What's Up Wednesday

It's funny what feels like an extra busy week this year... I've gotten so used to my routine that anything extra just seems busy. This past week seemed more so because the farrier came, and my barn washing machine got fixed. Mind you, I didn't have to actually be present for either of these things, just needed to pop in the barn for payment. But it did seem extra busy. Life is so weird right now.

Anyway, let's talk about the horses shall we? They were super weird last week. EVERYONE had a case of the Tuesdays. Pammon was extra spooky and the bugs were driving him bananas so I wound up riding indoors. I'm not as patient in the mornings because I have less time for a battle. So I chose mine. He was a good boy inside, so I'll take it.

The other two though... I'm guessing there had to have been an animal in the woods. I got on Eros first, and he lost his shit heading toward the far end of the ring. He didn't do anything bad, but his head went up, he wouldn't walk, and his heart was pounding. Since I have to be extra mindful of him not spinning (or losing me and running around), I hopped off and decided to give him a couple ace tabs. Just better safe than sorry. So I gave him those and let him marinate on the cross ties while I rode Shiny. But then she also was spooking at the end. Which is not at all like her. She spooks very rarely, so once she was acting that way, I figured there must be something out there. We do have a neighborhood bear AND a very large cat of some kind. I swear it's a mountain lion, but everyone tells me it's probably a bob cat. Looks way too big to be, but who knows. I don't get that close. Anyway, I rode her on half the ring because whatever and we had an okay ride.

Case of the Tuesdays times 2

I'm partially sure that Eros is currently being inhabited by the ghost of Jamp, and this face the other day helped to solidify that thought:

The spooky eyes... the biting his tongue... SPOOKY!

There were still some mild shenanigans Wednesday, but much better than the day before. Pammon's been fine in the mornings, but the bugs are getting pretty bad over there in the mornings. He has the thinnest skin too which doesn't help. Poor dude. I'm really grateful though that most of the time when something is bothering him, his go to is to cease movement rather than try to murder his human. Good guy for sure.

Eros has continued to be a bit spooky, but not bad. 

It looks worse when you grab the still though! Haha!

As far as soundness goes... he feels okay. Watching the video he sometimes looks VERY lame, but it's really just him resisting my request for contact. He has a lot of opinions about that. He and Pammon are both getting rechecked on Friday. Fingers crossed we can add in some canter and work off some his freshness (cause trotting sure doesn't do that). Here's a short Pivo clip from the weekend.

And some stills:

This is me looking at a very noisy helicopter overhead. Poor Eros puts up with a lot.

Shiny was seemingly over her spookiness by Wednesday, but when I tried to do a little jumping... It didn't go well.

Normally she really takes me to the jumps and is super game. But this day? She just wasn't there. She never said no, but as you can see above she wasn't herself. And then nearly fell down at the end of that video and obviously stung herself when she came out of that. At that point, I called it a day. She was fine to flat the rest of the week, fortunately. 

Saturday I planned another jump school. And if I'm being honest (which is kinda my thing, right?) I was a little... apprehensive. I was worried that the bad school from Wednesday might carry over, and I found myself being nervous to each fence we hadn't jumped yet that day. Fortunately, after jumping everything once, I realized I had my pony back. She really was very good, though steering remains a challenge... I recorded with both Pivo and the Soloshot. Funny, I think my phone camera is actually better than the soloshots because the screen grabs from Pivo are so clear:

The ones from Soloshot get grainy:

Pivo was a little less than reliable with following me that day though, so I got much more footage with the SS3. I think the trouble with Pivo is that I have the red and it has a hard time turning fast enough when we're jumping. SO.... I ordered the silver. It should be here this weekend. Hopefully that does the trick! I think it might do better outside the ring, but my fence will obscure the view, so that's not an option. I'm still really happy with it though, and the company is really devoted to making it great. That goes a long way!

Here are some clips from Pivo and SS3.

And in non horsey news, I did a few other things this week/weekend including the following:

Filled another horse show prize order

Also made this adorable turtle bracelet

Went on a socially distant hike Sunday morning

AND finally got myself another lobster roll (to go, obviously)

That's about it from here. What have you all been up to?

Truthful Tuesday

Heh... so this is kinda funny. I haven't actually been to a grocery store since lockdown started back in March. I've been having my groceries delivered and really love the convenience. But the thing about that... you never know for sure what you'll get until it arrives. I like to turn on the substitutions option because I like to live on the edge. But I keep making the same mistake. 

I REALLY like the limited edition Most Stuf Oreos. They basically are filled with the equivalent of two double stuff cookies. It's sinful. And delicious. But I don't think my store actually has them despite letting me order them. You think after once or twice I'd turn off the substitution option on that. But I haven't. And now I have like 4 packs of the wrong Oreos floating around my kitchen. They don't even sub with mega stuff. They send the double. Which are good and all... but I'd rather they sub with mega stuff. ANYWAY, I have all these cookies, so I think I'm going to find a recipe that uses them rather just eating my weight in oreos for the next month.

What are you grocery habits these days? Do you brave the store? Favorite Oreo?

Thursday's Threads

Outfit Day! I was feeling a little outfit day burnout after a full week of planned outfits last week... But I pulled something together somewhat for today.

Your eyes do not deceive you. This is an avocado themed outfit!

I forgot to get photos of helmet boots, but I just wore my plain black One K and my regals. Recycled photos:

Maybe I'll wear green boots and helmet tonight when I ride at home. Time will tell, but there's a chance we may get stormed out tonight. Supposed to get some weather they're saying.

Top: Old Navy

I normally don't wear this around the horses since it's white. But here we are. Wearing white around horses.

Belt: C4

I was so excited when this belt came out and ordered it right away. I just really love avocados okay?

Breeches: Hadley

It's tough to photograph the color on these. It's a really pretty green. And I'll echo lots of other people, the Hadley breeches fit a million times better than the pipers.

Socks: Dreamers and Schemers

These came in a set with the belt. I'm always a sucker for sets (clearly) so no brainer here. 

Arm Party!

Lefty:

Lefty has the tech today. But not very exciting tech I guess. Just plain black bands for both.

Righty:

Righty is having more fun though! I got this bracelet awhile ago on Etsy with these ADORABLE little avocado charms. Half have pits and half don't which is a great detail. The other bracelet is an Hermes wrap that I got second hand. 

That's it for today! Thoughts on avocados? Or are you one of those odd ducks who doesn't like them?

What's Up Wednesday

Happy Wednesday all! Things are plugging along over here. Last week we had spirit week at the barn and as promised, here are all of Pammon and my outfits:

Tuesday: Tacky Tourist Day

I learned after this day to make sure I had someone grab a photo with my phone... cause this one wasn't. Pammon wore a palm frond baby pad from Lettia with a light pink sheepskin half pad and pink polos. Also his sunnies of course. I wore a palm frond top, pink breeches and boots, and a pin sparkly helmet. We felt very tropical.

Wednesday: Larimar Wednesday

Today we were to wear the barn colors and/or logo. Fortunately, I have these Ariat breeches that are perfect and I made this shirt, belt, and Pammon's half pad with my Cricut. He also wore am appropriately colored bonnet and boots. Also, my boots and helmet were navy.

Thursday: Throwback Thursday

I already shared this outfit on Thursday's Threads last week. It was fun!

Friday: Color wars!!!

My quadrant was assigned yellow which I really wasn't sure I could pull off. Fortunately, I remembered I had these neon breeches from Tuffrider. I had to get creative with boots though. I only had gold for Pammon and my logo boots are done with a gold logo. Close enough. It's yellow gold! My pad and half pad were a pale yellow also. I thought I had donated them, but was happy I didn't!

Saturday: Free for all

I love putting ridiculous outfits together, but I struggled at first with Saturday without a topic for guidance. Ultimately, I decided to just go for whatever I could really go all out with. And that's unicorn colors obviously. Pammon wore this pad, bonnet, and polos set from Hopeful Equestrian. We topped him off with the unicorn beaded browband from Dark Jewel Designs and the unicorn bit from Punk Ponies of course! I wore a black helmet and boots, purple Hadley breeches, and a running tank from Fabletics.

We only won the first day, but some of the kids went all out with costumes and decorating their horses. So that's fair. I wound up not partaking in stall decorating Sunday but everyone did a fabulous job with those! Sorry I forgot to take photos. I'm the worst. I hope we do spirit week again though, it was lots of fun!

So I have to share this story... I get on Eros on Friday and I notice there's ropes all over. Some tied to the walkouts, one on a tree, and a couple across the manure bin. 

At first I was thinking maybe Shiny got loose and my helper decided to tie her in to catch her? But that wouldn't make sense because these ones across the dumpster were attached to my hay barn with screw eyes that hadn't been there... (Don't get me started on people putting holes in things without asking me first.... GRRRRR....) So I sent a text to my helper, like what's with the ropes. And you guys. Oh my. His intentions were good of course. But OH MY! He had put them up to contain the horses when he let them loose in my yard! You guys. SO NOT OKAY. The entire far side, while it has a tree line, does not have any sort of fencing and is basically a cliff. His reasoning was that the horses liked to eat the grass (of course they do) and while Shiny's paddock has some grass in it (okay weeds... but I "seeded" it with their hay so it's yummy weeds) Eros turns out in the ring which is obviously not grass. BUT I do hand graze them most evenings and on the weekends. Not to mention they are both morbidly obese quite chubby. I hate having to be a jerk, but I told him it's much too dangerous and we can't be doing that. And then I had to take down all the ropes. On Friday night. After riding at 7:30 AM, working all day, then riding two more. Sheesh. I mean, I appreciate his intentions, but why can't he ask me before doing something like that?!

Okay, rant over. Back to the fun stuff! It's been pretty hot and humid here. This morning, while cool (74 at 7:30 am!) was 91% humidity and 71 degree dew point. Sticky. 

I've still been sticking with Eros' and Pammon's prescribed rides since those aren't particularly strenuous. Pammon's kind of are just given length of time, but it's cooler when I ride him, and he seems to handle the heat like a champ. But Shiny has gotten off a little easy. We rode every day of course, but her jump school Saturday was very short, and Sunday we played around bareback.

I was also kind of lazy about media this weekend, and only used the Pivo. I was excited to try out their new Beta Horse version, and it's pretty fab. I have the red, but if you're thinking about getting one, definitely go with the silver as it is able to react a little faster than mine. 

So here are some clips of Shiny jumping around Saturday. She was great! But we have a lot to work on. I need to set up a grid at some point to get her rocking back more, and not just pulling us past the distance and jumping over her shoulder. I'm sure part of that is simply that 2' is easy for her and partly just that she's still green. I think there's a cute jumping pony in there, but we have to do a little work to get her to come out.

Eros is up to 15 minutes of trotting this week, and I've started to ask him for a little contact. Mostly just to get his attention back on me, but also it's probably time he start using the proper muscles. I don't think he's 100% yet as far as soundness, but I know he's due for some maintenance. Not to mention, he's never been 100% sound. He and Pammon will both have a recheck I think next week. So we'll see what doc thinks. But here's a little clip of Eros trotting around.

Oh and I made my hair purple again. It seems sweating like an animal all over it fades it much faster though.

in process purple hair

That's about it from here. How's your week going? Did you do anything fun last weekend?

Truthful Tuesday

I know I've written this same post before... but you guys. I will do pretty much anything other than actually clean my house. The latest edition of things I do instead of being responsible includes making AMAZING popsicles.

They're blueberry, banana, and maple syrup. Ridiculously delicious. Though definitely sweet.

But that really didn't take much time at all... so I also made more Chex mix. Because as we've already accepted, I have a Chex mix problem.

But that also is only like an hour long task, and does allow for free time in between stirring... so I also got started on another order of bracelets.

I would have finished them, but I made a mistake ordering supplies and didn't get enough clasps. So gotta wait on that. 

Anyway, by the time I was done with all of that, it was close to 9 pm. Obviously that is MUCH too late to start vacuuming and washing floors. Right? Ugh. I'm disgusting. I really need to make an effort this weekend to actually clean this pig stye I live in.

Are you disciplined about cleaning? Have someone who comes in and does it? Prior to covid I had a cleaning lady, but I don't right now. Definitely is on the list to have again once things settle down.

Thursday's Threads: 80's edition

Outfit Day! Today's theme for spirit week is Throwback Thursday and we could dress for any decade up through the 90's. I went with 80's since I had a saddle pad for that. Here's what Pammon and I wore this morning:

Anyone else notice how awkward I'm standing? Apparently, the same awkward as Pammon's back legs... Ha! Like mama like son.

We can do Pammon's outfit first.

Bonnet: If the Bonnet Fits

Bridle: Camelot wide RCS Bridle

Browband: Boy O'Boy Bridleworks

For cheapo bridles, I really like these. Unfortunately, you can only get the padded version now which I don't like as much. I love this spiked bonnet so much. They don't normally bunch up like it's doing in the top photo, it wasn't put on properly. Oops.

Boots: HKM (I think)

I figured black glitter was pretty 80's. I remember a lot of glitter in my childhood.

Saddle: Voltaire Stuttgart

Pad: I forget the name of the company that made this for me... sorry!

Half Pad: Ippico

I've been using the Stuttgart on Pammon lately because I'm too lazy to drag my Hermes back and forth. I can actually sit his trot in this saddle which is kind of a miracle. But I still don't love it. Debating whether I should sell it and try a Butet or a new Hermes, or just keep it and learn to love it. Keeping it would certainly be easier. But we'll see. Anyway, it's maybe hard to see in this photo, but the pad is covered in neon cassette tapes.

So, that's what Pammon wore, and now it's my turn!

Helmet: One K

This helmet isn't particularly 80's... but it has a lot of sparkle, and so I think it works.

Top: District

You all have seen the cassette tank before, but this time i layered it with a neon pink cami. Cause the 80's had layers. And neon. So much neon.

Belt: No brand

I didn't realize the buckle was reflecting the shirt until I went to post this photo. It's all black and rhinestones, no pink on it in real life! I got this from Poshmark awhile back,

Breeches: Smartpak Hadley

These are really black even if they photographed gray here... Just winning at the photo game today aren't I? Sheesh. Anyway, I wore the neon pink breeches Tuesday and I need the neon yellow ones tomorrow. So I just went with black today. 

Boots: Imperial Riding

These are DEFINITELY 80's. The 80's were definitely louder is better. And well... what's louder than these boots? Maybe just the cow ones, but they weren't going to work with the outfit. 

Arm Party!

Lefty:

Lefty is donning a bracelet I made a bit ago. I love those cassette beads. I have some left over still and definitely need to do something else with them.

Righty:

Righty is donning this boom box bracelet from Kate Spade. It's not a cassette... but it would play cassettes so close enough. 

And that's it for today! Any favorites?