Truthful Tuesday

 

Welp. I'm not one of those people who can't admit when they were wrong. So I shall tell you, I was wrong to withhold jumping from Al. So very wrong. Like the wrongest wrong to ever wrong. That boy is BESIDE himself. Practically unrideable. 

You see what happened was, I thought I had beat the system by signing him up for a training ride last week. But I wasn't specific in my request and it was just a flat ride. In which he was just as much of a spooky a-hole for the trainer as he is for me, but I digress... The ride wasn't what I had hoped for because I really wanted him to jump to get his head back on straight. Since he didn't, he has snowballed into the biggest spookasaurus that ever spooked. Like ever. 

We attempted a flat lesson today and it was probably one of my top ten worst rides on him. He nearly got me off once, and has decided there is no safe space anywhere in the indoor. Mind you, he had a free lunge in the morning. Then spent several hours outside with his friends. Then he got worked on by his favorite body worker. AND THEN we had the lesson. So he had a pretty fab day prior. I don't even know what's wrong with his brain, but man. Something isn't right up there. He got this way at home too just before we moved, so it's certainly not location specific. 

I am not a quitter though. I will figure this horse out. Some day. Hopefully. Plan for the rest of the week is to have a training ride WITH JUMPS tomorrow. And then I will lesson on Thursday. And if he's still a spookasaurus after that? Well... I dunno. But I'll keep trying. 

My other confession though, is that when he's like this, I lose my brave. And without that, it's hard for me to really dig deep and be tough and give him the ride he needs. Usually I have Eros to help me find that confidence but since he's on the injured list, I'm kind of having to face this without him. And it's tough. All I can do is keep trying though. He's too nice of a horse to give up on. 

Any of you have a horse like this? What are some things that have worked for you? If it helps to understand what I'm dealing with, when Al spooks, it's not just a little hairy eyeball and a bulge away. It's a full on prop and spin. And sometimes there's no prop, just the spin, and that's when I have a hard time holding on. He'll pretty happily follow another horse around the ring, but the moment we separate from that horse, he reverts right back to being spooky. I can hand walk him back and forth around what he's scared of. But at each gait, and each direction at each gait even, it's like we have to start from scratch. I can't imagine he enjoys life like this anymore than I do. So we have to figure this out.

Thursday's Threads: Last Night of Chanukah Edition

 

This is it! The last night of Chanukah! Well technically anyway. My family elected to have our Chanukah party this Saturday, so we're dragging it out a little. Plus we'll celebrate again at the end of the month when my siblings and I all visit our dad and stepmom in Florida. But it IS the end of Chanukah Thursday's Threads outfits for this year. Shiny wanted to celebrate today, so here's what she was wearing:

Bridle: Joseph Sterling
Browband: Home made by me

Why yes, those are gnomes on the brow band! Shalom Gnomes! Ha! Apparently some marketing genius came up with them in the recent past as they are pretty readily available in all kinds of forms. I am the reason these marketing people have jobs. 

Saddle: Custom Saddlery
Saddle Pad: Hopeful Equestrian
Half Pad: Ippico

This was my very first Chanukah set that I had done quite a few years ago. Still going strong! I would like to add a one more to the collection next year, hopefully I'll remember in time. 

Boots: Premier Equine embellished by me

Getting lots of use out of the interchangeable boots lately! Love how this pattern looks on the boots.

And here's what I had on:

Still wearing the same helmet and boots so we're skipping over them again.

Hoodie: Etsy

I know it's a hoodie and not a sweater, but let me assure you, I've been hunting for YEARS for a purple Chanukah sweater. It does not exist. So I decided to hunt for a hoodie instead. And then I got the gnome beads, so obviously I needed a purple Shalom Gnome sweatshirt. No regrets here!

Belt: C4

I wore this one last week too. I do have another belt, but it didn't match either outfit. I'm probably going to add a third for next year though. Need a purple one for the Gnomes! I also have a needlepoint canvas that I should start stitching now so it could be done for next year... We'll have to see how that plays out! Haha!

Breeches: Dover

You've all seen these plenty before. My go-to cold weather breeches. It stayed in the 30's today so was pretty chilly. I think it's going to be a very long cold winter. Boo.

And that's it for today! What do you think of the gnomes? Pretty cute, right?! 

What's Up Wednesday

 

I spent most of the weekend stewing about things, and then got my covid booster on Sunday evening. That wore me out enough to stop stewing, so we're mostly back to our regularly scheduled lives over here. 

As mentioned last week, Al hasn't had a lesson since the failed one a week ago. Unfortunately, I had forgotten how semi unrideable Al gets when he doesn't jump a couple times a week. I'm not sure I'm ready yet to try again with lessons, so I signed him up for a training ride tomorrow. That way he'll get to jump, I'll get a day off from his antics, and hopefully he'll feel satiated for the rest of the week as far as jumping goes. And then maybe next week I'll rescind my decision about not lessoning him until after the New Year. We'll see. I do want to jump too. I'm petty enough to do things out of spite, but I don't want to spite myself, ya know? So we shall take things day by day. 

Eros saw the vet on Friday for his lameness exam and unfortunately, we are waiting for a second visit for a diagnosis. After the initial under saddle exam, doc thought it was the same old right front problem that crops up from time to time. If you recall, he has a tendon that's attached sort of backwards and sometimes it gets angry. So he blocked that area and that didn't help. So we worked our way up the leg, finally getting somewhere just below the knee. Since he was blocked, he couldn't get an ultrasound that day, but did get x-rays of the knee to rule out anything boney. There's not much swelling, just a touch right below the knee, but in an area that I didn't even feel or see. X-rays were clean, but doc said it doesn't mean he didn't bruise something there. Other potential diagnoses are a high bow, though doc doesn't really see anything that would suggest that other than his age, or a suspensory attachment issue. But again, not much swelling, so that isn't necessarily the culprit either. We just have to wait until he comes back to image and hopefully find whatever IT is. In the meantime, we're tack walking and enjoying each other's company. Which honestly, is pretty lovely this time of year anyway. Also, since he's a pretty laid back dude, we haven't restricted his turnout yet either. So he's quite happy enjoying a little break from work. 

Shiny had the best week in awhile if you ask her! Since her brothers were both problems this week, she got to do all the lessons. Okay, well not all of them, but she took Eros' Thursday morning lesson AND did one Saturday morning. Thursday she was a little spicy, but in all the best ways. she was quick and taking me to the fences, but not in a lean on the front end and charge around sort of way. More like an uphill jumper pony sort of way. It was lots of fun, though when she rubbed a rail I was a little worried there might be theatrics on the other side. She kept it to a minimum though, thankfully! Saturday she was perfect. She marched around the full course so nicely! Forward, but not fresh, and in a much more lovely huntery shape. We both had the best time. I just love her. She feels so much better after her vet work a few weeks ago. And she gets body work I think next week too. Lucky pony. Thursday lessons are canceled until after the New Year so she will just get one for the next few weeks on Saturdays. But that's enough for now anyway. 

We took our holiday photos this weekend for our very late cards (the ones with the typos) so the pics here today are from that. A little sneak peak. The actual compilation is completely ridiculous. I love it. Typo and all! Ha!

In other news, I got to braid a very sweet horse today for some holiday photos. Her name is Brie, so her people had a cheese charm for her to wear. So cute!

Hope you all had a great week and weekend! 

Truthful Tuesday: Holiday edition

 

Well. It finally happened. Got my holiday cards printed up finally, and there's a typo. A TYPO! And it was my fault. And you know what? I'm sending them out anyway. The mistake is in the signature line. It reads: From Stacie, Al Eros, Rita, and Shiny. Do you see it? I missed a comma between Al and Eros. So now they're apparently one big hybrid horse. Oops. 

Anyway. That's my confession today. Also, I haven't bought the stamps for them yet, so I guess that's confession number two. 

Lastly, if you'd like a card from me and you didn't get one last year, shoot me a message with your address and I'll get you on the list! Our photo is super silly this year.

Thursday's Threads: Night 1 of Chanukah Edition

 

Happy Outfit Day everyone! It's the first night of Chanukah so Eros and I decided to start a little early and dressed up for our ride today. Today's outfit is not a new one, but it's super fun, so I'm sure you'll still enjoy. Here's what E had on:

Bridle: Joseph Sterling
Browband: Home made by me

I really can't stop with the wooden beads. They're just so cute! 

Saddle: Butet
Saddle Pad: Equine Star
Half Pad: Mattes

Chanukah pad for the win! I love a good festive saddle pad. 

Boots: Equine Star

I mean... you gotta have matching boots. Right?

That's E had on today, and here's what I wore:

Please excuse the baskets of Chanukah attire all over the floor...

It was ridiculously cold here today for December. I don't think it ever got above 35F. Fortunately, when having this outfit made, I planned for all weather scenarios. You just never know with Chanukah if it will be tee shirt weather or ALL THE LAYERS weather. Best to be prepared. I wore my Samshield and black De Niro boots, which you're already tired of seeing, so I'm not sharing those today.

Tops: ArtsCow

It's tough to tell in this photo, because they are all the same print, but I'm wearing a long sleeve shirt, a hoodie, and a puffy vest. I sadly also had to layer a coat over this for the barn today so the true fabulousness of this outfit was not fully on display. But we know. And that's what matters.

Belt: C4

I think I want to get a new belt for next year. Or maybe I need to actually needle point the one I have a kit for... But this one is looking a little worn these days.

Breeches: Tailored Sportsman

I don't wear this pair a ton as they are pretty bright and don't match a lot of shirts I have. So why did I buy them you ask? They are perfect for Chanukah week! I got them secondhand in a bundle with another color I had been hunting hard for. It was a great deal, so I figured why not. 

Socks: Dreamers and Schemers

Okay, yeah. These aren't Chanukah socks (I have some en route though!) but they did match the outfit kinda. So I went with it. I SHOULD have worn some of my heavier knee high Chanukah socks though. My toes were frozen solid all day. 

So that's it for night 1! Well sort of. Rita and I still have Chanukah jammies for bed time. You'll probably see those on Insta if you're on there.

What's Up Wednesday

 

This week has been trying to say the least. I mean, it's solidly first world problems, and in the grand scheme what's bugging me is generally pretty trivial. But I am tired. And frustrated. And it's probably best if I don't go on too much about it here since it's a semi public space. But suffice to say, I think I will be taking a break from lessons with Al for a little while. Through no fault of his own. He's been a pretty good boy overall. I tried to lesson Sunday morning but for some reason everyone decided to ride at the same time. With like 8 horses in the ring, it was just utter chaos (they were all seemingly very wild) and I just called it a day. Al is a spooky horse and being in a ring packed full of other spooking horses is just not the right setting for him. I realize that this will sometimes be something we encounter at a horse show, but at this point in where we are, it's not a problem we're ready to tackle. 

Yesterday I had a flat lesson on him, and he was lovely. He still struggles some with the counter canter tracking right, but he's trying very hard with it. It will come in time I think. Something to work on over the winter anyway. 

We tried a jumping lesson again today, and Al was being a good dude. But let's just say, things went weird and I wound up getting off. Not because Al was doing anything wrong. Nor was I. I've been riding just fine of late. I'm not sure if there will be an instructor here this winter, but if there is, I may just hold off on lessons and jumping until the crew heads south. Just hit a reset and start over then. It's only a few more weeks. Al might hate it, but I'm tired of just failing all the time. Especially when the failure is the result of outside forces. I can fuck up just fine all on my own thanks.

Shiny is feeling pretty great though! She didn't get to jump the past week, but she's going to tomorrow morning in what's normally Eros' lesson. I'm pretty excited, hopefully she will be too... But like, not TOO excited.... haha!

And in other disappointing news... Eros has been off since last Thursday. He had a free lunge before our lesson, but when I got on he wasn't quite right. Then we changed direction and he was super unsound. I was hoping maybe abscess. He wears pads, so I couldn't really poke and prod, but my farrier was out Monday to trim and/or shoe them all and he didn't find anything. I hopped on him Tuesday to see if new shoes and a trim would magically fix the problem, but no luck. He was better than he was Thursday, but still noticeably unsound. I gave him today off, but I'll probably tack walk him tomorrow and trot a few steps just to assess before the vet comes Friday. I don't see any abnormal swelling nor feel any real heat anywhere, so I'm not sure where the issue is. I'm wondering if he maybe tweaked a shoulder. I dunno. Fingers crossed for an easy fix on Friday. 

So kind of a Debby Downer post today, sorry friends. Tomorrow will be more fun, I promise! Because Chanukah starts tomorrow night! And we're going to start celebrating in the daytime, because I have a lot of outfits.

Truthful Tuesday

 

I kind of forgot about switching out my summer and winter clothes because I didn't think I had that much stuff upstairs to swap anyway. But yesterday I went up there to get the Chanukah sweaters (it's almost that time!!!) and realized I have all kinds of cute (normal) sweaters that will be very warm to ride in this winter packed away. It was like shopping, but better because it's already my stuff. So that's my confession. I've pretty much lost track of what I own for clothing. Time for another purge I think.