do all of our rides for awhile now (obviously) and this was definitely an issue that I slowly allowed to happen. So today's plan shifted from jumping to a much more intense flat ride. We did transitions. SO MANY transitions. Until they were prompt. Then we trotted figures until he agreed to look where he was going and not outside the ring. And then we both were very sweaty and tired. I imagine we'll need a few more rides like this one to get him back on track fully, but I was happy with how he finished. So that was nice. 

Honestly, I get a little bit of a giggle out of Eros being a distracted old man. He's just generally such an agreeable guy that it's funny when he's just kind of doing his own thing. And at his age, why shouldn't he? (Don't tell him I said that.) 

Otherwise, he's been a good boy. And hopefully we can do some jumpies later this week. We shall see. There's always next week!

Shiny has been great! I don't really do the fun stuff with her in the summer because her kiddo does all the jumping days, but they've been doing so well together! Today kiddo learned how to get her on the bit, and it was so perfect! I have her coming a few extra days over the next week or so to help me out during the big braiding days. Shiny's kiddo has always had somewhat challenging horses to learn on, so Shiny's been the most reliable teacher for her. And it's really fun to watch them growing as a pair so nicely. 

Shiny is in the dog house though over one thing. This summer she's started this fun game of peeing on the crossties. Up until today she has only done it in the wash stall, but today she did it in the aisle. Which was a lot harder to clean up and definitely a lot more annoying. While I don't truly think anything is wrong, I am going to have doc pull a blood panel on her next time he's out just to be sure there's not something going on. I kind of think she does it just to get back to her stall. Usually I can catch her start to stretch out and I'll toss her in the stall. But I've noticed once in the stall, if there's hay in there, she doesn't go pee right away. First she eats the hay. She's a smart pony, and I kind of think she's figured out how to get back to her food faster. Didn't work today though. Since she had already peed and hadn't yet been washed off from her ride, she got to stand extra long in the crossties after her shower to dry off. And then I fed everyone lunch, while she was drying. She was big mad. But she had nothing left to excrete which I think contributed to her frustration. Lol. It's tough being a pony. 

I accidentally filmed myself (from my pocket) putting shavings on this peepee.
So here's a screenshot of the soaking up of the pee. This was followed by
sweeping up all the shavings, and then a simple green scrub, a rinse, and a towel dry.
I'm pretty sure it still smells like pee. But what more can I do? I might spray some
enzyme on there tomorrow to get the smell out. 

That's about it from here this week. Just plugging along, trying to be the best we can be. Some days are more successful than others. Haha! Nothing exciting planned for the next couple of weeks while I'm busy with twisting hairs. What about you guys?? Have anything exciting planned?