The serious part came on Saturday morning, but let’s start with something a little more exciting.
As I mentioned last week, Henry’s new PS of Sweden Flying Change bridle came on Thursday (it shipped on Monday from Sweden -beat that) so I spent Friday night getting to know it a little better and conditioning it. I also used that as an opportunity to try out my new Higher Standards leather balm, one of my awesome Xmas gifts from my barn buddy Brandy (aka Auf der Autobahn). It worked pretty well, I just rubbed in one liberal coat with my hands and it softened right up. God I love this bridle. It’s freakin gorgeous, and that’s saying something because I generally hate black tack. And as has proven typical – really impressed with the design/functionality from the PS of Sweden guys. We’ll explore that more in a later post, but here’s another gorgeous picture of it.
On Saturday morning Brandy and I met up at Gold’s Gym for a spin class. We’ve been talking about getting a membership and hitting the gym together but we wanted to check it out first. I used to do spin all the time when I did triathlon, and honestly I LOVE it. You could not pay me enough to do any other type of group class, especially Zumba, but spin = awesome. Toward the end of the last set of high resistance jumps I was pretty sure my heart was going to explode out of my ear. Sounds awesome right? They were running a special for membership, so after class we joined the gym. Now we’re committed! When they were taking our information they asked who to notify in case we dropped dead, and we informed them that we always wear bracelets with our medical information because we ride horses. They seemed a little perplexed by that for some reason. Then Brandy and I texted back and forth all afternoon about which body parts hurt the most (basically my entire skeleton and all of my muscles, so no big deal)… this is the beginning of something great. Horribly painful, but great. It’s far past time to get serious about getting back into better shape – all this dressage nonsense is going to kill me otherwise. Plus I really owe it to my pony to not flop around like a big fat sack of potatoes, my riding is questionable enough as it is. We’re spinning again tonight and tomorrow.
Then it was a quick trip to the barn to graze the boys (still a little too muddy to ride), who are ridiculous
then more Xmas shopping and present wrapping, with a helper.
Saturday night we did Christmas with my family, since my brother was in town with his wife and son. We ate, we opened presents, we took pictures, and then we headed off downtown for an x-mas themed Master Pancake comedy show. Everything they do is hilariously inappropriate, and that show was no exception.
Sunday I crawled out of bed with fairly tolerable aches and pains. I hauled my butt out to the barn in the afternoon, hopped into an unplanned lesson, and rode my pony for the first time since Tuesday. The light week was partly intentional and partly because of the weather, and then I realized it’s only 3 weeks until our next show. Oops, better get ourselves together. We’ll talk about the lesson tomorrow.
One and half more days of work and then I’m off til the 29th! Can’t wait, I need a break.
breedrideevent.com 
Ah, yes, pups are the best helpers. If I end up going to college in Texas, I’m taking some time to go to one of those Master Pancake shows. Anything hilariously inappropriate is my type of thing.
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At one point a comedian in his bright green Christmas underwear almost climbed down the lighting scaffolding from the balcony. It’s a long story to how that happened, but it did.
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Very exciting about the gym membership! I work at a gym and I barely work out, I need to get back into the groove again.. 🙂
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I was inspired by you and Brandy going to spin class so I went on a bike ride with Andy…damn man almost red-lined me. I’m actually hitting the pool here soon as I figure it’s not as stressful as running… hopefully I don’t drown.
Oh! Where did you get that pink and navy/black top?! ~want~ super cute. 🙂
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Ross, actually. $9 lol
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Ohhh I am seriously intimidated by spin classes–but am also tempted by them!
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They’re really really fun, I think. And they a) burn tons of calories b) work out a lot of the same muscles you need for riding.
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Agreed!! Spin terrifies me so good for you!!
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It’s no big deal. You just have to find a good instructor that you like.
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Loooooooooove Master Pancake!!! Also, that bridle looks quite smashing on Henry.
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The bridle looks so fab i cannot wait to hear all about its bells & whistles ☺
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Oooo if my wrists don’t get better, I may need to find a different form of exercise and didn’t even think about spin! Sounds fun/horrible, my fave. Love that you can see your wrapping helper’s tail wagging in the picture 🙂
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Ok, not to be the biggest copier ever but I need this bridle and the high jump one! Penny needs it I should say! Do the fit to size? I need to get into shape too…ugh I hate not being top fit anymore!
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Henry’s wearing a cob in both. They run a little on the generous side.
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My what a productive weekend! I am seriously digging your new bridle. It’s all I can do to not click over to their site and look for myself.
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Just click, you know you want to.
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I want that bridle!!
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Still ogling over these PS of Sweden bridles….
I joined a gym a little over a month ago for the same reason – that I owe it to my poor pony not to flop around on her! Feels really really good to get back into a gym routine!
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that spin class sounds INTENSE lol. and sounds like the count down is officially ON for your next event – super exciting!
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Way to go for signing up for a gym membership! I really need some motivation to work out because like you said it’s not fair to flop around like a sack of potatoes while riding!!
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Henry looks really cute in his new bridle, I see they are all on sale right now. Too bad my pony is 13.2, she is super sensitive about her ears…they don’t appear to make pony size. I do see Icelandic size, but I am not sure what that means… Her current bridle is a bit too small and kinda crappy.
I am too afraid to do spin !
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You should send them an email and ask them to start making pony size. Several friends have done so already… another voice asking for it can only help!
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Maybe I will, on their Facebook they have photos of ponies wearing them, so maybe you just have to ask.
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I feel the exact same way about spin classes. And about Zumba.
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