Month: August 2014

Some of the super cool eventer folk at my barn started making a few cross country jumps around the property (I hereby volunteer to help make more!) and I of course can’t resist anything that looks like it might be fun to jump over. So last night I dug out my old XC vest and took The Beast out for an adventure.

We started small with a teeny little ramp, which he was not so very impressed about. Then we moved on to the bigger pile of rail road ties. He wasn’t that impressed with those either, but it did inflate his ego enough to where the last time over it he did a gleeful gallop away then promptly spooked at a pole sitting by the arena fence. Sadly there isn’t video of that part but trust me it was funny. It was kind of a “I am HENRY, conqueror of all things! Ahhhhh, horse eating pole, run away!” type of moment.

HenryXC1 from amanda chance on Vimeo.

Then we walked over to the skinny log jump. It’s hard to tell on the video but the approach makes for a pretty narrow jump, with a tree trunk on one side and lots of bushy weedy stuff on the other. Henry marched over towards it feeling more and more excited with himself. I let him walk past it a couple times to get a good look at the takeoff and landing (there was little room for error in either direction due to the width). When I cantered to it I could feel him just light up. And the more he jumped it, the more proud of himself he got.

HenryXC2 from amanda chance on Vimeo.

By the time we were done he STRUTTED back to the barn like he just won Rolex. I couldn’t help but laugh at him, Henry rarely looks excited about anything that isn’t edible. Pretty sure he told all his horse friends that William Fox-Pitt was coming to pick him up tomorrow and take him to WEG.

He’ll be available for autograph signing this weekend, cuz he’s a pretty big deal y’all. Those three little XC jumps feel totally conquered by the great and powerful Henry.

Maybe there will be a few baby events in his future to add a little levity to our jumper lifestyle?

I will have you
Yes, I will have you
I will find a way and I will have you
You are an obsession
You’re my obsession

That’s enough 80’s music for one morning. You’re all welcome for having that song stuck in your head the rest of the day.

Last month the obsession was PS of Sweden’s gorgeous bridles. I did end up ordering one although they’re backordered til September. Sad face.

This month’s obsession is Aztec Diamond Equestrian. I’ve mentioned them on here before, briefly touching on their super cute breeches with a unicorn on the butt (everyone needs more butticorns in their life). I’d been planning on checking them out eventually, mostly because they’re styled very similarly to my beloved Animo breeches but with a MUCH more reasonable price tag. Then they posted this picture on Facebook and boom it was done. Insert intense grabby hands times a million.

Those are their black tone on tone Houndstooth Luxe breeches. Of course being black they won’t go with my brown boots, but I will happily wear my black ones sometimes just so I can rock this beautiful creatures. GET IN MY CLOSET.

Wanna know the best part? Here’s the great thing about ordering from overseas when you live in the US… usually the prices you see on their websites include VAT. VAT is 20%. We’re exempt from VAT. Know what that means? They’re instantly 20% off! Logic, I has it. These beautiful creatures come in at only around $138, and these are their second most expensive model! The Butticorn and adorable blue birdie ones are only around $110. Of course shipping is a little more than we’d pay here, but it’s not that bad especially if you can sucker someone into splitting an order with you.

Since I was already ordering the breeches I decided to throw in some socks too. I always need good socks. They’re not nylon, they’re cute, and they’re $8. Yup, in the cart they go.

I’m so excited. Fingers (and toes) crossed that I like the breeches and the fit works. I’m in love with the styling and would be absolutely thrilled to find something I like as much as Animo but for a lot less money. If I like them it’ll be buh-bye TS, hello closet full of ADE!

HenryAug19 from amanda chance on Vimeo.

Some of you might remember my first helmet makeover experiment from a couple months ago. It went so well and looks so good, I decided to finally take the plunge and do my GPA.

I bought my GPA on clearance and got a ridiculously good deal (like less than half price) on it, mainly because it was a “weird” model that had very faint dark gray stars in the middle part. They were so hard to see that I just didn’t care enough to pass up a deal that good. However what had bothered me more and more was the silver vents. I really like the all black look, it’s just more subtle. So since it’s been a couple months since I did the first one and I was now very confident that I could do it and it would turn out well, I painted it a solid matte black.

The GPA is still in really good shape, so all I did to prep it was wipe it down with alcohol, tape over the front logo and back harness (no I still don’t have painter’s tape so leave my hot pink duct tape alone!) and stuff the inside with paper towels to catch the spray that goes through the vents. I used the same brand of paint as the other helmet – Rust-Oleum Universal which is intended for plastics – in Flat Black.

Before:

Say goodbye, stars! I have to admit, they’d really grown on me…

After the first coat, still wet.

I only did two coats. Everything covered so well and so easily, I didn’t see a need for more than that. So I let it dry for about 15 minutes then took it inside for more pics.

And some closer shots so you can see more detail

I’m pretty thrilled with how it came out, it looks even better than the first attempt. You really would never in a million years think it was spray painted, it looks just like a regular finish. And being all black makes it look smaller and more flattering on my head. Pictures of that… someday?

After my successful experiment #2, Auf Der Autobahn’s trainer Lisa (of Austin Eventing) asked me if I’d do her Tipperary schooling helmet. Lisa said she hated the color so much she usually wore her other helmet instead. I still had more than half a can of paint left and I’m getting a little addicted to the helmet makeover thing, so I was totally down with doing another. This one was in rougher shape… it had some pretty decent scratches along the top and a couple of spots where the top layer of finish had been rubbed off. And she wasn’t kidding about the ugly.

I had to do a lot more prep work for this one. First I cleaned it really well with some kitchen cleaner (no residue) then did a very very light sanding to minimize the scratches a little and even out that one spot that was already missing the top layer of finish. It looks like a lot of sanding in the picture but really it’s just a couple swipes with a fine grit sandpaper. Then I wiped it down again with more cleaner to get the dust off.

This helmet also required a lot more taping and covering, because of the harness. The tan part covers a good part of the back of the helmet plus some of the liner fabric is exposed around the ears so I spent a while taping and trimming to get it all just right, then stuffed the inside with paper towels and tucked up the harness underneath. I also took a while to get the front logo taped just right. Lisa said she didn’t care if I painted over it but it’s just not in my little OCD capacity to actually do that, so a-taping I went.

For this one I did three coats. The color was a little harder to cover well and I wanted to make sure it was all even.

This is after the second or third coat, still wet.

And inside later, after it had dried and I removed all the tape.

Hopefully Lisa likes her “new” murdered-out Tipperary! No more weird blue.

And yes, I’m having way too much fun with helmet makeovers.

Change was the theme of the weekend. Most little, one kinda big. Let’s start small and build from there.

First – Henry got his mane done. I did it with the clipper blade method for the first time to help thin it a bit and it seemed to work better. Of course I totally forgot to take a picture of him post-makeover soooo here’s a picture of him eyeball deep in grass, pre-mane job, because his life is so hard.

Second – I changed his bit again. When I first got him I tried him in a Nathe but it didn’t really go that well. But he’s gotten a lot more responsive to seat and leg since winter, plus a lot more balanced, so I gave it another whirl. He definitely does not get behind the bit in it almost ever. On the flipside when I have to really sit and do a big whoa in a line I don’t have quite as much success. Then again the need for a big whoa is also almost never, and really if I was better with my body/seat it’d be a non-issue totally. For now I’m going to keep him in it and see how it goes.

Side note: I noticed the past week that when Henry gets super sweaty and I get super sweaty, I’m not having as much grip on my reins as I used to. Not sure if the rubber is just getting worn down or what because I’ve never had this problem before. My gloves are still pretty pristine so I don’t think they’re the problem. Waiting to see how I feel about the calfskin reins that come with the PS bridle.

The big change was that Trainer wants me to try riding Henry a different way over fences. Basically he wants me to stay up out of the saddle and let him keep cantering more forward/open after the jump, and not sit again until we’re coming out of the corner toward the next jump. We tried it out a bit yesterday and while it’s always hard to make big changes (successfully) all at once, he did seem to go better with that ride. By nature he’s such a compressed little ball of a horse (basically the opposite of my last several horses) that opening him up gave him more lift in the shoulder and kept him more in front of my leg. Of course, now I’ve got to figure this all out on my end and get used to riding differently, but I think it’s a step in the right direction.

I also had yet another fun time with helmet makeovers, but we’ll talk about those tomorrow.

Until then, enjoy this shot from a pool party we went to on Saturday night. Yup, that’s a movie on a projector screen. Yup, those are glow sticks floating in the pool. Yup, those are also glow sticks around the rims of our cups of vodka/lemonade/punch mixture. Winning times three.

Thanks to everyone who has participated in the tack swap/sale so far! I have one more thing to toss into the pile – a size 54 brown Tekna Pressure-Eze girth. If you’re interested let me know and I’ll get pictures to you.