Thursday's Threads

 

Outfit Day! We had a few fun ones in a row, so today I'm taking it back to barn colors. But don't worry, there was still some fun to be had. Just a little bit. I let Al model today because he deserves some positivity here on the blog. (And he was almost a good boy today, so that earns him some credits.) Here's what he had on:

He was not interested in standing up nice and square for his photos. But at least he was standing like a nice boy!

Bridle: Pinnacle
Brow Band: Boy O Boy Bridleworks

He's a lot of things, and thankfully adorable is one of them. It's his saving grace. Look at those little ears!

Saddle: Butet
Half Pad: Mattes

Baby Pad: Mattes

This one is my favorite saddle. It's funny because technically Eros' saddle is more or less the same, but I like this one better. 

Boots: Horze

Sorry this is such a dark photo. My phone was overheating and it looked like this from every angle. But you've seen them before, so you have an idea of what they really look like. 

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

See? There's a little bit of fun happening! 

Helmet: One K embellished by me

I need to do something like this for our turquoise outfit. Love my cow inserts!

Shirt: Math Cat

I also love my Amazon shirts. Highly recommend these!

Belt: Designer inspired

Found this cute belt when I did my unsuccessful reorganization the other day. I forgot I even had it!

Breeches: Romfh

I really like the ROMFH Sarafina breeches. These have the silicone patches which I am especially fond of. Also, the interior of my car is pretty much exactly this color. So fun!

Boots: Celeris UK

I love these boots. I hope they live forever. But if they don't, I absolutely will have them made again. 

That's what we wore today! I have a few action shots to share because while I couldn't use the full ring with Al just yet, we did have a relatively nice ride today. He did some work up and on the bit:

And a little bit of stretching too:

I remain frustrated that I haven' cracked this horses code, because he's SO NICE. Like probably one of the easiest AND most talented horses I've had. And yet the brain part is so incomplete. Maybe we'll get some answers tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

What's Up Wednesday

 

Heh, my schedule was askew today and I nearly forgot to write this post. Oops! As is typical for June, it's busy around here. I have been especially busy with Aunty duties. We had not one but two days of recitals (drums, piano, and violin for one niece, and violin for the other). A sixth grade promotion ceremony. And this Sunday we have a play. Which is fun and all, but I also have a dinner Friday and real theater tickets for Saturday. Plus all the barn stuff. I need to go out and see some humans and do non horse things. But I'm already exhausted just thinking about the weekend! My worker also has told me that he has to leave early on Wednesdays now so I get to bring the horses in from turnout and clean all the paddocks. Lucky me. Not that I mind taking care of my place and my horses, but I usually use my weekday mornings for adulting. At least it's just one day a week for now. 

Today was the first day, and it did allow me to confirm that he's giving the geldings WAAAYYY too much hay. I was really confused because they've put on a surprising amount of weight since coming home. I kind of chalked it up to the inconsistent work thanks to the rain, but now I know it's the heavy handed hay fairy in the morning. My horses get one flake per meal which I realize is very little, but they're easy keepers. They also get hay five times a day. Well this morning, he had put in their stalls four flakes each. That's almost an entire day's worth of hay! Fixed that up before the horses saw. I imagine they were very disappointed when they came in to just a normal amount of hay. But also, I bet Shiny was giggling at them since she's on rations herself. (I net and weigh all of her hay so he can't mess that up on me. I really don't want to have do that for all of them.) 

As you already know, riding was pretty on and off this week with the weather. We did get to ride all week, but Saturday we were rained out. Which honestly was fine because I had to get up 4:15 to get turnout and chores done before the 10:30 am recital. Since it was raining, I popped home quick to feed lunch and then joined my family at a celebratory lunch. It was kind of nice to have a "normal person" sort of day. Rita and I spent the rest of the day cleaning out part of my closet and attempting to reorganize my belts. But that was somewhat unsuccessful because I really can't find anything now. Going to have to give that one another shot on a future rainy day. And then I was exhausted. I'm not used to 4:15 wake ups anymore! 

Sunday I was able to ride everyone which was lovely. Shiny had a bareback day, Eros had a stretchy ride, and Al... well. We did some walk and trot. On a circle. It was... something. Monday is always our day off, but with the weather people being consistently wrong with the forecasts I may have to rethink that schedule going forward. 

Tuesday was supposed to be my lesson with Al, but the trainer canceled like an hour before hand. Which was frustrating, but also the rain was coming so probably for the best. We would have gotten absolutely dumped on which probably would not have helped us much. We've rescheduled for next Tuesday. I think that's better anyway. Might as well wait until after we see the vet to start up with something new. 

It was interesting today. Al was better after two days off than he was all of last week. I won't go so far as to say he was good, but he was somewhat less psychotic than Sunday. So that's nice. Not sure if it was the time off, or if his magical Chinese herbs are maybe helping? Hard to say. Regardless, we still have a long way to go. Really hoping the vet finds some answers on Friday. 

Eros was interesting too. We're just about around two weeks into our doxy treatment, and I really do think I'm feeling a difference in him. Maybe he was just spicy from the extra day off, but for our ride today he felt really powerful. In a way I haven't felt from him in a long time. He had the bands on and his canter just felt so fantastic. There was a little sass thrown in which just had me giggling. I'm so thankful for this horse. He knows how to make a stressed out horse mom feel better. 

Shiny is putting in some good work lately too. Ever since shimming her saddle up off her spine she is SO BOUNCY! I love it. Impulsion! It's in there, I knew it! She did get to have a little jump school last week. I think on Friday. She was great. I keep forgetting to charge up Pivo for jump days, but I did throw my phone on the fence for some poor quality media. Some day I'll do better. I do miss sharing fun videos! Here are some screen shots. I swear she was enjoying herself even if her face doesn't really convey that...

Everything feels so easy for her, even the 2' ones (purple jump in the photos above). She's literally just cantering over everything. If the weather will allow some more consistency I want to get her full course to 2' and maybe even see if we can get back to 2'3". I think it might be really fun to take her to some little jumper shows, but I think the smallest around here starts at 2'3". So we have something to work towards anyway.

Also last Friday I got to braid a sweet sale horse that my friend has.

I might go take a lesson on him one of these days. I think it would be great to sit on something other than my own. And he's a real gem so that would be fun! I'll keep you all posted if it happens!

I know things will be somewhat light again this weekend. Probably rain on Saturday (again!) and Sunday my nieces play is at noon. I'm not actually sure if my dad will be home for Father's day, but potentially something with him too... Not sure riding will fit into that schedule. They have their turnout time in the morning before the play so early rides aren't an option unfortunately. We'll just have to see how the days play out! 

Hopefully I'll have some insights into Al's mania for next week. Stay tuned!

Truthful Tuesday

 

Weird Ammy's log #1951, Day #7949 of rain. Everything is wet. Including my sneakers. Not my dog, because she hates rain. Though as a result of having a dry dog, I came in from the barn to a wet floor. Because dogs that won't go out will go in if you know what I mean,

I feel like I barely ever ride with all this rain. It just won't stop. And the weather people are doing a real poop job of forecasting it. Today for example. It was supposed to stop raining at 10 and be done for the day. But alas. It stopped around 10:30 and just as I was tacking up Shiny it started again. And not a nice light rain that we would happily ride in. Oh no. DOWNPOURS. That what it was. Gross. 

So today's confession is that my horses and I are getting miserably out shape from all the rain days. I can tell they're getting bored too. A day off here and there is lovely for everyone. But this is just silly! The only good thing is that I've gotten a lot of things done that I might not have had time for. Like today I took a hoof pick and the leaf blower and really got the cracks in the floor cleaned out. I have rubber pavers in my barn, and the shavings and what not can get stuck in there. I spend a lot of time each day trying to make sure they're cleaned out, but my helper has really been rushing through chores and I haven't been able to be as thorough with so much mess left behind. I'm sure tomorrow it will be a mess again, but at least for tonight it looks fantastic. 

I also finally got around to washing all the supplement containers, the supplement cart, and my Stanley trunk that I used this winter. Between all that, the floor, and tending to the free loaders it filled six hours. So at least all this not riding time isn't getting wasted I guess. 

I wish I was as motivated to clean out and organize my actual house as I am the barn. But alas. The house is still a mess. Priorities! I guess that's confession two. I prioritize the barn over the house always. 

Thursday's Threads

 

Outfit Day! And we brought some fun color to today's post. Shiny is our model because I haven't worn these boots yet and she's least likely to take advantage of me in a fragile new boot state. #MVP 

Here's what we had on:

Turquoise! It turns out I need to source some additional pieces for this outfit... like some kind of turquoise brow band and maybe something to do with the helmet. One K doesn't have turquoise inserts which is pretty lame. But I'm sure I can craft something for next time. So let's consider this outfit a work in progress.

We'll start with Shiny's outfit:

Do you guys notice how much better she's standing? She's not camped under herself anymore. Must have been tough to support that belly she used to have. She looks a lot more like a quarter horse these days than welsh. 

Bridle: Joseph Sterling

Brow Band: Dark Jewel Designs

I figured the spike brow band was the best match for our turquoise look. Because it's pretty neutral as far as color goes.

Saddle: Custom Saddlery

Saddle Pad: Ogilvy
Half Pad: Le Mieux

I do have a half pad with gray fleece that might have worked a little better here, but it's not shimmable so won't work for Shiny until she gets a better fitting saddle. But the natural ones looks fine too. 

Boots: Punk Ponies

I thought I had silver boots for her, but turns out I only have horse sized in silver. So we went with the iridescent ones. They did the job.

So that's what Shiny is wearing this week, and here's what I had on:

The helmet definitely needs some turquoise. Next time.

Helmet: One K Avance CCS MIPS

I left the lavender inserts in out of laziness, but I do acknowledge it would have worked better if I just made it all gray. 

Shirt: Luyaa

Finally back to short sleeves weather! Yay! You all know I like these tops a lot. 

Belt: Mane Jane

My belt collection has become a jumbled mess (next rainy Monday project is to fix that) and while I would have preferred a gray belt with this look, I went with this one because it was accessible. The gray one is... hiding somewhere. 

Breeches: Tailored Sportsman

I've had these breeches awhile now, and they were such a find! Someone was selling them pretty cheaply on Marketplace and they are my favorite combo of mid rise, size zip, and boot sock. Best find!

Boots: Celeris UK

It's been years since I've designed any boots with Celeris which makes me really sad because I have a wish list. But I have been very lucky to score some samples the last few years. This pair wasn't a sample but rather a second. They had some kind of imperfection, but I've forgotten what it was and I don't really see anything glaringly wrong about them. They fit pretty perfectly though, so I'm happy! They're not my favorite design in that they zip inside and are reinforced. But I just loved the color so much I figured I'd cope. And they are fine! Definitely need more ride time because new boots are the worst, but the ankle is already softening up after one ride, so no complaints! Also, can you believe how exact the breeches color is to the boots? And the saddle pad is really close too. It's pretty impressive because it's easy to have shades like this not match at all. (Like the belt...) 

This was a fun one! Even if I didn't take it too far this time. I'm sure the next time it comes around it will be turned up a notch. 

What's Up Wednesday

 

Well. This week has been interesting thus far with the large dark horse I have... 

He's breathing like that from just hand walking slowly around the ring.

He's gone completely feral again. Stares out the window with bug eyes much of the day, couldn't even walk out to the ring without spooking. So being off the stomach meds is going swimmingly for him. Clearly. He's eating really well though, so that part is nice. 

At least he's nice to look at.

After two days of being nearly in tears whilst working with him I reached out to the vet. Because I have to tell you guys, I was spiraling hard that I am just a complete failure and should sell the farm and put all the horses in a training program somewhere else. Not even joking. I really was there. Because today, after doing ground work and hand walking Al for twenty minutes and him not settling, I clipped the lunge line to him and just had him do some transitions on a circle in an area of the ring he's not generally afraid of. Which he was more or less able to do. But still I only had about 45% of his attention. I felt good that he got some energy used up and did a little somewhat productive work. On the way back toward the barn we did practice a little more ground work, just to see if I could get his mind on me and off the terror of everything else. And just as I thought I'd made some progress, the effing neighbor did something, I have no idea what, that sounded similar to a metal tape measure snapping, you know that sound? But amplify it by like a million times. It was very loud. All the horses were upset. I got Al as settled as I could before walking him in, but man. Not how I wanted the day to finish for him. 

Photos from last week when we actually did a little riding.

Anyway, I sent a text to the vet, and just asked him, do you think this is just a behavioral problem and not medical at this point? And he said there's a possibility, but he's still convinced there's something else going on. Which is somewhat reassuring for my self esteem, but honestly, I'm not sure that I'm convinced. Maybe I did just really, royally screw this horse up. But I'm not one to admit defeat without a thorough check of the possibilities. Spiral into a deep depression and lose all faith in myself? Yes. Definitely those things. But not admit defeat. Ha. So anyway, rather than just keep on throwing stomach meds at him, we're going to scope this time and see what we're dealing with. I don't think that can happen until a week from Friday because doc is tied up with some family stuff this week. But we've suffered this long, we can suffer a little longer. I'm going to call his office in the morning to get us scheduled though. He also suggested a supplement we can try in the meantime that's supposed to be really great for anxiety. It's one of the Chinese herbs and while I'm very much pro western medicine, I've also had some great results with these herbs for various things. And whatever, I'll try anything. 

A rare moment looking pretty nice

So yeah. The lessons and animal communicator and vet stuff can't all happen soon enough. Because I'm a little bit coming undone. I'm going to do Al last tomorrow because he's really ruining my rides on whoever is number three lately. Which has been Eros the last couple of days. And I know he doesn't mind a little bit of a lighter ride, it's not helping him get stronger either. Plus, I really shouldn't let one bad apple ruin the whole fruit salad ya know? 

Speaking of Eros... I don't know if I'm imagining it, but I think he's starting to feel better already with the doxy on board. He's also been a little spooky, but nothing like his brother. (Thank goodness.) He's feeling stronger and he hasn't had a missed lead change in at least a week. Which normally he has one that's tricky for him. I even let him pop over a handful of baby sized jumps the other day and he felt good! A bit of a torpedo but that's to be expected. Lol! 

I'm not working him overly hard or for a very long time since he's on the meds and all. But just enough to keep him progressing and getting stronger. I'm so grateful for him. He really is my rock when my emotions get broken. 

Speaking of reliable rocks... Miss Shiny is also that. While she may not be perfect, she's the same pony every day. She comes out and trots the slowest trot any pony has ever offered and then goes to work. Every day. No surprises from her! Well, almost none. She is a living breathing pony mare after all! She is still a little lazy, but I mean, she is who she is. I'll take that over spooking and spinning any day. 

We only jumped one day last week, but she was so great! She's the only one I can jump courses on at the moment, so she's really stepped up to be kind of my main ride. Maybe I should just collect myself some ponies and give up on full sized horses. I seem to be less likely to screw up the smaller ones. Anyway, I continue to be really impressed with how much better she feels since dropping all that weight. She hardly ever trips anymore, and she's so supple on both sides. We still have to talk about the left shoulder at the start of every ride, but the conversation is a lot shorter than it used to be. I just think she feels a lot better. She still thinks I'm starving her though. She broke the crossties on my worker the other morning because she could see her hay net but couldn't reach it. She's rotten! But I can't blame a girl. Diets are hard. 

In other news, I went to a little party at the winter barn on Friday and it was so nice to see everyone! I can't get over the difference in atmosphere between this place and the old one. Like people are genuinely happy to see you. And I didn't feel all anxious on my way there. So nice. The clinician whom I lessoned with there is coming back in July, so hopefully Al will have turned a corner and we'll be able to ship over for that. We shall see!

That's about it from here. I hope summer is treating your horses better than it is Al! 

Truthful Tuesday

 

Thanks to all of you for the recommendations for communicators for Al! They are all apparently VERY busy, but I have an appointment scheduled for a week from Friday. Very much looking forward to it. I also have a trainer coming out on Tuesday to meet Al and hopefully get us started on the right path. Sometimes I just need to say things out loud to get the ball rolling. I truly believe we all have the power to turn things around, but sometimes it's hard to get started. So thanks for listening to my trauma dump last week. Things are in motion to get us to a better place. But none of that is my confession today. My confession is much worse... 

I think I've mentioned that I've been enjoying a little treat after doing barn chores on the weekends in the form of a breakfast sandwich delivered by Door Dash. I've also mentioned in the past how GrubHub would bring me Taco Bell. So clearly I have a bit of a problem with using delivery services for treats. I'm obviously not alone or there wouldn't be so many of them in business. I also think there's some novelty to it because I live in the country where these things weren't an option until very recently. 

I had to delete GrubHub off my phone though as they had become terribly unreliable. Like I'd place an order and then it would never get picked up. And they wouldn't want to refund me. Total BS. They also removed most of the options for places that would deliver to me. No good. And DoorDash doesn't have Taco Bell as an option for me either. I love Taco Bell. (Definitely one of today's confession, that stuff is nasty, I KNOW! But it's also delicious.) The closest one to me is about a half hour away though. So I don't ever go. The last time I physically went myself was back when Jampy passed. But just this weekend I found out that Uber Eats delivers to me too. And they offer Taco Bell! So that's today's confession. Not only did I get my egg sandwich delivered on Sunday, but Monday night I had Taco Bell delivered to me. I won't tell you how much it cost me. But it was worth every penny. I can't wait to get it again some times. Perhaps it will become a monthly treat.

Any of you have a disgusting fast food treat that you love? Are you lazy enough to get it delivered like me? As an aside... This isn't new for me. In college I lived across the street from Dominoes. For the most part I would go down and pick up my order, but every once in awhile I would have that delivered too. Some things never change!

Thursday's Threads: Throwback edition

 

Outfit Day! And I had a little fun this week. The outfit itself isn't terribly exciting, but putting it together was incredibly entertaining for me. I recently acquired a new pair of breeches in the color "Dirt Road". Which is exactly the same shade of vomit green that all the cool kids wore back in the late 90's and early 00's to show. Most of you might not recall, but fear not, I have photos! And you'll see them in this post as we get going, because this is a very special edition of Thursday's Threads. A first of it's kind even! Today I will be recreating an outfit reminiscent of outfits of my youth. I know you're excited. Eros is our model today because he's chestnut and I had a chestnut horse named Cosmo during this outfit's era. 

Here's what E and I had on this week:

It's an ACTION SHOT! Because we were attempting to recreate this photo:

I mean... it's similar... Ish. It's not easy to get hunter Eros to look like jumper Cosmo. But we made a solid effort.

Bridle: Winner's Special

I couldn't exactly match up bridles with the era because most all of mine now are either wide or padded or both. But I figured this clincher bridle was reminiscent of the time when many people used clincher browbands in the jumpers. Cosmo actually wore a thin hunter bridle (which was cool then!) with a flash as seen below:

Back then thin bridles were the thing to have. I probably still have some in my mom's garage, but I can't imagine they're safe to use as this point after sitting around for all these years.

Saddle: Butet
Half Pad: Mattes
Baby Pad: Smartpak

My saddle is much nicer than the one I had back in the day for Cosmo (sorry old buddy), and the half pads we used were these big thick wool ones from Beval. But I used a similar baby pad, even back in the old days. Cosmo's saddle was a Pessoa Jubilee and the baby pad was probably Franconia.

Boots: Heidi

I no longer have the open front bell boots Cosmo is donning in his show photos, and while I DO have some similar leather show boots in my trailer, I thought it would be more fun to use an actual vintage pair of boots for Eros this week. These Heidi boots were for my horse Bud that I had in high school. They sure don't make things like this anymore! They are at least 28 years old, and while I haven't used then much in the last many years, they were used daily back in the day. And they still are pretty perfect.

That's what Eros was wearing for our throwback edition, and here's what I had on:

It's giving 90's meets 2010's... I felt nostalgic the whole day I had this on. 

Helmet: Current Samshield, late 90's version was a Patey

I had a tough time deciding which helmet to use today. I actually still have the Patey helmet, but it's definitely not safe to wear anymore. Honestly, it probably never was. I'm not sure if you all knew of these helmets? They were, for the times, VERY expensive, and they were custom shaped to your head. I saved all my braiding money that summer to buy one. I think they were around $700 which is what a lot of helmets cost these days. Whatever they were made of could be heated and then shaped to your head. If you left it in the hot car you'd have to get it reshaped because it would melt out of shape. I loved this helmet. Eventually it turned completely brown. I only stopped wearing it when the rule changed requiring approved helmets. (Young Stacie loved her helmet more than her brain evidently.) I have it displayed in my house next to a vintage pair of Vogel boots, some old puke green TS breeches, and a wool coat. Boy am I old. Anyway... I decided to go with this Samshield for the outfit because it's alcantra which is kind of similar to the velvet cap from my youth. 

Shirt: Ralph Lauren

I was all into striped polos for the non classic classes at shows back in the day. And I wore them pretty much all the non show days too. This one is more modern, but it's probably still 8 or 10 years old. It definitely gives early 00's vibes though. 

Belt: Brighton

This is another vintage piece, and another of the things I saved braiding money for. I thought these were the coolest belts ever when I saw them. I had a choker I wore with the same beads. (The 90's were a time, let me tell you.) I think I only had to braid two horses for this, so not nearly as big a deal as the helmet. But I was younger for this one. I got this the summer before college which was the most amazing summer of my youth. Some day I'll have to tell you guys all about it. I couldn't find a throwback photo with this belt because usually I had a hunt coat on. Most of the old photos I am wearing a silver belt, which I also still have, but couldn't dig it up for this post. I'm also not sure it would still fit. Our breeches sat ridiculously high back then, and I was MUCH thinner. This one just barely made it around me as it was! It looks a little funny here with my new breeches because back in the day the waistband and belt loops were narrow. These days we like a wide belt. 

Breeches: Tailored Sportsman Trophy Hunter in Dirt Road

I really can't get over this color... It's so close to the old pants. But like a million times better. The old TS had no stretch. NONE. They were just thick unforgiving pants. They had weird seams all over them that might wound you if your legs swelled in the heat. The patches were actual leather which were always ruined at the dry cleaner. Oh yeah, they had to be dry cleaned. And no lie, they came up to your rib cage. They were pretty awful. But we all wore them. EVERYONE. All the cool kids. The famous grand prix riders. Everyone. I'm so glad we now have tech fabrics and STRETCH! And slightly lower rises. Lol! Photo below for late 90's reference:

That rise doesn't seem as high as I recall. Perhaps my memory is skewed a little. I will admit to missing having that body though! I think I was like 110 lbs here. And also like 19. Can't expect 45 year old me to look like 19 year old me. 

Boots: currently day Parlanti, throwback boots were Vogels

My Parlantis are the definitely the most similar looking in my collection to the old Vogels, short of wearing the actual old Vogels. But the old ones didn't have zippers. You had to pull those suckers on and get two people to help you remove them. Kids these days don't know the struggle! They were custom, TIGHT, with no elastic anywhere. If your legs swelled in those forget feeling your feet for the rest of the day. And you might need three people to get them off. But the quality? Nothing compares. They were heavy duty leather that shined BEAUTIFULLY. They lasted for years, and you could get the soles replaced to extend their life. I'd say of all the boots I have now, Celeris is definitely the closest match in quality. 

Alright, that's it for today's special edition of Thursday's Threads. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! Makes me nostalgic for my heyday of showing all summer long. But I'm so glad breeches have stretch now and boots have zippers! I guess I'm also glad helmets are safer. But I do kinda miss that helmet.