What's Up Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday! I had a whirlwind of a week, and can't believe how much got stuffed into just a few days.
Thursday was the saddest day ever. Well... that's a little dramatic. But it was a bummer for sure. Remember how I spent all those hours last weekend cleaning the barn floor? Thursday the horses got new shoes. And farriers are messy!

That was just the wash stall! I had that same mess all over the aisle too. So sad. So, SO sad. So before riding I had to get that cleaned up. It worked out ok though since a thunderstorm rolled through quickly at the same time. It meant for a late night riding though.

I gave the ponies a vacation day on Friday because I was supposed to have six (SIX!) horses to braid. But somehow six turned into three, so I probably could have ridden. I think the tall kids were happy for the day off though. After feeding them, I took the short kids for a quick walk before heading off to my braiding job.

It was nice to get a little exercise before standing on a ladder for three hours. I felt mildly less guilty for leaving the short kids alone for the evening too.

All of the horses were great to braid AND their manes were in perfect braiding condition. Makes for a very happy braider.
I got home around midnight and spent a few minutes with the short kids before bed:

We were up early though, because P had an 8 am appointment for her yearly shots and they both needed pedicures.

They're not morning dogs. All went well at the vet though, and we were home by 9:00. I dropped them off and headed out to run some errands. Also stopped by a car wash fundraiser to get Betty a little bath:

Much needed. People were starting to judge me for how dirty my car was. Poor Betty.
Back at the farm a little birdie was failing the survival of the fittest test.

Sadly, he wouldn't stay in the box and recover. I found him outside the barn the next day definitely not still breathing. RIP little buddy.
Because I'm an epic procrastinator, after my failed attempt at bird rescue, I made some bracelets before working the horses.

I use the term "made" loosely... I bought the bracelets and the leather, and then glued them together. Not exactly making... assembling might be the more appropriate term. Whatever, I think they're pretty and can't wait to wear them! And yes, I did glue my fingers together a little... twice.
The kids all hacked well when I finished arts and crafts. I don't push them too much after a day off unless I have to for a show or something. Plus, I had a friend coming to hang out Sunday so I was saving fun things for when I had someone around who could take some media!
I was supposed to have more braiding to do, but the horse show was apparently sadly small and my clients opted to not braid for day two. I wasn't too disappointed because that meant I had time to go to the local carnival!

Since I hadn't planned on being free, I didn't have anyone to go with me, but I gladly meandered around on my own. And stuffed my face too.

I felt like a little bit of a creeper playing games alone, but I got over it when I won toys!

Apparently there is no spell check in China where this toy was made. I gave it to the puggers. They can't spell either.
Rio's swollen back leg is doing much better... unfortunately now the other leg is stocking up. I haven't been working him much, but we've been doing tack walks. I took him out in the yard Sunday and wedged my phone in a the fence and we had a fun photo shoot. By ourselves... we're cool like that.

I know. He's so handsome, you almost can't handle it. I get it. You can understand my unhealthy obsession with him. How many horses are this ridiculously good looking, AND also perfect in every other way? The answer is 0. He's one of a kind.
As mentioned earlier, I had an extra human around Sunday when I rode the other two tall kids. We didn't get too much media of Romes since he doesn't really do much exciting yet. But here he is walking around looking handsome.

He dreams of filling Rio's shoes someday. We'll see buddy...
I'm really proud of little Romey. I think he's making a real effort to figure things out. I switched his plastic bit to a broken copper roller. Such a good idea! He's really chewing on the bit and starting to reach for my hand a little. Progress!
Jampy has been feeling a lot better and I figured it was time to jump some sticks. Nothing too crazy of course. I like living. I think the jumps were around 2'6" and we kept to singles. I also wasn't brave enough to jump the ones he likes to run away from. Maybe next week? Anyway, he was great! He was calm and listening well for the most part, though he was a behind my leg a bit. I'd much rather that than the runaway train he sometimes likes to be.

Hopefully this good boy Jampy sticks around awhile. I'd like to get the jumps up a little over the next week or two and then try and get to some shows! My plans to put him back in the jumper ring have obviously changed, but I don't mind spending another year in the equitation. It would be super if he'll stay sound for medal finals next month. I won't get excited just yet. But let's all cross our fingers, k?

The work week was killer so far, but since I'm a spoiled brat, I only had a three day week! Today is my fake Friday and tomorrow (actually today since I'm still typing this at midnight...) I'm heading north to Vermont! Baby Badger is at the Vermont Summer Festival this week (and last). He made his horse show debut last week. He finished out of the ribbons, but had a respectful first time out. Today was technically his second horse show and he actually won himself some satin! He did the schooling hunters and the baby greens. He finished up in 8th place in one of the schooling rounds. I'm super proud of him, but especially so because there were FORTY-TWO horses in his class! Can you believe it? Good boy Badger!

I'm a little bummed that I missed his first outing, but I'm excited to check out the photos tomorrow. Rumor has it there are some cute ones! Fear not, I'll share them here once I get them.

And that's What's up this Wednesday! What's up with you?

Arts and Crafts!

I had an idea recently, and sometimes (usually) when I have what I think is a good idea, I get a little obsessive about making it happen. Unless we're talking about ordering my new fencing and having it installed, because that idea has been set aside...  In this case though, I pulled it off!
You all remember the name plate belts, yes? When I was a kid we all wanted one. Most of us just had one or two names to put on the belt, but we couldn't wait to fill one up. And they look fab with breeches. Well I decided I wanted a grown up version.
Currently many of the cool kids are wearing these ridiculously expensive Hermes belts. They're a plain leather strap, usually reversible, with a large H buckle. You've seen me donning them on Thursdays Threads. Though mine are definitely designer inspired and not the real thing. They are $$$. Anyway, I thought, wouldn't it be fun to have a name plate belt that was also a super trendy H belt?? The answer my friends is yes. Yes it would be fun.
I had a plain brown H belt hanging around, and got to work ordering some nameplates. By the way, when you're my age, and you've been riding and showing pretty much forever, this part gets really expensive! This is not one of those save you money DIY projects.
I wanted all of my special horses on there, so that meant everything I've leased or owned, and a handful that weren't mine but were important to me. Resulting in 20 nameplates. Ka-CHING! Ouch. Good thing I've put on a few lbs or they wouldn't all fit!

Things to think about when ordering plates: how many do you need? Do you need to fit two rows on the belt? Then you'd better make sure the belt is wide enough! I looked specifically for shorter plates than your typical bridle plate so they would fit better on the belt. But if you have less horses,  you would have more options. You also can decide if you want barn names or show names. I'm terrible at decision making so I wanted both! A few of my horses had only one name, but it didn't mess up the aesthetics in my opinion.
I ordered my plates from Big D's Tack because they have an insanely quick turnaround time. These shipped the very next day after I ordered! All twenty of them! Incredible.
Ok, so once my plates were in hand, I took a trip to the hardware store. I prefer to use screws and nuts rather than rivets. They fall of less often for one thing. But also, I can take plates off as needed and replace with new ones. Or get a black belt and not need to buy all new plates, just move them back and forth! Though that's a pretty serious project and likely will never ever happen.
Because I'm pretty honest about the stupid things I do, I must share this anecdote. I went to the hardware store and they had exactly 20 screws and nuts in the size I needed! Yay! Do you see any problems with that statement? No? Neither did I at the time. I headed back home and got to work measuring out the spacing and marking my holes.

I started punching holes and mounting plates and soon realized I definitely didn't have enough nuts and bolts. See the problem now? Yes, I had twenty nameplates. Which each required TWO SETS of nuts and bolts. That would be 40 each, not 20. Yep, there it is. The problem with that statement. Knowing my local store was all out since I'd bought everything, I set out in search of another hardware store. Thankfully I found what I needed on the first try and was able to finish my masterpiece. I left enough room for one more pair of plates, because we all know I have a shopping problem. Even when it comes to horses...

This thing is tough to get a decent picture of by itself... Here it is on:

Ta da! My new grown-up nameplate belt! It looks a lot better on breeches with larger belt loops, but this is what I was wearing when I made it. I love how it came out!
What do you think?