One Horse is having another 24hr flash sale – 50% off all sale items! That makes some shirts as cheap as $8… time to stock up but you better do it quick.
Otherwise it’s kind of a slow week here. My PS of Sweden bridle has been sitting in US Customs since the 5th and I’m getting exceedingly grumpy about it. GIVE ME MY BRIDLE!
But at least American Horror Story is back… that eased the grumping for an hour and a half last night.
I’ve been giving a lot of thought in the past few weeks to what my long-ish term goals are for Henry. I of course bought him to be a jumper, which he is perfectly fine at. He’ll probably never be fantastic – he’s not a super quick, super athletic horse – but he could do ok in the 1m at the local level, and I was fine with that.
And then we went XC schooling. And then we did an eventing derby. And then we went XC schooling again. He is a horse that has always done whatever job I’ve given him in a very polite yes ma’am kind of way, but he’s never really “lit up” and seemed enthusiastic about anything before. It’s pretty hard to ignore his affinity for XC.
I’m not one of those people who goes tottering around sprouting things like “Schnookums LOVES ____”. It’s a horse. It loves food. But I do think that they can absolutely enjoy some jobs more than others, and Henry’s happy XC ears speak volumes.
My friend Michelle accompanied us on last week’s XC school and she too was super floored by Henry. She’s been there every step of the way since even before I got him, so her opinion means a lot, and she said “He wants to event”. Eventing trainer that took us on our first XC school says “He wants to event”. After a few weeks of stewing on it, well, damn it… let’s give it a go. Not a half-hearted go like I was thinking before, but a real go. Let’s set some goals and lets see what we can accomplish.
So we’ve come up with a plan. We’re going to try to qualify him for AEC’s next year, just at BN. There’s really no good reason for that goal other than 1) AEC’s are definitely still in Texas next year, and it seems a shame to miss out on them being basically in my own backyard 2) It would just be a fun experience to GO. I don’t even care if we do really well (that’s a lie, but I know it’s pretty unlikely we’d actually be competitive and I’m ok with that). Let’s face it, first and foremost this is supposed to be fun. I want to do things that I will fondly remember for many years to come. Pretty sure this would be one of those things. Or at the very least, more memorable than a year of random local level h/j shows in the 3′ jumpers. So why the hell not? Let’s do this and give it 100% commitment and see where things go from there.
Okay perhaps you don’t need to own it, but you at least need to SEE it. For as little as I care about regular I fashion I’m always so excited to see new collections and products from my favorite equestrian brands plus cool new companies. I already covered Mango Bay’s fantastic new fall line, but I figured I’d throw out a few more gems that I’ve come across lately that have really stood out in my mind.
Renard et Cheval – I’m madly in love with this new company’s show coats. They’re classically elegant but have really cool details that make them fun and unique.
They also aren’t afraid to step outside the box for custom creations.
I might not always like them (ok to be honest I hate this next one) but they’re definitely BALLSY, and I can always appreciate anything ballsy. I mean – who else has dared make a moto style jacket with zippers and red leather accents? What do you think of it? They also make maroon breeches that are a dream come true.
Kastel Denmark – my adoration for this company’s sunshirts is no secret, so seeing a new line-up of colors in their f/w catalog got me pretty excited. They’re more of a summer only item for most of you, but it’s hot enough here that I can live in them for at least 7 months out of the year. In fact I wore one last night. Plus if you stock up on them in the off season you’ll be all set when summer rolls back around.
Then they posted on their facebook page about their new line of polo shirts (ineedthese), and a prototype for another future style. I’m interested to see what they come up with next year with these!
Mountain Horse – While I’ve never been a big Mountain Horse fan, you have to hand it to them… these new brown Sovereign boots (available 2015) are pretty on point. They managed to make a really beautiful boot with enough detail to be interesting but still stay classy. With a rumored MSRP of only $369, MH is really stepping up their game. The black version is pretty too!
Cavalleria Toscana – Ok maybe I love jackets too much, but… this jacket. I have no words.
I had to put this shirt in for consideration because when I scrolled past it in their new f/w collection I stopped and stared for a minute. I couldn’t figure out if it was the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen or the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.
With white breeches it could totally work, but to be honest I still can’t decide, and that alone makes it worth throwing in here.
Equifit – finally something for the ponies! Their new D-Teq boot line is so cool, especially all matched up with a half pad and ear bonnet.
Aztec Diamond – My new favorite (or at least co-favorite) breech maker finalized the beginnings of their upcoming ’15 collection and I can’t wait to get my hands on those top middle breeches. Also pretty interested to see what comes out of that little color swatch collection on the bottom left.
Swanky Saddle – for those of us who like to monogram all the things, these are a really pretty way to do it. Their custom metal saddle monograms are really classy.
And the colorful monogram bridle tags are fun too.
What a doozy. For as awesome as last weekend was, this one was basically the opposite.
To kick things off on Friday, I decided to do my baseline time for 2Pointober. Since I’m a cyclist and my legs are basically the only strong part of me (not that you would ever know from my equitation), I felt pretty confident that I could get a good time. I even acquired a witness so there would be no doubt about the legitimacy of my time. And because I’m the stupidest stubbornest person in the world, I didn’t just go until I was tired, I went until my legs were quivering and my feet were numb and I could not hold myself up any longer. It’s called a challenge for a reason right?
The only problem with that approach was that the next morning I was basically crippled. My body was trashed from the waist down. Butt, quads, hamstrings, calves – all destroyed. On any other day it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but that particular day was the first cyclocross race of the season and I had a 3:00pm start. Crap. I tried stretching, I tried massage, I tried riding around on my bike for a while in an easy gear. Nothing loosened my legs up at all. As long as I didn’t really exert any force on the pedal or have to run/jump, I was fine. Unfortunately ‘cross is nothing BUT exertion and running and jumping. I came out of the start pretty strong but by the end of the first lap when we had to dismount and climb up a pretty steep hill, my legs gave me the middle finger and I pretty much just watched the rest of the field pass me one by one. I ended up finishing a miserable 21st out of 32… my worst EVER. Although I suppose I made out better than the poor girl who got wrecked at the start and separated her shoulder.
And just as a nice cherry on top: my exercise induced asthma, which really only kicks in during bike races, was at full force. My chest hurt so bad and I’ve had a pretty gross sounding cough ever since. We won’t even talk about what I’m coughing up. On the bright side – at least the rest of my body now hurt just as much as my legs. Saturday night was just painful.
Sunday morning I had plans for a jumping lesson, then I was gonna jet down to Pine Hill (about a 1.5hr drive) to cheer on some friends at an event. Unfortunately I had the worst jumping lesson I think I’ve ever had in my life, and my legs felt fairly okay so I can’t even blame it on that. I’ll spare you the details but basically I crashed my poor horse into two different giant oxers because I just could not get my shit together and make a good decision. I have no idea why Henry even tried to jump them, except that obviously he must be made of solid gold. So I did what any self-respecting ammy would do and hid in the washrack crying, blubbering something about how my horse trusted me and I let him down and was going to ruin him. I cry very very rarely but when I do it’s always a hysterical mess. And because I did that for so long I ended up being too late to really make it to the event, so I just went back out to day 2 of the cyclocross races and cheered on my teammates there instead. I just kept my shades on so no one could see my bloodshot eyes or my shame.
What an utter shit show of a weekend, and it’s no one’s fault but my own.
But on the plus side, my leg already felt more solid on Sunday. Woot 2 point! Stupid stupid 2 point…
Oh, and don’t forget to go enter Viva Carlos’ 1000th post giveaway!
I love all of Viva Carlos‘ 10 questions posts. They’re brilliant.
Also, Frank arrived on Wednesday night and the bridle lot arrived yesterday. It was all a little thirsty so they got a good conditioning and I put together the bridle pieces I like most and think will fit the best. We’ll find out tonight! I opted for the padded comfort crown and the rubber lined reins.
And apparently we won a gift certificate for a set of FlexSleeves at the eventing derby last weekend. Anyone used these before? They’re basically like compression socks for horses which made me giggle. But… maybe? They’re meant to be used in place of standing wraps. We shall see. For free I’ll happily try them.
breedrideevent.com 