Truthful Tuesday

 

I don't really have much to confess today. Just plugging along. Waiting for spring... It's warmed up some here. Saturday was 30 degrees which felt downright balmy after the last couple of weeks. And Sunday we even got above freezing! Unfortunately, with that comes the dreaded snow crashing off the indoor roof. My full size horses and I all have ptsd about it. Every little noise we think is the snow coming. It makes for some interesting rides. Fortunately, yesterday the barn was closed and it was around 40 so most of the snow came off while no one was in there. Today is freakishly warm for February (might hit 50!) and is pouring rain. So that should get the rest off. Just in time for it to snow again Thursday... Lol. Mother Nature has a terrible sense of humor. 

Poor Pammon was beside himself this morning when I got on. Luckily though, another rider joined us and that helped him considerably. They haven't heard rain on the roof in awhile and he was just so worried about it. Poor dude. We survived though! 

So I guess today's confession is that I'm just as spooky as the horses with the snow on the roof. Do your horses get worried about that? Shiny doesn't care too much. Pammon tends to bolt when he hears it, but Eros turns himself into a helicopter. 

I hope all of you in Texas are staying warm and safe. We're used to that weather up here (but believe me, we don't like it any more than you do) and we're set up for it. It's a totally different story down there. I'm thinking of you guys and sending warm juju your way!

Also, a separate little plug for a budding artist. One of my coworkers has the cutest daughter. I think she's 9 or 10, and she is making digital horse drawings on Etsy. Her shop is Horse Art by Maddie. For $10 you can send her a photo and she'll turn it into a digital drawing for you. She did the one above of Pammon and me. Check out her shop here and support her new business!

Thursday's Threads: Singles Awareness Edition (with a cameo by lots of Pug hair)

 

Happy Outfit Day! It's still stupid cold here. And it keeps spitting white crap out of the sky. Gross. I got a note in my mailbox yesterday that I should dig out 30' of road so the mail lady doesn't have to get out of her car... But like, the snow is flush with my mailbox, so I don't know what they're expecting from me? Definitely no need for her to exit the vehicle. I'm guessing the whole road got the same note cause we're all in the same boat! Anyway, you're not here to talk about mail. Let's look at my dog hair covered outfit from yesterday!

Since Valentine's Day is Sunday, I wore my favorite singles awareness sweatshirt. 'Tis the season!

Helmet: One K MIPS

Yep, still recycling this photo... I really did meant to snap a new one. But I didn't. 

Hoodie: Rue 21

I'm not really sure how I managed to get completely covered in dog hair... but I did. 

Belt: C4

I thought this Champion belt paired well with the hoodie, because I'm the Champion of being Single AF! 

Breeches: Dover

These are a nice dark navy, not sure why they photographed so bright. Since they're corduroy, the pug hair really stuck to these too!

Socks: Noble Outfitters

What? You don't match your socks to your belt? Really?

Boots:

Still loving these. Haven't worn anything but them in a very long time... If only the snow would melt and temps would get above freezing... sigh. Some day.

Nails:

Back in the spring time I cleaned out all the cabinets in the bathroom and I found these nail stickers. I've had them for YEARS and never remembered to use them for Valentine's day. So this is the year! I did a real crap job applying them, but whatever. They're cute anyway.

I finally remembered to bring clean saddle pads out to the barn, so Eros has an outfit to share too!

Saddle: Butet

Baby Pad: Smartpak

Half Pad: Mattes

Quarter sheet: Kentucky

My very good friend had these baby pads monogrammed for me for Chanukah this year, and I just love them! She did two black and two white so we have a couple outfits to swap between. So thoughtful of her!

Boots: Equestroom

I really love these green sparkle boots. I'm also still really sad I couldn't get a pair in Shiny's size. 

And that's it for today! Any favorites? 

What's Up Wednesday

 

It's been kinda cold and snowy here. Not enough to interfere with horsing thankfully, but enough to be cold and annoying. 

Barn Owner headed off to Florida early Sunday morning, so things are calm and quiet. We had a substitute teach our flat lesson last night, but only I showed up for it, so I got to have a private. Poor Pammon worked so hard, all he wanted to do this morning was stretchy trot. Literally. That's all he wanted. Canter? "Ugh, do I HAVE to???" I mean, he did canter, he's not Shiny, but the majority of this morning's (VERY COLD) ride was stretchy trot with his cute little nose down near his feet. Since we were on the cusp of too cold to ride, I agreed with him that it was a good plan for the day. We can work harder tomorrow. 

Shiny is kind of stuck in her ways right now, but we keep plugging along. I let her have a walk only ride on Sunday to see if that would help. I know in the summertime she enjoys her bareback Sundays, so I was hoping a walk only day might work the same way. I'm not sure if it helped or not for sure yet, but she did canter both directions yesterday. Since Pammon does the evening lesson Tuesday, I usually do Eros in the morning that day, but I chose Shiny instead yesterday. She seemed really confused as to why I was riding her so early. And then was even more confused in the evening when I didn't take her out. Apparently she likes routine as much as I do! 

Nothing really to report on with Eros. He's is usual perfect self. He's been getting worked twice a week in the lunge rig (like the pessoa system) and while it seems to lighten him up a bit, I don't think it's really doing what it's supposed to behind. After he rigs, I feel like his back end is trailing out behind us. Odd. I really should get myself organized and bring the equiband out to the barn. I think he'd benefit from it. Shiny sure would if she would get moving forward!

I was pretty unproductive on the house cleaning front this weekend, but I did do some other stuff instead. Namely: I made Super Bowl snacks and labeled some stuff with my Cricut.

How about that Pug teapot though?

For snacks, I made strawberry cupcakes (from a mix, I'm not that motivated!) and the slow cooker contained buffalo chicken dip. I halved the recipe because it was just me enjoying it, and I think next time I'll do a touch less buffalo sauce and and a bit more ranch. It was my first time making it though, so that's how you learn!

How great is that tote bag that came in my barn colors?! I found them on Walmart.com and they also had the boarding barn's colors. Unfortunately, I was out of blue vinyl, so I didn't get to decorate that one this weekend. Next week maybe. The hoodie says Ponies Rule on the pocket and has my logo on the back. Possibly one of my new favorite things.

And that's really about it from here this week. How are things by you? Cold? Snowy? Rainy? Have any delicious Super Bowl snacks?

Truthful Tuesday

 

Ever since I was a little kid, I've always loved the look of a Letterman jacket. You know, the ones the athletes earned in high school? Leather (look) sleeves, wool body, big felt letter. One of the barns local to me had them as their barn jackets, and I always lusted after them. (Our barn didn't even have matching jackets...) I didn't play sports in school since I didn't want to give up any barn time, so there was no chance of me earning one the old fashioned way.

Well, you know what's great about being a grown up? You can buy stuff you've always wanted. So a little bit ago I went online and designed one. 

It's not quite perfect, but I put some notes on the order so hopefully they can make the little tweaks I asked for. (Like adding a space between Corner and Stable- they only allowed for 12 characters.) Either way, I'm gonna love it! I'm not sure when it's coming, since it's being made overseas and shipping is a disaster in general. But I'm super excited to finally have one.

Is there anything like this you always wanted as a kid? Did you still want it as an adult and/or did you get it?

Thursday's Threads: The one with logos again

 

Another short one today. I planned to swap out the horses' pads but then never did. So they're still wearing the same outfits. Worst mom ever. They don't seem to mind though. Anyway, here's what I wore the other day to ride!

Heh... Logo all the things! YOLO!

Helmet:  One K MIPS

Yeah... I recycled the photo. I forgot to grab a new one. My bad.

Base Layer: Artscow

Hoodie: Artscow

Artscow is a company based in Hong Kong that will print whatever you want on pretty much anything you can imagine. I had some stuff made awhile ago, (including these tops) but just tweaked my SVG logo file a little so I have some updated items coming with the logo a little different. The new stuff will have a brown horse and ribbon, tan shoe, and I fixed it so the negative spaces in the shoe will show the green background color. So excited for the update! In the meantime though, I still am happy with this stuff too. It's like the evolution of my branding... Or something.

Belt: Stacie Original

To be honest, this isn't holding up that well. Some of the logos have lost parts. I wasn't sure it would last anyway since the iron on vinyl is meant for fabric not really leather. I should probably try it with regular vinyl next time. I'm not sad about it, it was a good test.

Breeches: Horseware

Yep. Still wearing the cords. These are the tan ones!

Socks: Dreamers & Schemers

I gotta update the socks next... Still loving these that I had done awhile back though!

Boots: Tredstep

Remember yesterday when I talked about how cold it's been? And how I hand walked in the single digits the other day? Yeah, well I've worn these boots throughout and not once did my feet get cold. A little chilly one of the days maybe, but never did they hurt nor lose feeling. I have Reynaud's Syndrome, so in the extreme cold my toes (and fingers) will lose circulation and turn white. That hasn't happened ever with these. Still can't say enough good about them. Even if they are clunky. Best boots ever.

And well... That's all I've got today. Any favorites?

What's Up Wednesday

 

The weather has been a real downer here lately between bitter cold and then a snowstorm. Fortunately, it only messed with some of my riding plans. Friday was the coldest day with highs in the single digits. I don't ride when it's that cold, but I did go out to took everyone for a short hand walk. 

Shiny got off the easiest this past week. It was ridiculously windy Thursday night by the time I got to her. I got her all tacked up and planned to ride anyway (we are indoors after all!) but she kind of lost her shit when I walked her into the ring. I can't blame her. Something banged really loudly against the wall (no idea what) and then all kinds of things (sand? rocks from the driveway? I dunno) were blowing against the walls. I stripped her tack and let her have a free lunge instead. I actually have been wanting to do that because we're still struggling with canter work and I wanted to see if she would canter on her own. She did indeed! She was all kinds of wild. So good to know she is capable of a nice canter even if she doesn't want to do be doing it under saddle right now.

We got some info back from her bloodwork this week too. Her insulin levels were good which is wonderful news. My vet said it is possible she is still experiencing some insulin resistance, but at that moment when the blood was taken she was not. The best way to know for sure is to do a fasting glucose test, but we're going to hold off until she's lost some weight and see if we think it's necessary. She did have a low thyroid and did test as obese... So we have some work to do there. We started her on Thyro-L for the thyroid problem, and likely once that kicks in, it will help with the weight problem. Poor girl. Takes after her mother! (I also have a low thyroid condition. Lol.) Her attitude under saddle is still a problem, she does NOT want to work. But we're just plugging along trying to do as much as we can each day. Doc did say she needs to work more, but it's really difficult when she's so obstinate! Last night though, the snow was crashing off the roof, so that was useful in getting her going! Although bolting and leaping isn't quite the work I'm after... Take what I can get! Ha!

Eros has gotten off a little easy too. He worked all last week, but Tuesday morning the barn hadn't been plowed out yet for my morning ride, so I opted not to go. I didn't want to park out on the road while the plows were still working on them. I could see that going poorly for Jorge (my truck). I let Eros have a lunge in the rig instead since I knew I couldn't ride all three after work. We've been doing the rig a couple times a week to see if we can get his back end stronger. He likes to use me to lean on and cheat. In the rig there's no one to hold him up. It seems to be helping, he already feels more sound. I mean, coupled with the injections too. Likely that's the biggest piece of the puzzle, but whatever helps is good to me! I'll drop him back to once a week next month, and then hopefully we can do without it. 

The real star this past week has been Pammon. He's starting to remind me of the horse I bought which is such a relief! After Eros came up lame a few weeks ago, I've been doing Pammon in the ass kicker flat lesson on Tuesday nights. Tuesday mornings he's allowed a free lunge to get any galloping out that he needs. (And he needs. Homeboy gets EXCITED after his Monday off!) Then we work super hard in our lesson. And then the rest of the week he's a perfect gentleman. Willing to work, but not hot, and not nearly as spooky as he has been. It's wonderful! The big news though? In our lesson last night we popped over a few teeny tiny crossrails. I mean teeny. The center was maybe 6 inches high. But I'm still counting them as our first jumps back! I haven't jumped him since October 2019, so it's been a long time coming. There were two x's in a line which was a forward five if they had been real jumps. We did the line in a 6, 7, and 8. He really was wonderful. I'm cautiously getting excited for our future. A little. Carefully. 

In other news, I've been eating too many sweets between girl scout cookies and brownies that I baked Monday night. 

these are so good. 

And I started a new needlepoint belt! This one I will definitely have made into a belt when I'm finished:

I maybe should have done a lighter brown for the horse and ribbon, but in real life it's more visible than it's showing in the photos. I'm not sad about it.

Not too much else going on around here right now. But that's a-okay with me! I shall leave you with this adorable photo of Artie playing with a stuffy toy.

Truthful Tuesday: Winter Doldrums Edition

 

Well. It's February. Which means I've reached that feeling of "why won't winter end". Which is totally unfair really because it's barely just started. But we got a bunch of snow yesterday. The weekend was bitterly cold (Friday's real feel was 1 at the warmest point of the day). And well... I'm over it. All of it.

Photo taken at the start of the storm. 
We wound up with about 10 inches I think.

While I'm SUPER grateful to be able to board the horses for the winter, making the snow less of an inconvenience to me, I miss having the horses here. I'm so tired of being rushed all the time because I'm trying to work three horses around a schedule of lessons and hours. They keep changing the times we can ride and while for the most part it's not unreasonable, it kind of is when you have multiples. 

Super grateful for a nice indoor to use in the winter!

For example, the barn used to not have actual hours. The only rule was to make sure all the lights are out when you leave. Then it changed to the indoor closing at 8 pm and the barn at 9 during the week. Weekends everything closes at 5. So I adjusted my schedule to riding one horse in the morning and two at night and put Pammon on full care to assist with the timing in the morning. In other words, it's more of an inconvenience and literally costs me more money to adjust to that time frame. But I did all that to make it work.

This pony costs me extra.

Weekends are tough in general during the winter because lessons have a lot of people in them and they are jumping courses in the ring. So trying to work around all that is sometimes not even possible. Usually if you get on at the same time as the lesson and just kind of work into the flatwork portion it's doable though. (Not with Shiny, since she's kind of a bitch... but that's my problem. The boys are fine in traffic.) The mornings aren't too busy, so if you ride early, it's easier. But call me lazy (the barn owner certainly does), I just don't want to be at the barn at 7:30 on Saturday and Sunday. I'm tired after the 14 hour weekdays everyday. I like to come around 8:30 or 9. But then, when it's 9 degrees in the morning at that time, I'm not riding then. It's not good for the horses and it's hard for asthmatic me to breathe in that. 

I swear I'm not complaining that I have too many horses to ride.
I love riding all of them everyday. Especially after all that time where 
I couldn't ride at all.

So that leaves the afternoon. This Saturday I had a virtual baby shower to attend at noon and since the morning was absolutely frigid I decided to ride after the lessons at 2:30. But the last lesson ran late, so it was close to 3 by the time I got on my first one. That left me two hours to ride three horses. Not ideal, but it's just one day, I could work it out. But then at 4:30 as I was tacking up the last one, they went in to drag the ring which took 20 minutes. That left me ten minutes to ride and put away Shiny. Cool. She had a super short ride, but I decided I could be a little later in the barn since it was their dragging that made me late. Not sure if that's valid reasoning but I was going with it.

This face is not at all sad about an abbreviated ride. #lazypony

What I learned from that is 2:30 is too late to start riding. Okay fair. Most of the time I don't ride that late anyway on the weekend. But then Sunday, barn owner/trainer comes in the barn and says no one can ride on the weekends during the big lessons anymore. Meaning no riding unless you're in the lessons between 11 and 2:00. I told her that's pretty tough if the barn is closing at 5 and I have three to do. It's really asking a lot for me to split my day on the weekends also when I already do that during the week. I do have other things to attend to on the weekends. So her answer was to come earlier (which won't work when it's cold because I care about my horses and my health!) and that she is not making any exceptions. I feel like having multiple horses is not encouraged at this place as she makes it harder and harder to do it. Like, the more money you spend there, the more of an inconvenience you are. Thank goodness I'm only really there for the winters. Sheesh.

Anyway, all that bitching and complaining to illustrate how grumpy winter makes me. Maybe if they let us work remotely moving forward I should start wintering in Florida. Once I'm vaccinated of course. Wonder how my dad and stepmom would feel about 40 year old me moving in with them for the winter...

If you've made it this far, thanks for listening to me vent. As a reward, you get a second confession. Which is that I own this:

Yes. It is as warm as it looks. Also yes, it's like a sausage casing and I should have gotten the next size. Third yes, it was probably more difficult to shovel snow in it because it is so tight. But I was toasty warm!

Anything you all need to vent about today? Winter getting you down?